C6 A Cheater

Top-quality students were scarce enough in the average institutions, let alone in Marpolis High School. This was probably why the government was so keen on giving performance-based incentives to students and their teachers. If the students could get enrolled in second-class universities, the teacher would get a bonus of at least ten thousand; if they could get accepted by key universities, the bonus would range between twenty thousand and fifty thousand, depending on the prestige of the university their students qualified for. If the students managed to qualify for the two most elite universities, the teacher would get a hundred thousand. And if the student miraculously passed the exams for the most elite of the city, the teacher would bag a grand total of two hundred thousand!

Of course, for those in Marpolis High School, these concepts were something like a myth. There was no way they could produce a graduate who would top the exams.

It was just plain impossible.

As for Champion of the College Entrance Examinations? There was no point anyway.

Even their school principal dreaded the subject and was embarrassed to mention it in any conversation.

Eliot heaved yet another heavy sigh. With the rate they were going, none of this year’s examinees seemed likely to qualify for second-rate universities. Heck, he wouldn’t be surprised if none of the students got into a university at all.

He shook his head in lamentation for all the prize money that would never lie in his pockets.

It wasn’t until he flipped a page that he realized something. Eliot had just finished checking this first page, but the student had actually answered most of the questions correctly. Intrigued, he sped through the rest of the test papers and calculated the final score—145 points!

Who was this brilliant student? Ever since Eliot had taken charge of this class, no one had been able to score above 140.

He flipped through the pages. When he saw the name scribbled at the top of the first page, his expression changed from one of amazement to one of suspicion.

The next morning, Eliot had just walked into the faculty room when an older teacher called out to him. “Mr. Eliot,” the Chemistry teacher said, “Is there a new student in your homeroom class by the name of Shawn?”

“Yes, that’s right. Why, what’s wrong?”

The other man rubbed his eyes for a brief second before producing a set of test papers and handing it to Eliot. “This is yesterday’s mock exam. Just look at it! The total number of questions is 108, and he somehow got all 100 of them correct! I must say, I am very impressed.”

As he should be. After all, he had never handled a student who managed to score more than 90 points in his Chemistry class. Whoever this new transfer student was must be something of a prodigy in the subject.

From the other side of the room, the Physics teacher perked up. He had heard the hubbub and rushed over in excitement. “I know this Shawn as well! He scored 103 out of the total 120 points! I never imagined such a day would come for us humble teachers here in Marpolis. It looks like this boy’s aptitude in Science is pretty good.”

Eliot grabbed the test paper that the Chemistry teacher had offered. If what the other two had said was true—and it appeared that it was—then that made Shawn the highest-achieving student in their school.

Eliot’s heart thundered inside his chest as another thought came to mind. He ran over to another office without so much as a goodbye to the other teachers. He spotted his target, the Literature teacher, and practically lunged at the woman. “Ms. Owens! How did your mock exams go?”

Ms. Owens’s face lit up, and Eliot suddenly knew what she was about to say. “I think it went rather well, thanks to your new student! Shawn, was it? His literary talent is excellent, but I only gave him 58 points. I thought he might act arrogantly if I gave him full marks.”

She took out Shawn’s test paper and showed it to Eliot.

“I knew it!” the Mathematics teacher exclaimed from across the hall. “I, too, think highly of this boy’s skills. He scored 145 in Mathematics, a first in all my years of teaching here!”

He was also brandishing Shawn’s test paper as he jogged over.

Eliot stared at the test papers in his hands, his eyes wide with shock.

Literature, 142. Mathematics, 145. English, 133. Plus 268 from the science comprehensive test… His total score is 688!

While all of them knew that the tests were relatively simple compared to the general standard, it was still pretty terrifying that a student had managed to score that high.

Just who was this Shawn?

With his mock exam records, he could easily get into the top universities in the country. Never in the history of Marpolis High School had they ever had a student with this level of intelligence.

Two years ago, their school principal had dangled a high price of 100,000 to poach a top-performing student, but the kid only managed to get into Eldham University. Even so, this was already the best university a Marpolis graduate had ever gotten into. Luckily, this tactic also worked in the following years and enabled the school to admit several sharp students. It had been quite a glorious period for Marpolis High School, all things considered.

And then this student came a long, freshly expelled from City No.1 High School, scoring 688 points in one go. Shawn had managed every record Marpolis had ever held with regard to the college entrance exams, all while showing everyone that he could easily get into national key universities.

It was such an unprecedented development, Eliot was certain no one outside the faculty would believe it!

His excitement quickly abated at the thought.

He wasn’t naive. He knew people tended to resort to cunning methods when desperate.

More to the point, he had already been aware of Shawn’s average scores and his general class performance back at his former school. He had barely gone past 400 points before, so how come he had scored close to 700 points in such a short time?

Even more curious was the fact that City No.1 High School was renowned to be protective of their ace students. After all, it also ensured their reputation in the educational world. Surely, they wouldn’t have let go of a student as brilliant as Shawn, unless…

Unless he had committed some unforgivable crime, or caused a scandal that would ruin the school’s standing. But then the boy should have suffered other punishments outside the institution.

Eliot scowled. There was one other possible explanation for this—Shawn must have cheated in his mock exams!

‘Yes! That makes a lot more sense!’ Eliot’s head swirled with various scenarios as he tried to piece it together.

Many of Marpolis’ test materials were top secret files obtained from City No.1 High School, a sort of secondhand resources, to so speak. What if, before coming to Marpolis High School, Shawn had already taken these exact same tests back at City No.1 High School?

If so, he would have already received the graded papers with the corrected answers, which meant that Shawn practically had a reviewer that was the exact copy of the mock exams.

Eliot was struck with the realization, and he let out a derisive snort.

Shawn truly was an awful student.

If he had no scruples cheating during mock exams, who was to say that he wouldn’t cheat during the actual college entrance exams?

Eliot narrowed his eyes and took all of five seconds to make a decision. In his heart, he felt it imperative that Shawn was confronted for his misdeeds.

And so, after the morning-self-study period, he called the boy to his office.

Shawn was calm as he approached the office. His eyes were a little curious, but they were clear. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, so he wasn’t the least bit worried about having been called out of the class.

Eliot told him to sit down. He then proceeded to sip his tea while staring at the student across the desk from him. “What,” he finally said, his words slow and deliberate, “do you think of your results in yesterday’s mock exams?”

He was hoping that Shawn would take the initiative and confess on his own. There was nothing more Eliot hated in life than students who cheated.

Shawn frowned, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

He presumed he did well, but the papers hadn’t been redistributed yet, so how could he possibly know anything about his results?

Unfortunately, Eliot took his clueless expression to be an act. He thought Shawn was insulting his intellect by pretending to be innocent. He slammed his teacup on the table. When he spoke again, his voice was low and laden with warning.

“I don’t like students who cheat. You must know this, too, but cheaters never get into good universities.”