Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 101 You'll Regret Not Reading It (3K)

Inside the classroom, the overhead fluorescent lights hummed softly. This was the only background noise in the suddenly quiet space.

After hearing the seemingly brief answer, Lu Mingfei stared at Ling for more than a second, as if drawn by a magnet.

He suddenly laughed.

Despite the fact that Zero's face, with its exquisitely sculpted features as if carved from ice, remained unmoved, and his tone was as flat as if it had been straightened with a ruler, without the slightest fluctuation.

Even with the "emotional perception" function, the feedback to Lu Mingfei remained completely calm.

However, some things can be concluded simply through logical deduction without the aid of these external factors or terms.

She could have easily answered "no" to refute his question about her being a "college student," but instead she insisted on emphasizing that she was "seventeen years old" and "didn't skip a grade"...

Lu Mingfei keenly realized the meaning behind this subtle change—she minded!
Isn't this just because he's worried that he might be thinking of her as "old," so he's making a point of explaining and emphasizing her age and student status?

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized that all those anime and comics he had read before weren't entirely without merit.

Sure enough, no matter what type of girl she is, no matter how extraordinary or aloof she may seem on the surface... age is always a sensitive topic that should never be touched!

Lu Mingfei's smile stemmed from this sudden realization—he was certain that Zero had just experienced an emotional fluctuation.

Those emotions that belong to humans, not robots.

However, this emotion was so faint that even [emotion perception] could not detect it... perhaps?
Lu Mingfei recalled a saying he had heard somewhere: There are no perfect people in the world, only flawless statues.

While a cold and perfect statue may inspire awe and even admiration, how can one truly feel close to a statue that is flawless and devoid of warmth?

The feeling was like being separated by a pane of glass that could never be broken.

But now, because of Zero's two sentences just now, Lu Mingfei felt that he had seen it.

He saw that on the flawless, chilling surface of the ice sculpture, a tiny crack, the size of a hair, appeared with an extremely subtle snap.

Through this tiny, almost negligible gap, Zero—this ice queen-like being—revealed a glimpse of her true "human" self to Lu Mingfei.

"It's kind of cute, a bit of a surprise..."

The thought emerged naturally from the deepest part of Lu Mingfei's heart, like a bubble, carrying a tenderness that he himself was unaware of.

At the same time, a strong sense of curiosity surged up again, scratching at his heart like a kitten's claws.

If I were to recklessly say those words, I wonder what Zero's reaction would be.
Will that face, sculpted from a millennia-old iceberg, instantly freeze into even thicker ice, or will it crack along that tiny fissure that has just appeared, becoming an even bigger flaw, like—a young girl's embarrassment?

"Just thinking about it is so suicidal...it's so exciting!"

Lu Mingfei pondered and hesitated... In the end, his reason, or rather his will to survive, prevailed, and he dismissed the idea.

Having just been shocked by the schedule, he was in a "well-behaved" state and didn't dare to do anything reckless for the time being.

"Besides, girls have pride too, especially someone like Zero. We can't afford to mess with them..."

Just as he was lost in thought, the old-fashioned round clock hanging above the blackboard, with its long, thin red second hand, tirelessly bounced around and finally completed its journey, landing on the number "12".

Immediately afterwards, the shorter black minute hand also precisely pressed down on the thin mark line directly below the number "6".

[Warning, it's time for breakfast...]

"Let's go eat. When we get back, we'll tackle this like a madman today."

Lu Mingfei put down the "Advanced Mathematics" textbook, which he had already listed as his "arch-enemy of the day," stood up cheerfully, and announced with a rather bold air, "It's my treat today!"

This extravagance is actually a bit unreasonable—the so-called treat is just going to the breakfast shop near the school gate to eat steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and drink soy milk. It won't cost much for two people to eat until they're stuffed.

With zero net worth, even if that little bit of money multiplies several times, it probably wouldn't even cover a day's interest.

But Lu Mingfei wasn't worried at all that Ling would think he was stingy.

Despite having only spent two days together, he felt that he was already more familiar with Zero than many of his classmates with whom he had spent two years.

Speaking of this, Lu Mingfei had a rather "rebellious" idea in his mind—he always felt that, in terms of certain core characteristics, Zero was simply like... "a female version of Chu Zihang"!
Especially in terms of iceberg-like facial paralysis, it's zero, or even an enhanced version!

After all, Chu Zihang had been "broke down" by his rubbish before, and had shown some helplessness or speechlessness.

Zero? Her ice layer is as thick and strong as the Siberian permafrost, and so far, all of Lu Mingfei's verbal attacks have not shaken it in the slightest.

