Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 111: Review

Chapter 111: Review

Rajan fumbled a small box out of his pocket. "He said there are five inside."

"Got it," Lyra replied, slipping the items away and glancing at him. "Anything else?"

Rajan shook his head as he cast a quick, nervous glance at Zinnia. "Uh, no, boss. I’ll, uh, be going then."

Without waiting for a response, he bolted.

"Hey..." Zinnia called after him, but he was already gone, disappearing like a scared bunny. She turned to Lyra with a curious look. "Is he one of yours?"

Lyra raised an eyebrow but didn’t bother to answer. Instead, she simply started walking away.

Zinnia, tall and a little pouty, latched onto Mandy, who had been trying to make a quiet escape. "You know him, right?"

Mandy let out a sigh, tugging at her messy ponytail. "Rajan? He’s a senior. Works part-time at the factory, like me, but he’s mostly busy with school."

Zinnia’s "oh" came out slow, like she’d pieced together something important.

"Come on, we’re gonna be late."

By the time they arrived at the exam site, Thierry waved to them, but a group of eager classmates quickly surrounded him, begging for stories about his time working on the new planet project.

Thierry laughed, keeping it short. "It was fun, but, you know, kinda risky."

Zinnia, however, didn’t sugarcoat anything. "We ran into a level-eight beast. People died. We were mostly picking up bodies. You wouldn’t believe what those corpses looked like."

The group of curious students paled, not eager to hear more.

Neither Thierry nor Zinnia mentioned Lyra at all. People thought about asking her something, but the icy look on her face made them back down fast.

"Line up!"

Instructor Webber’s voice boomed, pulling their attention. It had been over a month since they’d last seen him, and he was as strict as ever.

His eyes scanned the students who had returned from Wyrmtrace, nodding when he saw everyone accounted for.

Then, he addressed the group. "Being a soldier isn’t a job where you can afford to slack. You’ve had a month off. Whether you spent that time training or slacking off will be obvious today. Let’s see what you’ve got."

The seriousness of the exam was clear, especially with the coordinator, Freida, standing by with her assessment book in hand.

Some students shifted nervously, while others seemed ready to go.

"Class one, form up!"

Lyra stretched her arms, making sure her stance was precise. She caught Webber glancing at her twice, and his look carried a clear message.

"Two hundred push-ups, then run to the hill, grab the flag, and get back. You have one hour. Time starts now!"

A collective gasp swept through the group.

Lyra wasted no time, dropping down to start her push-ups. She moved efficiently, choosing not to tap into her superpowers for the first two hundred.

When she finished, she set off in a run, trailing right behind Thierry and Zinnia.

But the short run to the hill quickly showed her limits. She was eating their dust in no time.

Even though she’d removed three Soul Spikes, her body still hadn’t bounced back to full strength. Quietly, she bent the rules a bit, managing to scrape by and finish just before the one-hour mark.

"Cough, cough, cough!" The familiar sound of her coughing echoed, almost unbelievable for someone who had once been a mecha competition champion.

The test rolled on with psychokinesis checks, mecha handling, shooting, and more. By the time the morning was over, everyone was worn out.

The afternoon didn’t offer any relief. As they stepped into the classroom, they were greeted by a stack of written exams. The collective groan was almost palpable.

Physical tests relied on muscle memory and past training, and this exam was all about what they had studied over the break.

For students used to digital exams, these handwritten tests felt like torture. And to make it worse, these scores would go straight into their graduation records, so there was no room for error.

"The school is brutal! A pop quiz? No time to cram!"

"Help! I spent the whole break messing around!"

"Ha! I knew about this ahead of time. Bought a review guide from a second-year. Just skimmed it, and I’ll at least pass!"

Claude leaned in and whispered, "Thierry, you didn’t get much study time since you were on Wyrmtrace, right?"

He was fishing for someone in the same sinking boat, hoping if they both bombed, it wouldn’t feel as bad facing the punishment together.

Thierry furrowed his brow. "Well, Cohen reminded me during the last week, so I crammed a bit."

Claude’s heart dropped. Of course, Thierry’s version of cramming was basically a master review for anyone else. He was practically guaranteed to ace it.

"It’s over, it’s over," Zinnia groaned dramatically, running a hand through her short hair. "I spent my whole break training with my brothers!" And of course, her whole family was hopeless when it came to academics, so no one even bothered to mention the upcoming exams.

She suddenly latched onto Lyra’s hand. "Lyra, you’ve gotta save me!" She winked, starting to make hand signs. "This is ’A,’ this means ’B’... You get it, right?"

Lyra blinked. "I didn’t have time to study."

She was still knee-deep in Wyrmtrace prep just yesterday. It was a miracle she even showed up to class.

Zinnia looked like she’d been struck by lightning. In desperation, she turned toward another roommate, but Mandy appeared even more panicked, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Once everyone was assigned their seats and the exam papers were passed out, the room fell silent.

The real variety of students started to show. Some stared blankly at the pages, not recognizing a single question. Others furiously scribbled, their pens moving so fast it felt like they were sprinting through the test, leaving everyone else in a state of despair.

Then, there were the classic cases—students who claimed they hadn’t studied at all, only to blast through the exam the second it landed on their desks.

Zinnia was different. When she said she hadn’t studied, she meant it. She barely remembered anything.

She shot a glance at Lyra, confused. ’Didn’t Lyra say she hadn’t studied either?’ Watching the speed of Lyra’s pen moving across the page, Zinnia leaned in to copy her answers.

The teacher at the front coughed pointedly, so Zinnia eased off, trying a new strategy—guessing the answers based on the sound of Lyra’s pen strokes.

’A’ had three strokes. ’B’ had two strokes and a curve. ’C’ had just one. ’D’ had two with no curve.

If only she had put this kind of effort into studying, she wouldn’t be in this mess now.

Lyra, catching on, sighed and slid the paper she had been using to block her answers, leaving the answer sheet visible. Now her pen strokes were even more obvious.

Mandy, sitting nearby, bit her lip and started copying too. Lyra had said it herself—if they didn’t get caught, it wasn’t cheating!

Thierry, a couple of rows behind, noticed what was going on. He smirked but didn’t intervene. It was only the multiple-choice answers, after all.

After three exhausting hours, the exam finally ended.

The room erupted in groans and complaints.

"Ugh, nothing on the test matched the second-year study guide I spent 200 astrocredits on!"

"Did we even cover this stuff in class? I’m seriously starting to doubt it."

"Who makes these exams? They dig up the most random, obscure topics!"

Zinnia slumped over her desk like a deflated balloon. "Lyra, you said you didn’t have time to study!"

Lyra gave her a sideways glance. "I’m getting food," she said and walked out.

Zinnia watched her go, feeling betrayed. "I thought we were failing together."

Mandy laughed and tugged Zinnia to her feet. "Lyra may not have studied, but that doesn’t mean she forgets stuff."

Someone like Lyra wouldn’t let herself fail over something as minor as an exam.

The results came out that night. Despite all the grumbling earlier, hardly anyone had actually failed.

Claude, though, stared down at his paper in disbelief. He had scored a 40 out of 100, solidly failing, while Thierry had, of course, gotten a perfect score.

It was obvious now—when other people said they hadn’t studied, they were probably bluffing. Only Claude had truly gone in unprepared.