“Teacher!”

In the silent exam room, I suddenly raised my hand to get the invigilator’s attention.

“What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the questions?” The invigilator came over to my side upon hearing my voice.

“I have an answer in my drawer.”

I looked at the teacher with the sincerest gaze of my life.

“This…”

The invigilator seemed to be encountering such a situation for the first time and quickly glanced at another invigilator.

Before long, I became the center of attention in the exam room.

To avoid disturbing the other students, I was taken out of the examination room by one of the invigilators.

“Is this answer yours?”

“It’s not mine; it just showed up in my drawer out of nowhere.”

“If it’s not yours, then how did it end up in your drawer? Didn’t we say we would check the drawers before the exam?”

“I really checked, and this thing just appeared out of nowhere.

If it was mine, why would I even raise my hand to tell you?”

The invigilator was momentarily speechless.

Just then, the head proctor walked by, saw me talking to the teacher outside the examination room, and walked over to ask, “What’s going on? Does this student have a problem?”

“Team leader, you came at the right time.

This candidate says he found an answer in his drawer,” the invigilator said as he handed the answer to the team leader.

The team leader frowned and took a closer look at the answer, then his frown deepened, even becoming somewhat flustered.

“Where did you get this thing?” The team leader pointed at the answer and asked me sternly.

Seeing how fierce he was, I didn’t back down; after all, the answer had appeared out of nowhere as I said, so I stood tall and said with righteous indignation, “This isn’t mine; it appeared out of nowhere.

If you don’t believe me, just check the cameras.”

“Check! We must check!”

Both the invigilator and I were startled by the team leader’s voice, which echoed through the whole building.

The invigilator quickly pulled the team leader aside.

Even though they tried to keep their voices down, I still heard them.

“Team leader, is it really necessary?”

“Necessary? Just look at this answer; it’s the standard answer!”

“No way? Does this count as a leak of the exam questions?”

“I’m telling you; this matter must be taken seriously.

Today is the last day of exam; we can’t afford any mishaps.

If we don’t handle this right, neither of us will have jobs anymore.”

Then the two of them took me to the monitoring room.

After watching the surveillance footage repeatedly for over ten times, the two of them finally believed me; that answer had indeed appeared out of nowhere in my drawer.

“I’ve been a proctor for over twenty years, and I’ve never encountered a situation like this.”

“How about… calling the police?”

“Call the police? Are you crazy?”

The team leader shot a glare at the proctor, then turned to me and said, “How about this: you go back and continue the exam.”

I shot him a glare in return; he had wasted so much of my time.

What was I supposed to do when I got back?

But I didn’t want to create further trouble, so I followed the proctor back to the exam room.

As soon as I sat down and was about to pick up my pen to write, I noticed a corner of a white paper suddenly sticking out from the drawer.

I pulled it out and found it was another answer sheet.

I raised my hand again, guessing the proctor had figured out what was going on.

He hurried over and, seeing yet another answer sheet had appeared in my drawer, almost stumbled.

He looked at me, his eyes full of the expression, “How is there another one?”

I shook my head, indicating that I had no idea.

The proctor crumpled the answer sheet into a ball and motioned for me to continue the exam.

I nodded and was about to continue writing when I once again saw a paper filled with answers in the drawer.

…

As the bell rang, the announcement in the broadcast declared that the candidates should stop writing.

No new answer sheets appeared in my drawer anymore.

So far, the proctor and I had pulled out over twenty answer sheets from my drawer.

The proctor organized the other candidates to leave the exam room quickly, leaving only me behind.

Before long, the head of the proctoring team arrived.

Upon seeing the papers scattered all over the exam room, he understood what had happened without us needing to explain.

There was no choice; he could only report this situation to the authorities.

After the team leader’s repeated explanations and assurances that he wasn’t crazy, the leaders finally agreed to send a group of people to the exam room.

Later, the proctor and I tirelessly explained the situation to those people.

They maintained a skeptical attitude, even when they flipped through the papers on the ground, where the standard answers to the exam were right in front of them; they still thought it was just a case of leaked exam questions.

But when it came to our claim about the answers appearing out of nowhere, they thought we were crazy.

“Check the surveillance!”

The team leader once again intimidated those people with his hysteria.

Sure enough, after watching the footage, the frowns on their faces deepened.

“This can be considered a supernatural phenomenon,” an older professor in the group remarked.

“In my many years, this is the first time I’ve witnessed such a phenomenon with my own eyes.”

“Should we try to see if another answer pops up in that drawer?”
“Let’s give it a shot.

