What's Wrong with This Alpha? - Chapter 97

Chapter 97 – The Vanishing School Beauty

The final exams for the second semester of third year were canceled, replaced by the province-wide First Mock Exam scheduled for mid-April.

Returning from winter break, the First and Second Mock Exams felt close, but no one expected them to arrive so quickly.

Jiang Wangshu woke up first. After washing his face, he noticed Duan Yi still lying motionless in bed.

Knowing Duan Yi would likely sleep in and that it was no longer his responsibility to wake him, Jiang Wangshu patted the bed and chirped, “I’m heading out first. You can come with Sheng Yunze later.”

Duan Yi remained completely still, finally squeezing out a soft, muffled “Mmm” after a long pause. Jiang Wangshu found it strange. “Are you really that tired? You went to bed at eleven last night.”

Duan Yi didn’t respond. Xiaobang leaned over, his voice concerned. “Is President Duan okay? Who sleeps this much?”

Duan Yi wasn’t just sleeping in the dorm; he was sleeping in class and even in the Art Studio.

It had gotten so bad that he didn’t even want to eat, sacrificing his entire fifty-minute lunch break for sleep.

Jiang Wangshu’s worry deepened. “I don’t know.”

He tugged at the blanket. “Duan Bao, are you feeling unwell?”

Duan Yi shifted slightly, signaling that he was fine.

Jiang Wangshu: “You can’t keep sleeping like this. Why don’t you take a day off this weekend and have your parents take you to the hospital for a checkup? Or you could see your family doctor.”

Duan Yi hummed in response, but it was clear he wasn’t really listening.

Bookworm called from the doorway, “Chairman, the whistle’s blown! They’re about to lock the dorms. Hurry up or we’ll miss breakfast at the cafeteria!”

Jiang Wangshu, still worried, said, “Duan Yi, come to class later. I’ve put your backpack on your desk, and your exam materials are in the bag. Got it?”

Bookworm: “Hurry, hurry…”

The three rushed to get ready for breakfast at the cafeteria before the exam.

The dorm fell silent, with only Duan Yi’s steady breathing filling the room.

A moment later, the door opened, letting in a gust of cold air. Duan Yi pulled the blanket tighter around himself, shivering.

Sheng Yunze saw Duan Yi curled up on the bed like a croissant and smiled helplessly.

But the smile didn’t reach his eyes, which remained filled with deep worry.

Duan Yi was sleeping more and more. What had once been occasional naps had now become a state where he spent the majority of his twenty-four hours in slumber.

It’s unclear whether he dreams. Theoretically, he shouldn’t.

Duan Yi’s excessive sleepiness stems from the instability of his mental world. When he falls into a deep slumber, his dreams are a void—utter darkness, devoid of anything.

Sheng Yunze knew he couldn’t stay here much longer.

As if sensing Sheng Yunze’s presence, Duan Yi poked his head out from under the covers. “You’re here?”

Sheng Yunze nodded. “Still sleepy?”

Duan Yi rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up. “No more… I have an exam today…”

In truth, Duan Yi had already resolved to skip the mock exam and feign illness in the dorm. He was simply too exhausted—a weariness beyond what ordinary people could resist. It felt like closing his eyes or letting his mind wander would instantly plunge him into the deepest, most profound dream.

But seeing Sheng Yunze changed his mind.

The desire to take the exam with Sheng Yunze and attend the same university triumphed over his exhaustion. He sprang out of bed, skipped the hot water, and splashed cold water on his face to quickly rouse himself.

By the time he was dressed, Duan Yi was mostly awake.

Duan Yi checked his exam supplies: admission ticket, 2B pencils, and black ballpoint pens—all present and accounted for. Then, he and Sheng Yunze headed straight to the exam hall.

Sheng Yunze had brought breakfast for him in advance. Duan Yi hastily ate a few bites before parting ways with Sheng Yunze at the foot of the exam building.

“I’ll find you after the exam,” Duan Yi said, waving.

