Chapter 46: Identity Changes
Some people's status changed after just one day apart. Su Bai's changed after a week.
As he walked across campus, a large crowd of male and female students surrounded him. Some were from his class, some from other classes, and there were even younger students from the first and second years.
Every one of them looked up to Su Bai!
"Wow, it's Su Bai!"
"Su Bai, Su Bai, give me your autograph!"
"Tsk, tsk. Who would've thought the champion of the Campus Tournament was my classmate?"
"Yeah, Su Bai and Xueqing were so cool on the stage!"
"Hehe, I wonder when I'll get to become a ninja?"
There were simply too many people in front of him, so Su Bai had no choice but to fulfill their requests one by one, signing his name on their clothes.
"I've decided. I'm never washing this shirt again. I'm going to treasure it forever!"
"Me too! Now I can brag to everyone!"
The two students touched their uniforms and walked away, satisfied.
Off in the distance,
Wang Qiang and a few of his lackeys watched Su Bai from afar without approaching.
"Brother Qiang, are you really going to do this? It's so humiliating!"
"Yeah, Brother Qiang. I don't think Su Bai holds a grudge against you. He's probably already forgotten about what happened, right?"
Wang Qiang listened to the two lackeys, then silently glanced at them.
"He may have forgotten, but I haven't."
After saying this, he waited until most of the crowd had dispersed, then walked over to Su Bai.
"Damn, Su Bai, did you take some kind of strength-enhancing pill? How are you so strong?" Lin Hu slapped Su Bai hard on the shoulder with his big hand, disbelief in his eyes.
The champion of the Campus Tournament!
It was an honor he could never achieve, even if he worked at it for ten lifetimes. But his buddy seemed like a completely different person now—an absolute beast!
The Campus Tournament was a school competition for all of Yang City, and hardly any students had missed it. Lin Hu hadn't missed a single match that day; he'd watched the whole thing.
The moment he saw his buddy walk onto the stage, he'd been completely stunned!
After rubbing his eyes several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he hurriedly called his parents over to watch too, cheering Su Bai on through the television!
Then, when he saw Su Bai defeat Wen Yuanyuan by an overwhelming margin and secure the victory for their two teams, he could hardly believe that was his buddy!
Su Bai pulled his hand away and said helplessly, "What strength-enhancing pill? I worked hard for this, all right?"
"Damn, you're seriously unreal!"
Lin Hu marveled. Now he believed even more strongly that a genius could be made through hard work.
The two were just about to head to the classroom when—
"Su Bai."
A calm voice called out to him. Su Bai turned and saw Wang Qiang, and his brows immediately furrowed.
"What? Still not satisfied?"
"No, you've misunderstood. That's not what I mean." Wang Qiang walked up to Su Bai and did something he never would have expected.
He bowed and apologized to Su Bai. "I'm sorry. I was in the wrong that day. I hope you can forgive me."
Wow!
The students who hadn't left yet were astonished by Wang Qiang's gesture. They couldn't believe this was really him.
Wang Qiang's behavior was completely unlike his usual self. There wasn't a trace of his usual arrogance and bullying; instead, he seemed utterly sincere.
Su Bai was stunned for a moment, then his brows relaxed.
"Heh, we're all classmates. It's in the past, so let's leave it there."
"Thank you."
Wang Qiang straightened up, his expression sincere.
He had spent two whole days hesitating over whether to apologize to Su Bai, but in the end, he'd decided to set his pride aside.
For one thing, his father had insisted for some reason that he apologize in person. For another, he'd wanted to do it himself.
The champion of the Yang City Campus Tournament was practically guaranteed a place at Nine Provinces Academy, and anyone who graduated from Nine Provinces Academy would be at least a Chunin!
His father had some influence at City Hall, but Wang Qiang knew that was nothing compared to a Chunin!
Forget about Su Bai's future accomplishments—even what he'd achieved already was enough to make Wang Qiang look up to him.
He might usually be arrogant and domineering, but he wasn't stupid. He knew he must never offend someone like that!
Su Bai smiled and left with Lin Hu, leaving behind a group of stunned classmates and Wang Qiang, the man at the center of it all...
It was the day of the college entrance exams. Yangcheng No. 1 High School had once produced students who went on to attend Nine Provinces Academy, making it a prestigious school. As in previous years, Yang City had designated it as one of the exam sites.
After their homeroom teacher, Old Wang, spent some time praising Su Bai and Xia Xueqing in the classroom, he led everyone to the sports field.
This was one of the college entrance exam sites. The exams were divided into two parts: the ninja assessment and the academic exam.
Students took the ninja assessment first. Those who passed could go on to take the academic exam, though they didn't have to.
Although Magic Beasts had invaded and ninjas held far higher status than ordinary people, students still couldn't neglect their academic studies.
After all, society couldn't function with ninjas alone. Besides, modern firearms could still be used against Magic Beasts below Class A, so they couldn't be ignored!
However, students who passed the ninja assessment had already met the requirements for university admission. Taking the academic exam wouldn't make a difference; they were bound to follow the ninja path in the future.
Su Bai had to take the exam too.
Although he'd been given a guaranteed place, taking the college entrance exam was still an essential part of the process. That was why he'd been worried in prison: he feared Nine Provinces Academy might reject him because of it.
