Liu Bufan

Liu Bufan

The school athletic field was brightly lit.

What a pity for these kids. It was no good when the school's conditions were too good, either. With the floodlights shining like it was daytime, they still had to undergo military training.

"Hey, look, a handsome guy just arrived." In one of the formations in the northwest corner of the field, a girl was kneeling on the ground, holding down her companion's legs.

While doing sit-ups, her companion whispered, "Where? Where? Which direction?"

"Right behind you," the girl whispered. "The instructor's talking to him. This is your chance. Hurry and look."

The girl doing sit-ups hurriedly turned around and looked into the distance.

She saw a middle-aged man leading a boy at the front of the formation, seemingly discussing something with the instructor.

"Has the ultimate expert from Class 2 finally taken his place?" Behind the girls' formation was the boys' formation. They were also doing sit-ups, and their murmurs gradually grew louder.

"Hey, Big Fatty, you finally have a companion." A girl with a chic short haircut turned around, revealing a cute smile as she looked at the male student who was doing sit-ups all by himself, with no one holding down his legs.

"Ah." The male student called "Big Fatty" was not actually fat. From an ordinary person's perspective, his build was quite average.

But for an Awakened, he really did count as a "fatty."

As everyone knew, an Awakened's total Star Power was tied to his physical strength. This led Awakened to frantically train their bodies and work hard to improve their physical fitness.

These children, who carried dreams in their hearts, were no different. They were either as skinny as monkeys or well-trained, with strong and sturdy bodies.

Big Fatty was one of the few people in Class 1 whose figure was "out of shape." Apart from him, there were three other fat students, whom their classmates jokingly called Second Fatty, Third Fatty, and Fourth Fatty.

That year, Jiangbin No. 1 High School had opened sixteen ordinary classes and eight Awakened classes.

That was only possible because Jiangbin No. 1 High School had such a distinguished reputation and could attract so many Awakened students. For some smaller schools, having one or two Awakened classes was already considered pretty good.

Moreover, unlike ordinary classes, which often had forty or even more than fifty students, each Awakened class had only twenty-four students.

The standard for assigning Awakened students to classes was based on each student's cultural-subject grades and Star Map condition. Of course, cultural-subject grades accounted for only thirty percent of the total score.

Class 1 was famously known as the "expert class." Since cultural-subject grades made up such a small percentage of the total score, the children selected for it were basically the most talented students in the entire grade.

Class 2, where Jiang Xiao was, consisted of students whose aptitude was not top-tier but was still far from weak.

Since military training had begun more than ten days ago, Class 2 had remained at twenty-three students and had not transferred anyone up from Class 3.

The students had also been discussing privately which ultimate expert the school was reserving a spot for. Although Class 2 was inferior to Class 1, its scores carried down the rankings and still put it above the other six classes by a clear margin.

In fact, besides the students of Class 2 waiting for their mysterious classmate to appear, the students of the other seven classes were also waiting for this mysterious figure.

They genuinely wanted to see what kind of three-headed, six-armed monster this guy was.

At last, the mysterious classmate everyone had been anticipating had arrived!

He had two eyes, one mouth, two arms, and two legs, and he was tall and thin, with an entirely harmless appearance. He was nothing like the fiendish monster described in the rumors.

Big Fatty did one sit-up with effort, then stopped leaning back. He bent his legs, rested both hands on his knees, and looked at the distant figure. "Heh-heh, Liu Ke, I know what that little head of yours is thinking."

"Aren't you our class correspondent? You sure have a way with words." The short-haired girl, Liu Ke, gave Big Fatty a cute smile and held up three fingers.

Big Fatty: "Huh?"

Liu Ke: "Three minutes. I want all his information!"

"How could three minutes be enough? By the end of tonight's training session, I'll give you everything." Big Fatty revealed a confident smile.

"I knew Big Fatty was the best!" Liu Ke's voice was soft and sweet, and incredibly pleasing to the ear.

Big Fatty looked thoroughly pleased. His confident smile gradually turned somewhat lecherous. "I can't work for free, though."

"What do you mean?" Liu Ke blinked her adorable, wide eyes, and Big Fatty's heart nearly melted.

"Give me your WeChat." Big Fatty rubbed his hands together with a grin.

"All right, then." Liu Ke looked reluctant, but still nodded in the end. "But you have to get his WeChat for me first."

"Sure thing!" Big Fatty thumped his chest so hard it rang like thunder.

In the distance, Jiang Xiao looked at the instructor before him and continued marveling at how small the world was.