Sheng Yunze asked, “What are you having for lunch?”

“I don’t know yet, I’ll decide later. I was thinking…” Duan Yi trailed off.

He wanted to say he’d rather sleep through lunch, but that would mean Sheng Yunze would have to eat alone in the cafeteria—too inconsiderate.

So he changed his answer: “I’ll just eat in the cafeteria. The morning exams are only Chinese and math. I’m quick with math, so I’ll finish early and grab lunch.”

Glancing at the clock, Duan Yi noticed there were only a few minutes left before the exam started. He quickly said to Sheng Yunze, “Don’t stress too much during the exam. Last night, the Old Class Teacher said the First Mock Exam is just to familiarize us with the format and question types of the National College Entrance Examination. It’s pretty much the same as the practice exams you’ve done before.”

Sheng Yunze raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to comfort me?”

“Of course!” Duan Yi replied. “If you do well, I’ll share in your glory! You know, my score is pretty much fixed no matter how I do. I’m just curious about the difficulty level of this mock exam.”

“If it’s Second High School, the difficulty should be about the same as First High School,” Sheng Yunze said.

Duan Yi’s palms grew clammy with nervousness. “Just do your best on the exam. Your scores should be high enough to get into Peking University. If it’s a bit harder…”

He had even looked up past Provincial Top Scorers. With a total possible score of 750 points, plus 60 points for the elective module, the overall score for the National College Entrance Examination was 810 points.

The highest raw score achieved by a Provincial Top Scorer was 720 points. With the elective module, most scored just over 750 points. The highest score ever recorded was 770 points, achieved by a girl who scored perfect marks in science and math, and missed full marks in English by only a few points—just 40 points short of the total 810. (To Duan Yi, such a score seemed like a dream.)

Sheng Yunze’s usual raw scores were decent, averaging between 710 and 720 points without the elective module, and never dropping below 700.

Of course, the difficulty of practice exams differed somewhat from the actual National College Entrance Examination. Even though it wasn’t Duan Yi taking the test himself, he paced anxiously, worrying about Sheng Yunze.

The best high school in the province wasn’t Second High School, or even in their city.

It was a key high school in the neighboring city, consistently producing the top scorers in both Liberal Arts and Sciences each year. The school was absurdly strong, with the top three students often sitting at adjacent desks. The Liberal Arts and Sciences top scorers were even classmates, practically guaranteed to become the Provincial Top Scorers.

When Sheng Yunze took the high school entrance exam, his exceptional results led teachers from that school to aggressively recruit him.

Of course, no one could understand Sheng Yunze’s reasoning. It was understandable why he didn’t go to the neighboring city, but even refusing First High School and staying at Second High School was baffling.

Old He had been watching Sheng Yunze closely for three years, even forbidding him from taking the early admission route, all for the sake of this year’s Provincial Science Top Scorer title.

Second High School hadn’t produced a Provincial Top Scorer since one instance several years ago.

Seeing Old He’s anxiousness, Sheng Yunze couldn’t help but find it amusing, like a young wife seeing her husband off to the imperial examinations.

But with Duan Yi present, he couldn’t laugh. Instead, he feigned seriousness and said, “I wasn’t nervous before, but now you’ve actually made me a little anxious.”

Duan Yi: =口=!

He was so startled that he panicked, just as the exam bell rang.

Sheng Yunze waved dismissively. “I’ll find you after the exam.”

Then he drifted away without leaving a trace.

Thus, Duan Yi entered the exam hall, his heart filled with anxiety and unease about Sheng Yunze’s performance.

The invigilators were Ah Mi and Old He, both familiar faces to Duan Yi. They exchanged meaningful glances with him, silently warning him to behave himself.

Old He, in particular, glanced at Duan Yi, who was sitting upright with a hint of nervousness, and immediately looked out the window. “Has the sun risen in the west?”

Duan Yi, nervous during an exam?

Little did they know, Duan Yi wasn’t nervous for himself, but for his boyfriend.

