Furious and Humiliated

"Chu Fei!"

With an angry roar, Li Honggang stepped in front of Chu Fei, glaring at him. Lu Hong followed, blocking Chu Fei from the side.

Chu Fei slowly packed up his desk, slowly walked up to Li Honggang, and slowly said, "What is it?"

Li Honggang roared, "Why did you hand in your paper early?!"

Chu Fei handing in his paper early had directly affected Li Honggang's performance on the spot. Never mind the mistakes—there were at least several corrections on his paper.

Thinking about how the class monitor was supposed to set an "example," Li Honggang felt his heart tremble.

Lu Hong also looked at Chu Fei and said in a deep voice, "Chu Fei, what you did hurt everyone badly."

Chu Fei gave Lu Hong a serious look, then smiled. "We can't hand in our papers early? How strange. I had no idea!"

As he spoke, Chu Fei started walking forward and barked at Li Honggang, who was blocking his way, "Move!"

Li Honggang instantly blew up. "You need a beating!"

Thirteen-year-old boys could start fighting at the drop of a hat. Li Honggang threw a punch straight at Chu Fei's face.

Chu Fei swayed aside, easily dodging the attack, then struck back with a punch of his own.

With a scream, Li Honggang clutched his face and squatted down.

Chu Fei kicked Li Honggang in the shoulder, sending him rolling across the floor.

By then, quite a few students had gathered to watch.

Chu Fei had intended to leave coolly, but when he suddenly noticed Lu Hong's calm expression, he stopped and added:

"If you two want to stand up for the other students, you should ask the teacher and establish proper rules instead of making private agreements.

What if a private agreement affects everyone's studies, or even their cultivation? Can you two bear that responsibility?

Or had you never considered that at all?"

The students, who had been somewhat angry, suddenly froze. Their gazes shifted back and forth between Lu Hong and Li Honggang.

Chu Fei smiled faintly and finally left in style.

Amateurs!

Trying that on me!

After returning to the dormitory, Chu Fei did not rest immediately. Instead, he used a drop of Wisdom Dewdrop and began meditating, training his mind.

A good habit needed half a month of cultivation before it could barely take root.

By now, Chu Fei had more or less developed this good habit.

Within his consciousness space, three hundred different triangles and quadrilaterals continuously interwove, attempting to form larger patterns.

Every assembly was a calculation.

Yet after several days of frenzied calculations, Chu Fei reached a conclusion:

Assembling three hundred shapes already involved complex calculations and could no longer be handled through simple brute-force enumeration.

Introducing computational logic was inevitable.

However, his earlier calculations had not been useless. They had provided him with a great deal of data and experience, while also training his mind.

During these calculations, Chu Fei incorporated the logical methods taught by his teachers.

Discrete analysis, inductive analysis, abstract analysis, constructive analysis...

Before he knew it, two hours had passed. Chu Fei checked his results, smiled faintly, and fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Chu Fei took out the books Captain Huang had given him and began reading again.

Seeing the seven drops of Wisdom Dewdrop accumulated around the Wisdom Tree Seed, Chu Fei used them without hesitation.

He accumulated them during ordinary times precisely so he could use them at critical moments.

Like now.

His consciousness ascended, and Chu Fei flipped through the pages at nearly ten lines per glance.

Two hours later, the effects of the Wisdom Dewdrop faded. Chu Fei immediately used another drop without hesitation.

Only when the alarm rang did Chu Fei slowly raise his head. Thirty percent of the second drop's effects remained, but it was almost eleven o'clock—the time to "reveal the rankings" had arrived!

When Chu Fei reached the classroom, he ran into his homeroom teacher, Cao Liwen.

Holding the test papers, Cao Liwen looked at Chu Fei and said faintly, "Right on time."

Chu Fei gave an awkward laugh and was about to return to his seat.

But Cao Liwen hauled him to the front of the podium instead. "No need to go back."

Cao Liwen placed the test papers on the desk. Just as before, they were divided into three piles, arranged in a cross—one horizontal and two vertical.

