He raised a sheet of paper covered in dense tables, which was an evaluation form recording students' various classroom performances and scores.
"How is it? Feeling the pressure? At Doctor Lynette's place, tsk tsk, the competition is too brutal."
"Here, this is mine. My name is Qin Shiyu." He was inexplicably familiar, deliberately unfolding the paper, leaning closer, and proudly poking a prominent letter at the top with his fingertip, "My luck's not bad; I barely squeezed into the top five this time."
The scores were indeed dazzling; he achieved B or higher in almost every subject, with several A's and even an S-.
Amidst a sea of average or below-average scores, he stood out like a crane among chickens.
Serie merely glanced at it indifferently, and before she could speak, Yuki beside her let out an "Ah," as if suddenly remembering an important task.
She fumbled frantically in her canvas bag, pulling out several equally formatted but noticeably crumpled evaluation forms, and presented them to Serie with both hands as if offering a treasure, her large eyes sparkling: "Xiaodie! Yours! I almost forgot!"
Serie silently accepted them.
Her name lay quietly in the lower part of the form.
The scores in the score column, compared to Qin Shiyu's, seemed separated by an insurmountable chasm.
Serie wasn't surprised; she had attended all her classes with a bandage over her eyes, like a little mummy, with virtually no interaction with the teachers. It was possible the teachers thought she was asleep, plus Claudia was there causing trouble.
Most teachers gave Serie very low scores, mostly C's and D's, and occasionally even a few E's.
Except for Teacher Moana, she directly gave Serie an S, which made Serie feel somewhat flattered.
She should have known to get closer to those teachers beforehand.
With her charm and photographic memory, if not several S's, then a few B's and A's would have been good too.
Unfortunately, a high score from just one teacher wasn't enough for Serie's overall points to pass.
Qin Shiyu craned his neck, his gaze accurately catching the score after Serie's name, which was far lower than his own.
He dramatically gasped, then a mixed expression of pity and mockery appeared on his face, and his voice deliberately rose a few octaves, loud enough for anyone within a few meters to hear clearly: "Oh my... goodness, this score..."
He smacked his lips, shaking his head, and turned his gaze to Serie, with a condescendingly benevolent reminder, "Classmate, I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but who is Doctor Lynette? Only the elite among elites are qualified to stand before her!"
"How strict she is, who in the Control Bureau doesn't know? Your score... sigh, you should look for other mentors as soon as possible, don't waste your time here, lest later... it gets awkward."
He deliberately paused, a displeasing smile lingering at the corner of his mouth.
As if he had already foreseen Serie's embarrassing public rejection.
Serie's eyebrow twitched, wondering what was wrong with this guy.
Was this the legendary show-off?
She hadn't provoked him, she didn't even know him.
How did this Qin Shiyu accurately find her in the crowd and start showing off and lecturing?
Was it because she looked small and easy to bully?
Or was 'Desire Amplification' at play, causing this guy's desire to show off to constantly increase?
Serie frowned slightly, just about to tell him to go somewhere cool, when Yuki beside her already stomped forward, fuming: "Hey! You—"
"Classroom performance is important, but it's not the only standard, and..."
"Heh," Qin Shiyu haughtily interrupted her, with the superiority of an experienced person, "That kind of talk usually only comes from people with low scores."
He cleared his throat, seemingly wanting to press his advantage.
Just then, Serie's peripheral vision caught a tall figure suddenly appearing behind Qin Shiyu.
"So noisy." A cold female voice, full of undisguised annoyance, sounded. The volume wasn't high, but it instantly pierced through the surrounding clamor: "Where did this idiot come from? So noisy?"
Someone suddenly spoke blunt profanity, and Qin Shiyu didn't react for a moment. He froze for a few seconds, then his face flushed with anger. Just as he turned to argue, he met Claudia's cold green eyes.
She stood ramrod straight, looking down at him, her face devoid of any expression, yet more imposing than the deliberate posture he had just struck.
"Cl-Claudia?" The smugness on Qin Shiyu's face instantly froze, and he forced out an extremely awkward smile, "You... why are you here? You're not a new student..."
He tried to change the subject, his voice betraying a hint of imperceptible panic.
Claudia didn't even bother to lift her eyelids, only letting out a short snort from her nose: "Fifth place? With such a low score, what the hell are you showing off for? Are you an idiot?"
"In the September freshman period, your scores wouldn't even touch the top twenty threshold."
Her gaze swept over him, as if looking at some unsightly trash.
Qin Shiyu's face instantly turned crimson, and he involuntarily shrank his neck. He couldn't retort, only muttering softly, "You... why are you cursing people? I was just trying to be kind..."
"Cursing people? If you don't get out of here, you idiot, I'm going to hit you."
Claudia sneered, "Keep your kindness for your glasses and nose bridge, okay? Now scram!"
"Otherwise, I'll punch your useless glasses into pieces."
Qin Shiyu's face turned pale, clearly knowing that this young lady was not bluffing.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and finally, under Claudia's icy gaze and the mocking or spectating looks from around, he awkwardly lowered his head and quickly retreated into the line, still muttering unwillingly: "Shibal... just you wait..."
"When she's rejected later and I'm chosen, let's see how you all gloat?"
Once Qin Shiyu left, the intimidating aura of 'do not approach' around Claudia slightly dissipated.
She turned to Serie, her tone much calmer, with a hint of nonchalant indifference: "Don't mind such trash. The Control Bureau is like this; it has the best scientists and soldiers in the world, and it never lacks terrible freaks with holes in their heads."
Serie's earlier displeasure had long vanished. Watching Qin Shiyu flee in disarray, she found it both annoying and amusing. She couldn't help but curve her lips, looking at Claudia teasingly: "What about you? Which kind are you?"
After all, putting Serie aside, Claudia was far more direct in her nastiness than Qin Shiyu.
Qin Shiyu in front of Claudia was like a hooligan encountering a bandit; they were not on the same level at all.
Claudia, far from being annoyed, seemed pleased. She reached out and pinched Serie's cheek, gently pulling it outwards, her action carrying a hint of intimate domineeringness: "Me? I'm the freak queen here. Other minor characters aren't qualified to step over me to bully you..."
"Only I am qualified to bully you, the abnormal entity harboring ill intentions, understand?"
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