243: Chapter 243 Surely no one failed the college entrance exam?

Actually, this didn't exactly come out of nowhere. According to what Wang Chao said, they had started discussing it in the group chat yesterday. It was just that Chen Mo had things to do last night and hadn't logged onto Qiuqiu, nor had he even checked his phone much, so he didn't know about it. Speaking of which, he couldn't blame anyone else for this; he could only blame himself.

In the past, Chen Mo wouldn't have thought much of his behavior. After all, what he did at school was study, attend classes, and ponder things he was interested in. He didn't have much interaction with his other classmates. Even if he really missed this class reunion because he didn't see the message, he probably wouldn't have had many thoughts about it in his heart.

However, after witnessing the enthusiastic attitude of these classmates toward him, Chen Mo could no longer think that way. Just as Wang Chao had said, these gatherings were becoming fewer and fewer, and no one knew when the next meeting would be. So, even a socially anxious person like Chen Mo, who was uninterested in socializing, couldn't remain heartless at a time like this. A look of guilt couldn't help but appear on his face as he said, "I've been too busy these past two days and forgot to check my phone. I didn't know everyone had changed the time last minute."

Upon hearing Chen Mo say this, everyone let out an exaggerated 'wow'.

"Holy crap, for real?"

"Brother Mo, I'd believe you if you said your phone was broken, but if you say you were so busy you didn't have time to check your phone, I really can't believe that."

Everyone expressed their disbelief at Chen Mo's sincere and apologetic explanation. After all, for students of the new era, this was indeed an incredible thing. In their eyes, a phone was a personal item that went everywhere with them. Whether they were in the bathroom, eating, or in the few minutes before sleep, they always had time to open their phones and take a look. How could anyone be so busy that they didn't have time to check their phone? This was something they completely failed to understand.

In their eyes, a phone connected to the internet was a vast and bizarre world. Through a phone, they could see what the Major Thousand Worlds outside looked like at any time and place without leaving their homes. Under such temptation, they naturally couldn't understand why someone would be busy enough to not look at their phone for two days.

After all, they could never have imagined that compared to the illusory world inside a phone, Chen Mo had already obtained a world that was even more bizarre, mysterious, and magnificent, yet incredibly real. Compared to that world, a phone was naturally just a tool for him to check the time.

Chen Mo listened to the surprised and exaggerated, yet non-malicious, skepticism of all the classmates in the car. A trace of realization gradually dawned in his heart; he began to understand that even though he and his classmates were of the same age, they were no longer the same kind of people. However, he couldn't explain anything at this time and just gave a chuckle.

"Brother Mo, what have you been busy with these past few days? We finally graduated and started summer break; isn't this the perfect time to have fun?" at this moment, a boy named Zhang Wei asked curiously.

"I bet Brother Mo has been attending a Qiangji Class these days. I heard some good universities set up these kinds of early remedial classes. Through online teaching, they let the newly recruited students solidify their subject foundations. Once they enter university, they can easily keep up with the curriculum and have more time to study advanced knowledge. After graduation, every single one of them is a top-tier talent!"

Before Chen Mo could even speak, a boy sitting in the back seat named Song Xiaoqin had already filled in a completely reasonable justification for him. It sounded so convincing that Chen Mo almost believed it himself. A Qiangji Class? With the level he had performed at during this College Entrance Exam, a Repeat Class was more like it.

However, while Chen Mo knew his own situation, the other classmates did not. Hearing Song Xiaoqin's speculation, they all began to take it as the truth.

"Hey, don't say that, it really seems like a possibility," a boy said, convinced.

"But what kind of Qiangji Class starts this early? The admission notices haven't even come out yet," another boy asked somewhat skeptically. After all, the scores and the cut-off lines had only just been released, and they were still in the period of filling out their preferences. How could Chen Mo have already started receiving university courses in advance?

"Hey, you guys don't understand, right? What kind of figure is Brother Mo? With his grades, would he honestly fill out preferences like us? I bet before the scores were even announced, top universities were already calling and fighting over him. I just don't know, Brother Mo... in the end, did you choose Tsinghua or Peking University?" The one speaking was a boy named Zhang Wei. He first spoke to everyone in the car with a grandiloquent tone and an exaggerated expression, but finally leaned in front of Chen Mo, asking in a half-joking tone with a smile that was hard to describe as either fawning or playful.

Zhang Wei's words were indeed a bit exaggerated. Although Chen Mo's past performance in class was quite good, and getting into a 985 university wasn't exactly effortless but certainly not difficult, he wasn't so outstanding that top universities would call to recruit him as soon as the papers were graded. Moreover, the Tsinghua and Peking University that Zhang Wei mentioned were the two most elite universities in the country. If a candidate could make those two universities call in advance to snatch them up, that candidate's total College Entrance Exam score would have to be very close to, if not exactly, a full score to receive such special treatment. As for Chen Mo, even with an extraordinary performance, he wouldn't reach that level. So, what Zhang Wei said really had a hint of 'killing with praise'.

However, Chen Mo didn't think too much about it. Instead, he shook his head and said in a very honest tone with a smile on his face, "Tsinghua or Peking University? I wouldn't even dare to dream that. As for that Qiangji Class you mentioned, I don't even need to think about it. Forget about a Qiangji Class; it would be good enough if there's a Repeat Class for me to attend." Chen Mo was telling the absolute truth, but his tone was relaxed, as if he were joking. If it were right after he had walked out of the exam hall, Chen Mo, knowing deep down that he had failed this exam, would never have had such a relaxed mindset. He still remembered very clearly that on the night the exam ended, he had checked the standard answers on the internet through his old desktop computer at home and estimated his score. At that time, having just estimated his score, he was so depressed that he felt his life was pitch black, as if the sky were about to collapse. As for how to face his parents, it became a lingering heavy stone in his heart. He hadn't expected that after just one short week, he would no longer take this seemingly world-ending event to heart and could even speak of it in such a relaxed manner. It seemed that nothing was more unpredictable than the affairs of the world.

