Trouble in the Women's Restroom

Going to the Internet Cafe was no longer an option. He had to find a safe channel where he could browse information without worry.

That was another urgent matter.

After explaining the tangent Qin Siyang had brought up, the teacher returned to introducing the eight Colleges and their application procedures.

But Qin Siyang did not listen to a word.

He was no longer an ordinary student.

His mind was now filled with thoughts of universities for Sequence Ability Users.

Were the Sequence Ability User exams held alongside the Gaokao?

So, in six months?

Only students who awakened a Sequence Ability before the Gaokao could apply to universities for Sequence Ability Users, and they had only one chance at the assessment.

In other words, I have to reveal my Sequence Ability and register with the Sequence Ability Management Bureau within six months?

Time was running short.

He also considered what would happen if he skipped those universities, entered society after graduating from high school, and waited for an opportunity to reveal his Sequence Ability.

He definitely could not team up with anyone.

Otherwise, he would have to find ways to hide the fact that he ate gods.

That would be too much trouble.

But if I hunt gods outside the Safe Zone alone... can I beat them?

Most importantly, the United Government had been able to establish universities for Sequence Ability Users.

That suggested there was already a fully developed educational system and curriculum.

He might as well attend one of those universities and properly learn about Sequence Ability Users.

At the same time, he could explore beyond the Safe Zone and fight gods to improve himself.

As the saying went, sharpening the axe did not delay the woodcutting.

Preparing on both fronts could not hurt.

After looking ahead to the future, Qin Siyang brought his attention back to the present. A name surfaced in his mind once again.

Liu Dazhi.

Ever since he had opened his eyes in bed that morning, that man's name had kept running through his head.

He could hardly wait to get rid of Liu Dazhi and begin his plan to reveal his identity as a Sequence Ability User.

Liu Dazhi.

About time you died, wasn't it?

After school, Qin Siyang took the meal he had gotten from the cafeteria and went to the Library again.

"Hello, Teacher Zhu!"

Teacher Zhu was tidying the shelves and looked surprised to see him. "Siyang, why have you come back after school? Didn't we agree that coming at lunchtime was enough? Don't let this eat into your study time."

Previously, Qin Siyang had needed to hurry home after school because he had to do Li Jingwen's homework.

Having to take that homework seriously and understand the lessons had actually been a blessing in disguise, putting his grades around the top hundred in his year.

But a ranking around the top hundred had no practical value beyond making him feel better.

He knew Teacher Zhu would tidy the books alone again after school.

Qin Siyang did not want to leave the kindhearted Teacher Zhu doing all the work herself, so he had returned to the Library.

"It's fine. A little time won't hurt my studies. I've spent all day studying in the classroom, and I'm tired. Helping you organize books will let me unwind."

"But..."

"Besides, I'm the student assigned to the Library's work-study position. This is what I should be doing."

Teacher Zhu smiled. "You're such a good boy. All right, help me tidy up, then."

"Okay."

Qin Siyang put down the bag holding his lunch box and got to work in the Library.

Meanwhile, Li Jingwen and the others watched his busy figure from a distance.

"Li Jingwen, are you really going to follow him?"

"I want to see if he's hiding anything I can use against him. I can't let him keep threatening me."

"He used to leave school right away, but today he came to the Library. Something's definitely up!"

"Maybe he's meeting whoever snitched."

"Once we find the snitch, we'll teach them to watch their mouth!"

"All right, we'll help!"

Her friends stayed with Li Jingwen, watching the Library from a distance.

While organizing the books, Qin Siyang noticed a girl sitting on the floor beside a shelf, carefully reading a workbook.

That was another feature of the school Library.

Besides ordinary books, it also stocked workbooks related to the Gaokao for students to borrow.

Those workbooks, which were unavailable in class, were precisely why a few high-achieving students from poorer families visited the Library every day.

Otherwise, the school Library would have been deserted.

Qin Siyang reminded the studious girl, "The Library's closing. Could you please leave?"

"Ah... okay."

The girl looked up at Qin Siyang and obediently returned the workbook to its original place.

When their eyes met, his gaze lingered for a moment.

Her features were clear and refined; she certainly stood out among the students. More importantly, there was actually a hint of feeling in the way she looked at him!

"Sorry for keeping you from finishing work."

