"That monster didn't spot you two, did he?" Only after Lu Rui finished scolding them did she turn her attention back to the main quest.
Wu You wiped her tears with a tissue and shook her head. "No. Xiao Pei and I attacked him from behind. He didn't see our names."
Only then did Lu Rui relax. "Good. How strong are the teachers?"
Pei Yanchuan had indeed taken another scratch on his arm, and beads of blood seeped from the marks. Ye Chu carefully applied medicine for him.
Pei Yanchuan watched Ye Chu tend to his wound as he answered, "Stronger than the Dormitory Warden. Even with Wu You and me working together, it was a bit of a struggle." He stared without blinking, like a puppy gazing at someone.
Seeing him like that, Su Fengzi teased Ye Chu. "Good thing Ye Chu brought his own antidote. Otherwise, Pei Xiaohu's wound would've healed in another two seconds."
Pei Yanchuan looked up and glared at Su Fengzi.
"PE is almost over." Ignoring the two beside him, Ye Chu put the antidote back in his backpack. "What's our plan for the next stretch?"
"We don't have many clues yet. All we can do is follow the rules. There's really no rush-this is only our second day, and we still have over twenty days left." Just as Su Fengzi finished speaking, the bell rang.
"All right, let's head back to our own classes. Be careful." Ye Chu headed toward the west gate, while Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi went toward the east section. As they passed the grove, they saw Xiao Xiao and Zhang Lian embracing, reluctant to say goodbye.
Wu You looked at the couple and sighed. "Man, they're already working adults, but they still have to sneak off to see each other during PE like high schoolers." Something suddenly seemed to occur to her. She turned to Ye Chu, her twin ponytails swinging. "Ye Chu, did you date anyone in high school?"
Wu You's eyes brimmed with curiosity. She really wanted to know whether this star student from Peking University had dated in high school.
"Me?" Ye Chu smiled, sunlight falling across his face and making his eyes shine. "I've never dated anyone."
Wu You widened her eyes in surprise. "Someone as amazing as you has never dated? Didn't anyone ever pursue you?"
Gossip was human nature. Lu Rui also looked at Ye Chu curiously, waiting for his answer.
"Plenty of people pursued me..." Both boys and girls had confessed to him, some openly in person, others through secret love letters, but Ye Chu had politely turned them all down. "My family was strict. They were afraid it would interfere with my studies, so they wouldn't let me date in high school."
"Oh." Wu You nodded. "Then high school must've been really tough for you."
"It was."
Ye Chu didn't deny it. His high school years really had been exhausting. "Our school followed the Hengshui Model to the letter, after all."
Just hearing the words "Hengshui Model" made Wu You grimace in pain. No high school student liked that model.
"This instance is actually pretty nice," Ye Chu continued. "At least the class schedule and daily routine are fairly relaxed."
When they returned to the classroom, their homeroom teacher-the math teacher-was already standing at the lectern. His small glasses gleamed coldly. For some reason, Ye Chu suddenly had a bad feeling.
The math teacher swept his gaze over them and said coldly, "To ensure our school's university admission rate, we have decided to revise the daily schedule and increase students' study time..."
"Seriously? Fuck!" Xiao Xiao grumbled behind Ye Chu. Her voice wasn't loud, and her seat was close to his.
The math teacher adjusted the glasses on his nose and tapped Ye Chu's desk with his other hand. "You there. What did you just say?"
Ye Chu: "...???"
Excuse me? How could a homeroom teacher falsely accuse someone?! Being stuck in this seat was already infuriating enough!
Ye Chu cursed inwardly, while keeping a smile on his face.
These damn rules required him to smile when answering questions. Smile, smile-smile my fucking ass!
"Sir, I just said the school was so considerate."
But the math teacher shook his head at the answer. An icy smile appeared on his face as he stared straight at Ye Chu. "No. What you said had four syllables."
Ye Chu's fists clenched involuntarily. So you could hear how many syllables there were, but not who said them?!
His smile remained unchanged. "Sir, I spoke a little fast, so it probably sounded like: 'Fuck your dad, huh.'"
The math teacher frowned. On some instinctive level, he felt the student in front of him was insulting him, but his answer didn't seem wrong.
"Two points deducted for swearing."
Ye Chu: "..."
"Starting tomorrow, morning classes will begin at five, and evening self-study will end at eleven..."
Several gasps rose from the classroom.
Morning classes at five and evening self-study until eleven-with washing up and getting ready factored in, they would get less than six hours of sleep a day!
Ye Chu frowned. He had good reason to suspect this monster had overheard his conversation with Wu You and the others. Otherwise, he wouldn't have changed the educational model so abruptly. The monster must even have taken the opportunity to look up what the Hengshui Model was.
He hadn't just copied it. He had gone a step beyond.
The math teacher was very satisfied with the students' reactions. He nodded and continued, "There will be an exam every Sunday. Students with low scores will come to my office for a private conversation."
A private conversation with the homeroom teacher would probably have the same outcome as being called outside by the Dormitory Warden during a midnight room inspection:
They would never come back.
"I will now announce this week's target score. On a paper worth 750 points, you must score above 500."
Ye Chu heard Xiao Xiao losing her mind behind him. "Does he have no idea how shitty his teaching is?! How does he have the nerve?!"
[? Did they change this game's progression? I remember it didn't work like this before.]
[Probably because they used poison to wake up the boss in the Laboratory Building last time.]
[First time I've seen this instance actually involve studying...]
[Isn't that a little unfair to the players? Apart from Pei Yanchuan, they all graduated from high school years ago.]
Ye Chu's brow furrowed too. Though he was confident in his academic ability, the college entrance exam was a long time ago for him as well. Five hundred points would be manageable, but the next few exams... that was another matter.
While he was worrying, a sheet of rules suddenly appeared on his desk. Most were the same as the ones he had first seen, but one had been added at the end: [9. Score above five hundred points on this Sunday's exam. If you fail to meet this requirement, bear the consequences yourself. ^ⅴ^]
Ye Chu: ...
A blatant provocation.
And if he remembered correctly, tomorrow was Sunday. That thought only made Ye Chu's head hurt more. He wasn't worried about himself, but about...
"This is such fucking bullshit! I graduated from high school two years ago, and now you're making me take exams again! And I have to get over five hundred! What the fuck..." Wu You sat at her desk, swearing as she flipped through her utterly pristine textbooks and started reviewing... no, studying the material for the first time.
This time, Lu Rui didn't stop Wu You from swearing, because she wanted to curse someone out herself.
Who could have imagined that even after becoming corporate drones, they would still be forced to study high school material?
Ugh. What a headache.
Before you continue