Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 185 - 184, do you know how I’ve spent these 24 days?

In the principal’s office, after Li Zheng and Tang Zhifei took their seats, Liu Xiaodong started discussing serious matters.

"This, this, Li Zheng, I know you’re already very tired."

"But there are two things that I must ask for your help with."

"Consider it me, Liu Xiaodong, pleading with you."

"First, there will be media people coming for an interview later, and I need you to cooperate with them."

"It’s not easy for Lake Ying Middle School to have produced someone like you over the years."

"If you don’t want to talk much, that’s fine, but letting them take a few photos would be good, what do you think?"

Liu Xiaodong’s posture was so humble that Li Zheng found it hard to refuse anymore.

"Okay," Li Zheng responded, "just arrange everything at once, and then no more arrangements in the future."

"No problem," Liu Xiaodong immediately relaxed a bit, leaning back in his chair and wiping his forehead, "Then the second thing, on December 31 at the Capital Gymnasium, we, along with City First School, are doing a joint New Year’s Eve program. You and Lin Yujing, as the absolute faces of our school, it would be great if you two could put together a performance."

"??? "

"??? "

This time not only was Li Zheng baffled, but Tang Zhifei was bewildered as well.

Principal, you’re really putting your life into this assist.

Using official matters as an excuse, forcing an assist.

Don’t I, the class advisor, have any dignity?

"But I don’t really have any special talents," Li Zheng frowned and pondered, "I can’t sing, can’t dance, I could play basketball... do I have to perform a dribbling routine?"

"Isn’t there something like a freestyle basketball performance?" Liu Xiaodong suggested, "If you’re good enough, playing basketball isn’t out of the question."

"But I’m only accurate in shooting," Li Zheng gestured with his hand, "How about I go and shoot 100 three-pointers?"

"That... might not be a good idea..." Liu Xiaodong pursed his lips, "You have to consider Lin Yujing, too, since you’re performing together."

"She can play basketball, too."

"No, how did it come to basketball again..." Liu Xiaodong scratched his head, then looked at Tang Zhifei, "How about you arrange a poetry recitation for the two of them?"

"Ha." Tang Zhifei coldly retorted, "I’m not knowledgeable enough, you should seek someone more capable."

"Come on, cooperate a bit," Liu Xiaodong said helplessly, "this request... it’s actually not from me... it’s from the old principal."

Upon hearing this, Tang Zhifei first panicked, then became colder.

Go ahead, make a mess of it!

Discipline is whoever’s concern now.

"How about this?" Liu Xiaodong decided, "Li Zheng, why don’t you discuss with Lin Yujing. At worst, you could just do a poetry recitation, right? It’s not that difficult."

"This..." Li Zheng rubbed his chin in thought, "Lin Yujing’s linguistic capability is quite limited, reciting poetry might be a bit difficult."

Tang Zhifei nodded repeatedly beside him: "She can write poetry, but not recite it."

"Hmm..." Liu Xiaodong rubbed his forehead, then suddenly got an idea, "I remember Lin Yujing’s profile mentioned she has a musical talent, so let her provide the musical accompaniment. Also, I’ve seen the video of Jiang Qinghua from your class playing the flute, he’s really good. If necessary, include him too, to round it off."

Liu Xiaodong felt more and more pleased with his own idea as he spoke, finally clapping his hands excitedly: "That’s settled then, musical accompaniment to a poetry recitation!"

"But... Principal..." Tang Zhifei advised, "Li Zheng is fine to negotiate with, but Lin Yujing might not be as easy and we should respect her personal wishes."

"Yes, I’m having Li Zheng discuss it, aren’t I?" Liu Xiaodong winked at Li Zheng, "Alright, I’m leaving the task to you. The pride of our whole school rests on you. Failing is no big deal, it’s just me losing face, not a major issue."

The pressure was immense.

"I... I’ll try my best," Li Zheng stiffly nodded, "Basketball still seems like the safer bet."

"Still thinking about basketball... Basketball is not out of the question, but it’s harder to control," Liu Xiaodong reluctantly turned to Tang Zhifei, "So, Xiao Tang, the choice and rehearsal of this program is up to you. You should hurry and get the keys to the music room, let them try to find their tune there first. Don’t call Jiang Qinghua yet, only ask for his help if really necessary."

"... " Tang Zhifei blankly nodded, his emotions most spent, only feeling a kind of nihilistic freedom.

Another bizarre task added.

Never mind how forceful the principal’s assist was.

What did Jiang Qinghua do to deserve this?

Being able to play the flute isn’t his fault.

Is it necessary to be this drastic?

After giving the instructions, as Li Zheng was about to leave, Liu Xiaodong suddenly remembered something else and stood up to chase after him, asking, "Oh right... that thing... that... did you receive the gold medal?"

Li Zheng truthfully replied, "It was given away."

