Waterloo

As school neared its end for the day, Zhuge Linghao's expression suddenly turned incredibly ugly.

He tried his best to control his stiff body, but ended up walking to the podium with his left hand and left foot moving in unison.

With a flushed face, Zhuge Linghao stammered, his hands behind his back as he shouted to the entire class: "Um... classmates, sorry to interrupt!"

"If you'll pardon my bluntness, everyone here is trash!"

The crowd didn't seem to react at first, and there was a long, heavy silence.

"For this upcoming quiz, do you dare to enter a high-stakes gamble with me?"

The students below erupted, their anger turning into vocal outbursts.

"Huh? Who are you calling trash? Looking for a beating?"

"Get down, you idiot! Get lost, you clown!"

"What are we betting? I'll take that bet!"

"This makes me so mad, I'm betting against you too."

Zhuge Linghao wiped away a cold sweat: "Let's bet on any one of the five subjects. My score in that subject will absolutely crush everyone here!"

"If I win, those who bet against me must pay me 10,000 points!"

"If you win, I'll give you 10,000 points!"

"How about it? Does anyone have the guts to bet?"

"Um, could Hirata-san and Kushida-san please act as witnesses? Would that be okay?"

Hirata Yosuke's face turned tense, his brows furrowing as he said: "Is this really a good idea?"

His deepest fear was that his classmates would develop conflicts and divide the class, while he remained powerless to stop it!

Kushida Kikyo also looked worried: "That's right, gambling is wrong."

Zhuge Linghao rubbed his hands, which were numb from poor circulation, and said: "Well, the teacher has already said it—this school is all about student ability!"

"Besides, throughout this month, the teachers have barely interfered with anything, so they naturally won't interfere with these private wagers either."

Zhuge Linghao took a deep breath and said his piece with a forced, awkward manner.

"I believe that those with strong abilities should possess more points, and those who are weak don't deserve so many."

The crowd fell into deep thought for a moment. Survival of the fittest?

But single-celled organisms like Sudo Ken, Yamauchi Haruki, and Ike Kanji had long since lost their patience, and they noisily made their way toward the podium.

Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo looked at the chaotic scene before them and finally nodded in hesitant agreement to act as witnesses.

"Thanks, you two leaders. Now, please just sit back and watch the show."

Rewinding to five minutes ago, when the elegant melody of the final bell rang out.

At that moment, the shifty-eyed Yamauchi Haruki was darting his gaze around, scanning almost everyone in the class before finally fixing his eyes on Zhuge Linghao in the back row.

Just as Zhuge Linghao was pondering what to have for dinner, Yamauchi Haruki approached him with something in his hand and said lewdly: "Hey, Zhuge-kun, do me a favor! I'm a bit short on cash lately, could you buy this game console from me for 25,000 points?"

As he spoke, his other hand pressed heavily onto Zhuge Linghao's shoulder.

The sensitive Karuizawa Kei noticed the movement in the back, seemingly wanting to stop the next victim from emerging.

[What's the meaning of this? Looking around the room, you only come to me to sell a game console? Think I'm an easy target, huh?]

[Ding, detected that the host is being maliciously bullied. Triggering option mission!]

[Sorry! Yamauchi Haruki, you clown! Actually, the passive me is invincible.]

[Option A: The Victim. Swallow your pride and let Yamauchi Haruki exploit you. Act cowardly and afraid to resist, eyes darting around, unable to look others in the eye. Tearfully accept this mess for 25,000 points! Furthermore, for the rest of the day, you must do whatever Yamauchi Haruki says, becoming his manual labor slave!]

[Option B: The God of Gamblers. Go big. Use hair gel to style your hair like Chow Yun-fat, bite down on a gold-foil chocolate bar, undo your jacket, and drape it over your right shoulder! Proactively provoke a winning gamble, lure Yamauchi Haruki into the trap, and ruthlessly toy with him.]

[Option C: The Mental Patient. Directly break free from Yamauchi Haruki's grip, run two and a half laps around the classroom and hallway while repeatedly shouting: "I'm the coolest, I'm the best, I dare to eat sh*t, do you?" Then, do a handstand on the podium to wash your hair, and finally lie down at the classroom door to play dead...]

Back to the present, and sure enough, the impulsive Yamauchi Haruki was the first to accept the bet.

Following that, several other "gamblers" with few points to their names joined in one after another.

[Hehe, isn't this move brilliant?]

[Not only am I going to drag Yamauchi Haruki down with me, but I'm also going to see which other guys have a problem with me!]

