"Hey, brother, come to take the exam!" Gu Han, hearing the rather old-fashioned term "brother," came out of his own world and looked up to see a girl. She had fair skin, not particularly beautiful but not ugly either, and her presence was very comfortable and full of vitality.
This girl paid no attention to the distinction between men and women, plopping down next to him with a full smile.
"I think everyone here should be here to take the exam!" Gu Han scanned the surroundings. For some reason, Song Hama was not by his side, and there were already four or five people around. With three more, they would likely be able to enter the examination room and take the test.
"Haha, I knew you were here to take the exam!" The girl moved even closer to Gu Han. "Brother, your grades have always been excellent, right? Exams are no problem for you, right?"
Gu Han pursed his lips. He had already guessed what the girl, who had become familiar with him so quickly, was up to. He moved two seats to the side to distance himself from her. By the way, Gu Han's grades were indeed very good, especially in knowledge related to sword maidens. Twelve years of dedicated study, combined with his above-average intelligence, would likely earn him around 620 out of 650 points on a college entrance exam.
"Don't go, brother, I won't eat you!" The girl followed Gu Han, to prevent him from escaping, she even put her arm around his shoulder, pressing her full chest against his arm without any hesitation!
Feeling the plump sensation, Gu Han wanted to escape even more. He struggled but was surprised to find that the girl's arm strength was surprisingly strong. Even using three-tenths of his strength, he couldn't break free from her arm... More than three-tenths of his strength was not normal, and Gu Han did not intend to reveal this.
"Hehe, brother, you're quite strong. I didn't expect you to have the strength of a school bully with the face of a top student. You're so cool! So cute! This is the first time I've met someone who fits my ideals!" The girl, Ling Ling, was almost beaming with joy. She even shamelessly sniffed Gu Han, smelling his body scent, and stomped her feet happily. "Great, this scent is exactly what I like!"
Gu Han, seeing himself about to become this girl's toy for no reason, decided to change the subject. "Miss, this is not proper. Men and women should not be too close. We should..."
"No problem, no problem. My dad said that when you meet a man you like, don't hesitate. Just add him to your harem. I think you're pretty good, brother. Are you interested in joining my harem, Ling Ling?" Ling Ling said boldly, not realizing she was challenging the norms of normal people.
"Cough, let's talk about the exam. If I'm not mistaken, Miss, you want me to help you cheat, right?" Gu Han decided to change the subject.
"Ah! Don't use the word 'cheat.' Dad told Ling Ling that this is a shortcut to help more people realize their dream of becoming sword wielders. It's a very great thing!" Ling Ling raised her fist in dissatisfaction. "Why can't this exam be solved with fists? I studied all night, and my fists are tired."
"Um, Miss Ling Ling, you might not know, but the examination room uses the most advanced nanoscale photography and fine discrimination system. All personal terminal signals and other device signals are blocked. Each exam table is more than ten meters apart. I'm not unwilling to help you, but I really can't cheat!" Gu Han explained with a troubled look. He wasn't lying about this. The anti-cheating system in the examination room had reached the limits of human capability. Throughout history, no one had ever cheated in the examination room without being caught. Every year, hundreds of people who tried to cheat were banned from entering the Sword Wielder Service Center for five years.
"Hehe!" Ling Ling, hearing Gu Han's words, smiled strangely, released the hand that was pressing on Gu Han's shoulder, and walked away to the end of the corridor, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Heaven! Finally gone..." Gu Han breathed a sigh of relief, almost driven to the brink by this strange girl.
"Hey! Can you hear me?" Suddenly, Gu Han heard Ling Ling's familiar voice in his ear. He hurriedly looked around but didn't see her. He checked his personal terminal... the signal was already blocked, so it couldn't be the terminal.
"Hehe, don't be afraid, brother. Ling Ling isn't some strange ghost. I just want to tell you that those useless anti-cheating devices won't affect our communication!" As she said this, Gu Han felt a weight on his shoulder, and Ling Ling was sitting next to him again, hugging his shoulder.
"Did you put something strange on me? Why can I hear your voice?" Gu Han asked.
"Brother, don't worry. Ling Ling won't use strange things. I just used a little interesting trick. You can call it 'transmitting sound in secret'!" Ling Ling laughed even more happily.
