Principal Zhao was worried about losing a talented student!
Those old geezers from No. 2 High and No. 7 High would absolutely offer outrageous benefits to get a genius of Ma Ran's caliber!
There was nothing wrong with making an offer. No. 1 High could afford to make one too.
But if Ma Ran really transferred before the college entrance exam, then...
It probably wouldn't take long before old Zhao became known as a fool who couldn't recognize talent and had let a precious genius slip away!
His idea was indeed a good one.
Unfortunately, because of the age gap and generation gap, Principal Zhao had overlooked two things: the "campus forum" and the "grade-level DingTalk group."
Everyone had a gossiping soul.
The more a secret was concealed, the more interested everyone became.
When news was posted online for anyone to look up, people were instead too lazy to waste time searching for it.
Ma Ran's reputation spread rapidly throughout the school.
Time flew by in the blink of an eye.
Just like that, three days passed.
At 6:05 a.m. that day, the moon had yet to set. The sky was dim, and there was barely any light to be seen.
Ma Ran had originally been quietly organizing his plans for the future at home, but his homeroom teacher suddenly came to visit.
"The Education Bureau suddenly arranged an emergency examination. Every student has to attend."
His homeroom teacher's face was full of irritation and embarrassment. "I received the order yesterday, but I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn't notify you."
"But this morning, the higher-ups issued a final warning. They said we had to make sure every student participated in this examination!"
"Anyone unable to take the exam may be punished."
At this point, his homeroom teacher had calmed down a little. Lowering his voice, he said, "I heard this is a nationwide test with a very broad scope. It isn't just for high school students. Middle school and university students have to take it too."
"This time, they're making a big move!"
"Let's go. The exam starts at seven sharp."
"I came here on my electric scooter. I'll take you back to school."
"Okay."
Ma Ran seemed rather taciturn, as though he could not work up much interest.
But the actual situation was completely the opposite!
Everything before this had been small-scale warm-ups, little more than appetizers.
Today was when the movie finally got past the opening song.
The real show was about to begin!
Qingquan City First High School.
After eating a bland bowl of alkaline tofu noodles in the cafeteria and drinking a cup of soy milk, Ma Ran arrived at the classroom fifteen minutes early.
"He's that genius? He doesn't look like one..."
"He's so damn handsome! If I looked like that, why would I bother going to school? I'd become an idol and debut as the center!"
"His looks are just okay. He's only a little more handsome than me. It's mainly his air about him. Tsk, I'm so jealous."
"No way! No way! Don't tell me there are still people who think top students are all ugly?"
"That statement of yours is pretty brain-dead. Su Qiangwei from Class Two has ranked first for three consecutive years. Her family's well-off, and she's beautiful too!"
"The person who just walked past... His name is Ma Ran, right? If he's really that amazing, why is Su Qiangwei the one who ranks first every time?"
"He's hiding his true strength and pretending to be weak to catch his enemy off guard!"
"If you ask me, maybe he just doesn't care. True geniuses don't care about competing with people their own age, get it?"
"So that's your excuse for spending every day at the internet café and coming in last every time?"
"Don't expose my pain! I'm genuinely stupid, so please stop making fun of me! I'm just not cut out for studying!"
"The exam's about to start. Hurry up! Don't be late!"
Perhaps because "seeing is believing," before they had undergone any real test—weekly exams, monthly exams, or final exams—and before they had seen his scores in black and white on the rankings, most people still doubted the rumors about Ma Ran.
Even so...
As Ma Ran strolled through the campus, a medal gradually appeared within his field of vision, visible only to him.
The medal was bronze-red, with a cartoon image of a pair of glasses drawn on it.
With only a slight concentration of his attention, Ma Ran learned the medal's name—God of Scholars!
This was the power of multiplication that his role-playing had granted him!
Someone who could make even a top student like Su Qiangwei admit publicly, after suffering a setback, that she was inferior to him—was calling him a God of Scholars really an exaggeration?
Ma Ran could clearly feel that after the God of Scholars appeared, his memory, thinking speed, and efficiency at absorbing and understanding knowledge had all improved significantly.
His mind was clearer. Even when he stood before a mirror, he could plainly feel that his eyes had grown increasingly lively!
He was still incomparable to his pre-rebirth self, but back in his student days, he could stand anywhere and instantly become the focus of everyone's attention.
"Have you finished solving the Navier–Stokes equations?" Su Qiangwei's voice rang out beside Ma Ran's ear.
Looking at the girl's expression, Ma Ran almost laughed aloud.
He was far too familiar with that expression—it clearly showed how much she hated it inside, yet she was forcing herself to put on a magnanimous front.
Too inexperienced!
He had not seen such a green, immature youngster in many years...
Su Qiangwei's resistance and conflicted behavior gave Ma Ran the feeling of returning to his own adolescence.
In a good mood, Ma Ran tugged at the corner of his mouth, which counted as a smile.
He took a thick stack of A4 printouts from his backpack and handed them to her. "I solved half of it, then lost interest. If you're curious, you can take a look."
Whoever wants to solve it can do so. I don't have time to waste on such boring, simple questions. Su Qiangwei instantly imagined those words in Ma Ran's voice.
And then...
She nearly exploded on the spot!
Feeling as if she had been thoroughly humiliated, Su Qiangwei wished she could smash the entire stack of papers into Ma Ran's face.
But after hesitating again and again and thinking it over for a long while, she obediently tucked the documents into her pink schoolbag and replied haughtily, "I'll help you solve the Navier–Stokes equations."
"When the time comes, I'll mail the files to you. I won't take advantage of you!"
Though she sounded imposing, Su Qiangwei had already realized the difference between herself and Ma Ran.
It was the difference between heaven and earth!
Without the ideas Ma Ran had provided, the Navier–Stokes equations would remain a problem that had baffled people for a thousand years. Even if she had several hundred more years, she could never solve them.
With these ideas, she dared to boast and try to regain face in front of her classmates.
"Good luck."
Ma Ran's calm reply unexpectedly made Su Qiangwei feel a trace of gratitude.
Not much—a trace of gratitude no bigger than a tiny bit of a fingernail.
Partly because of his sincere encouragement, and partly because he had not exposed her tsundere little scheme.
"He's quite the gentleman..."
Su Qiangwei's soft murmur fell into Ma Ran's ears.
He remained completely calm about it.
Ma Ran had no intention of continuing to solve the Navier–Stokes equations.
Because he did not have the ability to solve them.
From the very beginning, this had been an act—a pure deception.
The detailed solution to the Navier–Stokes equations was something Ma Ran had memorized by rote while the Shusi Squad was carrying out a special mission, so that he could play the role of a mathematician.
What he had written on the paper was the correct approach, but Ma Ran remembered only half of it!
If he continued writing, he would expose himself.
As for the arithmetic progression in his previous mathematics exam scores, that was purely a coincidence.
For someone who regarded "passing is enough; every extra point is a waste" as his guiding principle, passing every time was already quite good. What more could anyone expect?
If someone dug out all of Ma Ran's test papers and compared them one by one, they would find that it was not only mathematics—his scores in every subject hovered around the passing line.
Incidentally, Ma Ran's "Shusi Squad" before his rebirth was one of China's special task forces for supernatural phenomena. It had nothing to do with mathematics, and even less to do with the famous mathematician Gauss.
The term "Shusi" came from The Classic of Mountains and Seas: Western Mountains.
Before you continue