Perhaps because Chen Mo spoke so casually, appearing entirely as if he were joking in both expression and tone, not a single one of his surrounding classmates took him seriously. Instead, they all started laughing jovially.

"Humorous, truly humorous."

"I used to see Brother Mo in class always buried in his studies, looking like he wouldn't let anyone near him, so I never dared to go up and talk to him. I didn't expect him to be such a witty person in private. A contrast, this is a total contrast."

"It's just that this joke is a bit too much. If you said you underperformed and couldn't get into Tsinghua or Peking, we could still believe that. But bringing up a Repeat Class, that's just too exaggerated."

"How does that saying go? Excessive modesty is just showing off."

"Right, right, that's how it goes. So Brother Mo, you're just showing off too much... wait, slip of the tongue. What I mean is, you're being too modest. Your grades are among the best in our class. Back when the previous class president was still here, she could still compete with you, but since she's gone, you've been the undisputed leader in our class. If even you can't get in and have to go to some Repeat Class, then our entire class might as well just go straight to a factory to screw in bolts."

Listening to the classmates chiming in one after another, they clearly didn't believe a word he said about failing to get into university. Chen Mo could only smile, not knowing how to explain. After all, in his classmates' impression, he was the type of nerd-genius who only knew how to keep his head down and study. Plus, since his exam results were usually first in the class most of the time, this undoubtedly deepened his genius persona. No matter how these classmates who weren't close to him tried, they could never imagine that he was still obsessed with his hobbies and neglected his duties on the eve of the College Entrance Exam, to the point that he was distracted during the actual exam process, leading to a slight underperformance. The estimated score was two hundred points lower than his normal level. This was something that even Chen Mo himself found hard to accept for a while, let alone others. So, he could understand why his classmates thought he was being overly modest and didn't want to reveal the real situation, and he didn't say anything more. After all, this kind of thing wasn't easy to explain clearly.

However, the 'previous class president' mentioned by that classmate made Chen Mo fall silent for a moment. Because the previous class president he was talking about was Tang Yao. She should still be in the game right now, shouldn't she? Although Tang Yao's body was currently lying on a hospital bed, completely unable to perform any activity, let alone attend this class reunion, she could still have a 100% realistic experience in the Fantasy Jianghu game. Moreover, it was a wonderful experience completely different from living in modern society, and her days could be considered quite colorful. Furthermore, once the main god points in his hands increased in the future, Chen Mo felt that Tang Yao's vegetative state wasn't an unsolvable problem. Sooner or later, he would be able to make her wake up in the real world.

Thinking this, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Chen Mo's mouth. When he came back to his senses, he heard his classmates still joking around.

"Go to a factory to screw in bolts? If you want to screw in bolts, go do it yourself, don't drag the whole class into it. Even if I don't get into university, I'll just follow Brother Chao and Brother Chen. Their families have big businesses; they definitely won't be short of a job for me." It was a classmate speaking boisterously in response to the joke about going to a factory if they failed.

Hearing this, Wang Chao, who was driving, couldn't help but laugh and curse, "Get lost! Are you even eighteen yet and you're coming to my house for a job? My family doesn't hire child labor!"

"Isn't this a 'what if'? 'What if' we didn't get into university, what should we do? It's not like we actually failed. Project 985 universities are indeed hard to get into nowadays, but for the slightly worse private universities, can't you just pay to get in? I really don't believe anyone in our class could fail to get into a university!"

"Hahahaha, that's true."

Hearing this, Chen Mo's expression couldn't help but stiffen for a moment. What that male classmate said was indeed the truth. Their class was a top-tier class; of course, they weren't all academic top-tier students, there were also students whose family backgrounds were particularly top-tier. That was why several classmates were already driving their own cars right after graduation. And since it was a top-tier class, the teaching staff was naturally top-tier as well. Even if some students didn't like to study, after being influenced by such an environment, passing the Undergraduate Cut-off Line was no problem. And as long as they passed the line, combined with their impressive family conditions, they could always find a university that wasn't particularly bad to attend, rather than going to a factory to screw in bolts right after the exam.

Of course, Chen Mo had now, due to personal reasons, unexpectedly become the exception in the class who failed to get into university.

Although this matter was no longer important to him now that he possessed the Main God Space, since everyone wasn't prying further at this moment, he naturally wouldn't take the initiative to say it and embarrass himself. Since the classmates thought he was being modest and didn't want to reveal his specific grades, then let them keep thinking that. It could be considered a beautiful misunderstanding.

Chen Mo thought this as he sat quietly on the soft leather sofa, listening to his classmates' bickering and small talk that didn't seem to stop for a moment.

"By the way, speaking of the previous class president Tang Yao, she was the class beauty of our class. It's really a pity that she's gone just like that."

"When did she go? Wasn't Tang Yao hit and turned into a vegetable, lying in the hospital all this time? How did she become 'gone' in your mouth?"

"What's the difference between being a vegetable and being gone? Anyway, except for in TV dramas, I've never seen or heard of a case where a vegetable woke up."

"Hiss—that's true."

"I even heard that some vegetables are conscious, but they can't even control their own fingers, let alone express their emotions."

"That scary?" Judy, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn't help but turn her head to join their conversation upon hearing them chat to this point. With a look of great pity on her face, she asked, "Then if Yao-yao is also conscious, doesn't that mean if she gets tired of lying in the hospital bed or has an itch or pain somewhere uncomfortable, she can't express it and just has to endure it?"