Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 172: Everything can form a circle

After the theoretical exam ended in the afternoon, it was supposed to be a time to review the content for the practical exam.

But hardly anyone was doing that.

Most people were still busy estimating their scores and running around asking others, trying to figure out their own ranking.

Li Zheng and Shi Yang, however, never left their room and genuinely reviewed the experiments, discussing the preparation methods of many minor compounds, analyzing hazards and improvement plans together.

In this process, they even developed "Kempo".

It involved closing their eyes, meditating, and simulating the experiment with their bare hands.

After the simulation, one would say, "I produced 2.5 grams."

The other would respond, "You’re still not good enough, I got 2.7 grams."

Then they would start arguing, each defending their own techniques.

Usually, it ended with "Was this also within your calculations?"

Although it seemed rather mystical, it was actually a review of the experiments, and it was remarkably effective.

This bout of "Kempo" was also a rare moment of joy during Li Zheng’s journey to the national finals.

He gradually realized,

Although he had high emotional intelligence,

He fundamentally disliked social interactions based on interests.

He found more happiness in studying behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, in the hotel’s second conference room, dozens of examiners were intensely grading papers.

All the exam papers had their names covered, and were cross-checked by three teachers, with a team leader’s approval, to produce the "preliminary scores."

The reason for the preliminary status was that there were many structural and analytical questions involving a certain degree of subjectivity; most of the time, team leaders from various provinces would not easily accept these scores and would look for ways to negotiate for more points.

Therefore, every exam grading was a tug-of-war.

The head of the grading panel this year was none other than Director Guan Chucheng, with Zhou Yi as the deputy.

Both of them sat at the main seat of the conference room, busy without a moment’s rest.

Any uncertain cases had to be referred to them for final decisions.

This way, if the team leaders wanted to complain, they could be told that it was the Director’s decision.

Of course, even though both were influential figures, they discussed and solved difficult questions together, sharing the responsibility.

Interestingly, this year’s problematic issues were quite concentrated.

They mostly revolved around the Cheng Huan problem.

Where exactly to form a ring and who should be connected to whom had deep implications.

Some people got one connection right but got two wrong.

Others linked the rings into a chain.

How to score these scenarios was quite mystical.

Thus, even the college professors present had to consult with Cheng Huan expert, Zhou Chenghuan himself.

Zhou Yi and Guan Chucheng spent over an hour together, and they were continuously consulted about this matter.

Zhou Chenghuan was fine, but Guan Chucheng couldn’t help but complain,

"Dean Zhou... Is this question not too specialized?" During a rare break, Guan Chucheng leaned back in his chair and said with a smile, "And everyone knows your reputation. Once they see this question, they know it’s yours. The students definitely tried too hard to form rings, which probably misled many."

"Well, it is the final after all. Testing their adaptability is also necessary," Zhou Yi said, sipping his tea and laughing, "With the questions being so simple this year, if I didn’t add some twists in the Cheng Huan section, how could we pick someone capable of tackling Eastern European tricky questions? Haha."

"You’re right, it’s just that this scoring is hard to control," Guan Chucheng tapped on the papers on the table, "During the coordination meetings, most teachers will definitely concentrate on this part. We need to be prepared with detailed standards and explanations in advance."

"Certainly." Zhou Yi also stretched, naturally forming a ring with his hands above his head, "I tell you, these grading and coordination meetings are the most annoying every year. If I say it’s wrong, it’s wrong; they shouldn’t get any points. I don’t know who started this precedent, but now everyone feels entitled to a negotiation."

"We should give some procedural marks," Guan Chucheng said with a smile, "This year’s questions aren’t that difficult, but getting everything perfectly correct is still not easy."

As they were talking, three teachers hurriedly approached, the lead teacher presenting a set of papers, "This... could you two directors take a look at this, please?"

The two of them refocused their attention, returning to their grading roles.

"Which question?" Guan Chucheng asked.

"All of them..." the teacher nodded his head.

"Oh?" Zhou Yi perked up, his expression becoming intrigued.

Within three minutes, they had reviewed the entire paper.

Then they understood why they needed to look at "all the questions."

Well, damn... it looked like a perfect score...

Of course, we don’t yet know who it is, the names are all sealed.

98 points are still okay.

A perfect score is really a bit too much.

There’s even a suspicion of cheating.

After all, the Chem Competitions finals aren’t as strict as the college entrance exam, the teachers who set the papers are still free to move around, and if Zhou Yi wanted to leak the questions, he totally could.

Therefore, if a perfect score really does occur, a second review must be conducted.

The old teacher obviously knew this rule, and after the two of them finished reviewing the papers, he presented two sheets of densely written draft papers: "These are the draft papers."

Each took one and scrutinized the thought process behind the solutions.

This process was more troublesome than grading the papers, as it involved finding patterns in chaos; even for two experts, it took seven or eight minutes to finish.

Absolutely no issues.

And yet, they even damned checked it again.

In the end, something even more outrageous happened.

"What is this???" Guan Chucheng picked up the draft paper, pointed at the drawing of a young girl lying down that took up half the page, and his whole face turned somewhat red, "This must have taken an hour, right?"

Upon seeing the drawing, Zhou Yi burst into laughter.

If I remember correctly.

There was a contestant.

He claimed to like fine arts.

"Not bad, the drawing," Zhou Yi was actually quite pleased, "The details are full, really must have taken an hour, high school life is truly great~"

They didn’t know that Li Zheng had only spent 15 minutes on it.

The reason it looked like an hour’s worth of meticulous work was purely because he had drawn the same picture hundreds of times.

Although Zhou Yi was happy, Guan Chucheng was not pleased at all.

Is this mocking my great Chem Competitions?

It was then that the old teacher said, "There are two points we are unsure about with this paper."

"First, whether we can give a perfect score."

"Second, whether drawing on the draft paper counts as misconduct."

Zhou Yi immediately raised his arm, "Misconduct is definitely not it, our instructions clearly state that only writing irrelevant text on the test paper counts as misconduct, he could even fold the draft paper into SpongeBob. As for the perfect score..."

Zhou Yi looked towards Guan Chucheng, throwing this hot potato to him.

After all, a perfect score in the finals seemed to offend the dignity of the organizers.

That’s what was said, but Guan Chucheng was not so easily burdened.

"How about it, Dean Zhou, shall we take another close look?" he tossed the hot potato back.

"Sure, let’s take a look," Zhou Yi then unfolded the test papers again, flipping through them cheerfully like reading a comic book, and started to mutter.

"Look, Director Guan, we might as well think a step further."

"Judging from his draft paper, this punk... oh no, this candidate probably finished in just over two hours."

"But, he didn’t hand in the paper but checked it again instead."

"After checking, he still didn’t hand in the paper but killed time until the full four hours were up before submitting it."

"What does this signify?"

"It’s humility."

"He actually has a lot of respect for the competition and is quite low-key, hence he had no choice but to kill time by drawing a picture."

Having said this, Zhou Yi looked towards the grading trio who had brought the papers over: "Probably that’s the logic, right?"

The old teacher felt somewhat panicked.

Damn, drawing on the draft paper.

How did that translate into being humble and low-key?

You, Zhou Chenghuan, truly live up to your reputation.

Not only organic matters can form rings.

But also logical arguments can make a loop?

Despite being full of doubts, the old teacher couldn’t find fault and could only say, "Hmm... probably... it should maybe be... yeah."