After a cold rain, early winter quietly arrived.
This winter wasn't as cold as the last. Shen Nian still only wore a jacket, and occasionally, when the temperature dropped, he would switch to a hoodie.
The usual temperature stayed around fourteen or fifteen degrees Celsius; that was just how the weather in Cinan was.
Of course, the fact that Shen Nian wasn't particularly afraid of the cold was also a factor.
"You finished so quickly?" The classroom was a bit warm. Xia Yanchun looked curiously at the small quadruped robot Shen Nian was tinkering with and asked in surprise.
"Pretty much." Shen Nian held out the quadruped robot for Xia Yanchun to see.
Artificial intelligence couldn't do without robots, but Shen Nian's main focus wasn't robotics; it was AI. He hadn't studied robots too deeply. This little quadruped robot was just something he completed following a tutorial, serving as a kind of class assignment.
After all, they hadn't yet divided into specialized majors. Even if one wasn't in the robotics track, they still had to take a few related courses.
The quadruped robot was only about the size of an open palm. It was quite modular, so putting it together was very simple. Aside from crawling forward and backward, it was basically useless, much like a toy race car.
If you had to describe it, it was a small robot that was more complex than a remote-control car but with worse performance.
The difficult part lay in how to use programming to make the little robot move.
This wasn't hard for Shen Nian, not to mention there were tutorials in the textbook and a teacher guiding them from the front.
Soon enough, Shen Nian used his program to make the small quadruped robot move. Although it stumbled a bit, he was the first student in the whole class to get the little robot moving.
"That's amazing..." Xia Yanchun blinked and then looked at her own, feeling quite embarrassed and frustrated with her own lack of progress.
"You just need to spend a little more time on it," Shen Nian grinned. "I'll teach you a trick."
"No thanks, I'll do it myself." Xia Yanchun refused, afraid that if Shen Nian taught her, she wouldn't truly learn how to do it herself.
Assignments weren't just for completion; they were for learning. She preferred to practice it herself, even if it meant being a bit slower.
Class ended.
A light, pattering rain had started falling outside, and the air was filled with the scent of damp dust.
Some boys had already dashed out of the teaching building while the rain was still light. The girls mostly huddled in twos or threes under a single umbrella.
Shen Nian narrowed his eyes. There were quite a few dark clouds, so it would probably rain heavily in the afternoon. Fortunately, he had no classes then.
Among the three of them, only Xia Yanchun had kept an umbrella handy. Shen Nian took the umbrella and ran off alone to get his car.
"Shiyan, we can still squeeze in over here!"
"You guys go back first, otherwise everyone will get wet in a bit!"
"How about I bring an umbrella out to pick you up later!"
"No need, no need, I'll walk with Little Chun."
A few girls walked away, splashing through the puddles, while the remaining boys and girls without umbrellas chatted about their own topics.
The smart boys had already started making their moves on the few girls in the class.
"Li Shiyan, I have an umbrella. Want me to walk you over?" A boy stood nearby, looking a bit foolish.
"Ah, no need..." Li Shiyan lowered her head, her small face flushing with embarrassment.
The boy scratched his head, ignoring Xia Yanchun beside her. He clearly didn't intend to let this opportunity slip by. Gripping his umbrella, he was trying to figure out what else to say when he heard Li Shiyan say softly:
"Um, Little Chun and I are sharing an umbrella..."
"Uh, you have an umbrella but you're still waiting here?" the boy asked curiously.
"I lent the umbrella to Shen Nian; he'll be over in a moment," Xia Yanchun said plainly.
"Oh..."
The boy was silent for a moment before he figured it out.
They probably gave their only umbrella to Shen Nian so he could go get more umbrellas.
Trembling with anger! At a time like this, you should be sharing a romantic umbrella in the rain with your boyfriend Shen Nian! Leave classmate Shiyan here alone so I can make a heroic entrance and walk her back to the dorms, okay!
