In fact, after the information is refreshed, they always want to attack me!

Even so, he still couldn't help but feel disgusted—just looking at it annoyed him.

This is how an older brother reacts to his wayward younger sister.

No one likes a poor imitation of themselves.

Last month, the two met again after two years, and the younger sister hadn't grown at all. He was so angry that he almost couldn't help but hit her.

Actually, seeing her long, straight, black hair made him lose his temper again.

If he remembered correctly, he suggested she try this hairstyle, something he had said to her before.

He waited for two whole years, and what was the result? She was still the same, unchanged.

Interestingly, just as he was about to lash out, his junior, Shimizu Akira, happened to appear.

His younger sister seemed to care about him a lot. What surprised Horikita Manabu even more was that what the junior said was also very interesting. Like himself, his words were full of disdain for Rin.

Later, Akira Shimizu proposed a plan to rent surveillance cameras, which earned him twelve million points in one go. This move impressed him even more.

Horikita Manabu had a very high opinion of this junior: his IQ and EQ were both outstanding.

At first, he subconsciously thought of Nan Yunya—both of them possessed a wisdom far beyond their years.

But upon closer examination, the two seem completely different.

Nan Yunya's sharpness is like a drawn sword, always carrying a deliberate aggressiveness, as if she is always ready to gain the upper hand in a confrontation.

But Shimizu Akira was different. His intelligence was hidden beneath a gentle exterior, like a stone wrapped in cotton wool—it looked harmless, but when he really put his strength into it, he could hit the vital point firmly.

Just like the incident with renting surveillance cameras, if it were Nan Yunya, she would probably use a more flamboyant approach to force the other party to give in, or even deliberately leave a flaw to embarrass the opponent.

But Shimizu Akira did everything flawlessly from beginning to end, earning enough points without offending anyone, since the other party was using a secondary account throughout.

This junior student understands "concealment" better than Nan Yunya.

After all, he was just a freshman, and starting from Class D, so knowing how to keep a low profile was never a bad thing.

Today, seeing him bring his younger sister—after their meeting last month, Horikita Manabu could clearly sense that his sister had truly changed.

It was a change that was visible to the naked eye: he became much more straightforward, at least he could frankly point out his shortcomings, and he listed three as soon as he opened his mouth.

For someone as stubborn and argumentative as her, this is already a welcome improvement.

Horikita Manabu picked up his teacup, took a sip, and roughly figured it out—if he wasn't mistaken, these changes were mostly the result of Shimizu Akira's indirect influence.

It seems that being assigned to Class D wasn't all bad for my younger sister.

In a sense, we should even be glad that she was thrown into this environment—it was this severe blow to her self-esteem that finally made her willing to look down at herself.

Otherwise, he really didn't dare to imagine what kind of personality his younger sister would have when she graduated in three years—she would probably still be clinging to that pitiful pride, unable to even learn to speak honestly. Letting her graduate and become withdrawn and harmful to others would be worse than letting her drop out of school.

“So, Shimizu.” Horikita Manabu temporarily suppressed his thoughts about his sister, looked up at the junior opposite him, and his tone returned to its businesslike calm, “What’s your second matter?”

Last time they came with a plan to rent surveillance cameras, what will it be this time?

"It's similar in nature to last time," Shimizu Akira replied calmly.

"Really?" Horikita Manabu actually seemed a bit expectant.

However, he has more pressing matters to attend to right now.

"Lingyin, you go back first." Horikita Manabu turned his gaze to his younger sister, his tone carrying an unquestionable command, "Shimizu and I have important matters to discuss."

He was actually quite satisfied with his sister's recent behavior—at least she was much more pleasing to the eye than her previous arrogant demeanor.

But since Shimizu Akira came specifically to see him, they were probably talking about things that were inconvenient for others to hear, so his sister shouldn't stay here.

“…Okay, brother.” Horikita Suzune stood up immediately without any hesitation.

As she reached the door, her steps slowed unconsciously, and she couldn't help but glance back into the conversation room—her brother was looking at Shimizu Akira, who was holding a teacup, and the atmosphere between the two was strangely harmonious.

