Chapter 125: The First Round, Deputy Section Chief

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The college entrance examination consists of eight minor subjects: Chinese, Mathematics, Biology, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Programming, and History.

Although they are all minor subjects, their status differs. The first four are worth 75 points each, and the latter four are worth 50 points each, for a total of 500 points. The examination order follows a dual-subject format: Chinese and History, Mathematics and Programming, Biology and Chemistry, and Geography and Physics.

Therefore, the very first subject is Chinese, the most critical exam that will determine whether Ye Chao scores 470 or 500 points in the humanities track.

Ye Chao breezed through the initial multiple-choice questions, the recitation of famous quotes and poems, and the reading comprehension section.

For instance—"Take a gamble, and a bicycle might turn into a motorcycle."

For instance—"If heaven had not birthed the Master, the ages would be as long, dark nights."

For instance—"With Peppa Pig tattooed on your back, give a round of applause to a real player."

For instance—"Hoeing crops under the noon sun, sweat drips into the soil beneath. Who knows that the food on the plate? Actually contains poison!"

For instance—"During the Qingming Festival, the rain falls in a drizzle, a lonely soul feels like breaking apart; asking where to find a beauty, the shepherd boy points toward Sanlitun."

His vast reading and astonishing memory allowed Ye Chao to answer at lightning speed, without a single error.

In truth, reading comprehension was usually where he was prone to mistakes, but in this era, books were scarce, and he had read so many that the teachers' exam questions rarely fell outside his scope of knowledge. It was essentially an open-book test, so he almost never made a mistake.

Soon, he reached the part that determined the critical points: the essay!

This year, the topic was quite conventional: "An Unforgettable Day."

Ye Chao did not slow down. After a moment of thought, he put pen to paper: "An Unforgettable Day, to me... implies every single day since I was three years old, because I was born with a rather good memory; there are many things I cannot forget even if I want to."

"They say others are not like this, and I noticed this when they asked me for help with questions. However, what it feels like to not be able to remember certain things is truly hard to understand..."

"I will start writing from the first day I have a memory."

"It was June 8, 2038, also the month of the college entrance exam. At that time, the sky was not yet very blue, there were still many people, Jiangcheng was in the middle of building the Upper District, and my father's plant chemistry work was not yet too severe, he..."

Ye "Truly Unforgettable" Chao.

"How is this for an essay?" Ye Chao asked Alpha Ji with full confidence. He had barely managed to refrain from saying that the examiner's topic was flawed!

Alpha Ji covered her eyes, unable to bear the sight. She finally understood why Ye Chao often failed his composition assignments.

This was beyond saving; it was truly beyond saving. However, on the other side, it felt like there was someone who might still be salvageable...

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Three hours, two exams, 125 points.

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In a college entrance exam with a total of 1600 points, although this is a small portion, the volume of questions is not insignificant.

Some, like Ye Chao, finished the papers in mere tens of minutes and doodled on their scrap paper out of boredom.

Some finished the papers and began to meditate with their eyes closed, tempering their abilities—during the exam, candidates are strictly forbidden from leaving the testing room unless they forfeit—as "New Humans" who cannot control their bladder sphincter do not qualify for advanced studies.

Others stumbled through their answers, stuttering and struggling. With the collection time approaching and many questions still unresolved, they began spinning pencils, shaking erasers, and praying to various passing deities.

There were also those keen on leaning back and forth to borrow answers from others, playing a game of wits with the invigilators.

It was the apocalypse, and people had superpowers; naturally, there was no shortage of those using their abilities to cheat...

The key was that the handling of cheating was different from before the natural disasters; they wouldn't be kicked out or banned from the exam, but the subject in which they cheated would simply be scored as zero.

Before the natural disasters, this would have been a grave matter, basically ending all prospects, but after the disasters, there were so many subjects, and everyone often failed anyway; missing twenty or thirty points in one or two subjects didn't really have much of an impact.

Although the punishment was not heavy, the invigilators were from other high schools. Since it involved performance evaluations and career paths, they would catch anyone they could; they wouldn't let a single one slide.

In short, many risked cheating, and those with the skill to avoid being caught were considered talented.

Oh, of course, there were also people like Fang Ju...

"Collecting papers! Collecting papers!" When the teacher shouted this, he jolted up as if from a deathbed, his scream shattering the silence of the room: "Ah, ah, I fell asleep? How did I fall asleep! I only finished a little bit..."

