Chapter 8: Showing Off Like the Wind, Ever by My Side

Guan Junyuan’s gaze followed Ye Chao’s retreating figure as he walked away. Before Ye Chao had even disappeared from view, a previously silent, unfamiliar teacher beside him pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and spoke, “Teacher Guan, please explain the basis for your decision to award extra points.”

“According to my information, this military-grade tablet contains nothing that would merit extra points,” the unfamiliar teacher said, his expression full of skepticism as he looked at Guan Junyuan. To speak to the department head in such a manner—one had to be either stubborn, well-connected, or both.

Guan Junyuan rubbed his bald head, grinned, and pointed at Ye Chao’s departing back. “You think I’m giving him special treatment because he’s a teacher’s son at this school, don’t you?”

“If you knew the facts—or if you’d seen his past transcripts—you wouldn’t say that. In all the major exams over three years of high school,” Guan Junyuan raised three gleaming fingers, “apart from the essay, this kid hasn’t missed a single question on the minor subjects—math, biology, geography, physics, chemistry, programming, history. He’s maintained nearly a perfect score.”

Never missed a single question… nearly perfect scores… those two statements seemed contradictory, and the stubborn teacher’s face showed his confusion.

“Because, twice, it was the teachers’ answers that were wrong.”

“…”

“If any teacher has a question they can’t solve, they go to him. So if he claims there’s extremely complex encrypted content on that tablet, then there is—it’s just that you who set the questions didn’t discover it.”

The stubborn teacher was silent for a moment, then lowered his head and began writing furiously.

Guan Junyuan waved his hand carelessly. “You can record what I just said and use it as evidence for the review committee.”

==========

At the cave entrance, beside the scoring board.

The returning examiner and Ye Chao drew everyone’s attention. The crowd’s thoughts were varied, but all awaited the announcement of the results with anticipation.

The examiner approached the board, chalk in hand, and started filling in the scores one by one.

Professional score: +100. Full marks.

There was a collective sigh, though everyone managed to restrain themselves.

Base score: -80. What does a high professional score matter then?

Bonus question: +20.

There was a slightly louder murmur, but nothing out of hand. Even so, that only brought the total to 40 points.

Upgrade and reinforcement: +40.

Now the commotion grew louder… Ye Chao now had 80 points! That was a score many couldn’t hope to attain.

In Ye Chao’s field of vision, he saw a wave of negative emotion points—+10, +11, +12—sprouting like green shoots from his classmates’ foreheads, rising like clouds, a truly spectacular sight.

Negative emotion points… what on earth was that?

He had no time to ponder, as the teacher was still writing.

Submission of the first aid kit, by the rules, allowed him to remove a 40-point deduction.

Thus, the final score: 120 points!

“No way, Ye Chao actually made a comeback like this!”

“He broke a hundred…”

“Was there even a bonus question? The teacher never mentioned it!”

Negative emotion points: +23! +44! +55! Another wave of green, accompanied by a chorus of dismayed cries—a grand spectacle!

Ye Chao glanced over the crowd and saw Fang Ju’s thumbs-up, “You’re something else,” and Xu Tiange’s determined gaze, “I’ll win it back next time.”

He let out a long breath of relief. “Finally, I can relax,” he thought.

“Finally catching your breath, are you?” Before Ye Chao could finish exhaling, Alpha Ji’s voice sounded in his ear, so suddenly that his heart nearly skipped a beat.

“Tsk-tsk, look how nervous you are,” Alpha Ji pouted. “It’s just an exam! Acting cool is the way of the young generation these days, isn’t it? You should be like this…”

Suddenly her expression turned brash and overbearing: “I ask you—who else? Who else?!”

Then, hands on hips, exuding confidence: “I’m not targeting anyone, but everyone here is trash!”

Suddenly, switching to a thick northeastern accent: “See? See? Your aunt is not who she used to be, but your uncle will always be your uncle.”

What was all that supposed to mean? Ye Chao was both amused and exasperated by Alpha Ji.

But thinking it over, those lines—though he didn’t fully understand them—paired with the accent and delivery, if he actually said them aloud, it… might actually feel pretty good.

While he was muttering to himself, he heard Alpha Ji’s next words, and his expression changed dramatically.

“Hey, relax. Even though you didn’t actually crack the encrypted data on the military-grade tablet, your teachers didn’t crack it either. No need to worry.”

“What did you say?!”

Indeed, Ye Chao hadn’t fully cracked the military tablet. He’d only managed to unlock a small portion, and even that part was constantly shifting, twisted and scrambled to resist decryption.

Even with his ability to prevent data from self-destructing, he was stumped by such bizarre encryption methods. If not for his enhanced abilities and some key hints provided by Alpha Ji, he wouldn’t have managed to unlock even that small part.

So, though he could present some real stuff, when it came time to submit his answers, it was mostly… bluffing.

He had no choice—his base score was already -80, and at the time, Fang Ju’s first aid kit hadn’t been acquired yet. Though he had other preparations, they weren’t complete, nor could they earn him any bonus points. If he didn’t take a gamble, he would have probably failed. So, gritting his teeth, he went all in…

Never expected it to work so easily.

Even less did he expect Alpha Ji to say that his teachers hadn’t cracked the tablet either…

So it was really a case of two sides bluffing, both equally nervous?

“No way, that can’t be!” Ye Chao couldn’t believe it. His teachers, who looked like they could bench-press a horse and let someone stand on their fists, being so sly?

“Believe it or not,” Alpha Ji pouted, producing a handful of sunflower seeds to munch on. “Either way, that move was flashy and impressive…”

[Affection +10]

Ye Chao was bewildered. He just couldn’t get Alpha Ji’s sense of humor.

Ah, what a hopeless blockhead!

[Affection -10]

But, thinking carefully, compared to those other hopeless blockheads from before, this one was much stronger.

Those others were all timid, useless, and so shy they couldn’t even talk to girls—he’d have to whisper lines in their ears, and they’d still mess them up. Ye Chao was obviously different. Low EQ, maybe, but very manly—a real man. No wonder some girls liked him.

Originally, she’d intended to use the encrypted data on the military tablet to blackmail him for more freedom, but she never even got the chance…

[Affection +10]