Chapter 18

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Chapter 17 | 🛣️ Contents 🛣️ | Chapter 19

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Translator: Silvery

PR: Decadence

The shock he received from that box of books was too great. All Yu Sheng dreamt of for half the night was Jin Linkun holding those books in hand, tirelessly flipping through the illustrations and cooking up some story for him.

The imagery is too traumatizing.

Yu Sheng thinks he truly doesn’t have the capacity for continuing to live in this place.

The sun has already broken through the horizon and one ray filters through a small gap in the curtains. Yu Sheng sits up for a while, rubbing at his forehead before grabbing his phone over to check the time.

6.30AM.

……

He must return as soon as possible to restore his former morning-less routine.

Yu Sheng shields his eyes with a hand as he wanders to the balcony and takes down his now dry clothes.

The rain had pitter-pattered on for nearly half of last night before stopping at last. The moment the balcony door is pulled open, the uniquely cool and refreshing air of after the rain rushes in.

It is quiet outside. Only he is in the room since the other side of the room is left empty; Jin Linkun isn’t around, having headed off to somewhere.

For all Yu Sheng knows, he could very well have gone off for a little morning vocab-memorization exercise.

Yu Sheng stays out on the balcony for a while, just letting himself be baptized by the clean air, when it occurred to him how well he’d slept last night.

He had been so sleep-deprived these past two days, a headache had fallen upon him yesterday. Initially he’d thought that given Jin Linkun’s personality, he would inevitably be roped in for a bedtime talk. Thus, to avoid being woken up, he tried to do away with sleep altogether.

In the end, that guy fell into a deep and sound sleep ahead of him.

Having accidentally recalled those shitty experiences back in the day, Yu Sheng thought he would take half a night to fall asleep. But unexpectedly, when he closed his eyes and laid down on his bed, it didn’t take long for him to slip off listening to the long and even breathing on the other end. The next time he opened his eyes, dawn had already arrived.

Having gotten a full 8 hours of sleep at last, the faint but persistent throbbing of his temples finally dies down. Yu Sheng lingers no more. He cleans up his face, dresses up, and tidily stacks up the clothes he’d borrowed from Jin Linkun on the desk. Then, he picks up his bag and he leaves.

Today’s fence-vaulting goes without a hitch.

N Uni is located in the suburbs and the bus they came on was specially hired to ferry the Summer Camp students over. Therefore, the only way they can get out is by train. Yu Sheng has already noted down the route when he was finding a fence to vault over. From where he makes his landing to the train station, it is a short walk of only a couple hundred metres.

Yu Sheng follows the path he’d looked up and purchases a ticket to the city.

It’s yet to be the rush hour, so there’s far from many on the train. He plops down in one of those seats, pulls out his phone, and fishes out his earphones to connect to it.

Before he even puts them on, a notification pops out all of a sudden from the thousand-man chat group he had been ignoring since early on.

There are a bunch of hidden diamonds around the Summer Camp. It’s only been a day since the camp’s grand opening, yet they’ve already gunned for the win and designed an entire forum for anonymous users.

Old Wan thought this was a matter well-deserving of attention. Cheerily chuckling along, he helped @everyone and even got all Team Captains to spread the word to every nook and cranny of the Summer Camp.

This ride will take some time. Popping his earphones in, Yu Sheng glances up at the map, where his destination’s still 7 or 8 stops away. He casually swipes through his phone and clicks on the link that’s been spamming his entire screen.

The forum’s colour combination is simple and neat – It is silvery-grey with a logo, serving its function just well and fine. Upon tapping in, one is greeted by several slogans on top and the 9 sub-forums for each of the 9 subjects down below. There is even a live chat room specifically designed for them.

–Thus, it significantly meets the Academic Tyrants’ greatest need of having to discuss and clarify questions at any time.

Yu Sheng peers at the slogans on the homepage – “We’ve broken through this Shape & Number Combi! Dare you take this challenge?”, “The Ingenuity of the Physicist started in the Grove…” – He’s regretting it already. Just when he’s about to back the hell out of there, the train jolts to an abrupt halt and his hand sways with it. A moment’s slip makes him tap into the bottommost slogan.

