The Proper Way to Use Black Technology Was Actually to Grind Yourself to the Bone?

After hearing Old Tang's heartfelt words, Lu Zhou was deeply moved.

Sure enough, Professor Tang was the one who cared about him most!

But there was nothing he could do about it. Who told the System to toss that blueprint at him? It would be such a waste not to use it!

After dinner, Lu Zhou made another trip to the library. Following the reading list provided by the System, he borrowed textbooks on Analytic Geometry, Ordinary Differential Equations, Complex and Real Analysis, Functional Analysis, Topology, Differential Geometry, and more, all under the astonished gaze of the librarian.

Books related to Mathematics alone accounted for nearly a third of the entire list.

If he could chew through all those books, he could basically consider the undergraduate courses required for an applied mathematics major cleared.

Except...

"Will forty Focus Capsules really be enough?" Lu Zhou looked at the capsules in the bottle, highly doubtful.

Shaking his head, he decided not to think about it for now. What mattered was doing everything he could to complete the System's mission.

As for what to do once the capsules ran out?

He could worry about that when the time came.

Unscrewing the bottle of mineral water he had prepared in advance, Lu Zhou tossed a capsule into his mouth.

Since he had experienced it once before, he quickly entered the zone this time...

Early in the morning, a ray of sunlight crossed the windowsill.

A breeze brushed the curtains. Listening to the cicadas chirping outside, Lu Zhou, who was slumped over the desk, twitched his eyelashes and slowly opened his eyes.

"Ah..."

Every muscle in his body was sore, especially his neck.

He had cultivated immortality all night until he reached the tribulation stage. He could not even remember when he had fallen asleep. He only remembered being unbearably sleepy later on; just as he had taken out his phone to check the time, his head hit the book and he fell asleep.

The classrooms reserved for graduate entrance exam students did not have their power cut at night. On top of that, summer break had just begun and supervision was lax, so no one came to wake him. Thus, he slept straight through until the next day.

What time was it now, anyway?

Lu Zhou pulled out his nearly dead phone, turned on the screen, and his heart sank.

"It's already eleven... Come to think of it, I still have tutoring this afternoon."

After sitting in his seat for a while, he shook his groggy head and got up to go to the restroom.

He splashed a handful of cold water onto his face and felt much more awake. After returning to the classroom and sitting down to rest for a moment, he gradually recalled what had happened yesterday.

The conclusion from his previous dose was that even after five hours, the residual effects of the medicine would continue to work for some time.

To test the maximum duration of the Focus Capsule, Lu Zhou had chosen to try it this time in an environment free of distractions.

The final result was unexpected.

He discovered that once external interference was completely eliminated, even after five hours had passed, his brain would remain in a state of intense focus due to the lingering effects of the medicine. Without anything external to interrupt him, he simply could not stop.

However, that state of intense focus also put a considerable strain on his brain. It started with a mild headache, but later directly triggered his body's self-protection mechanism, causing him to pass out.

"Looks like the five-hour duration isn't absolute. If I force myself to keep going, extending the effect by fifty percent shouldn't be a problem. Especially when I'm exhausted to the extreme—once I break past the critical point, my mind actually becomes incredibly clear... As for the side effects, they seem no different from the side effects of staying up late normally."

As he muttered to himself, Lu Zhou could not help yawning again.

"...Looks like taking pills has to be paired with grinding myself to the bone for the best results."

Lu Zhou stretched his aching neck, closed his eyes, entered the System Space, and opened the mission panel.

[Mission Progress: 2/30]

It seemed that the System had already counted the textbooks Linear Algebra and Analytic Geometry as completed. Next came Ordinary Differential Equations.

If he kept up this momentum, forty Focus Capsules should be more than enough to finish this "reward mission"!

After packing up the things on his desk, Lu Zhou first returned to his dorm, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, then went to the school gate and called a Didi. He got in and headed to the address on the business card.

Summer in Jinling City was hot—the kind of heat that went against human nature.

Since the fare would be reimbursed anyway, he could not be bothered to squeeze onto a bus and sweat all over himself. He just took a car directly there.

Before long, the car stopped outside a residential complex called Bauhinia Garden. After getting out, Lu Zhou stood at the entrance and looked up, unable to help sighing inwardly.

This complex truly lived up to the name "Garden." It was built with immense grandeur.

Moreover, this area was prime real estate near the city's commercial district. Building such a heavily landscaped complex in a place like this, with duplex apartments resembling villas, meant the housing prices must be unimaginably high. Only the so-called elite class could afford to live here.