The girl bowed to Qin Siyang and Teacher Zhu, then hurried away with her schoolbag.

Qin Siyang did not remember much about her and could not immediately recall who she was.

Teacher Zhu, however, sighed fondly. "Wen Shu is such an easy child to look after. She's a good student and so well behaved. I hope my granddaughter will be just as obedient someday."

Teacher Zhu's words told him who the girl was.

Qin Siyang nodded.

So that was Wen Shu.

Her name was certainly famous.

She placed first in their year on every exam, beating the runner-up by a considerable margin.

She was Ju'an School's undisputed top prospect for admission to a College that year.

Naturally, good students enjoyed certain privileges.

The principal, administrators, and teachers all gave her special consideration.

For instance, other students would be scolded for skipping class assignments, but she would suffer no punishment.

Not only could she skip assignments, but no teacher would stop her from studying in the Library during class, either.

When it came to Gaokao test-taking skills, a student like her already surpassed the teachers of every subject.

With both looks and grades, she was universally acknowledged as the school's prettiest girl.

Almost no boys pursued her-not because they lacked interest, but because the school leadership guarded her closely. They would not let any punk interfere with Wen Shu's studies.

In this life, Wen Shu's family circumstances were as poor as Qin Siyang's, and she lived with her grandmother.

In his previous life, he remembered her family being reasonably well-off.

He had heard she eventually got into Qingbei University, then heard nothing more.

After all, they had belonged to different worlds after the Gaokao, and he had not been interested in asking about her. At a later class reunion, however, some female classmates had mentioned that she had died young from an illness.

But that look just now... why did it feel like she was interested in me? Strange.

Qin Siyang frowned. Having lived a second life, he was no longer someone who easily became infatuated.

When he came back to himself, he saw Teacher Zhu walking past with a stack of books and immediately said, "Teacher Zhu, put those down. I'll take care of them."

"It's fine, there's no need. I can manage."

Qin Siyang ran over anyway and took the books from her hands.

"Let me, let me. I'm young and have plenty of strength. You're getting on in years, so rest whenever you can."

Teacher Zhu smiled. "All right. You're a good boy. Thank you."

"You've kept this position open for me all along. I should be thanking you."

Since his rebirth, this was the first time Qin Siyang had shown someone such warmth.

Recognizing kindness and knowing who treated you well were basic requirements of being a decent person.

Once they finished tidying up, Teacher Zhu locked the door.

"See you tomorrow, Teacher."

"Yes, see you."

After leaving the Library and saying goodbye to Teacher Zhu, Qin Siyang felt the urge to pee.

Instead of leaving school, he detoured to the Restroom Behind the Library.

Few people used the restroom by the Library, so it was not cleaned very often.

It probably had not been cleaned for several days. As soon as Qin Siyang entered, a pungent smell hit him.

He just wanted to finish quickly and leave.

As he was relieving himself, he suddenly heard a slap from next door.

Smack!

"Talk! Were you the bitch who told Qin Siyang about me and Zhou Yang?"

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

"Stop pretending. Qin Siyang only talked to you and Zhu Li at school today! If you didn't tell him, did that old hag Zhu Li do it?!"

"Jingwen, don't believe her! Girls with good grades are the best liars!"

"Exactly! Some simp calls you a 'goddess,' and you start thinking you're somebody!"

Wen Shu merely said calmly, "You people are so strange."

"You bitch! Don't think having decent grades and a pretty face means you can latch onto Zhou Yang! I'm telling you, it's never happening!"

Hearing this exchange, Qin Siyang peed all over his hand. To encounter something like this even after being reborn-unbelievable.

Of course, he recognized the shrieking shrew as Li Jingwen, who usually looked so sweet and charming.

Li Jingwen really was stuck to his backside like an adhesive plaster.

Wen Shu had been innocently dragged into this because of him. By any measure, he had to step in.

Qin Siyang washed his hands and went to the Women's Restroom.

"Li Jingwen, you're making so much noise I can't even piss in peace. Will you only be satisfied when I tell Zhou Yang everything?"

At the sight of Qin Siyang, Li Jingwen and her friends, who had just been acting so overbearing, froze.

