However, just as he was about to speak, he decided to tease him: "A little, I guess. Otherwise, why don't you give me a smile to show some friendliness?"

"Heh, I can give you a 'heh' if you want."

Henry Howard said this as he reached out to touch Ethan Young's lips, trying to manually create a friendly smile for him.

Ethan Young had no idea what the person behind him was up to. He turned his head, about to ask how many pens he had brought, but before he could say anything, Henry Howard's fingertip brushed past the corner of his mouth and landed right on his lips.

Both of them froze.

It wasn't a big move, but the posture looked inexplicably ambiguous.

The girl in the group next door was shaking even harder, almost dropping the pen in her hand, which slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the desk.

She was completely falling apart inside. The exam hadn't even started yet, and her mindset was already in shambles.

Not only was it scary—

Why did these two school bullies look so indescribable?

A few minutes before the exam bell rang, the proctor finally came over from the other end of the hallway with the test papers.

The top students in the first exam room only cared about the difficulty of the test; their eyes were on the questions, not the proctor.

While everyone was buried in their books, the sound of high heels approached from far to near.

Henry Howard only withdrew his hand after a while, his fingertip still lingering with a bit of warmth.

"Last time was an accident," he said, a little awkwardly picking up the pen on the desk and holding it in his hand, "Don't believe me? Want to compete again this time?"

Ethan Young tugged at the corner of his mouth: "Not an accident. The two points you lost—that's the gap between people."

To be precise, it was the gap between a person and an idiot.

The two of them were evenly matched in ability; when it came down to it, the difference was just a point or two.

Ethan Young thought about it carefully. The only time in his life he had ever cared about his ranking and worked toward a goal was probably aiming for "last place".

The sound of high heels stopped at the door of Class 2 (1).

Chelsea Shaw silently told herself, 'They're just two students,' before pushing open the classroom door and walking in.

Chelsea Shaw showed no expression as she entered and immediately began counting the test papers.

Henry Howard was a little surprised, glanced at her, and paused his pen-twirling for two seconds: "Her, huh."

After sorting the test papers by group, Chelsea Shaw looked up, her gaze casually sweeping over the two in the front row.

Ethan Young didn't even spare her a glance. Since the papers hadn't been handed out yet, he simply lay down on the desk to sleep.

The one behind him was sitting slouched, back against the wall, posture lazy and casual. When she looked over, he met her eyes without the slightest hesitation.

Embarrassed—ashamed, mixed with some indescribable emotion, she quickly looked away.

The exam bell rang.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

The first class exam room didn't really need much proctoring. Chelsea Shaw sat at the podium for a while, then got up and walked around the room twice.

Accompanied by the sound of pages turning, she remembered those two unbelievably high total scores.

The disbelief in her heart, along with her curiosity, made her slow down on her second round, pretending to glance casually at Ethan Young and Henry Howard's test papers.

With one look, all the voices in her heart shouting 'impossible' were silenced.

She didn't know if it was the stuffy weather or if she really couldn't catch her breath.

Chelsea Shaw felt a tightness in her chest for a long time.

Ethan Young didn't notice how much drama Chelsea Shaw brought to proctoring. This time, the city-wide exam was indeed difficult, and there were a few questions he wasn't sure he'd answered correctly.

The final exams lasted two days in a row.

After the exams, back in their original class, everyone was comparing answers.

"Mouse," Wanda had just returned from the exam room, holding the door with a grave face, "Sorry, I might not be able to inherit your max-level mage account. I'm dying too."

Logan Wright: "Me too, I can't do it either."

""

Luke Carter was feeling miserable inside. He hadn't expected all the heirs to die off as well. After a moment of grief, he raised his voice and asked, "Bro Henry, how do you guys feel?"

Henry Howard was always full of confidence: "I feel great."

Luke Carter: "Your feelings are never accurate—last time you said you performed exceptionally, and you did, but it was so exceptional it wasn't even human."

Henry Howard took issue with the definition of 'not normal': "How am I not normal?"

Ethan Young: "Say that again after you look at the points you lost on your paper. Is it fun to mess around?"

