Middle School Graduation

He spent a few days wandering around the shopping mall.

Eventually, Lin Zichen successfully found an old man to act as his proxy shopper.

This old man was a local landlord who owned several buildings. He usually spent his free time wandering the mall in oversized shorts and flip-flops, helping to clear tables or picking up empty bottles from trash cans to sell.

He wasn't short on money; he just enjoyed collecting trash to save up.

Every time he picked up an empty bottle, he felt a special sense of satisfaction, a thrill that made him feel like he was ascending to heaven.

Lin Zichen simply told the old man that all the empty bottles from his home would belong to him from now on, and the old man chuckled and agreed to help him with his shopping.

With a proxy shopper secured.

The thirty thousand yuan in his hand was spent quickly.

He bought nothing but Ghost Shadow Squid meat to devour, consuming thirty pounds in a row, which directly boosted the completion progress of the Ghost Shadow Squid atlas to 33%.

Over the next half-month of summer vacation.

Lin Zichen exercised every day, training morning, noon, and night, with each session being quite intense.

During his breaks, he would call Shen Qinghan out from her home to help her train her body.

Days passed by just like that.

The moment summer vacation ended and the second year of middle school began.

Lin Zichen's Biological Rank broke through.

He successfully advanced from ordinary Tier 3 to ordinary Tier 4.

At the same time, all his physical stats saw a significant increase.

He could easily lift a 1090kg weight with one hand.

His standing vertical jump reached 5.65 meters.

His 100-meter sprint took only 4.49 seconds.

However, a closer look revealed that the improvement in these three stats was no longer as exaggerated as the previous two evolutions, which had seen direct multiples or doubling.

Lin Zichen understood this; after all, the higher the body's strength, the harder it was to improve, and the values couldn't keep increasing exponentially—it all depended on the baseline.

Take strength, for example.

Increasing from 100kg to 400kg was a fourfold increase.

But increasing from 400kg to 800kg was only a twofold increase.

Yet, the latter improvement was clearly greater than the former, adding an extra 100kg.

I used to think that reaching ordinary Tier 4 before graduating middle school would be a success. I didn't expect to break through while still in my second year. It seems I underestimated myself...

Lin Zichen thought with a smile.

Time flew by, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan both finished their middle school entrance exams and successfully graduated from the middle school division of Shanhai High School.

On graduation day, both sets of parents took time out of their schedules to attend the ceremony.

"Come on, you two, get closer! Give me a brighter smile!"

Zhang Wanxin was, as always, in charge of taking photos of the childhood sweethearts, using the pictures to witness their growth through every stage of their schooling.

While the two were posing for photos, many girls nearby were watching.

Seeing Shen Qinghan pressing herself against Lin Zichen, the onlookers were filled with envy, wishing they could push her aside and take her place against him.

Feeling the envious gazes of her peers, Shen Qinghan felt wonderful, believing herself to be the happiest girl in the world.

Nearly half an hour passed.

The photo session ended.

Lin Zichen looked down at Shen Qinghan beside him and realized that, without noticing, he had grown nearly a head taller than her.

Shen Qinghan caught his gaze and immediately turned to the side, lifting her incredibly beautiful face and looking up at him with watery eyes as she asked:

"Why do you keep looking at the top of my head? Is there something stuck there?"

"No, I just suddenly realized I'm almost a head taller than you."

"Don't talk nonsense, how could it be a whole head? We measured our height just a few days ago. You're 1.78 meters and I'm 1.62 meters. That's only a 16-centimeter difference, and a head's difference is at least 20 centimeters."

Shen Qinghan pursed her rosy lower lip slightly, expressing her dissatisfaction with Lin Zichen's imprecise choice of words.

As the height gap between them widened, she had become very sensitive about her height; she couldn't stand even a single centimeter being miscounted.

Lin Zichen corrected himself: "Don't be so impatient. I said almost a head taller. Don't ignore the word 'almost' in the middle."

Shen Qinghan pouted coquettishly: "I don't care, 'almost' isn't good enough either. It has to be precise to the centimeter!"

After saying that, she looked at the growing height gap between them and couldn't help but worry: "You're already nearly 1.8 meters now. If you keep growing in high school, I'm afraid I'll have to stand on my tiptoes just to wipe the sweat off your face in the future."

"You're overthinking it. You're so short that even on your tiptoes you wouldn't reach me; you'd at least need to stand on a chair."

