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Jiang Chen went to the seat where his name was labeled and sat down. It was only about twenty minutes before the exam, and most of the people in the classroom had already arrived. Some were silently reciting something to themselves and some were also chatting among themselves in groups of twos and threes.
“Classmate.”
Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Jiang Chen turned his head and looked at the boy at the desk behind him.
“Are you Jiang Chen from Yan No. 1 High School?” The boy propped his head on one hand, stretched out the other to him, and lazily introduced himself: “My name is Zhang Yanjing, and my grandfather asked me to say hello to you if I see you today.”
Jiang Chen paused. Since he was in elementary school, he had rarely heard the sentence pattern “My ex wants me to do this or that”. However, when this sentence came out of the boy in front of him, it was quite obvious that his tone was simply one tasked with completing a task.
“Who is your grandfather?”
“Zhang Yuanhe.” Zhang Yanjing raised his eyebrows: “You don’t know him?”
Jiang Chen recalled the old man who had given him a jade pendant by the pond of the He’s old family house before. He shook his hand, and smiled slightly: “So you are Grandpa Zhang’s grandson, hello.”
Zhang Yanjing withdrew his hand. Thinking of something, he lowered the hand propping up his head and leaned forward: “You are the number one in the third mock exam, right?”
Jiang Chen remained silent, waiting for his next words.
“I’ve always heard that you’re the top pick in the sciences…..” Zhang Yanjing’s eyes flicked across Jiang Chen’s face without malice, but he was clearly evaluating something, “Do you think you have a certain chance of getting the top score in the college entrance examination? At least 80% sure?”
The examination room of the college entrance examination was randomly allocated, but 40% of the examination room was made up of Chenghua students, and the students of Yan No. 1 High School and the Attached Secondary School each account for 30%.
The students in the classroom could always find a few people who they knew, not to mention that there were only three schools  distributed among the exam rooms, so most people in the classroom at this time had classmates who they were either familiar with or just nodding acquaintances. And these people all knew Jiang Chen, and most of them also knew Zhang Yanjing.
So when Zhang Yanjing and Jiang Chen began talking, several students sitting nearby subconsciously pricked up their ears. When they heard Zhang Yanjing’s question, people from the three schools all had different thoughts.
The students in Chenghua thought it was amazing that their school tyrant who was indifferent to his own grades, would actually care about whether another school’s study tyrant could get the top score; those in the attached secondary school felt that Zhang Yanjing was looking down on their school, Jiang Chen did well in the third mock test, but everyone knew that the third mock test was easier than the previous two, and Li Xiao was only 2 points away from his score. Where did Jiang Chen come from? Provocative, so what made God Jiang 80% sure that the number one in the college entrance examination would be him?
Jiang Chen didn’t think too much about it, and he just told the truth: “100%.”
The students in Yan No. 1 High School all raised their chins, secretly thinking that they really had a spiritual connection with God Jiang.
The students in the attached secondary school frowned, and some even rolled their eyes subtly. Only Chenghua’s students pricked up their ears again. They knew that Zhang Yanjing must have something to say when he asked his question.
Sure enough, Zhang Yanjing raised his eyes, looked in the direction of the door in the front, and said with the corner of his mouth curled up, “So confident? He Qianjian of our school is also sure he will take the number one spot in the college entrance examination.”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly, and turned back to his desk. At this time, he inadvertently met He Qianjian’s eyes but his gaze did not stay long, and lowered his eyes to prepare the pens he would use in the exam.
He Qianjian had appeared at the door, causing the classroom to fall silent.
Chenghua’s students scrutinized his expression secretly. Since the second semester of the third year of high school, He Qianjian had become increasingly moody as the college entrance examination approached. Especially after failing several mock exams, his face was always gloomy. No longer did he possess the “gentle and mature” image he had cultivated since little, he could now occasionally be seen getting angry at a few of his sycophants who hung out with him before.
There were rumors that the He family was dissatisfied with He Qianjian because his grades were getting worse and worse. And that the coming-of-age ceremony was canceled because He Qianjian had failed several times in the mock college entrance examinations. And in addition to the fact that there had been no follow-up or explanation for the cancellation of He Qianjian’s birthday party, some people really believed this rumor.
