<Battle of the Learning Gods – Crosson Private High School>
Crosson Private High School.
Senior Two, Class Seven.
Qu smiled like a fox as she finished flipping through <School Bully’s Indulgent Love: Loving The Little Learning God>, then pulled out <Liberal Arts and Science: Reborn Before The Final Exam> from under a stack of simulation test papers, beginning to read through it carefully.
In the seat behind her, Zoe and Zuo Botang, who were preparing to compete for the class monitor position, were reciting their campaign speeches. The student on duty, Ming Yao, wore a pair of Nikes as he swept the floor. As he swept, he looked for Wu Jin, who was a study committee member, and chattered, “Did you hear me, there’s a transfer student coming in today––”
In the back row, Caesar stealthily took out the store opening advertisement for the ‘Fish Net Internet Cafe’ from his desk drawer and bragged to his deskmate Red that he wanted to go to ‘Teacher Fish’s house for tutoring’. Soon, there was a tangle of students gathering around Caesar who also wanted to find ‘Teacher Fish for tutoring’. Caesar held up the advertisement and counted, “1, 2… 4. Anyone else? We can five queue together, we’ll set off as soon as we have a full group of five!”
Caesar asked Red curiously, “You’re not going?”
Red: “Hey, I can’t. Today, my big boss is coming today… holy shit!”
From behind Caesar, in the hallway, the teaching director P.D.’s face was pressed up against the clean glass of the window, like a campus horror movie.
Caesar’s ad was confiscated, and he had to go and write a self-criticism after school.
P.D. walked into the classroom, followed by a teenager.
He had a bag slung over one shoulder, the sleeves of his school uniform shirt were rolled up casually, and he was 1.8m tall, even taller than P.D.
When the teaching director introduced him as a transfer student… he nodded his head slowly, the flat frameless glasses on his face flashing with the movement. His eyebrows and eyes behind the glasses were handsome but expressionless.
This transfer student was a cool big brother.
Wu Jin clapped along with his classmates, applauding enthusiastically, clapping, clapping…
As he clapped, he found that the transfer student was staring at his face.
P.D. immediately introduced him to the transfer student, “This is the study committee representative of your class, Wu Jin. Alright, Little Witch, help your new classmate settle in.”
Wu Jin stood up obediently and reached out a hand, introducing himself, “My name is Wu Jin, the Wu from Little Witch meets Big Witch…”
Ming Yao, who was beside them, drummed on the table in a show of support, “That’s him! Complex reasoning puzzle breaker, legal successor to the throne of analytic geometry in Azure City, guardian of the Crosson Show national examination high score, Wu Jin of the White Moonlight Team!”
The transfer student raised his eyebrows and shook hands with Wu Jin without saying a word
He pinched his hand quietly when they shook hands, so discreet that Wu Jin almost thought it was an illusion.
However, Wu Jin still didn’t know his name.
Wu Juin could only continue introducing him to the class monitor, “This is our class monitor, Wei Yan.”
Ming Yao immediately added, “The blade of attack for electromagnetic problems, DNA evidence provider, leader of the internal Triangular Sword Shield, Wei Yan! Hey, hey, show some respect. This is the living and breathing Wu Jin and Wei Yan standing right in front of you! Have you ever participated in the city examinations? Why haven’t you heard of them before?”
Wu Jin introduced Zoe, “This is the deputy monitor, Zoe.”
The transfer student swept his gaze over the nameplate on Zoe’s chest: Youth leader of White Moonlight’s student team, Physics sniper, Zoe.
Then, there was Zuo Botang.
The dawn of Jingyi, founder of bets and double bets, master of the six scholarly arts, Zuo Botang.
And then there was Silver Thread Roll’s flame bearer…
In Crosson Private, this legendary learning god class finally showed the tip of the iceberg in front of this new transfer student.
Wu Jin led the transfer student around, and several gazes followed this new cool big brother, looking him over in secret.
Had this person entered on his own strength, or had he paid a sky-high sponsorship in order to join? Was this a learning god who would stir up the waters, or would he be a learning scum who remained hidden?
Wu Jin introduced Caesar.
The transfer student finally met the first classmate who didn’t have any titles on their nameplate.
(None) Caesar.
Then came a second one.
(None) Mao Qiukui.
