Chapter 302: The Ocean of Learning (Part 2)
However, just as the word "ten" was uttered, a hand was already raised high.
"You, you, you want to hand in your papers?"
The Class Teacher froze, looking at Liu Sheng in surprise, his gaze falling on her hand.
In her hand, she held three test papers high, one each for language, mathematics, and federal language, all of which she had completed while the Class Teacher was speaking.
If she didn't lack more pens, she could have done more with her Little Tentacle.
The Class Teacher was not pleased; in so many years, this was the first time his little tricks hadn't worked well.
But Liu Sheng's actions completely followed the procedure, so he could only accept them according to the procedure.
Thus, an invisible force rolled up Liu Sheng's test papers and presented them before the Class Teacher.
He kept muttering, "I'm telling you, you can't rush when doing problems. After you finish, you must check carefully, otherwise, if you make too many mistakes, you won't have a chance for Elementary School entrance exams... Let me see this student... Hmm, Liu Sheng, how many mistakes will she make completing the papers in such a hurry?"
He triumphantly took out a giant red pen, its tip resting on the small sheet of paper from his perspective, and began grading it in mid-air.
But the more he graded, the more his triumphant expression fell.
The red pen constantly made checkmarks, and he kept shaking his head.
"Hmm... Hmm? How is that possible? Impossible! Impossible!"
Finally, the checking became faster and faster, clearly indicating he was falling into a frenzy.
"All correct."
"It's all correct!"
"It's really all correct, how is that possible..." The Class Teacher withdrew his hands, his bare facial muscles twitching, seemingly expressing excitement or surprise.
Liu Sheng didn't understand.
But she wondered, is getting everything correct that difficult?
Are the Elementary School students of this Universe so weak?
"Congratulations, Liu Sheng, you are the first to gain momentum. You may proceed."
So, Liu Sheng tried to move the oar. The oar, which had been completely still, now felt oiled, smooth and slick, easily moving with a slight push.
Liu Sheng no longer hesitated, rowing forward under the envious gazes from the surrounding small boats.
"Today's test paper grading time is over. Please remember to do your problems. Don't be like today, where you couldn't even hand them in! If you don't hand in your homework tomorrow, there will be punishments!"
The Class Teacher's words were filled with anguish, completely distorting the facts.
But what could everyone say besides secretly complaining?
Who could resist the immense authority of this giant Class Teacher?
And just as he said, now was a critical period, and offending the Class Teacher was not worth it.
"Now is a critical time. Those who are falling behind must hurry! Otherwise..."
As his voice fell, a presence lurking in the mist extended a claw full of fleshy lumps, grabbing the nearest boat along with the person on it and pulling them into the mist.
Liu Sheng could only hear a sudden, cut-off scream, nothing else.
"Hehe, it will be like this!"
She couldn't think so much anymore; she only had one thought—move forward. Only then would she not be devoured by the weird objects in the mist.
She rowed the boat with her Little Tentacle while simultaneously doing test problems with her hands.
This kind of multi-threaded operation was already commonplace for her, and she was very proficient at it.
However, the energy from the three test papers quickly ran out, and the oar became completely unmovable.
She looked back and saw that she had pulled a little ahead of the other students.
But she still didn't dare to be careless.
Although she was confident that she wouldn't fall to the very end based on her grades, she knew it wasn't that simple. Later, there would be other methods for those who fell behind to catch up.
Therefore, she had to do more problems within the limited time so that she could go further in a shorter amount of time and seize the initiative.
As she thought this, Liu Sheng saw her stress value increase by 5 points, reaching 65.
The Liu Shengs who were anxiously wondering how to study to improve their grades were stunned.
"Anxious, worried, therefore pressure formed."
"No, no, relax."
Liu Sheng let out a soft breath, but the stress value, once it rose, wouldn't go down.
She still had to rely on the "little surprise" the Class Teacher mentioned to relieve stress.
But now, the most important and only thing to do was—do problems.
She didn't know how day and night were calculated here. After an unknown period, Liu Sheng, immersed in the sea of problems, felt the surrounding blood-red light begin to dim.
She had done a "day's" worth of papers, and the completed papers were scattered all around her.
As soon as Liu Sheng finished organizing the pile of test papers, she saw a square wooden box appear beneath them. It had a round hole on top, seemingly just large enough for a hand to fit inside.
All four sides of the wooden box were emblazoned with four large characters in bright red: "Surprise Box."
Below them was a line of smaller text: "Draw me!!!"
The string of exclamation marks made one very eager to draw from it.
Liu Sheng didn't hesitate, extending her Little Tentacle into the dark, gaping hole.
She had once worried that there might be a venomous snake, a mouse, or a nest of cockroaches inside, or that a grinning clown might pop out, or even that she might be transported to another realm just by reaching in.
So Liu Sheng absolutely would not take that risk; she could only trouble her Little Tentacle. The Little Tentacle, being oblivious, was instead filled with excitement for the act of "drawing."
Who doesn't love a lottery?
Especially when you can cheat.
After the Little Tentacle entered the opening, it immediately differentiated a small eye that looked around curiously.
