The Coolest Guy in School

Dongchuan Middle School's main gate opened eastward onto Xiyuan Street. Xiyuan Street was a small north-south street. Dongchuan Middle School's walls stood on the west side, while old residential buildings lined the east. Because they were right next to the school, the ground floors of those buildings had all been converted into various shops—convenience stores, little restaurants, bookstores, and stationery shops. Living off the mountain when you were near a mountain, living off the water when you were near water; with a school nearby, these small shops all did fairly good business.

Most of the time, the street was quiet, except during school arrival and dismissal.

The traffic bringing children to school and the surging crowds packed this narrow little street so tightly that not even the traffic police assigned to keep order could do much about it.

Right now was the first busy period of the day at Dongchuan Middle School.

Students poured in from both ends of Xiyuan Street, joining the cars dropping children off. The street was a sea of people, shoulder to shoulder.

Amid such a crowded throng, a sudden shout rang out.

"Ahhhhhhhh—!!"

But it was like a pebble dropped into an extremely viscous liquid. The ripples it stirred did not spread very far before quickly vanishing without a trace.

Hu Lai could feel the annoyed looks cast at him by the people around him. There was confusion in their eyes, mockery, even disgust.

He had never wished so desperately for more people to look his way.

But there were no more. His shout had only startled those nearby. Farther away, everyone kept walking toward the school as usual without even pausing.

Clearly, this was not enough to make him the coolest guy in school.

Feeling dejected, he lowered his head and followed the crowd toward the school gate.

After one night, the excitement of obtaining the system had faded, and he had begun worrying about how to complete the task it had issued.

Become the coolest guy in school.

It was such a simple sentence, with no explanation whatsoever and no instructions on how to accomplish it.

What was the standard for being the coolest guy?

Did he need to draw the attention of every teacher and student in the school?

Did he need to become a famous figure everyone talked about?

But how could he become someone like that?

Clearly, yelling at the school gate would not work.

Hu Lai was not one of those top students with exceptional grades whose names could appear on the school honor roll, or who could stand on the stage during Monday's flag-raising ceremony, receive commendations from the school, and bask in the admiring, envious gazes of the entire student body.

Nor was he one of those notorious troublemakers everyone feared, someone who could be publicly named and criticized by the dean in front of the whole school.

Although everyone in Class Two of Year One knew Hu Lai, he was still unknown throughout the school. His reputation had not spread that far.

Walking through the crowd with his head down, Hu Lai opened the system interface in his mind again and looked at the task in the mission log. The treasure chest containing the reward was still glowing gold as it floated in midair, waiting for its owner to open it.

But all Hu Lai wanted to do now was sigh. It was so close, yet it felt impossibly far away...

From the moment Hu Lai entered the classroom, Li Qingqing had been watching him.

Last night, whenever she closed her eyes in bed, the image that appeared in her mind was that boy riding away on his bicycle beneath the evening glow, swaying slightly, his shadow stretched long behind him.

She was worried that she had dealt him too great a blow.

Now, seeing Hu Lai walk into the classroom with his head hanging low and no energy in his step, go to his seat without greeting his deskmate, plop down, and then sit there blankly without even taking out his books, Li Qingqing inwardly cried out in alarm—her worries had become reality!

It seemed he really had been badly affected...

Should I... go apologize to him?

Li Qingqing thought uneasily.

Seeing his deskmate come in looking utterly lost, Song Jiajia instinctively covered his school uniform pocket. "I don't have any allowance left..."

He thought Hu Lai's account had been hacked again.

Hu Lai turned to look at him and suddenly asked, "Song Fatty, how do you think someone can become a famous figure in school?"

Song Jiajia froze for a moment, then his eyes shifted and he laughed. "Oh, is that all? Isn't that easy? During the morning exercises, go over to Class One of Year Three and confess to Tang Xiuyuan in front of the whole school. You'll become a famous figure immediately!"

Tang Xiuyuan from Class One of Year Three excelled in both character and academics. Beautiful and intelligent, she was widely recognized as Dongchuan Middle School's school beauty. She had countless admirers, but she remained unmoved by all of them and focused on her studies. It was said that she was already set to be recommended to a prestigious university.

Hu Lai glared at his unreliable deskmate. "What kind of rotten idea is that? How could I deceive someone's feelings just to achieve my own goal?"

Song Jiajia rolled his eyes. "You're overthinking it, Hu Lai. How could you possibly deceive her feelings? At most, you'd go from being the laughingstock of Class Two of Year One to the laughingstock of Dongchuan Middle School. Didn't you want to become a famous figure? A famous figure is basically an internet celebrity. As long as you can attract attention and traffic, isn't that enough? Praise draws attention, insults draw attention, and being laughed at can do the same..."

Hu Lai was stunned.

Because he realized Song Fatty's words actually... made a little sense.