At this time, in this examination room, except for Zhang Yanjing, no one was from the same class as He Qianjian, but most of Chenghua High were directly ascended from Chenghua’s elementary and junior high division. So some students were actually more familiar with He Qianjian than their own classmates who they don’t talk much with.
And based on what they knew about He Qianjian, he would definitely be angry right now.
Whether it was when He Qianjian had a good temper before, or after his grades dropped and his temper gradually became bad, he really didn’t like others to put him in a low place when comparing him with others. Especially when the person who said this was Zhang Yanjing, He Qianjian’s rival since elementary school.
However, He Qianjian’s gaze just lingered on Jiang Chen for a few seconds, then he found his seat and sat down without saying a word.
Several Chenghua students exchanged glances, and Zhang Yanjing also raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.
Others didn’t know about the relationship between He Qianjian and Jiang Chen, but he did. He said those words more to test Jiang Chen’s attitude towards He Qianjian. He had never been afraid of being heard by the people themselves when speaking ill of others, and even expected that He Qianjian, who had become more and more bad tempered during this period of time, would fly into a rage and make a scene in the examination room.
But unexpectedly, he looked calmer than ever before.
Jiang Chen nimbly rotated the pen in his hand with his fingers, but there was a conversation that no one in this classroom could hear except him and He Qianjian.
He Qianjian: [Promethium has been given to you, you must make sure that nothing will go wrong today.]
The System said coldly: [Don’t worry.]
He Qianjian: [The first test is Chinese language and literature. This time it is different from the previous. Other than the composition, the best choice is to extract all Jiang Chen’s exam answers.]
The System replied in a business-like manner: [The coverage of the program is 500 meters. Within 500 meters, it will automatically screen the answers of the students who took the same test paper as you, and convey the best choice to you. These answers will not necessarily be Jiang Chen’s answers, but definitely the optimal choice.]
Jiang Chen’s eyes flickered, and he recalled that Li Xiao had told him before that He Qianjian’s question answering styles were different in each test paper, so the root cause was here.
After a pause, when the proctor entered the classroom, He Qianjian’s voice sounded again, a little impatient and mixed with anger: [Jiang Chen’s answers will definitely be the most correct answer, there is no need for screening, just give me his answers. For the composition essay, use the database to synthesize the most suitable one for me. When the time comes, and the results come out, unless Jiang Chen can write a composition essay that gets a perfect score, I want to see how he can beat me.]
[Don’t forget that your goal is to get the top score in the college entrance examination, not to beat Jiang Chen.]
[Jiang Chen will get the top score.] He Qianjian gritted his teeth, looked at the proctor who was talking at the front of the room, lowered his head and said in his mind: [No need to say so much, just listen to me.]
[The optimal choice is a separate program, which I cannot control.] The System voice revealed a hint of human impatience: [If you need to use this function, use it according to the rules.]
[What do you mean?] He Qianjian’s voice in his head suddenly increased in volume: [Recently, the things you want have become more and more difficult to find. Do you know that just that bit of promethium is incredibly difficult to get? You can see clearly yourself how much manpower and material resources I wasted to get that thing. Now that you have the thing, you’re acting all arrogant?]
[From the first time you used the optimal choice, you already knew the rules.] The System said coldly: [If you accidentally forgot, I can repeat the rules.]
While the System was speaking, the proctor on the podium had finished his inspection and was opening the sealed bag on the podium.
He Qianjian looked at the exam paper that was pulled out, and though his voice held suppressed anger, his reason overcame his anger for a while, and he compromised: [I still remember, just do it according to the rules then.]
Even till the exam started, the System didn’t make any more sound. Jiang Chen collected his thoughts and quickly read over the exam paper.
When the proctor told them that it was time to start answering, there was only a slight rubbing sound of pens writing out answers in the classroom. But Jiang Chen heard that every time he finished answering a question, the System’s voice would immediately sound: [First question: D… Second question: A… Third question: A…]
Jiang Chen’s eyes were calm, and the System’s voice remained consistent with his answer until he finished filling out the blanks to an ancient poem.
Soon came the reading comprehension questions, but Jiang Chen’s habit had always been to write the composition essay first and then do the reading comprehension questions. His personal experience was that after writing a composition, the brain’s sensitivity to the words would be higher and it would also be easier to understand.
