Chapter 97: 96, Walking on the Waves
Nanjiang Province, Provincial Education Headquarters.
Conference Hall.
Yuan Dongzhi, the Director of the Provincial Education Headquarters, was currently watching the live data of the college entrance examination with educational leaders from various cities in the province.
In front of them was a huge projector.
The projection displayed the genetic fusion adaptability test results of the candidates from each city.
Yuan Dongzhi stared at it for a while, his eyebrows involuntarily furrowing slightly.
This year’s scores seemed to be even worse than last year’s.
Particularly in Haiyuan City, which lagged behind in teaching standards, the candidates’ scores were outrageously poor.
So far, fewer than one-tenth of the candidates had a genetic fusion adaptability of over 5%, far below the average.
“Principal Han, the college entrance examination scores from the Haiyuan City you oversee are excessively poor this year,” said Yuan Dongzhi, looking at a man in front of him with a faint expression. “If it’s the same next year, you should no longer occupy the position of the educational leader of Haiyuan City. Go find your value in Source Land No. 36 instead.”
Hearing that he would be sent to the Source Land, the man who was named immediately showed terror on his face.
“Principal Yuan, next year’s genetic fusion college admission rate for Haiyuan City will be at least 10%. If I cannot achieve it, I, Han Qian, will go to the Source Land to contribute myself!” the man declared with a cold sweat on his forehead under Yuan Dongzhi’s gaze.
Yuan Dongzhi, with an expressionless face, said, “Principal Han, 10% is too low. Let’s set it at 20%. If you don’t reach this number next year, I will personally send you into the Source Land.”
Hearing it was 20%, the man’s face turned ashen.
He slumped into his chair, as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
With such a poor level of education in Haiyuan City, how could he possibly achieve this number?
To poach top students from other cities?
But with Haiyuan City’s economy in tatters, where would he find the money to do this?
Yuan Dongzhi’s words were tantamount to sentencing the man to death, forcing him into the Source Land.
And inside the Source Land, where exotic beasts roamed everywhere, even advanced-level creatures struggled to survive, easily meeting with disaster if not careful.
For a man like him, who had long lived in comfort within human society as an older genetic integrator, once he entered the Source Land, and if he encountered an exotic beast’s rampage, it was almost certain death.
The other city’s educational leaders were all very clear on this and looked at the man with sympathy in their eyes.
However, none of them dared to speak up for him.
They all knew too well how domineering Yuan Dongzhi could be. As subordinates, they dared not provoke her, to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves.
“Principal Luo, the results of Qianzhen City you manage this year are very good. Several candidates have reached a genetic fusion adaptability of 13%, and there’s even one at 14%. That’s commendable. Next year’s educational budget will be inclined more towards your side,” Yuan Dongzhi said after she finished with Haiyuan City’s educational leader, clearly showing her principle of rewarding and punishing.
Hearing this, Qianzhen City’s educational leader beamed, saying, “Thank you for the recognition, Principal Yuan. Next year I will certainly not let you down and will push Qianzhen City’s college entrance examination scores even higher.”
The other city’s educational leaders were all incredibly envious.
Then, one by one, they smiled and offered their congratulations to the educational leader of Qianzhen City.
“With a genetic fusion adaptability as high as 14%, and barring any surprises, that’s probably this year’s top scorer of Nanjiang Province.”
“Qianzhen City is on the rise this year.”
“Principal Luo, congratulations, congratulations.”
Qianzhen City’s educational leader said with a smile, “Ah, it’s all luck.”
Just then, the score region for the Shanhai City candidates on the projection showed Lin Zichen’s genetic fusion adaptability.
Candidate: Lin Zichen.
Examination Number: 1207322328.
School: Shanhai High School.
Genetic Fusion Adaptability: 15%.
When they saw the 15% at the bottom, everyone was startled for a moment.
Then, as they came to grips with it, their faces filled with incredulity.
“How much? A 15% genetic fusion adaptability? Is that for real? That’s almost touching the 16% of the geniuses from the Capital City!”
“Lin Zichen? A candidate from Shanhai City? Principal Zhu, you’ve been quietly making a fortune!”
“Unbelievable, the provincial top scorer is actually from Shanhai City!”
All the city educational leaders present were shocked by Lin Zichen’s score.
Even the educational leader of Shanhai City was very surprised, feeling a bit dazed.
He knew of the student Lin Zichen, knew that he had been breaking records at Shanhai High School throughout his three years of high school.
But he never imagined that Lin Zichen’s genetic fusion adaptability could be so high.
15%, that was outrageous.
With such a score, without even thinking about it, he was definitely the provincial top scorer!
“Principal Zhu, well done. Next year’s educational funding will be focused towards Shanhai City,” Yuan Dongzhi said, looking at the educational leader of Shanhai City, revealing a rare smile.
She was born in Shanhai City and also worked at Shanhai University, feeling a deep connection to the city and wanting to favor it all along.
But regretfully, the academic performance of Shanhai City had never been particularly outstanding, and even if she wanted to be biased, she didn’t know how to show it.
Now, with the provincial top scorer from Shanhai City, she could justifiably allocate more funds to her hometown.