The mission description only required him to become the coolest guy. It had not set any conditions. As long as he became the center of attention, wouldn't that be enough?

Morning exercises, morning exercises...

An idea suddenly came to Hu Lai.

So he abruptly grabbed Song Jiajia's arm and beamed. "Thanks for the reminder!"

Song Jiajia was frightened instead. "What are you doing? You're really going to confess to Senior Tang? Um... don't tell people I'm your deskmate from now on!"

He forcefully shook off Hu Lai's hand, wanting to cut ties with him.

Every day, Dongchuan Middle School had a fifteen-minute break between the third and fourth classes in the morning. As long as it was not raining, the entire school would be organized to go to the sports field for radio calisthenics, freeing them from their heavy studies for a little exercise.

The intention behind radio calisthenics was good, but the students did not appreciate it. What they most wanted to hear was that the school broadcasting equipment had malfunctioned, or that there had been a sudden power outage, so they would not have to do the exercises.

That way, they would have fifteen minutes of free time to arrange however they pleased.

But unfortunately, equipment failures and sudden power outages were both extremely rare, so most of the time, students would be driven onto the field by their homeroom teachers to do radio calisthenics.

The students did not like it, so naturally they performed the exercises halfheartedly. Almost everyone just went through the motions.

Logically speaking, when radio calisthenics were designed, every movement had been planned with an appropriate range of motion to maximize the exercise benefits for students.

But in reality, not a single student met those standards.

For example, during the chest-expanding exercise, students were supposed to step forward with their left foot into a slight lunge, while bringing both arms forward level with the chest before extending them straight out to the sides.

But when most students did this movement, they merely shifted their center of gravity forward slightly without forming a proper lunge. Their arms were not raised fully either; they just lifted them a little, then symbolically swung them to the sides. That counted as one chest-expanding movement.

The teachers all knew what the students were thinking, and they turned a blind eye to it. They had long tacitly accepted this perfunctory behavior. No one demanded that the students complete every movement properly—it would only make trouble for themselves.

But today, an "exception" appeared on the sports field of Dongchuan Middle School...

Standing in formation, Li Qingqing raised her hand but completely forgot to continue the exercise. She turned her head and stared blankly at a spot diagonally ahead of her.

In her line of sight, Hu Lai charged forward in a single stride, nearly crashing into the back of the student in front of him. His lunge was so deep he was almost kneeling on one knee.

Then, with his arms stretched straight out, he performed an extremely exaggerated chest-expanding movement before springing back.

He used so much force that he nearly lost his balance. He staggered back several steps and almost crashed into the person behind him—if that person had not quickly dodged aside...

The person who dodged shouted angrily, "Hu Lai, what are you doing?!"

"Doing the exercises seriously!" Hu Lai was busy with the exercises and answered without looking back. "Training my body for my studies!"

Then he launched himself forward again...

He said he was doing the exercises seriously, but his exaggerated movements and lack of bodily coordination made him look hilariously absurd to everyone else.

Beside Li Qingqing, giggles began to rise. "Look at Hu Lai!"

"Haha! What is he doing?"

"He says he's doing the exercises seriously? Is this what serious exercise looks like?"

"Look at that guy..."

"Look at him..."

"Check that out..."

"Hahaha! He looks like an idiot!"

"It's just exercise. Does he have to be this ridiculous?"

"Hey, who is that guy?"

"No idea. I think he's from Class Two of Year One..."

This time, it was no longer a small pebble falling into thick liquid. It was a huge rock being hurled into a pond, sending up splashing waves and ripples spreading outward in widening circles.

The students of Class Two of Year One looked over. The students from the neighboring class looked over. Students from the class next to that looked over... More and more people forgot to exercise, twisting around, standing on tiptoe, and craning their necks to look toward the formation of Class Two of Year One.

Until the dean, who was standing on the podium maintaining order, noticed that most of the students had stopped moving and were turning to look in the same direction.

Curiously following their gazes, he saw Hu Lai making exaggerated movements as if he were performing some kind of ritual dance.

Holding a microphone, he pointed at Hu Lai and shouted, "That student from Class Two of Year One! What are you doing?!"

The dean's authoritative voice echoed through the school broadcast system, resounding in every corner of the campus and ringing in the ears of every teacher and student at Dongchuan Middle School.

At the same time, a brief section of solemn, grand music began playing in Hu Lai's mind.

Along with the music came that emotionless voice:

"You have become the coolest guy in front of all teachers and students in the school. Mission complete. Mission reward acquired: Beginner Gift Pack."

The mechanical voice now sounded like the sweetest, most beautiful sound in the world to Hu Lai.

He smiled. Under the gaze of every teacher and student, amid those confused, astonished, mocking, and gloating looks, he continued energetically performing his ridiculous version of radio calisthenics.

He did not care about those looks at all. He only knew that his life might be about to change because of this...

P.S. Please support the new book with recommendation votes!