"Ugh! Is there any way to get better at math quickly?!"
After returning from morning exercises, Shen Yuan flopped directly onto his desk.
'I just want to die.'
'I can't solve them. I just can't solve them at all.'
"Practice more."
Shen Yuan remained flopped on his desk, turning his head toward Li Zhi. "Any recommendations?"
Li Zhi tilted her head. "Start with the multiplication table?"
'Using such a cute expression to say something so sarcastic, huh?'
Shen Yuan's expression immediately fell.
"How could you say that?"
"Your fundamentals are just weak. Am I wrong?"
In Shen Yuan's ears, those words automatically translated to "You just suck. Am I wrong?"
'Fine, fine, fine. Every dog has its day. Just wait until the monthly exam results are out. I'll show you who's boss!'
Just as Shen Yuan was fantasizing about scoring a 620 on the monthly exam and using their bet to put Li Zhi in her place, a voice suddenly rang out in his head.
"DING!"
[Back at home, you recall the youthful, energetic figures at your alma mater, and you can't help but think of your own lost youth, and your lost abs.]
[Thinking of Li Zhi, whose figure hasn't lost its shape with age, you pinch your own belly—where your six-pack has merged into one—and decide it's time to make a change.]
[Within one week, run a cumulative total of 10km. Current progress: 0/10km. Reward: Vigorous and Full of Energy (Basic).]
[Vigorous and Full of Energy (Basic): Your stamina consumption is slightly reduced, and your stamina recovery is slightly increased.]
Shen Yuan: ???
'Seriously, is this system messed up in the head?!'
'I was on the track yesterday, and you're only giving me the quest now?'
'But what does this Vigorous and Full of Energy mean? Is it *that* kind of "energy" I'm thinking of?'
Just as Shen Yuan was pondering this, Li Zhi's voice sounded in his ear.
"Pervert!"
Shen Yuan's eyes focused.
The beautiful girl was shrunk against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, looking at him with disgust.
Shen Yuan was utterly confused.
'What did I do?'
But he quickly understood.
'When I was looking at the system just now, my eyes didn't move, so I was just staring at Li Zhi the whole time.'
'Alright, so I was the pervert.'
'Wait!'
Shen Yuan suddenly had a breakthrough.
'The system gave me a quest when I was looking at Li Zhi, and the system message also mentioned Li Zhi's figure, so...'
'Case closed. I'm not the pervert, the system is.'
'Perverted system!'
Shen Yuan turned his head and looked in Zhou Shaojie's direction.
Ah Jie hadn't returned yet.
Remembering the situation during the morning reading session, Shen Yuan stood up and slipped out of the classroom under Li Zhi's confused gaze.
Shen Yuan soon saw Zhou Shaojie in the hallway.
Ah Jie was holding a bottle of Coca-Cola, leaning on the hallway railing with several other boys from Class 15, chattering away.
Zhou Shaojie was grandly spouting off about the prestige of the weekly math quiz, blah blah blah.
Suddenly, someone pointed downstairs.
"Holy shit! That underclassman is hot!"
In an instant, everyone's attention was focused downstairs.
"Where, where?"
"Quick! Let me see!"
Everyone craned their necks to look.
"Bullshit, did you forget your glasses? She's not even that good-looking!"
"Might as well go look at that hot upperclassman."
"I heard she has a boyfriend, though. I think he graduated last year."
Just as everyone was chattering, Zhou Shaojie said something shocking.
"Oh? Isn't that a plus?"
For a moment, the boys from Class 15 in the hallway fell into a brief silence.
"Damn."
"Now that's a chad!"
"He must be purged! All NTR-fiends must be purged!!" someone suddenly suggested.
"But I'm a champion of pure love!"
"Zhou Shaojie, Aruba! Aruba the NTR-fiend!"
"The front door! To the front door!" Yang Ze yelled with all his might.
Before Ah Jie could even react, he was already being held and dragged to the front door of the classroom.
"No! We are a pure love warrior! We are pure love! Do not separate Us from Our beloved consort!"
Shen Yuan took advantage of the chaos to snatch the Coke from Zhou Shaojie's hand, tilted his head back, and chugged it without his lips touching the bottle.
'A blessing from the heavens, fam.'
