There was one month left until the college entrance exam.
In the senior-year building of Spring City No. 13 Middle School, the atmosphere was like a string stretched to its limit.
Even the students who chased each other around the corridors had disappeared. Whenever someone ran past, they were carrying a stack of test papers, their expression hurried.
The final full-scale mock exam began in this atmosphere.
Exam rooms were assigned by grades.
This time, Cheng Che was assigned to exam room one, in the second row by the window.
The classroom was filled with regulars in the top thirty of their year, each radiating a brooding air of "you'd better not mess with me."
Cheng Che sat in his seat, spinning his pen as he waited for the papers.
When he received the math paper, one glance was enough for him to know what he was dealing with.
"Activate."
[Total Concentration activated. Current stamina can sustain it for approximately 4 hours.]
Four hours.
That was Total Concentration's maximum duration after his stamina reached 70.
It was enough to handle the college entrance exam.
He raised his pen and began answering.
The rhythm in exam room one was completely different from that of an ordinary exam room.
Once the papers were handed out, the classroom held only the soft scratching of pen tips against paper, with an occasional rustle of turning pages, quiet and restrained.
But today, some of that scratching stopped several times.
Because people were looking at Cheng Che.
The boy sitting by the window was answering the questions far too easily.
Everyone else had their brows tightly knitted, as though facing a formidable enemy, but he looked as if he were writing out a textbook passage from memory. When his pen occasionally paused, it was only to stretch his wrist.
Sunlight sliced in through the window, lighting half his face. His lashes were lowered, his lips lightly pressed together. He was outrageously good-looking.
Even several proctors found themselves giving him an extra glance or two.
After the math exam, Cheng Che returned to Class Five's classroom.
Before he had even settled into his seat, Guo Xin rushed over, clutching a crumpled sheet of scratch paper, his eyes shining:
"Brother Che! Let's check answers! Quick! For the first part of the last big question, was it negative square root of three over two?"
Lin Xiao turned around too, set her scratch paper on the desk, and looked at him eagerly.
Hearing the words "check answers," several nearby classmates crowded around at once.
Cheng Che smiled helplessly and took his test paper out of his desk drawer.
"Let's start with the third question from the end." He turned to the corresponding page. "B. You all got that one right, didn't you?"
Some let out a breath of relief; others pulled long faces.
"What about question five?"
"D."
"Fuck, I picked C..."
"If you picked C, you fell into the trap. The question asked which one 'could not be.' Look, you can derive all three of the other options, but not D."
The student slapped his forehead. "I'm such a dumbass."
They checked their answers quickly.
Cheng Che's answers became the answer key, because his explanations were clear and his reasoning concise.
Even Zhou Mingxuan rose from his seat and walked to the edge of the crowd with his arms folded, listening intently.
Quite a few girls mingled with the crowd, saying, "I'm here to check answers," though who knew where their eyes were looking.
Some were looking at Cheng Che's face.
Some were looking at the gentle bob of his Adam's apple as he spoke.
Others were staring at the hands holding his pen.
Long, clean, with well-defined knuckles, they held the pen as though he were playing the piano.
Several girls with a thing for hands stared so hard that they even forgot which questions they had meant to ask.
"You're drooling," a girl beside one of them whispered.
"Huh?" The hand-loving girl instinctively wiped her mouth.
"No, I was kidding. But keep staring and you really will."
After they finished checking answers, Guo Xin bent his head over his calculations for several minutes, then suddenly let out a howl:
"125! I can get 125! I only got 113 last time! That's twelve points higher!"
He slapped the desk in delight, then turned to shake Cheng Che by the shoulders:
"Brother Che! Sitting next to you and Lin Xiao really did raise my grades! You two are my feng shui treasure land!"
Lin Xiao laughed at his antics and said quietly, "I improved a little from last time too."
"Of course you did!" Guo Xin grinned until his eyes narrowed to slits. "One extra point on the college entrance exam means knocking out a thousand people! We're improving as a team!"
Seeing them happy made Cheng Che happy too.
Back when his grades were poor, he had thought people who "helped their classmates" were just putting on an act.
Only now did he understand that helping the people around him improve really did bring a sense of accomplishment.
The two days of monthly exams passed quickly.
Two days later, during the first period.
Old Xu came in carrying his teacup, his steps lighter than usual, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
Seeing this, Guo Xin lowered his voice and said to Cheng Che, "Guess what happened to him. Did he win the lottery? Is he about to achieve financial freedom?"
Cheng Che was speechless. "Keep it down. Old Xu's glaring at you."
Beside them, Lin Xiao said softly, "Maybe we did well on this exam."
Lin Xiao had guessed right.
