Outside the teaching building, the branches cast shadows over most of the sunlight, leaving a luminous imprint on the white tiles.

Ning Xi’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but as an Omega standing so close to an Alpha, his actions inevitably seemed a bit audacious.

Especially since that Alpha happened to be Song Yize, a prominent figure in the school.

This… was definitely a melon^[1]Gossip to eat ah.

The passing students immediately stopped whatever they were doing, gathering around to watch the show unfold.

Song Yize was at a loss for words as he watched Ning Xi cling to his arm. The mint and white tea scent of his pheromones curled around him defenselessly, completely unrestrained.

Seeing that Song Yize hadn’t reacted for a long while—just staring at him with slightly widened eyes—Ning Xi repeated himself, “Can you get first place in the second mock exam?”

Song Yize hesitated for a moment. It took him quite a while to process the question before he slowly responded, “… Can…”

“That’s the spirit!” Ning Xi patted Song Yize’s shoulder as if cheering him on. “You have to get first place ah! Jiayou!”^[2]Good luck

Song Yize was utterly choked.

By now, almost all the students in the corridor were gathered around eating melon.

They watched with keen interest as an unfamiliar Omega inexplicably encouraged the school’s perennial top Alpha to secure first place, whispering among themselves.

Song Yize had no idea what Ning Xi was up to. He just wanted to tell Ning Xi to let go of his hand and tell him that AOs shouldn’t act like this in public.

That was when a few murmurs drifted into his ears.

“Who’s this Omega ah?”

“Could he be Song Yize’s boyfriend?”

Song Yize’s movements faltered slightly.

Lately, this kind of talk had been coming up too often, and even Song Yize himself was starting to feel a little dazed.

Moreover, the moment he answered “can,” Ning Xi naturally let go of his hand.

Ning Xi flashed a bright smile—so sweet it could melt hearts. He took a step back, then turned around and ran off without any hesitation.

As he left, he didn’t forget to say, “Study hard ah!”

Only Song Yize, who was standing in place not knowing what was going on, and the large crowd of movie watchers were left behind.

What the hell…

Zhang Qiang, who had come out with Song Yize, had witnessed the entire scene. He stared at Ning Xi’s retreating figure before slowly walking up to Song Yize and said, “That little O is playing hard to get ah…”

Song Yize was confused. “Hard to get?”

Zhang Qiang draped an arm over Song Yize’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper, “Hey, Ze-ge, just tell me. This Ning Xi is your boyfriend, isn’t he? I won’t tell anyone, I’ll help you keep it a secret.”

Song Yize gave Zhang Qiang a look as if he were retarded.

But Zhang Qiang felt like his logic made perfect sense. “I know you’re not a casual person and get close to just any Omega. I won’t blame you for secretly getting into a relationship behind my back. So? Am I right ya? Am I ya?”

With an unperturbed expression, Song Yize pried Zhang Qiang’s hand off his shoulder.

He turned his gaze toward the corridor outside. The sunlight, unobstructed by the shade of the trees, spilled in large patches over the ground, forming little golden tiles. Beyond that was an endless stretch of clear sky and clouds.

Song Yize’s deep voice didn’t fluctuate, as if replying, yet more like talking to himself:

“A pointless question.”

—

At noon, Ning Xi had originally planned to go to Song Yize’s classroom to find him.

But after running downstairs, he found that the experimental class was completely empty. Upon asking around, he learned that their class had been taken to attend a lecture and had gone to lunch early.

Ning Xi had to wait until the afternoon for the weekly mock test to begin.

Thanks to touching Song Yize, his life was safe—at least, so far, there were no accidents.

In the afternoon, Ning Xi grabbed his pencil case and followed the crowd to the exam room.

The weekly mock test was mainly for practice purposes, so the allotted time wasn’t very long.

A regular Chinese exam, which usually lasted two and a half hours, was cut down to just an hour and a half. It was basically a test of how fast one could ramble through answers while honing the skill of churning out an 800-word essay in 23 minutes.

For convenience, the examination rooms hadn’t been switched, so they remained the same as the previous mock exam.

Ning Xi deliberately arrived a little earlier at the last exam room. By the time he got there, the Alpha and Beta who had chatted with him before were already present.

He took his seat and poked the Beta student in front of him. “Hey, classmate, Let me ask you something.”

The Beta turned around. Despite his unfriendly appearance, he had a surprisingly good temperament. “What’s up? Ask away.”

Ning Xi leaned forward casually and asked, “How did you do in the last mock exam ah?”

“Ah, this ah, I thought it was something.” The Beta seemed easy to get along with—he answered whatever he was asked. “I actually made some progress last time. Got a 91 in Chinese—I fuck, let me tell you, I barely pass most of the time. The rest was so-so, and my total score was just a measly 346.”

“And your ranking?”　　

“Ranking? Pfft, 751, what else?” The Beta knocked himself on the head. “I got in as an athlete, but I don’t even train anymore. I wasn’t really a good student either.”

Ning Xi glanced at the Alpha beside him. “What about him?”

The Beta didn’t mind Ning Xi’s curiosity about grades. “Him? You can ask him yourself.”

Saying that, he kicked the Alpha’s chair. “Hey, Xiao Song, what did you get last time ah?”

