"Defend the high ground, you idiots! What a bunch of useless teammates!"
Behind the cafeteria of Nangang Second High School's High School Department, Shen Qi crouched on the ground, playing a mobile game. He was so engrossed that his face had flushed red and sweat had beaded on his forehead.
"Shen Qi, it's time for class." Suddenly, a man's voice called out from behind him.
"Class, my ass! Our crystal is under attack!" Shen Qi yelled, worked up and oblivious to the man behind him.
"Shen Qi, it's time for class. Math class." The middle-aged man wasn't angry or upset. Instead, he was unusually calm and serene.
"My teammates are useless. I'll have to take on all five by myself... Huh? Wait, math class?" Shen Qi was having the time of his life gaming when he suddenly realized something was off. The man's voice behind him sounded awfully familiar.
He spun around, his heart in his throat. "T-Teacher Zhang!"
Zhang Wanbang was a math teacher at Nangang Second High School and the homeroom teacher of Class 2, Grade 11. Shen Qi was one of his students.
"The school doesn't allow students to bring phones onto campus. You know that rule, don't you, Shen Qi?" Zhang Wanbang asked.
"I do." Shen Qi force-quit the game, ready to weather the coming storm.
Zhang Wanbang asked again, "I happened to be passing by and caught you playing. If I hadn't called out to you, you would've finished the match before going to class, wouldn't you?"
"Uh..." Shen Qi thought, Yeah, I would have.
"Hand it over." Zhang Wanbang held out his palm.
Shen Qi obediently handed over his phone. He'd been caught red-handed, so there was no point resisting.
"Come on. Back to the classroom with me." Zhang Wanbang put the phone away and headed toward the school building.
With heavy steps, Shen Qi followed behind Zhang Wanbang. Mustering his courage, he asked, "Teacher Zhang, why didn't you scold me this time?"
"When your heart's dead, what good does scolding do?" Zhang Wanbang shook his head, seeming angry with himself. "Of course, as your homeroom teacher, I bear the greatest responsibility for not teaching you well."
At that moment, Shen Qi's heart trembled. He felt an awful pang, and he didn't know why. He thought he'd rather have Zhang Wanbang give him a good scolding than endure this vague, hard-to-name feeling.
Because he was addicted to gaming, Shen Qi's grades were terrible. He was usually near the bottom of the class.
It was normal for a teacher to scold a poor student for breaking school rules. If the teacher ever stopped scolding him, Shen Qi felt that something was wrong.
The two returned to the school building in silence.
Zhang Wanbang began teaching math.
"f(x) = -1? Li Bo, is something wrong with your head? I'm asking you, how could f(x) possibly equal -1?"
"This geometry problem is so simple, yet you got the length of line AD as 25? Chen Xiaoting, you should add a zero—that'd make you two hundred and fifty!"
Zhang Wanbang roared and berated the class. He even made a girl cry in front of everyone for getting a geometry problem wrong.
In class, Zhang Wanbang seemed like a different person. He flew off the handle at the slightest provocation.
Piu~
The eraser flew off the lectern like a cannonball, shooting straight toward a desk.
Bang!
The eraser hit its target dead-on, knocking the half-meter-high stack of books on the desk onto the floor.
The desk's owner was a boy. He jolted awake from his dream, looking utterly bewildered.
"Xu Rui, you've never passed a math exam, and you still dare sleep in my class? Get out! Go wash your face and wake up, then write a thorough self-criticism!" Zhang Wanbang slapped the lectern, as ferocious as a beast.
Xu Rui scrambled out of the classroom.
The entire class fell silent, not daring to make a sound.
Shen Qi actually thought this was the real Teacher Zhang. From Grade 10 to Grade 11, Zhang Wanbang had scolded him countless times.
Playing a mobile game at school was worse than dozing off in class, yet Zhang Wanbang had only confiscated Shen Qi's phone. He hadn't made him write a self-criticism or even scolded him.
"So Teacher Zhang has completely given up on me." Shen Qi felt a pang of sadness. In Teacher Zhang's eyes, I'm probably a hopeless case.
"This game ruined me. I'm going to turn things around, quit gaming, and study hard. I'll become a top student! I still have more than a year before the gaokao. I have time to start over!" Sometimes, you had to tear things down before you could rebuild them. A heroic resolve unlike anything he'd ever felt before flared in Shen Qi's chest.
"Make sure you remember this: the coordinates of the sum of two vectors are the sums of their respective coordinates. The coordinates of their difference can be worked out the same way. This is a guaranteed gaokao topic, so if you want to get into college, pay attention! If you plan to spend your lives laying bricks after graduation, then do whatever you want!" Zhang Wanbang explained the key math concepts, slipping in a few words of encouragement—or warning—as he went.
