"Hehe..."
"Hehehe..."
A bizarre giggle echoed through the classroom, drawing the bewildered gazes of every student, down to the back row. Among them, a male student sat with his head on his desk, his body trembling with excitent as he let out a continuous, strange laugh.
"Chen Shu!"
The teacher's face darkened as he called out coldly, "Chen Shu!" but was t with only more giggling. Finally snapping, the class teacher, Li Yuan, gripped a piece of chalk and hurled it directly at the source of the disruption.
Whoosh!
The chalk struck its target with perfect accuracy... if the target had just been Chen Shu's deskmate.
"Teacher Li... I..." Zhang Dali stamred, looking utterly wronged. How could he catch a stray bullet just for sitting there? He rubbed his forehead.
"Wake Chen Shu up!" Li Yuan's expression didn't change in the slightest. The teacher's glare was squarely on Zhang Dali.
"Chen Shu! Chen Shu!" Zhang Dali had no choice but to comply, shaking his deskmate vigorously.
"Don't bother ... hehehe..."
But Chen Shu just kept swaying with that perverted giggling of his.
Witnessing this scene, Li Yuan's face grew darker and redder with anger, clearly on the verge of eruption.
Zhang Dali knew he had to do sothing.
"School's out..." he whispered softly.
"What?!"
Chen Shu's reaction was pure instinct: he shot upright so fast his stool kicked back several feet, sending the entire class into a fit of snickering laughter. Still groggy from sleep, he could only stare back in complete confusion.
School's out? What's so funny about that? Can't you all be a little more composed?
As he rubbed his sleepy eyes, his vision was suddenly filled by a massive, dark face, causing him to yelp, "Holy crap! What the hell?!"
A second later, full awareness hit him with a violent jolt.
"Hello, Teacher Li..."
"Having sweet dreams, were we?" Li Yuan's face was burning red as coal set ablaze, it was so scrunched up anyone would worry that it might spontaneously combust.
"No... he... he..." Chen Shu quickly shook his head, but apparently rembering sothing from his dream, he actually started laughing again.
Li Yuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his rage.
"Bro, you're absolutely fearless..." Zhang Dali gazed at him with pure admiration, practically worshipping his deskmate like an idol.
Chen Shu finally ca to his senses, forcing himself to contain his laughter and keep quiet.
"Why were you sleeping during class?" Li Yuan's expression was stern.
“As a student, isn't it perfectly reasonable for to sleep during math class?” Chen Shu couldn't help thinking, but seeing Li Yuan's furious expression, he wisely kept his mouth shut.
Li Yuan's eyes flared with anger, but seeming to rember sothing, he suppressed it. He returned to the podium and pointed at the blackboard, his voice cold. "Answer this question or get out of my classroom."
Chen Shu's body trembled as he rubbed his eyes, but when he saw the question on the board, his mind went completely blank.
"What is the incantation for Beast Tars to form contracts with their spirit beasts during the early Revival Period?"
Chen Shu stared in complete bewildernt as the philosophical trinity of questions flooded his brain.
Wait… huh…?
"Who am I?"
"Where am I?"
"What the hell is this supposed to be?"
Wasn't this supposed to be math class? Wasn't Black Whirlwind¹, Li Kui, supposed to be the math teacher?
Seeing his dazed expression, Li Yuan's face grew increasingly dark, crushing the chalk in his hand to powder while his rage ter climbed high enough to unleash his ultimate technique.
At that mont, Chen Shu knew he had to say sothing—anything—to salvage the situation.
“Incantation... incantation…”
Finally, he tentatively spoke up: "Odd changes, even stays the sa, sign... depends on the quadrant?"
SMACK!
Li Yuan finally lost it completely, slamming his palm down on the lectern.
"What in the na of trigonotry² was that?! Are you solving for X in my beast taming class?!"
"Teacher Li, don't be angry! Give one more chance!" Chen Shu quickly interjected, trying to temporarily quell his horoom teacher's fury. "That question was beyond my knowledge range—multiple choice is where I really shine!"
"Multiple choice, multiple choice! Are you telling the only thing you can do is multiple choice questions?!" Li Yuan roared so loudly the ground seed to shake.
[System Notice: Beast Taming Choice System Successfully Activated!]
The voice that suddenly echoed in his head left Chen Shu stunned as three options materialized before his eyes:
[Option 1: Honestly admit your mistake and promise never to do it again]
—Reward: Small amount of Beast Taming Power
[Option 2: Spread your hands wide and say with heartfelt sincerity: "I originally wanted to get along with everyone as a top student, but all it brought was distance. I'm laying my cards on the table—I'm a complete slacker who doesn't know anything!"]