But upon seeing them, three words surfaced in Chu Fei's mind: a cross!

Chu Fei had been at Dawn Academy for over three weeks and had gained a basic understanding of the place:

There was nothing to criticize about the teaching staff, and the teachers were genuinely responsible. In the post-apocalyptic world, finding such an academy was indeed fortunate—if one looked only at its faculty.

However, Dawn Academy firmly believed that "learning capacity can be squeezed out" and enforced that belief strictly. Its methods of enforcement could only be called harsh.

Four words suddenly popped into Chu Fei's mind: the One Whip Method.

As he pondered, Cao Liwen began speaking:

"First, an announcement. We test the Potential Index once every four weeks. The second test will be held next Sunday morning. Everyone, prepare yourselves."

Chu Fei's heart sank.

Dawn Academy had truly put the saying "scores are a student's lifeline" into practice. Everything depended on grades.

Only then did Cao Liwen begin calling names.

The first group was still Chu Fei, Li Honggang, Lu Hong, and Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan had gotten two questions wrong, losing six points. She had made two corrections, for a total of eight strikes to the palm.

Li Honggang lost eight points and had made five corrections. As class monitor, his punishment was doubled—twenty-six strikes to the palm?

Cao Liwen said pleasantly, "I'll give you a choice. Twenty-six strikes to the palm, without treatment, or thirteen lashes, with treatment."

Li Honggang gritted his teeth. "The second one!"

The Whip Holder approached, the little whip bouncing merrily. Li Honggang let out muffled grunts, yet he still turned to look at Chu Fei.

Chu Fei lowered his eyes.

Next came Lu Hong, who chose nine lashes.

Finally, everyone looked at Chu Fei.

Cao Liwen took out a stack of exquisite Metal Paper, counted out four sheets, and placed them before Chu Fei. "Four hundred yuan! I said that if you made mistakes, your punishment would be quadrupled. If you made none, your reward would be quadrupled."

Chu Fei was overjoyed and quickly thanked him.

"No need to thank me. You earned it. Go back."

Feeling the burning gazes of Li Honggang and Lu Hong, Chu Fei suddenly spoke up. "Teacher, there's something I'd like to ask about."

Cao Liwen nodded. "Go ahead."

Chu Fei said, "After last night's exam, the class monitor and vice class monitor blocked me at the door and said we couldn't hand in our papers early. It has everyone in a state of panic. Please establish some rules, Teacher."

Chu Fei did not mention the names "Li Honggang" and "Lu Hong." Instead, he said "class monitor and vice class monitor," then added "a state of panic."

Li Honggang and Lu Hong's faces instantly turned pale.

That backstab had been precise and vicious!

Cao Liwen glanced at the two of them. A faint smile appeared on his face, but it was a dangerous one. "Do you two have any better suggestions?"

Neither dared make a sound.

Cao Liwen's expression suddenly turned cold. "There will not be a next time! The four of you may leave."

Chu Fei headed out of the classroom, with Li Honggang and Lu Hong following behind him. Once they were outside, the two snorted coldly and headed for the infirmary.

Chu Fei went to the cafeteria first, hurriedly ate, then returned to the dormitory for a brief nap. Afterward, carrying the books Captain Huang had given him last time, he headed straight for the Dawn Team at the foot of the mountain.

The moment he entered the gate, he saw Huang Gang practicing his punches, murderous intent radiating from him.

"You're here." Huang Gang stopped moving. "How much of the books I gave you last time have you read?"

"All of them!" Chu Fei set all the books aside.

Huang Gang frowned slightly and casually asked Chu Fei several questions. Chu Fei answered every one fluently.

"You memorized all of it?" Huang Gang stared at Chu Fei in surprise. "Instructor Cao even said at noon that you got a perfect score on this week's exam!!!"

Chu Fei merely smiled without speaking.

Silence spoke louder than words.

Huang Gang took a deep breath, then broke into a brilliant smile. "Looks like I found a treasure!

"Good. Come on, let's go to the shooting range."

(I worked overtime today, so the update is late. I'm truly sorry.)