A Man With a Passing Grade!

The road of life was full of thorns.

In the past, Xu Mang hadn't understood this sentence much, but now he did. This was because the test was graded on the spot, and after that, it was immediately discussed and finished in one period, not giving the students much breathing space at all.

Under this situation, the grades you would obtain weren't that obviously important, but rather, it was the process that made people bite their nails while waiting. As the English teacher was grading the papers, the expressions on her face was what the students were hanging on to.

She was angry!

She laughed!

She...didn't have any expression on her face!

The ever-changing expressions represented her mood, and the source of the change were all the test papers. Only, everyone present didn't know who it was that made her angry or happy. This entire process was painful, but it was also very exhilarating.

Naturally, Xu Mang was the only person who was not bound by the same mentality. This used to be the case in the past, and even more so now. It was not possible for the teacher to play these mind tricks on Xu Mang anymore because he just wouldn't appreciate the motive behind it anyway.

"Xu Mang! Come here for a while!"

The English teacher's face was angry as she shouted at Xu Mang, who was in a daze. She took the paper in her hand and walked out of the classroom.

[Finally, a pass—Complete]

[Obtained: Upgrade Card*1]

Ugh…

Looks like she had finished grading his paper.

Xu Mang got up and left the classroom under the sympathetic and contemptuous looks of his classmates. He faced the teacher and meekly asked, "Teacher...how do I address you?"

"..."

"I...you...this…" The English teacher was about to blow her fuse at this rate as her anger continued to build. "Wu!"

"Oh...Ms. Wu, I shouldn't have done too badly this time, right?" Xu Mang asked with a smile, "I have fully written with the letters of the English alphabet, no matter whether it's right or wrong, it should have filled up the entire test!"

Ms. Wu stared at Xu Mang seriously, and after a long while, she said, "You indeed did quite well on the test, in fact, it exceeded my expectations for you. However...can you explain, how did you jump from usually submitting a blank paper, to reaching the line of the passing grade?"

"I'm emphasizing again, although exams and grades are important, having integrity and being ethical is even more important. You should consider this before you answer." Ms. Wu said, and waited for Xu Mang's answer.

Facing Ms. Wu's intense gaze, Xu Mang couldn't react for a while, and he swallowed heavily, quietly saying, "Ms. Wu...I'm an honest citizen!"

"Still refusing to admit?"

"I'll ask you…" Ms. Wu held up the paper and pointed to it, asking, "Why did you choose C?"

"I…"

How was he supposed to know?

Xu Mang was at a loss for words. He couldn't possibly tell the teacher that it was the System that had made him pick C. Let's not talk about whether or not she would believe him, if he said anything along those lines, he would probably be packed off to the Ankang Hospital!

"Er...I didn't think too much and just picked C." Xu Mang racked his brain for anything and ended up saying that softly.

Ms. Wu had already started to clench her fist tightly, but fortunately, she still resisted the urge to beat up anyone, and she asked once again, "Then why did you choose B here?"

"Er...because among the four answers given, it was the longest." Xu Mang replied.

Ms. Wu was about to explode. Her hand trembled as she pointed to another random question, asking, "Then...then why choose A here?"

Xu Mang answered timidly, "In the first four questions, I had already chosen C twice, B once, and D once. To even it out, I thought choosing A would be best…"

"Tell me! Who did you copy off from?!" Ms. Wu finally shouted as she exploded at last, and maybe her voice was too loud as you could hear the laughter and snickers from the classroom.

Seeing that the teacher had already reached the peak of her anger, Xu Mang could only try to explain his situation to her and he said in a low voice, "Ms. Wu...even if you want to accuse me, there must be some logic in it. Look at where I'm sitting, at the back of me is a wall and the water dispenser. On my left is the window which leads to freedom, and on my right is the idiot Sun Xiaoxiao."

"Then now, think about it... who would I copy from?" Xu Mang let out a sigh. "You clearly know Sun Xiaoxiao's intellect strength. I estimate that my test results are higher than his this time."

This…

He did make sense!

If you analyzed the situation correctly, it was impossible for any cheating to occur. With Xu Mang's intelligence, cheating was just...impossible.

Could it be that he had really scored 90 marks?

Did he really do it?

Was this for real?

Not to mention, most of the multiple-choice questions were all correctly chosen by him.

What kind of luck was this!

Ms. Wu glared at Xu Mang who was wearing his best innocent expression on his face, and she asked, "Are you trying to tell me that you passed this test because you have such great luck!?"

"Teacher!" Xu Mang said in surprise. "You are really the smartest person on earth!"

"..."

Really?

The gods were too blind, right?!

Ms. Wu was starting to have doubts about human life and being able to rely on luck to get a passing grade. It was as bad as buying a sausage and having it taste like an apple.

Going back into the classroom, Ms. Wu didn't announce any details of the discussion and had instead confiscated his test paper. For Xu Mang to get a passing grade based on sheer dumb luck, this would spark an outrage among his classmates. Students who struggled to get a passing grade would probably give up on life if they found out.

Forget it, he would definitely be getting single digits next time.

After she had finished grading the papers, Ms. Wu started to discuss and go through the test, carefully explaining the most common errors that students tended to make. This process was also very common in school, and the students were more enlightened than usual by using this method.

At this time, Xu Mang was daydreaming.

He had passed!

He was finally a man who had gotten a passing grade!

Having obtained his very first ever passing grade in English, this joy could not be measured with money. Xu Mang was ecstatic and he couldn't help it, this was obviously the difference between a top student and a lazy student.

When a lazy student passes, he would look as though he was at the top of the world and he owned it. If it was a top student that lost out a perfect mark by just one mark, he would look as though he had lost his entire world.

After Xu Mang had tasted this sweetness, he was happy for a long time, but then he quickly realized, the System had merely given him the answers. It wasn't that he had the knowledge in his brain, he was still an idiot when it came to studies.

'System, can you give me knowledge directly?'

[Please increase the attribute—Intelligence]

'I see, I totally understand!'

This was what it meant to take things step by step!

***

"One of the most influential ideologies in that society is The End of History by Francis Fukuyama." Lin Yishan said with an expressionless face. "Free market, in the eyes of the Western people, would be the peak point in history to humanity's Economic Organization."

"This is the meaning of The End of History."

Lin Yishan was speaking halfway when he realized that Xu Mang was in his own little world, and he couldn't resist asking him questions. "Xu Mang!"

"Ah?" Xu Mang responded with a confused expression automatically.

"Answer this question, what is another influential ideology?" Lin Yishan said, "I'll give you a hint, think about the political view from an economic perspective."