Inside a classroom at Dongping No. 1 High School in Dongping County, Xu Ming sat on a stool, his brows furrowed, looking at the math test paper spread before him with a panicked and confused expression.
“Shouldn’t I be in a hospital bed?”
He remembered that after graduating with his master’s degree, he started a business with classmates. Just as their venture began to show promise, they were maliciously suppressed and framed by competitors.
Ultimately, their efforts were stolen.
Years of hard work were ruined by the powerful hand of capital.
He got drunk by the river late at night and was vaguely sent to the hospital. Who would have thought that when he woke up, he wouldn't see the ceiling, but instead be sitting in a classroom taking an exam?
This was simply a nightmare.
He rubbed his eyes again and noticed the words “Third Year Practice Test” written at the top of the paper, immediately feeling a sense of relief.
Phew~
Thankfully, it wasn’t the college entrance exam.
He raised his gaze. The figures of his classmates in the front row were familiar, but he couldn’t recall many of their names. Above the blackboard, directly in front of him, hung a red banner.
“Aspire to stroll through Tsinghua Garden, only hard work leads to Weiming Lake.”
He subconsciously read the large characters, then suddenly shivered, finally confirming something.
“This is Dongping No. 1 High School, I’ve been reborn back to my alma mater?”
Looking at the ceiling fan above and the famous sayings on the walls, his mood gradually calmed, while long-sealed memories flooded his mind like a tide.
As a county high school, Dongping No. 1 High School would finish all high school courses by the end of the first and second years. Especially in the second semester of the third year, daily life basically consisted only of exams and problem-solving.
Having understood his situation, just as he accepted reality, he suddenly felt a nudge on his arm.
He turned his head to look, and a familiar face entered his vision.
“Got any ideas for the second fill-in-the-blank question?”
Qian Hong had naturally curly hair and was of average height among the boys in the class, his face revealing the clear foolishness of a high school student.
His gaze lingered on his deskmate, Xu Ming’s thoughts racing.
In his previous life, he went to Jin City for university, and later they lost contact, not seeing each other for many years.
After a brief stunned, he looked down at the fill-in-the-blank question Qian Hong mentioned, trying to recall his previous problem-solving state.
“Find the range of x for which log₂(-x) < x+1 holds true…”
He seriously examined the question for nearly two minutes, feeling a heat rise in his body, but his mind remained chaotic.
What was the domain of a logarithmic function again?
Solving inequalities?
Forget it.
After all these years of entrepreneurship, his knowledge had long since settled somewhere unknown. He couldn't recall formulas or theorems, so how could he answer accurately?
He could only choose to give up.
However, he was not discouraged by this; instead, his eyes grew even more determined.
After all, he had a new brain now, and he was confident that through review, he could quickly retrieve his knowledge.
His college entrance exam scores in his previous life were not ideal. Coupled with other reasons, he ultimately chose a private undergraduate university within the province. Although he worked hard in university and later got into Yanjing University for his master’s, a sense of regret always remained in his heart. More than once, he had fantasized about returning to high school to make up for the mistakes of his youth.
“Since heaven has given me a second chance, I must not follow the old path,” Xu Ming mused.
And just as he was about to make a study plan, a translucent screen suddenly appeared before his eyes, causing his upper body to involuntarily lean back, almost making him scream in fright.
Seeing that no one else reacted, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, he looked again, and several lines of black text gradually appeared on the panel.
— —
Name: Xu Ming
Occupation: Student
Mathematics: lv0 (23/100)
physics: lv0 (20/100)
Chemistry and Biology: lv0 (25/100)
Chinese: lv0 (29/100)
English: lv0 (33/100)
Talent: Absolute Self-Discipline
Entries: None
“This information is…”
Seeing the content, Xu Ming was first stunned, then overcome with ecstasy.
If someone else encountered such a thing, they might suspect it was due to excessive study pressure leading to mental tension and hallucinations, as high school seniors inevitably have some minor ailments. But he knew this was his potential being fully unleashed.
