Late at night, in Yan Huan's rented apartment in the South District.
The lamp at his desk shone brightly, its soft light illuminating the writing on the papers scattered across the desktop.
Yan Huan lay on his bed like that, his face pale, his mind blank, his mouth slightly open. All kinds of symbols and words were even floating before his eyes.
Then, as though he had figured out the answer to some difficult math problem, he suddenly clutched his head, his black bangs spilling through his fingers.
His bloodshot eyes held excitement, a light of wisdom shining through them.
"I think I've solved it. All I need to do is take the integral-"
Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at the illusory words in the corner of his vision. They seemed to be counting down.
[Learning Conqueror, stacks: 10, time remaining: 1 minute 28 seconds]
Yan Huan instinctively wanted to sit up and return to his desk to keep studying with full concentration, preserving his Conqueror stacks.
But the next second, a black cat jumped in front of him, raised its head, and reminded him,
"Yan Huan, you need to rest."
Yan Huan paused slightly, looking at Meow-chan before him.
Its words seemed to awaken the pain in his body, finally drawing him a little out of his concentration.
He realized that his whole body ached terribly, and his head was growing heavy and muddled.
Kidney deficiency always came after overexertion...
"Hiss..."
Yan Huan sucked in a breath, rubbing his shoulder uncomfortably as he asked Meow-chan,
"What time is it?"
"Almost two in the morning, meow."
Meow-chan ran over beside him and lightly swept its tail across his phone, which he had not touched at all.
The screen lit up, showing the time, 1:48, and several Plane messages.
"You've been reading ever since five yesterday evening, almost eight hours straight now. You still have school tomorrow. I'm afraid your body won't hold up if you keep going."
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow at that, reached out to rub Meow-chan's head, and smiled helplessly.
"Mostly, I just didn't expect this boost to be so ridiculous. That feeling of gradually understanding things is honestly incredible."
It was not actually that studying itself was too dull. After all, curiosity was one of humanity's important traits.
The key was that studying often offered no obvious positive feedback.
Especially in an extremely difficult subject like mathematics.
Often, even after spending hours, a day, or several days on it, most people still could not understand what it was trying to tell them or what use it had, feeling they had gained nothing.
That was why the concept of studying had become synonymous with "boring."
In terms of quantifiable assessments, it meant that no matter what you did, the problems you could not solve remained unsolvable.
But if you received extremely obvious positive feedback every half hour you studied, then studying was fundamentally no different from anything else that captivated people.
That was roughly how it was for Yan Huan while using Learning Conqueror.
The more he concentrated, the faster he progressed, and the more concepts he learned and understood.
And the instant surge in intelligence at maximum stacks let him immediately figure out questions and confusions left over from before.
Back and forth it went, downright addictive.
And there was even something like "stacks."
Perhaps he had a slight compulsive streak, but every time Yan Huan thought about taking a break, seeing those Conqueror stacks about to disappear made him unable to resist maintaining his concentration.
But he had to stop...
Yan Huan yawned, watching Learning Conqueror's remaining duration slowly run out.
The instant it ended, his previously quick mind seemed to grow considerably heavier.
Although Yan Huan's original intelligence was not low, having experienced that massive increase, he could still appreciate the true meaning of those words:
"Even among geniuses, there are differences!"
Dragging his heavy body over to the computer, Yan Huan tidied up his notes and scratch paper, and closed the digital textbook he had already read most of.
Then he shut his computer, ready to wash up and rest.
"Oh, right, Meow-chan. How about I open a can for you?"
"Meow?"
Yan Huan crouched and opened a can of cat food, while Meow-chan watched with resistance all over its face.
It glanced at the can on the floor, then at Yan Huan's expectant face beside it.
Then it extended a padded paw and nudged Yan Huan, seemingly trying to bring him to his senses.
"Go on, eat. This is what kitties need to eat to grow nice and chubby."
"Meow..."
