Changes

After Hu Lai painfully dragged himself out of bed, the first thing he wanted to do was travel back to last night and slap himself across the face.

He'd actually said something as shameless as, "Train me hard!"

And "COME ON, BABY!" And "YEAH!"

Yeah my ass!

The soreness all over his body—especially his lower half—had completely wiped out all the lofty ambitions he'd had last night.

"Hu Lai, what are you doing? Get up already, or you'll be late for school!" his mother called from outside the bedroom.

"Coming..." Hu Lai gritted his teeth as he answered, then pushed himself to his feet.

But even that simple act of standing up made him grimace in pain.

He truly hadn't expected basic training—juggling, trapping the ball, passing... weren't those all simple drills? Yet after repeating them so many times, his entire body ached beyond endurance.

Was the training intensity too high, or was this body of his just that pathetically weak?

He suddenly remembered the [Stamina Potion] he'd drawn with a lottery ticket. Though its description said it was to be used after matches, its effects were to reduce fatigue and restore stamina.

Could he use it in a situation like this?

He sent the question to the system, but that emotionless voice of the system didn't respond.

Fine. Apparently, this system was mute...

After silently griping about the system, Hu Lai took a [Stamina Potion] from the system inventory. Without hesitation, he pulled out the stopper, tilted back his head, and downed the small vial.

Perhaps for the sake of ceremony, Hu Lai even pretended to lick his lips and smack his mouth, despite there being no taste at all.

Then he stepped toward the bedroom door, intending to wash up and have breakfast.

But the moment he confidently took a step, the soreness threw him off balance and he nearly fell flat on the floor—if he hadn't caught hold of the wardrobe beside him...

Damn it, what a waste!

Hu Lai realized that the [Stamina Potion] was completely ineffective against the exhaustion and soreness caused by training. Whatever the descriptions said those items did, they followed those descriptions to the letter, leaving him no loophole to exploit.

That was the knowledge he'd gained at the cost of one [Stamina Potion].

Now he only had one left.

Hu Lai felt somewhat depressed. For a moment, he genuinely had the urge to exchange all two thousand of his points for lottery tickets and use them, just to see if he could make up for the loss.

But in the end, he held himself back, because he was afraid all two thousand points would go down the drain.

After all, this system had a "Thanks for participating" option.

"HU LAI!!!" His mother's high-pitched roar effortlessly pierced through the walls and door, assaulting his eardrums.

"Coming, coming..." Hu Lai frowned and hobbled awkwardly toward the bedroom door.

When Hu Lai hobbled awkwardly through the door of Class 2, Grade 10, Li Zhiqun let out a loud laugh. "Hahaha! Look at that pathetic state you're in, Hu Lai! One training session and you're already crippled?"

Ever since Hu Lai had taken his place on the school team, Li Zhiqun seemed to have given up all pretense. He had only targeted Hu Lai occasionally before, but now he seemed fixated on him.

Li Qingqing was very unhappy with that attitude. She frowned deeply, thinking that if Li Zhiqun said anything too excessive, she would stand up for Hu Lai. She didn't care what sort of speculation that might stir up in the class.

She simply felt that Li Zhiqun had gone too far.

But she never got the chance to stand up, because Hu Lai wasn't one to be pushed around either.

Facing Li Zhiqun's mockery, he smiled faintly. "Still better than you, Li Zhiqun. You got crippled before you even attended a single training session."

That struck perfectly at Li Zhiqun's fatal weakness. He had always suspected that his failure to make the school team had a lot to do with getting injured and subbed off before he could even finish the trial match.

So he immediately exploded, pointing at Hu Lai and shouting, "What did you say?! What right do you have to talk about me? This is the first time I've ever seen someone join the school team and still have to start with the basics! You have to learn the fundamentals from scratch—what makes you qualified to join the school team?!"

Hu Lai held up three fingers. "Because I scored three goals?"

"Y-you..." Even Li Zhiqun's pointing hand trembled. "Don't get cocky too soon! I'm telling you, with the way you are, just wait until you embarrass yourself and get kicked off the team!"

"Heh." Hu Lai gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes, then brought out his ultimate weapon. "Deadbeat Li, when are you paying me back?"

Sure enough, as soon as those words came out, Li Zhiqun was like a man who'd had a bucket of cold water dumped over his head. With a hiss, all the wind went out of him. He clenched his teeth and glared furiously at Hu Lai, but ultimately couldn't say a word. Then he pulled out a Chinese textbook and began loudly reciting a passage in Classical Chinese.

The way he read through gritted teeth made it seem as if he wanted to swallow the entire book whole.

It was somewhat comical.

But the looks some people gave Hu Lai had changed as well.

Before this, Hu Lai had been like the clown of Class 2, Grade 10 in their eyes. Anyone could mock him a little, and no one took him seriously. He talked nonsense, behaved oddly, got poor grades, had no athletic talent, wasn't particularly handsome, was skinny as a monkey, and still liked hanging around with a greasy fat guy like Song Jiajia. They were practically the "Creepy Duo"...

Though these people wouldn't confront Hu Lai directly the way Li Zhiqun did, when they talked about him behind his back, their tone and attitude were usually disdainful as well.

To them, Hu Lai had simply never been someone worth paying much attention to.

But it seemed that from the moment his name appeared on the school team roster... no, perhaps from the moment he scored three goals in that tryout match, the image of the "clown" everyone had once dismissed had begun to change.

He still spouted nonsense and said all sorts of ridiculous things. But everyone vaguely began to realize that perhaps the ridiculous things he said weren't quite so ridiculous after all.

Of course, the feeling was still vague, so vague that they couldn't even put it into words. Because if they did, they might be laughed at—"You actually think that?"

But that morning, right there in the classroom, they witnessed Hu Lai leave Li Zhiqun speechless. No matter how angry Li Zhiqun was, he could only swallow it back and sit at his desk, resentfully reciting the text aloud.

And this wasn't the first time Hu Lai had made Li Zhiqun shut up.

Li Zhiqun, who had always sneered at Hu Lai and basked in the smug superiority of a victor, had suffered a setback in front of Hu Lai.

Twice.

It seemed as though something really had quietly changed.