[Federation New Era Year 9710. The Interstellar Unified Exam begins now! Candidates, please select your preferred institution. Countdown: Three minutes. 180 seconds, 179 seconds…]
The spacious classroom was partitioned into small, individual cubicles.
Hearing the countdown from the intelligent system, the candidates in their cubicles hurriedly began selecting the academies they wished to apply for.
Amidst the nervous examinees, one girl stood out.
She was thin and small, her face pale. Her thick, dark hair was pulled up into a bun, making her face appear even smaller.
While other candidates were racing against the clock to choose their schools and start reading the questions, she sat motionless, her large eyes wide and vacant.
“What on earth is Lin Xiaohe doing? Wasn’t she aiming for the Mars Institute of Mechanical Engineering? This is her last chance to turn things around!” Watching the surveillance feed, Homeroom Teacher Li wished he could rush into the exam hall and make the choice for Lin Xiaohe.
What he didn’t know was that the ‘core’ inside Lin Xiaohe had just been swapped out a moment ago.
Lin Xiaohe, from 21st century Earth, felt a splitting headache.
A massive stream of information flooded her mind.
The original owner’s life flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
Rubbing her throbbing temples, Lin Xiaohe laughed bitterly to herself.
Coming from a rural background, she had studied relentlessly for over a decade and finally made it to university. Even if it was just an agricultural college, it was her ticket out of farming life.
Who would have thought, just after receiving a job offer to stay on as staff at the college, she’d end up transmigrating.
The good news: the original owner’s family owned fifty acres of land, making them minor landowners.
The bad news: all that land was rated F—the lowest grade, wasteland! Low yields, prone to producing mutated plants, and practically worthless!
Even worse, this wasteland still required hefty annual tax payments!
The original owner’s family: a disabled father, a seriously ill mother, elderly grandparents, a brother with mental illness, a mute sister. The only healthy one, Lin Xiaohe, was the family’s sole hope.
The family had used the money meant for taxes to fund Lin Xiaohe’s participation in this college entrance exam, betting everything on one chance to defy fate.
The sharp pain in Lin Xiaohe’s head finally subsided, and her eyes, which had been as good as blind, could finally see clearly.
Before her was a 36-inch virtual screen. The crimson, flashing numbers on it made her heart feel like it was being torn apart.
[Countdown: 1 second! 0 seconds!]
Lin Xiaohe’s mouth fell open in a silent scream: “No! Please, give me another chance!”
The cold, mechanical voice delivered its ruthless verdict.
[Candidate failed to select an institution within the allotted time. Default application: Federation Central Military Academy. Exam begins!]
Federation Central Military Academy?!
One of the four great military academies in the entire star domain! Only the elite among nobles, geniuses among geniuses could get in!
Lin Xiaohe felt numb. Well, if she actually got into the Federation Central Military Academy, it wouldn’t just be defying fate—it would be ascending to heaven in a single step.
Unfortunately, the hope was slim.
The original owner’s mental strength, physical constitution, and academic performance were all unremarkable. Her ambition to apply to the Mechanical Institute was born from the courage bought by spending money on crash courses and intensive tutoring.
And now this? The difficulty had just multiplied dozens of times!
However, an examinee from China would never, ever turn in a blank paper!
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes grew resolute. She picked up her electronic pen, ready to answer.
This display of confidence sparked a faint glimmer of hope in Teacher Li, who was still watching her.
Could Lin Xiaohe actually have the ability?
[First Question: What is the most cost-effective tactic to combat a swarm of Metal-Devouring Ants?]
Lin Xiaohe’s pupils contracted. Metal-Devouring Ants? Never heard of them.
Skip this one!
[Second Question: Target planet suffers from severe radioactive contamination. Indigenous life form: Spiked Shell Beasts capable of spraying corrosive fluid. Own forces: A mecha squad (standard crystal core energy), limited supplies. Mission: Establish a forward operating base within 72 hours.]
Lin Xiaohe pressed her lips tightly together. Damn, still don’t know this!
Lin Xiaohe skipped questions all the way to the end, only to realize she hadn’t been able to answer a single one.
The Interstellar College Entrance Exam was truly terrifying!
“Sigh! So she’s just given up completely.” Teacher Li, who had been watching Lin Xiaohe all along, sighed quietly to himself.
“The Lin family is finished. They used all their money to pay the exam fee. When they can’t pay the tax next month, they’ll have no choice but to sell their last fifty acres!”
The other teachers lamented briefly and stopped paying attention to Lin Xiaohe.
After all, on this planet, those who could truly change their destiny through the exam were few. Most people spent their entire lives on Wasteland Planet No. 7, never even leaving the planet.
Refusing to give up, Lin Xiaohe continued scrolling and came across a bonus question.
The moment she saw it, a flash of joy crossed Lin Xiaohe’s face.
Finally, a question she could answer!
A virtual image of a wheat plant appeared on the screen. Its leaves were yellowing, the plant was stunted, and the sparse wheat heads appeared dry and withered.
[Please diagnose the ailment affecting this crop and provide a prevention/treatment method.]
With an excited heart and trembling hands, Lin Xiaohe, her eyes brimming with tears, picked up her electronic pen and carefully wrote her answer, stroke by stroke.
[Diagnosis: The wheat is suffering from an aphid infestation. Wheat aphids typically gather on the leaves, stems, and heads of wheat plants to suck sap. A biological control method can be employed, such as protecting natural predators like lacewings and ladybugs.]
After finishing this question, Lin Xiaohe began to space out.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. She had combed through the original owner’s memories thoroughly but couldn’t find anything remotely related to the other exam topics.
You can’t make bricks without straw.
Sorting through the original owner’s memories, Lin Xiaohe realized that farmers in the interstellar age had it worse than in China!
In China, farming came with government subsidies. Besides staple crops like wheat and rice, farmers could grow cash crops to increase their income.
In the interstellar age, technology advanced rapidly, but the stellar pollution accompanying interstellar jumps grew increasingly severe.
Natural soil and heirloom seeds became rare commodities.
Crops grown on wasteland became raw materials for low-grade nutrient solutions.
Based on their stellar dust content, crops were graded from A to F, with F-grade containing the most dust and being the lowest quality.
Unfortunately, Wasteland Planet No. 7, where Lin Xiaohe lived, was precisely such a low-grade agricultural wasteland planet.
The Lin family’s annual income from farming, after deducting various taxes, was barely enough to buy low-grade nutrient solutions to keep their stomachs from growling.
Time passed quickly. Before Lin Xiaohe could finish organizing the memories, the familiar voice sounded again.
[Exam concluded!]
As soon as Lin Xiaohe left the exam hall, she saw her homeroom teacher, Mr. Li, looking at her with a complex expression.
“Lin Xiaohe, how could you make such a basic mistake? Ah, forget it. Staying on the planet to be a farmer might not be so bad. You can at least look after your family.”
Lin Xiaohe felt a slight pang of guilt. If she hadn’t transmigrated, the original owner might have gotten into the Mechanical Institute and led the family to a better life.
Teacher Li shoved a garbage collection station job application form into Lin Xiaohe’s hand. “Don’t thank me. Since you didn’t get into college, go collect garbage. Try to earn enough for next month’s tax. Otherwise, your family won’t even have land to farm!”
“Thank you, Teacher.” Lin Xiaohe put the application form in her pocket.
A single application form sold for one star credit! That’s expensive!
