Zhou Nan instinctively hugged his chest, his voice trembling like a startled fawn. "B-B-Big Brother, what are you going to do?"
He was terrified that someone would blurt out, "I'm going to fuck you," the next second. If that happened, his life would probably be plunged into endless darkness. And supposedly, a certain part of someone was extraordinarily large, so there might even be a risk of his chrysanthemum region swelling until it bled.
But Shi Tiexin merely stared fixedly at him and asked a question that left Zhou Nan completely baffled. "What year is it now?"
So he wasn't going to fuck me... But why did he ask that like some alien? Zhou Nan's head filled with question marks, but he answered honestly in the end. "It's 2020 AD this year. What's wrong, Big Brother?"
"AD... 2020?"
Zhou Nan had no idea what Shi Tiexin was mulling over, but the eyes in the darkness seemed to overflow with endless confusion and remembrance at that moment.
Could this guy have amnesia? Did learning the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations turn him stupid, so stupid he couldn't even remember what year it was? Forgetting would be great! If he forgot, wouldn't everything I did to frame him before be wiped clean with one stroke? Myehahahahaha...
"I need a full set of middle school textbooks and exercise books." Shi Tiexin gripped Zhou Nan's shoulder hard. "Get them as soon as possible."
All right, this guy remembered everything crystal clear after all...
Zhou Nan closed his eyes in disappointment and went to sleep. He rolled over, snored twice, and completely forgot Shi Tiexin's bizarre question, treating it as nothing more than a top student's usual idiocy. But after Shi Tiexin climbed into bed, his heart remained unsettled for a long time. Resting his head on his folded arms, he watched the bright moonlight seeping in through the window opposite him, his heart churning with countless emotions.
After a long while, he took out a booklet from beside him and absentmindedly raised it before his eyes. Printed on the small booklet were the words "Wang Xingshun's Hard-Pen Regular Script calligraphy practice copybook." When he focused, words emerged.
Auxiliary Cultivation Manual: Basic Rhetoric First Layer Quality: Supreme Usage Progress: 0% Effect: Basic Rhetoric First Layer cultivation speed increased by 20% Attribute 1: Everyone's Style. This auxiliary calligraphy copybook possesses rigorously balanced character structures, smooth flowing strokes, and noble character. In its finer details, it forms a style of its own, carrying the lingering grace of a great calligrapher. Using this copybook for calligraphy practice increases cultivation speed by 30% for Excellent and above. At Proficient and above, there is a chance of learning a master's regular-script style. Attribute 2: Easy to Learn and Practice. This copybook is easy to learn and practice, exceptionally friendly to beginners, reducing practice difficulty by 20%. Attribute 3: Reusable. Characters may run out, but cultivation is boundless. Again and again, it may be used in cycles.
It was actually a Supreme-grade Auxiliary Cultivation Manual!
This was the first time he had encountered an Auxiliary Cultivation Manual with Supreme attributes! Reusable? There was actually such an insanely powerful attribute?!
Shi Tiexin stared at the words in his vision for a long time, then at the calligraphy copybook for a long time more. Finally, he set it down. He let out a long breath, and at last, a measure of steady confidence settled in his heart.
Whether everything was truly as he imagined or not, at the very least, he held tangible power in his hands—the power to change fate.
That was enough.
He turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, Shi Tiexin rose early.
He had gone to bed late the previous night, but with Primal Vital Energy and mental energy within him, he had actually recovered even better than the day before. As the saying went, one good sleep could untie a thousand knots. So long as he could sleep soundly, no matter how earth-shattering the matter was, it would not leave him at a loss over whether to advance or retreat.
He got up, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and instead of immediately taking out his arithmetic workbook to continue studying, Shi Tiexin tidied himself up and left the dormitory feeling refreshed. He went to the field first and began jogging.
