Choosing Gaokao applications

Qin Siyang had long since run out of patience. He wanted nothing more to do with Li Jingwen.

Every extra word he exchanged with her felt like another step into degradation.

Since ordinary words couldn't get his attitude across to that slow-witted zombie, he would be blunt and blast her with a grenade launcher.

Now she should understand that Qin Siyang was no longer the lapdog who obeyed her every whim.

Watching Li Jingwen's expression shift and grow uglier by the moment, Qin Siyang felt utterly relieved.

This time, his words had finally worked.

He strode toward the classroom.

Sure enough, Li Jingwen stopped pestering him and walked slowly behind him, alone.

Qin Siyang glanced back at her. She didn't even dare meet his eyes, merely staring down at the tiled path ahead, lost in some unknown thought.

Qin Siyang entered the classroom cheerfully, found the corner that belonged to him alone, plopped down, and began another day of zoning out.

His entanglement with Li Jingwen was over.

He wondered whether anyone would find out if he lied about his Sequence Ability. Did the Sequence Ability Management Bureau, which handled sequence registration, have technology that could detect Sequence Abilities?

He needed to plan this carefully.

Li Jingwen arrived in the classroom with a face as dark and sour as an eggplant slathered in sauce.

A glance at the carefree Qin Siyang only aggravated her further.

Seeing her expression, her girlfriends immediately gathered around and asked what had happened.

"Jingwen, what's wrong?"

"Yeah, you look like you're in a terrible mood. Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Li Jingwen was pretty and knew how to work people, so she had always been the center of their little circle.

Now that she was close to Zhou Yang, whose uncle had awakened a Sequence Ability, she had become the undisputed queen of their group.

Gritting her teeth, Li Jingwen said resentfully, "How did Qin Siyang find out about me and Zhou Yang?!"

Her girlfriends were dumbfounded too.

How had a blockhead like Qin Siyang suddenly wised up?

Hatred flashed in Li Jingwen's eyes. "There's no way he could have known! His attitude toward me did a complete about-face. Someone must have told him!"

"Was it one of you? Were you jealous of me and secretly told Qin Siyang?"

Li Jingwen swept her venomous gaze over her girlfriends.

But they only looked at one another, all wearing innocent expressions.

"Jingwen, you know I've never said a single word to Qin Siyang."

"Jingwen, you know how ugly I am. I can't compare to you, and I'll be relying on your help in the future. Why would I undermine you?"

"Exactly, Jingwen. Aren't you mistaken? We're all on your side. What would we gain by telling Qin Siyang about you? We can't even finish our homework anymore. Haven't we suffered enough?"

After listening to their defenses, Li Jingwen nodded. She really couldn't see any motive for her girlfriends to tell Qin Siyang.

They had also benefited from her taming Qin Siyang. There was no reason for them to hurt others without gaining anything themselves.

"Homework was my bridge to Zhou Yang, and breakfast was how I showed him my feelings. Now Qin Siyang has ruined everything!"

One of her girlfriends looked worried. "Jingwen, you know how bad we are at homework. We've always relied on you. We really can't help."

"Yeah, and now you don't have breakfast to give Zhou Yang either. You know what our families are like. We can't help you provide his breakfast."

"Right. Sometimes we don't even get breakfast ourselves. We really can't scrape together an extra portion for you. Maybe you could think of something yourself?"

Before Li Jingwen had even asked, her girlfriends hurried to distance themselves and make it clear that they couldn't offer any real help.

Her girlfriends only wanted to enjoy the benefits she brought them, with no intention of contributing anything.

She had long since stopped thinking much of them. Once she married Zhou Yang, she would definitely cut ties with them all.

She hadn't fallen out with them yet only because she still needed them to help brainstorm.

"Fine. I'll think of another excuse to get close to Zhou Yang."

"That's great! Jingwen, you can't let a young man with prospects like Zhou Yang slip away!"

"Exactly, Jingwen. You have so much going for you. You'll definitely get together with Zhou Yang!"

Li Jingwen was the prettiest among them and the best at handling people.

