I'm a Girl!

Early morning.

The sparrows outside were making a racket.

They woke Chen Shu. He rolled over and opened his eyes, but he didn't want to get up.

Qingqing's bed was soft, and so was the quilt. It had kept him wonderfully warm. Last night, it had smelled sweet, full of her scent, though he couldn't smell it anymore.

He might as well get up.

Chen Shu took a deep breath and climbed out of bed. He gave the quilt a couple of cursory shakes, couldn't be bothered to straighten it for her, and went into the bathroom.

There was a new cup and toothbrush.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

Chen Shu squeezed toothpaste onto the brush, spat out the water in his mouth, and began brushing his teeth.

The toothpaste was grapefruit-flavored. It smelled pretty good.

He still used her towel.

Downstairs, Qingqing had been awake for a while. She had folded the blanket neatly and set it on the sofa. Now she sat on a chair by the window, gazing outside in a quiet daze.

"Morning."

Ning Qing turned and looked at him silently.

Chen Shu grinned at her. "How did you sleep last night?"

"Badly."

"Huh? You still haven't started over?"

"No rush."

"When will you start?"

"After I'm done giving you a hard time."

"What are you giving me a hard time for?" Chen Shu found her baffling. "It's first thing in the morning, and I haven't done anything to you. You were the one who upset me yesterday."

"How did you sleep last night?"

"Great. Your bed's so soft, and it smells nice too. Next time I come over, I'm sleeping in your bed again."

"Did you fold the quilt?"

"Fold it? Do it yourself."

"I want Hot-and-Sour Rice Noodles for breakfast."

"That needs broth simmered for hours. I can't make it just like that."

"Dinner, then."

"I'm going back to school this afternoon."

"Sour Soup Noodles."

"I'm still mad at you. I don't want to cook for you!"

"You're so annoying."

"You're the annoying one!" Chen Shu flared up all over again. "You even saw me naked! Shameless! We haven't reached that stage yet. Do you know how awkward that makes me feel? I get embarrassed too, okay?"

"Ugly."

"What?"

"My impression after seeing it," Ning Qing said flatly. Afraid he might miss the point and escape unhurt, she added, "That's my impression after seeing it."

"??"

"I'm going to start cultivating the Stillheart Way."

"..."

August twentieth.

The temperature in the Jade Capital had dropped for several days. Even so, the daytime temperatures over the past few days had already exceeded those of Bai City's coldest winter days. Bai City generally didn't get very cold in winter.

Shi Qian sat at his computer typing, frowning now and then.

"Knock, knock."

Someone knocked on the door again.

"Come in."

Chen Shu pushed the door open and walked in.

Shi Qian glanced up at him without stopping his work and asked while dividing his attention between the two, "Why haven't you come by these past few days? Finished the Bodyguard Divine Light?"

"Finished it." Chen Shu said, "I've been learning a bunch of odds-and-ends spells. Miss me?"

"What spells?"

"All kinds. Odds and ends."

"Good. They can broaden what you're capable of. Even the smallest spell has its uses." Shi Qian nodded his approval, his fingers still clacking on the keyboard. "What sort of problem is it today?"

"I'm learning a Thunder Magic spell."

"Thunder Magic?"

Shi Qian frowned at the screen. "Modern defensive spells are highly resistant to Thunder Magic and to high and low temperatures. Learning those doesn't give you much return for your effort."

"But they still have their uses, right?"

"Of course."

"Then what kind of spells are good?"

"Simpler ones. More direct ones. More brutal ones." Shi Qian paused. "Take that Bodyguard Divine Light you made. You must have noticed how good it is against Thunder Magic, Burning, Corrosion, and the like. But it's much less resistant to the tremendous force of explosions and impacts. It's also somewhat weaker against sharp or piercing attacks."

"The moment you open your mouth, it sounds like military spells." Chen Shu grinned. "I'll try working on that when I get back. See if I can find anything on the Deep Web. I'll learn some other things first."

"I can give you a few older versions as, hmm, study references."

"Then I'd love to study."

"Are you still researching this Thunder Magic spell?"

"Of course. I've spotted the problem now. It'll bother me if I don't figure it out," Chen Shu said. "Besides, what if I run into a similar problem next time?"

"Understanding it would be good. You could apply what you learn to other problems."

"I do love studying."

"Tell me the problem."

