Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Zhou Ziheng pulled a cheap, generic cell phone out of his pocket.

Lin Bei's eyelids twitched; he knew this phone all too well. In his previous life, Zhou Ziheng had used this phone to do two great things: first, he read a hundred online novels under his desk; second, he gave it to Lin Bei as a souvenir upon graduation, saying, "This phone witnessed our lost youth."

Lin Bei later discovered that the phone had been repaired three times, the battery was bulging, and the screen had two cracks. Zhou Ziheng had only given it to him because he couldn't sell it. On the day he gave it to him, he put on a great performance, his eyes filled with tears as he said, "Please take good care of it for me." Lin Bei was genuinely moved at the time.

"I don't believe you for a second," Lin Bei cursed inwardly, and pulled out his cheap, no-name phone.

As the two were adding each other on QQ, Lin Bei glanced at Zhou Ziheng's QQ nickname.

"The Lonely Academic Superstar".

Lin Bei's lips twitched.

Zhou Ziheng's courage to call himself a "top student" is probably comparable to Lin Bei's courage to call himself a "handsome guy".

"Alright!" Zhou Ziheng put away his phone, then leaned closer, lowering his voice. His eyes behind his glasses gleamed with gossip. "Do you know that girl from earlier? I've heard about her. Her name is Shen Qingzhi. She was the top student in our entrance exam and third in the city's high school entrance exam. She's beautiful and academically gifted, a true school beauty. Rumor has it that she rejected over a dozen boys' confessions during her three years of junior high. Her method of rejection was always the same: she'd glance at them and then say 'Oh' expressionlessly. She couldn't even be bothered to say 'no,' just a simple 'Oh.' She's known as the 'Iceberg Beauty,' not just an iceberg, she's absolutely zero degrees Celsius."

After Zhou Ziheng finished speaking, he rubbed his arms as if he had been frozen by the word "oh".

Lin Bei looked at him and said, "You're quite well-informed; it's only the first day."

"My cousin graduated from Jiangcheng No. 1 High School last year, and he's asked around for me." Zhou Ziheng smiled smugly, then lowered his voice, "Also, Old Gu looks serious, but he's actually a very nice person, as long as you don't sleep in his class."

"Old Gu?"

"Our homeroom teacher is Gu Yuanshan. My cousin says he's an exceptionally good math teacher." Zhou Ziheng pushed up his glasses. "But he has one quirk: he likes to make people come to the blackboard to solve problems. If you can't solve them, he'll make you stand and listen to the whole lesson."

"Does standing during lectures make you more alert?"

"No." Zhou Ziheng said seriously, "My cousin said that he once made a classmate stand for a month, and that classmate later got the highest score in the class in math. It wasn't because standing to listen to the lecture was more effective, but because that classmate was afraid of standing for another month, so he copied down all the knowledge points in the math book and covered all four walls of his bedroom. He was surrounded by formulas every day, and was forced to become a top student."

Lin Bei: "..."

"This is called fear-driven teaching," Zhou Ziheng summarized.

Just as Lin Bei was about to say something, the school bell rang.

A middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a white shirt walked into the classroom. His hair was neatly combed, and his leather shoes were shiny.

"Hello students, I am your homeroom teacher, my surname is Gu, Gu Yuanshan." He wrote his name on the blackboard, his handwriting thin and strong. "I teach mathematics. I will be with you throughout your first year of high school."

Sparse applause rang out in the classroom. A few students clapped very hard, their palms turning red, clearly trying to get noticed by the homeroom teacher.

Gu Yuanshan adjusted his glasses and glanced around the classroom. "As is customary, the first class of the new semester will be for everyone to introduce themselves. Starting from the first row, one by one, just say your name and hobbies. It doesn't need to be too long. No need to showcase any talents or sing. I know some of you have prepared talents, but I didn't bring enough tissues today, so we'll do that another day."

A low chuckle rippled through the classroom.

Lin Bei thought to himself: Old Gu hasn't changed at all; he's the same as in my previous life. On the surface, he's very serious, but in reality, he's a deadpan comedian. According to incomplete statistics from my previous life, Old Gu's classes could make the whole class laugh an average of three times every forty minutes.

A boy with a buzz cut and dark skin stood up in the first row near the door. How dark was he? So dark that at night, with the lights off, you could only see his white teeth.

"My name is Zhang Mingyuan. I also went to Jiangcheng No.1 Middle School. I like playing basketball and I'm a huge Kobe fan."

