Lin Yuzhi heard the low whispers of the students, but he didn’t have much energy to pay them any mind because this exam paper was incredibly difficult.
Biting the tip of his pen, he tried to apply the question patterns he had learned over the past few days, but the result was that none of them fit.
Sigh.
He couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh. It seemed that trying to do an exam paper entirely on his own was still too much of a stretch.
However, it was also possible that the papers Xu An had prepared for him over the last few days were relatively simple. Back then, he could at least make sense of a few questions, even if it wasn’t much.
This current one was a Grade 11 paper. The last time the Scholar System had given him a paper, it had also been for Grade 11, and he had read it as if it were a book written in a foreign language. That was likely the reason.
Comforting himself with this thought, he scratched his hair and continued to tackle the problems.
The five students huddled to one side watched him as he frowned, bit his pen, and pulled at his hair. They couldn’t tell if he was being exceptionally serious or if the questions were just that hard.
They didn’t dare make a sound, keeping their voices as low as possible to avoid disturbing him.
Soon, however, they began to feel drowsy. During those few days in the restroom, they had hardly dared to close their eyes, fearing that zombies would burst in the moment they did.
Their nerves had been stretched to the breaking point, but perhaps because Lin Yuzhi was there, that tension finally slackened. Before long, they had all fallen asleep.
Lin Yuzhi grew hot from the effort of the exam. He turned on a handheld electric fan and stuffed it directly inside his clothes, letting the breeze blow against his skin.
He didn’t care if he caught a cold; it was better than dying of heat.
Turning his head, he noticed the five of them had actually fallen asleep. He wasn’t sure whether to call them brave or just thick-skinned.
Withdrawing his gaze, he went back to the paper. Even if he had to write down random, nonsensical steps, it was better than leaving it blank.
After working for two hours, he finally managed to fill the entire paper. As for what he actually wrote, he honestly had no idea.
At that moment, the phone lying beside him lit up with a new pop-up notification.
Lin Yuzhi hurried to check it and found it was a prompt from the Scholar System.
Upon opening the system, an “Achievement Unlocked” panel appeared:
[Independent thinking is the most beautiful hymn of mankind. Since the student has completed an exam paper independently, the achievement has been unlocked. You have received a Growth Gift Box. The gift box has been sent to your inbox; please claim it as soon as possible.]
The panel vanished, returning to the personal information screen.
The mail icon in the top left corner was glowing, indicating a new message.
Lin Yuzhi hadn’t expected that completing a paper on his own would actually trigger an achievement. It was a lucky accident; if Xu An had been beside him, he definitely would have asked for help.
However, it was strange. He had done the questions Xu An set for him previously and received points, but he hadn’t unlocked this achievement. He hadn’t asked Xu An for help then either, so that should have counted as independent work. Why was this different?
Could it be that it only counted for papers with formal score values? Were the ones Xu An gave him considered mere exercises?
He didn’t know, but given the achievement he just received, that was likely the case.
Without overthinking it, he hurried to open the mail.
Suddenly, a blue-purple gift box popped out, tied with a pink ribbon.
When he clicked the box, it emitted a dazzling white light. In the next moment, an icon of an ice cream appeared.
*[Little Bear Ice Cream 1]
There was a short description below:
[Congratulations to the student for obtaining a Growth Gift Box. In the scorching summer, what could be better than a Little Bear Ice Cream? This strawberry-flavored Little Bear Ice Cream is the students’ favorite tool for beating the heat.]
The gift box stayed on screen for about a second before vanishing.
Immediately after, an ice cream appeared in Lin Yuzhi’s hand: three strawberry scoops on a wafer cone, wrapped in paper featuring a prominent Little Bear logo. It was the exact same bear from the Little Bear cookies and mineral water he’d seen before.
But now was not the time to admire the branding. Almost the instant the item appeared, he pulled up his jacket and turned his back to the room.
While he was thrilled to have ice cream, he wasn’t alone.
He had expected more mineral water or cookies, but instead, he got ice cream. If the juniors saw this, he would never be able to explain it.
So, he basically inhaled the treat. It was delicious, but because he ate it so fast, the flavor barely grazed his tongue before it was gone.
However, the sweetness and coldness lingered in his mouth for a good while, and he immediately felt much cooler.
Lin Yuzhi felt like a new person. The drowsiness brought on by the heat and the exam paper mostly vanished.
As the description said: it was a true tool for beating the heat.
Delicious. I love it. Five stars!
