Pressure Monster

But Ning Qingcheng suddenly raised her head, a flame of unyielding defiance igniting in her beautiful eyes for the first time as she stared dead at Lin Mo.

"What gives you the right to decide my life?"

"Decide your life? No, no, no, you're overthinking it."

Lin Mo chuckled, lightly tapping her forehead with his finger. "I'm not that bored. This is just a beginner's tutorial teaching you how to be a normal person. At eighteen, the tutorial ends. After that, whether you want to soar to the heavens or wallow in despair, it's entirely up to you."

Lin Mo looked straight at Ning Qingcheng. To him, although his first disciple seemed important, thinking about it carefully, it wasn't actually that big of a deal.

If the main account gets ruined, you can always level up an alt, right?

These words, tinged with a bit of mockery yet incredibly realistic, left Ning Qingcheng completely stunned.

All her pride and rebellion were probably as ridiculous as a child playing house in his eyes.

After a long while, the flame in Ning Qingcheng's eyes extinguished, replaced by a deathly stillness.

She nodded earnestly.

"I understand. I will go to school."

She paused, her voice lowering. "But I want to... go home for a trip."

"No problem." Lin Mo stood up and waved his hand casually. "If you want to go back, let Xia Zhi take you."

He seemed to remember something, pulling a warm jade pendant from his pocket and handing it to Ning Qingcheng.

The jade pendant was entirely translucent, with what seemed like flowing light swirling inside, emitting a faint warmth.

"This is a greeting gift from the sect. It can keep you safe. If something happens that you can't resolve yourself, I will know."

Ning Qingcheng looked at the jade pendant, then looked up at Lin Mo's face, which revealed neither joy nor anger.

She reached out in silence. The moment her fingertips touched the jade pendant, a warm current spread along her arm to her entire body, dispelling a bit of the chill.

She clutched the jade pendant tightly in her palm, lowered her head, and softly uttered two words in a barely audible voice.

"Thank you... Senior Brother."

--System: Just you wait! This system's modules are very powerful. You'll see in the future!--

Early in the morning, Lin Mo walked toward Guangba.

He wasn't speaking nonsense; there really was a Southern Olympus Mathematics Competition.

Unlike the ones he participated in before, this was considered a different kind of competition.

It was like the difference between various esports leagues and the World Finals.

Just as Lin Mo reached the gate, he saw Director Huang giving a lecture.

"Even though it's the holidays, you can't slack off like this. Patrol as you should. If you really want to play on your phones, don't do it in such conspicuous places, got it!"

Director Huang looked disappointed, wishing they would do better.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Lin Mo walking through the school gate, and he immediately turned around to greet him.

"Hey, Lin Mo, you're back. I was thinking of going to your place to pick you up later."

"I wouldn't want to trouble Director Huang. I'll head up and report to Teacher Xu first."

"Go on, go on. He should be in the classroom where you had classes before."

Director Huang didn't hold Lin Mo back for small talk; he still had the proper boundaries expected of an adult.

"Alright! I'll be going now."

After greeting him, Lin Mo headed upstairs.

Xu Haoming, who was in charge of competition training, wasn't in the classroom but in his own office.

After all, when it came to competitions, he only needed to provide the questions, answers, and problem-solving methods. He barely needed to supervise their self-discipline.

So he usually sat in his office organizing questions.

Lin Mo swept his divine sense and immediately knew where he was.

Once upstairs, he headed straight for the teachers' office.

Since it was summer vacation, there were no other teachers in the office.

Xu Haoming also received extra pay for coaching the competition, and it wasn't as busy as regular teaching days.

Lin Mo knocked on the door.

Knock, knock!

Xu Haoming looked up, his face breaking into a wide smile upon seeing Lin Mo.

"Lin Mo, you're finally back."

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Teacher Xu."

"No need to apologize. This competition isn't that difficult. However, after school starts, you'll be going to the Math Olympiad base in Tianjing for intensive training. That place gathers teenage geniuses from all over the country."

Xu Haoming had a lot of trust in Lin Mo.

It was just that the school always needed more honors, so naturally, Lin Mo had to return to compete for the school.

Lin Mo smiled and nodded. "We have to give other students some opportunities, after all."

But Xu Haoming shook his head. "If you say that, it might actually give them more pressure. If you're not there and they fail to win the honors, they might blame themselves even more."

People are complex.

Some people feel more stable knowing someone has their back, while others might just slack off.

But those willing to participate in the competition were all students with a genuine interest in math.

Instead, they were all chasing Lin Mo as their goal.

Like Tong Dong, for example.

As Xu Haoming spoke, he pulled out two test papers and handed them to Lin Mo.

"These are training questions I specially prepared for you. Every question has at least two solutions, and you have to write them all down. However, there's no reward if you write more."

Lin Mo took the papers, nodded, and left the office.

He walked to the Math Olympiad classroom. There weren't many people inside, but most of them sat apart from each other.

Lin Mo's footsteps didn't make them look up; these students had a very high level of concentration.

Lin Mo found a seat, sat down, and started working on the papers Xu Haoming gave him.

His hand speed and divine sense worked in tandem.

Lin Mo finished the papers incredibly fast—so fast that before others could even finish one paper, he had already completed both.

However, when he looked up, he saw a silent Tong Dong sitting nearby.

Lin Mo put away his papers and spoke to Tong Dong, "What's wrong? Did you just realize what a true chasm looks like?"

Tong Dong shook his head.

"I know your problem-solving methods too, it's just that you write too fast. Doesn't your hand get tired?"

It felt a bit like asking someone if their eyes were dry after hacking away for three days and three nights.

But this was fine too. Lin Mo glanced at the completed paper in Tong Dong's hand.

"Let's go, we'll head to Teacher Xu's together."

Lin Mo put his arm around Tong Dong's shoulder and walked out of the classroom.

Tong Dong was somewhat of a quiet loner, probably due to his family situation.

"Your dad hasn't done anything to you recently, right?"

"No, I live at school now. If I don't go home, he won't come looking for me."

Lin Mo patted Tong Dong's shoulder twice.

"Tell me if anything happens. You know I'm very good at fighting."

"Yeah, thank you, Lin Mo." As they walked, Tong Dong suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Right, there's something I want to ask for your help with."

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow.

"I want to ask you to come home with me to get back something my mom left for me. It's very important."

Tong Dong was about to give up on it entirely, but hearing Lin Mo say he was good at fighting reignited a spark of hope in him.

"I can do that, but my advice is to bring a teacher along. Letting the school know about your difficulties will bring you more benefits."

"Huh?" Tong Dong couldn't quite process that.