Lin Bei was deeply impressed by Zhang Mingyuan. He later became the class's sports committee member and led the class to win the relay championship at the school sports meet. Even though others were lagging behind, he ran so fast that he managed to pull the overall results up to the podium.

The self-introductions continue.

"My name is Li Xiang. I like reading novels, and I'm currently reading 'Battle Through the Heavens'."

Lin Bei also had a strong impression of him. This guy consistently ranked among the top three in Chinese language scores, and his essays were so well-written that they were circulated throughout the entire grade. Moreover, he had exceptional social skills, and on the very first day of school, he had already become familiar with everyone around him.

In his previous life, Li Xiang became the class monitor. During his tenure, he did something that the entire class still remembers vividly. He recorded Lao Gu's cough and set it as an alarm clock, which would ring precisely at six o'clock every morning. According to him, "It was incredibly effective; I never overslept."

"My name is Wang Jun. I'm 1.68 meters tall and weigh exactly 168 kilograms. I'm not handsome, but I'm quite chubby. You can call me Fatty Wang or Little Fatty," a round-faced boy said with a grin as he stood up.

Lin Bei was taken aback. What about himself? A big fat guy? Extremely fat? Or just round and chubby?

When Shen Qingzhi stood up, the classroom fell silent for a moment.

"Shen Qingzhi." Her voice was soft and gentle. "She likes to read."

Zhou Ziheng turned to look at Lin Bei and mouthed, "See that? The ice queen."

Lin Bei ignored him, his gaze unconsciously drifting towards Su Wantang, who was sitting in the middle of the front row.

When Su Wantang stood up, Lin Bei noticed that her hand was slightly clenching the hem of her skirt.

"My name is Su Wantang." Her voice was even softer than Shen Qingzhi's. "I like... listening to music."

Looking at her profile, Lin Bei felt that indescribable feeling well up inside him again.

He couldn't let anything happen to her. He repeated it to himself again.

But what can I do to stop her from committing suicide?

The presentation continues.

When Zhou Ziheng stood up, he adjusted his glasses and said in a serious tone, "My name is Zhou Ziheng, and my hobbies are learning and exploring the unknown."

Lin Bei almost burst out laughing.

Studying? Exploring the unknown? In his previous life, this kid took exploring the "unknown" to an internet cafe. When Old Gu dragged him out, he was playing CrossFire with headphones on, his stats on the screen showing 2 kills and 19 deaths. As Old Gu grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him out, he even turned back and shouted at the computer, "Give me five more minutes and we'll win this game!"

Finally, it was Lin Bei's turn.

All eyes in the classroom turned to them.

"Hello everyone, my name is Lin Bei." His voice wasn't loud, but it was strong and carried a composure befitting his physique. "I graduated from Chengnan High School. My hobby is playing basketball. Some people say, with your 200-pound frame, are you playing basketball as a ball or a person?"

Lin Bei smiled without changing his expression and added, "Although my skills aren't great right now, and I'm not fast or high, I believe that fat guys are all potential stars."

The classroom fell silent for a second after those words were spoken, then someone laughed—not mocking, but the kind of laugh that says, "This fat guy is actually quite interesting." The subtlety of this laughter is remarkable. It's not because you told a joke, but because you defused an awkward situation in a dignified way, making everyone think you're quite easygoing.

Even Su Wantang in the middle tilted her head slightly.

Shen Qingzhi glanced at him, her face expressionless, but at least she looked.

Lin Bei sat down.

Ding!

The moment his bottom touched the chair, a crisp notification sound exploded in his mind.

It wasn't an illusion. A semi-transparent interface appeared out of thin air in the center of his field of vision, floating above the real scene of the classroom. Blue text on a black background, minimalist style, like a HUD interface in a game.

[Ding! The Male God Cultivation System has been bound to host: Lin Bei]

[System Description: This system aims to help the host improve comprehensively, both internally and externally, ultimately becoming a true male god. The system will issue tasks from time to time. Completing tasks will reward you with attribute points, cash prizes, and limited-time superpowers; failure to complete tasks will result in penalties.]

[Initial attribute value scanning in progress...]

A progress bar appeared at the bottom of the screen, slowly advancing like a game loading: 3%...7%...12%...

Lin Bei's breath hitched for a second.

No way? They're really here?

This morning, he called "system" seven or eight times in the bathroom but got no response. He thought he was a useless reborn person without a system and comforted himself by saying, "I can get rich through my own efforts."

So this thing uses lazy loading?