Cheng Che fled all the way from the sports field back to the classroom, the back of his neck still hot.
The cheers and applause behind him had yet to fully recede like the tide, and quite a few people in the corridor poked their heads out of the windows to look at him.
Cheng Che kept his head down and jogged the whole way, looking as though he had a guilty conscience.
Guo Xin chased after him, panting for breath. The moment he entered, he shut the door and braced his back against it, looking as though he had just covered a comrade's retreat.
"Bro, you've really made a name for yourself today." Guo Xin panted, his eyes shining as though he had met his idol. "There was this middle school girl next to me just now, screaming so hard her voice cracked. Did you hear her?"
Cheng Che ignored him and sat down at his desk.
How could he not have heard? His ears had nearly been blasted deaf.
The classroom door had barely been shut for two minutes before a crowd swarmed outside.
The students of Class Five rushed in one after another. The boys slapped desks and shoulders, shouting, "Badass!" "Talk about making an impression!" "You did Class Five proud!"
A few bolder girls came straight up to him, blushing as they praised him. "You looked so good today!" "Your voice sounded amazing!"
Cheng Che smiled stiffly, not knowing whom to answer first.
Fortunately, the English teacher arrived before the bell rang.
She set her lesson plan on the lectern and swept her gaze over the people surrounding Cheng Che. "What are you all doing? Don't you know class is starting? Back to your seats, all of you."
Only then did the crowd slowly disperse.
Cheng Che breathed a sigh of relief and settled back into his seat, his back drenched in sweat.
Guo Xin leaned over and lowered his voice, his expression excessively serious. "Brother Che, I've made a decision."
Cheng Che gave him a sidelong glance. "Go on."
"If I can't find a girlfriend in the future, I'm counting entirely on you."
"Sure." Cheng Che did not even look up. "I'll introduce you to a Little Pink Book user."
Guo Xin shuddered all over and slapped away the hand Cheng Che had resting on the desk:
"You're fucking vicious!"
Cheng Che smiled and ignored him.
He lowered his head, pretending to leaf through his book, while his awareness sank into the system panel.
Onstage earlier, he had vaguely heard the task completion notification, but he had not dared let himself get distracted.
Now it was finally time to reap the rewards.
[Charisma Trial · Stage One: The Boy Who Is Seen. Completed!] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining the active talent "Boy of Many Styles."] [Congratulations to the host on obtaining the item "Perfect Teeth Toothpaste."]
Two rewards: one skill and one item.
Cheng Che examined the talent first.
[Boy of Many Styles (active): You can present the image of a boy with different temperaments according to your wishes. Available types will unlock as your charisma increases. Currently unlockable: sunny boy, cool and aloof boy, well-behaved boy.]
Cheng Che said, "...Huh?"
He read it again, his expression growing increasingly strange.
Present different images according to my wishes?
A sunny boy? A cool and aloof boy? A well-behaved boy?
Wasn't this something only actors needed?
A flash of inspiration struck Cheng Che, and he suddenly understood something.
Back on the tennis court, he had relied on Total Concentration to learn his backhand and Ever-Full Power Reserves to crush everyone on the court.
Later, while filming the music video, he had used Stars Surrounding the Moon and Sapiosexual Boy to make the director's eyes light up.
Now the system had given him another active talent that could switch his temperament.
Could this system really be trying to push me into show business?
He hurriedly shook his head.
Impossible.
Right now, all he wanted was to study, make money, and play tennis.
Show business and all that was too far removed.
But if I really could get in...
Cheng Che recalled that story about earning 2.08 million a day and could not help swallowing, but he immediately cast the fantasy aside and turned to the item.
He liked this [Perfect Teeth Toothpaste] at first glance.
[Perfect Teeth Toothpaste: With consistent use, the shape, scent, and color of your teeth will gradually approach perfection. Note: For the host's use only. Simply brush twice daily. Do not swallow.]
Cheng Che's eyes lit up.
His teeth were actually pretty decent. They did not need straightening, and there were no major problems.
But who did not want a set of straight, white teeth?
Especially now that he occasionally had to show his face, smile, and speak onstage, a good set of teeth could earn him quite a few extra points.
This toothpaste was good stuff.
He continued reading.
[Charisma Trial · Stage Two: Radiating Charisma. Task objective: Receive praise from 10,000 people. Current progress: 0/10000.]
At the sight of that "10,000," Cheng Che's eyelid twitched.
Ten thousand compliments?