If she managed to land Zhou Yang, they would benefit too.

"If you get together with Zhou Yang, you might leave this dump on the edge of the Safe Zone and rise straight to the top!"

The moment the girl finished speaking, another girl beside her tugged at her, her eyes full of disgust, as though scolding her for speaking without thinking.

They would spend their entire lives on the edge of the Safe Zone. If Li Jingwen, their powerful connection, left and moved somewhere else, how would they ask her for help?

Li Jingwen ignored her girlfriends' petty schemes.

Everyone had their own calculations. None of them were fools.

If she had a chance to leave the outskirts of the Safe Zone, Li Jingwen would never pass it up. She had been raised to think that way.

A few words from her fair-weather friends wouldn't change that.

Still, the problem her girlfriends had raised was worth considering.

With breakfast and homework gone, what excuse could she use to approach Zhou Yang?

Zhou Yang wasn't an orphan who knew nothing of the world like Qin Siyang. His family was among the wealthiest in the school, and even the principal would greet him warmly.

Having studied how boys thought, Li Jingwen knew she couldn't simply throw herself at someone like Zhou Yang. Doing so would only disgust him.

But she genuinely couldn't think of a workable solution to her predicament just yet.

Li Jingwen ground her teeth. "It's all that damned Qin Siyang's fault!"

"If I catch the bitch who told him, I'll rip her mouth apart!"

Sitting in the back row, Qin Siyang naturally paid no more attention to Li Jingwen's affairs.

Right now, he simply felt free of his burdens.

That relief didn't last long.

Because he thought of Liu Dazhi again.

Qin Siyang suddenly remembered that he needed to go organize the books in the library.

He had nothing to learn here anyway, so he might as well go.

He arrived at the library.

"Teacher Zhu, I'd like to keep working here organizing the books. Would that be all right?"

The librarian was a kindly retired female teacher whom the school had rehired to manage the library.

Though called a library, it contained only three rows of shelves and a few small tables. It had been set up merely to pass Education Department inspections. There weren't any useful books inside, and few students came to borrow them.

Out of sympathy for Qin Siyang's circumstances, Teacher Zhu had offered him this poorly paid job, hoping to improve his life somewhat.

In Qin Siyang's memories of both his previous and current lives, Teacher Zhu was one of the few bright spots in his lonely school days.

"Of course. As long as you're willing, I'll always keep this book-organizing job open for you."

"Thank you, Teacher Zhu!"

"Go take care of your other things first. Come back after lunch. A little tidying will do."

Qin Siyang looked around the library. There were only one or two students and little to organize, so he nodded and decided to leave.

"All right, I understand. See you at noon."

"Study hard. Don't slack off. You might get into a college."

"I'll do my best."

After saying goodbye to Teacher Zhu, Qin Siyang returned to the classroom, planning to spend another day letting his mind wander during lessons.

But after hearing what the teacher was saying, he realized this lesson was different.

Today's class offered something new.

They were no longer covering outdated knowledge.

Instead, they were discussing Gaokao applications.

Qin Siyang was already in his final year of high school, with only six months until the Gaokao. The teachers had therefore set aside an entire day to explain the application process.

However, no one in Qin Siyang's class had any hope of entering higher education. In his view, the lesson was still meaningless-a complete waste of time.

"Students, in six months you'll take the Gaokao. After that, you'll fill out your applications and choose which of the colleges established by the United Government you want to apply to."

"The United Government hasn't established many colleges in our Safe Zone. There are only eight in total. Competition in the Gaokao is fierce. It's essentially thousands of troops trying to cross a single narrow bridge."

"Although most of you probably won't get into these eight colleges and will begin your lives in various parts of the Safe Zone after graduation, I still think it's necessary to take this opportunity to explain these colleges to you."

"First, these eight colleges are all for ordinary people like us. Sequence Ability Users cannot apply to them."

Qin Siyang was puzzled by this.

He didn't know much about college admissions.

He had only just learned that colleges were open exclusively to ordinary people.

Did that mean Sequence Ability Users couldn't continue their education after high school?

