Swallowed Star

Volume 1 Chapter 6: Exams

One month before the exams, Luo Feng put almost all of his concentration into reviewing. As he took his practice exams, his confidence started increasing.

“I easily have a 90% chance of getting into Jiang-Nan’s number one military academy”

This was what Luo Feng thought.

※※※※※※

June 7th marks the beginning of exams. China’s exams go from June 7th-9th, which is the same time duration as before the Grand Nirvana period.

Zhi-An region’s first high school.

According to the rules, all of the exams will take place in this high school.

“Good luck, my daughter”

“No worries dad”

“Sweetie, don’t pressure yourself too much”

……

Outside of the high school’s gates was a huge, dense mob made up of high school exam takers and their parents. Also standing outside the gates was a row of police holding real, loaded guns.

“Feng, be at ease as you take the exam. Even if you don’t get into the top military academy, the runner up is just as fine. So relax!” Luo Hong Guo looked at his son and laughed.

“Ok” Luo Feng smiled and nodded his head.

[DRIP──DRIP──] followed a loud car. The car was completely black and had the aura of an aristocrat. It was the newest ‘Sprinting s600’ and had many police vehicles guarding it. As it approached the gate, the surrounding people made way for it; their gazes all focusing on that one car.

The newest ‘Sprinting S600’ only needed a mere six seconds to accelerate to 100 km/h. Its maximum speed could reach up to 500 km/h. Of course, this alone isn’t much. The ‘Sprinting S600’ is a brand carried from the Grand Nirvana period. In other words, its history is what makes it so attractive.

Only three people came out of the car, and they happily talked with each other as they walked towards the gate.

“The baldie on the left is the Chief of Police in our Zhi-An region”

“The guy on the right is the Board of Education’s head Liu”

“The one in the middle must be the ‘Fighter’ responsible for making sure the testing areas are safe.” Among the people watching, there is no doubt that most of the gazes landed upon the man in the middle. Their gazes were full of respect, excitement, and curiosity.

As of now, the fight between Man and Beast is still going on.

The average person is prohibited from leaving the city’s borders. However, fighters are the existence able to fight one on one against a beast. The entire human society is thankful towards them, thanking their hard work and contribution towards humanity. The average person naturally praises them.

The fighters are the superhuman group of humanity.

“So that’s a fighter” Luo Hong Guo was also looking at that man, “Every time there’s an exam, the responsibility of the safety of the grounds almost always falls upon the fighters.”

“Fighter”

Luo Feng looked over. The fighter had an aura that made your heart beat faster. His eyes were like a poisonous snake in a cold forest. He didn’t even smile once as he walked. Towards the Chief of Police and head Liu, he just slightly nodded his head at times. Clearly, he was too lazy to bother with them.

“Not too far in the future, I’ll also achieve the rank of ‘Fighter’!” Luo Feng thought to himself.

[KA~~ KA~~]

The high school’s large gate slowly opened.

Immediately a burst of sound came out: “It’s time to enter”

“Feng, it’s time to go in. Hurry and enter” Luo Hong Guo said right after. Gong Xin Lan also said, “Hurry and go. Mom will return home and make food for you. Your dad and brother will wait here until you finish your exam”

“Ok”

Luo Feng smiled and nodded his head.

“Brother” Luo Hua sat on his wheelchair and raised his fist. “Do your best!” Luo Hua said smiling.

“I’ll do my best!” Luo Feng also raised his fist.

As Luo Feng turned his head, everyone headed towards the gate and went through an inspection one by one.

※※※※※※

Inside the testing classroom, your examination certificate and ID are placed on the top right of your table for the examiner to inspect. After that, the tests were passed down.

“Year 2056 Jiang-Nan City High School Science Exam Version A”──the clearest line at the top of the page

“The first round is science!”

Luo Feng scanned the test in front of him until he reached the final few large problems at the end. As if he has seen them before, Luo Feng thought to himself “These problems aren’t that difficult. If these aren’t difficult enough, my advantage in science would be hard to demonstrate. I guess I can only focus and make sure I don’t lose any points at all.”

Luo Feng immediately buried his head and started writing.

……

There are three exams in the high school exam: science, liberal arts, and mathematics. Each exam is worth 250 points, leading to a total of 750 points possible.

Science refers to physics, chemistry and biology.

Liberal Arts refers to language, history, politics, and geography.

Mathematics naturally refers to just math.

Humanity after the Grand Nirvana period, especially during their battle with the monsters, desperately tried to advance in technology and increase their martial arts skill. Because of this, everyone realized the importance of ‘mathematics’. Anyone planning to achieve in the fields of computer science, biology, and physics needs to have a strong foundation in mathematics.

So──

Mathematics became more important in education. Luo Feng was a bit weak in liberal arts, but had an immense advantage in mathematics.

※※※※※※

June 7th: Science exams

June 8th: Liberal arts exams

In a blink of an eye, it’s already June 9th.

……

Inside the testing classroom, the mathematics exam has just been passed down.

“All that’s left is this mathematics exam” Luo Feng took in a deep breath, “The science exam wasn’t too hard, so I should’ve done pretty well on that. I also performed normally on my liberal arts exam. In other words, my grades for those two tests should be what I usually get. As long as I don’t mess up on this mathematics exam, I can get into Jiang-Nan’s number one military academy for sure.”

“I can do this!”

