The Almighty Campus Prodigy

Chapter 003: Cutting the Line

You’re really making me laugh! Do you have any idea how little you’re worth? Yu Yi is the top English student in our class. Who do you think you are?” Li Cai shot up from her seat and sneered. “Tsk‑tsk. No wonder you were so confident yesterday. You were planning to cheat your way into Neptune High. But as far as I know, Neptune’s interview is one‑on‑one. There won’t be any chance for you to cheat.”

Yu Yi glanced at Yang Yu, her eyes filled with disgust. Yang Yu’s retort earlier had stung her pride deeply.

Yang Yu spoke calmly, “I’m not targeting Yu Yi specifically. Honestly, nobody in this class is worth me copying from. As I recall, apart from me, no one got full marks on the written section of this test.”

The classroom exploded into an uproar. Li Cai was the first to snap back, “Yang Yu, who do you think you are? Claiming you’re the only one with full marks? Do you really think you’re some genius?”

Several high‑achieving students frowned. Yang Yu’s words sounded incredibly arrogant to them. They themselves had not found the paper easy, yet for a former underachiever to talk like this was hard to swallow.

Faced with Li Cai’s outburst, Yang Yu merely shrugged. Just then, Teacher Zhao spoke up. “It is true. Only Yang Yu scored full marks on the written portion. There is no suspicion of cheating.”

“That’s impossible! He must have cheated!” Yu Yi could not accept it. She stared hard at Yang Yu. English was her greatest strength. Even she had lost a few points on the written test. She refused to believe Yang Yu could outperform her. The thought gnawed at her.

The whole class fell silent, stunned by Teacher Zhao’s statement.

Teacher Zhao went on, “I must commend Yang Yu. His English has improved by leaps and bounds. As his teacher, I am truly pleased.”

With Teacher Zhao’s word, the class stopped pressing the cheating accusation. None of them wanted to go against their teacher. Even the hot‑tempered Li Cai fell quiet.

Some girls in the class suddenly took notice. This Yang Yu, whom they had always overlooked, was not particularly handsome, yet he looked strikingly neat and composed when confident. Those determined eyes seemed to hold boundless resolve.

How had they never noticed he was actually good‑looking before? Several girls felt their cheeks grow warm.

Yang Yu was indeed a good‑looking boy with well‑defined features. That was why Yu Yi had once picked him as her shield in his past life. He had just been quiet, insecure and listless, fading into the crowd.

Yang Yu had no clue about the girls’ inner thoughts. He had no idea that his actions over the past two days had made him stand out in Class Two, Grade Nine. He was no longer the invisible nobody.

The cheating controversy died down. Yu Yi and Li Cai still looked resentful, yet they had no excuse to pick on him any longer.

Throughout Thursday’s classes, Yang Yu studied and memorized his compiled Chinese notes. Since he was never the center of attention, teachers did not interfere with him.

Thanks to his explosive English score, several female classmates came over during breaks to ask him English questions, including some of Yu Yi’s friends. Yang Yu answered all of them without prejudice, whether they were genuinely seeking help or sent to spy on him. As a former elite lecturer, he explained concepts in simple, easy‑to‑understand ways. The students who came away with real knowledge.

Before long, even top‑performing students set aside their prejudice and came to consult him. Yang Yu had not expected such a big stir just from showing a tiny fraction of his true ability. He had become a focal point of the class. Everyone was convinced he had not cheated. Some top students even thought his explanations were easier to follow than Teacher Zhao’s.

It made Yu Yi, who had accused him of copying her paper, look utterly ridiculous.

Yu Yi and Li Cai hated seeing this, but they had no valid reason to pick a fight. They could only watch as the quiet boy transformed into a prominent figure in class.

On Thursday night, Yang Yu finished reviewing and consolidating all Chinese material for Grade Eight and Nine. It was only eight o’clock. He pulled out his other textbooks and began sorting through them.

The feeling of diving deep into study reminded him of his old days preparing lessons. He let out a bitter smile. Back then, he had prepared lessons alone in a spacious apartment. Now his home was smaller, but his parents were beside him.