Primal Vital Energy was one thing; exercise and training were another. If he merely accumulated vital energy without carrying out corresponding training, then naturally he could never achieve success in martial arts. Of course, the existence of vital energy made his training more efficient and its effects stronger. Just half an hour of jogging left his whole body warm, filled with the pleasant sensation of having loosened up.
The four little calves arrived punctually at mealtime and respectfully ushered Boss Shi into the cafeteria.
"Ten buns."
At Shi Tiexin's single command, the four calves ran until their legs nearly broke. One fetched soup, one claimed seats, and before long, ten steaming buns were set before Shi Tiexin.
At the sight of those buns, Shi Tiexin was so excited he nearly burst into tears.
So many times, truly so many times—I've finally gotten to eat the big buns here!
Today, this Shi person was going to open the gates and begin a slaughter!
He opened his mouth, chomped down, chewed and chewed, then gulped—hm? Didn't bite into any filling?
Again!
He opened his mouth, chomped down, chewed and chewed, then swallowed—mm! The filling went past!
The bun in his hand suddenly seemed utterly tasteless...
"Big Brother, are you dissatisfied?" The fatty wore an expression of deep sympathy. "Actually, the buns from the Regular Class window are just like this. Some people have even gotten buns with nothing but dough inside. Now that's what you call miserable. But I heard the buns at the Key Class window are better. Wait here, we'll find you a few bean sprouts to offer up to you..."
The other three calves exchanged looks and suddenly felt that the fatty had come up with a splendid idea. Exactly—if there was tribute to be offered, it could not be just the four of them! They had to expand the disaster zone!
Smack! Shi Tiexin slapped the back of the fatty's head, nipping the four calves' dishonest thoughts in the bud.
I only want tribute from you four. Nobody else!
Though his first attempt had gone poorly, not every one of the remaining nine buns was quite so pure. There were still some impurities called "meat filling." Shi Tiexin could not be bothered over such details. After eating and drinking his fill, downing three huge bowls of soup in a row, he rose and left the cafeteria amid the four calves' respectful send-off.
He walked two laps around the field and practiced the Essence Cultivation Technique twice, adding another two strands of Primal Vital Energy to his lower abdomen. Though it was not like yesterday's lunch and dinner, where each meal had added three strands, Shi Tiexin was still quite satisfied.
With those lousy buns, gaining even one strand would have been good enough. Two strands were already an absolutely unexpected delight!
Even the food at Fengming First High School followed the hierarchy, making Shi Tiexin feel once again, deeply and clearly, that he had to enter the Elite Class. Once he entered the Elite Class, he could eat better Body Nourishing Essence Food and advance the cultivation of force techniques more quickly.
Then what was he waiting for? He should start doing Mathematics right away—wait, wait. There really was one matter he needed to clarify first. Though he felt much steadier after a night's sleep, if he did not get to the bottom of it, he truly had no mind to study.
Thus, early in the morning, Shi Tiexin hurried to the Class 28 classroom. At that hour, there were only two or three people in the entire classroom, including Zhao Qingmiao, who was responsible for opening the door.
"Morning, Big Brother!"
Zhao Qingmiao stood to greet him from the bottom of his heart. Shi Tiexin nodded at him, then returned to his seat. After rummaging through the desk compartment with both hands, Shi Tiexin finally found the things he had never cared about before, but cared about greatly today—his history textbook and geography textbook.
The annotations on those two lower-volume high school textbooks were identical in his vision.
Secret Manual: Basic Natural History Third Layer (Fragment, 1/8) Secret Manual: Basic Natural History Third Layer (Fragment, 2/8)
As fragments of a secret manual, and ones that surpassed his current cultivation level at that, the vast majority of mental techniques could not be cultivated. Just like Basic Mathematics: if one had not first learned to recognize numbers and calculate, there was no point speaking of later cultivation.
But Natural History alone was different.
In truth, this was not a historical time-travel story, nor was it a world-transmigration story. Remember, its classification was interstellar science fiction, not spacetime travel. The truth would soon be revealed.
Before you continue