Only after Zhou Shaojie was done being Aruba'd did he realize the Coke in his hand was gone.
"Damn it, where's my Coke?"
Then Zhou Shaojie saw the Coke in Shen Yuan's hand. What was once more than half a bottle was now less than a quarter full.
Zhou Shaojie pointed a finger at Shen Yuan. "Aruba him! He 'cucked' my Coke!"
Shen Yuan snorted coldly. "'He who cucks others is asking to be cucked himself!' I'm innocent! You're the one who should be Aruba'd!"
In the end, Zhou Shaojie was Aruba'd one more time, and Shen Yuan was also Aruba'd once.
Shen Yuan now understood why Zhou Shaojie could wander around for so long during the break.
He spent most of the time being Aruba'd.
...
The weekly English quiz was scheduled for the last two periods in the afternoon.
Besides his own good memory, Shen Yuan's English skills had also been beaten into him by his Eldest Female Cousin.
In his first year of high school, at his Eldest Female Cousin's "suggestion," he had already memorized the 3,500 essential English vocabulary words, and had sporadically learned many more since then.
Shen Yuan didn't feel the least bit proud about memorizing so many words; instead, he just felt like his life was hard.
'But what can you say?'
'Humblebragging. This is fucking humblebragging!'
Just as Zhou Shaojie would get Aruba'd for looking down on math noobs, Shen Yuan would also get Aruba'd for his occasional vocabulary lessons.
'Why?'
For example, take the word 'tangle,' meaning chaos or conflict. Shen Yuan would say, "Just think of a simp. Their love life is always a tangled mess."
Even though the knowledge entered your brain through a despicable method, it still felt like you'd been inexplicably kicked in the gut.
So it was normal for Shen Yuan to occasionally get Aruba'd.
After the weekly English quiz ended, everyone scattered to find dinner.
At this time, the first and second-year high school students were already at home playing video games.
But the third-years had no weekend, only getting a few hours off on Sunday afternoon.
This was the only time third-year students had to catch their breath.
However, there was still homework to be done.
During the evening self-study session, the weekly chemistry quiz also ended.
Because of the weekly quizzes, there would be no homework for math, English, or chemistry today.
Anyone who was a little faster had already finished their homework long ago.
Like Li Zhi, for example.
During the last evening self-study period, Li Zhi was completely absorbed in her own work.
Meanwhile, Shen Yuan was still hunched over his desk doing homework.
...
"Done!"
Shen Yuan finally finished his homework just before the last evening self-study period ended.
'I can get a good night's rest tonight. Sweet!'
But just then, a piece of paper fluttered down onto Shen Yuan's desk.
"Hm?"
Shen Yuan glanced at the math problems on the paper, then looked at Li Zhi.
Before Li Zhi could even speak, Zhou Shaojie's voice reached Shen Yuan's ears.
"Variations of the last three major problems from today's weekly quiz. They're a bit less difficult, but the solution method is about the same. Where'd you get this?"
Zhou Shaojie looked up and saw Li Zhi and Shen Yuan both staring at him.
'I get it. I get everything now!'
At that moment, Zhou Shaojie clutched his chest, pointing a trembling finger at Shen Yuan. "You beast!"
Ah Jie felt like a rat in the gutter that had suddenly caught a glimpse of someone else's beautiful life, the sight stinging his very nerves.
But that's not what Shen Yuan was thinking.
"I guessed them all wrong?"
Li Zhi nodded. "Did you think Old Zhou would give you numbers you could just guess correctly by chance?"
With that, the beautiful girl put on a cool expression. "Show them to me tomorrow morning. You should be able to get at least one of the three problems right, shouldn't you?"
'Fuck, this is nuts.'
'Can I refuse?'
But the moment Shen Yuan opened his mouth, he said something cringey.
"Babe, I knew you cared about me."
Li Zhi regretted it.
"Can you fucking talk normally!"
Shen Yuan immediately straightened up. "Let me treat you to a late-night snack. We'll get some barbecue."
"Can I come?" Zhou Shaojie poked his head over, looking at Shen Yuan expectantly.
"You can eat shit."
Zhou Shaojie pointed a trembling finger at Shen Yuan. "Beast! This is a true beast!"