“What do we do now?” Wanda asked.

Henry Howard shot back, “You made so many battle plans, didn’t you consider this step?”

Wanda lowered his voice and said, “Honestly, I never thought we’d actually run into it.”

Ethan Young leaned against the wall and said casually, “What else can we do? Why don’t we just go up and say hi?”

Wanda was silent.

“Actually, I think a man’s adventure should be a bit more gutsy,” Wanda started, then made a sharp turn, “or we could just go back.” Go back and sleep.

Before he finished speaking, the always-silent Liam Harris suddenly dashed right past them!

Liam Harris’s 100-meter sprint time must be impressive. Next sports meet, he definitely needs to be recommended to compete. He ran like a little whirlwind, and as he rounded the corner, he even grabbed the fire extinguisher standing there and gave that thing a solid “bang”.

Wanda: “”

Henry Howard: “”

Ethan Young: “”

“What happened?”

“Is life for you boarders always this exciting?”

“Your nightlife is pretty wild.”

On Monday morning, Sean Parker had just stepped into the classroom, hadn’t even put down his backpack, when he heard some strange rumors. He handed in his homework, skipped reviewing, and ran straight to Class Three.

He leaned in through the window and asked, “I heard Mad Dog is about to explode in the office. What on earth did you guys do?”

The class was rearranging desks and chairs, noisy as ever. Quinn Shaw had finished moving her own, and was helping Luke Carter arrange the other groups’ desks: “Logan Wright, you go behind Wanda, then your row lines up with the side. We have 32 people taking the exam in our class, if there aren’t enough desks and chairs, borrow from the next class.”

They had to separate the seats and arrange them into the required exam setup: one person per desk.

Soon as the bell rang, everyone would go to their assigned exam rooms for the first official test of the first semester of sophomore year.

—Monthly exam.

Wanda focused on adjusting the desks and chairs, not really wanting to answer Sean Parker’s question: “Well, it’s a long story.”

Sean Parker: “Xiao Wan, are you still the know-it-all I met back then, who never forgot to gossip with me even when passing notes and answers?”

“”

Wanda shook his head and said, “People grow up.”

Sean Parker’s grades weren’t great. In the first year, he wanted to do well on the final exam so he could go home and enjoy the New Year, and not have his family nag him all the time. Before the proctor arrived, he poked the shoulder of the guy in front and asked, “Hey, want to have a good New Year together?”

The guy in front was Wanda.

The two hit it off right away.

At first, they only passed answers. After two or three rounds, Sean Parker nudged his eraser to the floor with his elbow, bent down to “pick it up,” and grabbed the little note on the ground. When he opened it, besides the answer, there was an extra line: Are you from Class Five? Do you know Henry Howard? I heard Henry Howard got into a fight with a teacher a few days ago?

By the end, the notes had turned into a gossip fest.

They didn’t copy many answers, but the gossip covered almost the whole grade.

So Sean Parker turned his gaze to Henry Howard.

His eyes wandered around the class, finally locking onto his target.

Henry Howard and Ethan Young’s seats were awkwardly assigned—wherever there was a gap, they were put there.

Henry Howard was in the innermost row, sitting in the last seat.

The corner was dimly lit. Henry Howard leaned against the wall, one hand in his pocket, looking relaxed, fiddling with his phone with the other hand.

“Bro Henry—” Sean Parker raised his hand and called out.

Henry Howard looked up at the sound, picked up the plastic bag on his desk, and tossed it into the trash as he walked over. “The exam’s about to start. Why are you wandering around?”

Sean Parker: “Your dorm building—”

“Let me sum it up for you in five words: a man’s adventure,” Henry Howard said.

Sean Parker looked completely confused.

Ethan Young’s seat was right next to them. He was lying on the desk sleeping. Henry Howard patted Ethan Young on the back of the head and added, “Right, Lao Xie?”

Ethan Young: “”

Without lifting his head, Ethan Young fumbled around, grabbed something, and tossed it forward.

It was a calculator. If it hit the ground, it’d probably break. Henry Howard stepped back two steps and caught it steadily. “Someone’s got quite the temper today.”