Time flew by. The next day, after Yang Yu went over key physics and chemistry points and tricky math traps, Neptune High’s admissions team arrived at their school. Students scheduled for the afternoon interview did not need to attend regular classes; they simply waited outside the interview office.

Yang Yu headed to the admissions office together with several classmates who had also signed up. A crowd of top students from the school had already gathered there. Most knew one another. They eyed Yang Yu curiously, wondering where this dark horse had come from.

There were only five spots available for this interview. Every candidate was a rival. Some students from Yang Yu’s class were questioned by outsiders.

“He’s from our class, ranks around thirtieth. He got better at English and now he’s acting all high‑and‑mighty. I have no idea what he’s doing here. It’s ridiculous.” It was Wang Lei, a top student in Yang Yu’s class, second only to Yu Yi and close friends with Li Cai. He spoke loudly, trying to humiliate Yang Yu in front of everyone for Li Cai’s sake.

Yang Yu found the childish retaliation faintly amusing. He sat quietly and said nothing.

Hearing Wang Lei’s words, the other hostile candidates relaxed.

Yu Yi stood amid the crowd, watching Yang Yu with complicated eyes. Yang Yu’s uncharacteristic boldness yesterday had unsettled her. She could tell he was different, yet she could not pinpoint exactly how. The humiliation she had suffered left a bitter taste in her mouth.

The interviews began. The first student walked in and soon came out looking dejected. A group swarmed around him. He forced a bitter smile. “There are three test papers. You only need to finish one to pass.”

“What’s it like inside?” someone asked.

Too crushed by failure to elaborate, he replied, “You’ll find out when you go in.”

The others grew anxious. This student was among the school’s top ten, yet he struggled so badly. Neptune High truly lived up to its reputation as the city’s premier high school.

Seven candidates went in before one finally emerged with a relieved expression. He had passed. The crowd surrounded him. “Math and physics are at high‑school level. Chemistry is manageable, but the whole paper is written in English. If I hadn’t been strong in English, I would have failed too.”

Panic rippled through the crowd. No one could fathom why Neptune High had set such brutal questions. Then they realized: this was a special‑talent class. It demanded students who far outshone others. If the difficulty was on par with the high‑school entrance exam, the special‑talent class would be meaningless.

Yang Yu breathed a sigh of relief. The high‑school‑level papers and the all‑English chemistry test posed no real challenge to him. There was no Chinese section in this interview. He could have skipped all that Chinese revision, yet he quickly reasoned it would still be useful later.

Yu Yi frowned upon hearing the exam details. Was English such a big hurdle? She glanced at Yang Yu, then calmed herself. She thought his improvement was limited to English alone. To pass, he needed solid chemistry too. Good English alone would not be enough.

Yang Yu had no idea what Yu Yi was thinking. If he had, he would have laughed. Just good English? Please. He was a well‑rounded elite lecturer.

More candidates went in. By the time Yang Yu’s turn was drawing near, four people had already been admitted. Apart from one who aced the English paper, the other three had excelled in math and physics. Even Yu Yi stepped out of the interview room with a furrowed brow. Her English was decent, but she could not handle the test’s demands.

At that moment, the school’s dean walked into the admissions office. Shortly afterwards, the head of Neptune High’s admissions team stepped out and announced, “We have filled our quota. The interview is concluded.”

Only two candidates besides Yang Yu remained. Both had little confidence. They were relieved it was over; they would not have to face defeat.

Yang Yu’s memory clicked. He had heard rumors from his past life. Five students from their school were accepted into Neptune High, yet one spot went to the principal’s relative, not through fair interview performance. It had been a minor gossip. Now, seeing the dean enter right before the final cutoff and the interview get abruptly shut down, Yang Yu understood. The principal had pulled strings to get his relative in, right before the list was finalized. There would be no time to object once the names were locked.

Some people would always seek shortcuts.

Yang Yu refused to let this stand. He stood straight and walked toward the admissions office. He would not accept the interview ending before he even got his chance.

The students who were about to disperse froze, watching him, confused about what he intended to do.