Qin Siyang glanced at Wen Shu, puzzled for a moment. She had been slapped, yet all she had done was calmly call them "strange"? A thought suddenly flashed through his mind: This girl's definitely got something up her sleeve.

After a moment of stunned silence, Li Jingwen calmed down and said, "Qin Siyang, I'm not bothering you. Why are you sticking your nose into this?"

"Not bothering me? Are you kidding?"

Qin Siyang looked at Li Jingwen as though she were an idiot. "I used to do your homework every day and bring you breakfast, following you around and sucking up to you like a dog. What gives you the nerve to bother me?"

Li Jingwen grew angry too. "Putting all that aside, aren't you at fault too?"

"At fault, my ass! You lot are ugly and full of trouble. Stop blaming other people for your problems."

One girl, who looked as though she would weigh even more than Qin Siyang, said, "Qin Siyang, don't push it just because you're in the right!"

Qin Siyang could not be bothered with her. He stepped forward and pulled Wen Shu out.

"Pushing it? If I were pushing it, I'd have told Zhou Yang about Li Jingwen already!"

"Zhou Yang's uncle has awakened a Sequence Ability, and his family's about to move up in the world. Push me too far, and your dream of marrying him will be shattered for good."

That struck Li Jingwen right where it hurt. Her expression instantly darkened. "What do you want?"

"Leave Wen Shu alone. An idiot like you can't handle the principal's wrath. And stop making me sick, too. After graduation, you can be Mrs. Zhou, and I'll be a homeless bum."

Li Jingwen gritted her teeth. "Qin Siyang, you're really heartless."

Qin Siyang shook his head. "Heartless? I honestly don't know how you dug that word out of your shit-filled brain to describe me."

"If insulting me makes you happy, say whatever you like. You're just a pathetic dog anyway. I've got nothing else to say to you. Let's go!"

But Qin Siyang stepped forward and blocked Li Jingwen and the others at the Women's Restroom entrance.

"Qin Siyang, what do you want now?"

Qin Siyang looked at Wen Shu beside him, her small face red and swollen. "Don't you want to hit her back?"

"There's no point." Wen Shu looked at him without any particular gratitude.

Qin Siyang shrugged. "Since you don't want to collect what you're owed, I'll just collect my own."

Smack! Smack!

Qin Siyang immediately slapped Li Jingwen twice.

The sudden attack stunned everyone.

Wen Shu looked at Qin Siyang in surprise, seemingly unable to understand this unfamiliar boy's behavior.

"Qin Siyang!" Li Jingwen held her face and stared at him in disbelief.

"Stop barking, and stop bothering me! That settles things between us. Understand?"

A vicious gleam appeared in Li Jingwen's eyes. "Qin Siyang, you'll regret this."

Qin Siyang thought for a moment. If he remembered correctly, Li Jingwen's uncle was some sort of thug.

He was not afraid of street thugs, but Wen Shu could easily get dragged into it for no reason.

He could not keep watching Wen Shu and Li Jingwen all the time, could he?

I'm a Sequence Ability User with a dream start. Who the hell has time for this?

Then he suddenly thought of an excellent way to solve the problem.

"Li Jingwen, I remember you wrote Zhou Yang's name in the corner of your workbook, followed by a string of numbers. That should be his Qiuqiu ID, right? You don't have a computer at home, but you chat with him on Qiuqiu when you go to the Internet Cafe, don't you?"

Qiuqiu was an app. Most students from relatively well-off families registered an ID to keep in touch with their classmates.

Naturally, Qin Siyang did not have an ID for that little luxury.

Li Jingwen froze for a moment. "What are you trying to do?"

"I'll go to the internet cafe and put everything between you and me into an email, then schedule it to be sent to Zhou Yang's Qiuqiu inbox next Monday."

"If anything happens to me or Wen Shu, you can kiss your relationship with Zhou Yang goodbye."

Li Jingwen had indeed been planning to have her uncle teach Qin Siyang and Wen Shu a good lesson.

She sputtered with rage. "Qin Siyang! I've never met anyone as vicious as you!"

"Well, now you have."

Qin Siyang snorted coldly, took Wen Shu by the hand, and turned to leave, feeling thoroughly pleased.

He had lost count of how many hundreds of times he had thought of Liu Dazhi that day.

But this was the first time he felt Liu Dazhi had brought him anything positive.