The three trial tasks were neatly displayed on the panel.
[ Charisma Trial - Phase One: Under the Under the Spotlight. Mission Objective: Film a public video and gain 10,000 Influence Points.]
[ Intelligence Trial - Phase One: Monetizing Knowledge. Task Objective: Utilize professional knowledge to complete a business practice, generating revenue of ≥ 100,000 RMB.]
[ Stamina Trial - Phase One: Dual-Track Start. Mission Objective: Obtain the Advanced Tennis Training Pack and unlock the second sport. Selecting a sport will grant you the corresponding training pack.]
Cheng Che sat on the bed, looked through the messages one by one, and then accepted them all.
Charisma Trial: Shoot a video.
He scratched his head.
Does shooting a video count? Does a school promotional video count?
And how are 10,000 points of influence calculated?
If posting a selfie could get tens of thousands of views, that would be too easy.
If there's a barrier to entry, what is it?
He thought about it for a while, but couldn't figure it out, so he simply put it aside for the time being.
Anyway, I'm going back to Spring City in a couple of days to film a promotional video for No. 13 Middle School. I'll see if the system recognizes it then.
Then comes the Intelligence Trial, Monetizing Knowledge, and business practice, with a profit of no less than 100,000.
That does provide some direction.
He had previously mentioned to his parents that they should sell the breakfast shop and start a small business in a different location.
If he can use his own intellect to help his family make this work—site selection, positioning, cost, customer acquisition—doing it all out, isn't that practical business practice?
With 70 points of intelligence, you can't just use them for solving problems.
Finally, there's the Stamina Trial, Dual-Track Start.
This was his favorite task.
The Advanced Tennis Training Pack was directly extracted.
[ Advanced Tennis Training Pack is now available. Congratulations on obtaining the following items:]
[ Fusible Flexible Feel Racket x1]
[ Baseline Weapon Pack x1]
[ Net Grim Reaper Pack x1]
[ Return of Serve Iron Wall Pack x1]
[ Tactical Brain Pack x1]
Cheng Che looked at the racket first.
He retrieved the physical item from the system and weighed it in his hand.
It feels great in the hand; the frame material is lighter than his [ Old Sturdy Tennis Racket ], and the sweet spot is larger.
The racket has a small display screen that says: Feel 70.
The instructions state: If you have a good feel for the game that day, you can choose to keep the feel constant, up to 100%. Furthermore, the racket's effect can be integrated into other rackets.
Cheng Che nodded.
The advantages of this thing go beyond just being easy to use.
When he gets a new racket or takes on racket endorsements, his feel for the game will be seamlessly transferred.
No need to readjust. For a professional athlete, this means avoiding the biggest cost of changing rackets.
Then he looked at the four bags.
[ Baseline Weapon Pack ]: Complete 100,000 bottom line strikes to gain 1 point of any attribute.
[ Net Grim Reaper Pack ]: Complete 100,000 net interceptions to gain 1 point of any attribute.
[ Return of Serve Iron Wall Pack ]: Complete 100,000 serve receptions to gain 1 point of any attribute.
[ Tactical Brain Pack ]: Learn and master 10 tactical systems and gain 1 point of any attribute.
Cheng Che's eyes lit up after reading it.
Four bags, four arbitrary attributes.
His current four-dimensional accuracy is all 70, but he still has a long way to go before reaching the next stage.
But you get a little extra for each bag you complete, and even if it's slow, it always keeps increasing.
This is much more reliable than the daily reward of 0.1.
Finally, we began the second activity.
He thought about his own talent.
None of them offer a speed boost; sprinting definitely won't work.
Endurance includes [ Enduring Progress Without Fail ], physical recovery includes [ Self-Healing Instinct ], and body coordination includes [ Form Moves as the Mind Wills ].
These talents would be well-suited for endurance sports such as long-distance running, swimming, and cycling.
He prioritized running.
We'll choose more later.
"The second sport... no rush," he muttered. "Let's practice tennis first."
He closed the system panel, turned on his phone, and went back to look at the news article.
The trending topic has dropped to fifth place, but the number of discussions is still increasing.
He didn't click on it, but just scrolled through the homepage and suddenly saw a video clip.
The video shows a shot of the audience during the finals, with the camera panning across the crowd and finally stopping at a corner.
A girl in a white dress is clapping excitedly.
Cheng Che was taken aback.
" Su Qingyue? Class monitor?"
He looked again, and it was indeed Su Qingyue. After all, there was no way he wouldn't recognize that school beauty's face.
"She came to watch my match too?"
A thought suddenly popped into Cheng Che's mind: Could it be that he has a crush on me?
He chuckled, then shook his head and tossed his phone aside.
You're overthinking it.
He closed his eyes, preparing to sleep.
I still need to make sure I go to bed early.
The next morning, Cheng Che returned from his run, washed up, applied face wash, slung his bag over his shoulder, and went out.
Qin Lie took him to the airport, Cheng Che boarded a flight back to Spring City.
When we landed, the sky over Spring City was overcast and it was Xiaoyu.
