My Online Friend Can't Be This Cute

Don't Play Holy Slash: Didn't you lose your living expenses? I'll lend you some for now. Focus on the National College Entrance Examination first. As for that order, you don't need to compensate anyone. I'll finish it myself.

Flaked Out: The president is truly righteous. And while we're at it, I second the motion—mute him until the National College Entrance Examination is over.

A Seductress: Hey, Xiao Yi, make a Will save, or the president will charm you for ten rounds.

Baibai: Exclusive red packet. Please accept it.

Baibai: I'm really sorry for making Xiao Yi play with me so late last night.

Human-Dragon Unity: That's way too much, though.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Eat more and exercise more. That's how you'll get healthy. Health is the foundation of everything.

Mo Xiangwen thought about it. Borrowing from friends was better than borrowing from his parents. At worst, he could take on some part-time work after the National College Entrance Examination and pay it back sooner.

Human-Dragon Unity: Fine, then I'll accept it. I'll pay you back as soon as I can. As for Baibai's red packet, there's no need. I stayed up gaming with you because I wanted to play.

Don't Play Holy Slash: There's no rush. I'm not short on this little bit of money. Put your mind into studying instead.

Baibai: Then... this is a best-friend fee. Xiao Yi and I are good friends. Xiao Yi plays games with me, so I want to help Xiao Yi too.

What the hell was a best-friend fee? BA hadn't even come out yet, so how did they already have best-friend fees?

Flaked Out: I'm shocked. Group friends have to pay for someone to play with them? We've queued together so many times—wouldn't the fees have already exploded? Xiao Yi, make an itemized bill so I can prepare myself mentally.

A Seductress: Why do I always get the feeling that Xiao Yi is scamming a little kid?

Human-Dragon Unity: See? That's why I can't accept this red packet. Otherwise, I'd really become the scammer they think I am.

Baibai: Hmmph, hmmph, hmmph. Pigeon and Xiaohuo are so mean.

Flaked Out: This is unbelievable. Stopping someone from sending money has somehow made me the greatest villain. I can't accept this.

A Seductress: What a decline in public morals. What a collapse of decency.

Human-Dragon Unity: Alright, Baibai. Thank you for your kindness, but even without a best-friend fee, we're still good friends.

Being suddenly asked to imitate the way he spoke in high school made him feel rather unaccustomed to it. As he typed those words, his whole body felt awkward.

Baibai: Okay then.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Finished talking? Then it's time for the Black Room. Ball gag until the day of the National College Entrance Examination.

Human-Dragon Unity: Wait, at least let me have the weekends. Half a day on weekends to chat in the group and relax, okay?

Flaked Out: The National College Entrance Examination is coming up, and you're still thinking about chatting in the group?

A Seductress: The way of both scholarship and martial arts is to alternate tension and relaxation. Half a day of chatting shouldn't hurt. Besides, we can check Xiao Yi's study progress and see whether he's studying properly.

Human-Dragon Unity: ?

Don't Play Holy Slash: I think Xiaohuo has a point. Who agrees? Who objects?

Flaked Out: I second the motion.

A Seductress: I second the motion.

Baibai: I second the motion.

Human-Dragon Unity: I object.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Objection denied. As a democratic group, the resolution has passed by an overwhelming margin of four votes to one.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Then, good night, Makka Pakka.

You have been muted by administrator [Don't Play Holy Slash] for 4 days, 2 hours, and 59 minutes.

He glanced at the time. Wednesday morning, nine o'clock. Damn, not a second off.

Baibai: Go, Xiao Yi!

Flaked Out: Study hard. Stop playing.

A Seductress: Once you get into college, you'll have plenty of time to waste. Keep it up.

Don't Play Holy Slash: During Xiao Yi's exam preparations, no one is allowed to queue with him. Don't bring him along for short campaigns either.

Don't Play Holy Slash: Especially you, Baibai. Calling you out by name—you love asking Xiao Yi to queue up and play games more than anyone.

Baibai: Understood! This time, Baibai will definitely hold back!

Ah, his group friends were amazing at games, and they said such nice things too.

Mo Xiangwen smiled, turned off his phone's screen and set it aside, then leaned back in his chair and slowly closed his eyes.

He had been given a rare chance by heaven to do it all again. He really should work hard this time, shouldn't he?

He wasn't someone with lofty ambitions, someone who had to save the world or pray for world peace.

He only wanted, at the very least, to stop making his parents worry about him.

If he could do even better—if he could be like those damn group friends, playing games all day as if he never had to work—that would be even better.

As for what came after that, he would deal with it later. One step at a time.

When he opened his eyes again, they shone with renewed spirit.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder. The heavy weight made him pause, and the mood that had just been ready to soar settled down again.

Damn, the weight of knowledge really was reassuring.

He immediately started walking again and pushed open the bedroom door.

"Mom, I'm heading back to school."

Zhou Xiuqin, who had been resting with her eyes closed on the sofa, froze. "Now? Didn't your teacher tell you to rest for two days?"

"No need. I feel like I've rested enough."

"Wait a little. Mom will drive you there in the electric car."

"I can take the bus myself. You should rest more, Mom."

Mo Xiangwen put on his running shoes, kicked the toes a couple of times, then turned and waved goodbye to his mother, whose face was full of confusion.

"I'm off. Bye."