Of course, she didn't dare to utter a single word of objection to her brother. However, the moment she turned to close the door, she subtly rolled her eyes at Shimizu Akira.

Give him a look and let him figure it out on his own.

Chapter 146: 144 Shortcuts are possible, but you can't rely solely on shortcuts.

However, Horikita Manabu was more interested in knowing the other party's evaluation of this month's exam.

"I'm suddenly a little curious, have you found out the specific content of this month's special exam, or the secrets hidden in the exam paper?"

"more or less."

"Give your opinion."

“I can roughly understand what the school wants to test students with this exam.” Shimizu Akira looked up at him. “But there’s one thing I don’t quite understand—why is the ‘exam paper’ itself the exam topic this time? Since it’s a school, shouldn’t the core focus be on assessing basic academic ability? Also, what is the background of this school? Aren’t they afraid of being reported?”

“The background of this school is far deeper than you can see.” Horikita Manabu tapped his fingertips lightly on the table. “But this ‘exam paper’ is just a special test. There are many more tests to come.”

He paused before answering Shimizu Akira's question: "As for the exam theme you mentioned—this special exam is actually a simulation of the workplace environment. The exam paper is equivalent to the work results. Unless your 'business skills' are top-notch enough to get full marks, you have to learn to find alternative paths. Just like the behavior of first-year high school students buying exam papers from second-year high school students, the school actually wants to send a signal: when you enter society, don't just bury yourself in your work. It's not a bad thing to be a little 'clever' sometimes and know how to use external forces."

"So, the school is encouraging this kind of 'shortcut' behavior?" Shimizu Akira asked casually.

“That’s not the case.” Horikita Manabu immediately denied it, pointing out each point with his fingers: “First, this special exam is only held once a year, and the old questions will never be used in subsequent final exams to prevent cheating from becoming the norm. Academic ability is the most basic thing for every student; second, this is also a ‘protection period’ for first-year students—giving those who are temporarily lagging behind a buffer period so that they are not eliminated too quickly; third, regarding your claim of ‘unfair exam papers,’ there were indeed large-scale complaints a few years ago, and the school later directly replaced the entire set of exam papers.”

He paused for half a second, then added, “The school allows ‘shortcuts,’ but it absolutely does not tolerate ‘relying on shortcuts.’ This school always values ​​‘academic ability’ the most—after all, solid skills are fundamental. But the school doesn’t want to cultivate bookworms who can only study by rote. It values ​​both the foundation and the ability to think critically in order to climb higher in society. Do you understand what I mean?”

"I understand." Shimizu Akira nodded slowly.

He had a vague feeling before that this kind of special exam that allowed "cheating" could never become the norm—and sure enough, the subsequent final exams did not use the old questions again.

Horikita is right. Take Class D for example, eight people failed the last assessment, including himself.

If it weren't for this special exam as a buffer, and if these people hadn't been willing to study hard this month, they probably would have already faced dropping out of school.

You still have to study what you're supposed to learn. After all, there won't be any more opportunities to "cheat" during the final exams.

What bothered him even more was the "reporting exam papers" incident—it turned out that someone had actually tried it, and the school would actually replace the exam papers because of it.

He looked at Horikita Manabu, a hint of understanding in his eyes: "So, the school has actually considered all the possibilities long ago."

"That's the school's ultimate goal: to cultivate people who have both strong abilities and the ability to adapt." Horikita Manabu got up and walked to the window, looking at the students walking by in twos and threes downstairs. "Those who study by rote can only get basic scores, and those who only know how to speculate won't go far either."

Akira Shimizu was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "Is the president reminding me not to always think about taking shortcuts?"

“I’m just reminding you that shortcuts are possible, but you can’t rely solely on them.” When Horikita Manabu turned around, his gaze held a rare seriousness. “You were able to think of renting surveillance footage to earn points last month, and you were able to see through the exam rules and the tricks in the test papers, which is indeed excellent. But you must also pay attention to basic abilities—these are the most fundamental stepping stones.”

His tone became more serious: "In this school, the standard for measuring basic knowledge is quite simple, nothing more than 'academic ability'. But in society, this 'basic knowledge' becomes your core competency, or to put it simply, the qualifications and hard skills that allow you to gain a foothold."