"Ah?"

"Yes."

"This..." Liu Xiaodong scratched his head, "Can I ask who you gave it to? Was it Teacher Yu Hong?"

"It was another selfless teacher who guided me," Li Zheng felt a bit embarrassed, "Teacher Yu is already my official guide. As for the gold medal, a small souvenir, I took the liberty of giving it to that nameless teacher, sorry."

"No problem, that’s your personal item..." Liu Xiaodong inquired reluctantly, "Then... what about the award certificate?"

"I’ve got that," Li Zheng nodded, "I don’t need it, so it might as well stay at the school."

"Oh, how can I accept this~" Liu Xiaodong laughed heartily, not forgetting to remind Tang Zhifei, "Don’t forget, eh, get the keys to the music classroom for them."

"... "

"... "

Class 1, Senior Year.

"Ah~~~" Xu Mengxi stretched and stood up.

Suddenly feeling something heavy on her neck.

She looked down.

Wow!

A gold medal?

Incredulously, Xu Mengxi picked up the gold medal—

[National High School Chemistry Competition First Prize]

[Chinese Chemical Society]

Amidst her shock, her fingers touching the back of the medal felt some engravings.

She hurriedly flipped it over, and had to squint and bring the medal close to see—

[Persistence may not realize a dream, but it surely approaches excellence.]

[An ordinary medal, for a teacher who refuses to be ordinary]

[—From Li Zheng, the Student Who Thought He Was Ordinary Even When He Was Not—]

Xu Mengxi suddenly covered her mouth.

Her eyes immediately became red and damp.

I... I only loaned you a few notebooks...

How... how did it come to this...

Should I be ordinary, or not ordinary...

To the people around her, after a long wait, Xu Mengxi finally came to her senses, and the crowd couldn’t wait to swarm around her.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

"What does it say exactly?"

"You didn’t see, the puppy evolved!"

"Come on, let me see what the gold medal looks like."

Facing the crowd that had gathered around her,

Xu Mengxi recoiled and fiercely guarded the medal at her chest.

"I won’t let you see it!"

...

After leaving the principal’s office, Li Zheng rushed toward the staircase, planning to head straight for the library.

As he flew down the stairs three or four at a time, he brushed past a white shadow.

Li Zheng’s nose twitched, and he subconsciously stopped on the stairs between the second and first floor, freezing in place.

It wasn’t that he saw anything, but he smelled something fluffy, which made his nose itch a little.

The figure in the white hoodie also paused at the top of the second-floor stairs, seemingly sensing something as well.

Both turned their heads stiffly at the same time, one looking up, the other looking down.

"Ah..." Li Zheng, seeing the figure in the cat ear hoodie, was instantly dumbstruck and couldn’t say a word.

"Hmm..." Lin Yujing, seeing the Li Zheng who resembled the campus Terminator, naturally lost her words as she always did.

24 days.

They hadn’t seen each other for exactly 24 days.

Although they both roughly knew how the other had spent those 24 days,

when they actually looked into each other’s eyes, they were still stupefied.

For Lin Yujing, Li Zheng’s image had undergone a radical change—

If before, he was barely a disliked, dull blockhead.

Now, he exuded the aura of a scumbag from head to toe.

The lowest kind, the "motorcycle-riding fitness trainer" type scumbag.

For Li Zheng—

Cat ears...

Cat ears...

Cat ears...

The two stared blankly at each other for a long time.

Lin Yujing’s blank look was from not knowing how to mock Li Zheng’s image appropriately.

Li Zheng’s blank look was just because of cat ears, cat ears, cat ears...

In this moment of stupefaction,

other students walking up and down the stairs kept their distance, sticking close to the walls.

It seemed like getting between them would be lethal.

This was probably the closest they ever got to being like Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chui Xue.

After a long pause, Lin Yujing finally spoke, "You... how did you become such a scumbag..."

Li Zheng shuddered in shock.

Twenty-four days without seeing each other.

Twenty-four days.

Do you know how I spent these 24 days?

I spent every day solving chemistry problems with 39 buzz-cut guys!

During these 24 days, you didn’t even send a greeting.

(Of course, I didn’t greet you either.)

But... I’m already this miserable, and you call me a scumbag the moment you see me?

Am I... really that bad?

Thinking more and more, Li Zheng’s eyes widened, and he realized.

In the eyes of ordinary people, my journey to Lu Dong was indeed an extraordinary achievement.

But in the eyes of people like Master Ye,

what does it really amount to?

Right now, in front of her, there’s nothing.

Just a loser who can’t even make it to the ICHO.

Damn.

I am such a scumbag.

Just as Li Zheng lifted his head, trying to look at Lin Yujing and say something,

he was again caught in a trembling stupor.

Cat ears, cat ears, cat ears...

Frightened, Lin Yujing quickly covered the ears on her hoodie, "Don’t look!"

