“Damn it! How am I supposed to solve this problem?!”
Having returned to his dorm room from the academic building, Huang Xiu found himself locked in a fierce battle with his homework.
The pen cap clenched between his teeth was already riddled with bite marks, yet his exercise book had barely seen its first page turned.
They say a cornered man will do anything, with the sole exception of solving math problems.
Huang Xiu, however, felt compelled to amend that statement: physics problems were equally impossible!
Mechanics and Electromagnetism, these two supreme overlords, the grand elders of the physical sciences, utterly suppressed the mere mortal Huang Xiu, even if he were to sacrifice his very hair in the attempt.
“At this point, I have no choice but to unleash my ultimate weapon!”
Huang Xiu straightened his posture, his gaze now imbued with tenacity, unwavering resolve, and a hint of ferocity.
He pulled out his phone and directly opened Xiaoyuan Souti.
****
The following day dawned with an unremarkable, overcast sky.
The very first thing Huang Xiu did upon waking from his slumber was to instinctively reach for the crown of his head.
Only when his palm met the familiar prickling sensation did he finally exhale in relief. “Good, good,” he murmured, “it hasn’t grown any further!”
If his hair were to sprout so significantly every morning, it wasn’t just his allowance that couldn’t bear the cost.
Sooner or later, Bald Liu would forcibly escort him either back home or to a hospital.
After all, as a boarding student, he was only permitted to leave campus during holidays.
Huang Xiu had, in fact, woken up a little late that day, but Fang Yongyi and Guan Shuai were still sound asleep in their beds—both of them had been up late working on their assignments.
Though Huang Xiu and his companions often jokingly referred to their dorm room as the “Underachievers’ Den,” as students of a prestigious high school, even the most self-proclaimed underachievers were, at their core, diligent learners.
Slipping on his shoes, Huang Xiu tiptoed into the bathroom.
He flicked on the light and gazed into the mirror.
The boy reflected in the mirror still possessed skin as delicate and fair as polished jade, yet it had not grown any paler.
“It seems that transformation was a one-time occurrence,” Huang Xiu mused, picking up his toothpaste to begin his morning routine.
The cessation of the change was a welcome development; otherwise, he genuinely feared waking up one day to find himself a pretty boy.
However, it seemed not just Huang Xiu’s body had ceased its transformation, but also the very fabric of his daily life.
After breakfast, Huang Xiu immediately headed to the academic building.
Overnight, the yellow and white cordon tape and the people in Rong’an pest control uniforms had vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed, save for the faint, lingering scent of insecticide within the academic building.
He wandered through the building, finding not the slightest anomaly, before returning to his classroom.
It was already ten o’clock on Saturday morning, and many students who had returned early were now in the classroom, filling Senior Two Class Four.
Shi Lei was among them, though his early arrival was not for studying, but for copying homework.
At that moment, he was hunched over his desk, scribbling furiously.
Just as he looked up, intending to stretch, he spotted Huang Xiu entering through the front door and immediately raised a hand in greeting.
“Xiu-ge, hurry over here!”
“Spit it out if you have something to say, don’t waste my time!” Huang Xiu retorted as he approached.
“Look at this!” Shi Lei exclaimed, holding up his phone to display a photo. “Diamond IV! I finally hit Diamond IV!”
“I couldn’t resist going to the internet cafe yesterday, played two rounds as Malphite, and actually won both!”
“I feel like I’m practically Malphite-god now.”
“Not practically—you *are* Malphite-god,” Huang Xiu declared, transforming into a fervent flatterer. “Truly worthy of a man whose name contains four ‘stones’; connecting to the Malphite network must require four times the processing power!”
“Of course!”
Shi Lei’s face was alight with pride; he had reached Diamond rank through his own efforts, not by being carried by Huang Xiu.
For someone who had been a ‘Silver’ ranked player for three years, this was nothing short of a historic breakthrough.
“Oh, right, I’ve got something good for you,” Shi Lei whispered, his face shrouded in mystery. “Remember, don’t spread it around.”
With that, he lowered his head, manipulated his phone, and sent over a file.
“What is it?”
“You’ll know once you see it,” Shi Lei chuckled mischievously.