Overload Mode

The main reason he insisted on going out himself was that he needed to withdraw money. If he didn't take this thousand yuan out of his bank card, he really would have no living expenses left.

If he withdrew the enormous sum of one thousand yuan in front of his mom, he could explain until his mouth went dry and it still wouldn't help, considering he was still a student.

Also, although one hundred yuan a week was more than enough, repeatedly lining up to top up his meal card wasn't exactly fun.

After withdrawing the money from the bank and returning to school, it was just class time. There were younger students playing basketball and running on the field.

Why was he so sure they were younger students? Naturally, because third-year high school students couldn't possibly have PE classes.

Extracurricular exercise had already been replaced by something called "group running."

Now that the National College Entrance Examination was near, even the number of group runs had become extremely low.

He had no time to marvel at returning to this familiar campus, nor was he in the mood to admire the youthful female students. Before the other third-year students got out of class, he decided to hurry to the cafeteria and top up his meal card first.

The auntie at the cafeteria window looked at his height of one meter seventy-five and immediately condemned him harshly. "As a third-year high school student, you're sneaking out to top up your meal card before class is even over?"

He had anticipated this situation, so he replied with complete confidence, "I'm a second-year student. I'm in PE class, Auntie."

The auntie gave him a skeptical look. Fortunately, there wasn't much difference in build between second-year and third-year students. No matter how she looked at him, Mo Xiangwen remained completely unshaken.

As long as he didn't feel guilty, the other person would be the one feeling guilty.

"Alright. You're so tall that I thought you were a third-year student."

"It's fine. Auntie, please top it up quickly. We have to gather soon."

After urging the auntie to top up his meal card, he returned to the classroom just as the homeroom teacher was teaching math.

The students below read extracurricular books or played on their phones, while the homeroom teacher stood at the front, pointing at obscure formulas and talking without pause.

Their homeroom teacher, Xiang Ming, was a potbellied middle-aged man with a stereotypical balding hairstyle and black-framed glasses.

In the students' eyes, Xiang Ming was the type who got angry easily and was difficult to talk to.

Mo Xiangwen hadn't liked this homeroom teacher much before either. Because he hadn't sought to improve and always acted like a slacker, he had been scolded by the homeroom teacher many times.

But much later, he learned that some teachers scolded for the sake of scolding, while more often than not, the ones who scolded you did so because they thought you could still be saved. The ones who didn't even bother scolding you had simply given up on you.

University professors understood this especially well. You sleep, I'll lecture. Listen or don't listen—we're strangers.

As long as you didn't skip class, they couldn't even be bothered to care if you slept right in front of them.

"Reporting in!"

The entire class immediately turned to look at him, then quickly lost interest and went back to doing their own things.

After all, he had only taken one day off. There was nothing unusual about it.

The homeroom teacher turned toward the door and pushed up his glasses. "Mo Xiangwen... you're back so soon. Hurry up and take your seat, then."

He carried his backpack toward the back row and stopped only at the middle seat in the very last row.

The moment Mo Xiangwen sat down, his deskmate jabbed him in the arm and leaned over to ask, "Weren't you sick? Why didn't you rest for a couple more days?"

Cai Yibin was both his deskmate and his roommate. He had a standard square face and neat short hair.

During their first and second years, Cai Yibin had played even harder than Mo Xiangwen. Then, for some reason, he suddenly changed course in the first semester of their third year and began working hard to become a good student.

Still, old habits died hard. Even now, he only worked hard for three days before slacking for two, so his grades were about the same as Mo Xiangwen's.

"If I said I wanted to study hard, would you believe me?"

"No. I'd sooner believe you if you said that after reaching King rank, you found games boring."

"Then just treat it like that. The outcome is the same anyway."

Mo Xiangwen patted his shoulder, organized his books, and pulled out his math textbook.

"What page are we on?"

"Page 117."

Mo Xiangwen opened the book and began listening to the lesson.

Slowly, he began to feel that something was off.

Despite having been away from mathematics for many years, he could actually follow the teacher's train of thought with ease.

Even at his peak, when listening to a math lesson like this, all it took was one moment of distraction for him to completely lose the rhythm.

It wasn't until the bell rang that he snapped out of his immersed state of following the problem-solving process.

After looking through the textbook and questions again, he realized that he could actually absorb seventy or eighty percent of what had been taught in class.

"Going to the convenience store?" Cai Yibin asked.

"No. I want to use the time to look over the old texts."

Suddenly, a boy leaned over, pressing both hands down on their shoulders.

"What are you looking at? Anyway, you can probably get into a third-tier university. Even if not, you've still got a vocational college to attend."

Liao Feiyang smiled. "You disappeared for a day. How many points did you secretly gain?"

Honestly, Liao Feiyang couldn't really be considered his friend, but they had at least talked about games a few times, so they were familiar with each other.

Mo Xiangwen helplessly patted his hand, signaling for him to let go.

"Didn't gain a single point. I don't feel like playing anymore."

"That's normal. We'll go rank up together another day."

"No. I don't really have the mind for games anymore. You guys go ahead."

Liao Feiyang asked strangely, "What are you going to do if you aren't gaming during your half-day off on the weekend?"

He sighed and pulled out his Chinese textbook.

His mind was entirely on the strange thing he had just noticed. He had no interest in dealing with them at all.

"Rest. Sleep properly."

"You only have that half-day free, and instead of gaming, you're going to sleep? Haven't you slept enough during regular classes?"