ATLAS TRANSLATES

As his voice trailed off, a small group of people started to react.

“Is she really that good at math?”

“Wait, which school did she transfer from?!”

“That’s… that’s insane.”

“Things are about to get interesting at North City No.1 High School…”

Not just the homeroom teacher of Class 8, even Lu Lingxi was extremely shocked.

Bailian’s total score ranking in the top 97 alone was astounding enough, let alone her Chinese and math scores. “First place”, “perfect score” – either one of these would have been enough to dominate the entire school.

Lu Lingxi always knew Bailian was good at Chinese. This time the classical Chinese reading section was quite obscure, and the essay topic was particularly tricky.

Many students in the school misunderstood the essay prompt and went completely off-topic.

Bailian’s 150 points in Chinese was beyond Lu Lingxi’s expectations, but not entirely surprising, as Bailian’s Guange calligraphy style was really impressive.

But a perfect 150 in the joint exam math…

In Xiangcheng, this was practically a sci-fi event.

She had always thought Bailian’s math was on par with Ning Xiao. Ning Xiao’s math had improved rapidly this time, ranking in the top 5 of North City, which had already shocked all the teachers in the office.

As for Bailian, she quietly dropped a bombshell on everyone.

“Hello?” The principal stopped mid-sentence. After waiting for a while without hearing the next words, Principal Pan on the other end of the phone couldn’t help but speak up, “Why did you stop talking?”

This question brought the principal back to reality.

“Principal Pan,” the principal spoke slowly, “I think this time it’s not just a possibility, it’s really happened!”

“I think so too,” Principal Pan was also very excited, “Ning Xiao has improved so fast, ranking top 5 in math. North City No.1 High School must be eager to snatch up such a talented student, right?”

If Ning Xiao was in the second year of high school, he would definitely make it to the provincial team.

“No, that’s not it,” the principal said after listening to him. “There’s more news now. Student Bailian got perfect scores in both Chinese and math, ranking first.”

As expected by the principal.

The voice on the other end of the phone also disappeared instantly.

Only Principal Pan’s rapid breathing could be heard, “…Did she outperform that Song Ming?”

“Yes, Song Ming scored around 130 in math.”

At this moment, not just Xiangcheng No.1 High School, but the people in the Education Bureau office were also extremely excited.

Principal Pan hung up the phone, his eyes gleaming, “Contact the North City Education Bureau. Also, doesn’t Jiangjing University have a special admission plan?”

After last year’s North City top scorer was admitted to Jiangjing, the news was all over the place.

This year, various universities had heard about Song Ming. If no dark horse suddenly appeared in North City next year, he would be the undisputed top scorer. He was very strong, especially in math.

Before today, no one thought anyone would surpass him in math.

But Bailian emerged unexpectedly in this joint exam.

As for her not doing well in science? That’s not a big issue.

Jiangjing University’s special admission plan is designed for students with uneven subject performance!

Xiangcheng had never had anyone admitted to Jiangjing University before. If the first one really appeared, they couldn’t even imagine how sensational it would be.

**

Lu Lingxi brought the printed results back to Class 15.

The answer sheets were submitted to the school for scanning, but hadn’t been released yet. However, they still had their test papers.

The first class was Lu Lingxi’s Chinese lesson.

Most students didn’t do well in Chinese, so she didn’t announce the scores to everyone. Instead, she analyzed the test paper.

After finishing one class, her mood finally settled down.

She called Bailian and Ning Xiao to the office to tell them about their scores.

This was requested by the principal, to avoid the two getting too excited.

The principal was smiling so much he couldn’t close his mouth, “Do you two know how well you scored? Ning Xiao, you ranked fifth in math in North City, and in the top thirty overall! Bailian, you’re even more amazing, first in math in North City…”

He finished speaking enthusiastically.

But he found the two students in front of him had no reaction.

“Oh.” Ning Xiao looked up, his tone very calm.

Ning the Study God had always been gloomy. Even when he raised his eyebrows, there was a hint of melancholy, and his voice showed no excitement or joy.

Bailian, wearing a simple school uniform, had gentle features. She was even calmer than Ning Xiao, “I see, thank you, Principal.”

Principal: “…”

He couldn’t help but turn back to look at Lu Lingxi: “…??”

What’s going on here?

“No, did you two not hear clearly what I said,” the principal tried to explain, “Ning Xiao, you ranked fifth in math in North City, and Bailian, you got perfect scores in both Chinese and math, ranking first in North City!”

The Study God Ning remained aloof.