Mao Qiukui was very excited when he saw the transfer student. His eyes shone, “Big boss, you’re finally here! Big boss––”
The crowd withdrew their gazes.
It turned out that this person was on the same path as Mao Qiukui.
As everyone knew, Mao Qiukui, Little Orange, Arjun, and the others were the ‘sons of the consortium directors’ who’d been sent to Crosson Private High School after the Floating Consortium had paid huge sponsorship fees. Since Red was familiar with this transfer student, it meant that the transfer student was likely the rich and powerful learning scum type of cool big brother…
From beside Red, Caesar was excited and seemed to realize that there was someone here who could finally compete with him for the bottom second and third place, “Is he a brother of yours? Let’s go to the internet cafe together after school––”
The bell finally rang.
The new transfer student was arranged to sit at the same desk as study committee representative, Wu Jin.
Wu Jin took out his textbook from the desk drawer, then found that the transfer student’s gaze was still firmly locked on his body.
Wu Jin was confused.
The transfer student gestured for Wu Jin to bow his head.
Just before class began, the transfer student suddenly opened his mouth to speak.
“Why not wear a nameplate.”
Wu Jin replied very sincerely, “It’s too long.”
Complex reasoning puzzle breaker, legal successor to the throne of analytic geometry in Azure City, guardian of the Crosson Show national examination high score, Wu Jin of the White Moonlight Team.
The transfer student made a sound of acknowledgement.
Only now did Wu Jin discover that he was very close to the other party, so close that the other side’s breath could almost be felt against his face.
The transfer student finally spoke again, “My name is Wei Shi.”
His voice had just trailed off when Wu Jin’s body froze.
Wei Shi, his name was Wei Shi, could it be that he was the legendary––
Complex reasoning puzzle breaker, the first uncrowned king of analytic geometry in Azure City, the exile who’d lost his divinity, Azure Cosmos’s Wei Shi.
Wu Jin’s heart thumped violently.
He was the ‘legal successor to the throne of analytic geometry in Azure City’, precisely because the uncrowned king had disappeared from the public city examinations. There were many different legends about Wei Shi. Some people said that he’d broken convention and entered university, while some said that he’d dropped out of school. Others said that he’d become disillusioned with the world and gone to become a folk scientist.
However, Wei Shi was currently sitting next to him.
Wei Shi was his deskmate.
In the last few seconds before they had to stand up for the start of class, the gazes of the new king and the old king of analytic geometry collided, generating sparks like flint meeting stone!
Wu Jin: “Why didn’t you take the public city exams?”
Wei Shi: “Quit school, family affairs.”
Wu Jin: “You’re back in school… why change schools.”
Wei Shi: “Checking out the new king.”
Wu Jin: “……”
In the front row of the classroom, class monitor Wei Yan’s expression was stiff as he led the students to bow towards Teacher Blood Pigeon, “Stand up! Hello, teacher––”
The moment before they bowed.
Wei Shi spoke lazily into Wu Jin’s ear, “Mm. I’ve seen him now, he looks quite good.”
Biology class began. The students sat down one after another.
Wu Jin’s eyes were wide and round.
At Crosson Private, very few people praised him for his good looks.
In general, when students met and exchanged greetings, they would first praise the other party’s main science focus, then praise the other party’s secondary science focus. If there was nothing to praise, they could still praise the other party’s moral and intellectual development, or their physique and all-around development. Looking at Student Wei’s attitude, it seemed that he really felt that he, er, ‘looked quite good’.
Teacher Blood Pigeon began to lecture. Wu Jin bowed his head, taking out a carrot pen from his bag. The body of the pen was a round and plump carrot.
Wei Shi: “You like carrots?”
Wu Jin: ! How could this person even talk during class!
Wei Shi looked at the carrot for a while, then shifted his gaze back to Wu Jin.
This lesson was about anthocyanin.
During the group discussion period, the old and new science kings closed their textbooks at the same time, then compared their knowledge points in the narrow space between the desk and chairs.
Wu Jin: “Anthocyanins are natural antioxidants, a water-soluble pigment.”
Wei Shi: “Anthocyanins are flavonoid compounds in phenolic compounds, an offshoot of the flavonoid metabolic pathway.”
Wu Jin spoke quickly, “The chemical formula for anthocyanins is C15H11O6.”
Wei Shi’s lips curved coolly, “The food additive code for anthocyanins is E163.”