Meow-chan blinked, then reluctantly approached the can and stuck out its little tongue for a tentative lick.
Huh?
The taste actually wasn't unacceptable?
"Smack. Smack."
And so Meow-chan licked at the canned food faster and faster, prompting Yan Huan to smile and rub its feline head.
He opened his phone again. Having spent the whole evening in focused mode without checking Plane, he decided to check his messages.
Hmm.
In the Student Council's main management group, You Anlina said she was going to the Linmen Game Expo this weekend too.
Then, hearing that, Sakuramiya said she wanted to go take a look as well.
Well, that worked out nicely. A Student Council group outing this weekend.
He was not going to message the group at this hour and disturb everyone's rest. Just after leaving the chat, he noticed a red dot on "Contacts" below.
Someone added me?
Yan Huan blinked and tapped "My friends," where he saw a new friend request, sent around ten last night.
"Xin Yi"
"Requests to add you as a friend"
"Source: Plane ID search"
Yan Huan studied the musical note serving as the person's profile picture, thinking as he headed to the bathroom to wash up.
It's Bai Yi, right?
Yan Huan had previously added her mother on Plane, so finding out his account would not be difficult for her.
After a moment's thought, Yan Huan accepted, but sent no message, concentrating on washing up instead.
When he came out of the bathroom, Meow-chan had already finished the can and was licking its paws.
Looks like I don't need to prepare a litter box for it either. That's what a god is worth...
But taking things in without letting anything out-why does that feel more like a pixiu?
"Bedtime, Meow-chan."
"Meow~"
Yan Huan turned off the light and lay down on the bed, quite exhausted, rubbing between his brows.
Meow-chan bounded over beside him too, blinking its clear green eyes as it asked,
"Didn't you send a message earlier to the boss you work for? Hasn't she replied yet?"
Just about to fall asleep, Yan Huan picked up his phone again at Meow-chan's reminder.
Oh, right...
Tong Yingying had still not replied to his message.
Not a word all evening. What's she been doing?
Looking again at the chat without a single reply, Yan Huan hesitated, but ultimately did not type anything else.
Instead, he put down his phone and gathered Meow-chan into his arms.
"Forget it. Whatever's going on, I'll ask her about it tomorrow."
"Meow~"
Yan Huan closed his eyes, ready to sleep.
Time rewound little by little, to Thursday evening in Jinghe District.
Inside a room on the first floor of a villa, warm lamplight illuminated the spacious room's furnishings like water.
An electric guitar was still connected to the computer, with quite a few other instruments nearby. The computer screen was lit, displaying a paid copy of Professional Music Production Software.
Its tracks were already filled with the tones of different instruments, laying out a rainbow of different colors and lengths across the black interface.
A song was about to be created.
Ever since she had created her second song a year ago, she had not released another.
It was not that she had not been writing. Over the year, no matter how heavy her workload became, she had still persisted in finishing the rough melody and arrangement.
But she had not started on the rest, such as the song title and lyrics.
One reason was that her everyday work was simply too busy. The other was that her mother's constant rejection had made even her question whether she should keep creating.
But...
Only yesterday had she learned that Yan Huan, whom her mother was always talking about, was actually a fan of her songs?
Was he lying?
But why would he lie?
Every time I saw him before, I was in the Indifference state. He didn't even know me. He had no motive at all.
And he's so outstanding, one of the most prominent students at school. He could beat me in the tryout on his looks alone...
Someone like him...
Was actually waiting for me to release a new song?!
"Ooh..."
At that thought, Bai Yi, wearing a dress on her bed, hurriedly buried her face in the cushion she had been holding all along.
Her white-socked feet lifted, excitedly slapping against the bed over and over with a pat-pat-pat.
Then she rolled twice across the bed with the cushion in her arms, her black hair spreading behind her like petals, making her flushed little face look as lovely as the center of a blooming flower.