Aside from this most striking characteristic, other aspects also strangely match up—they are both very wealthy, and their speech lacks the normal intonation and is always rather flat…

Most importantly, it seems that whatever requests I make to them, as long as they are not too outrageous, can be fulfilled.

Even their meals were the same. Chu Zihang didn't mind sitting with him on a small stool at a roadside stall eating braised intestines, while Ling could calmly accompany him in a breakfast shop, dealing with the most ordinary meat buns, sesame balls, and soy milk... Upon closer examination, they matched up perfectly! This astonishing similarity made Lu Mingfei's inner radar beep.

Fortunately, there are still significant differences between the two in terms of appearance and race. Chu Zihang has the typical appearance of an Eastern "swordsman" and "hero," while Ling is exquisitely beautiful like an elf from Western legends.

Otherwise, Lu Mingfei would have to secretly figure out how to ask Chu Zihang if he had a "lost younger sister" and whether he would mind being his brother-in-law...

"Huh, when did my brother-in-law come up with this idea?"

As Lu Mingfei walked with Ling to the breakfast shop outside the school, he suddenly woke up.

He tapped his head, which had been wandering off in thought, and glanced somewhat sheepishly at Zero, who was walking beside him and still had a blank expression. Then he comforted himself inwardly.

"This shouldn't be considered some kind of vulgar fantasy, right? After all, she's my 'fiancée' in name only..."

In winter, around 6:30, the sky finally began to turn white, as if someone had dipped some white dye into the edge of a basin of pure black ink and then gradually spread it.

Just like the heart of a young person.

……

After having breakfast and replenishing his energy, Lu Mingfei sat upright at his desk and took a deep breath.

He then gently opened the book, "Advanced Mathematics, Sixth Edition, Volume 1," which Ling Kou described as "relatively lacking in theoretical depth and rigor" and "only providing a preliminary understanding and not recommended for investing too much time," but which was enough to bring the shadow of failing a course for at least one-third of engineering students for the first time in their lives.

"You can't easily believe what top students say. The lessons of 'not paying attention in class', 'definitely failing the test', 'already preparing for a makeup test', and 'getting first in the grade' are still fresh in my mind!"

Lu Mingfei thought to himself that he was going to treat this book with an unprecedented level of seriousness.

"After all, I'm just a high school student, and a terrible one at that! Trying to learn university-level knowledge now is overstepping my bounds..."

[Warning, electric shock countdown...]

Lu Mingfei quickly pulled his wandering thoughts back on track and began to watch attentively.

"Functions and limits, derivatives and differentials, the mean value theorem and applications of derivatives, indefinite integrals and definite integrals..."

When you first start learning, it's useless to just write. So Lu Mingfei didn't sit down to write, but instead sat up a little straighter and flipped through the book by propping it up on the table.

"Ok?"

After looking at it for a moment, he paused slightly.

"Although it is indeed new knowledge... it doesn't seem to be very difficult to understand?"

"It's an illusion, it must be an illusion! I must have overlooked some details. Let me examine it more closely..."

He quickly became completely immersed in it, entering a state of "flow".

New knowledge is read, understood, and absorbed.

[Through hard work, your [mathematics] skills have improved, and you have gained 5 proficiency points.]

【go through……】

Time flew by, and finally, the third student entered the classroom.

He was not surprised to see Ling and Lu Mingfei sitting in their seats, engrossed in their studies... He silently took out his phone, took a picture, and uploaded it to the campus forum to check in.

Title: "Day Seven! The Road God's Perseverance and Zero's Companionship!"

This post was obviously not as explosive as the ones from the previous days, but given Lu Mingfei's extremely high traffic at Shilan Middle School these days, it still quickly attracted a lot of views and comments.

At first, there wasn't much of a reaction; it was just normal comments like, "I admire you! I'm ashamed of myself," "If I had such a pretty girl with me, I could have persevered too," and "Even if you persevere like that, it's probably useless. Given Lu Shenren's past achievements, how much can he improve in all subjects in ten days?"

But everything changed after a sharp-eyed classmate noticed a detail in the photo and left a comment—

"Hey, what's that book that the guy in the photo is holding? Why does it look so familiar, though I've never seen it before?"

A moment later, someone posted a magnified screenshot.

So, in that slightly tilted but reasonably pixelated screenshot, the four large characters "Advanced Mathematics" stood out prominently!
It's like pouring a ladle of water into a pot of boiling oil... and it explodes.

Shortly after, a new post was highlighted, featured, and pinned by the administrator.

"You'll regret it if you don't read this! The bet is set in stone! Young Master Zhao is on the verge of bankruptcy!"

(End of this chapter)