Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 215 - 214 King’s Game

On Friday afternoon, the moment when the Comprehensive Science exam papers were collected.

For most students, winter vacation had begun!

Although there were still two days of classes next week to go over the exam and distribute grades, that was completely unimportant; they wouldn’t listen to a word.

Just like office workers from the New Year’s holiday until the Spring Festival holiday.

As students, the time between finishing final exams and starting winter or summer vacation was also entirely joyful rubbish time.

Except for twelfth graders and competitive students.

And excluding Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chui Xue.

Also excluding Zhang Xiaoke, who was aiming for T2.

Looking at it this way... it seemed only one person was left.

"Haha, let the fun begin!" Liu Xin flung his draft paper aside and laughed heartily, "The science exam is nothing much after all."

"Ah?" Jiang Qinghua, who was massaging her temple, exclaimed in surprise, "I thought it was pretty difficult."

"Difficult?" Liu Xin laughed unrestrainedly, "I managed to write answers for over 100 points’ worth of questions."

"You wrote only half of it…" Jiang Qinghua frowned in concern, "That’s not good."

This distress quickly spread to the desk in front.

Zhang Xiaoke turned around sniffing, seemingly trying hard to pout, "Aiyah, it was so hard this time~~ I bombed it, totally bombed it~~"

Jiang Qinghua gasped in dismay.

Who was Zhang Xiaoke, after all? If she said this...

Then she must have done very well.

"This is really bad…" Jiang Qinghua’s forehead creased even more deeply, "Shi Tong and they are also taking district-wide exams... Our goal is to be in the top 500..."

"Huh? Wishful thinking, eh?" Zhang Xiaoke laughed heartily, waving her hand as she counted off, "Do you know how many elite schools are in Haidian? Ren Da Fu, Ji University Affiliated, Jinghua Affiliated, Capital Normal University Affiliated, 101, City First..."

"I know their district is stronger..."

"No, you don’t know. Being in the top 500 in Haidian means at least top 200 in Xishi District." Zhang Xiaoke nodded sagely, "Yeah, so you have to hold yourself to a top 200 standard to keep up with Du Shitong."

"..." Jiang Qinghua’s mouth drooped, feeling even more aggrieved.

District-wide... Top 200...

If I was at that level, why would I even come to Lake Ying?

Ah...

Love is wonderful.

But life is painful...

Just when... after much struggle... spring had arrived...

I was happy for less than a month...

Why has the autumn wind... blown so soon again...

It’s too hard, love where we’re mismatched in social status is truly too difficult.

Up front, Zhang Xiaoke grabbed Li Zheng’s hand, "Master, how did the exam go for you?"

"Aiya, I totally bombed it~~" Li Zheng flailed his arms, making a cute face.

"Uh..." Zhang Xiaoke suddenly felt uncomfortable, "Don’t do that, Master... This isn’t your style."

Then she turned to look at Lin Yujing, "Jingjing, give us a standard ’I bombed it.’

"Not doing it." Lin Yujing was packing her bag, her mouth curving into a sneer, "Heh, I did pretty well~~"

Zhang Xiaoke got irate, squinting her eyes as she wiggled her fingers, "Looking for a massage again, huh?"

"No massage, no massage, you’ve gotten stronger," Lin Yujing said, waving her hands frantically.

"Oh? How can you tell?"

"I can just tell..." Lin Yujing slowly raised her hand, outlining a plump figure, "If this keeps up, I’ll only be able to send Sister Xia to deal with you."

"?!?!" Zhang Xiaoke looked down and instinctively pinched her belly, "Is it... that obvious?"

"Well..." Li Zheng whispered gently, "Yesterday, by chance, I glanced at you for a moment when your head was down, it seemed like I saw two chins."

"Ah!!!" Zhang Xiaoke clutched her head and shrieked, "I must diet! Dieting is a must!"

