Top Scorer in the Unified National Examination

In the classroom, a few large characters were written in the bottom right corner of the blackboard.

Thirty days until the College Entrance Examination.

The hundred-day pledge rally was still vivid in their minds. The hundred-day sprint phase had flashed by, leaving only thirty days.

Well, it could only be said that no matter how close the deadline was, it couldn't stop high school students from falling asleep.

There was no morning reading session today. Shen Nian looked around and saw that almost the entire class was slumped over their desks. If school leaders came for an inspection right now, Su Kexi would definitely get a scolding again.

Everyone was asleep, so what else was there to say?

Thus, Shen Nian also rested his head on his desk.

When he opened his eyes again, the first period had already begun.

In the second semester of their senior year, aside from the Monday flag-raising ceremony, they didn't even have to do morning exercises. Using this time to catch up on sleep felt incredibly good.

Fun fact: sleeping on a desk in the classroom is actually more comfortable than sleeping in a bed.

Opening your eyes to find you've time-traveled straight to noon was a common occurrence.

However, Shen Nian couldn't experience that feeling right now.

The class was entirely dedicated to reviewing test papers. Shen Nian copied the questions he got wrong into his mistake notebook.

He planned to organize his notes recently, picking out the most useful parts. If his study room livestream went smoothly, he could print out his notes and mail them to students who needed them, only charging for postage and printing.

It would be even better to organize Xia Yanchun's notes as well.

Those were genuine top-student notes.

They might not compare to the professionally published study guides out there, but these were free; the printing and postage fees would be ten bucks at most.

Students retaking the year and upcoming seniors wanting to overtake their peers during the holidays were the target audience for these materials.

...

Noon.

The back of the classroom was packed with people, everyone chattering away about their scores in the major joint examination.

Xia Yanchun was still sitting in her seat, too afraid to look, terrified of seeing the rankings of those around her higher than hers.

"Wow... I scored 680 points this time," Li Shiyan said, returning with a beaming smile after checking her results.

"Shiyan's scores are getting higher and higher!"

"It's a major joint exam, after all. Just taking a look is enough."

"Then... what about Shen Nian's score? Did you see it?" Xia Yanchun asked curiously.

Li Shiyan nodded. "I saw it. 726 points. That's three points higher than you."

Like a sudden clap of thunder, Xia Yanchun's world collapsed.

Although she had expected it, hearing the news still made her feel terrible. She had sat securely on the throne of first place for three years, only to have it snatched away by Shen Nian in the final exam before the college entrance examination.

"Shen Nian is so amazing..." Li Shiyan quietly sighed. Thinking back to the previous semester, there was still a significant gap between Shen Nian and her. Now, the tables had turned, and there was a significant gap between her and Shen Nian.

Could he really be a genius who intentionally controls his scores?

"I think so too." Xia Yanchun pouted and rubbed Li Shiyan's small hand. "Do you think I can beat him in the actual college entrance examination?"

"You definitely can. Little Chun is the best!"

"Mhm, Shiyan always knows just what to say~"

Xia Yanchun quickly adjusted her mindset. With such closely matched scores, it wasn't impossible for her to surpass Shen Nian in the actual exam.

A three-point difference was merely a single multiple-choice question.

Xia Yanchun pulled Li Shiyan along to go eat. Just as she was about to call out to Shen Nian, she realized he had already slipped away at some unknown time.

The cafeteria.

Shen Nian, Ma Mingfan, and Chen Dong looked at each other in dismay.

"None of the three of us managed to get a chicken leg. Do you guys have any idea why?" Shen Nian asked with a serious expression, as if this were a matter of grave importance.

"It's all Ma Mingfan's fault for insisting on looking at the scores. Now look what happened."

"Do you guys really not care about your scores in the major joint exam?"

"I've got first place in the bag," Shen Nian grinned.

"I shouldn't fall out of the top seven, right...?" Chen Dong didn't have as much confidence. He had slacked off a bit before the second mock exam, causing his score to drop instead of rise. Although he had been working hard recently, he still couldn't guarantee his ranking.

"You guys were pretty accurate. Shen Nian is first in the school with 726 points, and you almost hit 670, ranking fifth in the class. How are you guys all so amazing? Do you have supercomputers installed in your brains?"

Ma Mingfan felt depressed. He wasn't as incredible as Shen Nian and Chen Dong. He urgently needed to see the results of his hard work; how could he possibly resist looking at something like his score?

Despite Shen Nian and Chen Dong's teasing, he was actually in a very good mood.

His score had reached 640 this time, something he would never have dared to dream of before.

Converted to an actual college entrance exam score, it shouldn't be much lower. There was still a month left, and he was going to put in even more intense effort than before to ensure his joint exam score wasn't just an inflated fluke.

He uninstalled Honor of Kings, uninstalled Naruto, and worked day and night with relentless dedication, just to prove that he wasn't just a gaming master, but also a top student at a provincial key high school.

Tears moistened his pork trotter rice as he swore to get into a 985 university.

He was already daydreaming about performing exceptionally well in the exam and getting into a C9 League university.

"If you can sleep at 2 AM and wake up at 6 AM, you'd definitely be just as amazing as me."

"Are you even human? Aren't you afraid of sudden death?"

"Of course I am. I was just joking, don't actually try that."

"I'm not an idiot," Ma Mingfan's mouth twitched.

Regardless, the fact that he was constantly improving was a good thing.

Setting aside the score and looking only at the ranking, he had already touched the threshold of the top ten. He was just one step away. His school-wide ranking had also improved; everything was moving in a positive direction.

He decided to reward himself by watching Shenren TV twenty times expressionlessly, making sure his blood pressure didn't rise during the process.

Without chicken legs, lunch was bland and tasteless.

Shen Nian sluggishly made his way back up to the classroom. Passing by the office, he saw that Su Kexi still hadn't gone to eat, so he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Teacher, have you finished collecting the score sheets?"

"I'm getting ready to. I'm organizing them for you right now," Su Kexi smiled faintly.

Shen Nian entered the office as if returning home. He pulled over Teacher Yan's chair nearby and sat down, watching Su Kexi organize the documents and spreadsheets.

Within a few minutes, Su Kexi had several spreadsheets neatly arranged.

Su Kexi couldn't hold back her smile as she made some room for Shen Nian. "You were truly incredible in this exam. See for yourself!"

Shen Nian narrowed his eyes and glanced at the organized score sheet.

Good heavens.

In a major joint exam involving several provinces, he was actually ranked first.

726 points. He had absolutely crushed it in the joint exam.

The second place was from another province, the third place was from First High School, and the fourth place was finally Xia Yanchun. A three-point difference had separated them by two ranks.

Cinan First High School and Second High School had scored big this time, sweeping three of the top five spots. They were all strong contenders for the provincial top scorer in the upcoming college entrance exam, but for this major joint exam's provincial top scorer, he had taken the lead.