Shadows of the Deep Space

Even Chen Tong stayed silent, just standing quietly against the wall.

But at that moment, Mink clenched his teeth and said to Tang Yan,

"Teacher, I don't want to give up, I think we can fight for it."

"Forget it, even if you are confident, I am not."

"No, teacher, I have a lot of confidence in you. After all, you graduated from the external school of the Imperial Court Academy, you definitely can lead us to pass."

"Uh, I did graduate from an external school of the Imperial Court Academy, but how should I put it?"

Tang Yan felt a bit embarrassed for a moment as he did not want to admit that he was at the bottom of his class at the external school. A significant reason he had been admitted was because he was from Triple-City, and he only moved to the Thirteenth District later when his family had fallen on hard times.

Su Ming also looked at Tang Yan with some surprise, not expecting that his teacher had graduated from the external school of the Imperial Court Academy.

"Teacher, you can do it!"

Mink said confidently.

"Yeah!"

Zhao Ran and others echoed in agreement.

Tang Yan sighed, did not continue speaking, and simply walked into the house. He came out with a stack of papers.

He slapped the papers on the table and spoke calmly,

"These are the comprehensive papers from last year's city examination. All of you give it a try."

Mink and the others were startled, then got up, took a paper, and silently found corners to start working.

Su Ming also took one and sat down cross-legged, first skimming through the paper. Unlike the usual exam papers, this one was much larger, covering twenty pages and printed with various types of questions.

He glanced at the total marks of the paper, which amounted to 300.

Su Ming felt a bit eager to try and see how much he could score, so he started writing the answers seriously.

Tang Yan sat on the sofa, quietly watching his students work.

Five hours had passed in the blink of an eye, and Su Ming had reached the last page. However, he felt the mental anguish because his limited knowledge made many questions appear complex and indecipherable, impossible even to guess!

For example, the third to last question about the eleventh system restructuring in the history of the Old Federation: what challenges it faced, how it failed, and what would you do to avoid it.

Su Ming only remembered the date and some information about the initiator of the event, but he had no clue about the specifics—how could he answer?

The most annoying thing was that these types of questions changed every year. With the lengthy history of the Old Federation and numerous significant events covered briefly in history books, one had to specifically look up literature to understand them.

This demanded high knowledge reserves from the students. If Su Ming had enough time, it would not matter, but his biggest limitation right now was time.

Tang Yan checked the time on his phone, patiently waited for another half-hour, then spoke,

"Hand in the papers!"

Su Ming and the others immediately stopped writing and handed their papers to Tang Yan.

Tang Yan began grading. Everyone gathered around, curious to see their scores.

Chen Tong's paper was graded first. Tang Yan consistently marked it right and wrong, quickly assigning a score of 129.

Chen Tong saw his score and his expression soured.

Tang Yan continued grading. Scores came out one after another—Zhao Ran 103, Cheng Ran 72... Mink 141.

"Wow, leader, that's high!"

Zhao Ran and others exclaimed.

"It's not good enough."

Mink was very unsatisfied.

Then Tang Yan picked up Su Ming's paper and began grading. Su Ming's heart palpitated in curiosity about his score. Watching the crosses being marked, his heart sank.

In the end, the score came out—Su Ming got 92!

"Not bad, Su Ming, you've made significant improvement."

Tang Yan looked up at Su Ming as he praised the score, knowing well that, considering the difficulty of the city's comprehensive paper, and compared to Su Ming's past grades, scoring in the sixties or seventies would have been notable.

"Yeah, keep it up!"

Mink and others praised.

Su Ming merely smiled wryly; this was just the beginning. Having improved by twenty points in a few days was indeed commendable.

At that moment, Tang Yan coughed to signal everyone to be quiet, and they immediately fell silent.

Then, with a serious expression, Tang Yan spoke.

"You've seen the scores, now let me explain the situation in detail. First, why I don't recommend you apply to the Imperial Court Academy. The inner school's comprehensive paper is out of 300 points, and the admission score requires 290 points, with a minor subject needing above 100 points, 90 and above! Although the external school is more lenient, it still requires above 250 for the comprehensive paper and 60 for the minor subject. Compare your scores now."

As soon as he said this, even Mink, who had the best score, was silent, while the others were utterly hopeless.

"How can we achieve such high scores? Who can make it?"

Cheng Ran complained with discontent.

"People from Triple-City can. Their inner school only requires 280 and 80 points, while their external school needs only 200 and 50 points," Tang Yan explained to everyone.

Su Ming looked at Tang Yan with a very interesting expression, wondering if Mr. Tang had been from Triple-City before?

"No way, this is unfair. How come they get so many marks deducted? They already have better resources."

Cheng Ran complained again, unable to hold back.

Tang Yan sighed, addressing everyone,

"You know that the Old Federation grants high autonomy to various regions. They naturally prioritize their own people, and there's nothing much to discuss about it. Anyway, you need to face reality now. Set your sights on ordinary high-level colleges. Not only is the cut-off score lower there, but the requirements for minor subjects are also not harsh. Don't look down upon ordinary high-level colleges—if you get into one, you can secure four more years of life, avoiding the draw of red and black signs. Plus, after graduation, you can try to apply for civil service positions or key federal enterprises, or even venture into other industries. The prospects are promising!"

"Mhm."

Zhao Ran and others, after listening to Tang Yan's words, their spirits brightened.

That's when Chen Tong suddenly spoke.

"Teacher, what you said is correct, but the fear is, what if we don't even pass the ordinary high-level colleges? If I remember correctly, the minimum score required for ordinary high-level colleges is also 150."

"Ah, that high? Aren't we way off?"

Zhao Ran and the rest all had gloomy faces.

"Don't be discouraged, why don't you just avoid applying to the schools in Triple-City? Apply to the High-level College in our Thirteenth District, you only need 120 points. A score of 120 is achievable for most of you with a little effort."

Tang Yan explained to everyone.

"Teacher, do residents of Triple-City also need only 120 points to apply to their ordinary high-level schools?"

Cheng Ran hesitated before asking.

"That's correct," Tang Yan nodded in response.

"Oh, I'm really envious; they can go to Earth Surface College with just 120 points."

Wang Chi and others said enviously.

"What's there to envy? If they want to apply to our Thirteenth District's High-level College, they also need 150 points."

Tang Yan coughed to reassure everyone.