Chapter 342: The Examinee Who Crashed the System

"Young Master, I really envy you for being at the National Health Commission." Zhou Tianbo greeted his classmate enthusiastically upon seeing him.

"Tianbo, look at what you're saying," the one addressed as Young Master laughed.

His real name was She Yong. His family was well-off and he was generous with money, so his classmates had given him the nickname "Young Master" back in school.

"Professor Zhou, how do you have time to come here? I've been busy to death these past few days with the Practicing Physician Examination. By the way, when are you applying for the Outstanding Youth Fund? Don't forget to treat me to a meal once it's all set."

"A meal is definitely a given. I came to see, have the results for the Professional Medical Examination come out yet?"

"Electronic grading, the results will be out soon," She Yong said. "Professor Zhou, whose results are you here to see? Why are you so concerned?"

Zhou Tianbo felt a bit awkward. How should he put it?

Seeing Zhou Tianbo's constipated expression, She Yong laughed, "Come on, let's go to my office and sit for a while."

"Can you know the results immediately?"

"Yes, the computer aggregates them. We only manually verify certain abnormal scores."

Arriving at She Yong's office, Zhou Tianbo sat on the sofa, distracted.

"Professor Zhou, I heard you're going abroad. Will you be able to skip the Outstanding Youth Fund application and go straight for Changjiang Scholar after you return?"

"It was all arranged by my boss. I'm preparing to go to USC," Zhou Tianbo didn't shy away and said directly.

"Congratulations."

The two chatted for a while. Although She Yong didn't know the purpose of Zhou Tianbo's visit, it wouldn't be good to pry, so he could only keep his curiosity to himself and probe bit by bit.

But Zhou Tianbo was tight-lipped and wouldn't say a word about anything else.

"The results for Tiannan are out," She Yong clicked on the screen, stealing a glance at Zhou Tianbo.

Zhou Tianbo remained unmoved.

"Medical students these days are getting more and more competitive. Our exam questions back then were simpler than now, but the scores today... they really are getting higher and higher. Sometimes I think, if I were in their shoes now, I probably wouldn't even pass the Professional Medical Examination. It would be so embarrassing."

"What is the highest score in Tiannan?" Zhou Tianbo asked.

"588."

"Not bad."

"Professor Zhou, you were lucky back then; it was a case of knowing everything that was tested and guessing everything else right," She Yong laughed. "That kind of luck—every time we have a class reunion and mention it, everyone thinks you're destined to soar."

"Pah, that's all in the past," Zhou Tianbo didn't act overly modest.

"Students these days are truly competitive," She Yong sighed again. "I watch the average score go up and up every day, and that's even with those old timers who haven't passed the line for years dragging it down."

"It's impossible not to be competitive. I worked in the north for a year; even the local Doctors of Philosophy there couldn't stay. Those who managed to stay were stronger than the last."

"Stronger than you?" She Yong teased.

"..." Zhou Tianbo wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't.

Results for province after province came out. The highest total score was still the 588 from Tiannan Province, but the average scores were frighteningly high.

In She Yong's words, if he were taking it now, he would definitely be below the average. Young people are getting more and more formidable.

Time passed bit by bit, and the results were released more frequently. Zhou Tianbo's heart began to race.

Thump, thump, thump~

He didn't know why, either.

"Have some tea. I bought this Pu'er in '12. It was cheap back then, 80 yuan a cake, and it would last me three months. Stored until now, it's over 700 a cake. It's at least something to treat you, Professor Zhou."

"Look at you, I usually just drink plain water; I don't have time for tea. When I'm in the Outpatient Department, I don't even have time to drink water. When I go to the restroom after work, my urine is dark yellow," Zhou Tianbo said.

She Yong boiled water to make tea, gave a cup to Zhou Tianbo, and held his own cup, sipping away.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz~"

An alarm sound came from the computer system.

She Yong didn't pay it any mind and used his right hand to click the mouse.

Immediately, it was as if he had been glanced at by a Medusa from another dimension; he was petrified.

Zhou Tianbo realized something must have gone wrong and stood up abruptly.

She Yong was holding a disposable paper cup in his left hand. Because he was so distracted, he squeezed his left hand hard, crushing the cup and spilling the black-red tea directly onto his hand.

"Ow~~~" She Yong let out a miserable shriek.

"What's going on?" Zhou Tianbo asked.

"Damn it! The system glitched," She Yong jumped up from the burn, saying in a flustered rage.

System glitch... Zhou Tianbo didn't believe it.

He walked over quickly, leaned in, and saw the characters for Jilin Province on the screen, with bright red warning symbols flashing, just like a Resident Evil outbreak.

At the very top of the table, a name familiar to Zhou Tianbo had indeed appeared—Ji Xiang.

Did Doctor Xiao Ji actually crash the system? Zhou Tianbo wondered to himself.

In the intervals between the flashing red warning symbols, Zhou Tianbo clearly saw the score behind the name—600 points!

A perfect score!

This is impossible!

Zhou Tianbo was stunned.

For so many years, no one had ever gotten a perfect score; even his own 592 had been considered astonishing.

Generally speaking, scoring around 440 was already an excellent result, and anything above 500 was considered outstanding.

The 588 from Tiannan Province just now could basically be confirmed as the highest score this year.

600. No wonder the system triggered an alarm.

"Computer systems have more and more bugs these days," She Yong explained. "This is just too absurd, a perfect score... damn it, I have to report this to the higher-ups later and send the system back to the factory to find the bug. You have no idea how annoying those software engineers are; they're just like the net cafe admins."

Zhou Tianbo listened to She Yong's grumbling but turned a deaf ear.

Subconsciously, he felt that something big was bound to happen, but he never expected that the name Ji Xiang would appear before him again in such a way.

"What a hassle," She Yong said while wiping the water off his body. "We still have to find the Expert Group for a manual review, sigh."

"Who is in the Expert Group?" Zhou Tianbo felt a stir in his heart.

"They are all big shots," She Yong said helplessly. "It is said that Gu Lao was on the Expert Group back then, so he had the advantage of proximity and took you away as soon as he saw your results."

"..."

Zhou Tianbo knew about this matter; what he cared about was the current members of the Expert Group.

She Yong did not chat with Zhou Tianbo; he began making phone calls to contact the teachers of the Expert Group.

For the annual Practicing Physician Examination, the members of the Expert Group are all top big shots in the industry, though most of them just go through the motions to "appear" to take it seriously.

It has been many years, and these big shots have not taken action; this has basically already become an honorary title.

Today, having coincidentally encountered a matter involving a police report, She Yong had no choice but to contact the various experts to conduct a review.

After being busy for half an hour, the results for each province were out, and She Yong had finished all his phone calls.

He turned back and was stunned to see Zhou Tianbo still standing there like a puppet, staring at the computer screen.

She Yong felt a stir in his heart, and associating it with Jilin Province, he immediately realized the purpose of Zhou Tianbo coming to his place.

Is it really him?

Ji Xiang, the name is quite nice.

(End of this chapter)