Everyone has their own defense mechanisms.

And sometimes these mechanisms are universal.

Most people don't admit to being less intelligent than others. So even if they study diligently, they'll pretend not to care, even mocking those who try hard but still perform poorly.

This trend is more prevalent in worse environments.

Over time, a distorted consensus emerges: studying is shameful.

Trying hard and still failing to improve is an unspeakable disgrace.

Chen Yuan is no saint; his heart isn't made of steel, so he also has his own defense mechanisms.

Sometimes he wonders if his dual nature—aloof and abstract—arose this way.

But he's alright; he's not ashamed of studying, nor does he vainly flaunt exceeding the average while goofing off. He doesn't mock effort. He simply chose a more indifferent approach after encountering a bottleneck and being eroded by the black hole environment of Class 18: lying down, but not completely.

Secure a public second-tier university, aim for a first-tier one.

That was his previous outlook.

But in reality, he wasn't bad before high school. When he first entered, before the division of arts and sciences, he was in the top 400 out of 1,500 students, not just the top 400 in science.

In other words, if that ranking had held, he could have easily gotten into a decent second-tier university.

Back to Chen Yuan.

He was born into a family with a decent learning environment. Although his parents only had high school diplomas, you could tell that the Chen family's leader, his mother, was willing to invest in her child by enrolling him in ridiculous abacus classes.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths, pulling strings and giving bribes, to get him into Eleventh High, a school on the edge of being as prestigious as the Fourth High's twin stars.

Am I lacking effort?

No.

Talent?

No.

It's the determination to break out of my shell and be reborn, to transform from a python into a dragon, and the pain of forcibly shedding my skin.

Immortal Art: Bai Kun Technique!

"His effort disgusts me..."

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday—for three days straight, Chen Yuan displayed an extreme hunger for knowledge, like a pervert seeing black silk; he was completely demonized.

Except for necessary breaks, Chen Yuan was practically welded to his seat, constantly doing practice problems with his earphones on.

"After all, the preliminary round is on Sunday, so it's only right to work a little harder now," Zhou Fu explained to Zhou Yu on his behalf.

"I've never seen him work so hard before..."

As He Sijiao spoke, she suddenly realized something: "Wait, if he didn't work hard, how could he have scored over 140 on the math test? He must have been studying like crazy at home before, and now he's just not pretending anymore."

"No, impossible!" Zhou Yu didn't accept this, arguing earnestly, "He played online games with me every night before!"

"Did he use voice chat with you?"

"..."

This question stunned Zhou Yu on the spot, his expression petrified: "Could it be that the person playing with me was Chen Yuan's cousin, while he himself was dragging me along while studying like crazy... Damn, what a try-hard!"

"This man will be hard to deal with in the future," He Sijiao patted Zhou Fu's shoulder and said with a sigh.

"Haha..." Zhou Fu forced a smile and explained, "I told you, it's not that kind of relationship."

"Why haven't you added my QQ?"

Just as the three of them were shamelessly offending Chen Yuan, who was buried in his studies, Tang Siwen walked over and suddenly spoke.

"Hiss..."

He Sijiao was so startled by this question that she sat down in her seat, opened a bag of potato chips, and watched the unfolding events nervously.

Seeing Tang Siwen come, Chen Yuan was still doing practice problems. Zhou Fu carefully poked his arm.

Sensing this, Chen Yuan took off his earphones, looked up, saw Tang Siwen, and was quite puzzled: "What's up?"

"Mr. Mo wants us to add each other on QQ to discuss problems," Tang Siwen took out her phone and pointed to the screen. "You haven't added me yet."

"Oh, oh, sorry, I forgot... show me the QR code, I'll scan it," Chen Yuan quickly took out his phone, scanned Tang Siwen's code, and added her.

Then, he continued to bury himself in his studies.

What kind of social niceties are there at school? School is for studying! I'll just do the *San Wu*, and after that, the *Wu Zhen Ti*. Then I'll run to Fourth High and do all their secret papers. Finally, I'll pounce on Zhang Jianjun and do him too! I'll do, do, do, do, do, do, do!

[Damn, sigma male!]

Seeing Chen Yuan's aura of having no women in his heart, Zhou Yu was truly shocked.

Although Tang Siwen seemed a bit unapproachable, she was undeniably a beauty. If a brother were in his place, he would have his children play this clip at his funeral.

"Okay," Tang Siwen was equally calm. After the other party added her QQ, she turned around, returned to her seat, and buried herself in her studies.

"Tsk, really?"

He Sijiao clicked her tongue, wondering why the scene of bloodshed hadn't occurred.

Are the audience here to watch you two study?