"Of course, there are two very special types of people who are exceptions. One type is the top students whose foundation is so solid that they can get full marks even on 'bonus questions' that go far beyond the scope of the textbook. Even if these people are not good at socializing, it doesn't matter. Their solid skills are their confidence, and they will be just as successful in society. No company will fire someone with such strong technical skills."

"Another type is the person who takes 'shortcuts' to the extreme. They can find loopholes in social rules that others can't see, and use that to obtain a lot of resources. Even if these people don't understand any basic skills, they can still find their own way to survive in society and thrive."

This student council president has a very thorough understanding of the school—he can logically connect the rules of an exam to the logic of social survival.

Upon closer examination, Horikita's words were indeed not wrong.

No wonder the students in Class A of this school can be guaranteed admission to any university after graduation—people trained according to this logic can indeed be called "omnipotent".

Such people, no matter what goals they enter society with, can probably quickly gain a foothold, rise to higher levels, and thrive anywhere.

"Have most of those alumni who graduated from Class A become top talents in their respective fields?"

"That's right. The school's rapid development in recent years is inseparable from the support of elite graduates from various industries in Class A—otherwise, it wouldn't have become the best high school in Japan today."

“To give you a simple example,” Horikita Manabu said, sitting back down as he spoke. “Among the graduates of Class A, there are quite a few sons and daughters from wealthy families. Last year, one of them donated an entire island to his alma mater—specifically for holding special exams.”

Upon hearing this, Shimizu Akira immediately became interested.

It turns out that when the school holds special exams, they will specifically change the venue.

But the exam is being held on a small island?

What will they test? It can't be about survival skills, can it?

But they are high school students after all; the school wouldn't just abandon them on a desert island, would it?

"We've gotten off topic. Shimizu, tell me about the second thing you need to do. I hope what you say won't disappoint me."

Horikita Manabu coughed lightly, secretly feeling that he had said a bit too much. For a first-year high school student, those words might have been a bit too profound, but he believed that Shimizu Akira should be able to understand.

Because he thought highly of the other person, he unconsciously rambled on for so long.

"It's about the 'exam paper'." Shimizu Akira thought for a moment. "Just like last time, it should be another good opportunity to earn points, so I hope to get the president's assistance."

Chapter 147: 145 The question on the exam paper: How many sheep did I count that night?

As Horikita Manabu said, the school has always been cultivating people with both qualities—solid hard skills and the ability to be flexible and adaptable.

If we replace "society" with the context of "school," it would probably be an all-rounder who not only has top-notch academic ability but also the keen ability to spot "standard answers" (such as loopholes in rules or shortcuts) in special exams.

Unfortunately, while the school is full of talented people, most of those who graduate from Class A are "specialized" in one subject or another. They are either top students who can get full marks in all subjects or "rule players" who can see through special exam rules and quickly find the optimal solution.

Very few people can truly achieve both "top-level learning and quick thinking".

After all, high-achieving students often regard "taking shortcuts" as opportunism and reject it from the bottom of their hearts; while those who are good at adapting mostly look down on those top students who "study hard" and think they are not flexible enough.

In previous years, when the school held its special exams in the second month, these two groups had often argued about the "exam papers"—the top students felt that the "shortcutters" were opportunistic, while the shortcutters felt that the top students were sticking to the rules.

However, the school may be more eager to see the two types of people come together to cooperate, and even hopes to see talents who possess both qualities emerge.

However, even Horikita Manabu could not say for sure what kind of people society needs most.

Personally, he respects both. The former has steadily and diligently worked his way up the social ladder for ten years, relying on the prestige of his prestigious university, and this resilience is admirable; the latter has a free-thinking mind and always manages to seize fleeting opportunities to achieve upward mobility, and this keenness is equally rare.

In his view, Shimizu Akira was undoubtedly a genius who possessed both qualities.

The latter needs no further explanation—his ability to earn points by renting surveillance footage last month is enough to demonstrate his flexibility and shrewdness.