He nodded, indicating he understood.

“Yes, perfect scores in Chinese and math, I heard that. Thank you, Principal.” Bailian recalled chemical formulas, then replied unhurriedly.

Principal: “…”

Lu Lingxi looked at the two children, and couldn’t help but smile as she told them to go back to class.

After the two left, the principal looked at Lu Lingxi, utterly confused, “Teacher Lu, what’s going on with these two students? They’re not happy at all? Not excited??”

Don’t they know what these scores mean?

Of course, the principal didn’t understand —

Ning Xiao had app exercises, and every weekend Jiang Fuli would go to the library to teach them difficult problem types. And there was Bailian, whose explanations were more detailed than Jiang Fuli’s.

Ranking fifth in North City was impressive in Xiangcheng and North City.

But Ning Xiao knew that if Young Master Jiang found out he scored 120-something on the joint exam, and couldn’t even do one of the big questions, he would definitely be scolded.

This wasn’t an exaggeration.

Except for Tang Ming, he was the worst student Young Master Jiang had ever taught.

Happy? Excited? Ning Xiao was now only worried about whether he would be scolded tonight.

He had no mood to be happy or excited.

As for Bailian.

She had once stood out among a group of talented scholars in Da Yong Dynasty and was accepted as a disciple by Liang Zewen, breaking convention. Even now, the world’s evaluation of her was still “The Da Yong Dynasty owed her a top scholar title”.

Would she care about this?

The two left with ease.

The principal really couldn’t understand. He looked at Lu Lingxi, “I didn’t even get to tell them about the special admission plan…”

The “special admission plan” was specially set up by Jiangjing University for students with special talents.

There would be interviews and written tests in October-November each year. If they passed, they could be admitted to Jiangjing University with a 50-point reduction in the college entrance exam. If their performance was particularly outstanding, the point reduction could be even more.

The principal had come specifically for this “special admission plan”.

But he was confused by these two students’ reactions and let them go without saying anything.

“They’re about to start class,” Lu Lingxi was calmer than the principal. She thought for a moment, “I’ll talk to them properly at noon.”

“Alright.” The principal’s head was spinning.

He suddenly felt…

Even if he had told Bailian and Ning Xiao about the “special admission plan” just now, these two would probably have the same reaction —

— “Oh.”

— “Thank you, Principal. I understand.”

Thinking of this, the principal couldn’t help but wipe his face.

Never mind, it’s better to leave this to Lu Lingxi.

**

North City No.1 High School. International Class.

This class was full of top students. Competition creates pressure, so after the scores came out, the homeroom teacher directly pasted the printed score sheet on the left side of the blackboard.

Once the scores were out.

Those who cared weren’t Song Ming and his group, but the bunch who had privately started a betting pool.

A group of people crowded to the left of the blackboard to see the outcome of this math competition.

The homeroom teacher had posted everyone’s scores and overall rankings from top to bottom, arranged by rank.

The first one was Song Ming —

Name: Song Ming

Subject, Score, Ranking Chinese, 131, 5 Math, 130, 2 English, 142, 3 Science: 275, 1 Total: 678, 1

Song Ming’s deskmate wasn’t surprised by Song Ming’s overall ranking. He just looked at Song Ming’s math score, turned back, and wailed: “Bro Ming, I really admire that you could score 130 on such a paper, but you’ve really disappointed me. The first place is actually Shaoqi. Shaoqi, your math score isn’t 135, is it?”

Most people started calling out as soon as they saw Song Ming’s math ranked second.

Apart from the big joint exam, North City’s ten schools had a monthly exam every month.

Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi’s math scores, one second and one first, had already become a tradition at North City No.1 High School.

Only a very few people instinctively looked for Bai Shaoqi’s ranking —

Name: Bai Shaoqi Subject, Score, Ranking Chinese, 133, 4 Math, 126, 3 English, 137, 20 Science: 259, 9 Total: 655, 3

“Hey —” he unconsciously spoke out, “The first place isn’t Shaoqi either, she’s third in math.”

This voice, not to mention the people crowded around the left side of the blackboard.

Even Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi, who were usually indifferent to outside affairs, looked over. Song Ming stood up, frowning: “She’s third?”

“Yes, who in our class performed exceptionally well to surpass Bro Ming?”

Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi looked at each other.

They both pulled out their chairs and walked to the left side of the podium to check the scores.

The crowd “whoosh” parted to make way for the two. Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi looked at their own math scores, then continued to look down. The class had a “fourth”, a “sixth”, but no first place.

