Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 202 - 201 I understand, Li Zheng (Thanks to Alliance Master Raspberry Yogurt, will catch up on the extra update later...)

2019, the first day of the year.

Li Zheng spent the entire day striving to become a true senior programmer.

With nearly half a year left until the informatics competition, he shouldn’t have been focusing on this so early.

But the upgrade to the Scholar Demon software was urgent.

The end of January was fast approaching, and there was a district-wide test. Even if Li Zheng didn’t need the software, Teacher Mengxi and her pupil, Xiaoke, did.

They had already finished the specialized question bank he provided earlier, and now was the time for the second round of reviewing and filling gaps, aiming for higher rankings.

For this purpose, Li Zheng spent about twenty minutes roughly studying basic algorithms, data structures, and database content.

Then, in about ten minutes, he rewrote the Scholar Demon Training System 0.1 using a C++ mindset.

Also known as, the personalized dynamic question bank version.

If there were no bugs, you’d just need to enter the results of previous practice questions, and the Scholar Demon System could re-evaluate the user’s level for each subject and knowledge point, providing a second round of question banks.

What’s more foolish is that currently, the results of practice questions must be manually entered and selected.

To truly achieve efficient learning feedback, on one hand, a massive question bank is needed, and on the other hand, features for "question recognition" or "online practice" must be developed so the AI can judge and record results. Then according to those results, it could select targeted questions from the main question bank for output.

This is not just a programming issue; it involves massive data and algorithms, and it’s far beyond Li Zheng’s capacity to resolve at this stage.

All he could do was manually enter the selected questions into the database and code them according to their difficulty and relevant knowledge points, grouping them albeit with low efficiency and little overall impact. But at least it was a first step.

Moreover, if such a personalized learning system could be realized...

Tutors from extracurricular classes might be facing unemployment.

Maybe he’d have to add "Tutor Terminator" to his title?

…

January 2nd, the first day of the new school year, one day before the commencement of the competitive improvement class.

The first thing Li Zheng did when he entered the school was to "settle his affairs".

In Class One of Senior Year Three, everyone had grown accustomed to Li Zheng’s arrival.

Xu Mengxi had accepted reality and completely given up on the idea of coaxing him out for a chat.

Li Zheng held a piece of paper in his left hand and several pounds of exercises in his right, slowly making his way to the desk to present the paper.

"Teacher Mengxi, these are your data changes, the progress is quite evident."

"Ah..." Xu Mengxi eyed the data table, her jaw slowly dropping in astonishment, but with more doubt than amazement.

[Math: 66?73]

[Exponential functions and power operations: Good-?Excellent-]

[Relationships and calculations among convex polyhedra: Poor?Medium+]

…

[Physics: 78?82]

[Power in a closed circuit: Medium?Good-]

"Is... is this... really calculated by the software?" Xu Mengxi couldn’t bear it, but still bit her lip and asked, "Did you calculate it all by yourself?"

Li Zheng frowned, clearly dissatisfied, "What are you talking about? Are you insulting a senior programmer? I’m just responsible for the data entry and printing, that’s all."

"I... I don’t believe it..."

"I’ll compile a stable Windows version and send you a copy later," Li Zheng said as he lifted the plastic rope in his hand.

Bang!

Eight pounds of exercise questions slammed onto the desk.

"These are the targeted questions generated based on your current situation, should be enough to last you until the final exams," Li Zheng said, looking at the nearly half-meter pile of questions, "Don’t forget to look it up in the books if you encounter difficulties, and you can also ask me."

Xu Mengxi started to feel even more distressed.

The final exams were approaching, and she still had to prepare for the physics competition.

Yet Li Zheng had spent so much effort on me...