Sean Parker wanted to ask more.

Henry Howard cut him off: “We’ll talk later. Get back to your own class, the exam’s about to start.”

In the past, exam seating was assigned randomly by computer, so you never knew who you’d be with. This semester, the policy changed: exam rooms were assigned based on last semester’s final exam results. The top thirty in the grade took the exam in Class One, the bottom thirty in Class Two, and so on.

The idea was to motivate everyone by dividing them into levels—people should look forward, and keep moving up in the exam rooms.

Manager Jensen’s original words: “You need ambition. There’s nothing shameful about having a little ambition in your studies. For example, if I’m taking the exam in Class Five today, next time I want to be in Class One! I hope you all have this kind of drive!”

Sean Parker left reluctantly.

Wanda hesitantly walked over: “The class monitor isn’t coming to the exam today?”

Henry Howard: “In his state, how could he?”

“I heard his mom took him home to sleep. He’s been sleep-deprived, only getting two or three hours a night. It’s a wonder he hasn’t had a breakdown.”

Hearing the words “class monitor,” Ethan Young stopped sleeping too. The sound of chairs dragging filled the classroom. He sat up and looked over at Xavier Stone’s seat.

That night, Liam Harris had charged out heroically, spraying dry powder everywhere with the fire extinguisher. The hallway was full of dust. When they lifted the sheet off the “ghost,” Xavier Stone was lying quietly on the ground.

“Who would’ve thought it was sleepwalking,” Wanda said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen someone sleepwalk so far. If the dorm building wasn’t locked, would he have wandered out of the school with his eyes closed?”

The commotion they made in the middle of the night alarmed Mad Dog and Old Tang from the neighboring staff dorm. The two rushed over, one with his pants zipper undone, the other with his slippers on the wrong feet: “What’s going on? Why all the noise at night? What are you doing?”

The exam prep bell rang, and everyone grabbed their supplies and headed to their assigned classrooms.

Ethan Young didn’t bring anything except a black pen.

If he could, he wouldn’t even bring a pen. Otherwise, he really didn’t know how he could possibly outscore Henry Howard. Even guessing with his eyes closed would get him a higher score than that guy.

“You need to fill in the answer sheet, bring a 2B pencil,” Henry Howard walked behind Ethan Young, stuffed a pencil into his hand, and shared his own experience, “Even if it doesn’t matter, you might get a few points by guessing.”

“A few points?”

“Seven or eight, maybe.”

“”

In the past, Ethan Young always kept his average score under strict control. Even though he kept it low, it was never so low as to seem ridiculous, avoiding giving people the impression that he was an idiot.

He kept it in the range of “this kid is actually pretty smart, just doesn’t want to study.”

Even Ms. Miller always thought her kid could still be saved.

Sure, he skipped class, fought, and got terrible grades, but that was just because he didn’t pay attention. If he tried, his grades would never be this bad.

Ethan Young took the green pencil, getting ready to control his score later, and asked, “What did you get on last semester’s final?”

They passed by Classes One through Eight. Their exam room was still upstairs, in the last class. According to Manager Jensen’s arrangement, their exam room was basically a gathering place for underachievers.

Henry Howard: “Finals? Don’t really remember, but I think I did pretty well, outperformed myself.”

Ethan Young: “Hmm?”

Henry Howard: “English was like, forty points?”

Ethan Young: “”

The underachievers’ room had about twenty people scattered around, each one a headache for the teachers, all strong enough to drag down the class average single-handedly. One person’s score could basically determine the class’s ranking in the grade.

When Henry Howard walked in, several people greeted him: “Hey, Bro Henry.”

Henry Howard glanced around and saw quite a few familiar faces. He stood at the door, one hand in his pocket, looking every bit the boss of the underachievers: “Ah, long time no see.”

Thomas Thompson happened to be proctoring the underachievers’ class. He adjusted his watch to match the time on the computer, and the other teachers looked on with concern: “Old Tang, your class’s average score probably won’t look too good this time.” Especially since Teacher Tang had just transferred over—if he didn’t get some results...