The Loser

Moreover, he had always thought the school was the worst-hit area, but it actually wasn't. The lower city district was the true disaster zone, and the casualties there were probably even more severe.

From the news that had been made public, Su Ming could already sense how terrible the Old Federation's situation was.

"Forget it. I won't think about it anymore."

Su Ming shook his head and clicked the login button. A black prompt box popped up.

Su Ming entered his account and password, and the screen immediately displayed: Login successful. Welcome, anonymous user, to the Star Cluster Forum.

Su Ming then entered the room number and entered an empty room.

He waited quietly. When the time reached eight o'clock, Jiang Yu jumped into the room.

A prompt box popped up.

"The room owner has invited you to a one-on-one video call. Accept?"

"Yes!"

Su Ming clicked the button to accept.

Soon, a video window popped up, and Jiang Yu's image appeared before Su Ming.

"Teacher, good evening!"

Su Ming greeted him respectfully.

"Good evening, Young Master. Before we begin reviewing, I have something to tell you. There has been a result regarding the matter of your humiliation."

Jiang Yu calmly spoke to Su Ming. After returning to Starlight City, he had analyzed the copied data and quickly cracked it.

"Please, tell me!"

Su Ming's eyes flickered slightly as he replied.

"Through a series of analyses and decryption, I can basically confirm that the person who humiliated you was Li Fubai from Class 1 of your school's Mecha Department."

Jiang Yu told Su Ming.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Su Ming was not surprised by this result.

It was just that he had neither the time nor the opportunity to deal with Li Fubai right now. After all, as the old saying went, if you wanted to strike a snake, you had to hit it in its vital spot. There would only be one chance, and he could not alert his enemy.

Seeing that Su Ming had fallen silent, Jiang Yu consoled him.

"Don't worry. The old master will get justice for you. It's just that he has too much on his plate lately, so you may need to wait a while."

"Okay."

Su Ming raised his head to look at Jiang Yu and replied calmly.

"Then let's begin reviewing for the City Exam. Have you taken any major mock exams recently?"

Jiang Yu asked Su Ming with great seriousness.

"Yesterday, I did last year's City Exam paper. I'll send it to you to look over."

Su Ming promptly uploaded the paper to Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu quickly scanned the paper and said to Su Ming with a smile,

"Not bad. Your foundation is much better than I expected. However, you don't have much time left. It'll be difficult to raise your score substantially, and the conventional approach definitely won't work."

"Teacher, do you have a way?"

Su Ming gazed at Jiang Yu expectantly.

"Although the City Exam questions are different every year, there are still patterns to be found. I've analyzed the question types from every City Exam over the years. I plan to give you targeted intensive training in these areas, while also selecting some obscure topics that have never appeared before to supplement your studies and guard against an unexpected question. However..."

Jiang Yu hesitated at the end.

"However, what?"

Su Ming hurriedly pressed him.

"This approach will be extremely intense and exhausting. Can you handle it?"

Jiang Yu asked, somewhat worried.

"No problem. Go ahead and drill me, Teacher."

Su Ming replied with complete confidence.

"Good. Then let's begin. I'll send you the first section of the study materials."

Seeing Su Ming's confidence, Jiang Yu immediately sent him the first section of the review materials.

Su Ming accepted and opened the materials. Dense lines of text appeared. If an ordinary person had seen them, they probably would have fainted before even beginning to study.

"First section: We'll start with mechanical science."

"Okay!"

Time passed in the blink of an eye.

At one in the morning, Jiang Yu finished explaining the final section of key points and then said to Su Ming,

"That's all for today. Young Master, get some rest early. Although time is tight, don't rush yourself too much."

"Thank you for the hard work, Teacher. You should rest early too."

After respectfully thanking him, Su Ming ended the call.

Tonight's tutoring had benefited him immensely. If Tang Yan's lessons had been helping him make up for gaps in his basic knowledge, then Jiang Yu's lessons were raising his level at a furious pace.

In an excellent mood, Su Ming shut down the computer and headed toward the bathroom.

Splash, splash~

A short while later, Su Ming finished washing up and lay on the bed, staring at the pitch-black ceiling before gradually drifting into sleep.

--

In a pitch-black abyssal world, a faint voice rang out.

"Do you really not remember?"

"Nothing at all?"

"Or do you simply not want to remember?"

At the center of the dark world,

a throne suddenly appeared, and a blurry figure whose features could not be made out sat upon it.

Blurry figures appeared out of nowhere all around. They surrounded the figure on the throne and continuously made chaotic noises.

At that moment, the blurry figure on the throne angrily replied,

"What have I done wrong? I am absolutely fair and impartial. Everything is optimal. It was I who led everything toward the pinnacle of the world."

"You're not wrong. We are!"

"Yes, you are absolutely fair and impartial, but that is also cold-blooded and heartless. Your so-called optimum has left us suffocating and exhausted. We are not emotionless machines."

"You will never understand. Everyone will leave you. You will fail. You are destined to be nothing but a loser!"

"That's right, a loser!"

"A loser until the day you die!"

The figures angrily hurled accusations at him.

"I am not a loser!"

Su Ming suddenly sat up and shouted furiously.

Thud, thud~

A burst of hurried footsteps approached. The door was pushed open, and Aunt Hui rushed in. She immediately turned on the main light, then looked toward Su Ming.

Su Ming sat on the bed, his eyes filled with blood vessels and cold sweat covering his forehead as he gasped heavily.

Chen Hui asked worriedly,

"Young Master, what happened?"

Su Ming slowly raised his head to look at Aunt Hui. His agitated emotions gradually settled, and he replied in a hoarse voice,

"Nothing."

At that moment, Zhao Ning and Su Yuan also hurried over. They rushed to Su Ming's bedside and asked anxiously,

"Son, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I just had a nightmare."

Su Ming shook his head and replied tiredly.

Su Yuan and Zhao Ning exchanged a glance, worry appearing on their faces. Without thinking, they assumed Su Ming had dreamed about Chilami invading the school.

"Son, sleep peacefully. Your father and I will stay here with you."

Zhao Ning spoke with concern.

"No need. I'm fine now. You two should go back and rest."

Su Ming shook his head tiredly.

"Are you really all right?"

"I'm fine."

"All right, son. Call us immediately if anything happens."

Zhao Ning urged him, still uneasy.

"Mm."

To put them at ease, Su Ming deliberately forced out a faint smile.

Only after seeing that Su Ming was fine did Su Yuan and Zhao Ning turn and leave.

Soon, Su Ming was alone in the room. He slowly lay back down and stared at the main light overhead, sinking into silence.