As for the former, there were actually clues to it. When he called the chairman before, the chairman mentioned that Shimizu Akira was consistently exercising.

Later, one morning when he got up early, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of a running figure moving in the morning mist on the playground at 6:30 a.m. - and it was none other than Shimizu Akira.

Maintaining such disciplined routines while also taking shortcuts is something most people can't do.

Horikita Manabu never cared about other people's definition of "genius"—in his mind, having academic talent alone was not enough, nor was knowing how to take shortcuts; only when both were combined could one be worthy of the title "true genius."

Since he took office as student council president in his first year of high school, he has only seen two such promising students among the freshmen: one is Nan Yunya, and the other is Shimizu Akira.

According to the rules of the student council, only those who possess both ability and adaptability are qualified to serve as president. That is why he took the initiative to extend an invitation to Shimizu Akira to become the vice president of the student council.

So when he heard Shimizu Akira say that he wanted to make a point about the "exam paper", he immediately became curious.

"Can I buy the right to modify the exam paper with points? For example, if I want to modify a few questions, how many points would it cost?" Shimizu Akira's eyes lit up as he posed the first idea he had been pondering for the past few days.

“One million points, a maximum of five questions can be changed—ten points per question.” Horikita Manabu stated the number in a calm tone, then paused and added, “A student did try this before. One of the questions that person changed was ‘How many sheep did I count that night?’”

"Ah, this..." Shimizu Akira was speechless for a moment.

It turns out that some predecessors had already done this trick.

Asking yourself how many sheep you counted? The answer to this kind of question is obviously only known to the person asking it.

This means that other classes will definitely not be able to answer the question—as a result, the average score of the opposing class will inevitably be lowered, thereby achieving the goal of reducing the class's score.

The first thought that flashed through his mind was: what if all five questions were changed to be on the same test paper, and made so that only he could answer them? In that case, the person who took the test paper could only get a maximum of fifty points.

But he suppressed the thought as soon as it popped into his head—the school had obviously anticipated this move, otherwise they wouldn't have set the rule of "using the average score divided by two as the passing score".

In this way, even if the whole class only gets 50 points in this course, the passing score is only 25 points.

So, the five questions are worth a total of fifty points, which means the opposing class can only lose ten points.

Exchanging one million points for a difference of ten points... Shimizu Akira couldn't immediately figure out whether this deal was profitable or not.

"If there's a limit to the number of times a single student can correct a problem, what if another person takes over?" Akira Shimizu's eyes became even more inquisitive. "For example, two people could correct the same problem at the same time, or work together to correct ten problems—would that be feasible?"

“Each person can only use the modification permission once, and there can only be one person in the entire grade, and the scope is limited to this year's exam papers. You should be the first one in this year to have this idea. At least so far, I haven't received any modification notifications.” He looked up at Shimizu Akira and suddenly asked, “What, are you really planning to modify the papers? Ten points for a class may seem insignificant, but don't underestimate those ten points—in past data, the difference between many classes is just a few crucial points.”

As the student council president, he has seen too many similar cases: "There was a B class before, which was only nine points away from A class before graduation, but in the end they still failed to advance."

After all, when it comes to class points, even a single point more or less can make a world of difference.

Just considering these ten class points—which translates to an extra thousand points for each person in the class.

There are currently forty students in the class, which amounts to 40,000 points per month.

There are still 35 months to go. If we can maintain this advantage, we will accumulate 1.4 million class points.

“But from a personal perspective, the personal benefits that these ten class points can bring may not be much,” Horikita Manabu added. “Even if other classes are willing to pay for it, at most they can only get 300,000 class points at most—you will probably only get around 200,000 in the end, and there is also the possibility that you will not be able to break even. This strategy is generally aimed at weakening other classes, and it is not suitable for individual action.”

“Indeed.” Shimizu Akira immediately dismissed the idea.

Spending 100 million personal points to grade papers, other classes might not necessarily act for 10 class points.

Not to mention, even if they agreed, would they really spend 30 points to buy the answers to five questions? Just to get 10 class points, Shimizu Akira didn't think other classes would be that generous.

He thought about it and realized that, just as the president had said, this strategy was more suitable for weakening other classes.