I can’t even begin to repay him, let alone find the words to thank him.

```

"Please... stop it... Ah, I don’t even know what to say anymore..." Xu Mengxi gestured frantically, but then remembered something, turned back, and started rummaging through her backpack, "Right, I should give you back your medal..."

But by the time she finally found the medal and looked up again.

Li Zheng had already slid out of the classroom with smooth steps.

"!!" Xu Mengxi punched the air in frustration, "It’s always like this with him, leaves without saying goodbye."

Behind her, Qiao Bixia watched her like a doting mother, her face wearing a gentle smile.

"Alright, based on my understanding of the kid, he’s actually casually studying, didn’t you say he’s preparing for all five competitions at once? And here you are complaining in secret that he’s not focused..."

Xu Mengxi, as if touched off by gunpowder, turned around and clapped a hand over Qiao Bixia’s mouth, "Enough, stop talking!"

"Hahaha!" Qiao Bixia, even with her mouth covered, managed to laugh, "Didn’t expect that, huh—I have a bigger mouth than your hand, I’m just saying he’s not focused on his studies, why are you getting worked up?"

"What?" someone in the front row turned around in surprise, "Li Zheng isn’t focused?"

Another person: "Li Zheng is fickle-hearted?"

"Li Zheng is two-timing?"

"Li Zheng is a scumbag?"

"Li Zheng has gone too far!"

At that moment, Xu Mengxi deeply realized what it meant for the tree to long for peace but the wind to not cease.

...

Similarly dramatic scenes were unfolding in Class 2-4 as well.

Just with a slightly stronger flavor, of course.

After all, it was Zhang Xiaoke, who was not so easily satiated.

"12 pounds of problem sets, let me know if it’s not enough." Li Zheng, carrying a stack of exercises, dropped them beside Zhang Xiaoke’s desk with a smacking of his lips, "Your scores in math, physics, chemistry, and biology have gone up by over 30, truly worthy of being my disciple."

Gazing at the massive stack of problems, even Zhang Xiaoke couldn’t help but swallow hard.

"Master, just the cost of the paper must be several hundred, right?"

"Don’t think about that, stick with me, and I’ll make sure you have plenty of problems to do," Li Zheng said, patting his hands together before sitting down at his desk, "To take on Jingbei, you definitely have to work through problems by the pound."

"Our school of thought just has a strong taste..." Zhang Xiaoke stroked the heavy pile of problems, looked at her own report card and sighed, "Since it’s come to this, there’s no need for thanks. I’ll do them, I’ll do them all."

"That’s the spirit." Li Zheng’s scholarly heart was moved, and he laughed heartily, "Come the end-of-term district-wide exam, even your old classmates might see your rank. It’s time for you to step up."

"!!!"

Li Zheng laughed loudly, "When the time comes, you can just boldly tell the classmates you surpassed, ’Just keep it up and stay strong.’

"Master..." Zhang Xiaoke looked up at Li Zheng with tearful eyes, "How can I ever repay you? Should I... do the splits for you? I’ve taken dance lessons."

"Who wants to see that."

"Huh?"

A familiar voice came through, Lin Yujing, carrying a water bottle, stopped behind the two, "I want to see the splits."

"Not splitting for you." Zhang Xiaoke’s brows knitted, she looked back warily, "Starting now, I’m all in with my master, you should be careful."

"Psh~" Lin Yujing turned and sashayed back to her seat, "Your master has even sunk to joining a cram school."

"It’s an enhancement class." Li Zheng shouted back from a distance, "It’s your loss for not attending. Just wait, in a week we’ll be people from two different worlds."

"Hmph." Lin Yujing turned her head back to scoff, "As if we ever were in the same world."

"Damn it." Li Zheng, filled with annoyance, slammed his hand down on the desk.

Indeed... they had never been at the same level...

But this time it was different, surely he wouldn’t fail the physics competition.

Damn it, why did it have to wait until April...

It’s too long, unbearable.

