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Chapter 1

Chapter 1

transcript

"Bang--"

A report card was suddenly slammed onto the table.

"Overall ranking of the entire grade in the class placement exam." Lin Chengshuang moved the report card forward a bit. "Take a look."

Ji Li looked up from her math test paper, following his gaze: "What's wrong?"

Lin Chengshuang asked him, "Did you see it clearly?"

Ji Li nodded: "Mm."

Is there a problem?

What's wrong?

"You only got second place this time." Lin Chengshuang emphasized, "Second place."

Ji Li asked good-naturedly, "So?"

"You used to be number one!" Lin Chengshuang said with a look of grief and indignation at the loss of her homeland and territory.

"Why are you reacting so strongly to me not getting first place?"

“You’re my brother, your achievements are my pride. Now that you’ve fallen from first place, where do I put my face?”

Ji Li sincerely suggested, "You can think of a way to get yourself out of the bottom of the class."

"Uh..." It was evening self-study time. September was hot and dry. The fan above their heads creaked and swayed. The intermittent chirping of insects could be clearly heard from the classroom on the first floor.

Ji Li pushed the report card back: "get out of class is almost over, go do your homework."

Lin Chengshuang stared at him, her eyes blazing: "You've held the top spot for a whole year, and someone just snatched it away like this, aren't you even a little angry?"

"First place doesn't belong to anyone in the first place," Ji Li said. "People got it through their own ability, why should I be angry?"

“But I’ve never seen him in the top ten of the grade before. He suddenly jumped up here. It’s obvious that he’s benefited from being good at one subject.” Lin Chengshuang genuinely felt sorry for him. “If it weren’t for the fact that this subject-specific exam only had six subjects, how could he possibly have beaten you if there were nine subjects in total?”

Ji Li had only circled half of the key information on the exam paper when it was snatched away by the other person. He looked up, startled, before saying, "Give me back my paper."

“Ji Li, let me tell you, if you…”

"Lin Chengshuang!"

Lin Chengshuang was so frightened by the lion's roar that she almost bit her tongue and swallowed it.

The teacher stared menacingly at his hand holding the test paper: "Instead of studying yourself, you're bothering others? Get out here!"

Lin Chengshuang turned her head shakily.

Ji Li met his gaze: "I reminded you to return the test paper to me soon."

"Uh..." With one person no longer nagging in her ear, Ji Li was finally able to continue doing her practice problems.

When the bell rang, everyone in the class breathed a sigh of relief. A large number of students slumped over their desks, looking down from the back row, resembling a table full of salted fish.

Ji Li put down his pen and went to pour water. As soon as he stood up, he noticed something that had fallen on the corner of the table.

It was that report card, a standard A4-sized printed sheet, over a meter long. No one knew where Lin Chengshuang got it from; thousands of names from the entire grade were densely packed on it.

Ji Li bent down to pick up the report card, and his peripheral vision caught the name at the very top.

Ying Yunsheng, Class 7, Grade 11.

It only flashed by in my field of vision for a moment, or as if it had stopped for a second.

He lowered his eyes, folded the report card and placed it on his deskmate's desk, then took his thermos and went out.

.

Lin Chengshuang did not return until the end of evening self-study.

Ji Li reasonably guessed that the other party was most likely kept in the office by the teacher to write a self-criticism, and the next second his phone received a message.

[Lone Wolf: Bring me a box of mochi.]

Ji Li replied with a period to indicate that he understood.

They are still using the same schedule as the first-year high school students, with two 90-minute evening self-study sessions every day, ending at 10:30 pm.

The cafeteria's late-night snack window is still open at this time, specializing in unique snacks that look beautiful and taste good. The only downside is that the quantity is limited each day, which has led to complaints from students more than once.

Class 5's classroom was on the first floor. While queuing, Ji Li casually started a game, and before the first round was over, it was his turn. He ordered a box of mochi, swiped his card, and finished the game on his way back.

Lin Chengshuang returned to her dorm just as lights were going out. She immediately spotted the mochi box in a plastic bag on her bedside table and quickly tore it open: "Want one?"

Ji Li had just finished showering and was drying her hair with a towel: "No need, you eat."

Lin Chengshuang had a rough idea that the other person didn't like sweets, specifically because in all the years they'd known each other, he'd never seen the other person drink a bottle of cola. He didn't mind and excitedly distributed the box of snacks to the other roommates.

There were six people in each dormitory room, and they had become familiar with each other over the course of a year. Except for Ji Li, who refused, the other four were not so polite. When he took the initiative to greet them, they rushed over in a swarm, and almost ended up fighting.

Ten of the thirteen mochi in a box disappeared in the blink of an eye. Lin Chengshuang hugged the box to protect the remaining three mochi, while several boys pressed her down on the bed, her face flushed as she desperately shouted, "Help! We're robbing you!"

"Thud—"

The lights are off.

Lin Chengshuang was stunned for a moment, and his hand suddenly went empty. He widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Damn it, Erpang, I'll fight you to the death!!"

The commotion in the dormitory ended with the arrival of the dormitory supervisor.

At 11:10, the moon outside the window was obscured by drifting clouds, and the shadow behind the frosted glass suddenly blended into the night.

