You Don't Know Shit—I've Got a Cheat!

Luoying City, First High School.

Classroom of Year Two, Class Seven.

"Li Qingshan, you want to join the Martial Arts Class too?"

A startled cry rang out. Several nearby students looked up at the sound, their gazes converging on the figure by the window.

Brilliant sunlight poured in from outside, falling over the young man bent over his writing. Against the golden glow, the contours of his profile seemed to shine.

Li Qingshan paused his pen, turned toward the student who had spoken, and smiled lightly.

"The Martial Arts Class doesn't have an entry threshold. Why can't I join?"

The speaker froze. Though the other students wore strange expressions, they returned their attention to the application forms in their hands, still wavering in indecision.

Boom!

A sonic boom exploded in the sky outside.

Yet no one in the classroom reacted, as though they were long accustomed to it.

Only Li Qingshan raised his head and looked out the window.

A ring of white vapor still hung in midair as a black humanoid mecha, gleaming with metallic light, sped away into the distance.

A Sky Patrol Mecha, under the Wuyi Province Patrol Bureau, patrolled above the cities every day.

They're used to this? This is a mecha!

Li Qingshan rubbed the application form in his hand, his expression unreadable.

Two years had passed since he had transmigrated, yet his understanding of this world before him remained full of contradictions.

The Interstellar Era... the Crimson Rainbow Star Region... Ziying Star...

Starships... mechas... martial artists...

Star Realm Beasts... Evil God Cultists... contamination...

All of it was merely pale lines of text in textbooks.

That was right. Even in the Interstellar Era, schools on Ziying Star still used paper textbooks.

After two years of living here, he had not even seen a single hovercar.

The most futuristic thing Li Qingshan could touch was the Communicator on his wrist, which could project images.

Only the mechas that occasionally streaked across the sky, along with the martial arts he cultivated every day, reminded him that this was the Interstellar Era.

Mechas!

Martial artists!

The only two manifestations of those pale words from the textbooks!

"In such a dazzling Interstellar Era, how could I possibly miss out?"

Li Qingshan smiled faintly and continued filling out his application.

At the podium, the homeroom teacher pushed up his glasses, his expression complicated.

Every three years, the same scene played out before him. But the road of martial arts was not so easy to walk.

"Students, although the Martial Arts Class has no entry threshold, I still need to remind you all of something."

"Even if you truly enter the Martial Arts Class, those who can make it to New Continent are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns."

"Even putting talent aside, the cost of Nutrient Solution alone is not low. I hope everyone will think carefully."

His low voice was like a basin of cold water splashed over them. Most students sighed helplessly and set down their application forms.

Even several students who had been filling theirs out clenched their pens, struggle appearing on their faces before they stopped writing in resignation.

The homeroom teacher's words were cruel, but they were not wrong.

Ziying Star was divided into two continents: New Continent and Old Continent. The continent where they lived was Old Continent.

New Continent was the true center of this planet. Only by entering New Continent would they have a chance to touch this vast, boundless Interstellar Era.

New Continent and Old Continent were separated by a vast ocean, but the distance was not impossible to cross.

Talent was the ticket to New Continent!

However, the selection for talent had begun long ago.

Among all the students present, from elementary school through middle school, one or two classmates around them had basically been sent to New Continent every year.

And those who remained here were undoubtedly the huge denominator left behind after the selection.

Entering the Year Three Martial Arts Class and testing into a Martial Arts University on New Continent could be said to be their final chance to enter New Continent.

But rather than calling it an opportunity, it was better called a distant, unattainable longing.

In Wuyi Province, where Luoying City was located, only a handful of students could test into New Continent's Martial Arts Universities each year.

As the students' moods sank, the classroom grew increasingly quiet, leaving only several especially grating rustles.

The students unconsciously turned their heads, their gazes gathering on the three people who had yet to stop writing.

"Jia Jiang, Zhao Hongzhou... huh? Li Qingshan is joining the Martial Arts Class too?"

At that moment, almost every gaze fell upon Li Qingshan.

"No, what gives Li Qingshan the right to apply for the Martial Arts Class?"

"Exactly. Jia Jiang's family runs a logistics company, so he can mess around however he likes. Zhao Hongzhou's family circumstances may be ordinary, but he's grown stronger and sturdier these past two years, so it's normal for him to take a shot. But Li Qingshan..."

The boy speaking hesitated and stopped, only for someone beside him to immediately pick up the thread.

"What's so hard to say? Isn't he from a Public Nursery? Mentioning 'publicly raised' these days isn't discrimination."

