Tears of the Cloud and Sea

The system task panel hovered right in front of Shen Nian. He froze for a moment, carefully reading the text displayed on it.

How could there be a hidden mission when his main quest was still pending?

Shen Nian checked the rewards first—this hidden mission offered a whopping 10,000 gold coins...

What could a high schooler possibly want with money? Either top up in-game purchases or spend it on food and fun. Ten grand might not make waves in "Three Kingdoms Kill," but it was more than enough for him to live it up for a while.

The gold reward was secondary, though. The real prize was the title of 【Lucky Star】.

Right now, Shen Nian’s head was still adorned with the 【Novice Adventurer】 title, which was literally just a title—the measly charm boost it gave might as well not exist.

But this hidden mission’s Lucky Star title granted a full five points of luck.

If charm was something visible on the surface, luck was purely an abstract stat—one that sounded incredibly powerful.

In another world, luck would mean stumbling upon treasure chests, increasing equipment enhancement success rates, or landing critical hits with every strike...

In real life, good luck would mean acing exams by guessing right, turning a 10-yuan scratch card into hundreds or even thousands, pulling three gold-tier cards in a single 10-draw, or landing every headshot in PVP...

Wouldn’t that be basically like cheating?

Of course, this was just Shen Nian’s speculation. Luck +5 was a boost, but how effective it would be remained to be seen.

Still, who would complain about being too lucky?

Now, onto the mission requirements.

"Offer prayers to the Goddess of Fate..." So the question was—who was the Goddess of Fate?

It couldn’t be Xia Yanchun, could it?

Unlikely. In the system’s script, Xia Yanchun was his childhood friend, still stuck in the starter village at this point—no connection to the Goddess of Fate. His older sister being a saintess also seemed improbable.

Setting aside the Goddess of Fate, aside from praying to her, the mission also required collecting three items:

Tears of Cloud and Sea (1/1);

Bell of Wind and Song (0/1);

Raft of Poem and Painting (0/1).

Shen Nian fiddled with the hair tie in his hand, which had a sparkling blue gem attached to it. This little trinket was probably the so-called 【Tears of Cloud and Sea】.

The item’s name was poetic, if a bit pretentious.

As for the 【Bell of Wind and Song】 and 【Raft of Poem and Painting】, Shen Nian was completely lost.

What the hell were these? Pretty names aside, they were total riddles.

He didn’t have any bells or book rafts lying around either.

Hidden missions were clearly meant to be challenging—hence the "hidden" part. The fact that there was no time limit only proved that this wasn’t something to be completed quickly.

Other people’s systems: "Here’s five million, go wild. Don’t come back until you’ve spent it all."

Shen Nian’s system: "How should I hand out rewards? Oh, I’ve got an idea!"

Damn system, asking for trouble.

"What are you doing?" Xia Yanchun waved her pale little hand in front of his face, puzzled.

He hadn’t moved much since earlier, just sitting there like a log.

"Ahem, nothing." Shen Nian cleared his throat, snapping back to reality as the system panel automatically retreated to the top-right corner of his vision before fading away.

"By the way, where did you buy this?" Shen Nian twirled her hair tie around his fingers.

"Hmm... I kinda forgot. I brought all my hair ties from my hometown—got a bunch of them. Haven’t bought any since starting high school."

"Tch, figures."

If he knew where the hair tie came from, he might’ve been able to check the store for more. But since Xia Yanchun didn’t even remember, that lead was dead.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Shen Nian grinned. "I, the Great Jiangnan Bandit, hereby declare that this hair tie is now mine."

"Great Jiangnan Bandit? This is outright robbery! Give it back—I need it to tie my hair." Xia Yanchun stretched out her hand.

"You already know I’m robbing you, yet you’re asking for it back? How dumb can you be?"

"What do you even want it for? It’s just a hair tie."

"Big bro’s got secrets. All you need to know is that it belongs to me now."

Shen Nian looped the hair tie around his fingers, refusing to return it. "I’ll buy you a new one later."

"What’s gotten into you…" Xia Yanchun sighed. It was just a two-yuan trinket—the "friend fees" Shen Nian had given her could buy fifty of these.

Conclusion: Shen Nian was purely messing with her.

"Fine, take it. I’ll just ask Shi Yan for one later."

"Hehe, you’re the best, Chunbao."

Since Chunbao was being so nice, maybe he wouldn’t tell her mom about her accepting his "friend fees" tonight.

The lunch break bell rang, the school speakers started playing music, and the AC kicked in. Shen Nian immediately turned it on.

Salvation.

Xia Yanchun also fanned herself, flipping her hair to cool down. Her face visibly relaxed. Before anyone else arrived, she quickly wiped her skin with a wet wipe.

When she reached under her clothes to wipe, she made sure to turn away from Shen Nian.

Luckily, Shen Nian wasn’t a creep who’d think about steeping sweat-soaked wipes in water to drink.

He asked Xia Yanchun for two wipes and cleaned himself up too. When Chen Dong arrived, he handed him one.

"What’s this?"

"A sweat-soaked wipe for you to brew tea with."

Chen Dong: "???"

Their deskmate, Ma Mingfan, shot them a weird look, his eyes darting between the two before settling on Chen Dong.

His gaze held 30% shock, 30% suspicion, and 30% delight.

"Hehe, if you’re into that, I’ve got some too..." He shyly pulled out two tissues from his desk.

Chen Dong: "???"

The sky was falling.

"You bastard! You’ve ruined my reputation! You—!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Stop laughing!"

Today, only one of them would walk out alive.

......

"These boys are way too energetic..." Li Shiyan mumbled, groggy from her nap, watching the boys’ noisy antics with envy.

After her midday sleep, she was basically a zombie for the rest of the afternoon. But if she didn’t nap, she’d be dead tired. If only she had their energy—her grades would skyrocket.

"Shi Yan, do you have a hair tie?"

"Yep." Li Shiyan rummaged through her bag and pulled out a small hair tie. "What happened to yours?"

"It broke."

"You look good with your hair down too. Not me, though—I’d look like a ghost."

"Who says?" Xia Yanchun pinched Li Shiyan’s cheek playfully. "My Shi Yan is the cutest."

"Hehe, here you go."

Li Shiyan dug through her bag again. Some hair ties were poor quality, so girls always carried extras just in case.

Xia Yanchun tied her hair into her usual ponytail, revealing her swan-like neck, with the strands at her temples neatly tucked away.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shen Nian watching her and turned her face away. Who was to blame for her hair being down in the first place?

Shen Nian flashed a sunny, toothy grin.

"..."

That was definitely a provocation!

Class began. The teacher lectured at the podium while Shen Nian worked on problems under his desk, idly spinning someone’s hair tie in his left hand.

He sniffed his fingertips—the familiar scent lingered.

.

600+ power stones for the next chapter!

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