The four of them chatted for a while, until they had nearly run out of things to talk about as a group.
He Yu, the group's resident conversation starter, saw that no one had anything left to say and took the initiative to steer the topic toward their other classmates.
With a mysterious air, he said to the three of them, "Guess who's the strongest in our class. I bet you'll never get it."
Li Chuxin looked puzzled. "Aren't you from Nanguan City? In theory, you shouldn't know how everyone in our class measures up yet. How do you know who's the strongest?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to realize something and said with a helpless look, "You're not about to say you're the strongest, are you?"
"No, I'm not that arrogant. I know where I stand. At most, I'd rank third in the class," He Yu said, thinking he was being modest.
Li Chuxin shook her head. "Then I can't guess. I don't know a lot of people in our class."
As soon as she said it, she suddenly thought of Lin Zichen and added with a smile, "If you insist that I guess, I'd say Zichen is the best. He was the top scorer in our district's high school entrance exam!"
"Holy crap, Zichen, I had no idea you were that amazing!"
He Yu was shocked. He hadn't expected Lin Zichen to be the district's top scorer.
You couldn't judge a book by its cover!
After all, under normal circumstances, good-looking people were all pretty useless in a fight.
Heaven had to be fair. It couldn't let someone be both handsome and good at fighting, or it would wreck the balance of a game like Earth Online.
Once the shock wore off, He Yu thought it over and decided it wasn't that impressive after all. He was only the top scorer in the district, not the city, and might not even be as good as He Yu himself.
Then he leaned toward the three of them and said in a low voice, "The district's top scorer might still fall a bit short. You might not believe this, but there are two monsters in our class whom the principal spent a fortune recruiting from Nanguan City."
"What do you mean?" Li Chuxin asked curiously.
Lin Zichen was curious too, waiting for He Yu to reveal the answer.
He Yu motioned for the three of them to lean closer, then lowered his voice even further.
"The boy by the window in the third row from the left—the one who just introduced himself as Wang Shujie—is Nanguan City's Third Place Scholar in the high school entrance exam. He runs the hundred meters in 7.98 seconds!"
"And that big guy named Lu Gang, sitting at the far right of the last row? He was born with incredible strength. He can easily lift a 300-kilogram barbell with one hand!"
"Those two are definitely the strongest in class. Apart from them, Zichen and I are probably the best."
He Yu had originally meant to say that he was the strongest after those two.
But Lin Zichen was in his group, and it didn't feel right to leave him out, so he mentioned them both.
"Oh my gosh! Seriously?!"
Li Chuxin was stunned, her face full of disbelief.
Shen Qinghan remained calm, as steadfast as ever in her belief that Lin Zichen was the best in class. She kept that thought to herself, though, and didn't argue.
Lin Zichen just smiled without saying anything.
A 7.98-second hundred-meter dash?
Easily lifting a 300-kilogram weight with one hand?
He'd been able to do both of those things back in elementary school.
"Can a few students come help move the books and uniforms?"
Homeroom teacher Han Yuanfeng had appeared at the classroom entrance at some point. He called out to the students, who had been chatting animatedly inside.
A few boys sitting near the door heard him and promptly got up to help move the books and uniforms.
Before long,
the books and uniforms had been brought back.
At Han Yuanfeng's direction,
several students seated in the front rows quickly and orderly handed out the books and uniforms.
There weren't many books, just four per person, one for each of the four main subjects.
Martial Arts Cultivation Compulsory I
Gene Fusion Compulsory I
Mechanical Modification Compulsory I
Wilderness Survival Compulsory I
The titles were simple and straightforward. You could tell at a glance what each subject covered.
As for uniforms, everyone got five sets: three summer outfits and two winter outfits.
Lin Zichen opened the package and felt the material of the uniform. It was surprisingly soft to the touch, and the quality was no worse than clothes that cost several hundred yuan at a shopping mall.
You could only say that a key high school was different. They had plenty of funding, and the things they handed out to students weren't shoddily made.
Once the books and uniforms had all been handed out,
Han Yuanfeng went to the podium and turned on the projector, displaying a list of class positions.
There weren't many, just five.
They were: class monitor, discipline committee member, study committee member, arts committee member, and class life committee member.
Han Yuanfeng looked at the students below and said, "Anyone who wants to be a class officer can come up and run for a position now. The rest of you can vote to decide."
Lin Zichen wasn't interested. He glanced at the list, then quickly lowered his head and started flipping through the textbooks they'd just received.
Shen Qinghan was extremely introverted and had no intention of becoming a class officer either. She also lowered her head to look through her textbooks.
He Yu had his eye on the class monitor position. He said to the other three in his group, "Groupmates, I'm going to run for class monitor in a bit. Remember to vote for me."
As soon as he finished, Li Chuxin smiled and jumped in. "I'm going to run for arts committee member. You have to vote for me too!"
Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan both nodded and agreed.
A few minutes later,
the class officer election began.
Quite a few students wanted to be class officers, and one after another went up to run.
He Yu went up early to run for class monitor.
Unfortunately, he lost.
The class monitor position went to Wang Shujie, the boy who ran the hundred meters in 7.98 seconds.
Settling for the next best thing, He Yu decided to run for discipline committee member.
But he lost again.
That position went to Lu Gang, who could easily lift 300 kilograms with one hand.
He Yu was stunned. He returned to his seat and sat there in a daze, questioning everything.
After a long while, he finally muttered, "Damn it, you two little punks, just you wait! I'll overtake you on the bend and grind you into the dirt sooner or later!"
Unlike He Yu, Li Chuxin succeeded in getting elected arts committee member.
[You worked together with your group members and successfully helped Li Chuxin get elected arts committee member]
[Total completed tasks: 3/1000]
"Hanhan, we don't have a publicity committee member, so I'm responsible for the blackboard with my arts committee position. But I'm not very good at drawing. I remember you said during your introduction that you liked to draw. Could you help me?"
After coming down from the podium, Li Chuxin addressed Shen Qinghan by the nickname Lin Zichen used, then gazed at her with an intimate, pleading tone.
Faced with her deskmate's request, Shen Qinghan nodded without hesitation. "Sure. I'll help you."
She already liked drawing, and she was quite happy to take charge of the blackboard.
Li Chuxin was delighted. She threw her arms around Shen Qinghan and said, "Bestie, you're my bestie from now on!"
Shen Qinghan wasn't used to being hugged and didn't know what to do with her hands.
Li Chuxin was so enthusiastic that it was hard for her to adjust in such a short time.
Lin Zichen watched the whole scene and couldn't help smiling. He thought it was nice.
It probably wouldn't be long before Shen Qinghan had a best friend she could talk to about anything.
The books and uniforms had been handed out.
The class officers had been elected.
Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Han Yuanfeng let the students spend the rest of the time as they pleased and told them to head home on their own when it was time to go.
Of course, they weren't allowed to leave school in the meantime.
Many of the students below looked incredulous when they heard this.
Yesterday had been registration day, so it made sense that they didn't have classes.
But what about today? Why weren't they having classes today either?
Li Chuxin knew the reason. She smiled and explained to the three confused group members.
"This is a Shanhai High School tradition. To help students get familiar with the school and each other as quickly as possible, we don't have classes for the first two days. We're free to do whatever we like."
It was the first time Lin Zichen had heard of this. He felt like he really didn't know much.
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