Keep Your Enemies Close

"The midterms were absolutely awful!"

"The questions were so hard… I felt like a lot of them weren't in the syllabus, and there were things that the teacher hadn't even mentioned, the Chinese test… I'm pretty sure I bombed it."

"Who do you think is going to be able to stay above 140 marks?"

"Yang Xiaoman! She can definitely get 140."

"What about Li Hua?"

"I'm… not so sure."

The Chinese exam was over, and students gathered together to discuss the difficulty of the questions this time. Everyone unanimously agreed that the exam was hard, some even said that it might have been harder than the university entrance exams. They were completely disregarding the students' actual abilities.

But of course, the difficulty was only one of their many topics. The question of who could excel in their exams this time around sparked discussions among the groups of students as well, and almost everyone came to the same conclusion—Yang Xiaoman would continue to remain the Queen among all scholars.

The girl was mysterious. She hardly ever spoke to anyone, but somehow, the person that she talked to the most was the class delinquent, Xu Mang. They might even be getting a little too close, and word on the street was… they rode the same car home together.

"Hey, do you think Xu Mang's essay will get full marks this time?"

"Well… that's difficult to say. For all we know, he could have handed in a blank sheet of paper."

"He's not that crazy, is he? Handing in an empty answer sheet during midterms… does he want to get expelled?! Again?!"

"Haha, this is Xu Mang we're talking about after all!"

And then, their conversation made its way to Xu Mang, the unexpected first-place winner of the city-wide essay writing competition. His essays had garnered a lot of attention this time as well, and although he was quite 'unique' as some would say, his writing skills were no joke!

"Hehehe… Did you hear that?"

Xu Mang and Yang Xiaoman stood in a corner on the balcony, and being the target of many smug looks and angry glares, Xu Mang heard some students talking about him from far away, and he nudged Yang Xiaoman to get her attention. "Am I cool or what?"

"Whatever! You're obviously just an extra." Yang Xiaoman's pride didn't allow her to take second place to anyone, especially not Xu Mang. "How about we compare our marks this time? Whoever's marks are higher wins!"

"Huh?! N...No!" Xu Mang shrunk into himself, looking visibly worried as he scanned the vicinity before whimpering to his flat-chested friend. "I… didn't write anything for the essay section this time!"

Yang Xiaoman:Σ(｀д'*)ノ

Was this guy insane?!

He left his essay blank in such an important exam, was he planning on an early death?

Yang Xiaoman glared harshly at Xu Mang. "Do you think you can just do anything now that you've gotten first place in some competition? This is a city-wide standardized exam, and you handed in a blank answer sheet?!"

"So what? Which law says that I can't leave my answers blank during a standardized exam?" Xu Mang argued.

"You… You're gonna be the death of me!" Yang Xiaoman exploded with anger, spewing fire as she scolded Xu Mang. "The next test is Math, if you dare hand in a blank answer sheet again, trust me when I say I'm going to send you crawling to the hospital."

Honestly, Xu Mang didn't doubt her for a second… The flat-chested warrior definitely had the power to back up that statement, and although assault and battery were illegal, the girl in front of Xu Mang didn't play by the rules of a normal human. She was the only daughter of a family rich enough to live in a mansion built by the Tomson Group, no one would dare cross them.

"I promise I'll get full marks on my Math exam!" Xu Mang said with a serious expression. "I'm going to kick Li Hua off the school's Math team!"

Yang Xiaoman lost her footing once again…

Why did this guy always have to do wrong to the people around him! He was so mean!

"Hey! He's still our classmate, you know? Do you really have to be so biased against him?" Yang Xiaoman stared him down. "You jerk!"

"Well… The people closest to you are always the easiest to hurt." Xu Mang laughed awkwardly. It didn't really justify his actions. Some people might even call it an act of betrayal, but such was the path to glory… It was a fish eat fish world out there.

Once you've succeeded, others will only see the bright spots in your past, no one would notice the deceitful, dirty little things you've done.

From the beginning of mankind, history had always been written by the victors!

"Hmph! Fine, have it your way." Yang Xiaoman turned her head away from Xu Mang to angrily look at the rest of the school.

A little while later, Xu Mang heard a soft voice speaking to him.

"Then… kick him off!"

***

The Math exam.

Xu Mang was pumped up. This was his chance to defeat Li Hua once and for all. If he could get full marks, he could make his case against the school, otherwise, his case would completely fall apart.

"System, how many points to get full marks for this Math paper?"

[System has detected, full marks on this Math paper will require: 2100 points (Mathematics Skill)]

2100?!

That was a whole one hundred points more than his Chinese test!

Xu Mang thought back to what his classmates had been saying earlier. Most of them agreed that the Chinese test was extremely difficult, but such a difficult exam was only worth 1999 points. It looked like their Math paper this time was astronomically hard.

Surveying his surroundings, Xu Mang saw the many faces of humanity.

Everyone shared a single expression… that of suffering, confusion, and anguish.

Of course, amidst the suffering, confusion, and anguish of the smart kids, there was also the occasional flicker of determination, and that was what differentiated the smart kids from the rest when they were faced with difficult questions. Their fighting spirit and refusal to lose would be ignited.

The majority of the student population was having a rough time, and despair was mixed in with their suffering, confusion, and anguish. They were at their wit's end and some fragile students were even starting to tear up… it was all they could do as they awaited their final judgment.

But the school delinquents?

They were having a blast. They had passed the previous 4 stages of grief and were already resigned to their fate. They wouldn't understand the questions either way, so why not face their demise smiling. 

"Don't look around!"

The out-of-school invigilator walked past Xu Mang who was busy searching for answers around the classroom, giving the rest of the class a cold reminder. 

Toward teachers not from his school, Xu Mang remained steadfast with his attitude of "Touch me if you dare". He rejected, resented, and disobeyed, but now… he definitely did not reject, resent, or disobey. 

From the wise words of a famous professor, "there was a time and place for everything, but not now!".

Xu Mang checked how many points he had left in his Mathematics skills.

Mathematics = 2050

Wha…

D*mn it!

Taking a look at the clock, he could still make it if he started sleeping now!

Xu Mang immediately lay down.

Mathematics Skill +1

Mathematics Skill +1

Mathematics Skill +1

At that moment, as the main invigilator of the school, Lin Yishan passed by his own class of Senior 3 Class 1, only to be greeted by such an infuriating sight. He had already reminded Xu Mang several times not to sleep, and yet, there he was, lying unconscious…

What was going on? Why was this kid sleeping again?

Lin Yishan just couldn't understand… Was he really that tired?

Lin Yishan was getting anxious. What was the little rascal up to at night? He didn't sleep when he was supposed to, but when he should stay awake, it was as though his soul had left him, but most importantly, aside from bathroom breaks and recess, Xu Mang was always fast asleep.

Sometimes, a murder didn't require any weapons, all you had to do was lie down.

Lin Yishan was on the verge of suicide. He was an award-winning teacher in their city, but he just could not overcome the obstacle that was Xu Mang. He couldn't even fight back against him. 

"I'm too old for this…"

Lin Yishan sighed, despair welling up in his eyes. He could only wait for the results to come out and teach Xu Mang a lesson after that…

Wait!

The blame couldn't be placed entirely on Xu Mang either.

Lin Yishan had just remembered something about the standardized Math papers. The Ministry of Education took these midterms extremely seriously, and they had specially requested for one of the top teachers in their district to create the questions. According to some insider news, the Ministry of Education didn't want the average scores to be over 70, so you could just imagine how hard it was.

Glancing back at Xu Mang, Lin Yishan suddenly felt a little bad for him. He must have already given up, hadn't he?