【The World of the Gods is accessible to no other! Gossip on our team’s two Boss Bros which you can’t miss!】

Yu Sheng’s brows draw together without him even noticing.

The headline’s arrowing can’t be anymore obvious. Just one glance is enough for everyone to tell who it’s speaking of.

The OP should be a student of Team 7. It’s not like he’s got any ill intent; it’s all a bunch of grumbling that turns this into the forum’s one and only chit-chatting zone. Being a fellow Team 7-er with a young, delicate heart which had been brutalized time and time again, he described in great detail the barbarity of the Double Two Bosses he witnessed from the side lines.

There aren’t many chances to interact after they got split into Teams, hence many comment zealously down below to ask about the events. The OP occasionally pops back in to lodge one or two complaints. And thus, in this manner, the comments stacked up at breakneck pace.

Running his eyes through those comments at the top, Yu Sheng’s curiosity gets the better of him and he scrolls downwards.

……

This person’s statements seem more than a little different from the reality.

Perhaps it’s because he was mainly sleeping throughout the group activity. Besides misunderstanding the Study God to be a lost cause at explaining things, Yu Sheng was once again deemed the friendlier of the two because of his face.

The comments brought everything to life with their vivid descriptions, acting as if all is as they said. There are even some anonymous commenters with a pink profile pic bearing two pigtails asking enthusiastically for Yu Sheng’s dorm number.

The rooms were all allocated at random so besides the two of them, only Student Kong who never checks out the Chit-Chat corner would know about that. And thus, despite their long and fervent discussion, that information has yet to be exposed even now.

God knows why they’re even asking about this.

They could be aiming to corner him in his room to talk about their studies.

Yu Sheng rubs his neck with a bit of annoyance. The notion of how he can’t go back there strengthens a little more.

The comments that come thereafter go increasingly off the rails. It quickly dissolves into a general chit-chat corner that’s an utter mess with a mix of just about everything. Yu Sheng loses his patience after carelessly swiping through a couple of pages. Just when he’s about to back out of there, his gaze unintentionally lands upon the last reply of the page he’s on.

【Anonymous: God Kun’s Junior from the same school here. I’ve really got to say, God Kun was never this heartless before. You guys may not believe me when I say this, but God Kun was the friendliest one out of the batch with the most friends back then.】

Even though it hasn’t been long since they started the Camp, Jin Linkun has continued the same linear progress he’s been making so far and successfully accrued all hate from the entire Summer Camp. The moment this comment was made, it gathered a wide range of reactions from suspicion to mockery.

【I don’t trust you. It’s true God Kun is badass. It’s also true God Kun is heartless. But unless something huge happened, this level of cold-heartedness must have taken more than 1 year of development.】

【Don’t trust you +1. With God Kun’s way of making conversation, it is impossible for him to skip over and make friends.】

【Don’t trust you +2. Truly wanted to talk to him, yet really couldn’t do it. It’s strange. Even though he’s gives off a kind feel too, I just don’t really dare to approach him…】

【I don’t think it’s a matter of kindness. Though God Kun does seem mild-natured, the aura he gives off is that of a kind yet distant one. It’s not to the point of condescension. It just feels like he either doesn’t know how to make friends, or he doesn’t want to make friends all.】

【I feel you. During the Grammar Showdown yesterday, his seatmate fell asleep, so he was reading a book alone. Old Wan went over wanting to ask him to join us, but he talked about everything from poetry to life philosophy with Old Wan, causing Old Wan to completely forget what he was there for…】

……

Yu Sheng flits through one comment after another.

A couple of pages later, that Province Point Junior in the beginning pops up again with a stock photo that’s only available after payment.

Yu Sheng: “……”

These academic tyrants are really a bit lame.

The thread following thereafter is very long. Much time has passed without his notice while he was reading this. The train is already reaching the station and they are making the reminders in two languages.

Yu Sheng ignores that obvious clickbait of a stock photo. Pocketing his phone, he rises to his feet and shrugs on his bag, hopping out of the compartment.

Upon entering the city, the hustle and bustle around him instantly multiples by several folds.

The bus station for heading back to City A isn’t too far off. Yu Sheng knows his way around, so he directly makes off to buy a ticket that’ll bring him home. Just when he is passing under the overhead bridge, he’s assaulted by a tantalizing aroma wafting over from up ahead.

It just so happens that people are heading off to work right now. The bustling booths have already been lined up long beforehand; they’re calling over customers enthusiastically. Those who come to purchase are mostly the office workers coming from nearby. Carrying briefcases, holding either two buns or a baked bun with marinated meat sandwiched in between, they’re rushing into their skyscrapers of an office building.

Yu Sheng didn’t eat anything in the morning. His footsteps falter against his will, choosing to stop before a pancake-selling cart. He wanders over to take a look.

The booth owner is exuberant:

“Hey, boy! What would you like? We can add anything for you – Chicken cutlet, fish tofu, hot strips, sausages and ham, all up for pick—”

“Just a crispy fritter with two eggs, thanks.”

Yu Sheng interrupts him and extracts his phone and money. Suddenly, his WeChat rings and a message pops out.

【There_was_once_a_mountain: Friend, do you want breakfast?】

The two people had exchanged their WeChat the night before since Jin Linkun was very insistent on having a way to contact him. Annoyed to no ends, Yu Sheng simply chucked his phone at him and told him to add him as a friend by himself.

He didn’t think this person would also change his display name.

Reading the message on his screen, Yu Sheng briefly blanks out.

Despite being rumoured to score a 104 for all his languages, “There was once a mountain” is the only way this Study God knows how to begin his stories.

During that Grammar Showdown yesterday, Jin Linkun stared down that goddamned Vocab Book and unrelentingly, diligently, he told him over 100 unrepeatable tales that started off with “There was once a mountain”.

Yu Sheng is still for a while, only snapping back when the booth owner asks if he wants some chili sauce:

“No chili or parsley.”

Lifting his phone back up, he replies:

No need. Don’t buy for yourself either.

【There_was_once_a_mountain: ?】

Yu Sheng raises his head and glances at the bus station not too far off.

He can leave right now at this very moment. It’s counted as an automatic forfeit if he leaves the Summer Camp for three days anyways. If he goes back to City A, he won’t have to go for early lessons, nor will he have to memorize those vocab when he’s at home. He can sleep till whatever time he likes.

The owner moves fast. He’s already done with the one pancake which he hands over.

Yu Sheng takes the bag, pays up, but he doesn’t leave at once. Instead, he taps into that forum to scroll through it again.

He was still asleep at that time, so he didn’t know Wan Yongming had come to coax Jin Linkun to interact with the others.

But with that said. What he does remember is how Jin Linkun actually really wanted to join in on the party and show off his skills. He’d even tried inviting him to tag-team with him, but ended up coldly rejected.

Thereafter, when he was roused by the gazes constantly flitting over to him and he pushed himself up, his somewhat bleary gaze came to stop upon the guy beside him.

Arms crossed loosely, flipping the book at a slow pace, he stayed quietly without going anywhere.

……

Yu Sheng: “Another one to go.”

He looks at the fillings:

“Sausage, fish tofu, crispy fritter, chicken cutlet.”

The owner has never seen anyone make an order as though they’re filling in the blanks like that. He processes it only a beat later and he swiftly answers an affirmative before dropping his head to work on the second set.

Yu Sheng sits by the cart and waits. He receives another message from Kong Jiahe in the meantime, saying this is a mass message to all rooms about an activity that will take place today.

When he cuts back to There_was_once_a_mountain’s chatroom, that question mark still remains as the last row on the screen.

Yu Sheng forwards the notice and adds a line:

I went out to buy something.

Yu Sheng: Then, I’m headed back.

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Next Time on DTTM!

Chapter 19: <I’m still more used to improving on my own.>

Preview: Yu Sheng deals with the consequence of leaving — Which snowballs into a little great fuss.

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Chapter 17 | 🛣️ Contents 🛣️ | Chapter 19

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