Chapter 14

Seeing the large, glaring white document on the desktop, Hiyuki realized he had already lost. The other party had just been stalling to contact him before he unplugged the network cable.

‘Looks like I’m still too inexperienced.’ Hiyuki shook his head in self-mockery and decided to sit down and talk to the hacker. He had already been exposed, and running away was meaningless. In other words, the initiative was no longer in his hands.

Communicating with the hacker was easy because Hiyuki’s computer was already being monitored. So he could type directly in that document. Of course, to be on the safe side, Hiyuki still covered the video camera.

Hiyuki: What’s there to talk about? Do whatever you want with me.

Hacker: Is that so? You’ll agree to anything?

Hiyuki: No way. At worst, we can part ways. I can hide and train for a few more years, and you won’t be a match for me.

Hacker: Should I take you out first, then? I can’t let a tiger, even a cub, go free.

Hiyuki: No, you wouldn’t have chatted with me if you were going to do that. And since the video wasn’t on, you don’t know what I look like.

Hacker: Ha, you’re not fooled easily. I’ll get straight to the point. First, I need to apologize on behalf of my subordinate. He shouldn’t have hacked your computer a few days ago.

Hiyuki: Subordinate?

Hacker: Yes, we are a strict organization. That was just his personal action. And he definitely didn’t have any ill intentions; otherwise, your computer wouldn’t have just lost a video.

Hiyuki: That’s true. Forget it. I’ve already taught him a lesson. I bet he’s pretty shaken up right now? (Kong Liang was crying in a corner.) Let’s get to the point.

Hacker: It’s convenient dealing with smart people. I hope you’ll join us.

Hiyuki: Your organization? The Black Gang? A cult? An anti-government group?

Hacker: National Security.

Hiyuki: National Security? So the one I beat down was also from National Security?

Hacker: Although it’s embarrassing, he is indeed one of us.

Hiyuki: I’m sorry, but I don’t want to join you. However, we can stay in touch.

Hacker: Uh, geniuses don’t like being tied down, huh? Alright, we respect everyone’s choice, but you must promise not to use your talent to harm society.

Hiyuki: No problem. In fact, if that person hadn’t invaded, none of this would have happened.

Hacker: That’s in the past. Please don’t hold it against him.

Hiyuki: Sure, I don’t want my life to be disturbed. By the way, how did you get in so quickly? I didn’t even react.

Hacker: ...Idiot, you didn’t install a firewall.

...

========================== The Idiot’s Line ==========================

The hacker kept his promise and didn’t bother Hiyuki and Qin Yue’s little world. At least, that’s what Hiyuki thought, who was completely unaware of the great power of the state apparatus.

The hacker incident came to a close, and Hiyuki discovered his unexpected talent in computer programming. This kind of talent was something only the main characters in web novels would have, incredibly overpowered. But the protagonist’s aura had nothing to do with Hiyuki for now. No matter how overpowered his hacking skills were, he still had to go to school.

Yes, after perfectly skipping two weeks of military training, Hiyuki and Qin Yue were finally about to start their long-awaited high school life. There, they would encounter completely new people and things, and a big trouble was silently approaching them.

=========================== The High School Line =====================

September 2, 2019, the first day of the new school year at Shangjing No. 4 High School, following two weeks of military training.

Hiyuki and Qin Yue arrived at school early because they needed to find their homeroom teacher to get their books and arrange their seats. In fact, they didn’t even know which class they were in.

Because they arrived early, they avoided the two-hour traffic jam at the school gate, which was a stroke of luck.

Hiyuki and Qin Yue carefully walked to the door of the Grade 1 Principal’s office, nodded to each other, took a deep breath, and pushed open the half-closed door.

The Grade 1 Principal, surprisingly young, around 23 or 24 years old, sat behind a large desk. Because she was writing, Hiyuki couldn’t see her face, but the strands of hair falling from her forehead suggested she wasn’t married.

‘Report,’ the siblings said in unison.

The Principal finally noticed the two young people in her office. Hiyuki finally saw the full face of the Grade 1 Principal.

She wore a pair of narrow, frameless gold-rimmed glasses and had long, light purple hair. Her fine, long eyebrows hung below her bangs like two small crescent moons. Her small nose seemed to struggle to hold up the glasses. Her thin lips were pursed in distress, and this beauty, who was definitely over 90 points, tilted her head and stared straight at the two silent, head-down siblings.