Wu Jin was stunned: Super, super fierce!
Wei Shi won a major victory and hooked his hand with Wu Jin’s.
Wu Jin: “Wh-what?!”
Wei Shi took away the carrot pen in his hand and played with it freely.
The little fat carrot was the prize that Teacher Blood Pigeon had given Wu Jin when he had scored full marks in the biology midterm examination. Wu Jin obviously liked this carrot, and every time Wei Shi poked at it, he would get nervous for a moment.
Wei Shi finally had enough of playing with it and returned the carrot back to Wu Jin. He took off his flat glasses, then went to sleep on the desk.
After the bell signaling the end of class rang, Wu Jin, as a member of the study committee, did his duty and led Wei Shi away to pick up an initial title.
“Transfer students can choose to have a basic title for their nameplate prefix. For example, ‘Exam finisher Wu Jin’, ‘Late night self-study Wu Jin’. Of course, there are a few students who lose their titles directly after the monthly exam––”
The two of them walked through the long, extended corridor. At the entrance to the stairway, a strange student suddenly jumped out!
“Wu Jin, I want to challenge you!”
The students in the corridor were all shocked. Who was it? Who wanted to challenge the complex reasoning puzzle breaker, legal successor to the throne of analytic geometry in Azure City, guardian of the Crosson Show national examination high score, Wu Jin of the White Moonlight Team?
The student sneered coldly and showed off his nameplate: Complex reasoning puzzle challenger, Jack of Hearts.
Wu Jin was a complex reasoning puzzle breaker, J was a complex reasoning puzzle challenger, and there was a whole level of difference in momentum in their nameplates. No wonder J issued a challenge to Wu Jin!
In the corridor, Ming Yao, who was using a broom to clean the area, immediately squeezed into the crowd, his eyes shining, “Alright, J is challenging Little Witch! Student Wu Jin, are you willing to accept his challenge?”
Wu Jin had no choice but to nod.
The crowd quickly burst into cheers. Soon, a notary from the student union, Thin Water, arrived and temporarily took charge of their two nameplates.
“Student Wu, if you lose the battle, you’ll lose the title of ‘complex reasoning puzzle breaker’, and J will take away your glory.”
“Student J, if you lose the battle, you’ll lose all the titles on your nameplate and give them to this contestant Wu in front of you.”
“Are you two ready?”
The two of them agreed.
Thin Water nodded, then led them to the duelling study room. The two nameplates were placed across from each other, and Wu Jin and J each sat at one end of the table, identical test papers in their hands.
The window glass for the study room was densely blocked!
Wei Shi looked at Wu Jin thoughtfully through the reflective window. Behind him, Ming Yao was sweating as he pushed through, “Make way, make way, the student council assigned commentator, individual test question completer, Lin Ke is coming! How can we watch a game without commentators?!”
In the study room, the two minutes for review was up. Thin Water pressed the timer, and the Jack of Hearts and Wu Jin started writing at the same time!
Outside the window, Lin Ke started speaking excitedly, “The duel begins! Now, both of them are on the multiple choice section. The first problem is physics. It’s known that six small balls roll over 12 rough slopes with different amounts of friction. As we know, J is the little prince of friction in Senior Two! Then, this problem isn’t difficult for him…”
“J solved it! J started writing ahead of Wu Jin!” Lin Ke exclaimed, “He’s worthy of being the little prince of friction. Maybe, after this battle, J will be promoted to the king of friction! When fighting with questions, the one who writes first gains momentum––wait a minute, what!”
“Wu Jin has started writing. Wu Jin, he’s… he’s filled in all the multiple choice answers! So it turned out to be like this!”
“In the time it took J to finish one question, Wu Jin had already silently calculated all 10 multiple choice questions! Oh my god! What kind of efficiency is this?! If this isn’t J’s nameplate qualifying match, and just an ordinary test question match, then the person sitting across from Wu Jin would be likely to have given up and acknowledged their loss already!”
The crowd was noisy and rowdy, and the students who’d come to watch the competition were amazed.
Wei Shi stood outside the window.
The youth in the study room looked calm, the tip of his pen moved non-stop over the examination paper, and his handwriting was round and cute. He seemed to have seen it before.
Nine minutes later, J’s expression tensed slightly he’d just reached the second major question, while Wu Jin was nearing the end of the test paper.