As soon as the Chinese exam paper was distributed, Duan Yi swiftly scanned the classical Chinese section. The in-class passage was an excerpt from Zhuangzi’s Free and Unfettered Roaming, and Duan Yi immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Just last night during evening self-study, Sheng Yunze had drilled him on the key vocabulary and grammatical structures of Free and Unfettered Roaming. After quickly reviewing the three multiple-choice questions below, he realized he had memorized all the sentences and phrases that needed to be translated into modern Chinese.

The out-of-class passage was from the Book of Zhou, Biographies, Volume 11. Duan Yi glanced at it briefly and noted the similar question types: one question required punctuating a sentence without punctuation marks, and two analytical multiple-choice questions, one of which tested the causative and passive usages of verbs—something Sheng Yunze had also covered.

Having reviewed the classical Chinese section, Duan Yi turned his attention to the classical poetry fill-in-the-blank questions.

With five options and three blanks, Duan Yi knew four of the answers, which significantly boosted his confidence.

Yu Wenshu had repeatedly warned them the previous afternoon that they couldn’t afford to miss too many multiple-choice questions. More than three mistakes would essentially disqualify them from scoring above 120 points.

When tackling extracurricular reading assignments, always underline the main points in the question stems. Every answer must be found directly in the text, so underline and highlight accordingly.

Duan Yi had never felt so focused before. He underlined not only the question stems but also passages in the required reading. His palms were sweating with nervous intensity.

Old He checked on him several times, visibly surprised to find Duan Yi diligently working on the practice exam. Seeing his earnest effort, the teacher couldn’t help but feel gratified.

Though he had previously been troubled by Duan Yi’s early romance with Sheng Yunze, the recent monthly exam showed no negative impact on Sheng Yunze’s scores. In fact, Duan Yi seemed to have become even more dedicated to his studies.

Old He’s disapproval of the young couple’s relationship had softened considerably.

The intense, high-pressure review sessions from the two months leading up to the First Mock Exam were now paying off.

Being in Third Year Class 1, a class renowned for its academic fervor, Duan Yi found himself swept up in the collective momentum, studying with the same relentless drive as his classmates.

Class One’s “hell mode” meant that every moment outside of meal times was spent grinding through practice problems—until their heads swam, their eyes blurred, and they felt like they might cough up blood. Even with their eyes closed, they were mentally rehearsing the English essays they had just memorized.

This final stretch before the National College Entrance Examination was truly the most grueling.

Duan Yi, who had to balance studying with painting, found the latter relatively easier, and the grading requirements for art weren’t as strict as those for academic subjects.

Despite Jiang Wangshu’s usual laid-back demeanor, he had been sleeping only two hours a night and waking up at five every morning to review under a desk lamp before dawn. He had used up a whole stack of pen refills, and there was no time for his usual jokes and banter. His interactions with Hao Shanshan were now limited to terse exchanges like, “Have you finished your test paper?” “Can I see your corrected test paper from last time?” “Do you have Secretary Sheng’s chemistry test paper?”

Rumor had it that some students in the neighboring class had even collapsed from exhaustion…

Duan Yi stared at his test paper and let out a long sigh.

Well…

Just endure these last few months, and everything will be better once I get to university.

He flipped to the essay section, which contained two compositions.

The first, a short essay, tested reading comprehension. Students were required to choose one of three books—Red Crag, The Analects, and Border Town—and write a character analysis. Duan Yi had only read The Analects, and that was as part of the curriculum. After some deliberation, he decided to write about Confucius, a purely opportunistic choice that he knew wouldn’t earn him a high score.

The main essay was a narrative piece. Duan Yi carefully counted the grid squares and, following Yu Wenshu’s instructions, wrote the title in the center: New Era, New Youth: Building a Harmonious Homeland Together.

The First Mock Exam spanned two days.

On the first day, math and Chinese were administered in the morning and afternoon, respectively.

