Startled awake from a deathly illness!
Within the dim, old-fashioned dormitory, the gentle-featured youth, Huang Xiu, suddenly shot upright from his bed.
His face was a mask of bewilderment, his eyes still holding a hint of terror, as he remained motionless on the bed for a long time.
‘Was it a dream? Or had he encountered the Pig-headed Man again?’
Huang Xiu struggled to recall the events of the previous night—he had played on his phone until drowsiness overtook him, then drifted into sleep.
All his memories were perfectly coherent, without the slightest interruption.
“That scared me to death; it was just a dream after all!”
Indeed, if such an enormous Pig-headed Man truly existed, it would likely swallow the Earth in a single gulp.
Wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead, he checked the time on his phone before scrambling out of bed.
The preliminary exam was scheduled for half past eight, yet this hardly meant he had ample time.
It was already half past seven, and both washing up and eating would consume precious minutes.
After waking his dorm mates, who were still indulging in their sleep, Huang Xiu washed up, grabbed his ID, and headed straight to the cafeteria.
April weather was as fickle as a child’s mood; yesterday had been bright and sunny, but today brought a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Having finished breakfast, as he walked the path to the examination hall, students frequently brushed past Huang Xiu.
The examination hall was located in the first-year classrooms; the previous day, while second and third-year students underwent medical examinations, the first-year students had seized the opportunity to clear out the classrooms and set up the exam.
Though everyone claimed to hold no hope of passing the entrance exam, when the time for the test arrived, not a single person failed to show up.
This was the unique modesty of the Great Xia people, a trait Huang Xiu typically distrusted.
After all, those who always claimed they hadn’t studied before an exam often performed better than anyone else.
By quarter past eight, formal entry began.
After undergoing a body search and verification, Huang Xiu queued and entered the examination hall, his seat number being 34.
The seating in the examination hall was likely arranged by academic performance, for Huang Xiu’s gaze swept across numerous underachievers of similar academic standing.
Just as Bald Liu had mentioned, the invigilator was not a teacher from their school; at least, Huang Xiu had never seen him before.
He was a handsome young man in a formal suit and glasses, so youthful he seemed like a recent university graduate.
During the interval while waiting for the exam to begin and papers to be distributed, Huang Xiu wondered if it was merely his imagination.
The young invigilator appeared to be continuously observing him.
This prompted a quiet murmur of suspicion from Huang Xiu.
“Time is up. The entrance examination officially begins. Invigilator, please distribute the test papers.” A gentle female voice echoed from the loudspeaker.
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiu could only suppress his doubts.
Standing on the stage, the invigilator tore open the sealed envelope marked with red ‘TOP SECRET’ characters, extracted a stack of test papers, divided them into five bundles of eight sheets each, and began distributing them.
The seats were arranged in an S-shape, and Huang Xiu’s position was quite forward, allowing him to receive his paper swiftly.
The test paper was substantial, comprising four sheets, totaling sixteen pages.
Its content encompassed all high school subjects, with examination points extending beyond the scope of the college entrance exam syllabus.
After writing his name and examination number, Huang Xiu immediately flipped to the last page, focusing on the essay question.
While the proportion of each subject varied annually, the essay question was a constant presence.
In an exam lasting only four hours, attempting to complete so many questions was unrealistic; some strategic choices had to be made.
However, as the highest-weighted section of the paper, the essay guaranteed a passing score if the word count was met and the topic not deviated from, making it something no one dared to abandon.
“Read the following material and write an essay according to the requirements. People, due to technological advancements…”
Huang Xiu was still carefully reading the essay prompt.
Yet, at that very moment, the standard printed font on the test paper suddenly began to twist and deform.
“Read the following material and write an essay according to the requirements.
Extinguishing another’s lamp will not make your own brighter; obstructing another’s path will not allow you to travel further. …”
‘What the hell!’
Huang Xiu froze, nearly crying out aloud on the spot.
‘Had he misread it? Or was he hallucinating? How had the question suddenly changed?’
Rubbing his eyes, he verified it again, disbelief etched on his face; the question was indeed different.
He hastily flipped back to the first page.
What he remembered as the first question, a multiple-choice math problem, had now inexplicably transformed into a Chinese language question about identifying grammatical errors.
‘It really changed!’
Huang Xiu’s face was filled with astonishment, but he quickly regained his composure.
‘If something like this was happening, why was the examination hall so quiet? Why did no one else react in the slightest?’
‘Could it be that only his test paper was affected?’
‘Could it be… again?’
Huang Xiu abruptly lifted his head, to find the invigilator seated at the podium smiling, his finger gently pressed to his lips.
“Shhh!”
Behind the invigilator, an eight-character slogan was boldly inscribed on the blackboard in strong chalk strokes—
“Remain calm and collected; answer with care.”
That eight-character slogan, imbued with a strange energy, instantly quelled the turmoil in Huang Xiu’s heart.
The nationwide Tiandu University entrance exam, the mandatory physical examination for everyone, his suddenly altered test paper…
These elements coalesced in Huang Xiu’s mind, combined with the recent changes he had experienced, and then he understood everything.
Perhaps, Tiandu University’s nationwide recruitment was precisely to select individuals like him—special personnel—from the vast ocean of people.
The Tiandu University entrance exam was a selection process, specifically targeting them!
‘If that were the case… could Fang Miaoging still pass this entrance exam?’
Huang Xiu’s heart grew heavy, like the dark clouds outside the window.
‘Perhaps… she couldn’t.’
Yet, regardless of whether Fang Miaoging could pass, all he could do, sitting in the examination hall, was to complete this test and earn his ticket to the truth.
Regaining his focus, Huang Xiu continued to answer the questions, but soon realized the test paper’s difficulty seemed somewhat low; even he found it surprisingly manageable.
‘No, it wasn’t that the exam was easy; rather, the difficulty of *his* test paper had decreased.’ A myriad of thoughts swirled in Huang Xiu’s mind.
Tiandu University’s preliminary exam must have two sets of papers.
One was Paper A, for regular students, extremely difficult, where only true academic elites could achieve high scores.
Although he didn’t understand the mechanism, Paper B was only visible to ‘special talents’ like them, with lower difficulty and fewer questions.
Huang Xiu even suspected that with Paper B, he could pass the preliminary exam simply by answering a few questions correctly.
“Ha, is this the test paper more suited to the ‘special talent’ babies like us?”
Huang Xiu scoffed at himself.
“This is an unfair exam.”
He yearned to voice it, but as a beneficiary, he could not, under any circumstances, stand up and speak out.
Most of the questions on Paper B were examples from textbooks, and as a diligent student who always did his own homework.
Huang Xiu worked steadily, quickly reaching the fifth page, only then realizing it was filled with a series of psychological test questions.
What he found rather amusing was that these questions, which had no objective answers, were each marked as five points.
The first question asked, ‘What is the thing you fear most?’
Huang Xiu pondered, deep in thought, but for a moment, he genuinely couldn’t pinpoint his greatest fear.
It wasn’t because he was brave and fearless; quite the opposite—he simply feared many things.
He feared snakes, bizarre insects, and rats, and now even had a touch of PTSD regarding pigs.
However, Huang Xiu suddenly recalled his dream from that morning, remembering the helpless sensation of drowning in deep water.
He suddenly seemed to grasp the deepest fear within his heart.