He opened the shop and looked longingly at the ice cream that cost only five points. He tapped it, and options for quantity and flavors appeared.
The one he just had was strawberry, but there were also blueberry, pineapple, apple, and many other flavors.
I want them all!
Unfortunately, he couldn’t eat them now. He didn’t have enough points, and besides, eating an ice cream in this situation would make him look like anything but a normal person. He had to endure.
He checked his points in the top right corner and saw that they had increased—by thirty points!
He couldn’t help but count on his fingers. He got ten points for doing the questions Xu An gave him, but a full paper gave thirty.
However, that was assuming Xu An’s questions were counted as “exercises,” making the point values different.
Lin Yuzhi hurried to grab a workbook he had found in a desk, intending to do a page to see if it added points and how many.
He hadn’t realized he had become so fond of “grinding” questions. Even though he barely knew how to do them, there was a major “carrot” dangling in front of him. Of course, it was also thanks to that ice cream; he felt refreshed and clear-headed.
He didn’t do many exercises, though, because he still had to memorize the questions Xu An had “predicted” for him. Whether they appeared on the exam or not, he had to look at them.
After finishing the exercises, he checked the Scholar Shop again. He had gained ten points, bringing his total to forty-one.
It seemed his theory was correct; the questions Xu An gave him counted as exercises. The points awarded for one set of exercises were the same as for a formal workbook page.
Still, it was enough. If he saved them up, he could get quite a lot.
Satisfied, he began to study the questions Xu An had sent him.
The group of sleeping students was eventually startled awake by the heat. They wiped their necks, which were slick with sweat.
A small handheld fan was placed nearby, but it was still unbearably hot—so hot they wanted to strip.
But they were only wearing short-sleeved shirts. They couldn’t take those off, especially with zombies lurking outside. If something happened and a zombie burst in, would the monster give them time to get dressed?
In the end, they stopped trying to sleep. They took some clean sheets of paper they’d found and folded them into fans to cool themselves. It helped slightly, but the heat remained oppressive.
Seeing Lin Yuzhi still working on exam papers, they couldn’t help but marvel again. “Senior really loves studying. My mind is a total blank right now. Forget exam papers—if you gave me an elementary school math problem, I wouldn’t be able to solve it.”
They weren’t exaggerating. They had been so frightened that their brains weren’t functioning normally, and the heat certainly wasn’t helping.
At the thought of the heat, they lost the energy to keep talking.
Sun Feiyu, who was leaning on a desk, looked up and caught a faint scent of strawberry. She wondered if she was becoming delirious from the heat. She muttered, “I think I’m really losing it. I think I smell strawberry. If someone gave me a strawberry ice cream right now, I can’t imagine how happy I’d be.”
“Forget strawberry—I’d settle for a block of ice,” Hu Wangping added. He was practically hallucinating about hugging a giant ice cube.
Hearing their conversation, Lin Yuzhi lowered his head.
In normal times, he would have shared. He could have just said he bought it at a convenience store. But in this situation, there was no way. He had to pretend he hadn’t heard a thing.
He focused on his questions until nightfall.
They didn’t turn on the lights. If zombies could see, they might be attracted to the light, and they didn’t dare take the risk.
Lin Yuzhi sat under the teacher’s podium. His power bank had long since finished charging, and he was now using it to charge his phone.
He felt that given the current situation, the power would go out sooner or later. During this time, the best thing to do was to find as many power banks as possible.
He couldn’t rely on solar chargers yet; finding extra power banks was a better bet. He needed to make sure they were all fully charged before the electricity cut out completely.
His battery was at 65%, which was only because he had been extremely disciplined with his usage. The light on his charger was green, indicating it was currently charging.
He flipped through the Scholar Shop again, looking at his points and the items. He still had food and water, so he didn’t exchange anything yet. He would wait until his current supplies were nearly gone.
Every now and then, the low growls of zombies drifted through the windows covered in exam papers. In the darkness, the sounds were chillingly clear.
The entire school had fallen into a heavy silence. There wasn’t even a whisper of a breeze—only the endless, stifling heat.
Lin Yuzhi finally took off his jacket. It was simply too hot.
He peeked out from under the podium toward the corner by the other window, where the five students were huddled. Withdrawing his gaze, he closed his eyes to rest.
In the middle of the night, a sudden banging sound came from the door.
Lin Yuzhi was a light sleeper; he woke the instant he heard the noise. Sensing the commotion outside, he hurriedly took out his remaining floral water and splashed some around to mask their scent.