Might as well use the end-of-term exam as a cudgel to show my strength.

As he was saying this, Liu Xin burst into the classroom, didn’t even drop his backpack, and ran up to Li Zheng to show his phone: "Some jerk posted the performance video in the online forum, Brother Li, you’re about to become famous!"

Li Zheng’s brows tightened as he looked at the screen.

[City First School X Lake Ying Middle School X New Year’s Performance Shockingly Reveals a Music Prodigy Proficient in All Instruments]

What was playing on the screen was the saxophone segment from Conan, with very poor clarity and severe shaking, suggesting it was filmed with a mobile phone.

Barrages of comments started floating across the screen.

[Are high school students these days this impressive?]

[Is Lake Ying a music conservatory or what?]

[And this person is also the national chemistry competition champion…]

[Can’t see the girl clearly! Is there a high-definition version?]

[Haha, our school’s Li Zheng is a real big shot!]

Scrolling further down, the video had only a few thousand views but numerous comments, many from people at City First and Lake Ying providing background information.

As they were watching, a beaming Jiang Qinghua came over, giving a friendly reminder, "Class is about to start, wrap it up."

Everyone was somewhat unaccustomed to this positive tone and the vitality in his voice.

But when they turned their heads, it was indeed Jiang Qinghua.

"Oh no!" Zhang Xiaoke exclaimed, "It’s the stink of being in love."

"Ah? Hey!" Jiang Qinghua laughed, waving his hand dismissively as he settled back into his seat, lovingly arranging his beloved backpack. He sighed deeply, "Talking nonsense, just watching a movie and dining together, who would’ve thought that after all these years I’d be seeing ’My Neighbor Totoro’ in a cinema."

"Mother of God!" Zhang Xiaoke held her head, "We’ve struggled for so long, and you actually managed to beat us to being in a relationship."

"What’s going on?!" Liu Xin put away his phone in shock and sat back down, "Who is it? Tell us."

Jiang Qinghua only smiled and waved his hand, "There’s the bell for class, we’ll talk later."

By the time Li Zheng noticed that the die was cast, it was no longer appropriate to keep encouraging study.

After all, Du Shitong was from City First School, so her grades surely couldn’t be too bad.

Being in a relationship with someone like her might not necessarily impact Jiang Qinghua’s studies.

However, if it turned out to be someone like the Zhang Xiaoke from before, that would be a different story.

Jiang Qinghua was one of their own. Instinctively, Li Zheng couldn’t help but start worrying for him.

"How are her studies?"

"We haven’t talked much… She seems pretty average in her ranking, I guess…" Jiang Qinghua hemmed and hawed, "But being average at City First School is definitely better than me."

Li Zheng couldn’t help but probe further, "Specifically? Is she better at Chinese or math? Has she participated in any competitions?"

"What do you need to ask that for…"

"My father always says we should be well-matched, and I’m just looking out for you," Li Zheng gestured, "Evaluate all her subjects, continue only if it’s a good match, you’ll have too many problems if you’re too far behind."

Jiang Qinghua swallowed hard, "That’s not what well-matched means, Li Zheng."

"We’re still high school students, it pretty much means that," Li Zheng clapped his hands together, "What if she goes to a 985 and you’re not even at a 211? Will you be okay with that when you’re together? "

"...Well, that’s… true…" Jiang Qinghua’s previously cheerful face unwittingly fell, a thin veil of frost covering it, "After all… she’s from City First School... Even just being mid-tier there… going to a 985 shouldn’t be much of a problem… I guess… I really don’t match up to her…"

"Hey hey…" Zhang Xiaoke, unable to bear it, tugged on Li Zheng’s shoulder, "Master, don’t be like this. Qinghua was happy for just a couple of days… you’re being too cruel…"

"No no no." Jiang Qinghua ran his hands through his hair vigorously, "Li Zheng is considering my situation, and I really should see myself clearly…"

