All Chapters of The Secret Behind the Exam: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The dispatcher on the other end of the line clearly froze for a second. My teacher, Tracy Collins, looked like her expression had cracked apart. She stormed toward my desk and flipped it over in one violent motion. Books and exam papers crashed onto the floor.She snatched the old flip phone from my hand and screamed into the receiver at the top of her lungs."Officer, this student in my class is mentally ill! Yes, seriously, there's something wrong with his head. The SATs are tomorrow, and he's having a complete breakdown! Sorry for wasting your time!"The moment she hung up, Ms. Collins hurled the phone at the blackboard. The screen shattered into pieces."Charles! I'm taking custody of your documents so you won't have any trouble getting into the exam tomorrow. And this is how you repay me? By calling the police and accusing me of planning to have someone else sit the SATs?"Class president Lily Charlton was the first to jump in. She pointed at me and let out a loud, mocking

Chapter 2

"This is the ID Custody Confirmation Form. Everyone must write down their ID number, exam admission number, candidate number, and a parent's contact information."Once you've filled it out, place it in the lockbox together with your ID card and exam admission slip. Tomorrow morning, I'll personally hand everything back to you outside the testing center. Nothing will go wrong, I promise."The classroom immediately burst into applause again."Ms. Collins, you're seriously the best! I was worried I'd oversleep and forget my documents tomorrow. Now, I don't have to stress about it!""Exactly! If Ms. Collins is holding onto them, we can all sleep easy tonight. Thank you, Ms. Collins!"Lily waved her confirmation form in the air and deliberately walked past my desk."This is why everyone likes Ms. Collins." She flashed the teacher a flattering smile. "You spend so much time taking care of us, but some people do nothing except doubt you and cause trouble. Honestly, they're not worth you

Chapter 3

Dozens of replies appeared almost instantly beneath the message.[Ms. Collins, you've worked so hard for us! Kids like him should be forced into treatment!][Exactly! If he has another meltdown tomorrow and drags the rest of us down with him, I'm never letting it go!]I stared at the screen, my fingers tightening around the edge of my phone.She was deliberately stirring up the entire class. On the last night before the SATs, she was trying to completely destroy my mental defenses.I quickly took screenshots and saved the chat history. Then, I grabbed my jacket and rushed out into the night, heading straight to the police station and the district examination office's after-hours service window."I want to file a report. I'm formally reporting my homeroom teacher, Tracy Collins, for illegally collecting and storing students' personal information. I suspect she's preparing to commit identity-related fraud."The officer on duty immediately stopped flipping through the documents. "K

Chapter 4

At the school entrance, Ms. Collins stood squarely in the center of the camera frame, dressed in a bright red T-shirt. She was smiling so hard that deep wrinkles spread across her face."Don't worry, kids. As long as I'm here, I'll make sure every one of you gets safely into the testing center."Then, her tone shifted. She sighed toward the camera, a look of sorrow and disappointment appearing on her face."Unfortunately, there are a few students in our class who don't trust me and insist on keeping their documents themselves. I just hope anxiety doesn't get the better of him today and he doesn't ruin the most important exam of his life."The comments on the online platform exploded instantly. A flood of vicious messages covered the entire screen.[Isn't this the crazy kid who called the police on his teacher? What a nightmare.][Starting drama right before final exams. What a twisted person.][How is someone with antisocial tendencies allowed to take the final exams? His eligib

Chapter 5

The dispatcher let out a heavy sigh. His voice was filled with obvious exhaustion and impatience."I'll repeat this one more time. Filing a false police report during the SATs is against the law. What you're describing, the theft of students' identities, would be an extremely serious criminal offense. And you're making this accusation because a teacher collected students' documents for safekeeping? That's a ridiculous conclusion. "Right now, every available officer in the city is busy guarding the exam venues. We don't have time to entertain paranoid suspicions.""I'm not lying!" My voice shot up as my chest heaved violently. "Get on a computer right now. Let me give you the evidence!"I yanked my keyboard closer and began typing furiously. Dozens of high-resolution screenshots I had captured the previous night appeared on my monitor."First, the metal lockbox Ms. Collins used to collect the documents has part of a blue security seal stuck to its side. It's not a school seal."I

