Chapter 2: Precisely
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
He looked around, hoping to steal an answer from someone else’s manuscript, but they all stopped writing and looked at him.
“I…” Shen Zhe stood up, feeling like crying.
It was exactly what he feared most.
It seemed that physical punishment was inevitable… If he suffered another beating, he probably wouldn’t be able to make it back to the dormitory.
Was it so difficult to just listen to the class without answering the questions?
“I’ll lower my demand for you. Your answer will be considered correct as long as the error is within half a day.”
Noticing his hesitation, Ms. Bai Yu looked at him and said, “However, if you can’t answer it or answer it wrongly, you will be punished with one slap… Whether or not you can take it depends on your studying progress in this semester!”
“A half-day error?”
“I can’t answer it even if a half-month error is allowed!”
Anxiously, Shen Zhe looked at Wang Qing.
However, Wang Qing made no eye contact with him at all, as if they didn’t know each other at all.
“Calling me bro but not giving me the slightest clue at the critical moment… What an unreliable guy!”
“I should’ve studied harder to at least understand the question. I will die a confusing death…”
Knowing that the beating was unavoidable however he answered it, Shen Zhe sighed and was about to admit that he knew nothing, when an enormous voice burst out in his brain.
“The Best Guide Book for the College Entrance Exam!”
“This book provides you with a channel to speak to the teachers of Huanggang [1. Huanggang is the name of a famous school.]
…
“Is this… Library of Heaven’s Path?”
Shen Zhe couldn’t be more excited.
He was fond of reading novels in his spare time, and his favorite book was Library of Heaven’s Path written by the handsome Heng Sao Tian Ya. The most awesome goldfinger in the book was the library in the protagonist’s head.
“Is it happening to me, too?”
In that case, there would be no questions that he couldn’t answer.
Focusing his attention, he saw no enormous libraries in his brain. Instead, there was an old, ragged notebook. It seemed to be about to fall apart into a long scroll at anytime.
His lips twitched.
Zhang Xuan was given billions of books, but he was only given one. Why was the gap so massive when they both had transmigrated?
Confused, he opened the book softly and immediately saw that the first page had been fully written.
It said: Harmony, justice, patriotism, hardworking, friendliness…
All of them were positive words.
After only a quick glance, Shen Zhe felt purified.
“Is this my class’ notebook?”
Shen Zhe was dazed.
He recognized that the ragged notebook was the one he used during his six years of high school!
He only used one notebook, not because he was thrifty but because he barely wrote anything!
After years, there was nothing on the notebook, except for names and symbols he wrote when he was bored.
Other people used notebooks to study, but he used it to kill time… After all, it could be quite exhausting to sleep through a whole class.
“I left the school with this notebook. Why is it in my head now?”
He recalled the moment of the car accident.
He was upset because his grade was not an integer, and he left the school with his notebook. When he was hit by the car, his blood was shed over the notebook…
Was that the reason why the notebook also transmigrated and even entered his head?
He was confused, but he knew that it wasn’t the time to figure it out yet. He hurried to turn to page two.
The first page only had positive words he wrote for himself, and the real notes started from page two. He didn’t know the usage of that notebook yet, but since it appeared, it might be of help in the current situation.
Shen Zhe frowned after turning the page.
It was utterly empty, without a single word.
He continued turning, only to discover that the following pages seemed to be glued. He couldn’t open them at all.
He was given a goldfinger, but there were no instructions…
That was so unfair…
While he was complaining, he noticed a pencil next to the book.
The pencil was thin and unattractive, but after observing it carefully, Shen Zhe noticed it was engraved with two words—”Good Guy”.
One ragged notebook, and one pencil… What were they for?
“You will be considered incapable of offering an answer if you don’t say anything…”
While he was wondering what was going on, he heard Ms. Bai Yu’s casual voice again. After a flash, he found himself still in the classroom under the watch of all the students.
The scene just then happened in his mental world, and nobody outside had sensed anything.
“I…”
Shen Zhe gritted his teeth and intended to give a random answer, when he noticed that Ling Xueru secretly raised four fingers at him.
Relieved, Shen Zhe looked at her gratefully and said solemnly, “Four hours…”
“Haha!”
All the students laughed.
Ling Xueru covered her forehead and said without making any sound, “I meant four days!”
She couldn’t calculate the precise time but was sure it was around four days. Since the error margin was half a day, the answer couldn’t be greatly wrong…
Yet, the guy said four hours!
The difference was too large.
