Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 174 - 173 On the Repression of High School Students’ _____

In the afternoon, when I returned to the hotel, Shi Yang and the others had already set off.

Li Zheng finally got his long-missed cellphone back and entered a state of complete boredom.

All the acquaintances had gone to take their experimental exams, there were no chemistry textbooks to review, and strolling outside, he found nothing but buzz cuts.

Bored to the extreme, he eventually downloaded the Physics Competitions’ preliminary exam questions from the past three years and sneakily made his way to room 2093 to ask Zhou Chenghuan for a printer.

However, Zhou Yi seemed to have gone to monitor some experiments, and the door was opened by a young auntie.

"Yo," the auntie said with a squinting smile upon seeing Li Zheng, "Are you here to sign a contract?"

Li Zheng glared at the auntie for a long while before he remembered who she was.

It should be Huang Ying from Ji University’s admissions office, Teacher Huang, whom he had met during the previous deceptive contract signing with Zhou Chenghuan.

Compared to their first... compared to their first meeting that night, Teacher Huang was dressed more professionally and conservatively, having swapped her clothes for a business-like skirt, pantyhose, and high heels, and her hair was neatly coiled up.

After all, when it comes to admissions, you always need a presentable and serious person, preferably a woman, otherwise, people might suspect that the Chemical Institute is filled with Cheng Huan-like guys who are always thinking about Cheng Huan’s boys.

Having recalled her name, Li Zheng bowed respectfully, "Teacher Huang, sorry to disturb you, I was wondering if I could use your printer."

"What do you need the printer for?"

"I’m so bored, just want to print some papers to pass the time," Li Zheng said, scratching his head, every micro-expression revealing an unspeakable emptiness.

"Didn’t everyone finish their exams? Why do you still need to work on papers?" Huang Ying became more alert.

"It’s Physics papers."

"..." Huang Ying stared at Li Zheng for a long while.

It wasn’t until Li Zheng showed her the Physics problems that she reluctantly believed his intention and let him in.

After all, he was a promising student prospect.

Even though he liked art...

Huang Ying also entered the room to power up the printer, took Li Zheng’s cellphone, and while connecting it to the printer, she muttered, "We don’t have much paper here; it’s mostly for printing contracts, don’t make it a habit, okay?"

"Come on, Teacher Huang," Li Zheng said anxiously, "if it’s not okay, should I go buy some paper?"

"No, you could ask the people from the organizing committee to print," Huang Ying pointed in the direction of the neighboring room, "they have a lot of office supplies."

"Hmm..." Li Zheng pondered, "They probably dislike me, though."

Hearing this, Huang Ying sighed and even felt a bit of sympathy for Li Zheng, "Alright, you’ll print at most seven or eight sets; Ji University can spare that much paper..."

Soon, watching the papers come out fresh one by one, Huang Ying couldn’t help but ask, "Are you really trying to collect all the Dragon Ball sets?"

"No, I just genuinely want to do some papers right now," Li Zheng said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the warm exam papers, "The national finals felt so frustrating... I need to let off some steam..."

"???" Seeing Li Zheng’s fervor, Huang Ying instinctively stepped back, "Did you... perform poorly on the exam?"

"No... it’s just that I’m too strong..." Li Zheng picked up a Physics paper, "Ordinary chemistry problems can’t excite me; all that anticipation and then they give me this... Physics it has to be... I love Physics."

"Li... Li Zheng... take it easy," Huang Ying, who had become frightened, now sat down on the bed, "But what you’re printing are the Physics preliminary rounds, they can’t be harder than the chemistry finals, right?"

"No, no, no, Teacher Huang, you don’t understand the pleasure of solving problems; it doesn’t come from the absolute difficulty of the question, but from the relative gap between the solver and the problem," Li Zheng tapped his head, "In other words, challenging questions that you barely overcome with all your might are the most satisfying, and if the problem is too hard or too easy relative to one’s ability, it’s boring."

"Is... that so..."

"Especially right now," Li Zheng said as he watched the third set of papers being printed, already impatient to begin, "Compared to chemistry, my understanding of physics is just starting to develop, but my liking for physics is the greatest, it’s as though I’ve intentionally abstained for a very long time, doing lots of tedious work, and now that I’ve finally finished the boring tasks, I’ve come before my beloved physics, watching its thin veil being peeled away one layer at a time right in front of me, just waiting for me to pounce on it... Do you understand that feeling, Teacher Huang?"

"I... I... I..." Huang Ying instinctively covered herself, "I... I guess I can sort of understand..."

"Hmm... Thank you, Teacher Huang," Li Zheng then picked up the three sets of papers that had finished printing and gave a nod of thanks to Huang Ying, "I might come back to borrow the printer again, sorry for the disturbance."

"No bother... take care..."

...

Once back in the dormitory, Li Zheng naturally accelerated his own pace as he tackled the practice exams.

As he faced the physics problems, the long-missed sense of exhilaration finally returned.

Unlike chemistry, even without special preparation for the competition, he was still able to solve many of the physics preliminaries.

After all, it was the most interesting physics, which more often than not, was about brainstorming rather than rote knowledge.

It’s just that each problem here was slightly more difficult than the toughest question on a regular exam.

As a result, Li Zheng spent a good ten or so minutes on these three sets of preliminaries before he was finished.

After completing all three sets, he was so energized that he felt somewhat exhausted.

But it was a pleasant kind of exhaustion.

The humiliation from chemistry had finally found its release through physics.

After a short rest, he began to check his answers.

Unlike the chemistry competitions, the physics competitions consisted of a unified preliminary, semi-final, and final round.

Li Zheng had been working on the preliminary round, which anyone could sign up for.

Typically, the top 5% to 10% of scorers would advance to the semi-finals.

The semi-final round was akin to the initial round in the Chem Competitions, where only those who advanced could start collecting provincial Dragon Balls.

Focusing on the three sets of preliminary exams at hand, each had a total score of 200.

From the previous years, the cutoff score for advancing to the semi-finals was around 110.

The average score that Li Zheng received for the three sets of exams was just on this line.

However, he wasn’t a bit unhappy; in fact, he felt great.

Excellent, there are even more challenging physics problems ahead.

I like physics.

Therefore, that afternoon, he visited Huang Ying’s room a total of three times.

Each time was more terrifying than the last, each longer than the last, with more and more materials acquired.

Although Huang Ying knew he was studying,

from every angle and in her every expression, she saw only two words—

Desperate!

Have high school students these days become so oppressed by their studies?

Would this guy, if he met a professor from the School of Physics, not immediately pounce and start gnawing on them?

...

Once Li Zheng’s physics seal was broken, there was simply no stopping him.

It wasn’t only that afternoon, but also at night, and he even slept holding physics exam papers.

As a result, he paid no attention to activities like the performance coordination meetings or expert report meetings.

Until one day, at some point, Shi Yang dragged him away, cursing, "Stop freaking doing problems, the final results are out."

"Oh?" Li Zheng reluctantly put down the physics exam paper.

Looking back, he realized that without knowing it, he had piled up two thick layers of completed exam papers beside his bed.