Cheng Che hailed a taxi and gave them his home address.
The taxi driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror but didn't recognize him.
Cheng Che breathed a sigh of relief. He's gotten used to wearing a mask when he goes out now, and he only pulled the mask down to his chin after making sure he wouldn't be recognized.
Outside the car window, the street scenes of Spring City slowly receded into the distance.
Compared to when he left, it seems like nothing has changed, yet everything seems different.
The sky over Spring City remained the same, neither high nor low, neither overcast nor sunny, just like every day he had lived there for the past eighteen years.
He used to find this kind of weather stuffy. Now that he's back, he actually feels a sense of familiarity.
People really do change.
As the car turned into Clearwater Bay, he could see the clothes drying on his balcony and the potted green ivy that his mother had been growing for several years.
He took out his keys and pushed open the door.
"Click--"
Before the door was even fully opened, a familiar aroma of food wafted out from under the door.
Cheng Jianguo was sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, watching a news program, holding an enamel teacup in his hand, steam still rising from the rim.
Hearing the door open, he turned his head to look, then put down his teacup, stood up, and walked at a leisurely pace, but his eyes kept darting over Cheng Che.
"Oh, you're back."
He circled around Cheng Che once, then stopped and stared at his face for a few seconds.
You've lost weight.
"I haven't lost weight." Cheng Che put his backpack on the shoe cabinet and changed into slippers.
Cheng Jianguo reached out and squeezed his arm, then patted his shoulder. "You're tired."
"Not tired."
"Tired my ass." Cheng Jianguo scoffed, sat back on the sofa, and picked up his teacup. "Your mother can't sleep every night, tossing and turning, nagging about whether you're eating well while you're out there alone. Look at you, your chin's gotten so sharp."
Cheng Che subconsciously touched his chin.
Is it sharp?
He weighs himself every day and has clearly gained two pounds.
"Don't listen to your dad's nonsense." Jiang Xue's voice came from the kitchen, accompanied by the clanging of a spatula against a wok. "He told me yesterday that his son must be incredibly proud of winning the Champion, and told me not to keep calling him and bothering him."
Cheng Che turned his head to look towards the living room.
Cheng Jianguo's hand holding the teacup stiffened slightly. Pretending not to hear, he turned up the TV volume by one notch.
Jiang Xue rushed out of the kitchen, her apron covered in flour stains and her hands smeared with white powder.
She didn't care about anything else, and rushed over to Cheng Che, hugged him tightly, and patted him hard on the back twice.
"Let me see."
She let go of his hand, cupped his face in her hands, and looked at him from left to right.
Her fingertips felt like they were made of flour, rough and warm.
"You've gotten fairer and taller." She frowned. "But why do I see some dark circles under your eyes? Did you not sleep well? Was it because you were too tired from the competition?"
"Mom, I go to bed early and get up early to exercise, how could I not have slept well?"
"Then how come you've lost weight?"
"I haven't lost weight, I really haven't lost weight."
Jiang Xue released her grip with some skepticism, took a step back, and examined it again.
"Alright, let's eat first." She turned and walked towards the kitchen, untying her apron as she went. "The dishes are all ready. Your dad even went out of his way to buy your favorite pork ribs today. He went to queue up early this morning and waited for half an hour."
Cheng Jianguo put down his teacup, stood up and walked to the dining table, muttering, "I went to buy groceries, and I bought some spare ribs on the way."
Jiang Xue turned around and glared at him:
"Just by the way? You get up at six just for 'just by the way'? You usually can't even get up at eight."
Cheng Jianguo choked, touched his nose, and sat down at the dining table.
The family of three sat down at the dinner table.
Cheng Jianguo picked up a piece of pork rib for him, poured himself a glass of wine, and slowly took a sip.
"Oh, right," he said, "Your homeroom teacher said you're back, so you should go to school."
Cheng Che paused for a moment, his hand holding the ribs in his hand still.
" Old Xu?"
"Yes. He said it's about filming a promotional video." Cheng Jianguo put down his wine glass and added, "He also said you should go early and not be late. He said you're a very busy person now and you need to make an appointment in advance."
"Oh."
Cheng Che lowered his head and ate two mouthfuls of rice.
He didn't know why, but he felt a little guilty.
There's nothing to be ashamed of when shooting a promotional video.
Old Xu was his homeroom teacher, so it was perfectly normal for him to ask him to go back to his alma mater to have his picture taken.
But Yan Ruanning's face flashed through his mind.
And those matching couple shoes.
Then he realized that the ribs on his chopsticks had fallen off.
Jiang Xue and Cheng Jianguo exchanged a glance.
Neither of them spoke, but their eyes clearly conveyed the same message.
My son's grown up; he's got the knack for finding cabbages now.
Cheng Che pretended not to see their gazes, lowered his head, picked up the piece of pork rib from the table, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed it a couple of times.
"Mom, the ribs are a bit salty."
"Why is it salty? Your dad bought it, so it's his fault if it's salty."
Cheng Jianguo: "..."