"You shouldn’t be so pessimistic, fortune favors the diligent. We still have room to work hard," Li Zheng said softly, patting Jiang Qinghua’s hand on the desk, "I have a Scholar Demon Training System here, open for beta testing among our circle, with intelligent question generation. No matter how much behind you are, solve a few dozen kilograms of papers from it, and you will be worthy of her. Want to give it a try?"

Jiang Qinghua’s eyes lit up, "Oh? Is that the same system you set up for Zhang Xiaoke and Xu Mengxi?"

In his excitement, he failed to notice Zhang Xiaoke and Liu Xin frantically shaking their heads.

"That’s the one." Li Zheng replied.

"Can I try it too?" Jiang Qinghua asked again.

"Of course."

"Then count me in," Jiang Qinghua said decidedly, nodding his head, then suddenly looked worried. "Just… you mentioned ’kilograms’ just now, right?"

"Don’t mind the details," Li Zheng rubbed his hands together, "Come to my place after school and bring all the papers you’ve done this semester. I guarantee you a base of five kilograms’ worth of questions."

"Could we… not mention ’kilograms’? It scares me…"

Li Zheng grinned broadly, "Eh, once you get started, you won’t be scared. Don’t believe me? Ask Xiaoke."

"Ah... this..." Zhang Xiaoke sighed when she saw Jiang Qinghua was still entangled in the matter, "People are different... All I can say is, keep going, try hard, please be strong."

...

That night, Jiang Qinghua didn’t leave Li Zheng’s house until ten thirty.

She was holding a USB drive worth five kilograms of problems.

Thump thump.

Her phone rang.

Jiang Qinghua looked down and, for once, cracked a smile.

[Shi Tong: Finished homework, time for sleep.]

[Jiang Qinghua: I haven’t started even a single word...]

[Shi Tong: Busy with class rep duties? Hard work. ]

[Jiang Qinghua: What I mean is, my day is just getting started, I’m 100% pulling an all-nighter tonight.]

[Shi Tong: Don’t do that... Staying up all night is really inefficient, and... your hairline is already quite a bit higher than people your age... I suggest you really try to take care of it.]

Jiang Qinghua rubbed her hair and felt a suffocating sensation.

Is... is she starting to dislike me?

[Jiang Qinghua: But I... our school is lagging so far behind yours that if I don’t try hard...]

[Shi Tong: Huh? Why are you thinking like this? I’m not that great either... Right now, my scores are barely enough to get into an average 985 university...]

Jiang Qinghua felt choked up yet again.

A 985 university was a goal she didn’t even dare to dream of.

But for Du Shitong,

It was just... just...

Indeed, differences in academics had already led to differences in worldviews.

When faced with the same issue, perceptions and horizons could be worlds apart.

At times like these, if she herself claimed a 985 university was impressive, something she didn’t even dare to think about...

She would only be met with contempt, followed by a loss of common topics, and subsequent separation due to incompatible personalities...

Li Zheng was right again; there really was a match in academia.

[Jiang Qinghua: It’s okay, don’t overthink it, I just thought if it’s possible, I would like to try my best to get into the same university as you.]

[Shi Tong: (Blushing) (Blushing) (Blushing)]

[Shi Tong: Does that mean we can occasionally play duets on campus? (Blushing)]

[Jiang Qinghua: Of course! ]

[Shi Tong: I get it, then you have to work hard! At least sleep two or three hours.]

[Jiang Qinghua: Understood! ]

[Shi Tong: Let’s both work hard for the end-of-term joint exams. We can roughly work out the college entrance exam ranking from the district ranking. We’ll discuss schools then... (Blushing)]

[Jiang Qinghua: Very good! ]

Li Zheng’s words were proven right again.

From Shi Tong’s words, the meaning was clear.

If her academic performance couldn’t reach the same level as hers...

There’d be no future at all!

In the dark of night, Jiang Qinghua bravely pedaled her bike, letting her long hair flutter.

I understand now, Li Zheng.

Studying is what’s most important.

What’s a hairline in comparison?