They could not be perfunctory responses like "mm" or "oh," nor could they come built into the system. They had to come from real people praising him from the heart.
How long would that take to accumulate?
Just as he was about to think it through, the bell rang.
Cheng Che exhaled, closed the system panel, and looked up at the lectern.
Forget it. Class first.
But what he did not know was that the speech he thought was over was stirring waves in another, unseen ocean.
And his task progress was also increasing, +1 after +1.
Lin Meng lay sprawled over her workstation and let out an enormous yawn.
Her boss had not arrived, nor had any of her coworkers. She was alone in the office.
Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the blinds, drawing golden lines across her desk.
Bored out of her mind, she opened her phone and tapped into a short-video app.
She scrolled past a few clips of cats and dogs, then a couple of comedy videos. None were particularly interesting.
Until another video slid onto the screen.
The footage shook, clearly filmed on the sly.
The camera pointed diagonally upward from one side of a sports field, capturing a corner of the flag-raising platform.
In the center of the frame, a boy in a white shirt stood before a microphone, reading from a script with his head lowered.
The sunlight was strong, leaving the image slightly overexposed, as though a layer of soft light had been draped over it.
The boy raised his head and swept a glance over the audience.
Just that one glance.
Lin Meng's finger stopped.
She stared blankly at the screen, even her breathing slowing half a beat.
The boy on camera was very young, with a white shirt and black hair, standing straight without looking stiff.
As he read with his head lowered, his expression was calm, his eyelashes casting tiny shadows on his cheeks.
Occasionally, he lifted his eyes, and his voice sounded all the clearer and cooler as the wind brushed past it.
"My experience with studying really comes down to just three things: first, find your own rhythm; second, don't constantly compare yourself to others; third, when it's time to sleep, don't stay up late."
The boy's voice was not loud, and he even sounded a little reserved, but it reached her ears clear and steady, like a glass of ice water on a midsummer afternoon.
Lin Meng covered her mouth and instinctively hit pause.
Then she rewound it.
And listened again.
"Holy crap..." she murmured. "This is just too..."
She fumbled to open the comments.
Sure enough, others had already charged in.
"What school does this kid go to? I want to send him Five Years of Gaokao Papers, Three Years of Mock Exams!"
"That voice, those looks, that temperament... My four years at university were wasted."
"Bro, take my advice. Whatever you do, don't smile at girls at school. One smile from you, and they'll have another white moonlight in their hearts for the rest of their lives."
"Too late for me, commenter above. Three minutes ago, I was doing homework. Now all I want is to search for his contact info."
"For a family to raise a kid like this, his parents must've saved the galaxy in their past lives."
Lin Meng scrolled through the comments one by one, her cheeks growing warm without her realizing.
The comments were filling with increasingly thirsty remarks, too.
"I really want to get to know him. Just get to know him."
"That waist, those legs, that profile... Little brother, this big sister can wait."
"Wait, haven't you noticed how handsome he looks when he's speaking seriously? That feeling of being both well-behaved and clearheaded."
Lin Meng laughed behind her hand for ages, then scrolled back up to watch the video again.
Then, as though possessed, she typed a line in the comments:
"I want his contact info too."
Sent successfully.
She slapped her phone facedown on the desk and covered her burning face. "Have I lost my mind...?"
Meanwhile, in an upscale apartment somewhere in Spring City.
Yan Ruanning was curled up on the sofa drinking water when her phone suddenly rang.
It was Xiao Zhou.
"Ruanning, have you seen the video online?" Xiao Zhou's voice was audibly holding back excitement. "The one of Cheng Che at the flag-raising ceremony. Someone filmed it and uploaded it, and it's already trending!"
Yan Ruanning paused, set down her glass, and opened the app.
The footage popped up.
The flag-raising platform, sunlight, a boy in a white shirt.
It was the scene she had witnessed that morning.
"So many people are looking for him." Xiao Zhou's voice continued over the phone. "The director just called me and said the music video is already edited. Since this wave of attention has arrived, we might as well release it in a few days. Strike while the iron's hot and get the song out first."
Watching the boy on the screen, Yan Ruanning could not help picturing him standing in the sunlight again.
The corners of her lips slowly curved upward.
"All right. Let's do that."
"Great! I'll coordinate with the platform right away."
After hanging up, Yan Ruanning tossed her phone onto the sofa, leaned all the way back, and smiled with her eyes closed.
After a long while, she murmured:
"Little brother, you've really done this big sister a huge favor."