Shen Qi was determined to start over, study hard, and catch up. He opened his notebook and listened attentively.
But his enthusiasm for studying was quickly doused with cold water.
"Damn it, I can't understand any of this!" Rome wasn't built in a day, and Shen Qi had fallen too far behind over the past year or two for a single math class to make up the difference.
Ring, ring, ring.
The bell rang. Zhang Wanbang left the classroom with his teaching materials, his face expressionless.
Shen Qi stared up at the ceiling. I don't understand any of it! Not a thing! What can I do? I'm desperate!
Just then, a line of text suddenly flashed before Shen Qi's eyes: "After attentively listening to one math class, Academic Prodigy Points +1."
"What the heck?" Shen Qi rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing things?
The strange text appeared again: "Repeating: Host attentively listened to one math class. Academic Prodigy Points +1. Current balance: 1 Academic Prodigy Point."
"This is... Could this be... the legendary system?" Shen Qi was thrilled. Had his intense longing for knowledge moved the heavens?
"Hey, system, come out here! What should I call you? And what are Academic Prodigy Points?" Shen Qi cried out inwardly, eager to communicate with the system more deeply.
But the system didn't reply.
The second class that morning was chemistry. Shen Qi listened attentively. He didn't really understand what sp hybrid orbitals were for, but he stuck it out until the lesson ended.
Text appeared before his eyes once more: "Host attentively listened to one chemistry class. Academic Prodigy Points +1. Current balance: 2 Academic Prodigy Points."
So, he could earn Academic Prodigy Points just by paying attention, even if he didn't understand much.
As for what the points could be used for, the system would reveal that sooner or later.
After listening through the following Chinese and biology classes, Shen Qi earned another 2 Academic Prodigy Points.
The morning's four classes were over. Shen Qi had earned 4 Academic Prodigy Points in total.
It was March, the second semester of Grade 11. Their schedule for Grade 11 was four classes in the morning and three in the afternoon, with classes on Saturdays and Sundays off. They also had holidays on statutory days off, depending on the circumstances.
The three afternoon classes were a little easier: physics, English, and history.
The reason they were easier was that the last class was history, which students in Shen Qi's science track wouldn't be tested on in the gaokao.
Besides the six required gaokao subjects—Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology—the Grade 11 science classes also had history, geography, politics, and PE.
By the first semester of Grade 12, history, geography, and politics would disappear from the science-track schedule. PE would be gone in the second semester, leaving only the six subjects: Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology.
"Host attentively listened to one physics class. Academic Prodigy Points +1. Current balance: 5 Academic Prodigy Points."
"Host attentively listened to one English class. Academic Prodigy Points +1. Current balance: 6 Academic Prodigy Points."
"Host attentively listened to one history class. Academic Prodigy Points +1. Current balance: 7 Academic Prodigy Points."
The day's seven classes were over. Shen Qi had earned 7 Academic Prodigy Points in total. "System, hurry up and tell me what Academic Prodigy Points are for! I'm waiting, and it's urgent!"
The system displayed a message: "Query mode activated. The host can browse independently and operate this system through brain waves."
A hologram-like interface appeared before Shen Qi's eyes. Only he could see it; none of the other students in the classroom reacted.
The system interface displayed:
Host: Shen Qi Age: 17 Chinese Level 0 (0/100) Mathematics Level 0 (0/100) English Level 0 (0/100) Physics Level 0 (0/100) Chemistry Level 0 (0/100) Biology Level 0 (0/100) History Level 0 (0/100) Remaining Academic Prodigy Points: 7 Academic Prodigy Points can be assigned to any subject. As the subject's level increases, the host's practical ability in that subject will improve accordingly. Subject levels are defined as follows: Level 0: Useless Level 1: Beginner Levels 2–4: Advanced Levels 5–7: Professional Levels 8–10: Elite Levels 11–13: Master Level 14: Nearly invincible Level 15: My invincible self is so lonely Above Level 15: Invincible even in the realm beyond humanity (theoretically, humans cannot reach this level) To help the host understand how this system works, here are some examples from the real world. Mathematics will be used as an example: Level 0 (Useless): A bottom-of-the-class math student. This is the host's current level. Level 1 (Beginner): The average high school math level. Level 5 (Professional): Able to earn a living with mathematics. Reference: the host's homeroom teacher, Zhang Wanbang. Level 8 (Elite): Higher-level mathematics professionals, such as math professors and full-time mathematical researchers. Level 11 (Master): A rare mathematical master, a leading authority. Level 14 (Nearly invincible): Reference: Fields Medalist Tao Zhe Xuan. Level 15 (My invincible self is so lonely): No mathematician in the present day has reached Level 15. A historical reference is Gauss. Above Level 15: No reference exists in human history.
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