Before Li Zheng could react, she turned and ran away.

When she was gone, Li Zheng finally came to his senses, leaning against the wall and gasping for air, while he wiped his mouth.

No, the allure of those cat ears was too powerful; just looking at them, he couldn’t speak a word.

Scumbag or not is another question.

But with her in that getup standing there...

How could the Principal’s task be completed?

...

Carrying his worries, Li Zheng, afraid of losing control again, did not dare to return to the classroom immediately.

While calming his emotions, he headed towards the sports field.

To take a walk, to calm the mind.

He couldn’t afford to see...that thing again and be rendered speechless and unable to move.

During his moment of closed-eye reflection, he again saw the long-missed relaxation interface.

The vitality gained from flirtatious relaxation was skyrocketing.

After 24 days of meltdown in buzzcut hell, a strong rebound had arrived.

So it seems, this image is still acceptable, huh?

Just look all you want, I’m done keeping score.

[Total Vitality Rate: 6.4?]

A minute later...

[Total Vitality Rate: 8.2?]

Another minute later...

[Total Vitality Rate: 11.7?]

Yet another minute later...

[Today’s flirtatious relaxation has reached the 1.5-hour limit]

"Sigh..." Li Zheng sighed deeply.

With this current image, just coming out for a walk every day would suffice.

So bland.

Just as he was about to turn around and head back to the academic building.

An unexpected prompt popped up.

[Upon reaching the limit, the accumulated wasted relaxation vitality exceeds 500 hours]

[Unparalleled follow-up task initiated, Unparalleled II]

"Oh?" Li Zheng jumped on the spot.

500 hours?

When did I waste so much relaxation vitality?

Lately, besides continuing to relax after reaching the limit while painting, there hasn’t been much of a chance to breach the limits.

Could it be...

Could it be...

Because I’m too handsome?

Even normal walking... could unwittingly stir many people’s heartstrings?

Unknowingly, I wasted 500 hours?

Given the situation, I can only reluctantly accept this outcome.

[Unparalleled II: After accepting the task, all relaxation projects will have no vitality limits for 10 minutes. Please restore 500 hours of vitality within these 10 minutes.]

[Reward: 30 Game Coins, choose and obtain one Unparalleled title.]

[1: History Textbook, choose a historical book with fewer than 10 million characters, and comprehensively understand and memorize it.]

[2: Biology Prince, choose biological materials with fewer than 2 million characters, and comprehensively understand and memorize them.]

[3: Senior Programmer, choose development manuals for three programming languages, and comprehensively understand and memorize them.]

Li Zheng didn’t know why,

but he fixated on "Senior Programmer".

Facing this situation, most people would probably do the same.

But this can be considered later.

The key issue is still restoring 500 hours within 10 minutes, which is rather terrifying.

Last time, it was 100 hours in 15 minutes.

The intensity was equivalent to stamping Lin Yujing 40 times a second, continuously for 15 minutes, totaling 36,000 times.

This time, it has escalated to 300 stamps a second, continuous for 10 minutes, totaling 180,000 stamps.

This intensity has reached an unimaginable level.

Previously, even pulling in an entire grade of people and playing at a divine level barely met the mark.

And that cost a broken leg.

This time, the losses might be even more severe.

In his contemplation, Li Zheng naturally thought of the upcoming New Year’s celebration.

Well...

City First School is a good school.

And a large one too.

There must be a lot of people.

Seeing this, the New Year’s celebration seems like a great opportunity.

Could it be...

I really have to perform basketball?

Li Zheng quickly opened the relaxation interface’s skill tab, searching for basketball-related skills.

Regrettably, they were all practical and didn’t include things like "Freestyle Basketball" or "Street Basketball Master".

Li Zheng frowned deeply.

In that case, it could only rely on the performance.

But this, no matter how you look at it, is boring and nowhere near as exciting as a basketball challenge.

Imagine this—Jiang Qinghua playing the flute solo.

How cold that scene would be.

Should I, then, twist the Principal’s will and switch the New Year’s gala to a basketball showdown?

Ding ding ding—

The warning bell interrupted Li Zheng’s thoughts.

Although Li Zheng was free within the school, skipping class was something he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to do.

He decided to think during the class instead.

If he remembered correctly, the first class in the afternoon was biology, which was perfect for doing strange things.

...

Li Zheng had indeed remembered correctly; the first class in the afternoon was indeed biology.

As the absent-minded, bespectacled Biology Teacher Hu entered the classroom, everyone started doing strange things.

Li Zheng’s original plan was to think of a strategy to cope with the "Unparalleled" challenge.

But once he returned to the classroom, he couldn’t help but look in that direction.

The temptation of those ears was too great.

By the window, Lin Yujing was simply lying on the desk reading a book, without wearing a hoodie.

This was quite considerate towards Biology Teacher Hu.