Public upbringing was a product of the continually declining birth rate in the Interstellar Era.

At Public Nurseries, all children came from the Federal Embryo Bank. They had no fathers and no mothers.

Before the age of fifteen, they all received standardized education at Public Nurseries.

After turning fifteen, everyone faced a choice.

They could continue accepting the Public Nursery's arrangements until they began work, signing an employment contract of at least ten years.

Or they could leave the Public Nursery and fend for themselves.

Basically every class in the school had two or three students who had come from Public Nurseries, so it was not uncommon.

Once those words fell, the surrounding students became even less restrained and continued.

"Even if someone from a Public Nursery gets free room, board, and tuition from the school, Nutrient Solution for cultivation won't be covered. Li Qingshan has no parents to help him. How does he dare?"

"Not necessarily. I heard that after he left the Public Nursery, he started working part-time before even entering Year One of high school. He doesn't live at school either."

"Tch. How much can a part-time job make? His monthly wages probably aren't enough for a single bottle of Nutrient Solution."

"Yeah. If Li Qingshan had talent, he would have been sent to New Continent while he was still at the Public Nursery. Why would he have ended up at our school?"

"Without talent or family support, why bother?"

Quite a few students began shaking their heads and sighing, looking as though they were pointing out the course of the nation.

When the overwhelming majority had given up, giving up on the Martial Arts Class became the "wise" choice.

And Li Qingshan's circumstances were worse than everyone else's, yet he was still stubbornly going his own way. Naturally, that was foolishness piled upon foolishness.

"Li Qingshan..."

At the podium, the homeroom teacher frowned but said nothing more.

His earlier cold-water warning had only been because he did not want too many students to drain their families' savings and still achieve nothing.

The Year Three Martial Arts Class was, after all, a Federation policy—a ticket to New Continent.

Though the chance was slim, he could not forcibly stop them.

At worst, he'll waste a little time. He probably left the Public Nursery specifically so he could apply for the Martial Arts Class, didn't he?

With that thought flashing through his mind, the homeroom teacher shook his head and abandoned the idea of persuading him.

Without family support or sufficient resources to sustain him, even if Li Qingshan entered the Martial Arts Class, he would not last long.

The clamor by his ears grew deafening. Li Qingshan frowned slightly, and the pen in his hand paused.

"Hm? He's come around? He's giving up?"

"Definitely. After hearing our analysis, no matter how stubborn he is, he should give up now."

Quite a few students smiled smugly. At last, they had talked a stubborn classmate out of his "unwise" action.

Several students who had filled out half their forms before giving up even walked over to Li Qingshan together.

They looked at the application form in Li Qingshan's hand, smiles involuntarily curling their lips.

Very good. Though he had filled out everything that needed filling out, he had not signed it yet.

That was right. They had all given up, so what right did Li Qingshan have to persist?

"Li Qingshan, choosing to give up is the right decision. There's nothing to regret."

Someone reached out and lightly patted Li Qingshan's shoulder, speaking earnestly.

"We're all the same. We understand you."

"Brother Shan, don't listen to them. Let's go to the Martial Arts Class and take a shot together."

A booming voice sounded out. Zhao Hongzhou had handed in his application form and walked over.

"Zhao Hongzhou, if you don't understand, then don't spout nonsense!"

"Exactly. You still have family resources, so you can take a gamble. Li Qingshan doesn't even have parents—what does he have to gamble with?"

"What, can you pay for his Nutrient Solution?"

For a moment, emotions ran high, as though Zhao Hongzhou's single sentence had stirred up public outrage.

"You all..."

Though Zhao Hongzhou was large and tall, he was still youthful. Faced with everyone's accusations, he did not know what to do.

"Since when did you all care so much about me?"

Li Qingshan let out a derisive laugh and turned to look around, finding quite a few people staring at him.

More precisely, they were staring at the application form in his hand.

It was as though they were waiting for him to crumple the paper and blend into the dust with everyone else.

It was rather amusing.

He had been busy with part-time work before, making him practically invisible in class, and he was not particularly familiar with his classmates.

Only Zhao Hongzhou, with whom he occasionally worked, had a fairly good relationship with him.

Who would have thought that today, because of a single sheet of paper, he would unexpectedly become the entire class's "center of attention"?

"What the fuck do you know!"

Li Qingshan laughed lightly and signed his name.

An illusory light screen, visible only to him, unfolded before his eyes.

Li Qingshan

Realm: Body Tempering 9/100

Beyond the light screen were face after face.

Shock, frowns, regret...

What a panorama of all living beings!