"I have an idea. When casting the Thunder Magic spell, I could give it another portion of spiritual energy to generate its own Shockwave, or amplify the Shockwave caused by the air expanding under the electric discharge. That could help punch through the target's conventional spiritual-energy defenses. If that's too hard to pull off, I could replace the Shockwave with some other kind of spiritual-energy attack. Either way, it would take effect alongside the Thunder Magic spell. I think that could work wonders against certain enemies. Thunder Magic itself is pretty destructive against living things and mechanical or electronic devices."

"Not a bad idea."

Still looking at his computer screen, Shi Qian smiled. "I just said Thunder Magic was easy to defend against, and you immediately thought of taking out the defenses first. That's a good approach."

"Just thinking out loud."

"The military's researching this too. The military academy next door has a similar project, though they haven't made much progress."

"Why not?"

"Don't know... Maybe they're stupid?"

"Um..."

"Do you already have an approach in mind? We could look into this."

"A preliminary one."

"Give me half an hour."

"Sure... What are you working on?"

Chen Shu walked behind Shi Qian and looked closely. To his surprise, Shi Qian was compiling a new edition of the Advanced Spell Principles textbook.

My uncle's incredible.

As Shi Qian worked, he asked, "When are you advancing to the Third Tier?"

"Four days ago."

"You've already advanced? Does your phone support Crystal Card?"

"Of course. It's not some phone for the elderly." Chen Shu looked puzzled. "Why ask that all of a sudden? That's quite a jump in topic."

"Good, as long as it supports them."

"What's up?"

"There's something..."

Shi Qian suddenly looked down, opened a drawer, and took out a little plastic box smaller than a matchbox. Inside was a Crystal Card the size of a fingernail. He handed it to Chen Shu. "Insert this when you get back. It has an app—an exchange platform for a small group of the most outstanding Ancient Cultivator students in the University City area. Be modest once you're in, and don't reveal your identity lightly."

"What is it?"

"A chat group."

"There's something like that?"

Chen Shu took the box containing the Crystal Card, then sat down nearby and waited patiently for Shi Qian to finish his work.

Judging by the time, their discussion would run until noon. He could even mooch a meal.

Sweet.

That afternoon.

Back in his dorm, Chen Shu opened the transparent but cheap-feeling plastic box and took out the Crystal Chip inside. It was standard-sized.

Crystal Chips were a plug-in technology in this world. They added or provided all kinds of functions to a device through an external attachment, including expanded storage and memory, improved processing performance, fixes for design flaws, and certain specialized built-in functions. The ones used in computers were called Crystal Disks. Phones hadn't supported the technology at first because of their size, but as technology advanced, Crystal Chips small enough for phones had appeared.

The Crystal Disk he often used, for instance, let him log into Wide and Narrow Alley on the Deep Web and provided security safeguards at the hardware level.

Chen Shu popped open the card tray on the side of his phone.

It had two spare Crystal Chip slots.

He had already used one to give his phone a dedicated secure storage space, complete with spiritual-energy recognition and a self-destruct function.

That left one free.

He inserted the Crystal Chip and slid the tray back in.

"Buzz!"

His phone vibrated and prompted him to restart it.

He tapped to allow the restart.

The process took about twenty seconds. Then he entered his password again and opened his phone.

A nameless white app icon had appeared on the home screen.

"How bare-bones."

Chen Shu covered the camera and opened the app.

The screen turned pure white. That was apparently the app's splash screen—not even a logo. Its creator really hadn't bothered with graphics at all.

A dialog box popped up—

This app is absolutely secure, but as a precaution, please do not disclose personal information!

Please read the disclaimer carefully and tap Confirm.

Introduction...

Confirm / Exit (grayed out)

He quickly read through the disclaimer. Nothing seemed wrong. There were no software licenses, terms of service, privacy guidelines, or anything of the sort, but those wouldn't have meant much for an app so obviously intended for illegal activities anyway.

The Confirm and Exit buttons turned black.

Chen Shu tapped Confirm.

A password setup guide appeared.

Fingerprint characteristics;

Facial characteristics;

Spiritual-energy characteristics;

Huh, this Crystal Chip has spiritual-energy recognition too?

Chen Shu completed each step.

Enter a nickname (can be changed):

Chen Shu thought for a long time before typing: Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey

Gender:

Female, of course!

Profile picture:

Chen Shu found a cat photo online.

