Forming a Four-Person Team

"Let me scan you."

Lin Zichen opened the WeChat scanner.

The girl with twin tails excitedly opened her WeChat contact card and held the QR code out in front of him.

Shen Qinghan watched from the side, pursing her lips in silence, her mood sinking.

She knew Lin Zichen was only helping her out of a tight spot, which made her feel even more useless.

She couldn't even bring herself to answer a question about her high school entrance exam scores.

She was nothing but a useless burden.

After adding the twin-tailed girl, Lin Zichen looked at his seatmate and said:

"He Yu, let's add each other on WeChat too."

His seatmate was a boy with a buzz cut, a sturdy build, and bright, spirited eyes.

He Yu took out his phone, opened his contact card, and held the QR code in front of Lin Zichen. "You scan me."

Once the friend request was accepted, Lin Zichen created a small WeChat group and added Shen Qinghan, He Yu, and the twin-tailed girl, Li Chuxin, to it.

Afterward, he smiled and said to the three of them:

"Based on where we're sitting, I reckon we'll be in the same group from now on, so I just made a group chat and added everyone."

He Yu chuckled. "Works for me. You're quite proactive."

Li Chuxin looked at the WeChat group and suggested, "How about we name the group? Let's call it the Dawn Group. Like the dawn of a new day."

Dawn Group?

Lin Zichen thought it sounded a bit strange.

However, the other two didn't seem to catch the pun, both agreeing that the name was quite good.

He Yu simply didn't care; he felt it didn't matter what the group was called.

As for Shen Qinghan, she lacked assertiveness in front of strangers and only knew how to echo what others said.

"Zichen, what about you?"

Li Chuxin looked at Lin Zichen and asked.

Lin Zichen felt the name was a bit funny, but seeing that no one else had any objections, he nodded and said, "I think it's pretty good too."

"Since everyone agrees, the group will be called the Dawn Group then." Li Chuxin said, changing the group chat name to "Dawn."

[You have successfully created a four-person group, meeting the criteria for multi-person cooperation on a task.]

[Cumulative event completion count: 2/1000]

This counts too?

Looking at the two lines of text floating in the void, Lin Zichen felt a bit surprised.

It seems the achievement for multi-person cooperation isn't too difficult; it can be completed without even trying.

After all, even creating a four-person group could increase the progress of the achievement task.

If that's the case, then cleaning the blackboard, sweeping the floor, or taking out the trash together would surely increase the progress as well.

One could say this achievement task is a piece of cake.

In the time that followed.

Except for Lin Zichen, who had already added the others, the remaining three added each other on WeChat.

Then, led by He Yu, everyone started a round of "interrogations" to get to know each other.

After some chatting, they learned that He Yu was not a local of Shanhai City, but from the neighboring Nanguan City. His family had run martial arts schools for generations; he was the young master of a martial arts lineage.

The reason he came to Shanhai City for high school was that his family was planning to expand their market here. His parents were in charge of the project, and to ensure its success, they had moved to Shanhai City to settle down. As an only child, he had no choice but to follow.

"He Yu, since your family has run martial arts schools for generations, your martial arts skills must be really strong," Li Chuxin guessed.

Heh, this is exactly what I was waiting for!

He Yu felt great inside, but on the surface, he acted nonchalant. "It's actually alright, just enough not to embarrass the family. I got lucky and took eighth place in last year's Nanguan City Youth Martial Arts Competition."

"Wow, eighth in the whole city! He Yu, you're amazing!" Li Chuxin looked at him with admiration.

"So amazing..." Shen Qinghan echoed the sentiment, though in her heart, she thought Lin Zichen was the most amazing.

Lin Zichen also played along. "I didn't expect to have a martial arts master in our group. If we run into any questions we don't understand in martial arts class, we'll have to ask you for guidance."

"No problem, leave it to me!" He Yu patted his chest and agreed immediately.

Having all three members of the group praise him like this made him feel incredibly satisfied.

Especially with Shen Qinghan and Li Chuxin, two pretty girls, looking at him with such admiration—it was an intoxicating feeling he couldn't get enough of.

After basking in the moment, he looked at the three of them and asked, "By the way, what do your families do?"

Li Chuxin said, "My family runs a clothing store, and we have several branches in the district."

He Yu, upon hearing this, gave a very supportive response: "Good heavens, so you're a little rich girl. No wonder you're decked out in designer brands. I'm envious, truly envious."

Li Chuxin waved her hand with a smile: "Young Master He, stop teasing me. Your family's martial arts gym has expanded into a cross-city chain; I should be the one envying you."

After saying this, she looked at Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan, asking curiously, "Zichen, Qinghan, what do your families do?"

Shen Qinghan said a bit reservedly, "My mom and dad are both teachers; they teach high school academic subjects."

"Teachers are great. Not only is the income stable, but they're also well-respected. You're from a scholarly family!" He Yu offered a practiced compliment, prioritizing the principle of reciprocity.

Li Chuxin looked enlightened: "No wonder your academic grades are so good; it turns out your parents are both teachers."

Having said that, she looked at Lin Zichen and asked, "Zichen, what about you?"

Lin Zichen said indifferently, "My parents are both freelancers; they write web novels at home."

"Whoa, they're actually novel authors!" He Yu felt quite surprised, then asked curiously, "I like reading novels in my spare time. What novels do your parents write? I'll go look them up."

Lin Zichen smiled: "I'll send the book titles to the group chat; you guys can check them out yourselves."

With that, he sent the titles to the group.

As his childhood sweetheart, Shen Qinghan had already read these books long ago.

She had even taken the initiative to act as a shill, creating a bunch of reader accounts to flood the comment sections with praise like "Update faster, I can't sleep at night," "Super good, I'm going to explode if I read one more page," and "The writing style is so good, and the plot is so satisfying."

He Yu and Li Chuxin curiously opened the group chat to check the titles, then searched for them online.

Soon, having finished searching, He Yu offered his usual support: "Not bad, not bad. The titles and synopses are very engaging. I'll check them out when I get home tonight."

Li Chuxin asked in surprise, "How come they're all male-oriented novels? Doesn't your mom write female-oriented ones?"

Lin Zichen smiled and explained, "My mom used to write female-oriented novels, but for certain reasons, she switched to writing male-oriented ones later on. That's actually how she met my dad and gave birth to me."

"Wow, that sounds like such a fated encounter." Li Chuxin looked envious, thinking how sweet it would be if she could meet her own significant other that way in the future.

PS: Happy New Year to everyone! I'll see if I can manage an extra chapter!