"Speaking of... did they just use their phones in class?"

Zhou Fu said weakly.

"Who do you think will make it to the main competition, Tang Siwen or Chen Yuan?" Zhou Yu started a topic.

"Of course, that Tang Siwen will make it."

After He Sijiao finished speaking, she looked at Chen Yuan, who was now bursting with study power: "But Chen Yuan, if he keeps going crazy like this, it's hard to say."

These bastards, can't you survive without gossiping about me...

Continuing to pretend not to hear, Chen Yuan reached out for his milk, but after finding it empty, he simply didn't drink it and continued writing!

"You're out of drinks. Want some bread?"

Seeing this, Zhou Fu took out a bag of assorted bread snacks, first letting Zhou Yu and He Sijiao choose, and then personally handing Chen Yuan a soft steamed cake.

"Thanks, Sister Fu," Chen Yuan took the cake, tore it open, and ate it.

"You're welcome, haha..."

"How do you bring so much food every day?" He Sijiao asked curiously while eating.

"My mom makes me bring it to school..." Zhou Fu said with an awkward smile, "She's afraid I won't have enough to eat."

"But you don't eat any of it."

"Mind your own business, little fairy," He Sijiao interrupted Zhou Yu's words, making excuses for Zhou Fu.

She knew that Zhou Fu didn't want to eat because she thought she was fat.

But in reality, Zhou Fu, except for her slightly fuller chest and hips... the rest of her body was a standard female figure.

She was just too strict with herself.

If I had those breasts, I'd be Yang Guifei!

"This is really delicious. My family only buys this kind of assorted bread when guests come..." Zhou Yu was filled with envy for Zhou Fu.

"Is Fu Fu's family very rich?" He Sijiao raised her eyebrows and asked.

Zhou Fu scratched her cheek awkwardly with her finger: "Just a normal family."

"So modest, definitely a little rich girl," He Sijiao suddenly put her arm around Zhou Fu's neck from behind, flattering, "Rich girl, look at me! Rich girl, look..."

Just as a few people were joking around, Li Youyou suddenly got up and left the classroom.

In that instant, the air here briefly froze, quite awkward.

This couldn't be helped.

These four got along well and had already formed a small circle. Although Li Youyou's relationship with He Sijiao was alright, and they even called each other nicknames, her relationship with the others had soured.

It could only be said that this was the drawback of high school's rotating class system.

However, the stability of the Chen-He-Zhou-Zhou combo at least kept them in a "protected" position. This was the charm of a small circle.

If she was really unhappy, she could either hold it in.

Or, take the initiative to leave.

Today was Friday, club activity day. Chen Yuan studied hard all day, and finally, after the last class in the afternoon, he planned to relax for a while.

"Let's play badminton, stop studying, old Chen!"

Tang Jian, who was sitting in the first group, was also in the badminton club, so he called out to Chen Yuan before leaving the classroom.

"Coming, coming, wait for me, Little Tang."

Today, he did two sets of math competition papers, and Chen Yuan was numb. He stretched and planned to play a few rounds of badminton.

Club activity day was different from usual. The last class ended at 4:30 in the afternoon, and then lasted until 5:50, a total of eighty minutes, for various club activities.

This was the last remaining bit of humanity from the elders of Eleventh High.

So as soon as class ended, the students teamed up and prepared to go downstairs for club activities.

And this was also the only time students had to interact with friends from other classes.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Zhou Fu rummaging through her pencil case, Chen Yuan asked curiously.

"It's a very, very small thing," Zhou Fu shook her head and continued to rummage.

"Did you drop money?" Chen Yuan asked tentatively.

Zhou Fu smiled and explained, "I probably accidentally brought it out when I was rummaging through my pencil case, but it's okay, it's only a hundred..."

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

Chen Yuan's expression froze, and then he reached into his desk drawer. He felt it, a wad of crumpled paper...

The air instantly quieted down.

The surrounding noise was completely blocked out.

Holding the wad of paper, Chen Yuan was expressionless.

"Chen Yuan's gone. What are you waiting for? Forget it, I'm going first!"

"Sijiao, let's go."

"Yu Zi, give me all the balls today, stop dribbling!"

"You know nothing. I'm the Paul of Eleventh High."

Fewer and fewer people were around, probably only a dozen or so left.

Zhou Fu, who couldn't find the money in her pencil case or her desk drawer, slowly lowered her head, planning to look on the ground...

Suddenly, Chen Yuan stood up and turned around.

Li Youyou, who was buried in her homework, hadn't reacted when she was grabbed by the wrist by Chen Yuan and forcibly dragged out of the classroom...