He was dizzy with anger at Xia Yanchun's stupidity.
You have a partner yourself, but you won't let classmate Shiyan have one, right?
Not knowing what to say for a moment, he chose to wait with the two girls.
What if? What if when Shen Nian came over, the umbrella blew away in the wind? The world is a big place, there are always all sorts of coincidences, right?
What if fate really arrived?
The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. He was already picturing the scene where Shen Nian came over looking disheveled, only picking up Xia Yanchun and leaving Shiyan all alone.
When that time came, it would be his turn to make a heroic entrance!
Who wouldn't want to have a simple, sweet campus romance?
While he was fantasizing, a small white car turned the corner and parked not far away.
The car door opened, and Shen Nian stepped out of the driver's seat. He shoved an umbrella to Xia Yanchun and looked curiously at the boy standing next to Li Shiyan.
He knew this boy; it was Su Yingjie, an active student in their class. They often chatted together, but he didn't know why this guy was just standing there holding an umbrella instead of leaving.
"Shiyan, let's go, let's go." Xia Yanchun opened the umbrella, linked arms with Li Shiyan, and stepped out. They scurried over to the car, quickly opened the door, and squeezed inside.
"Holy crap, Shen Nian, this is your car!"
"Yeah." Shen Nian rubbed his chin and grinned. "Come on, bro, I'll give you a ride back to the boys' dorm."
Su Yingjie was scared to tears.
I thought you went to get umbrellas, but it turns out you were driving over.
After his surprise, Su Yingjie said awkwardly, "Why did Li Shiyan get in your car too? You guys seem really close..."
"That... is probably because the three of us were high school classmates before, right?"
"I see..."
The thought that two of the few girls in their class had both gotten into Shen Nian's car made Su Yingjie lose his composure.
Shen Nian, what right do you have? You really deserve to die!
This feels worse than killing me!
"Enough talk, I'm heading back." Shen Nian waved his hand, too lazy to even open an umbrella, and quickly got into the car.
No wonder he was standing next to the loli girl with an umbrella. This Su Yingjie probably had a thing for her.
The loli girl was so cute and smart; it would be weird if no boys were chasing her.
But that had nothing to do with Shen Nian. Shen Nian never played matchmaker. If he really managed to win the loli girl over, then he would give him credit for his skills.
Shen Nian glanced in the rearview mirror at the two girls who were now chatting about the previous assignment, and slowly started the car.
"Sigh, some people, as soon as their good friend arrives, they won't even sit in the passenger seat anymore," he started nagging in a drawn-out voice.
"Bleh, bleh." Xia Yanchun ignored him and continued chatting with Li Shiyan, though the topic shifted from homework to romance. "Hehehe, our Shiyan also has a boy who likes her now."
"No I don't, nonsense!" Li Shiyan's small face flushed red as she glared fiercely at Xia Yanchun.
"And you still deny it."
"It's been so long since school started, and I've hardly spoken to him. We were just in the same group for an assignment last time and interacted a few times..."
"It looks like he wants to pursue you, though."
"Ugh, so annoying. I don't even like him."
"Then what kind of boys do you like?"
"Hmm... he has to be a bit taller, a bit fairer, a bit more handsome, smart, and rich..."
Shen Nian interrupted, "I'm very sorry, but I do not have a twin brother."
Li Shiyan puffed up with anger, secretly rolled her eyes, and made several funny faces to show her disdain for Shen Nian.
Her list of requirements definitely did not include being thick-skinned!
Xia Yanchun chuckled, "Let's just ignore him. Who knew our dear Shiyan had such high standards."
"They aren't that high... Either way, I refuse to settle. If I don't find someone I like, I'll just live my life as a strong, independent single woman!"
"My sister used to say the exact same thing, and now she complains every day about having been single since birth."
"..."
Li Shiyan really wanted to curse him out, but to avoid being kicked out of the car by Shen Nian, she chickened out and pretended she hadn't heard a thing.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
