Chapter 101 - 98: Huh? A Gold-Glowing NPC?
Kyoto West Station.
After waving goodbye to Qin Fei, Li Dong headed for the new student shuttle bus stop outside the station plaza.
Several buses were parked there. The two most conspicuous ones bore banners for "Shuimu University" and "Yanjing University," respectively.
Among the nation’s top universities, Yan University and Shuimu were the undisputed leaders, locked in a fierce rivalry for decades.
Yanjing University’s Yuanpei College was also a very special place.
It was modeled after the neighboring Shuimu University’s Xinyaya Academy, focusing on breaking down departmental barriers, promoting a liberal arts education, and allowing students freedom of choice.
Those who got into Yuanpei were almost all top scorers or runners-up from their respective provinces’ college entrance exams, or they were Ossai medal winners.
Li Dong boarded Yan University’s new student shuttle bus.
The bus drove to the area near Yan University’s famous Qiudeba Stadium.
This was the main registration area for Yan University’s freshmen.
The area was festooned with red welcome banners, and crowds thronged the orientation booths set up by the various schools and departments.
These freshmen, all of whom had earned their place at Yan University, wore expressions that mixed the pride of reaching this pinnacle of academia with the unavoidable awkwardness of being newcomers.
In high school, each of them was a legend in their own school, but here, you could bump into anyone and they might be a provincial top scorer or an Ossai gold medalist.
Li Dong, holding his admission letter, quickly completed all the registration procedures and got his dorm key.
"Excuse me, you’re from Yuanpei, right?"
Just as he turned around, a female upperclassman in a welcome week T-shirt approached him.
The upperclassman had a neat, clean-cut look and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.
She wasn’t so floored by his stunningly good looks as to start fawning over him; in fact, she barely gave him a second glance.
Around here, good looks couldn’t get you anywhere. Only GPA and research achievements mattered.
"What dorm building are you in?" the upperclassman asked politely.
"Building 35," Li Dong said, glancing at the key tag in his hand.
"Okay, follow me." The upperclassman nodded, then grabbed one of Li Dong’s suitcases and started walking ahead.
Along the way, the upperclassman acted like a dispassionate tour guide, casually pointing out the buildings they passed.
"That’s the Nongyuan Cafeteria up ahead, Yan University’s largest. The food’s good and they have a wide selection. You’ll probably be coming here a lot."
"Over there is the Science Building. You’ll have most of your large lectures there."
"Building 35 is deep in the residential area. All the Yuanpei students live there. The atmosphere is great, but the rat race during finals gets pretty terrifying. You’d better prepare yourself."
Soon, the two of them arrived at Building 35.
Li Dong thanked her, carried his luggage upstairs, and pushed open the door to his dorm room.
The dorm room was a standard four-person room, with loft beds over desks.
When Li Dong arrived, his other three roommates were already there. He was the last one to arrive.
The three roommates were all busy unpacking their luggage. When they saw Li Dong push the door open, they all nodded politely at him before continuing with their tasks.
Top students, you know. They tend to be a bit reserved when they first meet. No one wanted to seem overly familiar.
Li Dong nodded back, then walked over to his bunk and deftly laid out his bedding.
Once the four of them were more or less settled in, the first official "meet and greet" in the dorm room began.
The guy in the bunk across from Li Dong, who wore glasses and already had a dangerously receding hairline, was the first to speak.
"Alright guys, I’m Liu Qiang, from Ji Province. Scored 711 on the college entrance exam, second in the province. You?"
A tall, skinny guy sitting on a stool nearby spoke up next.
"Chen Nan, from Hubei Province. An even 700."
"I’m Wang Hao." The last guy, who had just come out of the bathroom with his hair parted in the middle, smiled after hearing the first two scores.
"I can’t compare to you titans. I only got a 695 on the college entrance exam. Guess that makes me last in this dorm."
But then, Wang Hao added...
"Luckily I’d already won a gold medal at the CMO, otherwise I might not have gotten in."
’His words might have sounded modest, but who in this room wasn’t an academic superstar?’
’What the hell did his gold medal have to do with getting into Yuanpei? Yuanpei admissions aren’t based on that kind of specialized track!’
He was clearly showing off. (A note for our dear readers: Qin Yan was guaranteed admission because he made it to the training camp.)
Even though they all possessed the pride of the chosen few and were unwilling to concede to each other, they all understood the need for mutual flattery. On the surface, a chorus of praise erupted: "Holy crap, a gold medal titan, you’re a beast!" and "We bow to the math competition god!"
Finally, it was Li Dong’s turn.
He spoke in a very low-key manner.
"I’m Li Dong, from Sichuan and Chongqing. I scored 723 on the college entrance exam."
Although Li Dong’s tone was modest, that score of 723 was anything but.
Everyone there had been through the college entrance exam, so they naturally knew that there were tiers even among the top scorers.
In provinces that used the national standardized test, anyone scoring above 730 was considered a "divine beast"—the kind of prodigy who could become the top scorer just by messing around.
And while 723 hadn’t quite reached that "divine beast" threshold, it meant Li Dong’s scores in the comprehensive science section and mathematics had to be damn near perfect.
