He had not just been making polite conversation with Xia Shuran. He really intended to treat this lively, outgoing younger schoolmate to a meal.
He still needed this younger schoolmate with the [Martial arts grandmaster] tag above her head to help him test how obtaining attributes from tags worked.
Back at the dorm.
All three of his roommates were already up.
Gu Qing wasted no time and went straight into an all-day attribute-grinding routine.
He ate snacks with [Big eater] Qian Duole to grind Digestive Ability attributes.
He teamed up with [Professional gamer] Chen Zijie to play games and grind reaction speed attributes.
Once he had eaten and played his fill, he immediately dragged [Basketball player] Gao Fei out to play basketball and grind Physical Constitution attributes.
Over the course of the day.
All his attributes improved considerably.
[Total reaction speed +8] [Total Digestive Ability +9] [Total Physical Constitution +3]
That night, before bed.
Gu Qing lay in bed with his eyes closed.
He cleared his mind and focused.
He carefully assessed his current strength.
In darkness so deep he could not see his hand in front of his face, he could pinpoint a mosquito from the sound of its flight alone, raise his hand, catch it precisely between two fingers, then casually crush it and toss it out of the mosquito net.
Even after eating enough snacks before bed to make his belly bulge, it took him only half an hour to digest every bit of food in his stomach. His abdomen became flat again, and his whole body brimmed with strength.
With nothing else to do, he rested a hand on the bed frame and applied a little pressure. He could clearly feel the metal deforming slightly in his grip. His strength was absurd.
After assessing all this.
Gu Qing could not help thinking of the [Martial arts grandmaster] tag above Xia Shuran's head.
Xia Shuran had said that traditional martial arts had declined. That was an indisputable fact.
But.
I'm different from her.
The attributes I obtain from tags can strengthen me far beyond the people those tags belong to.
For example.
Gao Fei, who has the [Basketball player] tag above his head.
I've only obtained a few attribute points from his tag, but now both my basketball skills and my Physical Constitution far surpass his.
By the same logic.
If I obtain certain attributes from Xia Shuran, perhaps I really could become a martial arts grandmaster like those in martial arts films and TV shows.
Flying through the skies, burrowing through the earth, capable of anything.
The more Gu Qing thought about it, the more excited he became. He lay in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
His ex-girlfriend, Bai Ningyu, was also unable to sleep that night.
In a dimly lit hotel room.
The atmosphere was quiet and oppressive.
Bai Ningyu tossed and turned, unable to sleep, her spirits very low.
Even though she had deliberately distanced herself for a while to let the relationship cool off in advance.
Once they actually broke up.
The withdrawal was still severe.
She could not get over it anytime soon.
"What, still can't bear to let go of that ex-boyfriend of yours who's better-looking than a celebrity?"
On the next bed.
A woman with a mature air turned to look at Bai Ningyu and asked with a faint, ambiguous smile.
"Yes."
Bai Ningyu made no attempt to hide it and answered softly.
Her voice sounded calm, but her eyes held a trace of complex emotions that were hard to put into words.
When she had asked Gu Qing to break up face-to-face two days ago, she had thought she could accept it calmly.
Only after they truly parted for good did she realize that her sense of loss and reluctance was far greater than she had imagined.
The woman raised her crimson left arm, its muscles twisted, and brushed aside the long hair hanging over her forehead. Speaking as someone who had been through it herself, she advised:
"Don't cling to him."
"At least you've gritted your teeth and broken up with him now. If you miss him later, you can still check his updates on WeChat Moments."
"Don't end up like me back then. I couldn't bear to part with my family and kept secretly seeing them. In the end, my entire family died. My parents, husband, and children-not one of them survived."
As she said this.
The woman's tone was airy, even carrying a hint of amusement.
But to Bai Ningyu beside her, her words carried a sharp, bone-piercing chill.
Her pretty face turned deathly pale at the words, and she no longer dared think about getting back together with Gu Qing.
"Get some sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow to pursue that monster."
"Don't stay awake all night and end up groggy tomorrow."
"Then make one careless mistake, get caught out, and become that monster's meal."
After saying this with a smile, the woman turned back to lie flat on her bed, closed her eyes again, and quietly went to sleep.
After hearing her words.
Bai Ningyu no longer dared dwell on such thoughts either.
She immediately put aside all thoughts of Gu Qing.
She closed her eyes.
And forced herself to sleep.
PS: Holding out my bowl, begging for monthly votes and recommendation votes!
Chapter 7: Exceptional comprehension
"Fuck, how is it Monday again? I wanted to sleep straight through until mealtime!"
"Nothing but early classes. I never should've majored in Japanese. Damn anime led me astray!"
"If I become Superman, the first thing I'm doing is blowing up the Foreign Languages College!"
"Don't. I still need to graduate. Why not blow up the birthplace of the anime that led you astray instead?"
"Agreed, supported, approved, +1."
Monday morning.
The moment the alarm rang.
His roommates' resentful curses reached Gu Qing's ears right on schedule.
He picked at his ear, habitually grabbed his phone from beside him, opened WeChat, and took a look.
Then he discovered that Bai Ningyu had sent several messages in the early hours.
He checked their contents.
Well, Bai Ningyu had blocked him.
She said it was temporary and that she would unblock him once everything had settled down.
Her reason was that she had many important things to do next and could not let people and events from her past affect her emotions.
She also said she had treated her other classmates and friends equally and blocked them all. She wanted to completely sever her old relationships and officially begin a brand-new life.
The final message was straightforward: [Gu Qing, we'll meet again if fate allows.]
After reading the messages.
Gu Qing frowned slightly.
He sent a casual reply to check and discovered that Bai Ningyu really had blocked him.
For a moment, he felt rather upset.
But things had already come to this.
There was nothing he could change.
All he could do was wish that he and Bai Ningyu would each be well.
They would meet again someday if fate allowed.
After taking a moment to compose himself.
Gu Qing got up, washed, and headed to the teaching building for class with his roommates.
The Rising Sun Building.
Upon arriving in the classroom.
The first thing Gu Qing did was examine the tags floating above everyone's heads.
[Top student]
[Salesperson]
[Translator]
[Unemployed]
[Painter]
After looking around, he found no particularly eye-catching tags.
They were all ordinary.
In the end.
Gu Qing's gaze settled on the female classmate with the [Top student] tag.
Students came to the classroom to study, and she happened to have a tag related to studying floating above her head.
If I sit with her and study, can I obtain attributes from her [Top student] tag?
Something like... learning ability?
At that thought.
Gu Qing decisively abandoned his three roommates and walked toward the female classmate with the [Top student] tag.
"Yuntong, can I sit next to you?"
"Huh?"
When the class's handsome guy suddenly came over and asked her that, Yang Yuntong, who had been introverted since childhood, was momentarily at a loss and visibly nervous.
Gu Qing glanced at the postgraduate entrance exam materials on her desk and explained naturally:
Before you continue