But who knew if she might find it noisy or cold during the class and suddenly decide to put it on?

Thinking these thoughts, Li Zheng’s mind gradually grew restless, and although the class had been going on for five or six minutes, he hadn’t spent even a minute on the actual topic.

Next to him, Zhang Xiaoke, who had been rapidly solving math problems, suddenly spoke.

"Thirteen times."

"Huh?"

"You’ve glanced at Jingjing thirteen times."

Though Zhang Xiaoke was talking, her hand didn’t stop moving at all.

She hadn’t listened to a word of the biology class.

"Ahem..." Li Zheng, feeling a bit embarrassed, patted his chest and took a deep breath before scolding Zhang Xiaoke, "Focus on your work, don’t get distracted."

"It’s so hard to stay focused." Zhang Xiaoke’s pen suddenly stopped, and just like Li Zheng, she stared in that direction, her face somewhat twisted, "Those cat ears... how can anyone resist... Is she going to wear them or not!"

"Oh?" Li Zheng swallowed, "You too..."

"I like dogs... but..." Zhang Xiaoke grimaced and sighed, "The dog faction is really rare, doesn’t anyone pity us? Such provocation makes it impossible to concentrate on the problems..."

"Indeed..." Li Zheng empathized, and guiltily lowered his head, gripping the "Volleyball Junior" in his hands, "During a perfectly good biology class, I haven’t even looked at the comics much."

In front of the class, Biology Teacher Hu, who had been looking down at his book, suddenly raised his head.

"Um, those students chatting, please keep it down a little, so as not to disturb those sleeping... ahem, I mean, not to disturb the other students."

Li Zheng and Zhang Xiaoke promptly quieted down.

Poor biology teacher.

To clear his mind and to encourage the biology teacher, Li Zheng promptly closed his comic book and stared directly at the teaching podium.

Just this once, listen to it once!

But just as Li Zheng was about to listen, footsteps unique to the head of discipline echoed from the hallway.

Clang—

Sun Xiubin pushed the door open.

"The TV crew is here, they’ve arrived!" Sun Xiubin called out to the students and then turned to the biology teacher, "You over there, go busy yourself with something else, the ’Jijing News’ will be shooting in class four."

"Oh, oh, oh, it’s about Li Zheng winning the championship, right..." Biology Teacher Hu hurriedly got up from his desk, organizing the podium while telling the students, "Everyone wake up, we’re going to be on TV, look lively."

Instantly, those who were dozing off straightened up.

Those doing strange things finally stopped as well.

It was the first time everyone was so obedient, and Teacher Hu was stunned, even somewhat moved.

This might have been the most powerful sentence of his teaching career.

...

Soon, various groups stormed into class 2-4.

It wasn’t just Jijing TV Station, but also Jijing Youth News, Jijing Evening News, and Tengxun News College Entrance Examination Channel among other media.

With such a large assembly, naturally, it had something to do with Liu Xiaodong’s arrangements, but it wasn’t all just his doing.

Although there are Chem Competitions every year, it was rare for someone from Jijing School to take the national first place.

Moreover, this champion came from a relatively ordinary and lesser-known school, which added to the news value.

Seeing so many reporters and cameramen coming in, the class also started to buzz.

For most people, appearing on TV didn’t hold any particular significance.

But they really wanted to be on it.

Liu Xin turned to look at the cameras at the back of the classroom and started drooling, "Holy crap, holy crap... Our family has never been on TV."

"What are you so excited about, we’re just the background." Despite saying this, Jiang Qinghua straightened his collar and smooth his pompous parting, "Hey, do you think they might interview the class president?"

"And the vice-president too." Zhang Xiaoke also packed up her math problems and switched to a chemistry book.

Chen Jinyu in the front row even took out a makeup mirror and started applying makeup.

Meanwhile, just as the cameraman was about to set up the camera, Sun Xiubin suddenly shouted.

"School uniform! Li Zheng, where’s your school uniform?"

"Ah." Li Zheng was also stunned, looking down at his leather jacket.

This tough-guy image was indeed inappropriate.

"You there!" Sun Xiubin quickly pointed at Jiang Qinghua, "Your build is similar to Li Zheng’s, hurry up and swap clothes with him, you stay out of the camera."

"Ah..." Jiang Qinghua shuddered at the command.

Why me again?

Why do things always happen to me?

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Zhang Xiaoke licked her lips and urged from behind, "Don’t waste everyone’s time."

Although her words were more or less the same, Zhang Xiaoke was a person whose expressions matched her intentions, revealing her ambition completely.

Just to exclude the official class president.

The TV station would have no choice but to interview the vice-president.

Faced with such urging, Jiang Qinghua could only stand up begrudgingly.

Nice one, Zhang Xiaoke, don’t you remember who promoted you?

Little did one expect that the hearts of high-school students could also be so vicious.