"Good luck," Li Zheng nodded, casually glancing at Lin Yujing, "Honestly, I did well too."

"I did even better," Lin Yujing retorted casually.

"I did very well, my best performance ever."

"I…I…" Lin Yujing, after all, had limited ability to express in words and couldn’t think of anything more to say. Instead, she cursed, "So childish. Let’s see if you keep talking after the results come out."

"Hehe." Li Zheng gave a calm smile, "Impossible. I bet the title of Light of Lake Ying, there’s no way I’ll lose again this time,"

Upon hearing the word "bet".

Zhang Xiaoke instantly forgot about her diet.

"Hey, Master, the title of Light of Lake Ying isn’t worth anything, no one will bet with you~~" Zhang Xiaoke looked around to make sure Tang Zhifei wasn’t there, then raised her eyebrows to the people around her, "Since we’re about to have winter vacation anyway... why don’t we play something big~"

Li Zheng immediately raised his hand to interrupt: "Shut up, the impending victory is the best reward, we don’t need more than that."

"Oh? That’s a shame." Zhang Xiaoke smacked her lips and sighed, "The betting game I came up with not only requires mathematical calculation, logic deduction, but also data analysis and game theory, a game only a person with both intelligence and computational power can win."

Before Li Zheng could speak, Jiang Qinghua was already quietly bowing her head: "Then I’ll drop out first…"

But Liu Xin came closer instead: "Interesting, interesting, tell me more."

"Don’t be silly," Jiang Qinghua quickly pressed down on Liu Xin’s arm. "It’s not a matter of whether your computational skills are strong, recall the terms Zhang Xiaoke just mentioned, do you understand any of them?"

Liu Xin grinned: "You’re listening to her bluffing, it all comes down to luck in the end."

Zhang Xiaoke narrowed her eyes. Liu Xin was the kind of easy target she liked best.

Without caring whether others were willing or not, she announced the rules.

"Alright, now Jingjing, Master, me, Qinghua, and Liu Xin; the five of us are confirmed to participate."

"The situation is set."

"Now, let’s start the real high stakes—King’s Game."

"The rules of the game are simple, just guess the district-wide ranking for this end-of-term exam."

"There are five of us in total, so we need to guess five positions, including our own rank for each person."

"The person who guesses closest gets 1 point. If there are multiple people who guess correctly, they share that point, with no points for the others."

"At the final tally, the person with the most points is the King."

"The King can issue one absolute command that the other four losers cannot refuse❤~"

"Of course, it can’t be too over the top, we all know each other so well, we know the boundaries."

"That’s it, fun isn’t it?"

"Fun," Liu Xin was the first to nod, "even though I didn’t understand at all."

"Wait a minute…" Jiang Qinghua propped her chin, starting to think, "If it’s this kind of betting method, then each of us has a chance to win, right?"

"Of course." Zhang Xiaoke said as she tore off several stickers and handed them out, "Place your bets within ten minutes, and no changes after that."

Liu Xin was the first to grab a sticker and started guessing randomly with a pen.

Jiang Qinghua hesitated for a moment. After thinking it through, given her personality, even if she lost, no one would target her, and if she won, there were gains to be made, so she also took a sticker.

Li Zheng immediately turned his head and raised his hand: "No…"

Before he could finish, Lin Yujing had already quietly come over, snatched a sticker, and hurried back to her seat, calculating seriously.

"Not… not a bad game." Li Zheng changed his words in an instant and took a sticker as well.

"Haha, now this is interesting," Zhang Xiaoke laughed heartily, immediately leaned over the desk to block Li Zheng’s view, licked her lips, and filled in her sticker, "No discussing, write down the names and hand them in within 5 minutes."

As she finished speaking, the recently relaxed end-of-term atmosphere tensed up again.

Even Li Zheng was rarely so serious about something other than his studies.

A betting dog, after all, is a doggie that bets bigger and bigger.

