The Only Examinee Taking the Test

"What's the point of reviewing?" Chen Zhao shrugged. "I'm already prepared, and I can't be bothered to cram for these last few minutes. Whatever happens once I get into the exam hall, happens."

Zhao Xiaobai pouted. "Fine, fine, you're the best."

They soon arrived at the exam site. It wasn't time to enter yet, and the classroom doors were all locked, so Chen Zhao and Zhao Xiaobai waited at the entrance. Zhao Xiaobai was still seizing the final moments to look over problems, while Chen Zhao craned his neck, scouting for beauties nearby.

After a quick scan, Chen Zhao realized the ratio of beauties was quite low; perhaps girls who focused on their studies didn't bother with makeup. Within his field of vision, Zhao Xiaobai's looks were truly outstanding.

Almost every student was holding a book, muttering to themselves, and the academic atmosphere in the hallway was thick enough to explode. Caught in the middle, Chen Zhao had nothing to do, making him look rather out of place, like someone just passing through.

Soon, the teachers arrived with the sealed exam papers.

The candidates began to enter one by one, holding their ID cards and admission tickets, then letting the proctors scan their bodies with metal detectors. This middle school subject competition was held to a high standard, so it followed the exact protocols of the college entrance exam.

Chen Zhao entered the exam hall, quickly found his seat, and sat down to wait for the papers to be distributed.

Once the other candidates were inside, Chen Zhao suddenly became very conspicuous.

The reason was simple: the other candidates' faces were turning pale and red by turns, fidgeting and rubbing their faces repeatedly, as if they were about to be led to the execution ground. Only Chen Zhao remained calm and composed, as relaxed as a tourist on an outing.

The proctor even took a few extra looks at Chen Zhao.

The two teachers whispered to each other:

"That student is really calm."

"He's probably a top-tier academic genius who has taken so many exams that he's seen it all; his nerves of steel are impressive."

"Or maybe he's just a slacker here to mess around, not expecting to score anything at all, so he's completely indifferent."

"We'll know once we see the work he does."

The broadcast began to play, listing the prohibitions against cheating and the severity of the penalties, and then the papers were handed out.

This session was Mathematics.

Chen Zhao received his exam paper and answer sheet, took two deep breaths to adjust his state, and began to look at the questions.

As expected, it was worthy of a competition; the difficulty was sky-high. The very first question was sixteen lines long, practically a short essay.

If this were Chen Zhao's first time encountering competition problems, he would surely have been at a loss seeing such a long and convoluted question.

However, times had changed. Chen Zhao had already devoured a massive amount of past competition papers and had seen every type of trick in the book. Coupled with the 400 IQ granted by the system, his current mathematical level could be described as "extremely strong." In a mere middle school competition, there wasn't a single problem that could stump him!

After a mere ten seconds of thought, Chen Zhao had already figured out the solution to the first part and began to write, his pen flying across the scratch paper. In no time at all, a dozen lines of steps were already written on the answer sheet.

Meanwhile, the other students in the hall held their pens, unable to put them to paper.

Most of the candidates were stunned. They knew competition problems were hard, but only when facing them in the exam hall did they realize they were this damn difficult! It was like reading a heavenly script!

Some had already read the question three times but still didn't understand what they were supposed to solve!

Others were slightly better off; they understood the question, but had absolutely no idea how to solve it!

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Some, in an attempt to save time, chose to do the questions they knew first. They read one, realized they couldn't do it, and moved to the next. They still couldn't do it, so they kept going... before they knew it, they had looked through the entire paper... and there wasn't a single question they knew how to solve!

Chen Zhao was very focused; he didn't pay attention to anyone else in the hall and kept his head down, working on his own.

First question, done!

Second question, done!

Third question, done!

Chen Zhao became the most eye-catching person in the hall again. Almost no one else was writing; everyone was staring at their papers like statues, but Chen Zhao's pen barely stopped, constantly writing, writing, writing!

The proctors looked at Chen Zhao with bewildered expressions.

They proctored this middle school subject competition every year, and the questions were always ridiculously hard. Basically, for most of the time in any given hall, no one was writing. Occasionally, a student would have a flash of inspiration and solve one problem, but they would only write for a little while before finishing. Someone like Chen Zhao, who started writing shortly after the papers were handed out and had been going for over ten minutes, was something they had never seen or heard of!

The two proctors whispered:

"That student has been writing for fifteen minutes; he's really something!"

"I reckon he'll stop in twenty minutes at most."

"I think a bit longer, maybe twenty-five minutes."

Fifteen minutes, Chen Zhao kept his head down, working.

Twenty minutes, head down, working.

Twenty-five minutes, his pen tip was still flying!

Thirty minutes, without the slightest sign of hesitation, Chen Zhao was working in full swing, and he had already used up an entire side of his scratch paper!

At this point, the situation in the hall remained largely the same. Most students had fallen into despair. They had thought that if they struggled for a while, they might be able to solve one or two problems, but a full half-hour had passed, and most of them hadn't solved a single one!

Only a handful of students hesitantly moved their pens, wrote for two or three minutes, and then stopped, staring at the questions in frustration again.

Most of the proctors' attention was focused on Chen Zhao. They couldn't help it; this candidate was simply too brilliant. While everyone else was tearing their hair out and turning red with anxiety, only Chen Zhao remained calm and collected, writing away as if he had everything under control.

The shock in the hearts of the two proctors was indescribable, and they couldn't help but whisper to each other:

"This student is truly amazing!!"

"He's been writing for half an hour and hasn't stopped yet. Look at that answer sheet, he's already filled up a huge amount!"

"I've never seen a student like this before. Do you think he can last forty-five minutes?"

"He shouldn't have any problem; I'm afraid he might even make it to an hour."

"Sigh, why couldn't we have produced such an outstanding student ourselves?"

"Forget about the students we've taught; even our own sons and daughters aren't this impressive!"

Chen Zhao didn't even lift his head. Unaware that the teachers on the podium were discussing him, he simply kept his head down and focused on his work.

Chen Zhao was feeling anxious now. The volume of questions on this paper was simply too large; at this rate, there was a high chance he wouldn't be able to finish!

He had no choice but to write as fast as he could and do as much as possible. He had heard that scoring twenty or thirty points in the preliminary round was enough to advance. Chen Zhao estimated that the questions he had already completed were approaching thirty points. If he could finish a few more, advancing shouldn't be a problem. Still, it was better to aim for as high a score as possible.

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