The No. 1 High School invigilator stared at him strangely, forcibly pulling out the paper that was filled with dense writing and, surprisingly, seemed to have a high accuracy rate.

"Eh, did I finish?" Fang Ju scratched his head in confusion. "Did I... have a nightmare? It was so scary, it scared me to death!"

Ye Chao and Alpha Ji looked at him kindly, smiling without a word.

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Once an exam was finished, came the most exciting part: comparing answers.

Those who did poorly were on pins and needles, both afraid and desperate to know, worried about being wrong yet hoping to be right, as jittery as stock investors waiting for the market to open.

Those who did well were also feigning misery, saying they got this or that question wrong while gloating at the real misfortune of others...

Thus, it often happened that even after everyone compared answers and seemed to have the same results, when the scores came out, it was only they themselves who had failed.

Of course, there were also those with firm characters who could resist the urge to compare answers.

However, scenes of a normal exam were completely absent in Ye Chao's testing room and class.

Because Ye Chao was too lazy to deal with such things, he had developed a good habit since childhood: after finishing the paper, he would post the standard answers on the blackboard, and anyone who wanted to check could go and look.

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A great joy in life was thus stripped away...

It was no wonder that before Ye Chao was taken as a disciple by the "Imaginary Number Master," his popularity was so pathetic it would bring one to tears.

In short, the two days, four rounds, and eight subjects of exams passed—for some it was like years, for others it was like a fleeting arrow...

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Meanwhile, the Jiangcheng college entrance exam venue was set up under the watchful eyes of the masses.

Everything that needed to be laid out was laid out, areas that needed clearing were cleared, all necessary markings were made, and the entire city of Jiangcheng took on a brand-new look. Essentially, they had redecorated the whole city in the name of the "Sports Games."

Anyway, with superpowers, it didn't cost much...

The biggest changes were on the first, second, and third levels of the city, as well as the circular plazas above, which were originally important zones for the garrison and only opened on holidays or special occasions. Now, they were all converted into athletic fields.

The lowest level had a maximum diameter of over 820 meters and a ring width of 80 meters. A single lap of the circular track was about 2500 meters, meaning a 10,000-meter run required only four laps. Together with the staircases leading to the middle level and the main cross-streets on the same level, it served as the primary venue for long-distance running and medium-to-long-distance straight-line races.

The middle level had a maximum diameter of 660 meters and a ring width of a full 130 meters. Although the diameter was slightly smaller, its area was the largest of the three plazas. Consequently, it was cut into many sectors, primarily accommodating short-distance sprints and miscellaneous track and field events like strength, throwing, and ball games.

The top level had a maximum diameter of 400 meters and a width of 160 meters. It was the smallest in area but had the best view. The rostrum was located here, serving as the stage for comprehensive combat zones, including empty-handed martial arts, weapons, and shooting performances.

The outermost perimeter was a crenellated wall, followed by spectator and pet seating, then the track and field stadium, the inner ring of spectator and pet seating, and beyond that, the inner wall and the dense layout stacked layer upon layer from bottom to top, reminiscent of the jokes in "Selling Fake Tickets"...

Surrounding the crowded competition field, stands, and aisles were forests of cameras and outdoor screens of all sizes.

This was the basic layout of the college entrance exam sports field.

At the same time, all of Jiangcheng's top combatants—the five-star experts, as well as the habitually erratic Chief, the military commanders, and other six-star experts and their pets—regardless of whether they were exploring the wilderness or attending social gatherings in other cities, all returned to the city to participate in this annual grand event of Jiangcheng.

Setting aside their combat prowess, the mere aura they radiated upon returning—much like dogs marking their territory or bears rolling on the ground—was enough to significantly lower the probability of intrusion by wild species.

Not to mention that they possessed regenerative powers far exceeding those of low-level ability users, allowing them to recharge Jiangcheng's defense systems or repair key systems that had suffered wear and tear over the past year to their optimal state...

By then, the total power output of the entire city would increase several-fold, and several key defensive functions that ordinary people weren't even aware of would be activated to maximum capacity.

For instance, a massive air isolation shield would appear at the top of Jiangcheng; rain could not fall, wind could not blow in, and the vast majority of flying monsters, once approaching, would plummet due to the intense air turbulence, unable to act as arrogantly as they usually did.

A mysterious energy field would also be activated, significantly suppressing the growth rate of trees and vines outside the city walls, so that people wouldn't have to spend every day clearing them to prevent the entire structure from being entangled.

It was a sports event, after all; strict security checks were only reasonable.