Chapter 6 College Entrance Examination
A month before the college entrance exams, Luo Feng poured all his energy into reviewing. With each mock test, his confidence grew stronger.
"Securing a spot at Jiangnan's Number One Military Academy is all but guaranteed."
That was Luo Feng's inner conviction.
...
July 7th marked the first day of the exams. In Huaxia, the college entrance tests spanned three days—from the 7th to the 9th of June—just as they had before the Great Nirvana era.
Yi'an District's First High School.
Though a student of the Third Middle School, Luo Feng's exams were taking place here.
"Stay strong, my daughter."
"Don't worry, Dad!"
"Tian Tian, don't put too much pressure on yourself!"
...
Outside the school gates, a dense crowd of students and parents gathered, while rows of armed police stood guard.
"Xiao Feng, stay relaxed during the exam. Even if we don't get into the First Academy, the Second will be fine. Take it easy!"
Luo Hongguo, his father, said with a chuckle.
"Hmm!" Luo Feng nodded, smiling.
Beep—beep— A sleek, aristocratic-looking new-model Mercedes-Benz, flanked by police motorcycles, slowly made its way to the school gates. Onlookers quickly stepped aside, their eyes fixated on the vehicle.
The latest Mercedes-Benz could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.6 seconds, with a top speed of 500 km/h. Of course, such performance was nothing extraordinary. What truly captivated people was the brand's legacy, dating back to the Great Nirvana era.
Three people emerged from the car, chatting and heading toward the school entrance.
"The bald one on the left is Chief Zhang from our district's police station!"
"And the one on the right must be Director Liu from the Education Bureau!"
"The person in the middle is surely the martial artist in charge of exam security."
Parents and students outside the school buzzed with excitement, their eyes mostly drawn to the central figure, brimming with awe, admiration, and curiosity.
The battle between humans and monsters raged on. Ordinary citizens were forbidden from leaving city limits, while martial artists stood as the lone defenders, capable of dueling with the creatures. Society was immensely grateful to them for their contributions, and ordinary folks naturally revered martial artists.
Martial artists were a group of individuals with a lofty status in human society.
"So that's a martial artist!" Luo Hongguo observed, "The head of exam security for every college entrance is always a martial artist."
"A martial artist."
Luo Feng glanced over. The martial artist exuded an intimidating presence, his eyes cold and unsmiling. He barely acknowledged Chief Zhang and Director Liu, nodding curtly at best.
"In the near future, I too will earn the title of martial artist!" Luo Feng vowed inwardly.
Clack—clack— The school gates slowly opened.
"It's time to enter!" voices erupted nearby.
"Xiao Feng, go ahead! Your dad and brother are waiting for you to finish." His mother, Gong Xinlan, urged.
"Okay!" Luo Feng smiled and nodded.
"Brother!" His younger brother, Luo Hua, sitting in a wheelchair, gave him a fist bump and whispered, "You've got this!"
"You too!" Luo Feng returned the gesture.
As Luo Feng joined the throng of students, he passed through the school gates after inspection.
...
Inside the exam hall, the test admission card and ID were placed in the upper right corner for the invigilators to check, while test papers began to be distributed.
"2056 Jiangnan City College Entrance Examination Science Paper A Version"—clearly printed at the top.
"The first exam is science!" Luo Feng scanned the paper, then glanced at the final few challenging questions. They seemed familiar. "If the questions aren't challenging enough, my strengths in science won't shine through. I'll have to work carefully to avoid losing points on what I know." He immediately buried his head in writing.
The college entrance exam consisted of three tests: science, liberal arts, and mathematics. Each subject was worth 250 points, totaling 750.
Science combined physics, chemistry, and biology.
Liberal arts covered Chinese, history, politics, and geography.
Mathematics was, of course, a standalone subject.
After the Great Nirvana era, especially with the ongoing battles against monsters, humanity intensified research in technology and martial arts. This underscored the importance of "mathematics". Anyone aiming for greatness in fields like computing, biology, or physics needed a solid mathematical foundation.
Thus,
mathematics held a lofty status in cultural education. While Luo Feng was slightly weaker in liberal arts, he excelled in math.
...
July 7th: science exam.
July 8th: liberal arts exam.