Indeed, it was 'transmitting sound in secret'! Gu Han's heart stirred. He had guessed it was this from the start. In the secret manual passed down from his ancestors, this magical technique was mentioned, said to have been invented by ancient knights. However, with various technological revolutions, these techniques had disappeared into the dust of history.
The manual mentioned 'transmitting sound in secret' but did not leave any methods for practicing it.
"I can help you!" Gu Han nodded. "But in exchange, you must tell me the method of 'transmitting sound in secret'!"
"You want to learn 'transmitting sound in secret'?" Ling Ling looked at Gu Han seriously. "You won't be able to learn it. It requires extremely high talent to master!"
"Then how did you learn it? Don't tell me that with your high talent, you can't even pass a basic exam..."
"Ha... ha... How could that be? Ling Ling's talent is, of course, extremely high. Okay, since brother wants to learn, Ling Ling will tell you, but only after the exam." Ling Ling agreed without hesitation.
Strange, she agreed so easily. According to the novels, such a magical technique should be a closely guarded secret, never to be passed on. Gu Han found her unusually quick agreement very strange.
"Deal!"
ββ
Before the exam started, Song Hama finally returned to the examination site. Gu Han didn't have time to ask him anything before the staff urged him into the examination room.
Gu Han's seat was on the left side of the room, near the window. Song Hama was assigned to the farthest diagonal position, and Ling Ling, unfortunately, was just across the aisle from Gu Han.
After entering the examination room, the screen on the exam table flashed, and the questions automatically appeared. To speed up the exam, the questions were mostly multiple-choice, a total of one hundred questions randomly selected from a pool of ten thousand.
[Question 1: Who is the first human-synchronized Xianjian-level sword maiden? A: Qing Suo Sword B: Zi Ying Sword C: Dari Rulai Sword D: Ame no Murakumo Sword]
Gu Han glanced at the question and knew the answer. Before he clicked, he heard Ling Ling's voice in his ear, "Brother, what should I choose for the first question?"
Gu Han, helpless, blinked four times. This was the signal they had agreed upon: one blink for A, two for B, three for C, and four for D.
[Question 2: What is the meaning of 'Gui Jian'? A: Return the sword to its original owner B: Transform the sword maiden back into a sword C: Sever the sword mark with the sword maiden and end the relationship D: Return the glory to the sword maiden]
After answering the question, Gu Han waited for a while, but Ling Ling didn't ask for the answer. It seemed she knew the answer to this question.
[Question 3: How many Fusan sword maidens successfully escaped during the Fusan sinking battle? A: 60 B: 70 C: 80 D: 90]
"Brother, please..." Before Ling Ling could finish her sentence, Gu Han blinked once, indicating that the answer should be A.
[Question 4: In 'Sword Maiden OL,' if a sword maiden's damage ratio in sword maiden form is 0.878 and the sword wielder's sword element is 10258 points, what is the perfect damage caused to a defenseless Yuan Gong? If in reality, this sword maiden fights a standard Long-level Yuan Gong, how many attacks are needed to defeat it without using skills? A: 9007/350 B: 9007/400 C: 9258/450 D: 9632/500]
"This question should be quite difficult for Ling Ling!" It was a comprehensive question involving both arithmetic and combat knowledge, challenging for anyone. Gu Han thought Ling Ling would definitely ask him, but after a long wait, he only heard her ask about the fifth question.
This went on for about eighty questions, with Ling Ling asking Gu Han for answers to about half of them. Gu Han quickly analyzed the types of questions she could answer, finding that they were mostly historical knowledge and moral and legal questions, which Ling Ling was largely clueless about. However, for questions involving sword maiden knowledge and combat knowledge, Ling Ling never asked Gu Han a single question!
[Question 88: In reality, if a sword maiden and a sword wielder have a disagreement, what should the sword wielder do? A: Issue a mandatory command to the sword maiden B: Punch the sword maiden C: Follow the sword maiden's advice D: Have a serious discussion with the sword maiden]
"Ah, such a simple and stupid question, Ling Ling probably won't ask me..." Gu Han thought, but then he heard Ling Ling's voice in his ear.