This man was none other than Jiang Xiao's former personal trainer, Lei Jin! Ten days ago, Jiang Xiao had thought he had gone crazy from being cooped up and wanted to go eat skewers. He had even forgotten to say goodbye and fled straight from Xia Yan's home.

Who would have thought he had come to be an instructor for the freshmen? Just how short of money was this guy? Was he working odd jobs everywhere? Jiang Xiao had also learned a little about Lei Jin's strength from the side. He knew Lei Jin was a professional combat sparring partner, but he had not expected him to be so professional that even a school like Jiangbin No. 1 High School would hire him to lead Class 2. Come to think of it, wasn't this military training? Where was the drill instructor?

"Did you crawl out of the Snowfield? When Xia Yan told me, I was a little worried about you," Lei Jin said with a chuckle.

Nearby, Director Gao stared blankly at Lei Jin. This ace sparring partner actually knew Jiang Xiao?

"Yeah, I crawled out. Thanks for your concern." Jiang Xiao spoke gratefully. The two men had spent seven whole days together, after all, and had developed some feelings for each other.

Of course, although Lei Jin was the sparring partner, Jiang Xiao had been the one-sided recipient of the beatings.

Think about that for a moment. Yes, that was a rather sad sentence.

"Nothing worth worrying about. I was worried when she told me, but then I forgot about it and went to eat skewers," Lei Jin said.

Jiang Xiao: "..."

Lei Jin looked Jiang Xiao up and down, deliberately examining his eyes. "Hmm, your energy and spirit seem pretty good. The Snowfield is dangerous, after all. Looks like you spent your energy on the right things."

Jiang Xiao: "Huh?"

"And the Snowfield is so cold. It must not have been easy for you to operate there." Lei Jin patted Jiang Xiao on the shoulder. "Although Earth is comfortable, you need to maintain yourself. You must exercise restraint. You're still young, so don't ruin your body."

Jiang Xiao: ???

"Are you staying at school or going home?" Lei Jin ignored Jiang Xiao's bewildered expression and continued questioning him.

"I'm staying at school. It's more convenient," Jiang Xiao replied. "That way, I won't have to chase after Route 102 every day."

"Have you bought all your daily necessities? I saw you arrived late. If you haven't bought them yet, you can stay at my place tonight." Lei Jin was exceptionally generous.

Jiang Xiao: "I've slept with you enough already. Your snoring, I—"

"Ahem." Nearby, Director Gao could only use a cough to remind them of his presence.

"Ah, Director Gao, look at me. I got so caught up chatting that I forgot. This kid used to be my student, but then he went to the Snowfield for experience. I was genuinely worried he wouldn't make it back." Lei Jin patted Jiang Xiao on the shoulder with a smile. "Go join your formation first."

Wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and black shorts, Jiang Xiao walked into a green formation.

The twenty-three students were divided into four rows, with six students per row. Jiang Xiao naturally took the last empty spot in the last row.

Just as Jiang Xiao was preparing to find a chance to blend into the group, the male student in front turned around. He had a well-proportioned build, thick eyebrows, and large eyes, and looked quite manly.

It was Big Fatty.

Big Fatty greeted him with a grin, speaking in a strong Liaodong accent. "Hey, classmate, my name is Liu Bufan. Bu as in 'progress,' fan as in 'ordinary.' I'm our class correspondent."

Of the three northern provinces, the farther north one went geographically, the closer the local dialect was to standard Mandarin.

If North River speech was close to standard Mandarin, then Liaodong speech could be considered a fairly pure dialect.

Of course, no matter how close North River speech was to standard Mandarin, it still contained many words with local characteristics. To outsiders, it was still easy to tell that the speaker came from one of the three northern provinces.

Before Jiang Xiao could reply, however, a classmate beside him spoke first—and did so sarcastically. "Heh-heh, class correspondent."

The male student's mouth was marked by a scar, making him look like a Ruthless Person.

He seemed extremely disdainful of the title "class correspondent." Turning to the chubby Liu Bufan, he said sarcastically, "Everyone in the school knows you're Class 2's correspondent. Heh-heh, Liu Bufan, I can accept the 'fan' in your name as meaning ordinary, but your 'bu' is supposed to mean progress. Sounds like it could also mean regression, doesn't it?"

Liu Bufan's smile stiffened slightly, but he continued grinning. "Regression works too. For example, right now—take one step back, and the sea and sky become vast. Hahaha."

The male student froze for several seconds, then snorted coldly and turned away.

Jiang Xiao looked at Liu Bufan in surprise. Were kids these mature nowadays? Did that really come from a high school student? His emotional intelligence was this high?

Thanks for the 10,000 reward from Heartache for the Years. Thank you for your support.