In the blink of an eye, it was July 9th.
...
Inside the exam hall, the math papers had just been distributed.
"This is the final math exam." Luo Feng took a deep breath. "The science paper wasn't too hard, and I think I did well. I also performed normally in the liberal arts exam. So, as long as I don't tank the math exam, I'm definitely getting into Jiangnan's Number One Military Academy."
"You've got this!" he encouraged himself and began working through the questions.
The hall fell silent, with many students furrowing their brows—obviously, the math questions were tough. Every year, the math section of the college entrance exam was designed to be challenging, as it was meant to select future talent in technological research.
"This is really hard," Luo Feng thought, noting the difficulty was even greater than in previous years. "But the harder, the better!" If the questions were easy, students with weaker math skills might score around 220, while he would only get 230, a marginal advantage. But if the questions were hard, he might score 210, while others could only manage 150, widening his lead.
Snap! A crisp sound echoed. An invigilator immediately turned to see a student break his ballpoint pen in half, his face twisted in frustration as he stared at the paper. After tossing the broken pen aside, he took out another and continued answering.
"Looks like this year's math exam is really tough!" the invigilator thought to himself. Indeed, nearly every student in the hall was furiously brainstorming, some even shedding tears. For students with poor math foundations, it felt like every question was a struggle—one they couldn't solve, then another, and another... The sight of the exams almost drove them to crumble .
...
An hour later, inside the exam hall.
The math exam lasted two and a half hours. By now, Luo Feng had completed the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections, leaving only the calculation problems. Together, the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank sections were worth 90 points, while the five calculation problems were worth 160 points—each major problem designed to better assess a student's mathematical ability.
"These fill-in-the-blank questions are really tricky; I couldn't figure out two of them," Luo Feng sighed. "The calculation problems are where the real points are. Each solved problem is worth 30 or even 40 points—40 points can make or break the difference!"
The five calculation problems included four worth 30 points each and a final one worth 40.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng hit a roadblock on the first problem. After scribbling on his scratch paper, an idea struck him. "If I manipulate this equation a bit, I can reverse it into the form I need!" His eyes lit up, and with a flurry of strokes, he solved the first problem and double-checked his work.
"First problem down!" He glanced at his watch and his heart skipped a beat. "20 minutes just for the first problem? I need to pick up the pace."
He moved on to the second problem, which initially seemed straightforward. But as he worked through it, he realized his approach was flawed. "No, that's not right. How should I prove this next step?" he pondered, his mind racing. "Yes, that makes sense. But how do I verify the next part?" Time was slipping away, and Luo Feng grew increasingly anxious. "I can't afford to waste too much time on this problem. What's the solution?"
At that moment, the "pulse" reading on his watch began to climb.
120... 125... 130... 140... 150...
"Just a little more, and I could have proven this theorem. 30 points down the drain." Luo Feng's frustration mounted. The pressure of time management weighed heavily on him; with each major problem carrying so much weight, he couldn't afford too many mistakes. Lost in thought, he didn't notice his pulse rate rising.
... 170... 180...
Luo Feng felt his heart pounding as if it were about to burst from his chest. He dismissed it as anxiety from the exam.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Suddenly, it felt like his heart was being hammered. His vision blurred, and he jolted awake with a cry. "What's happening to me? My heart feels terrible." He looked at his watch and his face paled—
230!
He had never seen his pulse exceed 180 since he had fallen into a coma at twelve.
"This is unbearable." He felt his blood surge through his veins, an invisible energy flooding his mind, causing excruciating pain.
"Ah! Ah!" he couldn't help but scream.
"What's wrong, student?" An invigilator rushed over, shocked by Luo Feng's appearance. His face was flushed, veins bulging on his forehead and arms, his entire body contorted in agony.
"No, no—slow down, slow down!" Luo Feng sensed something was wrong and roared inwardly, his eyes fixed on his watch.
236... 242... 251...!
Thud! Thud! Thud! His heart pounded like a drum, blood rushing through his body. As his vision dimmed and he saw the number "268", the pain in his head became unbearable, and he blacked out. In his fainting stupor, he faintly heard a voice calling out—
"Student, student, wake up! Call an ambulance!"