Old Xu stood at the lectern, set down his teacup, and swept his gaze around the class. Finally, his eyes settled on Cheng Che, and his smile deepened.
"In this monthly exam, someone in our class earned a perfect score."
The classroom erupted into a buzz.
"A perfect score? In math?"
"Who? Don't tell me it's Cheng Che again..."
"The only perfect score in the entire year!" Old Xu raised his voice and pointed toward Cheng Che. "Cheng Che, 150 points!"
"Holy shit!!"
"A perfect score! It really is a perfect score!"
"150 in math? Is he even human?"
Guo Xin was the first to clap. Then, as though contagious, the applause spread from the back rows to the entire class.
Even Zhao Lei clapped a few times.
A perfect score. The only one in their year.
What else was there to say? There was nothing to do but applaud.
Only after the applause stopped did Old Xu say slowly:
"We won't be putting the overall results on the bulletin board this time. Just pass them around and take a look so you know where you stand. The point of the last mock exam before the college entrance exam is to find problems, not fight over rankings."
As he spoke, he handed out the score sheet.
Cheng Che lowered his head to look.
Cheng Che, total score: 690. First in the class, second in the school.
He let out a soft breath.
Second in the school was already as far from his previous thirtieth place as heaven was from earth.
Just then, a ding sounded in his mind.
[Intelligence Trial: Second Stage: Among the best. Objective: Reach the top 10 in your year by total score in the next monthly exam and earn a perfect score in any one subject. Completed!] [Congratulations, host, on obtaining the passive talent "Comprehension by Analogy."] [Comprehension by Analogy: Once you master a skill or body of knowledge, your brain will automatically transfer its underlying logic to other fields. Thoroughly grasp the thinking behind one subject, and another will be within reach.] [Congratulations, host, on obtaining the item "Perfect Eye Drops."] [Perfect Eye Drops: After use, visual deterioration is reduced to zero. No aching, dryness, or blurred vision. The whites of your eyes will be like porcelain, your pupils deep and bright. Others will see a beautiful pair of eyes; you will see the essence of things.]
Cheng Che read through each message, an indescribable sense of satisfaction rising inside him.
Comprehension by Analogy-this talent was almost unreasonably powerful.
Once he thoroughly mastered math, that logical thinking could transfer directly to physics, chemistry, and even future tennis tactical analysis.
It meant that every time he truly mastered something, he would automatically gain a set of "subsidiary skills."
As for the Perfect Eye Drops...
Cheng Che was absolutely delighted.
His right eye had one diopter of nearsightedness. He could usually get by without glasses, but distant things always looked a little blurry.
This bottle of eye drops meant he would never have to worry about his eyesight for the rest of his life.
"I like this one best," he murmured.
Guo Xin leaned over to look at his score sheet. After a long silence, he suddenly sighed. "Brother Che, looks like we won't be going to the same university."
Cheng Che turned to look at him.
Guo Xin was unusually serious. "With those scores, Tsinghua or Peking University is practically guaranteed. Me? I'd be burning incense in thanks if I got into a second-tier university."
Cheng Che patted his shoulder. "Even if we can't go to the same school, we can still go to the same city."
Guo Xin's eyes lit up. "Where are you planning to go?"
Cheng Che thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Haven't decided. Once I do, you'll be the first to know."
"Deal! You said it!" Guo Xin instantly sprang back to life. "Pick a city, and I'll find whatever school I can near one you can get into. We can still game together on weekends."
Cheng Che smiled. "Okay."
That evening, Cheng Che returned home and slapped the score sheet onto the coffee table.
One look left Jiang Xue covering her mouth, speechless.
Cheng Jianguo picked it up and read it over and over. Finally, he leaned heavily back against the sofa, his expression so complicated that he seemed to be smiling and sighing at once.
"Son," he said, "you've changed so much in these past two months or so. If I hadn't been seeing you every day, I'd think you'd mutated."
"What kind of thing is that to say!" Jiang Xue slapped his arm. "Our son did well, and here you are spouting nonsense."
Cheng Jianguo chuckled. "I'm just marveling. 690 points. The ancestral graves of our Cheng family really are giving off blue smoke this time."
A little embarrassed by their reactions, Cheng Che used studying as an excuse to retreat to his room.
He sat at his desk and took out his phone.
On WeChat, the pig-head avatar was lit up.
[Yan Ruanning: Saw your results. Congratulations. A perfect score in math. Impressive.]
Cheng Che stared at the line of text, his finger hovering over the screen for a long while. In the end, he did not reply.
He turned off his phone and closed his eyes for a moment.
One more month.
Once the college entrance exam ended, everything could begin.