Jiang Chen directly turned to the composition section, saw the topic clearly, and a smile appeared in his eyes.
Chinese language and literature composition took up a very high score, but it had always been the most unstable part of Jiang Chen’s grades. Most of the college entrance examination compositions were divided into three categories: propositional/semi-propositional composition, topical composition, and material composition. He was not very sensitive toward words when compared to numbers. General composition, including reading comprehension, was mostly based on the experience accumulated from doing the questions, and an existing framework was used to write the answer.
This kind of situation allowed him to often get full marks in reading comprehension, but he could only rely on luck in composition. There was a fixed framework for reading comprehension questions, and he would naturally understand after getting used to it. However, each composition was different and the type was also different.
It was okay if it was a propositional composition, since the topic of writing was clearly defined, so long as one wrote according to the material and thought in a positive direction, one wouldn’t go wrong. But once it was topical or material compositions, Jiang Cgen would be troubled because compositions on themes tend to explore more emotional topics, and he would need to mobilize his own experience and emotions to write, and this was where he struggled the most.
Fortunately, this time the composition type was the former. After reading the materials, Jiang Chen listed a few central points on the draft paper, and quickly started writing. At the same time, the voice of the System reading and comprehending the answers for He Qianjian was always sounding in his ears.
By the time Jiang Chen finished writing the composition, He Qianjian had already started writing the composition. The System seemed to be still screening the templates, and there was no sound for a while.
Jiang Chen rubbed his forehead and thought to himself that if he hadn’t already made plans long ago, He Qianjian’s System would be quieted down this afternoon. He really didn’t want to go through the second exam where someone kept reporting the answers in his ears.
After the Chinese language and literature exam was over and the proctor left, He Qianjian was the first to walk out of the classroom in a good mood. A student who came out of another classroom seemed to know him and asked, “How did you do in the exam?”
The corner of He Qianjian’s mouth curled up: “Not bad.”
The other smiled and said congratulations. He wanted to say something else, but he saw students leaving the classroom one after another and probably saw the person he was looking for, so he waved to He Qianjian and left.
Jiang Chen packed up his things and stood up. Zhang Yanjing behind him asked him, “Where are you going for lunch?”
“My parents are outside, waiting for me to eat together.”
Zhang Yanjing nodded, “Eat well, when taking the exam this afternoon, don’t lose to He Qianjian.”
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows and turned to look at him: “You hate him?”
Zhang Yanjing also raised his eyebrows: “Don’t you hate him?”
Jiang Chen thought for a while. His feelings towards He Qianjian were far from being able to be described by a single word: hate, but this word was also included in it. It wasn’t wrong so he nodded.
“Then that’s right.” Zhang Yanjing got up, smiling cynically: “An enemy of an enemy is a friend. As long as you are the top scorer in the college entrance examination this time, you can ask me for help if you have any issue in the future.”
Jiang Chen smiled, but didn’t answer. He turned around and walked out of the examination room.
The first day of examinations would be over soon. From the conversation between the System and He Qianjian, Jiang Chen learned a lot of things that he didn’t know before, most of which were about the functions of the System.
To sum up, it was about the following points:
First: In the optimal selection function, He Qianjian must be in the same space as the selected person, with a maximum range of 500 meters, and if he wants to exchange something, he must be within a range of 50 meters.
Second: He Qianjian’s System had a limit on the number of exchanges, which would be judged according to the item level of the person being exchanged from. The number of times was 1-10 times per person, and the maximum number could not exceed 10 times.
Third: Every time the System opened the optimal choice function, there would be a condition. The condition was that He Qianjian must provide it with something it requested. Only when He Qianjian provided it could the optimal choice function be opened.
Fourth: Any exchange was based on the condition that the health of the person being exchanged from could not be directly harmed.
Fifth: In order to protect the safety of the System and the host, no exchange could be detected.
Rules 1 and 3 were inferenced from the Chinese language and literature exam in the morning, while rules 2, 4, and 5 were from the mathematics exam in the afternoon.