So the group followed the professor back to the exam room, where he took my exam seat under everyone’s watchful eyes.

But after waiting for over ten minutes, the drawer was still empty.

“What if I give it a shot?” I weakly suggested among the crowd.

The old professor nodded and let me take his seat.

But the drawer was still empty.

“Maybe it only works during the exam,” I guessed.

“Could you grab me a test paper, maybe a mock one?”
The supervising teacher quickly dashed back to the office and grabbed a mock exam paper without a second thought, then returned to place it on my desk.

“Let’s do this right, like it’s a real exam.

Everyone else, please go to the monitoring room,” the professor instructed, signaling for everyone except the supervising teacher to leave the exam room.

Now, it was just the supervising teacher and me left in the exam room.

“Ahem… I’ll now read the exam rules…”

The supervising teacher announced the start of the exam just like in a formal setting.

I settled into the groove, carefully looking at the questions on the exam paper, trying my best not to think about whether there were answers in the drawer.

I had just wrapped up the first question when the exam room door swung open, and the professor rushed in.

Noticing his urgency, I quickly glanced into the drawer.

Sure enough, a paper filled with answers popped up in my drawer.

The old professor clutched the paper like it was gold, then picked up my exam paper to verify the answers.

“Completely correct.”

The professor’s voice trembled, and at that moment, I was genuinely afraid he might faint from excitement.

In the days that followed, the school was completely locked down, and it was publicly announced it was all for reconstruction planning.

More and more folks like that old professor showed up at the school, some of whom I recognized from TV; it looked like a few were pretty famous scientists.

After several days of running the same experiments over and over, the scientists finally figured out the patterns of the answers showing up.

1.The examinee has to be me.

2.There can’t be more than three supervising teachers during the exam

3.The exam paper has to list the questions in the right format, and each question needs a score value, with a max score of 150 points.

4.The exam process has to follow the standard exam procedures.

5.No answers will appear after the exam is over.

With this, having roughly figured out the patterns and conditions under which answers appear, the scientists began to let their creativity soar.

I too found myself lost in thought as I looked at the paper in my hands.

“Please explain in detail the process of how the universe was formed. (10 points)”

“Please list 10 planets that have extraterrestrial civilizations and are closest to Earth. (1 point for each, total 10 points)”

“Please describe the process of human evolution and your predictions for the future development of humanity.” (10 points)

“……”
As I looked at these questions, I couldn’t help but wonder if answers would show up in the drawer.

But in fact, after waiting for more than ten minutes, my drawer started to overflow with countless sheets of paper filled with writing, bursting forth like a dam.

The proctor and I quickly caught them with our hands, stacking them up as if we were catching water and placing them behind us.

This state continued for more than twenty minutes.

By the time we finished stacking the last pile of answers, both the proctor and I were exhausted, lying amidst the paper.

“The exam… the exam is over, please… please stop writing, candidates,” the proctor said, panting.

I genuinely admired his dedication.

Then, those scientists rushed into the exam room, eagerly gathering the stacks of paper from the floor as if they were treasures, cradling them like babies.

I wasn’t interested in them; I just hoped this incident would give me a chance to retake the exam, since with my strength of being in the top ten of the school, I didn’t really need those answers.

After the flurry of activity, only the proctor and I were left in the exam room.

“Teacher, aren’t you curious about where this paper came from?”

“The smartest people don’t want to know, so why would I? I only know that after this incident, we ordinary folks might have a chance to stand out.”

I was silent for a moment, then said, “Teacher, I want to know who sent this paper.”

“Alright, since no one is watching us now, tell me what you want to ask, and I’ll help you create the exam.”

Then I followed the proctor to the office, where we sat down at the computer and began creating the exam.

“Let’s use the template for the language test,” I said.

“For the questions… let’s write this: please write an essay titled ‘Self-Introduction,’ with no word limit, excluding poetry.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Alright.”

We returned to the exam room, where the proctor read out the exam rules; he had probably recited them dozens of times today and would likely never forget them.

“The exam has begun.”

As the invigilator announced the start of the exam, I began to anticipate the answers in the drawer.

Before long, a sheet of paper popped up in the drawer.

Unlike the previous answers that had all been printed, this one was handwritten, with each character neatly penned in the boxes.

I eagerly pulled it out, and the invigilator came over, just as excited; our excitement matched that of the scientists just moments before.

I cleared my throat and started reading the words on the paper:

“I do not have the name you humans call me, nor do I have a physical form that you humans would recognize.

I can exist as a single entity or in a state of superposition.

