June 17th.
Early in the morning, Qiao Sang arrived at Mingpei Middle School with her mother.
The distribution of examination venues for the High School Entrance Exam was organized by district, with students from each school being randomly assigned to various examination sites.
Qiao Sang was assigned to Class 17 of Mingpei Middle School.
“Did you bring your exam admission ticket?”
“I did.”
“Did you bring your pens?”
“I did.”
“During the exam, finish the questions you know first, and leave the difficult ones for the end. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“Go on in. I’ll come back to pick you up when you finish.” Her mother said gently.
This was the first time her mother had spoken so softly since the signature of the pointy bear was gone, and Qiao Sang felt a bit unaccustomed to it.
“Mom…”
Her mother, even more gentle, replied, “What is it?”
“It’s not time yet, I can’t go in.” Qiao Sang said helplessly.
If possible, she wished she could change this habit of arriving early wherever she went.
……
During the examination, there was more than just two teachers supervising the class; there were also two Contract Beasts.
Qiao Sang quietly sat in Row Five, Seat Six.
A purple-blue mouse-type Contract Beast was using its antenna to touch each student. The blue antenna, located on its forehead, was about seven to eight centimeters long and resembled a pair of antennas.
Having made a bit of recent progress, Qiao Sang recognized this beast as the Purple Tile Mouse.
Purple Tile Mouse, an Electric-type Beast.
It could detect the presence of electronic devices in the vicinity using its forehead antenna.
The Purple Tile Mouse touched each student, and when it reached the student in Row Three, Seat Three, its antenna suddenly surged with a purple current.
“Ah!”
The student in Row Three, Seat Three cried out uncontrollably as the pen in his right hand slipped and rolled onto the desk.
The electric shock was very mild, only causing the student to experience a brief tingling in his hand, with no further effect.
“Wawa.”
The Purple Tile Mouse called out, pointing at the student in Row Three, Seat Three.
“Take it out,” said the female teacher at the podium as she came over to the Purple Tile Mouse.
The student’s face paled, his lips tightly pressed as he remained frozen.
“I’ll say it again, take it out.” The female teacher repeated.
Under the watchful eyes of those around and the pressure from the teacher’s gaze, the student finally pulled his hair back, revealing a small electronic device the size of a button cell battery.
This kind of device wasn’t particularly rare; it could communicate answers for multiple-choice questions from a distance through mental awareness, but it was unable to do the same for fill-in-the-blank or essay questions.
This indicated that he had another accomplice who possessed a supernatural Contract Beast and could see the exam paper.
Of course, that accomplice could not possibly be the student himself.
“You can only cancel this subject’s score,” the female teacher said mercilessly as she confiscated the device and took his exam paper as well.
After the student left in tears, the female teacher raised her voice and said, “If you have any electronic devices, take them out now. Don’t harbor any hopes; if the Purple Tile Mouse finds them, your scores will be invalidated.”
No one spoke.
Fortunately, the Purple Tile Mouse continued down the rows without finding anything else unusual.
Another sphere-like Contract Beast split into five or six smaller versions, floating around in different directions while the students wrote.
This beast was called the Watchful Eye. Its separated bodies could share what they saw directly back to the original body.
It monitored the examination room from all angles, crucial for supervising exams. You’d see it not only during the High School Entrance Exam but also during the college entrance exams every time.
However, the Watchful Eye overseeing the college exams was much stronger, capable of splitting into around ten versions.
Qiao Sang focused on answering her paper when suddenly, one of the Watchful Eyes floated close to her hand that was writing.
Her hand trembled involuntarily. The eye, which had spiral-patterned pupils, shifted angles repeatedly, sometimes staring at the exam paper and sometimes at her face.
After five seconds of inspection, nothing seemed unusual, and it left.
Qiao Sang felt that this exam tested not only knowledge but also mental resilience.
Who wouldn’t be startled if a sphere-like creature suddenly appeared right beside them while they were focusing hard on the exam? All the thoughts she had just formed flew out of her mind!
But, having gone through two days of this exam environment, Qiao Sang became numb to it. Even when two Watchful Eyes appeared at her sides, one on the left and one on the right, she could calmly finish her answers.
June 19th.
The last day of the cultural exams for the entrance exam.
After finishing her last paper, Qiao Sang returned home and immediately collapsed onto her bed, covering her head to sleep.
She had been tense over the past few days, and once the exam was over, she just wanted a good rest.
But to her surprise, when she finally woke, it was already 7:02 PM.
As Qiao Sang woke, her mind felt much clearer, an effect she hadn’t experienced before.
She leaned against her bed and looked out the window.
The sky was dark, but under the moonlight and the city’s bright lights, it still appeared somewhat illuminated.
Her room was dark, and she could see from the gap in the door that the living room was also dark, the surroundings silent, and the Fire Tooth Dog was not by her side.
Feeling oddly lonely, Qiao Sang got up and looked out of the window towards the bottom of the apartment building.
At that moment, she could see quite a few people downstairs: children playing, adults in pairs, and elderly folks enjoying the cool evening air.
But Qiao Sang instantly recognized three familiar figures among the crowd.
It was her mother, the Fire Tooth Dog, and the Plump Dove.
She calmly watched for three minutes, but then felt hungry...
She remembered she had made plans to eat with Fang Sisi and the others before falling asleep.
Downstairs in the residential area.
“Ya!”
The Fire Tooth Dog spotted Qiao Sang right away, happily barking as it jumped into her arms.
With a weight of 15 kg on it, Qiao Sang felt the burden but steadied herself to hold it.
“Mom, I’m heading out for a bit,” Qiao Sang said.
“Okay,” her mother nodded.
Qiao Sang had already told her mom before sleeping that she was going out to eat with Fang Sisi, so her mother didn't ask any further questions.
……
Twenty minutes later.
Qiao Sang, holding the Fire Tooth Dog, arrived at the hotpot restaurant they had agreed to meet at.
“Wow!”
“Fire Tooth Dog!”
Two voices exclaimed at Table 27.
In addition to Fang Sisi, who had made arrangements with Qiao Sang, there was also Lu Siya.
They had planned to meet at 7 PM, and even though they were more than half an hour late, Fang Sisi and the others seemed to have completely forgotten about reprimanding her, as their attention was fully on the Fire Tooth Dog.
“You actually contracted a Fire Tooth Dog!” Lu Siya exclaimed in shock.
“Qiao Sang, how could you do this? You got a Fire Tooth Dog and only showed it to us now,” Fang Sisi said, staring at the seemingly obedient Fire Tooth Dog, wanting to touch it but hesitating.
This was the first time she had been so close to a Fire-type Contract Beast...
As Qiao Sang ate the meat, she asked, “Siya, didn’t you already know I awakened?”
Normally, if someone encountered a classmate who hadn’t awakened yet and was holding a Fire Tooth Dog, they would ask how the classmate got it, rather than directly state that they contracted it.
Fang Sisi instantly fell silent.
Lu Siya glanced at Fang Sisi and directly spilled the beans, “Fang Sisi told me about it two weeks ago.”
As expected...
Qiao Sang felt no surprise; she should have anticipated it.
About the homeroom teacher's hair issue, Fang Sisi had already shared everywhere in their circle. Expecting her to keep it a secret was like expecting the Fire Tooth Dog to climb a tree.
(End of Chapter)