Probably because when doing the Chinese language and literature exam, he needed to edit the template essay by himself. The number of words written was too large and time-consuming, while in mathematics, he only needed to fill in the answers directly. No matter how many numbers that needed to be written down, he could finish it quickly. So He Qianjian didn’t need to use his brain and was bored enough that while transcribing on the answer sheet, he almost got into an argument with the System about the previous matter.
Jiang Chen didn’t pay attention to the cause of the argument. He was doing a question at the time, and he didn’t notice the content of their words until He Qianjian raised his volume.
He Qianjian’s tone was somewhat infuriated: […Jiang Chen will be publicly recognized by the He family soon, and then everyone will know that he is the eldest young master of the He family, and that I am no one, so we have to stop it tomorrow. Do you have any other way to stop this before the exam is over?]
[You can no longer exchange anything with Jiang Chen. The two of you have reached the upper limit of the number of exchanges, and all around here are surveillance cameras. I can’t guarantee that you will escape unscathed.]
[Why not?] He Qianjian said: [Didn’t we cooperate very well every time before? Since He Qianmin’s car accident, we have never failed, including the last time in Changyang Plaza, even if they found out that I went to Li De, so what? So what if they suspect that I have tampered with things behind the scenes, there is no evidence, and the police can’t do anything to me when they come.]
System: [The flower bouquet that disappeared from your hand in the Li De elevator last time has attracted attention. Those two policemen followed you for so long before, have you forgotten?]
[So what? They can’t possibly think of you, and isn’t it your job to help with the mess left by the host? I remember your system rules, one of which is to protect the security of the system and the host, and any exchange cannot be detected. The last time you exchanged the bouquet of flowers with the stones at the gate of Li De, you went to their surveillance room the next day and deleted the surveillance completely, and you also helped me monitor Jiang Chen’s actions. If not because we underestimated his defensive skills he would be dead by now.]
He Qianjian continued: [I know you have rules, but didn’t you help me break the rules before, why can’t you do it this time?]
The System voice was cold, with no room for negotiation: [Impossible.]
Sitting at the desk, Jiang Chen listed all the rules related to the System on the draft paper, thinking about it.
On the computer screen at the side, the dialog box with C was still going on:
[C: Then tomorrow I not only need to trace his IP, but also attack its server in cooperation with Changjiang? That’s so exciting!]
[C: Don’t worry, I guarantee that he won’t be able to enter the scope of your choosing.]
[C: But, I’ve wanted to ask for a long time, who is the other person, that he is so powerful, you don’t need to reveal too much, I just want to know if he’s from our country?]
Jiang Chen took a look and replied with an affirmative.
[C: If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe in the real existence of Changjiang. However, after knowing the existence of Changjiang, it would not be surprising to have such a powerful opponent. But I still have one question.]
[C: Is the other party human or is he the same as Changjiang?]
[D: Same as Changjiang.]
C didn’t reply for a long time, and there was an exam and a tough battle tomorrow, so Jiang Chen turned off the computer, tucked the mess of scrap papers into a book, and went back to bed.
He just closed his eyes but couldn’t fall asleep. His mind was filled with various images and thoughts, piled up in a mess. For a while, Jiang Chen thought about the functions and rules of the System that he didn’t know, and for a while he thought about the recruitment of the members of the scientific research team. When thinking about the second purpose, there would be some irregular pictures flashing through his mind.
Jiang Chen turned on the bedside lamp, walked to the window and stared at the clean night sky with only a few stars visible outside.
When he came back to his senses, it was to Yang Si knocking on his door after seeing that the light in his room was still on.
“Chen Chen, you have to continue taking exams tomorrow, why aren’t you sleeping?”
“Mom.” Jiang Chen turned around, looked at his mother who had a concerned expression by the door, and his face shifted slightly. The words lingered on his slightly opened mouth, but he couldn’t say anything. He lowered his eyelashes and said, “I’m going to sleep soon.”
The light at the head of the bed was dim, and there was an ambiguous blur between Yang Si and Jiang Chen by the window. Yang Si couldn’t see Jiang Chen’s expression clearly, and she only coaxed with a light chuckle: “Sleep early, when you have finished the exams you can rest happily for a while.”
Jiang Chen hummed lightly and said good night to her.
Yang Si closed the door, and Jiang Chen looked back at the night sky with only a few stars. He then turned and returned to the bed, turned off the light and closed his eyes.