In the end, a total of 14 people entered the bet with resentment.

[Very good, I've memorized all 14 of your faces!]

[Just wait for my ruthless revenge!]

[Wait, why is there one familiar face among them?]

"Ugh, I didn't expect you to participate in such a boring bet, Koenji?"

"You can't say it like that. I go on dates quite often, so my expenses are a bit high. It seems I don't have many points left."

"By the way, how do we handle a draw?"

"A draw counts as my loss."

"Ok! Black-haired Boy, I'm really looking forward to your performance."

After school, in the school cafeteria, Horikita Suzune rarely took the initiative to walk over to Zhuge Linghao and sat down heavily opposite him.

"Idiot, you have 140,000 points?"

"Huh? How are you so sure I'll lose?"

"Hmph, even I, with perfect grades in every subject, wouldn't dare to make such a boast!"

"Oh, that's simply because you lack the ability!"

"You? Forget it, I shouldn't have meddled."

After Horikita Suzune walked away, Ayanokoji also asked with concern: "Zhuge-san, are you really confident you can win this?"

A confident Zhuge Linghao took a bite of a delicious fried shrimp: "Don't worry, just watch me!"

Another day passed, and it was the day the quiz results were posted.

The homeroom teacher, Chabashira, said: "After school at noon, go to the center of the school plaza yourselves. The quiz results for every student in every class are posted there."

Chabashira sneered: "I'll give you a heads-up: your average quiz scores are the lowest in history."

But Chabashira kept one thing to herself: "Though, there is someone quite special among them!"

At noon, groups of Class D students walked toward the plaza with gloomy faces. Many students had already gathered there.

Zhuge Linghao dawdled, first going to the restroom, then walking slowly and leisurely toward the results bulletin board with a relaxed expression.

"Wow, Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A is amazing. She got near-perfect scores in almost every subject!"

"Let me see... Japanese 98, Math 99, English 99, Chemistry 98, Social Studies 97! Sakayanagi is a beast!"

"No, look closer. Everyone in Class A is talented; they have such high scores!"

"Class B has many high scores too, but very few are near-perfect!"

"Ichinose Honami from Class B is pretty good—her humanities are insane—Japanese 98, Social Studies 98, English 98!"

"What about Class C? Ugh, Class C has too many slackers... skipping!"

"How about Class D? Oh my, the polarization of grades is way too extreme."

"That Horikita Suzune is amazing; Japanese 98, English 99, Chemistry 99!"

"And Yukimura Teruhiko, Social Studies 99, Japanese 98! Math 95! A straight-A student!"

"Class D seems to have a lot of top students, but what the hell is this Zhuge Linghao?"

"Haha, he's practically the fighter jet of slackers!"

"Japanese 42, English 31, Chemistry 43, Social Studies 36!"

Hearing this, Zhuge Linghao was instantly cast in a tragic light.

His expression stiffened, and he widened his dead fish eyes: How is this possible? Even with my weak academic ability, I never scored this low in my previous life!

As expected, I don't even recognize many Japanese characters, so I couldn't read the questions! I've also forgotten so many English words; this really can't be blamed on me!

"Ugh, this Koenji actually got a 99 in Math. Class D is full of hidden talents!"

"Wait, look at the Math column, everyone. There's actually a perfect score?"

"How is that possible? No way, it really is!"

"Awesome, the only perfect score in the whole school!"

"That's fierce. The last final question was so hard, and he didn't get any points deducted?"

"Let me see, this student is named... Zhuge Linghao!"

"Zhuge Linghao?"

Upon hearing this, the students of Class D were shocked, especially the thirteen people who had bet against Zhuge Linghao; their faces were as dark as the bottom of a pot.

You might want to ask, did I miss one?

Of course, there was still one blonde guy acting all self-important, and he was laughing wildly...

[Ding, detected a total of 119 emotion points generated by everyone in the plaza!]

Zhuge Linghao's complexion finally began to improve.

Sorry everyone, this is the advantage of a math teacher who is a transmigrator!

[System, help me open my personal panel.]

[Ding... opening it for you now!]

School: Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School

Class: Class D, First Year

Name: Zhuge Linghao

Alignment: Evil (1%)

Emotion Points: 587

Academic Ability: C

Intelligence: C

Social Contribution: C

Physical Ability: C

Judgment: C

Skill: Triple Slide-Kneel Kowtow (System-granted, random ability.)

[Ding, detected that the host has over 500 Emotion Points. Would you like to upgrade the system?]

[Upgrade!]