The corners of her mouth rose uncontrollably, and she could not stop grinning foolishly.
Calm down, Bai Yi!
You're an idol!
You have to...
You have to maintain your image, and work even harder!
And so she hurriedly composed her expression.
Yet she could not suppress that smile, which quietly crept out at the corners of her lips again.
Bai Yi put down the cushion and went over to the computer.
Her phone lay on the desk, with someone's Plane ID already entered. She had memorized it by secretly looking at her mother's phone.
Just one tap on the screen would send a friend request.
Pouting, Bai Yi extended both index fingers and hovered them over the button for a long time, but could never bring herself to press it.
"Ahh, no. No, I can't do it."
She hurriedly covered her flushed face again, letting her ice-cold fingers cool her pretty cheeks.
Adding him like this would be so strange...
And what if he asks when I'm releasing a new song, or whether I'll sing at Sunday's game expo?
Not only are the lyrics for the new song still unwritten, but Mother definitely won't let me go up and sing this weekend either.
She looks down on my singing most of all.
At that thought, the warmth in Bai Yi's little face gradually faded as well.
She pressed her lips together, looking somewhat sadly at the tracks in the music software before her...
Like a dragon whose eyes had not been painted in, lying lifelessly inside her computer.
"Why are you back?"
Just then, the sound of a door opening came from outside, followed by Zuo Jiangqin's voice.
"Oh, I heard Yi-Yi ran away from home, so I put work aside and rushed back to Linmen."
A middle-aged man's voice answered her.
Zuo Jiangqin's second husband, Jiang Xiong, had returned.
"Honestly. She was just throwing a little tantrum. She'd be fine in a few days. She went to the event properly today too, so she probably already knows she was wrong."
"Even if it was just a little tantrum, running away from home is still very serious. Has Yi-Yi gone to bed?"
"I don't know. She probably has."
Footsteps approached. Bai Yi turned to look toward the door, where a knock sounded.
"Knock, knock."
"Yi-Yi, are you asleep?"
Bai Yi pressed her lips together, then spoke after a moment's hesitation.
"The door's unlocked, Uncle Jiang."
"Click."
The door opened, revealing a refined man with half-gray hair and a few wrinkles on his face, still in his formal clothes.
Wearing glasses, he looked at Bai Yi in the room and said with a smile,
"Your mother said you ran away from home the day before yesterday?"
"Yes, but everything's fine now..."
Jiang Xiong folded his arms and said noncommittally,
"Is that so?"
As the atmosphere gradually fell silent, Bai Yi turned to him and took the initiative to ask,
"Is everything all right at the company? Coming back to Linmen so suddenly must really affect your work."
"Quite the opposite. Things are going great over there. I was planning to come back to Linmen around this time anyway. The head of Ye International sent his daughter to Linmen, so there's bound to be plenty of business here afterward. I'm also planning to see if I can make a connection with Ye International."
"Ye International? That's a huge company. Can you really get a foot in the door?"
"Other people might not, but your uncle should manage. You know me, Yi-Yi. I don't have much ability, but I do have plenty of friends."
Jiang Xiong smiled faintly and walked into Bai Yi's room.
He left the door open and simply pulled up a chair and sat down.
"The new person in charge, Ye Lan, studied under the same teacher as me. She was a year ahead of me.
"I even gave her a wedding gift, but she had terrible taste. The husband she picked was no good. Their child was still little when he started fooling around, and she caught him and kicked him so hard he lost the ability to have children. So afterward, she was forced to leave with her child and none of the marital assets."
Jiang Xiong casually dropped an interesting story, capturing the attention of Bai Yi, who hadn't wanted to talk. She asked incredulously,
"Ye International... wasn't that schoolmate of yours from a really rich family, Uncle? How did he even dare cheat on her?"
"It's complicated. I only heard about it myself, so I don't really know the details."