Temporarily suppressing his excitement, he immediately examined it carefully.
First, his gaze fell on the Talent section, and soon the text information showed new changes.
【Talent: Absolute Self-Discipline】
【Effect: For any study goal you set for yourself, you will always persevere and complete it.】
As the content entered his vision, even with Xu Ming’s decades of life experience, he found it hard to control his excitement.
He knew exactly what this meant.
Most students are intermittently ambitious; whenever they are asked to fill in their goals for the semester, their aspirations are always grander than the last, but those who persevere and complete them are often few and far between.
If he could maintain self-discipline, he would not only be confident in getting into a key university, but also getting a master's and doctorate in the future would not be an issue.
He could even delve into scientific research and academics, achieve accomplishments, and promote civilizational progress.
After all, in his previous life, while pursuing his master’s at Yanjing University, he resolutely chose materials science, a field often called a “pit,” and even achieved certain successes.
When he decided to start a business, his supervisor even tried to persuade him to stay, hoping he would pursue a doctorate.
Additionally, by studying the other content on the panel.
Besides this talent, he also discovered that as he continuously studied and raised his subject levels.
He could draw various entries to help his knowledge level increase.
“Then, starting today, I will become self-disciplined…” Xu Ming took a deep breath and resolved.
Immediately, he decisively pulled out his first-semester high school math textbook from his desk.
He began his review with sets.
Currently, all his subject levels were at zero. Compared to Chinese and English, which required time to memorize, focusing his main energy on Mathematics would undoubtedly increase his subject experience faster.
This would allow him to draw the anticipated entries sooner.
Moreover, as the foundation of all subjects, an increased Mathematics level would also aid in reviewing physics and Chemistry and Biology.
He remembered that in his previous life, when researching materials, he had to put in a lot of effort due to his weakness in Mathematics.
Qian Hong, seeing no response from Xu Ming, was about to ask when his peripheral vision caught a figure outside the window. He quickly sat up straight and whispered a reminder.
“The homeroom teacher is back.”
Wang Qingtao, as both the Mathematics teacher and homeroom teacher, returned to the podium and sat down, also working on the same Mathematics practice test as everyone else.
However, his answering speed was much faster.
Every half hour, he would get up and walk around the classroom, casually checking on the students’ progress.
His gaze swept back and forth over the papers, his expression sometimes pleased, sometimes shaking his head.
But as he turned into the northern aisle, returning to the podium from the back row, his steps suddenly stopped.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
In his line of sight, Xu Ming was looking through his Mathematics textbook, appearing serious, but this was not something that should happen during an exam.
“Could it be that he hasn’t even memorized the formulas and has to look them up?” he thought, seeing this scene.
He searched his memories for impressions of Xu Ming. He didn’t recall his Mathematics scores being this poor. How could they have declined so sharply after a winter break?
Despite his doubts, Wang Qingtao did not criticize him directly, but merely lectured the class for a moment.
“We have covered most of the question types on this paper, and the overall difficulty of the test is not high,” he said, moving as he spoke, “Anyone who answers incorrectly would be letting down my earnest teaching.”
He planned to find time another day to have a good talk with Xu Ming.
The hundred-day sprint was approaching, and it was not acceptable to fall behind now.
Xu Ming, on the other hand, paid no attention. At this moment, he was completely immersed in Mathematics, and he found the process of reviewing knowledge points incredibly enjoyable.
He was constantly receiving positive feedback, secreting dopamine.
At this moment, he seemed to have developed a strong interest in Mathematics and was studying the knowledge for that reason.
Rather than simply to achieve a goal.
As time passed, a large number of mathematical symbols and formulas were continuously awakened and recalled in his mind.
It was as if a wrung-out sponge was reabsorbing lost mathematical nutrients.
He felt a sense of accomplishment in Mathematics that he had never experienced before, which made him even more pleasantly surprised by his self-discipline talent.
At the same time, new information continuously appeared on the panel.
【Through diligent study, your 【Mathematics】 level has improved, gaining 5 experience points.】
…