522. Choosing a School

"An extraordinary event has occurred, triggering riots and demonstrations in various countries!"

Ancient God? Aliens? The world's deepest secrets, are you ready?

"The Secrets of the Extraordinary! Deciphering Mysterious Phenomena Around the World!"

This is insane!

The internet is going crazy!

Ximen Ping stared intently at the screen. Ever since the Britain were exposed, other countries had successively announced extraordinary occurrences, and the whole world seemed to have become bizarre and fantastical.

"See... do you see? It's true... I was right."

A Yun sent me a voice message, so excited she was incoherent.

"Yes... you're right! My worldview has been shattered and needs fixing."

Ximen Ping replied with a voice message.

"Forget about values and morals... Damn, all the temples and monasteries here are packed... Those monks and Daoist priests have all announced they're not taking any more disciples... This is outrageous!"

A Yun replied quickly, though with a hint of frustration.

"I feel like... is the end of the world coming? Should I go buy some food and water?"

After discussing it with his best friends and classmates, Ximen Ping finally went out shopping with his mother. Compared to other countries, the order in Xia Country was quite good, somewhat like the extremely popular Spring Festival shopping season, with supermarket shelves being completely emptied.

This scene continued for more than a week.

Later, when he saw the mountains of supplies piled up at home, while the supermarket owner was still smiling and instructing his employees to stock up, Ximen Ping began to understand what was going on.

The extraordinary seems to be real.

But Blue Star continued to function as usual, and there was no apocalypse.

It's the same as it was before, and it's the same now.

On the contrary, his end has come!

"Ding! Candidate Ximen Ping, student ID ***, College Entrance Examination Scores: Chinese 88, Mathematics 91, English 66, Science Comprehensive 150..."

Listening expressionlessly to the electronic female voice on the phone, Ximen Ping accurately sensed two murderous auras emanating from behind him.

His grades have always been good; he can at least secure second place and strive for first.

However, this year's college entrance exam results were clearly a disaster; the ranking was simply appalling, only good enough for a third-tier university.

"Dad, Mom... let me explain! Ah!!"

The sorrowful boy's piercing screams echoed continuously within the apartment building.

night.

"Waaah... I messed up. Now I have two options: either go to New Oriental or repeat a year of high school."

Ximen Ping huddled under the covers, confiding in his best friend A Yun.

"At this point, you're still going to take the college entrance exam?"

A Yun typed rapidly. "Let me tell you, I've already gone to East City and found a martial arts gym with real skills, called New Moon Fight Club... There was an attack before, and the video of the fight was like something out of a movie, but unfortunately it was censored online, though it's all over the place. I know the gym owner, Cheng Feng, he must have some real skills, I'm definitely going to become his apprentice!"

I really envy you.

Ximen Ping said enviously, "But I don't want to repeat a year, not even if you beat me to death! I'll go to New Oriental... It seems the country is heavily supporting culinary arts programs now, with generous subsidies."

"I can't stand you anymore... I'm not talking to you anymore, I signed up for the hellish intensive training, it's exhausting..."

A Yun lost contact.

Ximen Ping held his phone, speechless for a long time.

The one who's most heartbroken when they fail an exam is actually themselves.

Only in the dead of night does this pain slowly erupt, keeping him awake at night.

However, as heartbroken and in pain as he was, he absolutely refused to repeat a year of high school. He was terrified of the senior year and feared that he would lose his hairline and go bald at such a young age.

"I guess I'll have to find a decent third-tier university... sigh..."

He went online and casually browsed the admission brochures of some third-tier universities.

Compared to the legitimate names of first- and second-tier universities, third-tier universities come in all shapes and sizes, with many fake universities masquerading as such. Some even lack proper accreditation and their diplomas are not recognized, all in an attempt to scam money, leaving unsuspecting students and parents heartbroken.

Having read too much news about Ximen Ping, I'm still wary of this tactic and only check the official website of the Education Bureau.

He was overwhelmed by the sheer number of colleges he had visited.

He scrolled through the screen quickly and finally reached the end.

"This is such a dilemma... where should I go to school?"

Ximen Ping complained, then suddenly his pupils contracted. "Huh? This wasn't there a few minutes ago... how come another school has appeared?"

He had seen it clearly just now: previously, the last place on the list of three colleges was ' Dawn Information Institute ', but now, suddenly, another institution appeared below it— 'East City Mystery Academy '!

"Could I have accidentally visited a fake website?"

Ximen Ping rubbed his eyes, logged out of the website and logged back in. He carefully checked the web address and found that he hadn't entered a fake website. The original third-tier college had actually become an additional option, and it was even the rather strangely named ' Mystery Academy '!

"Is it fake?"

He climbed out of bed, turned on the desk lamp, and flipped through the paper application materials, confirming that this college was not on the list of books!

'It's not in the book, but it's on the official website. Is it newly established? Has it not even had time to be included in the print list, yet it's already jumping the queue for this year's college entrance exams? How much influence must it have...? How could such a powerful college have no publicity at all? Just hanging there like it's unloved.'

Ximen Ping narrowed his eyes suspiciously, feeling that he had discovered a flaw!

"It's definitely a fake; they even hacked the official website!"

However, he was too energetic to sleep, so he idly flipped through the school directory for a while, and finally couldn't resist searching for the East City Mystery Academy online.

Enter the term, and the search results appear quickly; the first result is the school's official website.

After clicking on it, the layout and design were truly an eyesore. It had the feel of being shoddy work outsourced to a third-rate studio, or perhaps the kind of work that the studio outsourced to a university professor, who then subcontracted it to graduate students, who then gave it to undergraduates as homework!

"Is it fake? This must be fake, right?"

Ximen Ping saw in the campus introduction:

"East City Mystery Academy is a private mystical university that recruits students worldwide. It offers majors in mysticism, magical biology, herbal identification, and culinary arts. We hope to cultivate sufficiently outstanding extraordinary individuals to help young extraordinary individuals better master their powers and make the world a better place—Principal Bai Jing."

"A university that trains extraordinary individuals? If A Yun knew, wouldn't he cry his eyes out? It turns out that what he's been searching for all along was right beside him..."

Ximen Ping muttered to himself, "Of course... it's more likely to be a fake!"

The next day, unable to sleep all night and sporting dark circles under his eyes, Ximen Ping immediately dialed the local education bureau after work hours. "Hello, I'd like to ask if there's a third-tier college called East City Mystery Academy?"

What are you talking about?

A lazy, yawning voice came from the other end of the phone. "What Mystery Academy? I've never even heard of it... Wait, wait a minute, there really is one! According to the latest documents, there's a private school with that name. Because it was just established this year, the information is only available online; the textbook application materials won't be updated until next year..."

Snap!

Ximen Ping's phone fell to the ground, his mouth agape like a toad struck by lightning. "It's... it's true!"