Jiang Xiong spread his hands helplessly and explained,
"Apparently, things were pretty tough when Ye International first started out. And she had siblings, too, so she was really strapped for cash during her undergraduate years.
"Later, when things improved, she brought home the man she'd fallen in love with, but her family looked down on the poor boy and refused to agree to the marriage, no matter what."
Bai Yi blinked, looking very curious.
"So..."
"Ah, so neither of her parents came to her wedding. I reckon her family never agreed to it in the end. Though perhaps it wasn't entirely because of his family background. Maybe they realized he wasn't a decent person."
After listening, Bai Yi wore a somewhat complicated expression and could only sigh.
"The adult world is way too complicated."
"Right? That's why I'd rather you spent more time with people your own age and worked less."
Bai Yi caught what he was getting at. She pouted and muttered,
"Isn't that what celebrities do? We have to keep attending events. And what if I'm not popular anymore later? That's what Mom says, too. While I'm still popular, I should attend more events."
"There's no end to making money, Yi-Yi."
Jiang Xiong took off his glasses and said with a smile,
"Even that schoolmate of mine, the big boss at Ye International, has a pile of problems, let alone us. Rather than making yourself so miserable that you run away from home, you might as well get some proper rest."
Bai Yi glanced at Jiang Xiong, then asked quietly,
"What about the cancellation penalties? That's a lot of money, isn't it? We probably can't afford them, right?"
"Right, we can't."
"Then what the hell are you talking about?!"
At that, Bai Yi angrily threw a plush toy from the desk at him, but Jiang Xiong easily caught it.
"Don't be so rigid. What I mean is, finish the work you've already got, and then we'll take on less afterward.
"You have a long life ahead of you, Yi-Yi. Go to school more, spend more time with your classmates, and read more books. Even if your grades aren't good, that doesn't matter. You still need to read about different perspectives.
"Then, once you have some free time, do things you like."
The middle-aged man in front of her fiddled with the plush toy in his hands, then tossed it back.
"Our family isn't rich, but we're not poor, either. Even in the worst-case scenario, if you don't manage to accomplish anything, you still won't starve. Relax a little. Be a little braver."
Bai Yi caught the plush toy, too, but only looked at Jiang Xiong, unable to say anything for a long while.
Quite some time passed before Zuo Jiangqin's voice came from upstairs.
"What are you doing down there? Hurry up and shower! Get yourself clean and come up to bed!!"
Bai Yi blinked at her mother's voice, while Zuo Jiangqin's ferocious manner made Jiang Xiong's back buckle.
Then a sheen of cold sweat broke out on his face.
Clearly, that seemed to be the signal for something.
Jiang Xiong reached out and shakily moved the chair back into place, then gave Bai Yi a helpless smile.
"I'll go to bed, then. You get some rest early, too?"
"Okay, Uncle Jiang."
Bai Yi nodded, watched Jiang Xiong leave, and closed the door.
Be a little braver, huh...
Bai Yi turned to her phone. The profile page of a user named "Huan" was still there.
Pouting, she reached out a finger and pressed the "Add friend" option.
One light tap, and then...
Friend request sent!
It worked!
Bai Yi nervously raised her phone. As she watched the request in her contacts waiting for his approval, her heartbeat began to quicken.
Would he accept?
Or...
Would he reject it?
Clutching her phone, she flopped onto her bed and stared nervously at the screen.
One minute passed.
Five minutes passed...
Ahaha, he's probably busy and hasn't seen it at all, right?
I'll watch some videos for a bit. It's fine.
Bai Yi opened a short-video platform and started scrolling through videos.
Yet every few videos, she would switch back to Plane in the background and check whether he'd accepted.
The answer was the same every time.
No!!
Why had I even sent that friend request, anyway?!
Wasn't there an option to withdraw it?!
Her face red, Bai Yi rolled around on her bed again, looking utterly frustrated.
One moment of bravery bought her a whole night of withdrawal.
Little did she know that Yan Huan hadn't even seen the friend request she'd sent.
