During lunch break, Shen Nian leaned on the windowsill, gazing at the cafeteria in the distance.
The military cadets had already lined up outside the cafeteria—there was no hope for us now.
Shen Nian used to love rushing to the cafeteria, but this week, even Usain Bolt would have to obediently wait for the cadets to finish eating.
Quite a few classmates were still in the classroom, mostly girls. Some were studying, while others chatted with their new desk mates. Xia Yanchun sipped from her straw, laughing and chatting with hers.
Shen Nian summoned the system panel—he had triggered two quests so far.
[Main Quest: Courage is the Hymn of Humanity!]
[Side Quest: Combat Skills—I Grow Stronger Alone!]
One required him to fight monsters, the other to study. Though they seemed like separate tasks, the side quest was just a stepping stone for the main one.
Easy enough.
Neither quest had a time limit, so Shen Nian wasn’t in a hurry.
When the crowd thinned, Shen Nian and Chen Dong headed to the cafeteria for lunch. By 12:50 PM, only Shen Nian and Xia Yanchun remained in the classroom—the others had already returned to the dorms.
"Hey, I’ve got some study materials. Want them?"
"What subject?"
"English."
Shen Nian’s face twisted in dismay. He wanted to shout, "Screw learning a foreign language!"
But he didn’t dare—English was a core subject, worth 150 points on the exams. Plenty of room for improvement.
"Hand them over."
"Here." Xia Yanchun tossed him a copy of 3500 Essential Words for the Gaokao along with her own notes on frequently tested grammar.
"Memorize all this, and if your English score isn’t at least 120, I’ll eat a strawberry sundae."
"With extra toppings?"
"Hmph, you should be grateful for my notes."
Cinan No. 2 High School’s curriculum was fast-paced. The first two years covered all three years of high school material, leaving the third year for review. Xia Yanchun’s notes already included every commonly tested grammar rule.
Scoring 140 in English seemed like a pipe dream to Shen Nian—he was barely scraping 50. A threefold gap.
Flipping through the notes, he was met with dense scribbles. He immediately shut the book.
He had to admire her dedication. His own math notes were all in his head, and his mistake journal was barely five pages long.
"Guess I’ll take it step by step. Start with the vocabulary."
"Then start now. I’m here to supervise—you’ll memorize daily, and I’ll quiz you!"
"Since when did you become a teacher?" Shen Nian scoffed.
"Fine, give them back if you don’t want them."
"Your notes are great, but they’re mine now."
"..."
Her almond eyes brimmed with exasperation. Xia Yanchun was genuinely speechless, doubting whether Shen Nian was serious about studying.
If he was just paying lip service to effort while half-slacking, she’d never bother with his academics again.
Fake diligence might fool a rival, but don’t fool yourself.
Cinan was just a third-tier city with limited educational resources. Among its dozen high schools, only three were "model institutions"—Cinan No. 2 High School being one.
Luckily, Cinan had a local 985-tier university. Below that were second-tier schools, though rumors of upgrades to first-tier had gone nowhere.
Shen Nian’s grades hovered awkwardly around the first-tier cutoff. Without improvement, he’d have to leave town for college.
"You know, if you don’t step it up, you’ll end up at some out-of-town first-tier school."
"I’m trying, I’m trying! Nagging won’t help. Right now, sleep is priority number one."
Shen Nian stacked books into a makeshift pillow and flopped onto them.
For high schoolers, napping was sacred. Skip it, and you’d be dozing like Jiang Taigong by afternoon.
Xia Yanchun said nothing. She pulled a small pink pillow from her bag and lay down too.
The midday campus rustled with tree shadows and chirping insects. Occasionally, the screech of tires on asphalt pierced the air—jarring, yet oddly soothing to those napping.
At 2:10 PM, the cursed school bell rang, followed by the usual playlist:
Tomorrow Will Be Better
The Ordinary Road
Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies
Youth
How was this the same nationwide?
Individually, they were 👆 (thumbs up).
Together? 👎 (thumbs down).
Shen Nian splashed water on his face in the restroom, shaking off drowsiness. Xia Yanchun was awake too, but barely—strands of hair stuck to her lips unnoticed as she sat dazedly, legs clamping her arms.
Body awake, soul still asleep.
Like many girls, she kept wet wipes handy. A quick swipe over her face brought back some vitality.
Then she blinked in surprise—Shen Nian was tilting his chair back, reciting English words.
Must be dreaming.
Nope. He was actually serious.
A warm pride swelled in her chest.
She’d practically watched him grow up.
Almost like his... half-mom? Seeing him work hard felt natural—
Wait. Did that make him her half-dad?
Xia Yanchun’s expression soured. She quickly scrapped the weird familial analogy. Better stick to being rivals.
"Working hard, huh? How far’d you get?" She sidled up to him, clearing her throat.
Shen Nian frowned. "Drink some water. Morning breath’s brutal—you think you’re a fairy?"
"!"
Xia Yanchun cupped her mouth, exhaled, then flushed pink with embarrassment. She gulped two mouthfuls of water just in case.
"Ha—still bad?" She breathed out.
"Just kidding." Shen Nian smirked.
"...With that attitude, if you ever get a girlfriend, I’ll eat dirt!"
"Free meal?"
"...!!"
She was this close to hitting him.
Don’t rage, don’t rage. Anger shortens lifespans...
Xia Yanchun patted her chest, calming down. Her gaze shifted from seeing Shen Nian as a person to seeing him as a certified idiot.
"How far’d you memorize?"
"Just a few basics. I’ll do more during self-study."
"I know some high-frequency Gaokao English words. Wanna hear?"
Shen Nian perked up. "There’s such a thing?"
Xia Yanchun’s eyes curved with glee. She loved his eager-student act.
Just thinking about her punchline made her lips twitch.
"Well? Want to know?"
"Spit it out."
After milking his curiosity, she paused dramatically.
"The—appeared 1,500 times. Of—842 times. And—573 times, blah blah..."
Shen Nian: "..."
No wonder we’re from the same hometown. Only someone like her could be my rival.
As classmates trickled in, Xia Yanchun stifled giggles and hurried back to her seat.
Soon, Chen Dong arrived at his front desk.
Shen Nian kicked his chair, testing his new material.
"Chen Dong, I know some high-frequency Gaokao English words. Wanna hear?"
"No way! Tell me!" Chen Dong’s eyes lit up.
"Of, and, there, in, byd."
"Did you mix something weird in there?"
"Must-know vocabulary, memorize them quickly," Shen Nian said earnestly.
Memorizing these words will improve your English college entrance exam score by a grand total of 0 points.
Chen Dong froze for a long moment before suddenly nodding with profound solemnity. "My English grades are pretty decent. Yours, on the other hand, are a pile of crap—but don’t worry too much. English has been tested for over a decade now. They might just drop it next year."
"There’s an even bigger expert here?"
...
There were three classes in the afternoon, and Shen Nian was genuinely putting in the effort to study.
As the top-ranked student in math, there was almost no room left for improvement in that subject. So during math class, he pulled out that palm-sized book, 3,500 Frequently Tested English Words, and got to work—playing to his strengths while shoring up his weaknesses.
[Side Quest: Combat Skills—I Grow Stronger Alone! (Completed)
Reward: 1,000 gold coins, Combat Skill Learning Efficiency Boost (12-hour duration)]
[Combat Skill Learning Efficiency Boost: 11:59:58 remaining]
Yanxi reminds you: Due to Tomato’s request for over 3 million daily visits causing server overload, we now recommend switching to other big players’ sources.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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!" "......"
] [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!"
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!
