Chapter 1: Not Her Fault

Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province.

Class 3-7, Wencheng Junior High School.

"Everyone's progress in this mock exam is plain for all to see, especially student Qin Shou, who scored second in the entire grade, missing a perfect score by only 2 points. Everyone should learn from him."

"Most students are doing great, but a few individuals have shown no desire to improve and actually scored a zero, single-handedly dragging down the class average."

"I won't name names here, but I hope this student reflects on their actions. There are only 21 days left until the High School Entrance Exam. With grades like these, you won't even get into a regular vocational high school, let alone a beast-taming high school."

The balding homeroom teacher swept his gaze toward the window seat in the third-to-last row on the far right. He saw the girl with the ponytail sitting there, back straight as a board, looking every bit the model student.

His mouth twitched involuntarily. *Stop the act! I'm talking about you! *

Qiao Sang naturally knew the teacher was talking about her, but she couldn't help it—she wasn't the Qiao Sang of this world.

She had transmigrated just two days ago, and before she could even adjust, she was hit with a mock exam.

But it was just a junior high mock exam; she wasn't afraid. In her past life, she was a top student who had made it into a 985-tier university.

Yet, the moment she got the test paper, she was stunned.

【What is formed when the human brain domain awakens?】

【What kind of extraordinary creatures are attracted to heart scales, and what role do they play?】

【What is the final evolutionary form of the Stinky Loach?】

【Which planets have humans already immigrated to?】

What... what are these questions?!

In the end, she had no choice but to use the strategy: for multiple-choice, pick the shortest if three are long and one is short, or the longest if three are short and one is long; she scribbled randomly on the fill-in-the-blanks and handed in the essay questions blank.

Over the last two days, Qiao Sang had adapted to her body, and the original owner's memories had surfaced, giving her a rough understanding of this world.

This was a world centered on beast-taming. Since humans discovered they could tame beasts, 32.05 million years had passed, and a perfectly mature beast-taming social system had been formed.

While it was called the Beast-Taming Era, it wasn't universal. When humans reached the age of 15, their brain domain could awaken a Beast-Taming Codex through magnetic wave stimulation.

This Beast-Taming Codex was both a contract and a space, perfectly connecting humans with extraordinary creatures.

If the brain domain didn't awaken by age 15, then in all likelihood, one would have nothing to do with beast-taming for the rest of their life.

Although the Beast-Taming Era had developed for tens of millions of years, humans still couldn't guarantee a 100% awakening rate for the Beast-Taming Codex.

Just last year, only 73% of candidates nationwide awakened the Codex during the unified entrance exam. 27% failed to awaken, and even if some of them were academic geniuses, they were destined not to get into a beast-taming high school.

And those who couldn't tame beasts were relegated to mediocrity, spending their lives at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

It was a very realistic issue; if you couldn't tame beasts, you might not even be able to carry bricks.

With extraordinary creatures capable of carrying hundreds or even thousands of kilograms of bricks at once, who would still use human labor? It was time-consuming and inefficient.

The same went for waiting tables.

Even if the wages were several times higher than a human's, restaurants preferred to hire extraordinary creatures because it attracted more customers.

In a world so completely different from the common sense of her previous society, Qiao Sang, a junior high student nearing the entrance exam, felt incredibly anxious!

In the past, knowledge changed destiny; now, beast-taming changed life.

Although she had the original owner's memories, the original owner was an academic failure!

Her grades were stably at third-to-last in the class, though she had "improved" in last month's mock exam, scoring fourth-to-last.

But that was only because the previous fourth-to-last had diarrhea on exam day and skipped two subjects.

The entrance exam was in 21 days. She didn't expect to get into a key high school; she would be grateful just to get into *any* high school now.

Qiao Sang listened to the teacher's lecture earnestly, took notes, and kept reading the textbook even after class, displaying the same "sprint" attitude she had had before her own college entrance exam.

"Qiao Sang, the 'egg' the teacher mentioned was you, right?" her deskmate Fang Sisi whispered, leaning in.

This wasn't a question; it was a confirmation. Although the teacher hadn't named names, Qiao Sang was openly taking notes on her zero-score paper without even bothering to cover the grade.

Qiao Sang nodded.

In Qiao Sang's memories, her deskmate had a good relationship with her; they would eat and hang out together.

The most important reason for their close relationship was that this girl was also an academic failure.

Fang Sisi was the one who had replaced her as third-to-last in the class last month because she had diarrhea.

"Impressive. I saw you filled out all the multiple-choice questions, and yet you didn't get a single point. That difficulty is comparable to someone getting a perfect score," Fang Sisi said, giving a thumbs-up in admiration.

Qiao Sang choked, unable to speak. Could she blame herself? If anyone was to blame, it was the "three long, one short, pick the short one" strategy!

"What did you score?" Qiao Sang asked.

"263. An improvement of 98 points from last time," Fang Sisi said, looking rather proud.

As expected of an academic failure—taking two extra subjects only yielded 98 more points.

However, Qiao Sang only thought this to herself; after all, they were both failures, so they shouldn't hurt each other.

"Not bad."

Qiao Sang wasn't lying; although her deskmate's grades were poor in her eyes, compared to her previous level of around 200 points, it was clear she had improved during this period.

"That's for sure. My mom has been watching me every day..."