Without a doubt, Zhang Xiaoke surely hoped to turn things around with this bet and settle her previous debts.

Thinking of this, Li Zheng could not help but sneer.

That certainly wasn’t possible.

Indeed, this betting game tested mathematical abilities.

But what was more crucial was actually the ability to gather intelligence.

Everyone was confident, believing they understood each other’s academic ranking; it seemed like the intelligence was equal.

Indeed, if it were just internal school rankings, then no one would have an absolute advantage.

But please note, this exam involved district-wide rankings.

To estimate these rankings, one must be informed about the district’s grade distribution and estimate the district-wide ranking based on Lake Ying’s position in past years.

For example, if Lake Ying’s 50th place from last year was about the 2000th in the district, with data like this, one could roughly calculate the conversion coefficient to be 40, multiply Lake Ying’s ranking by 40, to estimate the roughest district-wide expected ranking.

Unfortunately…

Li Zheng didn’t know this coefficient either.

But he still had an advantage.

Because he had just happened to chat with Qi Yingnan and Duan Peipei, he could use No. 4 Middle School as a reference and had an idea about the total number of students in the district.

```

Although not an absolute advantage, this relative advantage was enough against these four individuals who lacked information.

Of course, caution was still necessary.

Li Zheng immediately took out scratch paper and began to think at an accelerated pace.

The study of mathematical statistics had not been in vain.

Even in gambling, one could calculate a higher probability of winning with mathematical and informational superiority.

It was time for them to experience the terror of a 112-times speed precision calculator.

If Li Zheng had confidence in precision calculation, then Zhang Xiaoke was quietly amassing a fortune.

She was an old gambling dog.

Since junior high, she had often organized such games and had a profound understanding of the rankings throughout the district.

With the added advantage of having Ren Da Fu’s information and a wide network of connections,

she was confident that this time, really, really, truly, she could not lose.

She was sure to turn the tables.

In the back, Jiang Qinghua was also stifling his craftiness.

He realized that his four opponents seemed to have forgotten something.

Jiang Qinghua was a man determined to catch up to Du Shitong’s grades.

How could he have not studied the district-wide rankings?

Not to mention district-wide rankings, he had even memorized the conversion coefficients for Xishi District and Haidian District.

In this classroom, perhaps even in this school, no one could beat his understanding of the big rankings.

In the distance, Lin Yujing was filling in answers at random.

Unlike the others, she didn’t need to win; she just needed Li Zheng to fail.

Her thinking was always agile, capable of jumping directly to the end of the routine, eliminating all the distractions in between.

What was this game called?

The King’s Game.

Its core was the king’s command, not the gamble.

While everyone else was guessing rankings, she alone was guessing the king.

Think about it, aside from Li Zheng, no one as king would likely make too excessive demands on Lin Yujing.

And whoever became king would inevitably make excessive demands on Li Zheng.

As long as this game proceeded, Li Zheng had almost already lost; only by becoming king himself might he have a chance to turn things around.

Furthermore, Li Zheng didn’t know that right before picking up the stickers, Lin Yujing and Zhang Xiaoke had exchanged glances and established a king’s pact.

Whoever became the king between the two would not harm the other and would share power, commanding in unison.

Calculating all these factors, the probability of Li Zheng turning the tables had become minuscule.

With that time, it would be better to consider what to order Li Zheng to do for maximum benefit.

All four of these individuals were full of calculations.

Only Liu Xin was truly enjoying the game itself.

Going with his gut, acting on a whim, that was his way.

Five minutes later, all five individuals had submitted their stickers and taken photos as proof with Zhang Xiaoke.

The guessed results varied greatly.

The most similar was the ranking of Lin Yujing; aside from Li Zheng, the other four guessed she would be first, only Li Zheng wrote a big "2."

Upon seeing this, Lin Yujing immediately couldn’t help but laugh.

What a noob, what a noob.

If you had let go of your pride and guessed "1," you might have struggled a bit.

Now, you can only say you died heroically.

After that, there was a divergence in the guesses of Li Zheng’s ranking.

[Lin Yujing: 4]

[Zhang Xiaoke: 7]

[Jiang Qinghua: 12]

[Liu Xin: 2]

[Li Zheng: 1]

```

"!!" Li Zheng exclaimed as he looked at the results, "Zhang Xiaoke, you call me ’master’ all the time, and now you show so little faith in me at this moment?"