Henry Howard had nothing to say.

The classroom was noisy for a while before Old Thompson came in to talk about the holiday and returning to school.

"Everyone, rest up these two weeks. The coming year will be very tough. Be careful when traveling during the break." Old Thompson had led many graduating classes, but every time he mentioned senior year, he couldn't help but worry for these kids.

The holiday was too short, so short it was a little sad.

Just a few days off, and most would be forced by their parents to attend all kinds of cram schools. No one was really looking forward to the break, and no one paid much attention to Old Thompson's reminders: "Oh, got it."

"Pack up your things when you leave. When we come back, we won't be in this classroom anymore; we'll be moving to Vision Hall."

The teaching buildings at No. 2 High School each had their own purpose. Vision Hall was farther from the sports field and relatively quiet, so every year the senior students were assigned to that building.

The classroom sign changed from Class 2 (3) to Class 3 (3).

After the barely-there holiday, on the day they returned for extra classes, everyone still felt it was a bit novel.

Luke Carter somehow had this 'big brother' aura, feeling like he could walk with his back even straighter. He was boarding at school this semester, and as he packed his things, he said, "From now on, we're the most senior students at No. 2 High. Everyone has to call me 'senior'!"

Ethan Young had just finished showering when Luke Carter's voice came from the other end of the hallway.

He was barefoot, and kicked at Henry Howard, who had just arrived at the dorm and was already lying on his bed: "What's going on, are they all boarding this semester?"

Henry Howard didn't open his eyes: "They said commuting wastes too much time. Every second counts for the college entrance exam sprint."

Well, things were about to get lively.

With the whole class three crowd together, and all sprinting for the college entrance exam, who knows what kind of chaos would happen every day.

"Are you going to shower or not?" Ethan Young asked again.

The sun was blazing outside, the weather scorching.

Henry Howard had planned to lie down for a bit and wait for the kid to finish showering before going himself. Now that the heat had dissipated a bit, he was too lazy to move and casually asked, "Did you miss me?"

The holiday had only lasted a few days, and they'd been video calling or on the phone every day. Compared to him, Ms. Miller actually mentioned this "ladies' man" more often.

"Let him come over when he has time, okay? What does he want to eat? Mom will cook."

"He doesn't have time."

"How do you know he doesn't have time if you don't ask?"

""

Henry Howard covered his eyes with his hand, rested for a while, then got up to grab his change of clothes and went to shower.

"Do we have any apples in our dorm?" Henry Howard asked halfway through his shower, remembering the housewarming gift Wanda and the others had given, poking his head out, "Should we give them something too?"

"What?"

They had just returned to school—where would they get apples?

In the end, the "new residents" like Luke Carter each received a sheet of A4 paper.

Logan Wright was cleaning and curiously flipped the paper over: "What's this—"

Henry Howard: "Good stuff."

Ethan Young leaned against the door, not really wanting to look at the scene.

On the A4 paper were the flamboyant characters "Henry Howard", taking up most of the page.

Logan Wright: ""

Luke Carter: ""

All the new residents: ""

What was this, giving out his own autograph?

"I thought about it, and there's nothing else I can give. How about this: when I become rich and famous, you can sell my autograph for a good price and spend it however you want—"

Before Henry Howard could finish, Logan Wright was already itching to swing his broom.

Less than two hours after returning to school, a large-scale 'brawl' broke out in the boys' dormitory, chaos erupting everywhere. Students from the first to the sixth floor came to watch.

Ethan Young stayed out of it, watching as Henry Howard was chased by the others from the third floor to the top floor, then back down again, running two laps in total.

"Bro Henry, if you've got guts, just stop right there."

"Have you no shame? Have you ever seen anyone sign their name—so big? Are we supposed to frame it and hang it up?"

Amid the chorus of complaints, Henry Howard replied seriously and provocatively, "Frame it? That's actually a good idea."

""

Ethan Young was still at Logan Wright's dorm room door, leaning against the wall. Listening to all this, he couldn't help but lower his head and laugh.