Before she could finish, the person sitting in front of Fang Sisi turned around and said nervously, "Is it true or false that Dai Shushu from Class 9 got recommended to Li Tan Beast-Taming High School?"

Fang Sisi sighed, "If it's being spread like that, it must be true."

Qiao Sang flipped through her textbook on the side.

The Dai Shushu they were talking about was the top student in the grade for this mock exam. As the top student getting recommended to high school, she didn't see anything worth gossiping about; her priority now was to memorize knowledge points.

"I heard she got recommended because she awakened autonomously," the student sitting in front of Qiao Sang also turned around to join the discussion.

At this, Qiao Sang looked up.

Beast-taming high schools recruited future beast-tamers, so whether the brain domain could awaken was naturally the top priority. People who could awaken successfully on their own often achieved higher accomplishments than those who awakened through magnetic wave stimulation.

Over 30 million years ago, the first batch of beast-tamers were all autonomous awakeners. At that time, beast-tamers accounted for only 0.01% of the population—they were truly one in ten thousand.

It wasn't until 2,563 years ago that a researcher named Chen Leshen discovered that the human brain domain could awaken a Beast-Taming Codex through magnetic wave stimulation, truly ushering in the Great Beast-Taming Era.

But those who could awaken successfully on their own were still the elite among them.

"Autonomous awakening?" Fang Sisi fell into deep thought. "Do you think it's too late for me to go hug her thigh now?"

The student in front of Fang Sisi shook their head. "Don't bother. Once someone gets recommended, they won't stay in school. If you knew in advance you could get into high school, would you still come to school?"

Fang Sisi nodded in agreement.

"If I awakened successfully on my own, could I get recommended even if my academic grades were failing?" Qiao Sang took a deep breath, her expression very serious.

This question successfully drew the eyes of all three people toward her.

"Forget about failing; even if you scored zero, there would be schools wanting you," the student in front of Qiao Sang joked.

"Don't think about it. People who awaken successfully on their own are always top students; there's no room for academic failures." Fang Sisi patted Qiao Sang's shoulder. "I had a dream like that two days ago, too."

Qiao Sang lowered her head and said nothing.

The three of them thought she had been discouraged and stopped discussing autonomous awakening.

Heaven knows how much effort it took Qiao Sang to suppress the urge to look up and laugh wildly.

Autonomous awakening!

She had awakened successfully on her own the moment she transmigrated!

It was just that she didn't know what it was at the time, thinking it was some kind of "golden finger." It wasn't until her memories merged that she realized it was the Beast-Taming Codex that awakened at age 15.

Since most people awakened at 15, she hadn't taken it seriously. She hadn't expected the gap to be so huge!

It's no wonder the original Qiao Sang was an academic failure; even after the memories merged, she didn't know the difference between autonomous awakening and magnetic wave stimulation was so vast.

Without the pressure of the entrance exam, Qiao Sang's mindset while reading became much more relaxed, and she didn't just rote-memorize knowledge points anymore.

【The Deep-Fur Turtle belongs to the Earth element, often inhabits tropical desert regions, has black eye circles, and is not good at swimming.】

You're a turtle, and you're not good at swimming?

If you can't swim, why are you a turtle?

If you're a turtle, why are you Earth element instead of Water element?

【The Steel-Willed Mouse should not be exposed to rain because its body easily rusts; it loves sunlight.】

You're an extraordinary creature; why would you rust?

Since your attribute is steel and you rust in the rain like steel, why do you like sunlight?

Aren't you afraid of oxidation?

There was so much common knowledge that made her want to complain.

But because of this, Qiao Sang didn't find reading painful; instead, she found it quite interesting, and she remembered things without needing to force herself.

Soon, school was dismissed.

Qiao Sang was packing her things and hadn't left her seat when a girl wearing black-rimmed glasses walked over. "Qiao Sang, the homeroom teacher wants you to go to the office."

Qiao Sang paused. "I understand."

The girl with glasses was named Ma Xiao, the class study committee member. She was used to the teacher calling Qiao Sang to the office.

As the class's resident third-to-last, this was Qiao Sang's daily routine.

The original Qiao Sang was used to it, but the current Qiao Sang was not.

Especially when the teacher's spit sprayed onto her face.

"What is wrong with you! The entrance exam is coming up, and you score like this! How can you answer to yourself! How can you answer to your parents!"

Qiao Sang silently took a step back. "Tea... cher, calm down."

That was close; she almost called him "Old Ban"...

"Calm down! How can you ask me to calm down! I've taught so many classes and have never seen anyone as poor as you!" The teacher escalated, continuing his spit attack.

As a top student in everyone's eyes in her past life, this was the first time Qiao Sang had suffered such treatment. She silently took another step back. "There's a reason I scored like this."

The teacher looked coldly. "What reason?"

"Actually, I awakened autonomously, and my brain hasn't recovered yet."

At this moment, Qiao Sang felt impressed by her own wit.

"Heh." The teacher sneered. "It seems I've been too kind to you."

Qiao Sang was full of confusion. What does this have to do with whether you're usually kind to me?

She saw the teacher take an address book from the drawer, open it, and dial a number.

Not long after, the call went through.

"Is this Qiao Sang's parent? I am Qiao Sang's homeroom teacher. Do you have time to come to the school?"

Qiao Sang: "..." ===== CHAPTER 2 =====