“Would it have been necessary to give you a half-day error tolerance if the time needed was so short?”
She was gloomy but dared not say anything.
“You think I can return to the school across Mount Thorn with the unconscious iron-toothed wolf in four hours?” Ms. Bai Yu snapped, her kindness gone, “Is this the result of your calculation?”
“Yes…” With everything coming to that point, Shen Zhe had no other choice but to admit it.
He was quite experienced after being an underachieving student for a long time.
It was important not to leave any blanks unfilled in a test, whether or not he knew the answer. It could prove that he had the right attitude, even though he couldn’t answer the questions.
Besides, with his obsessive-compulsive disorder, he found empty paper intolerable, and he had to fill it anyway.
“Are you sure?”
“Well…” Shen Zhe slapped his head. Just then, the other people’s answers were measured to the a hundredth of a second, which showed that their answers were not made up.
For a man who pursued perfection, how could Shen Zhe give an imperfect answer?
Thinking about that, he gritted his teeth and said, “Four hours, forty-four minutes, forty-four seconds and forty-four milliseconds!”
It was precise and perfect!
Crack!
Ms. Bai Yu was so infuriated that her spiritual energy almost burst out. Her chalk was crumbled into halves.
He was so outrageously wrong, and yet he seemed so confident and relieved…
Had he grown bold after days of not being beaten up?
“Do you know how far it is from here to the iron-toothed wolves’ habitat?”
Instead of waiting for an answer, Ms. Bai Yu continued, “The closest purple iron-toothed wolves are not far away in a straight line, but there are mountains in between. I need to cross three mountains and one river to reach them. It will take four days even if I try my best! Even a level-two Martial Artist can’t achieve it in four hours!”
“Four days?”
Shen Zhe looked at Ling Xueru, only to see her nodding her head slowly with her eyes covered.
He finally knew that he had misunderstood her. He could hardly breathe…
Ms. Bai Yu demanded, “Your answer is too wrong even though a half-day error was allowed. Go to the back of the classroom and accept the punishment!”
Shen Zhe turned pale.
As a teacher, she wouldn’t use her full strength, but he was in such a weak condition that one casual slap from her might easily kill him!
“Wait…”
Gritting his teeth, Shen Zhe came up with an idea. “Who can decide the correctness of an answer to a hypothetical question? I have reasons for my answer. Unless you can prove me wrong, miss, I will not accept my punishment! You have to convince me!”
“Are you questioning my answer?” Ms. Bai Yu sniffed.
Shen Zhe gritted his teeth and did not reply.
The teacher’s answer had to be correct, but to prove it, a round trip to catch the wolf would take ten days. He would be more familiar with this body by then, or he would probably escape from the school. The punishment would mean nothing to him.
He had to postpone it as long as possible. There would always be a solution as long as he was not beaten up right then.
“Very good. This is the first time I’ve been challenged after teaching for so long, and by the last place in the last semester, no less. You’re truly bold!”
Enraged, Ms. Bai Yu went to the rostrum and grabbed a book.
“This is a guidance book the school made for the teachers. The question I asked you is right there. Its answer has been verified by the Mages of the school and can’t be wrong!”
“A guidance book for the teachers?” Shen Zhe was stunned.
He thought it was a random question whose answer needed proof. It never occurred to him that it was in a guidance book.
The guidance book had always been convincing. There was no way that he could deny it.
The answer of the guidance book for teachers was a proof itself and essentially a truth.
Since it was a truth, it had been tested by too many people. How could it be changed easily?
Shen Zhe trembled coldly.
Questioning the teacher and the guidance book was a violation against the school rules. The punishment would be much more severe than a simple slap!
He might be kicked out!
If he was beaten up for failing to answer a question, wouldn’t he be killed if he was kicked out?
“I…”
Gritting his teeth, Shen Zhe was about to admit that he had given a random answer without any calculations, when Ms. Bai Yu opened the book and found the question.
“Here are the question and the answer. I’ll read it to you… To bring the purple iron-toothed wolf back, it will take…”
As if she had seen the most unbelievable thing, the teacher’s eyes bulged so hard that they were popping out. “How is this possible?”
It was clearly written on the guidance book that the answer was four hours, forty-four minutes, forty-four seconds and forty-four milliseconds!
It was precisely the answer Shen Zhe offered!
…
At the same moment when the answer appeared on the book, an iron-toothed wolf which had a cluster of white hair on its forehead slowly walked out of a crack on Mount Thorn far away.
Hooooooo!
All the trees rattled under the wolf’s roar.