Fortunately, he hadn’t smashed the whole bottle earlier. If he had, once the scent vanished, they wouldn’t even know where to run. Moreover, he had an “exam” to take in this classroom tomorrow.
The room was soon filled with the sharp, pungent scent of floral water.
To make the scent last longer, he used quite a bit this time. It was a shame he only had this one bottle; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so stingy with it.
The five students hiding in the corner were trembling with fear when they heard the noise. They grabbed their weapons and ran to the door to block it.
However, in the next second, they saw Lin Yuzhi splashing something. It smelled like floral water. Then, they noticed that the zombies banging on the door had suddenly gone quiet.
Seeing Lin Yuzhi return to his spot under the podium, they didn’t dare stay in the corner anymore and instead crouched down beside him.
Seeing Lin Yuzhi preparing to rest again, they whispered, “Senior, did you spray floral water? What does it do? I noticed they suddenly stopped making noise.”
“Zombies can smell the living. The floral water masks our scent,” Lin Yuzhi explained briefly.
There was no point in hiding this. The more people who knew, the better their chances of survival.
The group was surprised; they hadn’t realized the zombies could smell them. This also explained why the zombies hadn’t entered the restrooms when they were hiding there—the restrooms were pungent. No matter how clean they were kept, there was always a scent that masked theirs.
They exchanged glances, patting their chests in relief, marveling at their own luck. Their admiration for Lin Yuzhi grew even more—he was truly a legendary alumnus of No. 5 High.
They didn’t leave, choosing to sleep right there beside him.
July 6, 2027, 7:10 AM.
Linyan No. 5 High School.
Because of the incident during the night, everyone had stayed awake until the early hours of the morning. When they woke up, they were so exhausted they could barely move.
Lin Yuzhi woke at daybreak. He was currently memorizing the questions Xu An had given him.
Truthfully, he couldn’t memorize much. He focused on the simple ones, clicking his tongue in frustration. He remembered having a decent memory once; why was it so bad now?
For one problem, he had to go over it again and again just to remember a tiny part of it. In the end, he focused on memorizing the final answers and the simple steps. That way, he could at least get some partial points.
When the juniors saw him huddled under the podium reading exam papers, they were reminded of his studiousness once again and couldn’t help but marvel.
Lin Yuzhi continued studying. Around 7:30 AM, he began packing his things and eating breakfast.
With an exam this morning, he had to eat regardless of whether he knew the answers or not. Otherwise, he’d be hungry. Even if he planned to sleep after writing a few words, he couldn’t stand being hungry.
By the time he finished eating, it was 7:45 AM. He saw the others gnawing on dry cookies, their lips cracked from thirst.
After a moment’s thought, he exchanged points for a bottle of Little Bear Mineral Water and handed it to them.
The five of them, sitting on the floor, looked up at Lin Yuzhi and then at the bottle of water.
“This is the last bottle I have. Share it among yourselves. I have an exam paper to do today, so please keep it down. I’ll figure out a way for us to leave tomorrow.” Lin Yuzhi pushed the bottle toward them.
They hadn’t expected him to give them water. They had gone so long without a drink that they didn’t quite know how to react.
Only when Lin Yuzhi spoke again did they snap out of it. Qi Wenhuan, who was at the front, suddenly hugged Lin Yuzhi’s leg. “Senior, you are literally my god! You have no idea—when we were in the restroom, we didn’t have a drop of water or a crumb of food. We don’t even know how we survived.”
It was true. The faucets were outside the restroom stalls, and they hadn’t dared to step out. After so many days in this heat, they didn’t know how they had made it until Lin Yuzhi appeared.
To them, Lin Yuzhi was like a savior—he saved them, gave them cookies, and now gave them water.
The others also rushed to hug Lin Yuzhi’s legs. If it weren’t for the zombies outside, they probably would have burst into tears.
With his legs being hugged by a group of students, Lin Yuzhi was speechless. Are all students like this nowadays?
Still, he let them have the water and then left the podium area, leaving the charging cable for them to use with the small fans.
He sprayed more floral water around the area. This bottle was quite durable, but he decided he’d look for a spray bottle next time for convenience.
Then he found a seat and sat down, taking out his phone to open the Scholar System.
It was now 7:50 AM.
As soon as he opened the system, a new pop-up appeared:
[There are ten minutes until the first round of exams begins. Students, please arrive at the examination hall on time to avoid missing the exam.]