4: Chapter 4: Initial Assessment at School – A Stage for Geniuses
September 1st, the opening day for all schools in Shencheng City.
The gate of Shencheng No. 1 High School still looked the same, with the eight gold-plated characters "Strive for Self-Improvement, Strengthen the Nation through Martial Arts" engraved on it, appearing particularly solemn and majestic under the morning sun.
Wang Pingan carried his bag, blending into the bustling crowd of students as he stepped into the campus.
Everything was both familiar and strange.
What was familiar were every road, every building, and every tree here. What was strange was his state of mind as he looked at all of this.
He deliberately hunched his back, letting his shoulders slightly shrink inward, and adjusted his walking posture back to that slightly unconfident manner from before.
With his Qi and blood restrained and his mental energy converged, from the outside, he still looked like that plain, unremarkable student who even seemed a bit sickly due to a car accident over the summer break.
No choice, the way of "hiding" is profound. Before one can smash all doubts with a single punch, keeping a low profile is the best policy.
The classroom for Grade 12 (Class 7) was on the fourth floor of the teaching building.
As soon as Wang Pingan reached the door, he heard the lively commotion inside.
"Did you hear? Brother Li had another breakthrough over the summer! First-Rank Martial Artist middle stage! It's said his Qi and blood value has even surged to 185!"
"Damn! Really? That's too monstrous! We are still struggling in the quagmire of quasi-First-Rank, and he's already about to touch the edge of the late stage of First-Rank Martial Artist!"
"You can't compare people with people. What kind of family background does Brother Li have? Cultivation resources are like drinking water for him, what about us? We have to nag our families for half a day just to buy one low-grade spirit crystal."
"Sigh, the top scorer of our class in this year's college entrance exam will probably be Brother Li again. He could even take a shot at Galaxy Star Galaxy University, something I don't even dare to imagine."
In the classroom, almost everyone's topic revolved around the person who hadn't arrived yet.
Li Moran.
This name was a legendary symbol for Grade 12 (Class 7) at Shencheng No. 1 High School.
With a prominent family background, his father was a high-level official in the Shencheng Martial Arts Association. He was handsome, recognized by all the girls in the school as the school heartthrob. His strength was even more overwhelmingly ahead; since entering Grade 10, he had firmly occupied the throne of class number one, and was also in the top five of the grade. He was the hope held in the palms of all the teachers and the idol looked up to by most of his classmates.
Wang Pingan walked silently to his seat by the window, put down his bag, sat quietly, and listened to the discussions around him with no expression on his face.
In his memories, the original owner's emotions toward Li Moran were complex. There was envy, jealousy, but more of a sense of powerlessness from being out of reach.
But now, in Wang Pingan's heart, only a strange calmness remained.
Just then, the commotion at the classroom door suddenly rose by several decibels.
"Brother Li is here!"
"Wow, Brother Li looks so handsome today!"
The crowd automatically parted a path.
Li Moran, surrounded by several followers, walked in like stars holding the moon.
He wore a well-tailored martial arts uniform, his posture upright, with a faint, elusive smile on his face, possessing both the heroism of a youth and a composure that surpassed his peers.
His gaze swept across the classroom casually, accepting the worship and awe from all directions.
There was no emotion in those eyes, just like looking at a pebble on the side of the road, or a desk in the classroom.
Immediately after, the corners of his mouth curled downward very quickly. It was an extremely subtle movement, full of undisguised contempt, which then disappeared, as if it had never appeared.
If it were before, Wang Pingan wouldn't have noticed such details at all.
But now, his mental attribute of 17.2 allowed him to see everything around him with absolute clarity.
He saw it clearly.
Wang Pingan didn't speak, his fingers just tapped lightly on his knees under the desk.
"Ahem, everyone quiet down!"
A loud voice came from the door, and the class teacher, Liu Jianguo, walked in clutching his lesson plan.
He was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a square face, stern and serious, and held great authority among the students.
He stood on the podium, his sharp gaze sweeping across the class, and the classroom instantly fell silent.
"Students, welcome back to school! From today on, you are true Grade 12 students!"
Liu Jianguo cleared his throat and began the annual opening mobilization.
"The college entrance exam is the first watershed in your lives! Whether you are a dragon or a worm, whether you reach for the moon in the sky or move bricks on the ground, depends on your performance in the coming year! Don't complain to me about aptitude or resources! I only believe in sweat and hard work!"
His speech was impassioned, and many students were stirred to hot-bloodedness, clenching their fists.
"Of course, hard work also needs a role model!" Liu Jianguo changed the subject, a rare smile appearing on his face as he cast his gaze toward Li Moran.
"Our class's Li Moran, during the summer break, didn't slack off at all, went into secluded training, and now has firmly stepped into the realm of First-Rank Martial Artist middle stage! This is the pride of our class, and he is our class's greatest hope for charging into 'Galaxy Star Galaxy University' this year! Let's give him a round of applause!"
Clatter!
Thunderous applause rang out instantly, lasting for a long time.
Li Moran stood up, nodded slightly to everyone, with a perfectly modest smile on his face, which caused a few girls in the back row to let out suppressed screams.
Liu Jianguo nodded with satisfaction, signaling Li Moran to sit down, and then his face straightened.
"Alright, the chicken soup has been drunk, it's time for something practical! To test everyone's cultivation results from the summer break, and to facilitate my subsequent adjustment of teaching plans, now, we will immediately conduct the opening assessment!"
"First item, strength test!"
As soon as the words fell, the wall at the back of the classroom slowly opened, revealing a built-in strength testing sandbag.
"Starting now, students whose names are called, come up to test!"
The atmosphere in the class instantly became tense.
"Zhang Wei!"
A slightly chubby boy walked up with a sigh, mustered all his strength, and punched the sandbag.
"Bang!"
"92 kilograms."
Liu Jianguo frowned, noted the number on the light board in his hand, and shook his head.
"Next, Wang Hao!"
"101 kilograms!"
This result caused a small commotion in the class.
"Not bad, Haozi, you broke through one hundred!"
"Congratulations, congratulations, you finally touched the threshold of a First-Rank Martial Artist!"
Wang Hao himself also showed joy; at least a summer of hard work hadn't been in vain.
Next, several top students with decent grades in the class went up one after another, and the results they hit hovered between 100 and 130 kilograms, drawing waves of small gasps, but all stayed within the realm of First-Rank Martial Artist early stage.
"Next, Li Moran!"
When this name was called, the whole classroom went quiet.
Everyone's gaze focused on the figure who walked forward slowly.
Li Moran walked to the tester, without even doing warm-up exercises, just stood still casually, and then threw a punch lightly.
The movement looked effortless, even a bit lazy.
But the moment the fist made contact with the sandbag, it made a muffled sound that made one's teeth ache.
"Hum —"
The numbers on the tester soared wildly at a dizzying speed!
100!
150!
Finally, the number stopped steadily at "188 kilograms"!
This number had far exceeded the passing line for "First-Rank Martial Artist middle stage" and reached an excellent level!
The whole room was silent at first, and then erupted with earth-shattering exclamations!
"Holy crap! 188 kilograms! A monster!"
"Too fierce! I feel like he didn't even use strength!"
"Is this a genius? Are we really being taught by the same teacher as him?"
Even Liu Jianguo on the podium showed an extremely satisfied smile and nodded vigorously. This treasure hadn't let him down!
The test continued, but everyone's emotions were still immersed in the shock brought by Li Moran, and the subsequent testers all seemed dull.
Soon, the list reached the end.
"Last one, Wang Pingan."
Liu Jianguo's voice sounded.
He walked down from the podium, went to Wang Pingan's side, reached out, and patted his shoulder heavily.
His face carried an expression of encouragement and comfort, and his voice also softened quite a bit.
"Pingan, you had a car accident over the summer break, and your body has just recovered, so don't have any pressure."
"Just do your best, don't compare yourself to Li Moran and the others, everyone has their own fate."
"Given your situation, getting into an ordinary martial arts university, and becoming a teaching assistant at a martial arts gym in the future, or becoming a security manager at a company, is also quite good."
His voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet classroom, it was enough for the circle of people around to hear clearly.
A few suppressed snickers came from the corner.
In that laughter, there was sympathy, and a trace of schadenfreude from watching a show.
Wang Pingan raised his head, looked at the class teacher's "I'm doing this for your own good" face, didn't retort, just nodded.
"Thank you, teacher, I understand."
He stood up, ignored the gazes around him that were sympathetic, watching a show, or contemptuous, and calmly, step by step, walked toward that strength tester.
Under the gaze of everyone in the class, Wang Pingan took a deep breath, recalling the power-generating techniques of the "Federal Military Body Boxing" that the system had instilled into his mind, as if he had practiced it for ten years.
He slowly raised his fist.
This punch would be the overture to his counterattack in this life.