—Reward: Low-Grade Fla Potion
[Option 3: Remain silent and keep your head down]
—Reward: Contract Spirit Obedience 1
“Main character treatnt?!”
Though confused, Chen Shu's reaction speed was quick—this was obviously protagonist-level perks right here. It seed like he just had to make a choice to get various rewards.
While he had no idea what these rewards were actually for, whatever—just pick one and be done with it.
He glanced over the options and instantly reached his conclusion. All three rewards looked pretty diocre, with words like “small amount,” “low-grade,” and “ 1” seeming disappointingly stingy.
"What a cheapskate system."
Though all the rewards looked subpar, the Low-Grade Fla Potion should probably be the most useful. As for the actual content of the choices, Chen Shu couldn't care less—he only cared about the rewards.
“Society expects n to be fearless and bold…”
Besides, following the universal rule of 'when in doubt, pick the longest answer,'³ he should choose the second option anyway.
Chen Shu's expression grew composed. He scanned the room like a leader conducting an inspection, looking as if he were about to clasp his hands behind his back and launch into bureaucratic jargon. Instead, he simply spread his hands wide with a completely serious look on his face.
"I originally wanted to get along with everyone as a top student, but all it brought was distance."
At this point, Chen Shu even let out a sigh.
"I'm laying my cards on the table—I'm a complete slacker who doesn't know anything!"
Silence!
Absolute dead silence. You could even hear a pin drop sowhere.
Even the air in the classroom seed to freeze solid. Everyone stared at Chen Shu with admiration practically overflowing from their eyes.
“What a role model for our generation!”
Tell , who else in the entire grade would dare to charge straight into Black Whirlwind's line of fire? This was like standing at the eye of the storm while grasping the rotation of the sun and moon itself!
"Chen Shu, co with to the office!"
Li Yuan's expression suddenly beca eerily calm, yet sohow infinitely more oppressive.
As Li Yuan stalked out of the room, Chen Shu calmly straightened his shirt just as a new voice echoed in his mind:
[Choice Successful! Reward Obtained: Low-Grade Fla Potion!]
[Due to the host's exceptional bravery, bonus reward: Contract Spirit Obedience 1!]
[Potion has been automatically stored in system space!]
Like a warrior heading into battle, Chen Shu stepped slowly out of the classroom, followed by the respectful gazes of every student awaiting his triumphant return. The curtain had just risen on what promised to be an epic confrontation.
After the two left, the students' discussions imdiately erupted:
"What's going on? Did Chen the Rascal take so kind of dicine? How's he this brave?"
"This is straight-up challenging Black Whirlwind's authority—even the geniuses in the Beast Taming class wouldn't dare be this bold."
"Dali, what's the deal? You're his deskmate—do you know what's happening?"
Though Chen Shu's na sounded respectable enough, his personality was way too mischievous, with a thought process that didn't quite level on the sa frequency as normal people—that's how he earned the nickna "Chen Pi⁴."
Zhang Dali straightened up with a proud expression.
"Please, my deskmate is obviously no ordinary person. I already told you—he's super brave."
Footnotes
¹ Black Whirlwind: "Black Whirlwind" (黑旋风) was the nickna of Li Kui, a violent but loyal character from the classical Chinese novel "Water Margin" (水浒传). In Chinese school culture, teachers often receive colorful nicknas from students based on their personality or teaching style.
² Trigonotry Formula: This is a trigonotry mnemonic in Chinese mathematics. Chen Shu, having just woken from math class, instinctively recites a math formula instead of the beast taming incantation being asked for.
³ Test-Taking Strategy: This refers to a well-known piece of Chinese student lore—a rhyming mnemonic for guessing on multiple-choice tests. A famous line is: "三长一短就选短，三短一长就选长" (sān cháng yī duǎn jiù xuǎn duǎn, sān duǎn yī cháng jiù xuǎn cháng), which translates to, "Of four options, if three are long and one is short, pick the short one; if three are short and one is long, pick the long one." This saying is a humorous reflection of the high-stakes, exam-oriented education system and the clever strategies students develop to cope.
⁴ Chen Pi Nickna: This is a clever multi-layered pun. In modern Chinese slang, "皮" (pí) ans "mischievous," "cheeky," or "playfully naughty"—a popular internet term among students for a lovable rascal. The nickna "Chen Pi" (陈皮) works on several levels: it replaces the scholarly "Shu" (书, book) in his real na Chen Shu with the cheeky "Pi" (皮), while "Chen Pi" also literally ans "dried tangerine peel," a common household ingredient. So the nickna essentially calls him "Mischievous Chen" while simultaneously comparing him to a tough, distinctive everyday item—perfectly capturing his playful troublemaker personality in a way Chinese readers find instantly endearing.
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