Forget calculating the hundred-millionth digit of a Mersenne prime—even if he proved the Beal Conjecture and collected the one-million-US Dollar reward, he probably still could not afford a home here, right?

Lu Zhou glanced at the security guard, who was also looking at him. Clearly, the guard could tell that he was not a resident and had no intention of letting him through.

Looking helpless, Lu Zhou called Madam Yang. Only after she called the guardhouse was he allowed inside.

He took the elevator upstairs and walked over to ring the doorbell. At that moment, he suddenly heard something being smashed behind the security door, along with faint sounds of an argument.

"...You don't care about me at all, so stop pretending you're doing this for my own good!"

Bang!

Even through the security door, Lu Zhou could feel the dull impact of the slammed door.

This was bad...

This job did not look promising.

Lu Zhou hesitated inwardly, wondering whether he should just go back today.

But just then, footsteps sounded from behind the door, followed by the security door opening.

The person standing at the entrance was naturally Madam Yang.

The moment he saw Madam Yang, Lu Zhou's expression shifted with subtle surprise. The emotionless calm on her face made it impossible for him to imagine that she had just had a fierce fight with her daughter.

Madam Yang said in a calm voice, "You're Teacher Lu, right? There are slippers by the door. Please come in first."

Lu Zhou's expression was slightly awkward, but he still smiled politely. "I wouldn't call myself a teacher. Just call me Lu Zhou."

"Not at all. A tutor is still a teacher. This way, please."

As he passed through the foyer, Lu Zhou noticed shattered glass scattered all over the living room floor. It looked like some kind of decorative ornament.

A door nearby was closed. That was presumably the room of Chen Yushan's cousin.

Madam Yang did not keep him in the living room. Instead, she led him to the study. After gesturing for him to sit wherever he liked, she gave a faint smile.

"Sorry you had to see that."

This was awkward...

Lu Zhou smiled but did not respond.

He was only here for a part-time job and had no desire to involve himself in someone else's family matters.

Madam Yang said nothing more and took out a pack of women's cigarettes.

"Do you smoke?"

"I don't." Lu Zhou declined.

Madam Yang nodded without saying anything. She closed the cigarette case and put it away, then let her gaze drift toward the clock on the wall before speaking in a faintly weary voice.

"Starting now, I get off work from one in the afternoon until six in the evening. Han Mengqi will be in your care during that time. Her books, test papers, and the supplementary materials I bought for her are all in this study. You mainly just need to teach her Mathematics."

"Is she really okay in her current state?" Lu Zhou asked hesitantly.

If she kept herself locked in her room, there would be no way to conduct the lessons.

"She'll be fine." Madam Yang expressionlessly took out a key and gently placed it on the table. "This is the key to her bedroom."

What the hell?

Was this really her biological mother?

Didn't that make the problem even worse?

"I think..."

"What do you think?"

"Nothing..." Lu Zhou shook his head.

What he had wanted to say was that this would only further intensify the conflict between mother and daughter. But as an outsider, he had no standing to comment on another family's affairs, especially when it might touch on a sensitive subject.

Besides, he believed Madam Yang could not possibly fail to see that.

It was just...

He did not know whether she was truly at her wit's end or simply did not care at all.

"Then I'll leave her to you." Madam Yang stood up. "She'll have a monthly exam before summer break at the end of July. If her Mathematics score exceeds one hundred, I'll consider raising your pay next month. If she can't even score eighty, I'll consider hiring another tutor."

After saying that, she walked toward the study door without waiting for Lu Zhou's response.

"Oh, and there's one more thing. To stop her from sneaking out as soon as I leave, I'll lock the security door from the outside. You don't have any objections, do you?"

"...No objections." Lu Zhou shook his head.

She would be back at six anyway, and he had no plans to go out during that time.

Still...

Even if I was introduced by your niece, was it really okay to lock a stranger in the same house as your daughter?

However, her next words shattered all of his doubts.

"Also, I've installed around a dozen cameras in this house. There are basically no blind spots. If you feel that this violates your privacy, you can raise the issue with me beforehand."

Though her expression did not change as she spoke, Lu Zhou could still read a meaningful warning from the oppressive aura surrounding her.

Sure enough...

She really was her biological mother?

"I have no objections."

Lu Zhou had never had any intention or interest in doing anything shady anyway. He was just here to work.

As for the surveillance, there were cameras everywhere in libraries and classrooms. He was already used to them.

Still, after hearing Madam Yang casually mention that she had installed more than a dozen cameras in her own home, he could somewhat understand why her relationship with her daughter was so tense...