The Soviet Union Academic Ace's Absolute Domain!

Back in the dorm, Qi Hao shut the door and found the copy of Introduction to Algebra he had yet to finish.

"System, take out the Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill."

A flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and a pill appeared on the desk in front of him.

The pill was about the size of a quail egg and pitch-black all over, giving off a bitter, medicinal pine-needle smell that was hard to put into words.

Good lord, was this something a normal person could eat?

"System, come clean. Did the person who designed this pill train at a heavy industry base in Siberia?" Qi Hao couldn't help complaining.

"Did you even consider the user experience when you designed this thing?!"

"It's so big! Are you trying to physically widen my esophagus, or do you want me to ascend on the spot?"

As usual, the system played dead, responding to his protest with aloof silence.

Qi Hao sighed.

What else could he do?

If he wanted to chew through Introduction to Algebra, he had no choice but to give it his all.

He took a deep breath, picked up the full glass of cooled boiled water beside him, and put on the expression of a man marching to his death.

Gulp, gulp, gulp...

Well, what do you know? The pill was easier to swallow than he'd imagined. It seemed to have rolled straight into his stomach with the water.

The moment it went down, he didn't feel anything special.

Unexpectedly, the system's notification sounded in his head.

[Detected: comrade has taken the Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill.]

[Effect activation detected. Loading abnormal status...]

[Abnormal status confirmed: Soviet Union Academic Ace Absolute Domain · activated!]

What the heck?

Before he could complain about the utterly chuunibyou name, the next notification came crashing down.

[Comrade, superfluous emotions are useless. As the heir to the Eastern Roman Empire, you have only one task: conquer every piece of knowledge, conquer everyone.]

[Eliminate anyone who stands in the way of your pursuit of knowledge.]

[Eliminate anyone who refuses to submit to the truth.]

[For the Soviet, urrah!]

Qi Hao: ???

He froze on the spot. His first reaction was to ask whether the system had been infected with a virus; his second was to ask whether he'd taken something he shouldn't have.

"System, you..."

Qi Hao suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence.

He felt his consciousness being forcibly wiped clean in a way he had never experienced before.

The sensation was hard to describe.

It was as if hundreds of scraps of paper had been floating around in his head: his family's reminders, the books he needed to read, the upcoming final exams, what Old Wang had said, the meal Wang Jun had brought him...

Those scraps were being locked away somewhere, one by one.

Soon, only one thing remained in his mind.

Introduction to Algebra on the desk.

His heartbeat had also become unusually steady, and his breathing had slowed. It was as if his entire body were immersed in ice water.

The next second, he opened the book.

The first page, the second page, the third page.

What he felt now was different from when he had activated Deep Focus · Enhanced Learning State before.

When he activated Deep Focus, he was like a machine running at high speed, all his attention locked onto the book. He was incredibly efficient, but he was tense, like a string pulled taut.

But not now.

Instead, his whole body had relaxed.

One proof in the book wound its way through five pages. Normally, he would probably have frowned, instinctively scratched his head, and complained to himself.

But now, he had no reaction at all.

He simply went back and calmly reread the parts he didn't understand.

If he still didn't understand, he would stop, take out some scratch paper, and work through the entire proof himself from beginning to end, starting with the most basic definitions.

Once he was done, he closed the scratch paper and continued reading.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Having skipped lunch, his stomach protested, but once those signals reached his brain, they were all screened out by that filter.

What was hunger?

Compared with those pure wills who had used their flesh and blood to lay the foundations of human science amid extreme material deprivation, the hunger in his stomach was nothing more than an insignificant bioelectric signal generated by his carbon-based body.

Qi Hao unconsciously ignored his hunger, and he turned the pages faster and faster.

It took him about two hours to chew through the second half of Introduction to Algebra. When he closed it, he didn't even feel the usual satisfaction of finally finishing a book. He simply pushed it aside without a change of expression and pulled the next one from the stack.

Gelfand's Lectures on Linear Algebra and Multilinear Algebra.

Onward.

At that moment, someone turned the handle and opened the dorm door from outside.

Wang Jun carried two servings of green pepper and beef over rice in one hand and fumbled with his keys in the other, all the while complaining to Chen Yuan behind him. "I'm telling you, the new auntie on the third floor of the cafeteria has a really shaky hand. I asked for two scoops of meat, and she shook them down to a scoop and a half-and that half scoop was heaped up. Tell me, isn't that infuriating..."

Halfway through, he saw Qi Hao sitting at his desk.

Wang Jun was taken aback.

"Brother Hao, did you skip class today? I didn't see you in class."

Qi Hao didn't move.

Wang Jun thought he hadn't heard him. He set the rice dishes on the desk and went on, "They took attendance in class today, but the teacher didn't call your name. Your luck was through the roof!"

Qi Hao still didn't move.

Wang Jun's hand stopped in midair.

Chen Yuan also sensed that something was off. He took his backpack off his shoulder, walked over, and craned his neck to look at the book in front of Qi Hao.

"What book is that?" Chen Yuan asked quietly. "It's all symbols."

"Who cares what book it is?" Wang Jun frowned. "Hey, Brother Hao, want some food? I'm not eating this one, so you can have it. It tastes pretty good."

Qi Hao's gaze didn't leave the book.

Wang Jun and Chen Yuan exchanged a glance.

Wang Jun sucked in a breath, leaned close to Chen Yuan's ear, and lowered his voice. "You don't think he... got scolded by Old Wang, do you?"

"No way. Old Wang treats him really well."

The two whispered to each other for quite a while. Finally, Wang Jun slapped his thigh and decided to bring out his trump card.

He opened the green pepper and beef over rice, and hot steam mingled with the aroma of the sauce quickly filled the entire dorm.

Qi Hao sluggishly raised his head, turned, and looked at Wang Jun with a completely impassive gaze.

That look startled Wang Jun, and he instinctively said, "Uh... buddy, time to eat. You probably haven't eaten yet, right?"

Qi Hao looked at the rice dish, then said in a very polite tone, "Thank you."

With that, Qi Hao picked up the chopsticks and began to eat.

Throughout the whole process, he didn't look at Wang Jun again, nor did he joke around with him as he usually did.

Wang Jun edged over to Chen Yuan and tugged on his sleeve.

"Chen Yuan," he whispered, "something's happened."

"What?"

Wang Jun looked grave. "Someone's taken over Qi Hao's body."

Chen Yuan: ...

"I'm telling you," Wang Jun said, analyzing the situation in all seriousness, "normally, Qi Hao's eyes light up when he sees rice with toppings. Did that reaction look normal to you today?"

"Keep your voice down." Chen Yuan glanced at Qi Hao's back. "He really is reading."

"It's finals. It's normal to study hard. Have you finished your books?"

"You unfilial son, how can you talk to your father like that?" Wang Jun said, hands on his hips.

Chen Yuan ignored Wang Jun and went to read.

Wang Jun looked at Qi Hao and scratched his head, unable to figure him out...