Lop Nur University

Chen Zhao's reputation had spread throughout the school.

After placing first in the entire school twice in a row, reciting the Great English-Chinese Dictionary from morning to night, making the principal apologize to him, and becoming the subject of all kinds of rumors, Chen Zhao had acquired an air of deep mystery. Students from almost every class discussed him whenever they gathered after class or over meals.

One day, while eating in the cafeteria, Chen Zhao even overheard a few students at the table behind him talking:

"Hey, is the guy eating at the table in front of us Chen Zhao?"

"Looks like it. Shh, keep your voice down. Don't let him hear."

"He's amazing. He kept coming in last, then suddenly got first place! He deliberately did badly for three whole years!"

"Chen Zhao's a master at playing the fool to catch the wise."

"Could he get into Peking University or Tsinghua University?"

"Are you kidding? He might not even be satisfied with Peking University or Tsinghua University. Elite institutions like Harvard University and Lop Nur University are the kind of places someone as exceptional as him would aim for."

As Chen Zhao listened, something began to feel off.

He knew about Harvard University. It ranked first in the world in many university rankings, and its overall strength was probably among the top ten globally. But what on earth was Lop Nur University?

Was there really such a university?

Wasn't Lop Nur the place where they tested atomic bombs? They could build a university there, too?

Ever since he had obtained the system and altered the world, many things in the world had changed, including schools.

For example, there used to be a kindergarten on Chen Zhao's way to school. After he altered the world, it disappeared and was replaced by the Cake Training Institute. A group of pastry chefs in white hats and coats baked cakes inside, while the chimney sent the fragrance of cake wafting through the streets.

So Lop Nur University must have been another university that had appeared after the world was altered.

If it were an ordinary university, that would be one thing. The key issue was that, judging from those students' conversation, Lop Nur University seemed to be... much better than Tsinghua and Peking University, perhaps even on par with Harvard University?!

Chen Zhao couldn't stop thinking about it. After all, once he finished the gaokao, he would have to decide where to go to university. With his scores, he naturally wanted to get into the best university he could.

Students weren't allowed to bring phones to school, so he couldn't look up any information. When school let out that evening and Chen Zhao got home, he immediately went online to search for this so-called "Lop Nur University."

He hadn't expected much, but what he found shocked him!

It was an incredible school!

In Chen Zhao's previous life, if you stopped a child on the street and asked which university was the best in the country, roughly half would say Peking University and half would say Tsinghua. The two universities were like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, lions and tigers—hard to tell apart, with neither clearly superior.

But after the world had been altered, if you stopped a child on the street and asked which university was the best in the country, what would they say?

There was only one answer: Lop Nur University!

In this world, Lop Nur University was far more famous and much more impressive than Tsinghua and Peking University. It was a private university located in the heart of Lop Nur, where the world's most renowned scientists and professors gathered to teach. Its annual teaching and research budget reached fifty billion, more than the combined budgets of Tsinghua and Peking University. It was truly incredible!

What's more, since its founding, Lop Nur University had produced many successful people!

Sixteen of its alumni had won Nobel Prizes: four in literature, six in physiology or medicine, two in chemistry, three in physics, and one for peace.

It had also produced a large number of scientists, writers, pianists, musicians, famous directors, investment gurus, senior military officers, and even business tycoons worth hundreds of billions.

In short, Lop Nur University was like a dragon gate: once a carp leapt through it, it could become a true dragon! Students who graduated from Lop Nur University were highly likely to become truly successful people!

The more Chen Zhao read, the more excited he became. This was the ideal university he had been looking for!

But that raised a question: how many points did you need on the gaokao to get into such an incredible school?

Chen Zhao opened a website listing the admission scores of various universities and clicked on Lop Nur University. He found that... there was no score?

In the column for previous years' admission scores, Lop Nur University's data was listed as "--"—in other words, there was no data.

Chen Zhao was puzzled. Every school should have an admission score. Once a university had finished admitting its new students each year, it would publish three figures: the highest score, the lowest score, and the average score. The highest score was the score of the student admitted with the best result, the lowest score was the score of the student who had just made the cutoff, and the average was the weighted mean.

After finishing the gaokao the following year, students could use the previous year's admission scores to estimate whether they could get into each university.

For example, if Tsinghua University's cutoff last year was 699 points, but you scored 102.

You walked into the admissions office with your score report, and the Tsinghua teacher would tell you, "Turn left when you leave. There's a construction site. Thanks!"

Or suppose Peking University's cutoff last year was 688, and you scored 700.

You walked into the admissions office with your score report, and the Peking University teacher would pour you tea! You could choose Dragon Well or Tieguanyin!

Any university that wanted to admit students smoothly the following year had to publish its cutoff scores.

So why, of all places, did Lop Nur University... have no admission scores?

After looking carefully for a while, Chen Zhao finally understood why Lop Nur University had no cutoff scores—it didn't admit students through the gaokao. It admitted students based on qualifications!

As long as you met Lop Nur University's admission requirements, you could get in even if you hadn't taken the gaokao—or had taken it and earned a glorious zero.

On the other hand, if you didn't meet Lop Nur University's admission requirements, you wouldn't be admitted even if you were the top scorer in the country. You'd just have to settle for going to Peking University or Tsinghua.

There were two ways to get into Lop Nur University and become a proud student:

First, if your parents were willing to donate at least ten billion to Lop Nur University, you could become one of its proud students. In other words, you could buy your way in. Half of Lop Nur University's funding came from donations like this. Many wealthy businessmen and tycoons wanted their children to become great, and ten billion was no big deal to them.

Second, you could have made an outstanding contribution or achieved remarkable success in a particular field. In other words, if you were exceptionally good at something, you could get in!

Those were the admission requirements. Meet either one of them, and you could be accepted to Lop Nur University.

However, after being admitted, students still had to undergo a comprehensive physical examination. Anyone with a severe psychological disorder or an IQ below 100 would be expelled.