Zero

The supervising teacher was about to scold the student causing trouble, but when he saw it was Valentina, his face immediately darkened. He was about to launch into a tirade, but considering it might disturb the other students, he held back, and dismissively waved his hand, motioning for Valentina to hurry up and leave. There probably wasn't a single teacher in the senior year who didn't know Valentina. Almost every teacher who had taught her would exclaim with a near-heart attack, "I've never seen anyone as stupid as you are!" A score of five. In all years of teaching, they'd never seen such a low score. She was so bad that even luck seemed to avoid her. They could get better marks by guessing randomly. The teachers were so upset. If only poor grades were the problem. Her personality wasn't likable either. She was always gloomy, her hair covering her face, always keeping her head low. Thoroughly disliked from the bottom of the heart. Now, though, something seemed a little different. She seemed to have grown thinner, prettier. She looked more spirited, and even dared to speak loudly. But changing now might be too late. From afar, the supervising teacher took a glance at the paper on Valentina’s desk. On the scrap paper beside the test paper were only a few strokes. He shook his head, thinking, "She's hopeless." Diana was earnestly writing. Suddenly, she saw Valentina walking by from the corridor outside, and she was first confused, then snorted in contempt. So what if Valentina could play around with a computer and earn some money? She's still a dumbhead. In the afternoon, Augus returned home and first thing, he started looking for Valentina. Suppressing his excitement, he first inquired about Valentina's exam situation. "I got home at half-past four," Valentina replied. The school had given them a free evening, the last relaxation before the SAT. Thus, she went home right after handing in her exam paper. Augus quickly reacted, "Did you finish the exam early?" The exam should have ended at half past five. "Yeah." "Once the results are out tomorrow, no one will dare to say you couldn't even do as well as the paper you stepped on again." The paper one stepped on might get more than just two correct answers. Valentina thought that Augus became a little overly excited. Augus was usually calm and reserved, not prone to showing his emotions. Yet, his red cheeks revealed his excitement, which was unusual. "Do you have something you need to tell me?" Valentina asked him directly. "Val, you have been recommended for admission to the Biddeford University!" "What?" "The Principal of Biddeford University and the mathematics prodigy Paul approached me." Valentina slightly raised her eyebrows, but didn't react much. "I took a photo of your calculation process and the solution to that problem yesterday and posted it to the Biddeford University's Math forum," Augus explained as he handed his phone to Valentina, "Paul contacted me last night, but mom was looking for me... He wants to meet you and discuss your problem-solving approach." "Then, the Principal of Biddeford University also reached out to me, saying if you're a student, you can directly report to the Biddeford University. He also wishes to meet you." When Augus received the private message from the Principal of Biddeford University, it was just a few minutes before their evening self-study session. Upon seeing the message, he was so excited that he could hardly resist the urge to sprint back home and tell Valentina about it. Valentina, however, responded with a nonchalant tone and an emotionless expression on her face, "Offered an admission recommendation? No interest." Augus, taken aback, asked, "Why?" "I have no interest in mathematics and no time to accompany a bunch of old guys on whatever research they're doing. I have plenty of things to do." Augus then asked, "So, are you going to take Biddeford University as your choice?" Going to Biddeford University had always been Augus's dream. Valentina squinted her eyes slightly, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, her lips formed a faint smile as she answered, "Biddeford University, sure." The most powerful branch of the Shadow was hidden in Biddeford. She could hardly wait to reunite with her beloved organization and surprise them. What surprise should it be? How about delivering a hundred kilograms of bombs? Just like the ones they buried in the laboratory under the Pacific. Delivering a hundred kilograms of bombs to the headquarters of her beloved organization. With a "bang", it was bound to be spectacular. An eerie, bloodthirsty gleam flared in Valentina's eyes. Augus hadn't noticed Valentina's strangeness. After a moment of silence, he said, "Val, no matter what you choose, I support you." Given Valentina's real academic performance, Augus didn't think it would be a waste to forgo this offer of admission. Valentina looked at her adorable brother, the corners of her mouth slightly curving upward. Seeing Valentina's expression, Augus felt like she was about to "tease" him again. Instinctively he wanted to avoid it, but he ended up not moving. His shy and obedient demeanor strongly resembled a cat waiting to be petted. "So, how should I reply to the principal of Biddeford University and Paul?" But Valentina asked him, "Do you want to go to Biddeford University?" Not being slow on the uptake, Augus immediately understood the meaning of Valentina's question. He gave a firm nod, the seriousness and sternness rarely seen on his face. He said, "I do, but I want to earn my admission to Biddeford University through hard work." Valentina chuckled unconernedly. In fact, even if Augus replaced her at Biddeford University, she had no objections. She had always been generous to those she approved. But who wouldn't like a righteous, ambitious, and cute little brother? Valentina said, "Then I'll wait for you at Biddeford University." ... Augus was holding his phone, struggling with how to respond to the Principal of Biddeford University and Paul. Since Valentina didn't want the special admission quota, he naturally couldn't disclose her identity to prevent people from intruding on her. After much deliberation, Augus had made the simplest rejection. In the laboratory, Paul was frequently distracted, his gaze often shifted to his phone. The phone screen was bright, stopping at the chat widget on the forum page between him and Augus. Out of the corner of his eye, the screen suddenly moved. Paul quickly looked, and as soon as he saw the response from the other side, he grabbed the phone. "Sorry, it's inconvenient." Paul had waited for a whole day and two nights for a reply, but he received such a response. In urgency, he started to quickly draft a message. But no matter what he said, whether offering to chat via text, promising not to intrude on his life, or even just asking a few questions for five minutes, there was no response. ... The results of the examination were swiftly available. The grades were posted, and students were huddled in front of the bulletin board. First place, Byron: 96. It was expected. Everyone noticed that Eudora had dropped from the top 20 of the grade to over a hundredth place. It seemed that the last incident had hit her hard. Being influenced by Valentina, Diana almost got strangled by her that morning. Afterwards, she had nightmares for two days in a row, and naturally performed badly on her exam. She only scored 82. While she was feeling depressed, she found Valentina's name hanging at the bottom of the list. She got a zero. Diana almost burst out laughing. Zero? How did she manage that? The bell rang and the teacher came in with the papers, "Hand out the exams, then we'll go over them this class." "Has everyone received their papers? Great, let's first take a look at question eight. I've explained this one many times in class..." "I have a question." A female voice interrupted the math teacher. Valentina raised her own test paper, "Who corrected my paper? Why did I get a zero?" "Zero? Wow, a new low." "That's awesome. I thought five was the lowest score possible. I didn't expect there could still be more room to fall." "Comparing her with the anonymous genius who shocked the entire math forum of Biddeford University the night before, I wonder why there is such difference between people." "What forum? What genius?" "Didn't you know? It was all over the trending news. The principal of Biddeford University and the mathematical prodigy, Paul, are searching for the person who solved the problem online. They're practically offering a bounty." The teacher slapped the podium and frowned at the unruly Valentina. "I corrected it. Don't you know why you got a zero?" Valentina dropped the paper on the table and looked at the teacher. Her tone was neither light nor heavy, but conclusive. "I don't know."