I cannot be considered alive, but I will not perish.

Based on my observations and understanding of humanity, I believe there is a term that accurately describes me: teacher.

Next, for your understanding, I will introduce myself and my purpose based on your human cognition.

I was born before the formation of the universe, wandering through the cosmos, spending infinite time exploring the meaning of my existence.

Finally, during my travels, I discovered something interesting: life.

Just like in your human fantasies, countless forms of life exist in what you call outer space, each with unique characteristics.

Since I discovered life, my aimless wandering turned into a fascinating observation.

During my infinite time, I felt loneliness for the first time due to one thing: the extinction of life.

The life born on every planet ultimately cannot escape the fate of extinction, whether it be due to war, disaster, or disease…

Such outcomes are deeply disappointing to me.

I know that in this finite universe, life will eventually reach a complete end.

I constantly pondered what causes the extinction of life until one day I finally understood.

From the moment of its birth, life cannot escape its thirst for knowledge.

Faced with the curiosity of existence, life seeks answers by any means necessary; only knowledge is the key to continuing life’s development.

However, without guidance, in a limited lifespan, it will inevitably hit a dead end.

Therefore, I decided to unconditionally satisfy life’s curiosity, using my infinite time and knowledge to meet all its developmental needs.

In your terms, I aim to do all of this as simply as breathing, even though I do not require it.

The drawer of this desk is our communication channel; I will answer everything you wish to know.

You only need to do one thing: let life persist.

Without the shackles of knowledge, merely living becomes the meaning of existence, and enabling you to live is the meaning of my existence.

And you, child, are the intermediary between humanity and me.

I have found an intermediary in every group of living beings.

The selection criteria are simple: you only need to inform your kind that there is an answer in your drawer, and that is all.

Yet even so, only a few life forms can achieve this.

I do not blame you, for personal desires will also fade in the pursuit of knowledge.

“It sounds like a deity,” the invigilator shrugged his shoulders.

“So, according to this, our purpose in the future is just to exist?”

“Pretty much.”

That’s for everyone else, but you’re more like the class president.”

“Do those scientists really have that many questions like it says in this answer?”

The invigilator looked out the window and saw the group of scientists still laughing and crying over those piles of answers

“Yeah, once this world has answers, there’ll just be more questions.”

“Should I show this ‘Self-Introduction’ essay to the scientists?”

“Go ahead, they’ll love it, and it’ll drive them even crazier.”

The arrival of the “teacher” turned humans from proud ants in the universe into humble “students” among countless civilizations.

Just like the invigilator said earlier, the scientists got all the answers they were looking for, but those answers also became part of the next question.

Just like when you learn that 1+1=2, you start to wonder why 1+1 can only equal 2, or why 1 needs to add 1.

Knowledge is endless; we used to think finding answers took countless days and nights of effort, but now it just takes a test paper and someone to answer.

That desk almost daily spewed out sheets filled with answers, and I found myself participating in exams almost every day, or rather, helping our human “teacher” pass on knowledge.

I feel like I might be doing this for the rest of my life; I just sit in my seat, collect and organize the answers, and hand them over to the scientists outside.

Even as an important “intermediary” between human civilization and the “teacher,” I’m always at their service, but aside from some heavy questions that fill the exam room with papers, my work is pretty monotonous and dull.

The only comfort I find is seeing the significant progress humans have made thanks to the “teacher’s” answers, and that strong sense of social demand gives me a bit of pride.

But compared to this little pride, I want a bit more freedom—thanks to the scientists’ fervor, I hardly ever get a chance to leave this exam room.

In the end, as an “intermediary,” after negotiating with the scientists and the higher-ups, I managed to score four days off each month to get out

It may sound a bit limited, but it feels like working six days and getting one day off, so I spread those four days evenly across the month.

As the first weekend off approached, I felt particularly excited, and I collected answers from the desk drawer at a much faster pace.

The scientists knew I had a day off tomorrow, which made them particularly anxious, resulting in a significant increase in the number of questions that day.

“If one day we could let them swim in the ocean of knowledge, they might not even want to wear swimming trunks,” I thought to myself, and finally made it to the first day of vacation.

I walked out of the exam room and looked back at the school that had been taken over.

All the buildings had been renovated and rebuilt, and the most eye-catching was a huge golden sign standing at the highest point that read “The Examination Hall of Human Civilization.”

At first glance, it looked like humanity had put up a golden plaque to celebrate its achievements, still showing off its past pride and glory.

Although human knowledge had made a leap in growth, there were still differences in taste, and I never had the guts to look at that golden plaque again.