Chapter 10

"His dad, for this period, don't talk to the child about things like having to get into college and bringing glory to the family. He's almost taking the college entrance exam. I saw on TV that at this time, you should reduce the pressure on the child, let the child relax, so they can perform well."

"I understand, but isn't it just a habit! You know we can't farm anymore, and we didn't get a good deal from the relocation. If the child doesn't get into college, what else do we have to look forward to! Although college graduates aren't as valuable as they were when we were young, it's still a stepping stone to entering society! If your son can't even get into such a worthless college, where will we put our old faces!"

"Ah! Let's leave it to fate. I'll go make dinner. Just remember not to stress the child out anymore."

These murmurs suddenly snapped Zhang Qiu out of his daze.

"Mom, Dad! I won't let you down anymore. I'll bring glory to our family!"

"Search Beauty Instrument, Search Beauty Instrument, are you really not just a dream of mine? If you can really change my fate, what does it matter if you're shameless?" The inner struggle finally had a resolution.

He turned on the computer, opened the Super Search Beauty Instrument program, and looked at the two unclaimed rewards: Proficiency in Computer Science (Provincial Level) and one lucky draw.

"Claim reward: Proficiency in Computer Science (Provincial Level)!"

After clicking the confirm button, the reward for Proficiency in Computer Science (Provincial Level) turned gray, with a checkmark and the words "claimed" appearing next to it.

At the same time, Zhang Qiu felt a familiar stream of clarity in his mind, like a gentle mountain spring, making him feel refreshed and clear-headed.

A large amount of knowledge spread through his mind with this gentle stream. In less than a minute, the stream disappeared, and Zhang Qiu felt a wealth of knowledge he had never encountered before in his mind.

What was even more surprising was that he could already integrate and remember this knowledge, able to recall it clearly at will, better than using a search engine.

With this knowledge, Zhang Qiu suddenly thought of a question and quickly started typing on the computer.

He quickly wrote a batch file to search for the installation location of the Super Search Beauty Instrument but found nothing. The Super Search Beauty Instrument only had this solitary icon on the desktop, with no other traces.

It was as if it existed in another dimension.

Zhang Qiu didn't bother with it anymore and quickly hacked a Wi-Fi network, downloaded a programming software, and started writing code.

Now, Zhang Qiu could master various programming languages and use various programming software proficiently. Whether it was assembly language or high-level languages, whether it was Java, C, C#, C++, PHP... or even the domestic Easy Language, he had mastered them all.

Zhang Qiu decided to write a hard drive detection and repair software himself, a professional software that could detect the status of the hard drive, repair some software-repairable faults, and recover data.

He wanted to see if his old hard drive could be saved, as it contained some files he had used and cherished in the past. Any files he could recover would be a bonus.

Line after line of code was typed out with precision, with almost no modifications. He could almost recite the source code of many classic hard drive repair software by heart.

Now, all he had to do was refer to these software, combine their strengths, and design a personal software that suited his usage habits.

After about half an hour, Zhang Qiu finally finished the last line of code. After running the program, there were no logical errors, and he immediately started compiling.

The code was quite extensive, and Zhang Qiu's computer was quite old, so the entire compilation process took about 20 minutes, almost as long as the writing process.

As soon as the software was compiled, Zhang Qiu copied it to a USB drive.

At this moment, his mother's call to dinner echoed into the room. Zhang Qiu put away the computer, took a deep breath, and walked out of the room.

This time, Zhang Qiu ate faster than ever before, which made Wang Sujuan look at him affectionately and smile, "This child!"

After putting down his bowl, Zhang Qiu said he was done and went back into his room, locking the door again, and took out his laptop.

This time, Zhang Qiu didn't turn on the laptop but turned off the power and took out a small screwdriver from the drawer. He found the two screws securing the hard drive and started disassembling the laptop.

The back cover of the laptop's hard drive is usually a separate section for easy upgrading and maintenance.

After removing the two screws, Zhang Qiu saw the hard drive. He removed the screws securing the hard drive, installed the faulty hard drive, and without securing it, flipped the laptop over, inserted the USB drive, and started it.

He adjusted the BIOS to boot from the USB drive, and the computer entered the winPE system installed on the USB drive. winPE is a simplified Windows system, generally used for system installation and maintenance.

In the PE system, he ran the hard drive detection and repair software he had just written. After a quick scan, the result was that the hard drive was physically damaged.

Zhang Qiu tried to recover the data, but it was not possible.

"Phew! It seems my skills aren't good enough yet! After all, it's only a provincial-level skill, not that advanced."

Sighing, Zhang Qiu stopped playing with the computer and silently said, "Claim reward: 1 lucky draw."

He wanted to test whether the system could really operate without the computer. After all, the previous mental operations were initiated by the system.

After silently saying it, the system indeed responded, asking if he was sure he wanted to claim the reward.

It seems the system can indeed be operated directly by thought, which would be much more convenient. However, it's unclear what the relationship is between the system and the computer.

"Confirm!"

After claiming the draw, a wheel-like object appeared in Zhang Qiu's mind. In the center were a pointer and the word "Start," and around the edge were six segments: "Money," "Treasure," "Skills," "Magic Tools," "Technology," and "Benefits."

After silently saying "Start," the pointer in the center started spinning wildly. Just as Zhang Qiu was considering which reward would be best, the pointer stopped.

Benefits! The pointer was now pointing at this word. What could the benefit be? Could it be a beautiful woman? I hope it's something good.

After the pointer stayed for two seconds, the interface changed again, and the "Benefits" segment from the wheel jumped out, turning into four cards labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4.

It turned out he had to flip a card, which made Zhang Qiu a bit nervous. Which one should he flip? He was hesitant.

"1 is too stiff, 2 is too silly, 3 plus 1 is a B... none of them are good. How about 4? But 4 is 'death.' Well, let's choose 4! Let's see if it will be a death sentence!" With this thought, the card labeled 4 was flipped over.

"Congratulations, you have won the 'Skill Enhancement Token (Basic Level)'!"

"The 'