In spring, the willow branches would tap gently against the window. Sitting by the window, Lu Chen could occasionally hear the distant foghorns from the harbor.
As he flipped through the pages of his book, a breeze brushed against his back, followed by a duck-like voice typical of a boy going through puberty.
Zhou Yang slung an arm around Lu Chen's shoulder, his face full of disbelief.
"No way. You're really studying during break? Did something short-circuit in your brain?"
The classroom was buzzing with noise—after all, it was break time.
But Lu Chen sat there earnestly flipping through his book, completely out of sync with the chaos around him.
"The exams are in a week. If you don't want to embarrass yourself, you have to study," Lu Chen replied, without even glancing back.
"Yeah, I get that... but are you actually reading that book?" Zhou Yang gave him a weird look.
Lu Chen was flipping pages way too fast—page after page, the pace getting quicker and quicker, like he was skimming through a comic book.
"You don't get it. This is quantum wave speed reading."
Lu Chen finally shot him a glance, his hand never stopping.
Even though he had fallen from grace as Inazuma's top master and lost all his power, he hadn't turned into a fool overnight. His intellect and knowledge were still intact...
It's just that he hadn't looked at a textbook in years. To carry out his mission, he had to keep a low profile and stay enrolled at this school.
Haizhou Middle School had an elimination system—getting expelled would be humiliating.
To keep up with his studies, he had allocated the +1 bonus from yesterday's treasure chest to his Intelligence stat.
[Intelligence: 8]
Even just a single point made his thoughts clearer and his memory sharper. Since the curriculum hadn't been split into tracks yet, most of the humanities questions were pure memorization, which led to this odd scene—
He was memorizing textbooks.
And he needed to memorize a lot more.
"Quantum... what speed?"
"Quantum wave speed reading!" Lu Chen emphasized. "Quantum mechanics is the most cutting-edge field in physics. It studies the laws of microscopic particles. It's the dark cloud hanging over the grand edifice of physics..."
"Okay, okay! Enough with the nonsense!"
Lu Chen patted Zhou Yang on the shoulder, sounding all wise and serious.
"As the saying goes—when in doubt, trust quantum mechanics. Aren't you supposed to be the god of the new world? Clearly, you've got a lot more to learn."
The bell rang. Zhou Yang, head spinning, returned to his seat, starting to question if something was seriously off with the world.
So much so that when the chemistry teacher called on him, he didn't even react.
"Zhou Yang, answer this: how do you test if alcohol contains water?"
"..."
Zhou Yang stood up in a daze, mind completely blank. He almost blurted out, "Quantum fluctuations."
His seatmate tried to stifle a laugh behind her hand—she looked really cute like that...
Meanwhile, Lu Chen, sitting in front, was still flipping through another textbook—not even chemistry! How cocky could he get?
The clouds outside the window looked beautiful. Was it going to rain today?
Wait a sec, couldn't you just get a seasoned drunk to take a sip and check for alcohol content?
What a fuss.
"Teacher, I..."
"Sit down. Front row—your turn."
Zhou Yang let out a breath of relief and wore his classic smug look.
Schadenfreude.
To his surprise, Lu Chen calmly closed his politics book and stood up.
"Anhydrous CuSO₄ turns blue..."
The chemistry teacher glanced at him and followed up with another question.
"Which organic compounds are insoluble in water?"
"Hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, nitro compounds, esters, most of them..."
His voice was calm, and the answer rolled off his tongue smoothly.
Zhou Yang shot him a look of pure betrayal.
We agreed to slack off together! And you've been secretly studying?! Traitor!
The chemistry teacher gave Lu Chen a more serious look.
"What's the difference between dialectics and metaphysics?"
Without hesitation, Lu Chen answered,
"Dialectics emphasizes connection over isolation, change over stasis, and comprehensiveness over one-sidedness..."
The classroom went quiet for a beat. Zhao Xiaohan kept turning around, as if trying to see his face clearly.
"Teacher, you're going beyond the syllabus."
"Lu Chen, don't read your politics book during class."
"Can I read my history book instead?"
Laughter broke out across the room. Even the chemistry teacher chuckled and shook his head.
"Stick to chemistry. Nothing else."
"Got it, teacher."
"Sit down."
Lu Chen put away his Politics Vol. 1.
What he meant by "beyond the syllabus" was actually: You're asking something from Politics Vol. 4.
...
After class, Zhou Yang was back to slinging an arm around Lu Chen.
"You jerk! You've been secretly studying behind my back?! You heartless bastard! I'm so hurt!"
"Has Lu Chen already gotten ahead in the curriculum?" Zhou Yang's seatmate leaned in curiously.
"You've been quantum wave speed reading all this time..." Zhou Yang was shocked. "Did you seriously memorize it?!"
"Quantum... what?" The girl blinked, confused.
"It's quantum..." Lu Chen started to ramble again, but then he noticed people looking over.
"It's her..." Zhou Yang shot him a look and retreated to his seat.
Zhao Xiaohan had actually sat down in the empty seat to Lu Chen's right. The classroom wasn't crowded after class, but her move still drew a lot of curious and gossipy stares.
Lu Chen pulled out his Politics Vol. 1 again.
"Lu Chen, you were really impressive today. Have you already learned the upcoming lessons?"
Quantum wave-reading Lu Chen reluctantly slowed his pace by half.
"Good morning, Zhao."
She didn't get mad at the unrelated reply. Instead, she looked at him, curious, and lowered her voice.
"I saw you at the pier last night. What a coincidence."
Lu Chen remembered their glance outside the Western restaurant last night and nodded.
"Yeah."
"That really pretty girl—was she your girlfriend?"
"..."
Lu Chen slowed down again, this time looking at her carefully.
She had sleek black hair cut short, an oval face that gave off a playful charm, and big, innocent-looking eyes.
Not just in class—she was easily one of the prettiest girls in the whole school. No wonder "Lu Chen" liked her.
He looked away and pulled out Politics Vol. 2 from his bag.
He'd been flipping through it based on interest. If the chemistry teacher had asked questions from this book earlier, he might've blown his cover.
"Lu Chen...?"
"..."
No response.
Zhao Xiaohan bit her lip, said nothing more, and returned to her seat.
As soon as she left, the two students behind them looked like they'd just eaten too much drama. Zhou Yang darted back over.
"Ahhh! Why did Zhao Xiaohan come talk to you?! And why were you whispering—don't tell me you're having an affair!"
Lu Chen smacked Zhou Yang's hand away before it could land on his shoulder.
"If you try that again, I'll show you the opening move of Inazuma's Hanami-zaka wrestling style."
"What the heck is Hanami-zaka?"
"It's..."
"No! Stop trying to change the subject! You've become way too sneaky lately!"
"Zhou Yang, is that all you see—sneakiness?"
Even someone as slow as Zhou Yang could tell something had changed.
The old, quiet Lu Chen was gone. The new one was witty, calm, and occasionally gave off a mysterious vibe.
This new Lu Chen... he couldn't figure him out at all.
Weird... so weird... Zhou Yang thought as he instinctively reached to put his arm around his friend again.
"I—AAAHH! My hand!!"