Evolving infinitely from ground zero

Shanhai High School, Class 1 of Grade One.

All morning long, Lin Zichen’s mind wasn’t on his lessons; he kept thinking about what happened last night.

That follower of the Rat God Cult was clearly caught by the public security officers during the day, so how did he end up bloodied and eating rats at a garbage dump on the outskirts at night?

Had he escaped from prison?

And then suffered serious injuries during the escape?

That must be it…

With these thoughts, Lin Zichen took out his phone to check the local news, hoping to find reports related to the rat-like cult follower from last night.

Unfortunately, despite browsing all morning, he found no news related to it.

Instead, he stumbled upon a rather eye-catching piece of news about mechanical augmentation.

“MechGod Corporation announced at this morning’s press conference at nine o’clock that they have developed a brand-new mechanical augmentation technology. They are recruiting 500 volunteers for human trials, offering a monthly stipend and lifetime insurance. Warm reminder, this experiment comes with the risks of disability and death.”

A monthly stipend?

Lifetime insurance?

But if one were to die during the experiment, could these benefits still be claimed?

If not, then this was essentially getting something for nothing…

Lin Zichen pondered these trivial matters to himself.

Soon enough, the bell signaling the end of class rang, and the morning’s lessons were all over.

The students rushed out of the classroom, racing towards the cafeteria, afraid of being late and having to queue for a long time to get food.

Conversely, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan were in no hurry at all and remained seated at their desks.

Just like in junior high, both of them brought lunch from home, so they didn’t need to queue up in the cafeteria like the other students.

A few minutes passed.

Shen Qinghan put down the pen she was holding, took both her and Lin Zichen’s lunch boxes, and stood up to go to the teacher’s office to heat up the food.

She returned shortly with the warmed lunch boxes.

Lin Zichen took his lunch box, eating and scrolling through news on his phone at the same time, determined not to stop until he found news related to the Rat God Cult follower from last night.

Just as he finished eating and was about to take his lunch box to wash it, he finally came across a news article related to the Rat God Cult follower on his phone.

Fresh off the press, it was published by the local official media on their website.

Upon opening it, he found the report contained exactly what he wanted to know, discussing the follower of the Rat God Cult who was eating rats at the garbage dump on the outskirts last night.

“Xiao Chen, what are you looking at so intently?” asked Shen Qinghan, who had just come back from washing her lunch box. Seeing Lin Zichen still at his desk, absorbed in his phone and not even bothering to wash his lunch box, she grew curious.

“I’m looking at news about the Rat God Cult,” Lin Zichen replied casually.

Shen Qinghan wasn’t particularly interested in the Rat God Cult. Seeing the oil in Lin Zichen’s lunch box starting to congeal, she picked it up intending to wash it for him.

But she hesitated and stopped in her tracks when she saw the two girls who had mocked her as a maid earlier in the corridor outside. She was afraid that if the girls saw her washing Lin Zichen’s lunch box, they would tease her about being Lin Zichen’s maid again.

Yet after some consideration and internal struggle, she eventually took Lin Zichen’s lunch box and stepped out of the classroom.

Although it was hard to be ridiculed as Lin Zichen’s maid, that was simply others’ opinion, not Lin Zichen’s. She could pretend not to hear it and shouldn’t take it too seriously.

That’s what she thought, but when she actually passed by those girls with Lin Zichen’s lunch box in hand, she was still afraid of hearing the word “maid.”

Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and she didn’t hear any mockery from the girls as she walked past.

However, after she had gone some distance, those two girls in the corridor started to gossip about her.

“See, I told you she’s Lin Zichen’s personal maid. Now she’s even washing his lunch box for him. She’s really diligent, isn’t she?”

“To be a cut above the rest, one must endure the greatest hardships. With her martial arts ability being so weak, if she doesn’t put in the effort to win over the master, she won’t last in the elite class,”

“Who are you calling a maid?”

Suddenly, a voice rang out in front of the two girls.

Both were startled, having not noticed anyone approaching them.

“No, nothing, you heard wrong,”

Upon recognizing Lin Zichen, one of the girls hurriedly defended herself.

The other girl remained silent, bowing her head, not daring to meet Lin Zichen’s gaze.

Lin Zichen looked at the two girls in front of him.

One was named Wen Yuntong.

The other, Chu Yuxi.

Both of their grades ranked at the bottom of the class, just slightly better than Shen Qinghan’s.

He didn’t say much to them, just calmly stated, “In the future, I don’t want to hear you speaking ill of Shen Qinghan again.”

The speaker was calm, but those listening were anything but.

The girls thought to themselves that it was over, they had offended Lin Zichen, and high school would be ruined for three years!

“Furthermore, if you hear anyone else speaking ill of Shen Qinghan, please relay what I just said to them,”

After dropping that line, Lin Zichen turned and went back to the classroom.

Watching his retreating figure, both girls breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that from now on, they definitely couldn’t mock Shen Qinghan as they had before.

Otherwise, if they offended Lin Zichen, life at Shanhai High School would likely become very difficult.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, the end-of-class bell rang, bringing the afternoon’s lessons to a close.

On the way home.

Lin Zichen thought for a moment and eventually turned to Shen Qinghan to ask, “You’ve been very down lately, is it because you heard people talking badly about you?”

“That did happen, but it’s really okay, I’m not down or anything,”

Shen Qinghan feigned indifference.

Lin Zichen spoke gently, “If you encounter anything that upsets you, you can talk to me about it. We’ve been childhood friends, we should have no secrets from each other.”

Shen Qinghan nodded, “Yes, I will.”

After these words, the two walked on in silence for a while.

Close to home, Lin Zichen asked, “Does it feel like a lot of pressure to always rank last in class?”

“It is quite a bit,” Shen Qinghan muttered, her lips quivering slightly with a hint of helplessness, “but physical talent is predetermined, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t keep up with the rest of the class.”

Lin Zichen disagreed, “Physical talent may be predetermined, true, but martial arts techniques are not. Your physical talent is close to that of Wen Yuntong and Chu Yuxi. If your martial arts techniques far exceed theirs, then you can defeat them on the Martial Stage.”

“Can that really work?”

“It can,” Lin Zichen affirmed confidently. “From now on, I’ll give you special training three times a week, specifically to improve your martial arts techniques. By the end of the term at the latest, you’ll be able to defeat the two of them on the Martial Stage.”

Hearing Lin Zichen’s words, Shen Qinghan’s eyes, which had been somewhat dim, suddenly brightened.

She didn’t want to continue being last in class anymore.

As long as she could tear off the label of being the absolute bottom of the class, even if people still said that she got in through backdoor connections, it would be a lot more bearable for her.

PS: Begging bowl out, seeking monthly and recommendation tickets!