The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 227: Chapter 227: The Returned Assignment

That evening, running short on time, Ji You didn’t log into the Alliance intranet to play games; instead, she spent points to download the course from Professor Ye Hong of the Material Department and started watching. Perhaps due to the large consumption of Physical Strength and spiritual power during today’s shooting competition, coupled with her frequent use of spiritual power to contact Xiao You afterward, Ji You felt somewhat drained. She nodded off several times while listening to the lecture in front of her Light Computer.

Ji You forced herself to listen to the entirety of Professor Ye Hong’s lecture, then took out the materials she had prepared in advance and began to work on her homework.

Today’s lesson primarily explained several methods for processing liquids. Ji You followed the instructions given by Professor Ye Hong and completed the in-class assignments.

This time, she was overwhelmed by sleepiness and didn’t give the task much thought, methodically following the tutorial. The results were almost identical to those of Professor Ye Hong’s, with hardly any mistakes. After finishing, she hurriedly found a delivery robot to send her homework to the laboratory of Professor Ye Hong.

After sending it, Ji You checked the time and felt that it hadn’t been submitted late, hoping it wouldn’t be rejected.

So—

Ji You went to bed.

She slept soundly and had a beautiful dream in which she became the richest woman in the interstellar overnight.

**

Professor Ye Hong’s laboratory.

Professor Ye Hong was engrossed at the experimental bench, meticulously grading assignments. The Material Department’s freshman class consisted of over a thousand students, and he personally reviewed each piece of homework. Of course, he had machines to assist with checking; he didn’t need to examine each one individually but could follow along with the machine’s results for comparison.

Drip—

A prompt tone sounded in his ears, indicating that a student’s homework had been delivered.

Professor Ye Hong looked up and glanced at the retro clock in the laboratory; it was exactly 11 PM. If two seconds had passed, the assignment would be considered late.

Under normal circumstances, Professor Ye Hong would certainly have rejected it and even deducted academic points from the student.

But—

At this moment, Professor Ye Hong already knew whose homework it was.

—Ji You

—A poor student who seemed to have ’pride’ written all over her brain.

Professor Ye Hong, who previously thought Ji You would not submit her homework for days, had a glint of light in his eyes, but his face showed impatience as he muttered, ”She really knows how to time it right. Does she think I won’t deduct her points?”

Forget it.

After all, there were still two seconds left, not technically late.

But—

If there is a next time, he will certainly deduct her points.

Thinking this way, Professor Ye Hong raised his hand to unpack the parcel and check the homework himself.

This batch of students’ homework may seem uniform and orderly because the topic explained in this lesson was rather profound and challenging. Frankly, Professor Ye Hong felt that none of the submissions were particularly outstanding.

Hmm—

What about Ji You’s?

Although Ji You was not attending classes in person, every piece of homework she submitted had always surprised Professor Ye Hong. At this moment, whether he admits it or not, he had a certain level of expectation for Ji You’s work.

The result.

After checking the homework, Professor Ye Hong’s expression darkened.

What kind of lousy assignment is this?

It was clear it was done perfunctorily, with none of the impressive details.

Oh—

That’s not right; her homework was very standard, very orderly, thoroughly following his lecture and the steps he had demonstrated, replicating the example he had casually made in class with almost no difference.

Not to mention other points, just take these two for comparison.

Purity? Myself: 95.6%, Ji You: 95.55%.

Utilization rate? Myself: 80.1%, Ji You: 80.1%.

Upon seeing this, Ye Hong almost wanted to laugh out of anger.

Is this a good assignment?

Indeed.

This is an excellent copied assignment.

But does he need to educate a student who specializes in copying and imitating?

Ye Hong darkened his face, flipped through Ji You’s previous assignments again, and the more he looked, the more his heart ached – how earnest those past assignments had been, how clever the ideas, how neat the craftsmanship...

In frustration, Professor Ye Hong directly marked a huge cross on the grade column of Ji You’s assignment and appended a note: [I do not accept trash assignments!]

After grading, Professor Ye Hong had the robot repackage the assignment and send it to the recipient’s dorm.

After finishing all this, Ye Hong still felt unsatisfied. His face, full of furrows, was like a thunderous cloud looming over. Then, suddenly, he sent Mu Jianling a message: [Mu Jianling!!! Go mess with your Combat Department all you like, but don’t let it interfere with the studies of students from other departments! This is negligence! It’s an obstruction to the free choice of students from other departments! Please mind your own business!]

After sending the message, Professor Ye Hong huffed and puffed, furrowed his brow, wrinkled his nose, pursed his lips, set his face in a grimace, and left his laboratory.

On this side –

Having finished a day of training and now lounging lazily on the sofa, binging on shows, Mu Jianling was alerted by an urgent notification tone. Thinking something major had happened, he instantly turned off the drama and opened the message.

Upon a brief glance, he discovered it was a message from Ye Hong.

And —

What the hell?

What nonsense about negligence?

What warnings to behave?

Mu Jianling, completely baffled, closed the message and couldn’t help cursing: ”That old grumbler Ye Hong probably forgot to take his meds again.”

Why bother with someone like him, who will complain whether it suits him or not, blustering about everything and everyone?

After deleting the message, Mu Jianling continued watching his drama.

Ji You, lost in a dream of overnight riches, was totally clueless that her assignment had been marked with a big red cross or that, in some corner, her mentor Mu Jianling had shouldered half the blame for her.

The next day.

Waking up refreshed, Ji You got ready and put on a tank top and workout clothes, preparing to go out for a run. Although running wasn’t as effective as training in the gym, Xiao You, who made it a point to run every day, found it to be a very relaxing and stress-relieving activity.

Running continuously and surpassing various destinations made Ji You feel like she was overcoming difficulties and achieving goals. She enjoyed the process immensely.

Just before leaving, Ji You was surprised to find a package waiting for her, and it looked strangely familiar – wasn’t this the homework she had sent out yesterday?

What’s going on?

Ji You opened the package and immediately looked perplexed: her assignment was marked with a striking red cross, but she was sure she had done everything according to the standards, hadn’t she?

She was certain there was nothing wrong with her assignment.

And now, Professor Ye Hong was calling her assignment trash?

Ji You took out the work, carefully checked it again, and compared it to the data provided by Professor Ye Hong; she genuinely couldn’t find any issue.

Clearly, it was a standard assignment done by the book.

Then how come it turned into trash?

She couldn’t figure it out.

Ji You set it aside, deciding to review it again after today’s classes. If there were still no issues, she would definitely send a message to Professor Ye Hong, inquiring about his criteria for labeling assignments as trash.