Overall, Zhou Qiong's first impression of Yi Tian wasn't bad; he was a polite little brother.
So she smiled and said, "I'm six years older than you. I'll follow my dad and call you Xiao Tian. You can call me Sister Zhou or Sister Qiong."
"Xiao Tian, if you have any questions during your Beast's learning of nurturing and evolution in the future, feel free to ask me."
She put her hands on her hips, showing a bit of pride.
"I started studying these two subjects when I entered the Beast Academy, and it's been six years now. I scored over 60 points in the last two exams."
"Unfortunately, the practical operation later didn't meet the standard, so I didn't pass."
Yi Tian was a bit puzzled hearing this.
"Sister Qiong, is scoring 60 points hard?"
Zhou Qiong: ...
She rolled her eyes wildly in her heart. Listen, is this human language?
But thinking that it was Yi Tian's first time taking the exam, it was normal not to know the difficulty.
"Of course."
"The full score is 100. You have to exceed 60 points to enter the second round of assessment. Every exam eliminates at least 90% of the candidates in the first stage."
"Presumably, you've seen those two ridiculously thick books. Although the key exam content only accounts for 10% of the two books, the amount required to memorize is huge."
Yi Tian: ...
What?
The key exam content only accounts for 10% of the books? No one told me!
But... thinking about it, it made sense. When he got the books, he thought that memorizing two whole books wasn't something a Beast could do.
"Xiao Tian, it's your first time here, so you don't know the specific rules of the exam yet, right?"
Zhou Qiong began to explain to Yi Tian.
"The exam is divided into two rounds."
"The first round is the written test. Questions will be randomly drawn from the books. 100 fill-in-the-blank questions, one point each. You need to get 60 right to enter the next round."
"The first round is just an admission ticket. The second round, the practical assessment, is the main topic."
"In this round, you can choose either the Nurturing or Evolution direction. Choose an exam topic, and complete it to pass. The topic is different every time, so I can't give you too much advice."
At this time, Zhou Tiangang also spoke up to explain the structure of the Research Institute to Yi Tian.
"The Research Institute is internally divided into two parts: the Beast Nurturing Department and the Beast Evolution Department."
"The two departments have their own duties."
"The Nurturing Department is responsible for researching how to nurture Beasts better."
"The Evolution Department is responsible for researching possible evolutionary paths for Beasts."
"That's why the second round of assessment is divided into two directions. Completing the corresponding assessment allows entry into the corresponding department."
Yi Tian nodded.
So that's how it is. If his goal was refined, it was to enter the Evolution Department of the Research Institute first.
Zhou Qiong said, "My dad is a member of the Nurturing Department, and my goal is also to enter the Nurturing Department."
Yi Tian was a bit curious. "Why not the Evolution Department?"
Zhou Qiong said, "Because it's too hard..."
"For mortals like me, Nurturing is something we can strive for, but the science of Evolution belongs to the domain of geniuses..."
While the three were chatting, on the other side.
Research Institute, Monitoring Room.
A group of people was sitting in front of a large monitoring screen, looking up occasionally and flipping through papers in their hands.
In the two chairs at the very front, sat two middle-aged men.
Zhang Sheng, Deputy Minister of the Research Department.
Wang Tingsong, Deputy Minister of the Evolution Department.
They were jointly responsible for this assessment.
In their hands was the detailed information of this batch of applicants.
Wang Tingsong nodded occasionally.
"The quality of this batch of examinees is not bad."
Flipping through, he saw a person and couldn't help but say "Eh?", then turned his head to look at Zhang Sheng.
"Old Zhang, your nephew wants to return to Mist Mountain City?"
At this moment, the information booklet in his hand was paused on a page featuring a somewhat gloomy-looking man.
[Zhang Qisheng] [Male, 28 years old] [Graduated from Shanwu Beast Academy, Nurturing Research Department. Won First Prize in the Western United Province Research Conference multiple times. Has...] [Intended Department: Evolution Department]
A whole A4 sheet, more than half of it was introducing his glorious resume.
Reading to the end, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh, he wants to enter our Evolution Department?"
"Our Evolution Department naturally welcomes such excellent talent!"
When every candidate registered, they would fill in their intended department.
Hearing Wang Tingsong's words, Zhang Sheng gritted his teeth.
He huffed and didn't speak.
He wanted his nephew to inherit his mantle and enter the Research Department.
He had even prepared the internal recommendation quota for him.
But this kid refused! He insisted on taking the exam based on his own efforts.
Taking the exam was fine, but he insisted on testing for the Evolution Department.
It simply made Zhang Sheng's liver ache with anger.
No amount of persuasion worked, so he could only let him be.
Speaking of which, he had just argued with his nephew that day when Zhou Tiangang called him to ask for an internal recommendation quota.
That was why Zhang Sheng's attitude was so terrible; he used Zhou Tiangang directly as an outlet for his emotions.
A mere Level 2 Researcher; Zhang Sheng didn't take him too seriously.
As for the status of a high school principal, he cared even less. Zhang Sheng knew a whole bunch of Beast Academy deans.
Seeing Zhang Sheng eat crow, Wang Tingsong laughed twice, feeling somewhat refreshed.
The two departments fought for resources often, so their relationship wasn't naturally good.
Why not be happy to disgust an old rival?
Continuing to flip back, some people's resumes might be considered good elsewhere, but for their Research Institute, they were just average.
In their Evolution Department, just the PhDs numbered over a dozen, each having won national awards.
[Zhou Qiong] [Female, 24 years old] [Graduated from Shanwu Beast Academy, Nurturing Research Department. Academy certified Outstanding Graduate. Has won...] [Intended Department: Research Department]
"Zhou Tiangang's daughter, coming to take the exam again?"
"Hope she succeeds this time."
[...]
"Gao Xu, Liu Bo, Yang Pei... these exam resumes look pretty good."
"What the...?"
When flipping to a certain page, Wang Tingsong suddenly froze.
Not because the information was too glorious, but because it was truly... too trash.
How dare you!
[Yi Tian] [Male, 18 years old] [Currently studying at Shanwu No. 2 High School. Has won the prize of one free bottle from opening an Iced Tea cap] [Intended Department: Evolution Department]
Wang Tingsong: ???
Ridiculous!
Here to experience the atmosphere?
Quite a brave little boy.
Among previous applicants, very few were under 20. Usually, they would dare to try only after achieving some academic success.
The Research Institute was a sacred place in the hearts of countless people.
Iced Tea prize?
Are you for real?
Actually, Yi Tian didn't want to fill it out like that either, but during registration, the "Honors Received" column could not be left blank.
And he had never received any honors, so he could only burn his bridges and fill in such a joke-like honor.
That resulted in this page in Wang Tingsong's hand.