Lin Ke slapped a hand against the railing, “This last question is an analytic geometry addition question worth 20 points! Yes, the quick solve method for affine conics has appeared! When was the last time Wu Jin used this solution? The midterm exams? The first monthly exams in Senior Two?!”
quick solve method for affine conics – xiin – i have no idea what this is…
11 minutes. Wu Jin handed in the paper.
Thin Water collected the exam paper, marked it, and returned it with a full score.
The window to the study room finally opened.
J’s face was red, “I lost.” Then, he bowed his head to walk away from the study room.
Ming Yao shouted from outside, “Your nameplate, don’t you want your nameplate!?”
Lin Ke sighed, “As everyone knows, a nameplate without any prefix is a shameful thing for J, who is a top 10 student in his grade. If it was me, I would rather not wear a nameplate than wear an empty one––What? Caesar? Please don’t use that kind of special case to counter my words.”
Inside the door, J’s face was flushed as blood rushed up to his face. His arms and legs moved awkwardly as he left.
From behind him, Thin Water handed J’s nameplate to Wu Jin, and Wu Jin called out to him, “Please wait a minute.”
J turned back abruptly.
Wu Jin returned his nameplate to him and pushed open the door, “Keep working hard.”
In the corridor, a group of students who’d gathered to watch the puzzle breaker defend his glory began to make way.
Wu Jin continued to lead Wei Shi towards the school’s technical room.
Wei Shi: “Why didn’t you take it.”
Wu Jin did two sets of hand exercises and said sincerely, “My nameplate is too long, and other prefixes can’t be added on. Taking it is useless, and it would be shameful to the challenger if I don’t use his prefix.”
Wei Shi: “Winner takes all.”
Wu Jin shook his head briefly, “That’s the honor that he values the most. J’s very strong in mechanics and deserves his nameplate. After today, he won’t challenge me again. A duel isn’t about winning, just like how exams aren’t for the sake of getting the highest score.”
Wei Shi walked behind Wu Jin.
It was like he’d suddenly discovered a fresh interest in a new toy.
“Interesting.” Student Wei said thoughtfully, “Who usually studies with you?”
Wu Jin: “The White Moonlight study team…”
Wei Shi: “Let the three of them play by themselves. You and I will study together from tomorrow onwards.”
Wu Jin: “???”
“Bring your radish pen with you.” Wei Shi ordered.
Wu Jin was going crazy, “It’s a carrot…”
Wei Shi thought about it. When capturing someone for a study date, one always had to offer a piece of candy, “Do you like rabbits? I’ll bring one to school for you tomorrow.”
Wu Jin had been scared silly by the overly large jumps in Wei Shi’s thinking and opened his mouth to refuse him.
Wei Shi turned back, using his height to look at Wu Jin from above, sheltering his entire person in his shadow.
“Looking at your style of answering problems…” Wei Shi slowly stretched out his hand, and Wu Jin’s sense of crisis increased greatly! He shrank into a corner!
Wei Shi slowly leaned over by the side of the youth’s ear, “You’re from the R-Code cram school?”
Wu Jin’s figure trembled violently, his expression changing slightly!
The R-Code cram school, full name: ‘Revolutionary Cram School’.
Generally, these kinds of cram schools all had lofty English names, and nobody would look up the full English name to find the website. And the meaning of R-Code really was––’revolutionary cramming school’.
Unlike other cram schools, R-Code adopted a rather extreme way of education, including but not limited to controlling their students’ sleep, using drugs that interfered with the students’ dopamine secretion, establishing a reward mechanism for brain activity when answering questions, and artificially shaping an addiction to answering questions.
There was a time when R-Code was the ‘rehabilitation camp’ that parents sent problematic youths to.
Soon, however, R-Code was closed down.
After leaving the camp, students had to continue answering test questions in order to maintain a normal mental state during the course of daily life. If they didn’t do test questions for a day, their secretion of serotonin and dopamine would begin a linear decline.
The Azure City government severely punished the R-Code Cram School, and also invested a lot of manpower and material resources to save these ‘reformed students’ that came out of R-Code.
To everyone’s surprise, the only way to save ‘reformed students’ was…
It was late. Wu Jin shook his head quickly.
No way, he was overthinking it!
Now came the most critical issue. How did Student Wei know that he’d come out of the R-Code Cram School?