Chapter 6

Silence.Dead silence filled the line.All the impatience and skepticism from before had vanished without a trace. The only thing left was the dispatcher's hurried breathing. A burst of frantic typing came through the receiver.When the dispatcher spoke again, panic leaked through his voice despite his efforts to hide it."Any incident involving the SATs requires coordination between the Department of Education, the police, and the Examination Bureau. "We need to verify the procedures first. Please stay on the line."I let out a sharp laugh. The sound that escaped my chest was filled with anger."Verify the procedures? I reported this at 8:30 pm last night! I also filed a formal complaint with the Examination Administration Office and received a report number! You were the ones who kept telling me the teacher was just being kind. You were the ones who said I was paranoid!"My voice rose so high that it nearly pierced through the receiver."Those people are standing outside the

Chapter 7

My eyes swept across every person inside the command vehicle. I wanted to make sure no one could approach me from behind.The officer noticed my defensive posture and frowned slightly. "Charles, there are only 40 minutes left before students enter the testing center. Without solid evidence, we can't just arrest a senior class homeroom teacher."I let out an icy laugh and pointed at Monitor 2 in the upper-left corner. "Look at the metal lockbox Ms. Collins is carrying."The operator immediately started typing, and the image zoomed in."When she collected the documents last night, that box had a single lock. Now, there's a tiny black bump attached to the side. That's a portable fingerprint lock."I turned to face the officers. "A regular teacher is holding student documents. Why would she install a fingerprint lock overnight?"The air inside the vehicle instantly froze. The lead detective's expression changed completely.My finger stabbed toward Monitor 3 in the lower-right corner

Chapter 8

The screen switched back to the area behind the school clinic. On the side of the metal lockbox in Ms. Collins' hands, the half-torn blue seal from Newford Educational Consulting stood out sharply under the sunlight.The fake examination staff badge I had pointed out the night before, the shell company's seal, and the triangular formation of the three men in black… Every single detail matched.My 'delusions' had been officially confirmed.This was not about me having a mental illness. It was a carefully planned impersonation scheme.The lead detective roared into his communicator, "Move in, everyone! Lock down every entrance and exit at the St. Alden High testing center immediately! SWAT team, intercept that unlicensed van now! Do not let them take a single student away!"Detain Tracy Collins and the three men outside the school gate immediately! If they resist, use force!"The command vehicle's doors flew open. Armed tactical officers poured toward the school from every directio

Chapter 9

"What if they still have a backup plan? You can't just leave everyone to die!"A wave of nausea rolled through my stomach. I was not a hero. I was just an ordinary person who had fought with everything I had and barely managed to protect my own future.Without hesitation, I held down the power button and shut the phone off completely.At last, the world went quiet.In the plaza at the intersection, a giant LED screen interrupted its regular programming with an emergency news bulletin. The anchor's clear voice echoed across the entire street."This morning, local police successfully prevented a major final exam impersonation operation. Twelve suspects have been arrested. Among them is a female teacher from St. Alden High, the head of an educational consulting company, and two accomplices who posed as examination personnel."Police recovered 52 forged admission slips and two signal-jamming devices at the scene."The broadcast switched to footage from outside the St. Alden High tes

Chapter 10

The moment the camera swept across the room, every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze. Along two rows of metal shelves against the wall sat hundreds, maybe thousands, of transparent document bags.Every bag contained a young face, photocopies of ID cards, and high-resolution scans of exam admission slips. There were report cards from a student's freshman year through senior year and detailed family information forms so invasive that they were horrifying to read.That was not educational consulting. That was human trafficking with price tags attached.The camera suddenly zoomed in and stopped on a massive whiteboard in the center of the basement.[High-Value Student Targets.]Beneath the title were dozens of passport-sized photos. Next to each photo were handwritten notes in red ink.[Consistently high grades. Scores above university admission benchmarks.][Single-parent household. Mother sells seafood at a market. No influential connections.][Parents work out of town. U

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