The Martial Arts College Entrance Exam would last a full twelve hours. During this entire period, school principals and homeroom teachers from each school were required to remain present.
After all, even the Director of the Education Bureau was staying for the duration—they obviously couldn't leave midway.
Additionally, the Martial Arts College Entrance Exam results served as the basis for distributing education funding to each school in the second half of the year, so principals and teachers were extremely concerned about their students' performances.
Of course, since the exam duration was so long, the military district provided lunch and dinner for all principals and teachers.
At this point, more than four hours had passed since the Martial Arts College Entrance Exam began, and the time had reached 1:00 PM.
By now, most candidates inside the battlefield had begun consuming their first energy bar.
Outside the battlefield, the principals and teachers from each school had also finished lunch in the military cafeteria and were now walking back toward the spectator stands.
"First High School is as strong as ever—almost all of the top ten are their students."
"First High School gets the most education funding every year, and their student intake is the best in all of Jiangcheng. Results like this aren't surprising."
"That's true. Speaking of which, our Second High School is actually doing pretty well this year. Eight students have made it into the top fifty. In previous years, five or six would already be considered good."
"Too bad Third High School is even fiercer this year—they pushed directly into the top ten. It makes our position rather awkward."
"..."
Within the teacher group from Jiangcheng Second High School, everyone chatted and discussed as they walked.
First High School had a deep educational foundation and dominated the top rankings—this didn't surprise them at all.
Most of their discussion revolved around their own school and Third High School.
"By the way, Teacher Sun—what's going on with Xu Jingming from your class? How come we never knew your class had someone like him before?"
Suddenly, someone brought up Xu Jingming and looked toward a middle-aged man wearing a black suit.
His name was Sun Yang, the homeroom teacher of the Rocket Class at Second High School.
"Xu Jingming isn't from our class. I was just about to ask which class he belongs to."
Rocket Class teacher Sun Yang looked completely confused.
"He's not from your class? But aside from Rocket Class students, who else could be this fierce?"
The surrounding teachers were momentarily stunned and began asking which class Xu Jingming belonged to.
After all, once students awakened their abilities, every school reorganized classes—placing talented and high-potential students into the Rocket Class.
Second High School was no exception.
Because of this, students who achieved strong results in the Martial Arts College Entrance Exam were almost always from the Rocket Class.
It was extremely rare for a student from an ordinary class to appear.
"Old Chen, how are your class results?"
At the back of the group, a bearded middle-aged man moved closer to Class 5 homeroom teacher Chen Fan. Without waiting for a reply, he continued:
"Our class is doing pretty well. Our best student has already pushed into the top 100."
The most outstanding students at Second High School were concentrated in the Rocket Class.
As a result, students from regular classes reaching the top 100 was already considered excellent.
"Not bad."
Chen Fan glanced at him and responded indifferently.
The middle-aged man was Li Jun, homeroom teacher of neighboring Class 4.
Several years ago, the two had clashed over certain matters, and their relationship had never been good since.
Over the years, Li Jun had openly and secretly competed against him. The two had effectively become rivals.
"Pretty decent."
Seeing Chen Fan's calm reaction, Li Jun couldn't help showing a hint of pride.
"But this year's exam bonus—I'm afraid mine will be a bit higher than yours."
To encourage academic performance, homeroom teacher bonuses were directly tied to their students' Martial Arts College Entrance Exam results.
If a student from their class entered Jiangcheng's Top 100, the bonus after the exam would be at least 10,000 yuan.
In this small city, where homeroom teachers earned less than 6,000 yuan per month, a 10,000 yuan bonus was already quite substantial.
Old Chen might look calm on the surface, but inside he was probably dying of envy.
Just as Li Jun felt secretly pleased with himself—
Chen Fan suddenly spoke again.
"Is that so? Then you might be disappointed. Our class results are also pretty good. Someone from my class made it into the top fifty."
"Top fifty? Old Chen, you're not joking, are you? Those positions are all taken by Rocket Class students—how could someone from your class rank that high?"
Li Jun immediately retorted, his tone filled with disdain.
"Wait."
But he quickly realized something.
His eyes widened as he blurted out:
"Don't tell me that Xu Jingming is from your class?!"
Compared to Li Jun's shock, Chen Fan remained calm.
He simply nodded slightly.
"Xu Jingming is from your class? Then earlier, when they were asking which class he belonged to, why didn't you answer?"
Li Jun still found it hard to believe.
"Did they? Maybe I didn't hear."
Chen Fan replied with a deliberately blank expression.
What the hell?!
What do you mean you didn't hear?!
You clearly did that on purpose!
So this was what he'd been waiting for all along.
Seeing Chen Fan's calm and composed expression, Li Jun had the urge to punch him in the face.
But Chen Fan's next sentence nearly made him cough up blood in anger.
"Xu Jingming only made it into the top fifty. It's nothing special. The Rocket Class top student already reached 18th place."
Only top fifty?!
The bonus for top fifty was over 20,000 yuan!
And how could an ordinary class even compare to the Rocket Class, which gathered the school's elite?
Li Jun roared internally.
After all, in all these years, the best student he had ever trained had only achieved 64th place in the Martial Arts College Entrance Exam.
"Looks like Teacher Chen has trained quite an outstanding student."
Li Jun took several deep breaths before barely calming himself, offering a forced congratulation filled with bitterness.
"Not really, not really. It's all Jingming's own hard work—it doesn't have much to do with me."
Seeing his old rival so frustrated, Chen Fan maintained a humble expression on the surface, but inside he was already laughing with delight.
Serves you right for always showing off.
This time, you finally got shut down.
For years, Li Jun had always overshadowed him.
Now, he had finally turned the tables once.
Just thinking about it made Chen Fan feel secretly exhilarated.
"Xu Jingming is actually from Class 5?"
"Teacher Chen really knows how to teach. Among so many ordinary classes, only your student made it into the top fifty."
"Later this year, Teacher Chen should hold a lecture and share his teaching experience."
"..."
After learning that Xu Jingming was from Class 5, the surrounding teachers all began offering congratulations.
Even Rocket Class teacher Sun Yang showed Chen Fan a friendly smile.
After all, the best students had already been selected into the Rocket Class.
Being able to train a student of this level from an ordinary class clearly demonstrated Chen Fan's teaching ability.
The group of teachers chatted and laughed as they soon returned to the spectator stands.
After sitting down, Class 5 homeroom teacher Chen Fan immediately looked toward the virtual screen floating in midair, searching for Xu Jingming's ranking.
Very soon, among the many rankings displayed, he found Xu Jingming's name:
[32nd Place]: Xu Jingming, 328 points. (Jiangcheng Second High School)
"Hmm? 32nd place?"
Seeing this ranking, Chen Fan froze momentarily.
Wasn't he still 46th place earlier?
How did his ranking rise by more than ten places just from the time it took to eat a meal?
Just as he was wondering—
Xu Jingming's name suddenly flickered.
When it reappeared, it had already moved to another position:
[25th Place]: Xu Jingming, 372 points. (Jiangcheng Second High School)
"Th-This…"
Chen Fan's eyes widened in shock, his face filled with disbelief.
"What's going on? How did Xu Jingming's ranking rise so much all of a sudden?"