Beneath the Lonely Deep Sea

【Beneath the Lonely Deep Sea】— Huang Xiu wrote these words as the answer to the first question.

He turned to the second question.

What are your thoughts on yourself? (Please describe the main characteristics, such as: strong, intelligent, kind, evil, irritable, etc.)

Wait, who in their right mind would write negative traits like ‘evil’ or ‘irritable’?

Obviously, you should write about the good aspects!

There shouldn’t be a fool like that, right? Huang Xiu found it amusing.

Wait, if it were Shi Lei… maybe?

Huang Xiu pursed his lips, twirled his pen, thought for a moment, and then wrote, “Kind, and very good at playing games.”

This answer was a safe bet, but he couldn’t think of any better traits.

He had lived an ordinary life, and his greatest strength was being good at games.

Or maybe his main characteristic was being ordinary?

Huang Xiu inwardly mocked himself, then turned his attention back to the exam paper.

This special exam paper had an immense number of psychological test questions—a full two sheets of paper, eight pages in total—covering all aspects, making it a very comprehensive psychological assessment.

The more Huang Xiu worked, the more sweat beaded on his forehead. Some questions required repeated deliberation to avoid contradicting his previous answers.

By the time he finished the last word of the essay, less than ten minutes remained until the end of the exam.

Looking up, he observed that everyone else was still writing furiously to finish their essays.

In the entire exam hall, only he had completed the paper.

“If you’re done, check your work carefully!” The invigilator had somehow appeared behind Huang Xiu.

Her voice was soft and ethereal, but very clear to Huang Xiu’s ears.

Students naturally fear teachers. Without overthinking, he instinctively lowered his head.

He meticulously checked the previous questions and actually found several errors caused by carelessness.

“Damn, I can’t believe I made mistakes on such simple questions.” Huang Xiu was speechless and quickly corrected them.

Ding ding ding!

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang on time from the broadcast. The invigilator stood up. “Time’s up. Everyone stop writing and leave your seats.”

Most candidates stood up and walked out of the classroom, though a few were still scribbling away. They were ultimately expelled by the invigilator with the threat of having their scores invalidated.

Huang Xiu naturally belonged to the former group and followed the crowd out of the classroom.

He wanted to ask the invigilator about the changes he had undergone, but the exam hall wasn’t a good place.

Moreover, since he had caught their attention and was one of the special individuals they were screening, they would come to him even if he didn’t take the initiative.

Outside the exam hall, it was a mess. High school students, cooped up for four hours, were like dogs unleashed from their cages, eager to say everything they had held in all day.

“(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Damn! Four hours! My ass is numb. Finally over.”

“How did you do? The preliminary exam was really hard! I couldn’t answer any of the questions. Good thing there were multiple-choice ones.”

“I’m not as good as you, so you tell me. By the way, what did you pick for question four? I chose A.”

Huang Xiu noticed that after every exam, there were always people discussing answers and complaining about the difficulty. And the most enthusiastic were always the average students.

He liked to call this the First Law of Exams.

“Xiu, how did you do?” Guan Shuai from the next exam hall spotted Huang Xiu.

Their grades were similar, so their exam halls were close.

“Ah… I did okay, okay.”

Huang Xiu scratched his head. The questions were all sample problems, more than half of which were psychological tests. How could he not do well?

“Did you solve the first math problem?” Guan Shuai, still in the post-exam excitement, kept asking. “The one about conic sections!”

“Haha, that problem was too hard; I didn’t get it.” Huang Xiu laughed awkwardly, a faint sweat breaking out on his back.

Stop asking! Please, bro!

He used to be one of the main answer-checkers too, grabbing people right after the exam to compare answers.

But this time… his paper was different from everyone else’s!

If not necessary, Huang Xiu didn’t even want to talk about the exam with anyone.

What if they started discussing and found inconsistencies? That would be a disaster—a real-life game of ‘Who’s the Spy’.

Seeing Guan Shuai’s excitement and his intention to discuss the exam in detail, Huang Xiu quickly used the ‘need to pee’ excuse and sprinted through the noisy crowd to the outside of the teaching building.

“I can’t go near my classmates for now!”

Huang Xiu wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead. “I have to wait until they calm down from the post-exam excitement.”

Once this initial period passed, people usually wouldn’t discuss exam details except when handing back papers.

What he needed to do now was avoid being discovered as different before that.

“It’s already 12:30! I’m so hungry!” Huang Xiu rubbed his growling stomach. “Maybe I should go to the cafeteria?”

“No, not a good idea.” He shook his head.

Now was the busiest time at the cafeteria. If he ran into many classmates, it could easily turn into a preliminary exam discussion session.

He couldn’t take that risk.

“I’ll buy a bowl of instant noodles from the convenience store and eat in the dorm.” Huang Xiu decided to go back to the dorm first.

Dealing with his three idiot roommates was much easier than dealing with others.

He walked briskly toward the store, but was stopped in front of the playground by an unexpected person.

“Hello, Classmate Huang. My name is Yue Zhengyang, a recruiter from Tiandu University.” Teacher Yue adjusted his glasses with a gentle demeanor. “Could you spare a moment? Someone very important wants to meet you.”

“Hello, Teacher Yue.”

Huang Xiu’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

They had come faster than he expected—right after the preliminary exam ended.

He thought it would be at least the next day, or even during the re-examination.

But this also seemed to indicate that his importance in their eyes was greater than he had imagined.

Why?

Huang Xiu was puzzled. Was it because of his special blood? Was that blood also effective on humans?

“I’d be delighted!” He suppressed his inner agitation. “I also have many questions for you.”

“Let’s go. Where to?” Huang Xiu asked.

“Hmm…” Yue Zhengyang hesitated. “Do you have any recommendations for a good restaurant?”

“A home-style restaurant will do.” He added.

“Uh.” Huang Xiu paused, thought for a moment, and replied, “There’s a place called Xiao Tian’s Home Feast across the street. It’s pretty good.”

“Great, let’s go there!” Yue Zhengyang replied cheerfully. Seeing Huang Xiu’s surprised expression, he suddenly laughed. “Where did you think I was taking you?”

“It’s lunchtime now. Where else would we go but to eat?”

“I even turned down your principal’s lunch invitation. I hope your recommendation doesn’t disappoint me!”