Chapter 2

Just then, Sophie also started a livestream. She smiled sweetly at the camera. "Hello, I'm the star girl of the Year 3 humanities class. I hereby officially announce that I'm applying to this vocational college. There's only one reason for this. I want to prove to all of you that education is just a symbol, and that even though I attend a vocational college, I can still succeed."

Everyone rushed to start their livestreams.

"I'm applying for early childhood education."

"I'm applying to a culinary school."

"I'm applying for a railway vocational college. I just want to be an ordinary mechanic."

The livestream chat exploded with comments, insulting those aiming for elite universities as the lowest of the low, self-righteous degree snobs, and slaves of the system.

I quietly watched them put on a show.

An official reminder popped up on my phone.

[In the last hour before the college admissions test deadline, the system often experiences lag due to high traffic. Please avoid frequently modifying your applications to prevent application lock-in failure.]

I silently watched the notification, saying nothing.

The system would completely crash in half an hour.

I was about to leave the classroom when Zach pulled me back. "Hey, we still have a stubborn one in our class. Royce, everyone else has changed their applications, yet you haven't? Are you looking down on me?"

I chuckled. "Why are you worth my respect?"

The atmosphere in the classroom suddenly became tense.

Sophie immediately rushed over and kicked me. "Royce Linwood, how could you talk to Zach like that?"

The other students gathered around, their eyes full of excitement.

"We all changed our applications, and you're the only exception."

"Aren't you just afraid you can't change it back? Is Harvard that important to you?"

"You didn't cheat on your grades this time, did you? Are you afraid you'll fail when you retake the test next year?"

"Stop with the nonsense. Let's collectively reform him!"

The collective reform they spoke of was nothing more than a series of violent acts.

There was a boy in my class from a poor county who was bullied by the entire class until he was driven to depression and quit school for refusing to film a video about school bullying for Zach.

Now, it was my turn.

Sophie slapped me repeatedly. "I'll ask you one more time, are you going to change it? Disrespecting Zach in front of so many people means you don't consider him the idol!"

The whole class jeered. "Hit him! Hit him hard!"

Someone kicked me in the back of the knee, forcing me to kneel.

"Change your college application! Then kneel and apologize to Zach!"

"How dare someone like Royce go against Zach?"

"Zach's family is wealthy. Even if Royce goes to Harvard, they can still get him expelled!"

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Hello, takeout..." A girl in a blue work uniform, sweating profusely, peeked in, carrying fried chicken. She was from the next class. Her family was not well-off, so she had been working part-time since the college admissions test. She looked at me and then at the group of people surrounding me before freezing.

Zach glanced at the girl and sneered. "Oh, you know you failed, so you can't wait to deliver takeout? You'd better close your eyes and mind your own business. People like you are the lowest of the low in society. Being in the same high school as us is already a highlight of your life."

The girl gritted her teeth and said nothing. She entered the classroom, put the fried chicken on the table, and left with her head down.

Zach smiled even more brightly before coming over and slapping me across the face. "See, that's what you call knowing your place. Come on, Royce, open your college application system."

Three people held me down, and Sophie forcibly unlocked my phone with my fingerprint, opening the college application page.

The screen displayed a local vocational school.