He had eyes only for studying!
At that same moment, in Linmen's South District, at Tongyao Tavern.
The Tavern's doors were tightly shut. Not only was a "Closed today" sign hanging from the outside handle, but even the rolling shutter inside had been pulled down.
As a result, outsiders could neither see nor hear what was happening inside.
"Yingying, you have to help us!"
Quite a few people had gathered inside the closed Tavern. Many burly men bearing Wing Tattoos watched the two injured men in the center with mocking expressions.
They had obvious knife wounds and burns that looked very serious, yet they seemed unconcerned with their injuries and pain, merely looking ahead.
On the sofa in front of them sat a red-haired woman in a short black T-shirt and jeans, her eyes listless as she examined the two men kneeling before her.
Besides the burly men, the Tavern also held many beautiful, shapely women dressed in furs and qipaos, their every movement carrying a waft of perfume.
Smoking and holding wineglasses, they propped their chins in their hands and watched the scene with smiles.
Tong Yingying said nothing. Instead, a man beside her chuckled and cursed,
"Hey, you won't even call her Sister Tong, and you expect her to help? Don't you know the rules?"
"Sister Tong, Sister Tong..."
One of the kneeling men belatedly spoke up, shuffling a little closer to Tong Yingying.
"You have to help us. Help us get away. Please."
Tong Yingying sighed and yawned, looking somewhat bored.
"...You never think of me when you're making money and splitting the profits, but now that you're in trouble, you know to come looking for me?"
The burly men watching nearby burst into laughter. The beautiful women holding wineglasses gathered around, too, and said to her with smiles,
"You're a top student, Sister Tong. None of what we do is any good. The boss couldn't bear to dirty your hands~"
"They've made too much trouble. Everyone knows you used to work for Mama Bai, Sister Tong, and all her connections are with you now. Can you see if there's any way to get them out?"
Tong Yingying didn't answer. She simply took out her cigarette case and placed a slim cigarette between her red lips.
She had only just begun feeling around for her lighter when a series of lighter strikes suddenly sounded around her.
"..."
Tong Yingying lifted her beautiful eyes slightly. Around the sofa where she sat, qipao-clad beauties bearing Wing Tattoos had all flicked on their lighters, respectfully leaning in from every direction to light her cigarette.
The dense cluster of flames around her lit up Tong Yingying's lifeless eyes, from which an intimidating presence seeped.
"Sister Tong~"
"Here you go~"
As delicate hands moved through wafts of perfume, the flames atop the lighters swayed gently.
No one dared roughly snatch her cigarette away. Only that boy would do such a thing.
But after a moment's consideration, Tong Yingying reached up herself and removed the cigarette from her lips.
The beauties around her covered their mouths and giggled, asking,
"Sister Tong, want one of ours?"
"Forget it."
Tong Yingying exhaled and said helplessly,
"I'm quitting smoking."
The lighters around her went out one by one. They offered no comments and simply continued smiling at Tong Yingying.
Tong Yingying leaned back against the cushion behind her and looked at the two men covered in injuries before her.
Everyone turned their eyes toward her, seemingly waiting for something.
Then Tong Yingying's eyes suddenly lit up. She raised a finger and said,
"Oh, I do have an idea."
Everyone else wore an expression that said, "We're screwed." Only the two outsiders kneeling on the floor remained utterly confused.
"H-huh?"
They thought they'd found hope, and hopeful looks appeared on their faces.
But Tong Yingying smiled faintly and said,
"You know you've gotten yourselves into some pretty serious trouble, right? It's not just the Linmen police watching you. Your rivals are, too."
"Y-yes, that's right..."
"I have a way to get someone out of Linmen."
"R-really?!"
Tong Yingying propped up her chin, and the smile on her face suddenly turned terrifying.
"Yes, but only one of you two can get out.
"You two decide for yourselves. Who gets to leave?"
Before you continue