Inside was a pile of cards, each with different text, such as "secretly play video games for an hour," "stay up late reading novels," "buy snacks at the convenience store after school," "go to a classmate's house to play video games," "secretly watch TV for an hour," and so on.
"This is the 'little surprise' for stress relief."
"That's only for other Elementary School students. For us, it's better to do two more problems to relieve stress."
"Shh... Don't let others know about our mindset; they'll think we're perverts."
"That makes sense..."
"It's a pity that even though we like doing problems and did so many, we didn't get any stress relief; it's still high pressure."
"Such are the rules. Although we enjoy it, the rules dictate we should be under high pressure."
"Damn it! It's not based on reality! Bad review!"
"It makes us have to rely on these ways to relieve stress!"
"These stress relief methods clearly have such serious side effects, yet we still have to use them."
Thinking this, Liu Sheng had her Little Tentacle pull out a card.
It was called "drawing," but it was actually "choosing."
She had thought of grabbing a handful, but the box's opening immediately grew sharp teeth, clamping down on the greedy Little Tentacle, embedding deeply into it, not letting it out.
"Luckily it wasn't our hand..."
At that moment, Liu Sheng was very relieved, while also complaining internally.
"Stingy, only one draw allowed."
After Liu Sheng took the card, the surprise box disappeared as if it had never been there.
Liu Sheng looked at the card in her hand, a somewhat stiff yellow cardstock with "Go to the convenience store after school to buy snacks" written on it in bright red fluorescent pen.
Based on her experience, this was a card with minimal side effects and could even replenish energy.
She immediately chose to use it.
The words on the card in her hand disappeared, and several bags of spicy strips appeared in Liu Sheng's hand.
"I don't like spicy strips... Can't I get something else?"
But complaints aside, Liu Sheng could only silently finish them.
Her stress value returned to 60.
Liu Sheng felt a bit more settled and continued doing problems.
Slowly, the blood-red light completely faded, and Liu Sheng could no longer see the problems, forcing her to stop writing.
She looked up to see night had quietly fallen, the sky and ocean transforming into a deep darkness, like a boundless curtain slowly enveloping everything.
Liu Sheng suddenly felt a chill crawl up her spine. The surrounding world became exceptionally quiet, with only the occasional sound of wind and waves hitting the boat, and the tapping of keyboards from the "parents" at the bow.
The small boat drifted all alone, seemingly abandoned in the darkness.
Behind the dark curtain, countless unseen things seemed to be lurking, and countless eyes seemed to be watching her, their cold and biting gazes so oppressive that she couldn't breathe.
Fortunately, a faint light suddenly flickered a few times, then stabilized, and several oil lamps hanging high on the small boat lit up.
People are strange; with light, they seem to feel safer. Liu Sheng's silently climbing stress value of 70 finally stopped increasing.
However, by the faint light, Liu Sheng looked out at the endless dark sea, faintly discerning the writhing figures of bizarre existences in the darkness, and the unease in her heart would not dissipate.
Even Little Tentacle said that she absolutely must not leave this boat easily, as there would be great terror.
Liu Sheng was well aware of this, and fortunately, she had collected many test papers during the "day," enough to last her through the night.
Liu Sheng did a few more papers, completely unaware that the keyboard sounds had stopped at some point, and someone was slowly approaching. Two heads were slowly lowering, looking at her test papers.
After assessing the accuracy, the anger that had been about to erupt transformed into a brilliant smile.
"Not bad, it seems you've been serious lately," a male voice rang out above Liu Sheng's head.
"Parents' stress value: 55"
Liu Sheng was neither surprised nor afraid, because they always appeared this way.
Slowly looking up, two heads were pressing down above her test papers, carefully avoiding blocking the light to prevent affecting her work. But this made their faces, without light, appear dark and ominous, and combined with their forced smiles, it was even more frightening.
"Good evening, Dad, Mom!" Liu Sheng also put on a similarly forced smile.
To keep their stress low, she had to be a good child.
Elementary School students are really not easy!
Without waiting for their reply, Liu Sheng began to speak in one breath: "Today I did thirty-seven test papers: fifteen math, twelve language, and ten federal language, and I expect 100% accuracy."
"That high? Don't lie to us."
The two heads lifted, their suspicious gazes shooting out like daggers.
Only then could Liu Sheng see clearly; they looked exhausted, having clearly worked all day, their fragile nerves teetering on the brink of snapping, ready to be triggered at any moment.
She had to treat them like bombs.
So Liu Sheng carefully explained, "This morning, the teacher graded them, and they were all correct."
She handed over the papers the Class Teacher had returned to her after grading.
The two heads exchanged glances, then took the test papers. One head looked at the papers, while the other stared intently at her eyes, as if trying to find a flaw.
The faint lamplight flickered, casting their facial expressions in a shifting, uncertain gloom.
Unconsciously, it's already Chapter 300. I'll try to write more!
I've been quite busy lately and also want to focus on writing the plot well, so I might not have had time to reply to comments yet, but I'm truly grateful for all your lovely comments!