‘What’s the situation?’

‘Principal, we took leave during the military training and don’t know which class we’re in.’

Hiyuki glanced at his sister out of the corner of his eye. The girl had her head bowed so low it was almost touching her chest. Hmm, her chest seemed to have grown a bit recently. Uh, did he think of something he shouldn’t?

‘Oh, it’s you...’ The Principal squinted and stared at Hiyuki from head to toe and back again, making him lower his head. She then smiled in satisfaction, stretched, and pulled out two neatly stacked piles of textbooks from a cabinet, throwing them at Hiyuki’s feet, which startled him. ‘I’ve always wanted to meet the student who took leave for the entire military training. Now my class is finally full.’

‘Uh, are you our homeroom teacher...’

Hiyuki glanced at the stack of books less than an inch from his big toe, feeling worried about his future.

‘Mm-hm, not bad. As expected of Chu...’ The homeroom teacher’s words were cut off as she left.

Hiyuki tugged at his sister, who had been standing idly, and carried the textbooks for both of them out.

Hiyuki’s class was Grade 1, Class 8. Though not an experimental class, it was still a fast-paced class, overall neither the best nor the worst, but the most tragic.

The homeroom teacher assigned Hiyuki to the second-to-last seat by the wall, with the last seat being the back door and the trash can.

‘Because you came late, only the bad seats are left. Bear with it.’ The homeroom teacher said this while leading Qin Yue to the second row in the middle.

‘...’

Hiyuki looked at the six or seven empty seats in the front row with a face full of resentment. He suddenly realized that his high school life would not be easy, and this homeroom teacher was deliberately playing with him.

On the other side, Qin Yue was already being questioned. The innocent Qin Yue quickly revealed that she had worked at STAY during the summer, which impressed the homeroom teacher, making her attitude toward Qin Yue even better.

Since there were only three people in the class, Hiyuki could hear the conversation roughly. In summary, the homeroom teacher was Liu Siqian, a psychology Ph.D. from NJ City’s Pan Yan University, who taught Chinese and was just starting her career.

A 23 or 24-year-old Ph.D. from Pan Yan University, she was truly a genius. Hiyuki was troubled by the thought of his future difficult days. Oh, God, she even studied psychology. What had he done to her?

Pan Yan University, founded in recent years by the joint investment of Maple Leaf Group and Jialong International, was a super comprehensive university with hardware and software far exceeding world standards. Although its short history was often mentioned, it was only when people couldn’t find anything else to talk about. What else could they say? The investment in hardware was enough to buy a small European country, and they weren’t short of money... In terms of software, they had recruited countless experts, professors, and mad scientists from various strange places. Some had been famous for decades, some were already millionaires, and some were even directly taken from foreign military laboratories. It was unknown where Maple Leaf Group and Jialong International got such power, but they had done it. The establishment of this university caused a stir worldwide, but over time, it became the norm. Now, Pan Yan University was a super university on par with MIT in the United States, even surpassing Oxford University.

However, the requirements for graduates from Pan Yan University were quite extreme. They needed credits, achievements, character, and uniqueness, and the higher the degree, the more extreme the requirements. A 24-year-old psychology Ph.D. from such an invincible university... just thinking about it was overwhelming.

As Hiyuki was struggling with these thoughts, the students of Class 8 gradually arrived. Fortunately, the students were ordinary good people. Although they were dressed better than Hiyuki and Qin Yue, their eyes showed curiosity and admiration, not disdain or contempt.

Indeed, the cliché of rich kids walking around was only found in novels.

Just as Hiyuki was marveling at the stability of society, two thick glasses suddenly appeared in front of his face. Or rather, a boy with glasses as thick as beer bottles rose up in a very eerie way.

‘+_+’ Clearly, Hiyuki was startled.

‘Uh, can’t see clearly.’

So the boy calmly took off his glasses, slowly wiped them with a cloth that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and put them back on.

‘Oh, now I can see clearly. You must be the famous truant, right? Please accept my respects, Qin Shou.’

Then the boy performed a disciple’s bow with both hands clasped.

Truant, what’s that... Hiyuki was completely confused.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends