Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 109: Be like water and let it pass

Li Zheng briskly rubbed his face and ignored the two, after writing his name and exam number, he began to review the questions.

At this moment, he hadn’t planned to use acceleration mode since, based on his experience, he didn’t need to.

Moreover, with many people in the exam hall and strict invigilation, solving problems too quickly would be inappropriate.

In short, even though the two weirdos on his left and right were annoying as hell,

Li Zheng’s journey in the Chem Competitions had also begun.

At the same time, this was also his first time battling Lin Yu Jing at the Summit of The Forbidden.

Even though they weren’t in the same examination room, Li Zheng could still imagine Lin Yu Jing’s pained and desperate expression.

Just like Ximen Chui Xue, day and night he obsessed over Master Ye’s "Flying Immortal Beyond Heaven."

Let’s begin, the all-out final showdown.

After clearing his mind of distractions, Li Zheng first quickly scanned through the exam paper.

It was less difficult than last year’s, but there were very few giveaways.

It was about measuring everyone’s true ability; a good trend.

Pen in hand, to battle!

The first major question, as usual, was to write the chemical equations based on given conditions, four sub-questions for a total of 8 points.

[1-1: Silicon nitride can be used as a base material for LEDs, which can be produced by a plasma reaction between SiH4 and ammonia]

Alright, this one was one of the rare giveaways, just look at silicon nitride and write down the result, pay a little attention to the oxidation states, mindlessly balance—

3SiH4 + 4NH3 == Si3N4 + 12H2?

The next three equation questions flowed smoothly like water, this level of difficulty was just right for a warm-up.

Li Zheng’s mentality gradually stabilized as well.

This paper, just treat it like a normal exam, nothing special.

He wanted to laugh when he thought about the desperation he felt the first time he tackled competition problems.

Step by step, until today, looking back at those once-despair-inducing peaks, they didn’t seem that daunting anymore.

The second major question was about structure, also with four sub-questions for a total of 8 points.

[2-1: At 195K, phosphorus trioxide reacts with ozone in dichloromethane to produce P4O18, draw the molecular structure diagram of P4O18.]

This question was a bit more complicated, requiring some analysis.

Steady and sure, pay attention to the reaction conditions, analyze the reaction process step by step, and the structure diagram of P4O18 will naturally emerge.

First, 195K refers to the reaction temperature, which is about -78?.

From this, we can infer that the reaction medium is very inert...

Based on the structure of P2O3, there are lone pairs of electrons on P, and the resonance structure of O3 is...

...

The first two sub-questions flowed smoothly like water as well.

The last two dealt with organic rubbers in soccer balls, specifically the biopolymer EPDM used in World Cup soccer balls.

Interesting.

Though he was clueless about soccer, Li Zheng knew his rubbers well.

In the process of deducing the structure, he encountered only one point beyond the syllabus, but by considering the durability of soccer balls, the decision was easy to make.

...

The third major question began, worth 12 points.

The real deal that created the difference.

And this first real deal made Li Zheng particularly ecstatic.

It was a commemorative question for the 150th anniversary of Mendeleev’s discovery of the periodic table.

It was about Mendeleev predicting the existence of various elements, including element A.

A’s sulfide produced compound B when treated in nitrogen at 800?.

Later, upon heating and introducing ammonia, a red compound C was formed.

C then went through a process, producing compounds D and E.

E, when encountering water, would produce D... and D in some way produced B.

Based on these series of conditions, deduce what compounds A, B, C, D, and E are.

This was Li Zheng’s favorite type of inferential question, testing chemical knowledge while brimming with logical charm.

Working on these problems had the thrilling sensation of solving a mystery.

Long live Mendeleev.

The fourth major question, with the difficulty of a college entrance exam, flowed smoothly like water.

The fifth major question on elemental issues, mineral information, and isotope dating, which he had thoroughly drilled, proceeded smoothly.

...

Actually, while they were taking the test, a male and a female teacher from No. 4 Middle School were also quite busy.

Dragged out to invigilate on a big weekend, it was initially a rather irritating task.

But watching these students with their frazzled appearances provided them some comfort.

And they found something amusing to do.

"The third one in the fourth row, I think he’s good," whispered the male teacher.

"He’s very steady, but he’s progressing too slowly," the female teacher glanced towards the short-haired girl sitting to the right of Li Zheng, "That one is truly steady. She hasn’t scratched her head from the beginning, her expression unchanged."

"Indeed, most of the examinees have been scratching their heads," the male teacher scratched his sparse hair, looking towards that area, "Speaking of scratching heads, those three students in the row seem to have never scratched theirs. Are they from our school?"

"No, there are no students from our school in this examination room," replied the female teacher.

As they were chatting, Li Zheng, whom they had just praised for being steady, suddenly widened his eyes and swiftly raised his hand.

The male teacher quickly approached, asking with concern, "What’s the matter, stomach ache?"

The male teacher’s misunderstanding, of course, wasn’t his fault; people unfamiliar with Li Zheng typically associated his hand-raising with an urgent need for the restroom.

But Li Zheng pointed to a part of the test paper and whispered, "Here, in the lutetium hafnium method for dating, lutetium’s natural isotopes are only 175 and 176, but the question refers to 176 and 177, which makes the second question impossible to answer. Would you mind reporting this?"

The male teacher furrowed his brows.

"Student... I don’t teach chemistry, you know..."

"There should be someone from the Jijing Chemical Society in such a large exam hall, right?" asked Li Zheng.

"There are, but..." the male teacher looked around, hesitating.

Competition questions are usually crafted by university professors, and errors are rare.

If there really was an error, more students would report it.

Could it be that this boy was the one who had finished the fastest in the examination hall?

The male teacher couldn’t help but take another look at Li Zheng.

With his trendy dress and fluffy hair.

He didn’t look like a good student.

Reporting based solely on his word seemed improper.

But it’s also wrong to judge by appearance—what if he truly was the most exceptional student in the exam hall?

The male teacher then asked, "Which school are you from, student?"

"Lake Ying."

"Lake Ying? Isn’t that a park?" the male teacher looked bewildered.

"..."

The female teacher also leaned in, "I know Lake Ying Middle School... a district’s key school..."

"It has nothing to do with my school," Li Zheng pointed at the paper, "177Lu/177Hf, this isotopic sample is not valid. It should be 176Lu/177Hf."

After exchanging glances, the male teacher reluctantly said, "Well, you go ahead and work on the other problems for now. If more people bring it up, we’ll report it higher up."

"It’s definitely wrong, no need to wait," Li Zheng could only shake his head and directly moved on to the sixth big question.

Relieved, the teachers returned to the front of the classroom.

"Is there really a Lake Ying Middle School?" the male teacher asked.

"Well... to tell the truth..." the female teacher whispered, "Nowadays, there are basically no ordinary middle schools left, the worst would be district key schools."

"And yet they come to compete with such credentials, isn’t that just causing trouble?" the male teacher shook his head and laughed, "Besides, even if there really was a mistake in the question, it should’ve been found by the students from our school first."

As he spoke.

Almost simultaneously, the students sitting to the right and left of Li Zheng raised their hands.

The teachers glanced at each other in astonishment and then went over to them.

They reported the same problem as Li Zheng.

Upon asking which school they were from.

Both were from Ren Da Fu.

Now that really caused panic.

The female teacher stayed in the examination room while the male teacher rushed out to look for someone.

After the male and female students had reported the issue, they both almost simultaneously glanced at Li Zheng.

This badass.

How could he be faster than me?

He seems so fierce; how can he look like that?

Afterward, the three of them all skipped that problem and continued to be absorbed in answering the remaining questions.

Li Zheng, although working through the problems fluidly.

Time also slipped by like water.

Even though the exam lasted for three hours, after just one hour, some students began to leave the room.

They definitely hadn’t finished.

They had given up.

These were the "competition gamblers" Sun Leyang had mentioned.

Maybe they hadn’t prepared deliberately, just came to try their luck, maybe they would manage to get an award.

Maybe they were underprepared, only focusing on a few specialized areas of knowledge, and once they realized the actual test was about something else, they were unable to answer anything.

As for those truly committed, giving up was out of the question.

Even in tears, they would finish the test.

Li Zheng spent a solid two and a half hours like this before he finally took a deep breath.

He’d managed to tackle 90 of the points.

But there were 5 points he honestly had no idea about.

It could also be said that he’d been tripped up by Sun Leyang.

He’d explicitly said there was no need to look at "Analytical Chemistry" or "Physical Chemistry" for the preliminaries.

Yet it seemed some content from those areas had in fact been tested.

Of course, Sun Leyang might have had Li Zheng’s best interest in mind, not wanting him to waste time on difficult minute details.

Looking back at the test paper.

The blank space left by the last five points was naturally the half-question with the mistake.

Li Zheng lifted his head and looked towards the podium.

He made eye contact with the male teacher who was approaching.

The male teacher came over quickly and said in a low voice.

"Student, we’ve reported the issue, but there’s no response yet."

"My feeling is, there probably won’t be a response..."

"Even if the Chemical Society makes a decision, with so many exam centers nationwide, it wouldn’t be possible to inform each one in time."

"If you can do it, then do it; if you can’t, just leave it. It’s likely nothing will be done about the matter."

With such a reply from the invigilating teacher, Li Zheng also had to let it go.

They were just ordinary invigilators, and it was already decent of them to say as much.

So, Li Zheng, following his own reasoning, changed the problem to 176Lu and completed it forcibly.

He checked his work briefly, and as the bell rang, the papers were collected.

This collection was a bit annoying; not only were the answer sheets taken but also the draft paper and the original test, leaving no memento behind.

As the papers were collected, Li Zheng’s decisive battle had ended in such an uneventful manner.

Perhaps he was over-prepared; though it was a major test, it felt even more casual than doing exercises on his own.

The others didn’t think so.

Just as the exam ended, the classroom erupted in a chorus of groans.

"Ahhhh!"

"What is this... didn’t they say it would be easier than last year?"

"Enolates? Carbenes? Ah, I’m dead!"

"I hate Mendeleev!"

"What on earth was that fifth major question!"

These people, who looked quite composed before the exam.

Now were almost collectively devastated by the questions, losing their composure.

Amidst this outpouring of anguish, two girls.

Were actually crying...

One side sobbing, the other packing up their stationery.

Understandably so, as there were those among them who had been preparing for competitions since junior high.

For them, the pressure of this was no less than that of college entrance exams.

If we must compare, a mistake in the college entrance exam still leaves the prospect of a college, but a failure in the competition wasted years of effort in chemistry.

Just like the silent geeky boy next to me said.

Competitions are indeed cruel.

Looking at the two girls wiping away their tears, Li Zheng felt some pity.

You guys, why do this to yourselves?

Wouldn’t it be better to just enjoy the learning and take pleasure in gaining knowledge?

Instead of studying with such utilitarian motives, fixated on independent college admissions.

That’s the real root of the pain.