bioinnovel Chapter 27 Arrival in Hangzhou
Chapter 27 Arrival in Hangzhou
The superconducting train sped across the open field for several hours.
Lin Yuan leaned against the window, staring blankly at the scenery outside.
The train passed through a hilly area; the mountains were not high and were covered with lush vegetation.
Further into the distance, the outline of a city can be vaguely seen.
"Dear passengers, our next stop is Hangzhou. Passengers who wish to disembark, please prepare accordingly."
A flight attendant's gentle voice came over the loudspeaker.
Lin Yuan sat up straight and took the spear from the luggage rack.
The train slowed down.
As the train entered Hangzhou city, Lin Yuan's face was almost pressed against the train window.
It's not because they've never seen the world.
Although Donghai City is a small city, it has all the buildings and streets that are necessary.
However, the architecture of Hangzhou and Donghai City are completely different concepts.
Most of the buildings in Donghai City are five or six-story brick-concrete structures. The tallest is the five-story gray building of the Superpower Association, which stands in the city center and can be seen from afar, making it a landmark of Donghai City.
"Compared to this place, Donghai City is practically a county town," Lin Yuan couldn't help but mutter.
The key point is that Hangzhou is not even ranked as a first-tier city in China.
In the city ranking system of the Dragon Kingdom, Kyoto and Shanghai are top-tier cities, Wuchang and Shenzhen are near-top-tier cities, and Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Suzhou are considered strong second-tier cities.
A strong second-tier city has already left Donghai City far behind.
What will it be like in Shanghai?
Lin Yuan suddenly understood why those big families in Donghai City were so eager to send their children to first-tier cities.
It's not just a matter of resources and opportunities; in terms of perspective alone, someone who stays in Donghai City for a lifetime could never catch up.
The train slowly pulled into the platform at Hangzhou Station.
Lin Yuan carried his spear and stepped off the train, standing in the middle of the crowd.
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
Hey! Classmate!
Lin Yuan turned his head.
There were three people standing behind him, two men and one woman, who looked to be about the same age as him, around eighteen years old.
The one who patted him on the shoulder was the boy in the middle, who wasn't very tall, just over 1.7 meters, and had a round face.
Standing to his left was a tall, thin boy wearing black-rimmed glasses, carrying a standard-issue longsword, and looking somewhat reserved.
On the right is a girl with a ponytail, an oval face, and thick eyebrows, which makes her look a bit heroic.
All three were carrying weapons; the round-faced boy had a short knife hanging from his waist, and the girl had a longbow and a quiver on her back.
"You're here to take the college entrance exam for people with superpowers, right?" the round-faced boy asked enthusiastically, continuing his story before Lin Yuan could answer.
"We are too! Seeing you carrying a gun and all alone, you must be a test taker. My name is Jiang Ran. This girl with glasses is Chen Mo, from our class. Her name is Song Zhiyi, from the class next door."
The boy named Chen Mo pushed up his glasses and nodded at Lin Yuan.
The girl named Song Zhiyi looked Lin Yuan up and down, her gaze lingering on the battle-worn spear on his shoulder for a moment before she nodded in greeting.
Lin Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say, "I'm not here to take the college entrance exam," but he swallowed the words back.
He certainly knew about the college entrance exam for people with superpowers.
All high school students in the Dragon Kingdom who have awakened supernatural abilities must take the Supernatural Ability College Entrance Examination, which is equivalent to a combination of the college entrance examination and the martial arts examination in his previous life.
If you do well on the exam, you can get into one of the top four universities.
He did averagely on the exam and ended up in a regular academy for people with superpowers.
If you fail the exam, you can only become a social superhuman.
However, he has already been admitted to a university in Shanghai, so theoretically he does not need to take the college entrance examination.
However, with a four-hour layover, there's nothing else to do anyway.
Moreover, he was indeed a bit curious about the "college entrance examination" in this world. Back in Donghai City, he hadn't even attended high school properly for more than a few days, so the college entrance examination was a distant concept for him.
"Yes." Lin Yuan nodded. "I'm also here to take the college entrance examination. My name is Lin Yuan."
He didn't mention Donghai City, nor did he mention the Shanghai University. Jiang Ran's smile grew even brighter.
"What a coincidence! We just arrived and are about to go to the test center to register. Want to go together?"
The test center in Hangzhou is located at the practical training base in the west of the city, which is a bit far from the station. We called a taxi, and luckily there was still one seat available.
Lin Yuan thought for a moment and nodded.
Since I have four hours to kill anyway, I might as well go and see what the college entrance exam for people with superpowers is like. It'll broaden my horizons.
"OK."
The four people walked out of the waiting hall.
The car Jiang Ran called was silver-gray. Lin Yuan leaned his spear against the seat, the tip of which was pressed against the gap between the roof and the door. At least he didn't have to be careful for fear of poking someone.
"Driver, to the West City Combat Training Base," Jiang Ran said to the driver in front.
The driver was a man in his forties with a buzz cut and wearing a gray jacket. He glanced at the four young men in the rearview mirror and chuckled.
"High school seniors, huh? They all flock there every year around this time. Buckle up."
The hovercar rose silently, half a meter off the ground, and then glided forward smoothly.
"Isn't that awesome?" Jiang Ran noticed Lin Yuan's gaze and said with a smile.
"I was stunned when I first came to Hangzhou. Do you know how I reacted when I first saw the holographic GG sign? I thought someone was actually performing fire-breathing on the street."
Song Zhiyi leaned against the car window and added casually, "He still gets stunned when he sees it now."
"Hello!"
Lin Yuan smiled.
Song Zhiyi didn't talk much, but every time she did, it was quite insightful. Chen Mo didn't say much throughout, just sat quietly in his seat, occasionally adjusting his glasses, his gaze shifting back and forth between the view outside the window and Lin Yuan's spear.
He looked at the gun several times, his lips moved as if he wanted to ask something, but in the end he didn't say anything.
"By the way, Lin Yuan, what's your cultivation level?" Jiang Ran was a natural chatterbox and didn't care that Lin Yuan was a man of few words; he could keep the conversation going on his own.
"I am a level 3, first-tier lightning elementalist, Song Zhiyi is a level 4, first-tier wind elementalist, she is the highest among us. Chen Mo is a level 2, first-tier earth elementalist."
He patted Chen Mo on the shoulder, causing Chen Mo to stagger forward slightly. He adjusted his glasses and mumbled a "Hmm."
Lin Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Lightning element, Tier 1, Level 4."
He did not report the true extent of his spiritual attainment.
The first-tier level 7 was too eye-catching. He had just glanced at Jiang Ran and the other two with the system panel at the station.
Their cultivation levels were indeed as they themselves said: Jiang Ran was at level 3 of the first rank, Chen Mo at level 2 of the first rank, and Song Zhiyi at level 4 of the first rank.
This level is already quite good among people of the same age.
The students at Donghai No. 1 Middle School have been awakened for ten days, but most of them are still hovering between not yet entering the first level and the first stage.
As for Su Qingyue, an S-rank Ice Phoenix, she underwent six rounds of bone tempering. The Su family poured three years' worth of resources into her, and she only reached the third level of the first rank in ten days.
Of course, that was a few days ago.
She made another breakthrough these past few days—the two had a brief phone call yesterday, and Su Qingyue said she had reached the fifth level of the first tier.
Lin Yuan himself has been busy these past three days.
The injury to my right shoulder healed very quickly thanks to the restorative power of the Nine-Wheel Bone Tempering Technique, and by the third day it no longer affected my mobility at all.