After the exams, during evening self-study, the Old Class Teacher specifically emphasized that students were not allowed to compare answers, fearing it would negatively impact some students.

But her words fell on deaf ears.

Everyone immediately swarmed around Sheng Yunze—he became particularly popular during major exams.

As they walked back to the classroom, students compared answers. When discrepancies arose, they sought Sheng Yunze’s verification.

Those whose answers matched Sheng Yunze’s beamed with joy, while those with conflicting answers turned pale.

Even students from Class Two came to compare answers, standing at the doorway and calling out to Pingtou, waving their draft papers. “Hey, Pingtou! What’s the answer to part three of the last math problem? Our class has all sorts of answers…”

Pingtou, ever enthusiastic, replied confidently, “He got √2.”

“Aughhhh!!!” The student from Class Two clutched his eyes and wailed, “Fuck! I had it right at first! Then I changed it before submitting! I’m gonna die!!”

Compared to the roundabout methods of checking answers with Sheng Yunze—which often yielded discrepancies—Duan Yi’s preferential treatment was enough to make anyone green with envy.

He didn’t need to check his answers with Sheng Yunze at all. Sheng Yunze simply tested his memory by reciting all the math answers from memory, then asked Duan Yi which problems he had solved and which he hadn’t.

Duan Yi had only completed one of the seven major math problems; he couldn’t solve the remaining six.

In other words, he had only managed the function and proof problems, getting stuck at the permutations and combinations section.

Duan Yi slumped over his desk, pouting as he played with his eraser. “I couldn’t figure it out. That permutations and combinations problem was so hard! It’s not like picking balls…”

“Oh, so you’d prefer picking balls so you could just draw circles on the exam paper, right? Pick a thousand balls, draw a thousand circles, then count how many are left after each selection?” Sheng Yunze asked patiently. “Didn’t we go over this problem before?”

Duan Yi felt too embarrassed to admit he hadn’t been listening at all. The real reason was that Sheng Yunze had worn a newly bought shirt while explaining the problem—one Duan Yi had never seen him wear before. His eyes had been glued to Sheng Yunze’s face the entire time. Who could possibly focus on the math then?

“Forget it,” Sheng Yunze said, pulling out a physics exam he’d written earlier. “We’re reviewing the science subjects tonight.”

Duan Yi groaned, his eyelids heavy with sleep. “I want to sleep…”

Sheng Yunze’s eyes darkened imperceptibly. Thinking he was angry, Duan Yi straightened up and flipped open the exam. “I’m looking, I’m looking! I promise I’ll study! I’ll get a good score tomorrow!”

The second day of the First Mock Exam consisted of English in the morning and the science subjects in the afternoon.

English wasn’t Duan Yi’s strong suit either. After guessing his way through the English exam, he waited for the afternoon science test.

The science exam was a daunting eight pages long, printed on both sides.

Duan Yi’s eyes blurred as he dutifully began with the biology questions.

With so many pages, the entire exam had to be completed in just 150 minutes.

Time management was crucial for the science subjects. Ideally, students should finish the multiple-choice section within 50 minutes, leaving 100 minutes for the free-response questions.

Because many students struggled to solve problems quickly enough, failing to complete the science exam was a common occurrence.

Duan Yi hadn’t faced this problem before. He usually filled in all the blanks within half an hour. But this time, he dared not rush, and by the time he finished, all the time had slipped away.

He looked up to see only ten minutes remaining.

Duan Yi wrote down everything he could. For the problems he couldn’t solve, he wrote “Solution” and copied down every formula he knew.

When he reached the gravity formula, Duan Yi suddenly remembered Sheng Yunze’s two still-unproven laws, and a faint smile crept across his lips.

Speaking of which, Sheng Ming and Sheng Xi had been gone for quite some time.

How were things… over there?

Duan Yi rested his chin in his hand and gazed out the window.

Are they all right without me?

He couldn’t dwell on this thought; it pierced his heart like a needle.