What would he do, then?

He needed a clear answer to this question.

So he immediately raised his hand.

"Qin Siyang, what's your question?"

"Sir, does that mean Sequence Ability Users have to hunt gods after graduating from high school?"

The teacher glared at Qin Siyang in irritation. "I'm discussing Gaokao applications, which concern you. Why bring up Sequence Ability Users, who have nothing to do with you? Sit down!"

Qin Siyang was asking about something that directly concerned him, so he certainly wouldn't give up. He continued, "But what if one of us awakens a Sequence Ability before the Gaokao? Maybe someone in our class will get that lucky!"

"What if? There's no 'what if'!"

Not a single student at this school had awakened a Sequence Ability to date. The teacher felt that explaining matters concerning Sequence Ability Users was an even greater waste of time than explaining applications.

The top student in the class might have a chance at further education through the Gaokao. But none of them had any hope of following the path of a Sequence Ability User.

Some things were simply destined. In five years, not one of the school's thousands of ordinary students or their ordinary parents had awakened a Sequence Ability. How could his class possibly be the exception?!

But the teacher's experience didn't reflect the students' thinking.

The students still had hopes for the future. Having endured little of society's harsh treatment, they tended to think highly of themselves. Qin Siyang's words had given them ideas too.

Just because it hadn't happened before didn't mean they couldn't be the lucky one!

So they joined Qin Siyang in asking, "Sir, please tell us!"

"Yeah, sir! We might really experience Sequence Ability Awakening!"

"Exactly! Didn't Zhou Yang's uncle suddenly awaken one?"

"Can you compare yourselves to Director Zhou?!" The teacher was furious at their wild fantasies.

Zhou Yang's uncle was the director of education for the nearby district. He hadn't been an ordinary person to begin with, so his experiencing Sequence Ability Awakening was perfectly reasonable.

After all, everyone knew that officials in United Government departments had a high rate of Sequence Ability Awakening.

But the students refused to give up, insisting that he explain where Sequence Ability Users went after the Gaokao.

He could only answer helplessly, "Besides the eight colleges for ordinary people like us, the United Government has also established over a hundred universities for Sequence Ability Users. Only students who experience Sequence Ability Awakening before the Gaokao can apply to these universities, and they only get one chance."

He had barely finished those two sentences before the classroom erupted again.

"Over a hundred?! Did I hear that right?!"

"Sequence Ability Users get over a hundred schools, but ordinary people like us only get eight?!"

"That's so unfair!"

"Quiet! Quiet! If you don't settle down, I won't explain any more!"

The teacher sternly restored order, then cast another disgusted glance at Qin Siyang, who had started it all.

Qin Siyang completely ignored the warning. He was thrilled by what he had heard.

This was the first time he had learned about higher education for Sequence Ability Users.

He had thought their only destination after awakening was hunting gods outside the Safe Zone. He hadn't expected that they could continue their studies!

Sure enough, this world already had an education system for Sequence Ability Users!

But he had never seen any posts about their schooling on [Godslayer Camp]. Why was that?

Qin Siyang set his questions aside for now and continued listening to the teacher.

"Sequence Ability Users also take an assessment similar to the Gaokao, organized by the Sequence Ability Management Bureau. It tests their sequences and skills, then gives them a score."

"Once they have that score, they can apply to the universities they prefer. If a university accepts them, they can continue their studies there."

"All right, there's no point telling you much more. If any of you are curious, you can visit the [Sequence Education] forum. There are plenty of relevant posts there."

Understanding dawned on Qin Siyang.

He had been looking on the wrong forum.

No wonder it only explained God-Hunting.

If he got the chance, he would have to check out this forum.

[Sequence Education]?

He could try looking at it the next time he went to the Internet Cafe.

No, wait. He couldn't go to the Internet Cafe anymore.

Liu Dazhi's hateful face surfaced in his mind again.

Qin Siyang couldn't stop thinking about Liu Dazhi.

So much so that he had imagined countless ways for Liu Dazhi to die.

He could hardly wait to put them into practice.