The next day, Student Wei arrived late.
Student Wei didn’t show up until after the class exercise session. He was even holding a pet cage in his hands, with a little white rabbit inside.
Wei Shi handed the little white rabbit to Wu Jin.
Wu Jin: …… Wait a minute, I’m doing exercises. I’m currently doing the radio calisthenics jumping exercises during the break ahhhh!!
Wu Jin could only take advantage of the chest expansion exercises in the second segment to accept the rabbit, then set the rabbit on the ground during the fourth part when they were doing sideways turns, then jump and bounce in front of the little white rabbit.
Wei Shi looked at the jumping and bouncing little white rabbit, then looked at the jumping and bouncing Wu Jin and was left in a good mood.
After the break, Wu Jin seriously went to find Classmate Wei, who was a full head taller than he was.
Together, Wu Jin and the rabbit blocked the way in front of Student Wei.
Wei Shi opened his mouth lazily, “You want to know how I know that you’re from R-Code?”
Wu Jin nodded repeatedly.
‘You want to know?” Wei Shi suddenly turned around, switching positions to kabedon Wu Jin against a corner of the wall. He approached Wu Jin with great interest in his eyes, “We’ll use your Crosson way. If you win against me in a duel, I’ll tell you.”
Wu Jin suddenly narrowed his eyes.
The Crosson way.
That meant, winning against Wei Shi in a 1v1 test question match. Wei Shi, as the old king of analytical geometry, was a legend in all fields in Azure City, and his strength was unfathomable. Although he wasn’t sure he could win, he may as well try––
Wei Shi stretched out a finger and waved it in front of Wu Jin’s small, round face, “One month later, we duel.”
Wu Jin nodded determinedly and turned to go.
Before leaving, he felt that his small, fluffy curls were tugged on briefly.
Wei Shi called out from behind him, “We’ll study together in the evening.”
Wu Jin turned his head away and pretended not to hear him.
His thoughts were turning like electricity in his brain. He would have a peak level duel with Wei Shi, and the process would be different from yesterday’s challenge. In addition to doing the same test paper, the two students also needed to choose banned topics at the start of the competition––
The corridor was currently stuffed full of people.
Wu Jin held the rabbit carefully as he jumped up twice in the crowd, trying to see what was happening up in the front.
The vice president of the student union, Thin Water, was currently having a duel against Mao Dongqing, a member of the discipline commission.
White Moonlight’s exemplary student Chen Xiran was the commentator for this scene.
They heard Chen Xiran speak quickly, “12 seconds into the start of the game, the two top students have already been seated! The next step is the exciting ban selection! First of all, let’s focus on Student Big Mao from the discipline committee!”
“Yes, Student Big Mao has gotten the blue seat! So, Mao Dongqing’s ban is… is… Student Thin Water’s strong point, modern prose reading comprehension!”
“Alright, we can see that the referee has already removed modern prose from the question bank!”
“Next, it’s the red side with Thin Water. His ban choice is… ah! It’s chemical entropy change questions that Mao Dongqing excels at! Well then, relevant questions have also been removed from the question bank.”
“Next up is Mao Dongqing’s call, he’s taken up the history of the five dynasties and ten countries! As we all know, the part of the history that this tests is very complicated. Next, the two players will attempt this part of the test together. It seems that Mao Dongqing is well prepared for this part…. Alright, so the topic Thin Water counters with is…”
“Middle Eastern geography! Thin Water has selected this portion of the question bank! Now, let’s invite actuarial calculator, grandmaster of the ban, White Moonlight learning team’s undying soul, Lin Jue to provide us with the winning rate predictions for this competition…”
Wu Jin held the rabbit and stood outside the crowd.
He suddenly seemed to realize something.
There was a ban selection in top level duels. The two students would cut and add sections to the question bank based on their own advantages and disadvantages in order to achieve a strategic victory.
One month later, he’d be dueling against Student Wei.
Everyone knew what types of questions he was good at.
But Student Wei Shi’s strengths remained a mystery.
“!!!” No way, he had to try and probe into Student Wei’s weaknesses ahead of time.
Know yourself, know your enemy, and be invincible in a hundred battles!
Wu Jin squeezed away from the crowd with the rabbit still in his arms.
Wei Shi stood beneath a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. “So.”