Confirm profile—

[Profile picture]

Nickname: Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey

Gender: Female

Class: 20 (hidden)

Chen Shu tapped Confirm.

Another prompt appeared—

Welcome to the app. You can change the app's name and icon in Settings at any time.

Only then did he enter the app.

Its chat interface looked a lot like Feixin's. It had probably used almost the same template. Inside, it was clean: no ads, no messy recommendations. There were just two conversations on the main screen, both with straightforward names—

System;

Ancient Cultivator Group;

Chen Shu opened the Ancient Cultivator Group first.

At the top was a system message: Welcome "Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey" to the group chat

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: Hello, everyone

Righteous Vital Energy: Welcome, newcomer

Grandma Always Says: Welcome, newcomer

Grandma Always Says: Newcomers should post a photo

Unknown Person: Welcome, Red Carp! Are you a guy or a girl? What level are you? Hope you'll post a photo!

Unknown Person: Red Carp, your name is such a tongue-twister. I had to say it several times before I could get it right.

Just Call Me Luo Huai'an: Welcome.

Chen Shu took a moment to get familiar with the app, though there wasn't much to learn. He soon found the member list. There were only a dozen or so people in the group; the selection process looked pretty strict.

Only those four had spoken so far.

Chen Shu returned to the main screen.

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: I'm a girl~

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: Level 20.

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: Hello, seniors /bow

Grandma Always Says: Junior, what the hell kind of name is that? I tried saying it a dozen times and nearly bit my tongue off.

Unknown Person: Is Junior Red Carp pretty?

Unknown Person: Hope she'll post a photo!

Grandma Always Says: Junior, ignore him. Unknown Person is such a pest. Listen to me: change your name first, then send me a photo privately. One that shows your face and legs.

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: Are you a male senior or a female senior?

Grandma Always Says: Male.

Red Carp, Green Carp, and Donkey: Okay, I'll listen to you, senior.

Chen Shu opened the name-change screen.

What a pain!

He'd spent ages coming up with that name, and now he had to think of a new one. What a pain in the neck.

Reckless Scholar?

That doesn't sound like something a girl would use.

Greens and Cocoa?

Perfect! That's the one!

She was the heroine of that book by Greens and Jade-White Soup.

I'm a sweet, innocent girl...

Chen Shu nodded firmly to himself.

Name changed successfully.

Greens and Cocoa: I changed it! I'll use this name from now on. Please take care of me, seniors /bow

Grandma Always Says: Junior, how did you get into this group?

Greens and Cocoa: Am I allowed to say?

Grandma Always Says: Sure! Of course you are!

Greens and Cocoa: But my teacher told me not to.

Grandma Always Says: Your teacher lied to you.

Greens and Cocoa: /eye roll

Grandma Always Says: Why'd you pick that name?

Greens and Cocoa: I'm trying to lose weight, so I've been eating greens all the time. I usually like vegetables anyway and don't like meat, so I picked this name.

Grandma Always Says: All right, all right. What school do you go to?

Greens and Cocoa: Am I allowed to say?

Grandma Always Says: Why wouldn't you be? Odds are it's one of those four schools anyway.

Greens and Cocoa: Oh, I go to Ling'an. What about you, senior?

Grandma Always Says: I go to Jade University.

Grandma Always Says: But you can still call me senior.

Greens and Cocoa: Our schools are right next to each other.

Grandma Always Says: Those schools are all pretty close together... Why haven't you sent me a photo yet?

Greens and Cocoa: I'm not stupid...

Grandma Always Says: You don't listen to your senior at all /slams table

Unknown Person: Junior Greens and Cocoa, what are you doing right now?

Greens and Cocoa: Just figuring out this app. I didn't know how any of it worked, so it took me ages.

Unknown Person: Oh!

Oh?

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. Do you even know how to flirt?

Unknown Person: What were you doing before that?

Nope. He definitely didn't.

Chen Shu's fingers flew over the keyboard.

Greens and Cocoa: A guy confessed his feelings to me earlier. It took me ages to turn him down.

Unknown Person: Then you must be really pretty, junior!

Grandma Always Says: /stunned

Greens and Cocoa: I think I'm just average, but I don't know why so many boys have liked me ever since I was little. When we were kids, they were always pulling my hair /sad

Grandma Always Says: /thumbs up

Chen Shu grinned at the screen, happier than he could say.