Go to the Principal's Office

The next morning, when Chen Zhao came to class, he could tell that many of his classmates were looking at him differently.

After all, he'd instantly solved that impossible math problem in class yesterday, and the feat had stunned a lot of people. Before, Chen Zhao had been practically invisible in class. Now, all of a sudden, he was the talk of the town. Everyone thought he was impossible to read, mysterious and unfathomable!

He went to his seat in the back row, took off his backpack, and sat down.

His deskmate, Xu Lanlan, was eating breakfast... leek buns.

"Come on, sis, do you really have to eat leek buns?" Chen Zhao nearly lost it. Everyone knew how potent leek buns were: one was enough to leave you smelling like them all morning. And Xu Lanlan loved them. Since they sat by the classroom's back door, the smell drifted outside. The other students couldn't smell it, so Chen Zhao had to suffer through all of it alone.

"Scared? You'll drop dead on the spot from my burps." Xu Lanlan kept biting into her bun, completely unbothered, and continued to torment him with her sharp tongue.

There was nothing Chen Zhao could do about her, so he opened a biology textbook and began reviewing.

After going through a few pages, Chen Zhao sighed and closed the book. He lay his head on the desk, staring into space.

There was a simple reason he'd stopped reading: he'd gone through it once yesterday and memorized the whole thing. There was no need to read it again.

Xu Lanlan noticed him closing the textbook and started clicking her tongue. "What, getting cocky? Finished memorizing all of biology?"

Back when Chen Zhao used to lie on his desk and stare into space instead of studying, Xu Lanlan would make the same sarcastic remarks. Chen Zhao would usually glare at her in annoyance, then turn away and pretend he couldn't hear her. The glare showed he wouldn't back down, while turning away was because he couldn't win an argument with the sharp-tongued girl.

But today, Chen Zhao did something completely out of character. He neither glared nor turned away, only murmuring, "Yup."

"What's 'yup' supposed to mean? If you're imitating a donkey, you should go 'hee-haw, hee-haw,' not just 'haw.'" Xu Lanlan grinned, baring her teeth. She seemed to enjoy being snarky.

"When I say 'yup,' I mean yes. I've memorized the entire biology textbook!" Chen Zhao said irritably.

"You've memorized the whole thing? That's a bigger boast than the Heavenly Dog that devours the sun!" Xu Lanlan pouted. "You dare let me quiz you? I'll expose your false bravado and see right through your act."

Chen Zhao shrugged, unconcerned. "Ask whatever you want. If I can't recite it, I lose."

Xu Lanlan raised a pretty eyebrow, apparently surprised by how readily he'd agreed.

Then Xu Lanlan opened her biology textbook and, while biting into a leek bun, asked indistinctly,

"What's the definition of photosynthesis?"

Chen Zhao answered without hesitation. "Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants use light energy through chloroplasts to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy-storing organic compounds, while releasing oxygen."

Xu Lanlan looked a little surprised. He'd actually gotten it right?

He'd recited it smoothly and quickly, word for word, exactly as it appeared in the textbook! Clearly, he'd memorized it inside and out.

Perhaps feeling that showing off like that wasn't enough, Chen Zhao suddenly added, "That passage is in the first three lines of page 101 of the first biology textbook."

Xu Lanlan's eyes widened. She looked down at the page number, and sure enough, it was page 101!

"Holy crap!" Xu Lanlan blurted, genuinely shocked. "You even remember the page numbers?"

"The entire textbook is stored in my head as an e-book. Remembering a few page numbers is nothing." Chen Zhao smiled. "It's a basic skill for a top student."

"Don't overdo the showing off!" Xu Lanlan refused to believe him. "Fine, I won't ask you questions about the material. I'll quiz you on page numbers and line numbers instead. You up for it?"

"Who's scared of who?"

"Good! That's the spirit!" Xu Lanlan flipped a few pages. "Page 125, the related information in the bottom-right corner."

After asking, Xu Lanlan gave a sly smile. That section wasn't even going to be on the exam, and the teacher hadn't covered it in class. There was no way Chen Zhao could recite it!

But the next second, Chen Zhao rattled it off!

"The word 'cancer' comes from Latin, where it originally meant 'crab.' It describes how cancer spreads and invades the surrounding healthy tissue, advancing relentlessly like a crab."

Xu Lanlan was dumbfounded.

He'd recited it, word for word!

He even knew the stuff that wouldn't be on the exam?

Their quiz had already drawn the attention of the students in front. Wang Wei, who sat in front of Chen Zhao, turned around and challenged him directly:

"The last page of the textbook—in other words, the afterword. The final paragraph of the main text."

Several students watched Chen Zhao with mischievous grins, thinking there was no way he'd memorized the afterword.

Chen Zhao sneered and recited it at once:

"We would also like to thank the teachers and students in the experimental areas who used this set of textbooks. We hope that, while using these textbooks, you will send us your comments and suggestions in a timely manner. We are deeply grateful for your help..."

The onlooking students exchanged baffled looks. They were all dumbstruck. This was completely beyond their expectations.

"You've got to be kidding. He can do that too?"

"Chen Zhao, are you human or a ghost?"

"He even memorized the afterword. What a beast! Why memorize the afterword? If it's on the college entrance exam, I'll eat every toilet in the school, one spoonful at a time!"

"Holy crap, this is the first time I've been scared of a top student. Is this what the legendary top student is like?"

Chen Zhao waved his hand, pretending to be some otherworldly sage. "Stop flattering me. You'll make me conceited."

All the classmates who'd turned around to talk promptly faced the front again and started reading.

Chen Zhao was stunned. I tell them to stop flattering me, and they actually stop? How honest can they be? If you take a gift to someone's house and they say, "You didn't have to bring anything," do you really take it back with you?

A big hand suddenly landed on Chen Zhao's shoulder, making him jump.

He turned around, and all the hairs on his body stood on end with fright—his homeroom teacher was standing behind him. The teacher must have just come in. No wonder everyone had turned back around to read.

"Come outside for a moment." The homeroom teacher said this, then went out through the back door.

Chen Zhao thought, Damn it, I only put my head down for two minutes, and I got caught. I'm bound to get a thorough scolding now.

But once he went outside, the reprimand he'd expected never came. Instead, his homeroom teacher smiled at him kindly.

Chen Zhao felt a chill. His homeroom teacher was smiling at him?

"After second period, when everyone goes running, you don't have to go. Head to the principal's office." the homeroom teacher said.