Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

"May I have the honor?"

Su Qinghe softly read out the last sentence, then turned to look at Xie Wang: "This person... is better at pretending than the previous two. His words make it seem as if he's already the winner."

Xie Wang stared at the ID 【Shadow】 on the screen and sneered.

"IOI perfect score gold medal? DEF CON CTF champion?" He casually stuffed his phone back into his pocket, his tone revealing a lack of interest: "Pretty impressive titles, but unfortunately I'm not interested."

Su Qinghe was somewhat surprised: "Not answering?"

"What are you going to do?" Xie Wang stretched, then naturally took her hand and put it in his coat pocket.

"Why go to Beijing to play some gentlemanly duel with him? I'd rather spend that time helping you with a couple more practice tests for the science subjects. Besides, you just assigned me fifty vocabulary words that are way beyond the syllabus yesterday, and I haven't even finished memorizing them yet."

In his eyes, no world championship or coding duel was as important as spending this senior year of high school with Su Qinghe.

Hearing this, Su Qinghe couldn't help but smile, a deep sense of agreement flashing in his eyes: "That's right, he's just a clown. There's no need to waste time on him. Our most important task right now is to prepare for the exam. We don't need to pay attention to him."

The two reached an agreement and strolled home at a leisurely pace.

Just then— "Buzz—Buzz—"

Xie Wang's cell phone suddenly vibrated violently in his pocket.

When I took it out, I found it was a number with no registered address.

Xie Wang gave Su Qinghe a look, pressed the answer button, and casually turned on speakerphone.

"Feed," Xie Wang said in a low voice.

"Judging from his voice, he's even younger than I expected, X."

A middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the phone.

His voice was deep and resonant, with a slight graininess from years of smoking and staying up late.

Xie Wang's pupils contracted slightly.

The other party called out "X" and silently intruded into his own encrypted voice channel.

This is definitely not an ordinary person.

"Who are you?" Xie Wang asked coldly. "How did you get connected to this line?"

The man on the other end of the phone chuckled softly, seemingly pleased with Xie Wang's wariness: "What? You only recognize the code on the screen, but can't hear the sound?"

The man paused. "Have you forgotten your allies so quickly?"

Xie Wang paused for a moment, and a letter flashed through his mind.

His tense shoulders suddenly relaxed, and a slightly surprised smile appeared on his lips:

"...K?"

"It's me," K replied on the other end of the phone. "This is our first time using voice communication. It seems your encrypted channel works quite well."

Having confirmed the other party's identity, Xie Wang completely relaxed.

"Judging from your voice, you're older than I thought, Uncle K."

K clearly didn't mind the nickname and got straight to the point: "Enough with the small talk. I'm calling you today to ask you to go to Beijing and take on that challenge called Shadow."

Xie Wang frowned, glanced at Su Qinghe beside him, and asked with a hint of confusion, "What? Does your Apocalypse Organization also pay attention to this kind of high school pretend game?"

"High schoolers playing house?" K sighed, his tone becoming serious: "X, you're not in Beijing, so you don't know the situation here. This Shadow came with the American exchange group, ostensibly for academic exchange, but actually he's here to cause trouble."

"In the past few days, he has led his team to sweep through the top five high school computer teams in Beijing, and even the freshman training teams of several top universities have been thoroughly defeated by him."

K's voice betrayed his displeasure: "This kid's skills are indeed top-notch, and he's extremely arrogant. He boasted that all the student cadets in the country are just machines that can memorize code, and none of them can compete. Now the entire circle in Beijing has been humiliated by him, and even the senior leaders at the top feel aggrieved."

"Since he specifically challenged you..." K paused, his tone carrying a hint of elder's expectation and command, "Apocalypse needs you to step in and curb his arrogance. We can't let these foreign devils be too rampant on our turf."

After listening, Xie Wang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he began an extremely shameless bargaining game:

"Uncle K, you're asking too much of me."

Xie Wang sighed, his voice filled with grievance: "Look, I'm just an ordinary senior high school student. The college entrance exam is like a thousand soldiers crossing a single-plank bridge, and I'm under so much pressure studying every day."

"Go to Beijing to challenge them? What if it delays my studies, affects my college entrance exam, and I don't get into a good university... who will be responsible for the rest of my life?"

Su Qinghe, who was standing next to him, felt his eyelids twitch and almost burst out laughing.

Someone who just won a national gold medal and could have been admitted to Tsinghua or Peking University through a guaranteed admission program is here crying about not being able to get into college.

K on the other end of the phone was clearly stunned by the kid's shamelessness.

"..."

There was a full three seconds of silence.

K, enraged, laughed coldly and shouted, "You brat, stop playing the victim! With your level, you could get into Tsinghua or Peking University with your eyes closed!"

"Alright, stop beating around the bush." ​​K, brimming with wealth, revealed his trump card: "As long as you come to Beijing and beat that arrogant Shadow to a pulp, you can choose any of the top universities in the country—Tsinghua, Peking, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Fudan—you name it! Whichever one you like, the acceptance letter will be delivered to your doorstep tomorrow!"

"Really? Pick whatever you want?" Xie Wang's lips curled up into a wild smile.

"Apocalypse keeps its word!" K replied irritably.

"That won't do." Xie Wang gripped Su Qinghe's hand even tighter, stating an additional condition with righteous indignation:

"I'm a very clingy person when it comes to my girlfriend. I've sorted out my college situation, but what about her? If we don't get into the same school, I'm not going."

K was utterly speechless on the other end of the phone; you could even hear him rubbing his temples: "You brat, do you think I run a marriage agency?!"

"Besides! Your girlfriend is the top science student in the province and a gold medalist in the national physics competition! Does she need our Tianqi Hospital to pull strings? The admissions offices of Tsinghua and Peking Universities would probably have worn her doorstep down by now!"

K roared through gritted teeth: "Fine! Pick whoever you want! Pick either of you! Even if you two want to be in the same dorm, Tianqi can arrange it for you! Get to Beijing right now! Rub that Shadow's face on the keyboard!"

Xie Wang was finally satisfied. He dropped his nonchalant smile, his eyes instantly turning cold and sharp, like a drawn blade: "Deal. Book me a flight for tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Xie Wang put it back in his pocket.

"Teacher Su, did you hear that? Would you say we're... being ordered to show off?" He turned his head, his face beaming with a smile. "Now I don't have to take the college entrance exam, and I can be with you every day."

Su Qinghe shook her head helplessly at his self-righteous act of getting the benefit while pretending to be innocent.

But as she pushed up her glasses, a thoughtful glint flashed in her cool eyes.

"Actually, K's call came at just the right time." Su Qinghe said calmly, beginning to analyze the situation behind it:

"Xie Wang, Tianlong Group's foundation is in Beijing, and Gu Tianlong has a deep and extensive network of connections in both the political and business circles."

"Although we have 'Apocalypse' as an ally, there are some things we can't always hide in the shadows; we need our own reputation."

Xie Wang was stunned for a moment. Looking at the girl in front of him, who had a meticulous mind and was always planning his future, he felt an overwhelming surge of love for her.

"Teacher Su is ruthless." Xie Wang reached out and pinched her cheek, his eyes filled with deep affection and fervor: "This is called making the most of everything. Stepping on the world champion's head to forge a golden body for yourself. I like it."

He took out his phone and reopened the highly anticipated Twitter page. Below Shadow's aggressive "gentleman's challenge," Xie Wang typed his belated reply.

XieWang: "Time and place."

send.