Others were also looking for where the first place was.

Because the international class students never thought this math first place could appear elsewhere.

However, they couldn’t find it.

Apart from these two, the highest was only fourth place, with 123 points.

So where was the first place? Not to mention first, where was fifth?

The international class of North City No.1 High School was the most competitive school in the entire North City, with the strongest teaching resources. Especially the homeroom teacher of the international class was a math teacher who had once produced several IMO seed players.

The class almost swept the top ten math scores in the whole province.

“Who on earth got first place?” Song Ming’s deskmate scratched his head, incredulous, “Bro Ming, your 130 is already insane enough, is there someone even more insane? How many points did they score?”

“I’ll go find the homeroom teacher.” Song Ming decided without hesitation.

The homeroom teacher of the international class was in the office.

As soon as the scores came out, he had requested to check the answer sheet of that first place student.

Soon, a staff member called him, saying they had retrieved the test paper.

The answer sheet was retrieved from the machine. For fairness and impartiality, it didn’t display the school or name.

The homeroom teacher of the international class only saw a clean and neat test paper.

All multiple choice questions correct.

All fill-in-the-blank questions correct.

He was stunned for a moment, then used the mouse to click to the back to look at this student’s big questions.

There were five big questions in math in total. The first three were fine.

For the last two big questions, he had spent two days over the weekend to solve them, and even compared with the answers. These two questions were beyond the syllabus for the international class, so he had even carefully prepared explanations against the answers to make sure the students could understand.

But when he saw this student’s answers, he even had a feeling of “oh, it can be done this way too”.

Different from the answer key’s method, this student’s problem-solving approach was clearer and easier to understand.

Standard and clean, every problem-solving thought was written out clearly.

Perfect score.

At first, he didn’t know how many points the first place had scored, thinking the other person might only be one or two points higher than Song Ming. He was wondering where this dark horse had suddenly appeared from, but he never thought it would be 150, a perfect score! Where on earth did this guy come from?!

As for cheating?

The homeroom teacher of the international class hadn’t even considered that. Not to mention that this answer was different from the standard answer, just from the clear logical thinking, he could see this student’s potential.

“Principal,” the homeroom teacher of the international class directly called the principal, “Can the Education Bureau retrieve the information of the person who got first in math? Give me that guy’s information.”

When Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi arrived, the homeroom teacher had just hung up the phone.

“I knew you two would come,” the homeroom teacher took a deep breath, “That first place, 150. Song, Bai, I can only say you two didn’t lose unfairly this time!”

“150?!” Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi exclaimed simultaneously.

The homeroom teacher nodded, “Yes, with such a terrifying score, I think… this guy’s math might be comparable to those people from Jiangjing Affiliated Middle School.”

The name “Jiangjing Affiliated Middle School” might be very unfamiliar to others.

But the people at No.1 High School knew it very well.

“You mean, Liang Wuyu and the others?” Song Ming was usually cold and quiet, but at this moment he was almost surprised.

No matter how self-confident he was, he had never thought of comparing himself with Liang Wuyu and the others. This was an innate gap, after all, the Liang family was a top academic family, and the resources they had access to since childhood were different from theirs.

But Song Ming had also never imagined that this person who scored 150 would be evaluated so highly in the homeroom teacher’s eyes. Comparable to Liang Wuyu? “Teacher, who exactly is he?” Song Ming couldn’t help but be curious.

“Still investigating.”

Bai Shaoqi recovered her composure, her appearance beautiful. Her behavior had always been measured, she just found it strange, “If he’s so good at math, how come he didn’t make it into the top ten overall?”

After all, the top ten overall were all from their class.

“Maybe he’s biased towards certain subjects.” The homeroom teacher explained.

This was indeed possible, but Song Ming and Bai Shaoqi didn’t have the mood to care about how this person was biased towards certain subjects for now.

Because this score of 150 had left them both dazed.

The class was waiting for them to report back. When they heard the first place’s score, most people looked at each other —

First place, 150.

Second place, 130.

Third place, 126.

…

There were some words they wanted to say but didn’t dare to.

This is a crushing defeat, isn’t it?

When did such an expert appear?

The homeroom teacher of the international class was also thinking about this question. Finally, a staff member called him, saying they had found the information and scores of that first place student, “Teacher, it has been sent to your email.”

The homeroom teacher quickly hung up the phone and logged into his email. Sure enough, he found a new message.

He clicked it open directly.

The scores of that student who had delivered a crushing defeat appeared before his eyes.