Since they were all science majors, the only subjects where one could lose significant points were Chinese and English.
"We bow to the titan!"
"723? You must have absolutely killed it in math, physics, and chemistry, right?"
After a round of playful jeering, Wang Hao, being the show-off... ahem, the more sociable one, spoke up.
"Hey guys, when it’s time to declare our majors sophomore year, what are you all planning to pick?"
The biggest feature of Yuanpei College was that students entered without declaring a major.
Freshmen spend their first year taking general education courses and introductory classes from all the major departments to test the waters. At the end of their freshman year, they can choose any major in the entire university based on their interests and abilities.
"I got my start in math competitions, so I have a real passion for it. I’m definitely going for pure math in my sophomore year."
In the pecking order of the sciences, pure mathematics has always sat firmly at the top of the pyramid, looking down on applied math, and even more so on the engineering disciplines.
Choosing pure math sounded so prestigious.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Liu Qiang and Chen Nan also nodded in agreement.
"Same here. I want to get into the School of Mathematics’ honors program and focus on Algebraic Geometry."
"I’m also leaning towards pure math. I want to do fundamental theoretical research in the future."
To sum up their words: We want to be mathematicians.
Wang Hao turned to look at Li Dong.
"Li Dong, with your science scores, you’re not going to join the rat race with us in the School of Mathematics?"
Li Dong shook his head.
"I prefer physics a little more. I’m planning to choose the School of Physics."
Hearing Li Dong’s answer, the three roommates exchanged a glance, the expressions on their faces changing subtly.
At Yan University, the School of Physics was strong, of course. But! The Physics Department had its own invisible, "god-tier pecking order."
In order to cultivate top-tier physics geniuses, Yan University had established a special "Physics Excellence Program."
The program was a completely closed loop. They recruited directly from competition prodigies in grades nine through eleven.
Some were pulled directly into Yan University for a small-class, combined bachelor’s-doctorate program without even having to take the college entrance exam or finish their senior year of high school.
These were the true physics freaks, the most monstrously talented young minds in the entire country.
As for someone like Li Dong, even if you were the top science scorer on the college entrance exam, if you got in through the standard admissions process, you had already forfeited your chance to enter the inner circle of the "Excellence Program."
The university had a comparable honors program for physics with excellent faculty and resources, but in the eyes of the professors, students admitted through the standard process were already considered a half-step behind the Ossai prodigies in terms of raw talent.
So when Li Dong said he liked physics, his three roommates had already silently constructed a narrative in their heads.
’It seems that although Li Dong’s score is very good, he probably didn’t reach the freakish level of the national Ossai team. Otherwise, he would have been snapped up by the Excellence Program back in his junior year of high school, and wouldn’t have just scored a ’mere’ 723.’
But they were all roommates, so of course they wouldn’t spoil the mood.
"Physics is great!" Wang Hao said quickly.
"Honestly, compared to a bottomless pit like our pure math, physics has much broader job prospects and more flexibility to switch majors later. You can go into research, or fall back on microelectronics or quantitative finance. It’s a solid choice!"
"Right, right, physics is very practical," Liu Qiang chimed in.
Li Dong listened to his roommates’ consolation, just smiled, and didn’t explain anything.
’Explain what? That I lack talent in physics?’
’Heh. The one who lacks talent is his nephew. What the hell does that have to do with him, the Group Leader?’
...
The next day, Yuanpei College held the first assembly for its new class.
It took place in a large, tiered lecture hall in the Science Building.
On the stage, the head advisor and the student counselor were explaining Yuanpei College’s rules to a crowd of students who had all casually scored over 700 on their entrance exams.
Yan University’s faculty roster was truly impressive. Their head advisor was a full professor and a heavyweight in his field, while their counselor was an outstanding senior student in a direct-to-Ph.D. program.
"Class, course selection at Yuanpei is extremely flexible. Aside from the mandatory public policy courses and Yuanpei’s unique core curriculum, you can use your remaining credits to take classes from any school or department in the entire university."
"Of course, for those of you aiming for mathematics and physics, Yuanpei College has also invited top-tier academicians and Changjiang Scholars from the School of Mathematics and the School of Physics to teach exclusive, high-difficulty foundational courses just for Yuanpei students."
The freshmen in the audience were fired up with excitement.
As for the teacher’s later mention of electing class officers, hardly anyone seemed interested.
Li Dong was currently on his phone, scrolling through the list of advisors and courses on the campus network.
His most urgent task was to upgrade his group’s privileges, which required him to first run the Riemann Zeta function. For that, he desperately needed knowledge of computer science!
’So, it wasn’t that Brother Dong had fallen out of love with physics and math; their numbers just hadn’t been called yet.’
Just then, Li Dong saw a name.
Gao Wen!
A True God-level heavyweight in Yanjing University’s AI and computer architecture field, holding the title of Academician.
This Academician Gao Wen was a titan in the fields of computer vision and low-level algorithm architecture, and he headed a National Key Laboratory. Rumor had it he was making an exception this year to teach an advanced introductory course for Yuanpei titled "Low-level Algorithms and High-Performance Computing Architecture."
Looking at the name, Li Dong felt as if he were seeing a critical NPC with a giant golden exclamation point floating above his head.