Lin Zichen reached out to ruffle her hair, teasing her.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, whatever!" Shen Qinghan rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "Just wait a few years, I'll be so short I'll only be able to jump up and hit your knees!"

Zhang Wanxin watched the two of them from the side with a motherly smile. "It's alright, Hanhan. If you still can't reach him on your tiptoes later on, you can just have Xiao Chen pick you up. That way, you'll be able to wipe the sweat off his face."

"Auntie Xin, you're teasing me again~" Suddenly put on the spot by Zhang Wanxin, Shen Qinghan's face flushed red, and she felt incredibly embarrassed.

Lin Zichen didn't seem to feel much of anything; he just smiled without saying a word.

But come to think of it, it had been a long time since he had held Shen Qinghan.

Back in kindergarten, he used to hold her often. Every time they had nap time at school, Shen Qinghan loved to crawl into his blanket and cuddle him to sleep. Over those three years, she had probably wet his bed nearly a hundred times.

In elementary school, he only held her a few times, though he did carry her on his back quite often.

As for the three years of middle school, he had only held her once when they encountered a disturbance caused by Heretic Cult members, and not since.

One could only say that, in the end, they had grown up.

The physiological differences between them were becoming more pronounced, sexual characteristics were becoming more obvious, and they had become much more sensitive to physical contact with the opposite sex.

Due to various concerns, they could no longer hug and cuddle as casually as they did when they were children.

Half a month later.

The high school entrance exam results were released.

Just as everyone had expected, Lin Zichen scored first in the entire district.

Whether it was the academic subjects or the physical fitness test data required for the Martial Arts Elite Class application, he was absolutely the top in the district.

In truth, he could have scored first in the entire city, but he figured it was better to keep a low profile; being first in the district was enough.

As for Shen Qinghan, there was an unexpected turn of events.

She performed exceptionally well in the academic subjects, exceeding expectations to rank in the top hundred of the district, which was more than enough to get into the high school division of Shanhai High School.

However, her physical fitness test data failed to meet the admission threshold for the Martial Arts Elite Class at Shanhai High School, falling short by over ten points—a significant gap.

"Xiao Chen, I clearly worked so hard to train, but my physical test scores just won't go up. I feel like I'm not cut out for martial arts."

Shen Qinghan lay flat on her bed, her right arm covering her eyes, looking utterly discouraged.

Lin Zichen sat on the edge of the bed to comfort her. "Don't lose confidence in yourself. You just didn't make it into the Elite Class; you're already better than most people. Besides, you're still young. You're only 15; your body hasn't fully developed yet, and you still have a lot of potential."

"What do you mean 'still young'? You're only one day older than me. Why do you sound like you could be my father?" Shen Qinghan couldn't help but retort.

Lin Zichen smiled and teased, "I wouldn't mind being your father."

"Ugh, you're so annoying! I'm so sad right now, and you're still making fun of me!"

Shen Qinghan reached out and swatted Lin Zichen, though she didn't use much force; it felt like the playful bickering of a couple.

After saying that, she quickly added, looking listless again, "We're both still developing, but your physical test data looks so much more impressive than mine. Compared to you, I'm like a useless shut-in."

Just as Lin Zichen was about to comfort her, the phone in his pocket rang.

It was a call from Zhang Wanxin.

After answering, he learned that the principal of the high school division of Shanhai High School had come to his house, specifically to visit the genius student who had ranked first in the district.

The purpose of the visit was to ensure he would enroll directly into the high school division of Shanhai High School, rather than being poached by other high schools.

After hanging up, Lin Zichen looked at Shen Qinghan on the bed and said, "Hanhan, the high school principal is at my place. Come with me to see him."

"I don't want to go..." Shen Qinghan was in a bad mood and just wanted to stay in her room and be alone.

Lin Zichen persuaded her in a gentle voice, "You should come with me. Say hello to the principal so he gets to know you too. Once school starts, we can continue to be in the same class and sit at the same desk."

Hearing this, Shen Qinghan pursed her lips. She had no choice but to get up from the bed, dejected, and follow Lin Zichen to meet the high school principal.

After all, with her ordinary physical test scores, there was no way she could get into the Martial Arts Elite Class of the high school division.

If she still wanted to be in the same class as Lin Zichen, she would have to do what she did when transitioning from elementary to middle school: use her relationship with Lin Zichen to pull strings and get in as a "connected" student.

PS: Bowls out, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!