On the sports field,
"There are so many people."
"Yeah, so many."
Xia Xueqing stood prettily beside Su Bai. The two looked at the two or three thousand students before them and couldn't help sighing.
In the open space directly ahead stood a "Chakra" testing machine, taller than a person and fitted with a large screen. Several government employees surrounded it, keeping it separate from the students.
Su Bai knew what it was. Students simply had to hold the orb on the machine and channel chakra into it, and it would measure their Chakra Level.
Although universities only cared about students' mastery of the Three Body Technique and had no chakra requirements, there were exceptions.
For example, some students could refine chakra particularly quickly but were a little slow at learning ninjutsu, so they didn't meet the admission requirements.
In that case, the university would assess the student's potential. If they thought the student was suitable, they would still accept them.
All universities were now run by the government. The privately run diploma mills of the past had all disappeared. After all, students were the Federal Government's fresh blood for the future, so they couldn't afford to be careless.
At that moment, Su Bai spotted someone familiar in the crowd and called out directly.
"Brother Chu!"
"Su Bai? Xia Xueqing?"
Chu Yuan had been discussing something with a staff member. Hearing Su Bai call out, he immediately walked over and punched him on the shoulder!
"You rascal, you really surprised me!"
He'd watched the Yang City Campus Tournament too. That day, he'd just gotten back from the Wasteland Zone. After handing the Magic Beast corpses over to the Hunter Guild, he'd had nothing to do, so he turned on the television—and saw Su Bai right away.
At first, just like Blue Hong, the Combat Gym's consultant, he hadn't had much faith in Su Bai. He'd thought Su Bai was tagging along with the Xia Family's young princess, Xia Xueqing, and Chang Rui, the deputy mayor's daughter, to rack up some points.
But then...
"Not bad, tsk, tsk." Chu Yuan sized Su Bai up and exclaimed, "You've got at least eight or nine cards of chakra now, right? How'd you manage that?"
"Heh, refining chakra has felt a lot easier these past few days."
Su Bai gave a vague answer. Chu Yuan was surprised, but didn't find it unreasonable.
Many students only entered a period of rapid growth after becoming Genin. Someone like Su Bai was rare, but not unheard of.
"Maybe your control over chakra has improved," Chu Yuan said casually, then began chatting with him.
The other students looked at Su Bai and Chu Yuan in surprise. They hadn't expected the two to be so close, and Su Bai's image became even more mysterious in their eyes.
Chapter 47: Xia Xueqing's Astonishing Growth
"Lou Shang, Chakra Level: 0.24 cards, Three Body Technique: pass..."
"Gu Bei, Chakra Level: 0.41 cards, Three Body Technique: fail..."
"Xiong Nan, Chakra Level: 0.19 cards, Three Body Technique: fail..."
"Yu Ci, Chakra Level: 0.63 cards, Three Body Technique: pass..."
"Kong Xin, Chakra..."
At the center of the sports field,
Seven or eight government employees called out students' names one by one. After hearing their names, the students had their Chakra Level measured on the testing machine, then demonstrated the Three Body Technique in front of everyone. The entire assessment took place under everyone's watchful eyes, so cheating was impossible.
Su Bai's class was assigned to Exam Site No. 2. The Yang City authorities had set up ten exam sites on the sports field, and they could announce the results for two or three thousand students in a single morning.
The exam had been underway for more than two hours, and it was almost time for his class.
"I'm so nervous. I wonder if I'll pass."
"Ugh, I still can't get the Substitution Technique right. It works sometimes and fails other times. I hope I can do better than usual in a minute!"
"Haha, I'm a little luckier. I just mastered the Three Body Technique two days ago!"
"Looks like this year's results are pretty good. Judging by the students ahead of us, the pass rate's around thirty percent, one or two points higher than in previous years."
"Yeah. If I still can't get into university after this, I'm completely doomed."
Su Bai overheard the students ahead of him talking, and an inexplicable sense of how much things had changed welled up inside him.
Just over a week ago, he'd been just like most of his classmates, anxious about the college entrance exam.
But now, in just a week, that anxiety had vanished. Instead, he felt completely calm. The exam felt as natural and easy as drinking water.
As Su Bai was musing to himself, a voice pulled him back to the present.
"Wang Qiang, Chakra Level: 1.06 cards, Three Body Technique: pass!"
A black-clad examiner cheerfully handed Wang Qiang the form.
"Congratulations. You're the first student taking the exam today to reach Genin-level chakra."
Wang Qiang took the form without expression and turned to leave. If he'd gotten this result just over a week ago, he might have felt proud of himself. Now, though, he found it meaningless.
There was only one reason: compared to Su Bai, he was nothing.
But his classmates had no idea what he was thinking. They were all stunned by his result!
"Wow, Wang Qiang's amazing! He's reached Genin level!"
"That's rare. Has anyone at our school gotten a result like that in the past two years?"
"Mm-hm. The best result last year was only 0.96 cards. I can't believe Wang Qiang broke the record!"
"Tch, what's there to be jealous of? His family's so rich that he can eat Magic Beast meat every day to strengthen his body. If I had those resources, I could do it too!"
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