"Hey, hey... I’ve already given the master plenty of face!" Zhang Xiaoke soothed while licking his lips, "Master, you’re great at Physical Chemistry but Science Comprehensive is only out of 300 points. Even if you score full marks, there’s still Chinese and Math, two major subjects. At best, you’d only get double 120s, 130s. Getting into the top ten with that is already pretty impressive."

"Suit yourself, you’ve already lost." Li Zheng said, hugging Liu Xin, "You’re all fake. Only Liu Xin believes in me."

"It’s not belief, it’s just intuition." Liu Xin pointed at his temple with a smug look, "Especially when it comes to multiple-choice questions, meticulous calculation has never beaten random guessing; that’s where my strength lies."

"Brother, you’re thinking too much." Jiang Qinghua pat Liu Xin and said, "Anyone who seriously answers but gets a lower accuracy than 25% has that strength..."

"Just say it." Liu Xin laughed loudly, "No matter how much you talk, I won’t understand it anyway, hahaha."

"..."

After that was Jiang Qinghua’s ranking.

The fluctuations here were even greater.

[Li Zheng: 871]

[Lin Yujing: 2333]

[Zhang Xiaoke: 1000]

[Liu Xin: 888]

[Jiang Qinghua: 500]

The others don’t really matter.

What does 2333 mean?

Are there 2333 second-year students in the whole district?

Jiang Qinghua glared at Lin Yujing, his face full of resentment and humiliation.

I get it.

You’re saying that I’m a joke.

Just for that, Lin Yujing.

As long as I become the king.

You’re not going to have an easy time!

Next up was Zhang Xiaoke, and this time, everyone’s opinions were aligned again.

[Li Zheng: 350]

[Lin Yujing: 600]

[Zhang Xiaoke: 450]

[Liu Xin: 444]

[Jiang Qinghua: 488]

"Wow! The master has so much confidence in me," Zhang Xiaoke covered her mouth feigning surprise, "I’m afraid I’ve let the master down too much."

Li Zheng scoffed, "Don’t think too much of it; it’s mainly because I have confidence in my own study methods."

Last of all was the challenging and most unpredictable Liu Xin.

Logically speaking, his grades should have been consistently at the very bottom, but why was he also the most unpredictable?

It all depended on Liu Xin’s mood.

The first monthly test of the semester provided the best example with his Chemistry exam.

At that exam, Liu Xin was in high spirits.

He put in his full effort and earnestly scored a big round zero.

On the contrary, during the midterms, he was so lowered by Lin Yujing’s torment that he randomly guessed and scraped together a few dozen points.

For Liu Xin,

No matter how difficult the test paper was, he was not afraid.

What frightened him was the word "earnest."

After everyone confirmed their rankings, the King’s Game officially started.

Each person was brimming with confidence in themselves, no longer paying attention to the specifics of the rankings and instead began pondering what orders to issue once they became king.

Li Zheng: People always have to suffer a bit... Why not sign Lin Yujing up for a Chem Competition winter training camp, the kind that lasts a whole month, and let her really feel it.

Lin Yujing: Make Li Zheng wear..., then take a picture to keep~~

Zhang Xiaoke: You all bark like doggies for me!

Jiang Qinghua: Everyone, come sing KTV with me for a whole day, and only listen to me sing the same songs over and over.

Liu Xin: Can’t delay any longer, I have to ask Uncle Li to take care of my dad’s hemorrhoids.

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