Curiosity piqued, Huang Xiu opened his phone and discovered a compressed file named ‘Top Secret Data,’ weighing in at a mere 20MB.
“You rascal…” Huang Xiu declared righteously, “I am a man of integrity, so don’t try to pull these stunts on me! Don’t use such things to test a principled individual!”
Despite his vocal protestations, his body, with undeniable honesty, tapped ‘receive file,’ downloaded the compressed package, and extracted its contents.
To Huang Xiu’s utter surprise, it wasn’t explicit images but, astonishingly, three Word documents.
[One Hundred Key Points for the Tiandu University Entrance Examination]
[Top Secret: One Hundred Must-Know Exam Questions Personally Leaked by a Tiandu University Admissions Officer]
[One Hundred Sets of Past Tiandu University Re-examination Papers]
“How about it?” Shi Lei winked at Huang Xiu. “Your buddy specifically dug these up for you online.”
“Absolutely authentic!”
“Bro,” Huang Xiu said with a helpless expression, “don’t you know that Tiandu University’s entrance exam questions change every year, and re-examination questions have never, ever been leaked?”
“And as for these ‘One Hundred Must-Know Exam Questions,’ I can tell they’re fake at a glance without even reading them.”
“Ah, no way!”
Shi Lei’s face registered pure shock. “But she even called me ‘family’… and said she’d pay ten times back if it was fake.”
“You actually paid for this?” Huang Xiu was equally stunned.
It truly was easy to make money off fools!
If only defrauding fools were illegal…
He sighed, patting Shi Lei on the shoulder. “Still, thanks, brother.”
“I’ll carry you to Diamond II next week, don’t be sad.”
Having finally managed to console Shi Lei, Huang Xiu refocused his attention on his homework.
Last night, he had only managed to subdue the ominous entity of Physics; today, he still had English and Biology to conquer.
After hunching over his desk for a long time, his shoulders aching, Huang Xiu straightened up and stretched, his gaze sweeping across the room with practiced precision until it landed on Fang Miaoging.
She was leaning her head on one hand, studying an exercise book on her desk, clearly preparing for tomorrow’s entrance examination.
He lingered on her silhouette for perhaps half a second, feigning disinterest, before swiftly turning his head away.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, his spirits suddenly lifted a little.
Slightly twisting his body, he used his back to block the view from the side.
Huang Xiu stealthily took out his phone and opened the compressed file Shi Lei had sent him.
‘Maybe it really is useful… Besides, Shi Lei already bought it, so not looking would be a waste of money.’
‘Yes, mainly I don’t want Shi Lei’s efforts to be in vain, it’s not that I actually want to see it.’
Huang Xiu first opened the initial file—’One Hundred Key Points for the Tiandu University Entrance Examination.’
After a cursory glance, he impassively swiped right to exit and locked his screen.
‘Well, as expected, it was utterly useless.’
‘It’s my fault; I should never have held any expectations for a swindler like Shi Lei.’
He tucked his phone back into his pocket, and upon turning his head, found Shi Lei grinning at him mischievously.
“Since it’s already bought, just take a look!” Huang Xiu waved his hand dismissively, pretending nothing had happened.
“Otherwise, it’d be a real waste, you know?”
“I get it, buddy, I get it,” Shi Lei said, winking. “What young man doesn’t admire beauty, what young woman doesn’t feel the stirrings of spring?”
“After all… spring has arrived!”
“Damn it!”
At that remark, Huang Xiu instantly lost his composure, a rush of blood surging to his face, turning him completely crimson!
He sprang to his feet, lunged at Shi Lei, pinning him down, and clamped his right hand around Shi Lei’s neck, gritting his teeth. “Xiao Leizi, you’re practically begging to die!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Bro!” Shi Lei pleaded.
Ultimately, it was just playful roughhousing, and Huang Xiu knew his limits.
After a cold snort, he released his grip.
Shi Lei’s unreliability was a well-known fact; there was no need for Huang Xiu to get worked up over it.
As long as he didn’t react, no one could truly get under his skin.
“Oh, by the way, Xiu-ge,” Shi Lei rubbed his slightly reddened neck, “What shower gel do you use? It smells really nice!”