“Thank you for the recognition, Principal Yuan. Shanhai City will strive to maintain this performance next year!” the educational leader of Shanhai City said, visibly delighted.
In contrast, the educational leader from Qianzhen City was glum, filled with helplessness and embarrassment from the dramatic rise and fall of his expectations.
The top scorer he thought he had secured was gone.
And so was the inclined funding.
People were stunned!
Just when everyone thought that Lin Zichen would be the top student of Nanjiang Province.
The projection of the Shanhai City candidates’ scores displayed the Genetic Fusion compatibility of Shen Qinghan.
Candidate: Shen Qinghan.
Examination number: 1207322467.
School: Shanhai High School.
Genetic Fusion compatibility: 21%.
The moment the figure 21% appeared, the entire conference hall fell into dead silence.
About one or two seconds later, the leaders’ voices of doubt rose one after another.
“21%? What is this situation?”
“Since the existence of the high school exams, the highest Genetic Fusion compatibility score was 18%. How did a 21% just pop up?”
“Was there an error in measurement? Machinery malfunction?”
“That Lin Zichen from before, was that also a measurement error or machinery malfunction?”
“Possible.”
The leaders were much calmer than imagined.
If the score had come out as 16%, the leaders would have been shocked.
But the score that came out was 21%, which was truly beyond reason, so their first reaction was that there had been an error during the test.
Yuan Dongzhi didn’t speak, but silently pulled up Shen Qinghan’s student file and began to slowly review the information projected onto the large screen.
After a careful look, Shen Qinghan seemed like an ordinary student, with nothing special about her.
After reviewing the files, the other leaders were even more convinced that it was a measurement error. They criticized the staff of the Shanhai City research base for their carelessness; it was utterly unacceptable, and they must be held accountable!
On the other side, Yuan Dongzhi frowned slightly, also feeling that the staff there had been too careless.
But considering the what-ifs, she stood up and left the conference room to go to the base and see what was really going on.
After all, the base wasn’t far from here; she could get there quickly.
In the research base.
The four people stared at the Genetic compatibility displayed on their phones, all looking bewildered.
“What the hell? 21%? Is this a mistake?”
He Yu rubbed his eyes and looked at the phone screen again, still seeing the 21% displayed and filled with confusion.
Li Chuxin was speechless, “Are the staff at this base so careless? They didn’t even verify the results before uploading the scores; is this some kind of joke?”
He Yu said, “The test scores are automatically recognized and uploaded by machines. It’s not their fault; the machine may have malfunctioned.”
Li Chuxin disagreed, “Even if it’s a machine fault, they’re to blame. This is the high school exam. Don’t they know to check the state of the machines beforehand?”
“Machine errors are common. Just because a machine is checked and no problems are found doesn’t mean it won’t malfunction,” He Yu still defended his point of view, feeling it wasn’t the staff’s fault.
The two carried on with this back-and-forth.
Eventually, their conversation turned into a debate, looking like they were bickering.
“Xiao Chen, how come it’s 21%? There must’ve been a mistake, right?”
Shen Qinghan, looking at the score on the phone screen, also thought it was preposterous and that there must have been an error in the measurement.
Lin Zichen had a guess but, seeing there were many people around, didn’t rush to tell Shen Qinghan.
Instead, he stood up and led her out of the base to a secluded corner with no people and no surveillance.
Then, he said to her:
“I think there was no mistake.”
“Your superpower is related to water; you have a natural affinity with water and are extremely comfortable with it.”
“Conveniently, the reagent used to test the Genetic Fusion compatibility is the Stream Cloud Jellyfish, a water-associated exotic beast with a strong Water Attribute.”
At this point, Lin Zichen offered his conclusion, “I suspect that your physique is highly compatible with the gene of a Water Attribute Exotic Beast.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Qinghan also came to realize this point belatedly.
Following that, she felt a surge of excitement.
Genetic Fusion compatibility of 21% signified a genius among geniuses!
She finally felt worthy of Xiao Chen!
At this moment, Shen Qinghan was preoccupied with this thought.
Since she was young, her status compared to Lin Zichen’s seemed extremely unequal in the eyes of others.
Because of this, she had suffered quite a bit of verbal abuse at school, which had hurt her deeply.
If this 21% Genetic Fusion compatibility data was indeed true, then she would no longer have to endure people gossiping about her being with Lin Zichen.
At that moment, Shen Qinghan’s phone rang; it was a video call from Li Chuxin.
As soon as she answered, Li Chuxin’s voice came through immediately, “Han Han, where did you run off to? The base staff finally realized there was something off with your data, and now they want you to come back for an individual retest.”
“Okay, I’m heading back right now.”
After saying this, Shen Qinghan hung up the video call, eager to return to the base with Lin Zichen.
She wanted to be retested as soon as possible to confirm whether her Genetic Fusion compatibility was indeed as high as 21%.
Just as she returned to the base and prepared for the staff to conduct the test,
the sea outside the base suddenly erupted in towering waves.
Everyone was startled by the commotion of the waves; they all looked up through the glass towards the outside.
Immediately, what entered everyone’s view was a woman with dragon horns on her head, riding on waves dozens of meters high, rapidly approaching the base.PS: I’m putting out the begging bowl, asking for your monthly and recommendation tickets!