After encouraging himself, Luo Feng lowered his head and started the exam.

There was absolute silence throughout the classroom. Many of the student’s eyebrows started to wrinkle, which showed that the problems were quite difficult. Every year’s high school mathematics exam problems are never easy, as these are the problems that pick out the people to advance humanity’s technology.

“This is pretty hard” Even Luo Feng felt the difficulty, “Even harder than last year’s problems! However… the harder the better!”

If the problems were easy, those worse than Luo Feng at math would probably be able to get around 220 points. Luo Feng would only be able to get around 230 points, so his advantage isn’t really demonstrated.

However, if the problems are hard.

Luo Feng would probably be able to score around 210 points, while those worse than him would only be able to manage around 150 points. In this case, Luo Feng’s advantage is clearly shown.

[PA!] a breaking sound was heard.

The examiner immediately looked towards the sound’s direction, but it was a student who broke his ball point pen in his hand. This student wrinkled his eyebrow and clenched his teeth. As he stared at his exam, it was clear that it was much too difficult. After that, he threw his broken pen aside and took out another one, continuing his exam.

“From the student’s faces, I can tell that this year’s mathematics exam is really difficult” The examiner thought to himself.

Indeed, essentially every single person in the room had wrinkled eyebrows and were in deep, bitter thought. Many students were so nervous that tears started falling.

Students whose mathematics ability were already poor could only think….. Can’t do this problem, can’t do that problem, still can’t do this third problem….. The students were on the verge of collapse as they looked at this kind of exam.

※※※※※※

One hour later, testing classroom.

The time duration for the mathematics exam is 2.5 hours.

At this time, Luo Feng has already finished the ‘multiple choice’ and ‘fill in the blank’ questions. All that’s left are the ‘calculation’ problems. In the mathematics exam, the multiple choice and fill in the blank problems only added up to 90 points. The calculation problems (five large problems) added up to 160 points. Only these types of problems were able to clearly demonstrate the student’s mathematics ability.

“This is really difficult, I couldn’t even solve two of the fill in the blank problems” Luo Feng took in a deep breath, “Below are the calculation problems. This is where the most points are. Solving just one more would give 30, 40 more points!”

Out of the five calculation problems, four of them are worth 30 points, while the last one is worth 40 points.

“Hm?” Luo Feng was already faced with a challenge as he looked at the first calculation problem.

Luo Feng kept thinking and calculating on his scrap paper.

“Yes, change this part by a bit, reverse that, and now wouldn’t I be able to change that to the way I want?” A light flashed in Luo Feng’s eyes. Write! Write! Write! If you just think about it, this problem is actually quite easy to solve. Luo Feng easily finished the entire problem in one breath and then double checked his work.

“Yep, first problem done” Luo Feng looked at his watch on his left wrist and his heart jumped, “The first problem took me 20 minutes? I need to pick up the pace”

Luo Feng lowered his head and looked at the second problem.

After looking at it for a bit, Luo Feng felt that it was easy and started calculating on his scrap paper.

“Hm, not right”

Luo Feng felt like he wasn’t thinking in the right direction and wrinkled his eyebrow. As time passed, Luo Feng kept working at this problem, “Yea, it should be this way. But how would I prove the next proof?” Luo Feng’s brain was working rapidly.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry, I can’t waste too much time on this problem. How on earth can I prove this?” Luo Feng nervously thought.

At this time──

On Luo feng’s watch, the ‘Pulse’ number started rising.

120……125……130……140……150……

“I’m almost there. Just this proof and I can earn 30 points. How do I even solve this part?” Luo Feng was getting increasingly nervous. You must manage your time wisely in tests, but each mathematics calculation problem was worth a lot of points. Every high school student that wants to score well can’t miss too many of these problems.

At this time, Luo Feng was too focused on his test to notice his pulse meter.

160……170……180……

Luo Feng felt his pulse increasing, but thought that it was due to anxiety and didn’t pay it much attention.

[THUMP THUMP THUMP] Luo Feng suddenly felt like someone was pounding on his heart. His vision started getting hazy and he finally realized, “What’s wrong with me? Why does my heart hurt so much” Luo Feng lowered his head and looked at his pulse meter displayed on his watch.──

230!

This number changed the entire color of Luo Feng’s face. Ever since he entered a coma at 12 and bought this watch, he has never seen his heart rate go over 180.

“I can’t take this” Luo Feng felt as if his heart was going to beat out of his chest. His blood was surging as his heart rate increased and an indescribable amount of energy flowed into the depths of Luo Feng’s brain. Pain flowed from his brain──

“Ah, ah” Luo Feng couldn’t hold his voice in anymore.

“This student, do you have a problem?” The examiner ran towards Luo Feng and looked at him surprisingly.

Luo Feng at this time looked like he was about to bleed. His forehead and arm’s veins were bursting and even beating along with his heart. His entire body looked hideous.

“No,No──NO, slow down, slow down!” Luo Feng had a bad feeling of what was to come and was screaming in his thoughts, staring at his watch.

“236……242……251……!”

[THUMP THUMP THUMP]

His heart, like a huge drum, let out waves of a low sound. His blood continuously surged.

In his hazy vision, Luo Feng saw the number ‘268’ and the pain in his head caused him to collapse. As he was losing consciousness, he heard──

“This student, this student, wake up, wake up! Quick, call an ambulance!”