Lately, during his light sleep, he kept having dreams. In one, he was still unconscious after the car accident, lying in a hospital bed. Xiaoduan Mom was sobbing hysterically beside him, and the doctor regretfully announced that there was no hope. The EKG machine beeped frantically before settling into a flat line.

Ah, I’m dead, he thought in the dream, as if observing his own body from a third-person perspective—pale, silent, and peacefully asleep.

Thank goodness it was just a dream, Duan Yi thought to himself every time he woke up.

He continued to rest his chin in his hand, gazing out the window, but his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. The sky and clouds blurred into an indistinct haze as his head began to nod rhythmically.

Then, a muffled thud echoed through the classroom. The invigilator shot to his feet and saw Duan Yi’s exam paper sliding off the desk. At the same moment, Duan Yi and his chair toppled to the floor, motionless and silent as if he had simply fallen asleep.

“Student!” the invigilator shouted urgently.

The classroom erupted into chaos, like boiling water. The commotion alerted teachers throughout the corridor.

Duan Yi was dreaming again.

This dream felt even more vivid than the previous ones. He found himself lying in a hospital bed, as if reliving the car accident from the summer after his second year of high school.

Through a hazy haze, he saw doctors moving around him.

Though they were clearly speaking, their words dissolved into incoherent noise, preventing Duan Yi from understanding what they were saying.

“Auntie, why is Mommy still sleeping?”

Duan Yi seemed to hear Sheng Xi’s voice.

“Dad said they’d be back soon after we got home, but why isn’t Mommy waking up yet?”

Sheng Ming? Duan Yi’s mind went blank for a moment.

He felt like he was experiencing sleep paralysis. His brain could receive external information, but his body remained completely immobile.

After a long pause, he thought he heard Sheng Yunxi’s voice again, tinged with both helplessness and sorrow: “Soon, we’ll see each other soon.”

“Baby… baby… don’t scare Mommy like that…”

In a daze, Duan Yi also heard Xiaoduan Mom’s voice.

It was as if voices from two different timelines were constantly overlapping, further muddling his already confused mind and making it impossible to make sense of anything.

“Doctor, please check him. Could he have fainted from exhaustion? How could something like this happen at school?” Xiaoduan Mom’s voice trembled, as if she were crying.

“It’s alright, Madam. There’s no need to worry. He’s just asleep…”

“How could someone sleeping look like this…?” Xiaoduan Mom sobbed. Duan Yi felt warm hands caressing his face. He wanted to call out—and he did open his mouth to shout—but no one heard him.

Xiaoduan Mom stayed with him for a long time. After she left the room, the door opened again.

He heard Sheng Yunze’s voice.

“Can’t we wait any longer?”

Another man replied, “Professor, we can’t wait. You know his condition, and your own body can’t afford to wait either. If we delay any further, we’ll both end up dying here. Duan Yi’s mind is already beginning to unravel. You understand what that means. If he doesn’t wake up soon, his consciousness will fade away in his sleep.”

Sheng Yunze: “I want a better solution.”

The man said helplessly, “We’ve considered every possible solution. This is the best we have.”

A faint sense of dread crept into Duan Yi’s heart.

What method? What “wait it out”?

He wanted to call out Sheng Yunze’s name, but it felt as if a pair of hands were clamped tightly around his throat.

Duan Yi felt something press against his lips—Sheng Yunze was kissing him.

He felt a tear fall onto his cheek and heard Sheng Yunze whisper, “I never imagined our parting would come so abruptly.”

Duan Yi’s heart clenched with sudden pain. As if making a vow, Sheng Yunze promised him, “I will never leave you.”

Overwhelmed by terror, Duan Yi screamed silently, yet remained trapped.

Sheng Yunze left him with one final message: “You must hold on to our reunion, Duan Yi. I’ve waited too long.”

Then, his consciousness plunged into a void.

As if something had been violently ripped away, Duan Yi felt a gaping emptiness in his heart.

And then there was nothing. He slipped into a deep slumber, awaiting the moment of awakening.