Chapter 94: The Genius Unmasked

Principal Smith lowered his gaze to inspect the printed exam paper handed to him, his brows instantly furrowing into a deep scowl.

"You drafted questions this insanely difficult for an undergraduate impromptu test?!" the principal demanded, glaring at the Head of the Academic Affairs.

The academic director replied with a cold, unyielding smirk, "Principal Smith, didn’t Julian Vance strongly imply that he possessed god-tier capability? If I don’t give him a sufficiently challenging test, how on earth can we give him a legitimate platform to prove his exceptional talent?"

Principal Smith retorted coldly, "Director Lock, whether you are deliberately trying to frame and sabotage him or genuinely testing his abilities—we both know perfectly well what your true underlying purpose is here."

Director Lock remained silent, offering no defense. He turned his eyes toward Julian, his gaze filled with pure, spiteful mockery.

Julian Vance... I am 100% going to kick you out of Capital University in disgrace today.

He wouldn’t be able to flush out the bitter humiliation he felt until Julian was stripped of his student ID and permanently banished from the gates. In his mind, Julian was just a lucky, cheating undergraduate. He assumed that even if the principal felt temporarily dissatisfied with his aggressive tactics, the higher-ups would quickly forget about this minor student drama once the dust settled.

Down in the rows, the surrounding students began murmuring anxiously as they flipped through the distributed pages:

"This is completely insane... way too difficult! I have never even laid eyes on equations structured like this in our textbooks. I can officially guarantee that Julian has zero chance of passing this."

"Why on earth did they write the questions this maliciously hard?"

"Seriously! To fairly investigate whether Julian cheated on his initial exam, there is literally zero professional need to draft a demonic test like this!"

The students couldn’t help but feel a profound wave of unfairness on Julian’s behalf. Even if Julian hadn’t cheated on his mid-term exam, it was statistically impossible for anyone to clear this level of academic torture sprung on them with zero preparation.

Leo Vance sat in his seat, a smug, victorious smile blooming across his face.

Julian, Julian... so what if you managed to seduce a wealthy sugar mommy and drive a hypercar around campus? Sooner or later, she’s going to get tired of your useless antics and dump you out on the street like trash.

And as for today? Now that you’ve lost your university degree from Capital University and been expelled in public disgrace, let’s see how you plan to survive in society!

The Head of Academic Affairs stepped forward, clapping his hands loudly to command attention. "All right! Julian Vance, your impromptu examination starts right now. We are officially starting the countdown timer."

"You are granted a strict time limit of five hours to complete all forty custom questions across the five core subjects and achieve a cumulative score of at least 480 points."

"Understood," Julian nodded calmly.

He walked over to an isolated wooden desk set up in the dead center aisle, sitting down under the intense, collective scrutiny of all two hundred third-year finance students.

Julian picked up the printed exam papers and began scanning the first page.

However... after reading through the questions, Julian simply sat there in silence, staring down at the paper without showing the slightest intention of picking up his pen to write.

He was deliberately pacing himself with a dramatic flair—wanting to experience the satisfying psychological buildup of letting his enemies fully bask in their premature arrogance before delivering a devastating, face-slapping reality check, exactly like the classic tropes in web novels.

Fifteen full minutes ticked by in absolute silence.

Julian was still sitting motionless at the desk, doing nothing other than lazily staring down at the blank pages.

surrounding students were already whispering anxiously among themselves in the rows:

"Why has it been so long? Julian still hasn’t even touched his pen to write a single word. Could it be that he doesn’t know how to solve a single one of these questions?"

"That’s probably it. The allotted time limit is already ticking away rapidly. If he actually knew how to do them, he’d be rushing to write the answers down as fast as humanly possible."

"It looks like Julian really did cheat on his mid-term exam after all. Sigh... he’s definitely going to be expelled from the university in disgrace today."

Standing near the front, the Head of Academic Affairs let out a cold, triumphant snort. If he had known earlier how incompetent Julian’s true academic level was, he wouldn’t even have bothered roping in these veteran professors to draft custom questions—an ordinary sophomore-level quiz would have been more than enough to expose him.

Suddenly, the academic director’s eyes accidentally met Victoria Sterling’s dark gaze, causing his entire body to shudder violently with a sudden jolt of terror.

He frowned involuntarily, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. What on earth is this stunning woman? Why is her aura so terrifyingly ice-cold? That look in her eyes... it genuinely felt like she wanted to murder him on the spot...

"President Sterling, I sincerely hope Young Master Vance isn’t walking into any irreversible trouble here," Secretary Evelyn murmured quietly, her voice laced with worry.

If Young Master Vance was formally convicted of cheating today... even if Victoria Sterling used her immense corporate leverage as the largest shareholder to force the university to let Julian stay, the permanent reputational damage would severely stain his standing.

"Don’t worry," Victoria said, a soft, radiant smile blooming across her crimson lips. "My Julian will be perfectly fine."

Secretary Evelyn was left completely speechless.

This is considered ’no problem at all’?! Just what on earth gives President Sterling such blind, unshakeable confidence in him?

An hour later, Julian finally picked up his pen and began writing.

The drowsy students scattered across the lecture hall instantly snapped to attention, their eyes widening.

"Look! Someone has finally started writing!"