Lin Chengshuang was still complaining to others about being kept behind by their teacher to write a self-criticism again. She also chatted about how the male teacher from Class 6 was watching a palace drama on his computer in the office, how the female teacher from Class 8 was watching a football match on her tablet, and gossiped about how the male teacher from Class 11 and the female teacher from Class 12 left one after the other and exchanged glances.

Ji Li gripped the iron railing of the stairs, got out of bed, put on his school uniform jacket, and left the dormitory with a vocabulary book that was as thick as a brick.

Erpang watched him disappear, his eyelids drooping, and sighed, his voice weary: "He's determined to wipe out us ordinary folks."

.

High school students are not allowed to use electrical appliances in their dormitories, nor can they hang bed curtains. After lights out, there must be absolutely no light in the dormitory. Using a desk lamp or flashlight will disturb roommates' rest, and if caught by the dormitory supervisor during a surprise inspection, it could implicate others.

The corridor lights are never turned off at night. After the dormitory supervisor finishes checking the rooms, you can see many figures on the balcony, on the stairs, and even in the bathroom at the end of the corridor: a few are out doing practice questions or memorizing texts, while most are scribbling away with their heads down, catching up on their homework.

A bespectacled boy huddled in the corner saw the approaching figure and called out, "Academic genius?"

Ji Li nodded to him as a greeting, then slipped on his slippers and went downstairs.

The boy next to the glasses was wearing bright red pajamas with the words "ward off evil" written on the back. He leaned over curiously and asked, "Isn't Ji Li from Class 5? How come you know him?"

"No, I'm not that important." Glasses lowered his head and continued writing furiously. "It's just that I see him every night when I go out to do my homework, so I guess I've become a familiar face to him."

This was the first time Bixie had gone out after lights out, so he naturally had no idea that the other person had such a rich nighttime experience: "The top student in the grade wouldn't be out every night doing homework, would he?"

The man with glasses chuckled: "Did you see what he was holding just now?"

"Book?"

"Who asked you that?"

"I didn't see the book title clearly."

"TEM-8." The person with glasses stared at the other person, their eyes widening instantly. "Yes, I had the same expression when I first found out, and then I understood why you couldn't get first place."

"Uh..." It took Bixie a full ten seconds to realize the meaning behind the other person's words. He grabbed the other person's neck with both hands and shook him violently: "You'll die if you don't belittle me for a day, right? Huh?!"

.

Ji Li made his way to the fourth floor, and from there he finally saw no one else. He stopped by the window, turned the book in his hand over, and started flipping through it from back to front.

The pen tip had just touched the page when a muffled thud came from downstairs.

Even the ground seemed to tremble.

Ji Li flicked his wrist, and the ballpoint pen instantly left a scratch.

The faint sounds of conversation that could be heard coming from the rooms on both sides of the corridor disappeared after that one sound, and the surroundings became eerily quiet.

In contrast, the sounds coming from downstairs became much clearer.

"You think you can just leave whenever you want?"

Ji Li pulled out a tissue and pressed it against the pages of the book to absorb the ink before circling the words he had just read.

"You're only after this exam because you'll be reassigned to a different class, right? So what if you are? Even if you manage to get into another class this time, do you think you can get into another school? Do you really think you'll never see us again just because you leave? What a pipe dream!"

Ji Li drew a wavy line under the second word.

"You know the consequences of disobeying. You've been following Brother Cun for so long, and he hates it when his subordinates disobey him. Be sensible. I bet you don't want to be watched for the next two years, do you?"

Ji Li marked the third word.

"Don't try anything funny. Come to Geda Alley tomorrow night..."

Ji Li couldn't stand it anymore.

The dormitory building has six floors in total, divided into A and B sections. Including the maintenance worker stationed on the first floor, there are only three people in charge. Even with constant patrols, there will always be times when they can't be everywhere. The noise downstairs wasn't stopped by the dormitory management and continued to disturb the peace, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, and it even seemed to be getting louder.

Ji Li couldn't memorize the fourth word after a long time, so he had to put the pen cap back on, take his things downstairs, and stop in the stairwell on the third floor.

The source of the noise was clearly half a floor below. There were four people in total, divided into two sides according to their positions, forming a three-against-one encirclement.

The one who was surrounded was very tall but also very thin. Especially with three boys who looked like bears with precocious growth in their bodies surrounding him, he looked like a pitiful little guy being bullied.

The poor thing probably responded with something, but Ji Li didn't hear it clearly. He only saw the clearly leading bear among the three surrounding bears grab the poor thing's collar and say, "Try it?"

The force was too great, and the poor thing was pulled forward, instinctively raising its eyes, which happened to meet Ji Li's gaze from the direction of the stairs.

The other person blinked.

Before Ji Li could react, the poor thing had already looked away, raised a hand and put it on Xiong Yi's shoulder, pushing him away from her.

Xiong was taken aback for a moment.

Xiong Er and Xiong San were also stunned for a moment.

Then Xiong Yi shouted out, "Ying Yunsheng, you fucking rebelled..."

Ying Yunsheng frowned, covered his mouth, and kicked him hard.

"Bang--"