“Just over 350,” the Alpha sighed. “I only beat you by seven or eight points, but that was just enough to rank two places higher than you. Seriously, the only ones with big score gaps are the xueba and the ones at the bottom. For the rest of us, a difference of 0.5 points can mean a huge shift in ranking.”

Ning Xi nodded.

He had never been at the bottom of the rankings before, so he hadn’t realized there was this kind of logic among the lower scores.

A score of 346 placed someone at 751st, while a little over 350 placed someone at 749th.

Assuming just over 350 meant 353, then getting 348 in the second mock exam would be a safe bet.

Based on Ning Xi’s experience, the second mock exam was usually the easiest of all the college entrance exam simulations. If the overall average score increased, then aiming for 353 should be a reasonable goal for him.

Seeing how seriously Ning Xi was thinking, the Beta asked, “Hey, how did you do ah?”

“Me ah,” Ning Xi answered openly, “248.”

Beta：“…”

Why did he sound so confident, as if he had scored 748?

“You’re at the bottom of the list, right?” The Beta didn’t mean any harm with his question.

Ning Xi still seemed to be in a fresh and novel mood about it, answering smoothly, “No ah, I was second to last.”

The Beta kindly reminded, “Someone from our grade took a break from school. You’re probably… in last place now.”

Ning Xi froze for a moment.

So not writing the exam really could land someone in last place.

Despite his dreadlocks, the Alpha was actually quite kind-hearted. He even helped Ning Xi find an excuse. “Last time, the ceiling light fell on you during the Chinese exam—it’s totally normal that it affected your performance. This time, no more lights are falling, so you can focus on the test. Or do you want us brothers to help you out? I mean, this is No. 1 High School, after all. You should at least get past 300”

Ning Xi shook his head. “No need, I’ll do it myself.”

Then he rolled up the sleeves of his school jacket and said, “I’ll rely entirely on my own strength.”

Alpha and Beta looked at each other.

Was this Omega referring to the strength that got him a score of 248?

The exam bell rang soon after.

The invigilator entered the classroom, wrote down the subject and time of the exam, and began distributing the answer sheets.

Xian Chang No. 1 High School truly made the most of their time. To fit three exams into a single afternoon, they allowed only a ten-minute break between each session.

Not only that, but they also canceled the students’ afternoon naps and evening reading sessions on exam days, squeezing in every possible moment for more practice, more drills—an intense, relentless grind.

But this was simply what senior year students were expected to endure.

Though they complained now, in the future, when they looked back, what would remain in their memories would likely be the lush greenery and blooming flowers seen from the exam room windows.

Ning Xi focused intently on the test paper, filling out his answer sheet with serious dedication.

He wasn’t weak in any subject and had a good memory. While the novel he had transmigrated into had some strange settings, the knowledge structure, syllabus, and textbooks were identical to those in his real world.

After completing all three exams in a row, Ning Xi briefly analyzed the difficulty level of this weekly test.

It was basically intermediate. Though for students with weaker foundations, it might have leaned toward the harder side.

The final big math question on derivatives was quite complex, requiring multiple cases for discussion. But for him, at most, he would lose two points from the answer section.

The English exam was mediocre, seemingly made simpler on purpose to balance out the time constraints.

Chinese. Chinese ah.

In Chinese, Ning Xi successfully completed an 850-character essay in 20 minutes.

The topic was “A Person or Event I Will Always Remember,” but his response was completely off-topic—he spent the entire essay singing praises for the grading teacher.

For example, the very first sentence read:

“Ah, my tears at this very moment fall ceaselessly, day and night, for the one I will forever remember! Grading teacher, you are my greatest regret!”

Hopefully, the teacher wouldn’t single out his essay just to scold him.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the golden evening light streamed through the windows, leaving a fiery red glow in the sky.

Ning Xi grabbed his pencil case and exam paper, returning to Class Seven of Senior Year. The students in the classroom were busy discussing the exam they had just finished. Some had already set their things down and were rushing off to eat.

That evening, they still had the comprehensive science exam. Results would likely be out by noon the next day.

The second mock exam would begin in the afternoon, following the real college entrance examination schedule—no exams at night.

Ning Xi sat back in his seat and pulled out his biology textbook from his desk, wanting to review a few concepts he wasn’t entirely sure about.

Hu Yangcai had also returned to his seat, simply depressed. He collapsed onto his desk head first. “I don’t want to live… I’m never getting into college…”

After lying there for a while, he finally turned to Ning Xi and said, “Classmate Ning, let’s go eat. We still have the science exam tonight. We need to eat a lot, or we might really die tonight.”

Ning Xi figured he wouldn’t be able to catch Song Yize at this hour anyway, so he nodded. “Alright, let me finish this first.”

Hu Yangcai didn’t know where the relief came from. “You’re finally taking studying seriously! If you put in the effort, you’ll definitely improve!”

After saying that, he sighed again, “But I really envy your boyfriend. How is his brain so good? Although his scores are extremely high every time he takes the test, it’s actually scary ah. Help.”

Ning Xi absentmindedly nodded, not even bothering to correct the term “boyfriend.”

He was now fully focused on drawing a circle on question 23 of the paper.

After all, a xueba scoring high wasn’t scary. The truly terrifying thing was controlling their score.

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The author has something to say:

Ning Xi (staring at his total score of 248): I’ve never scored this low in my life…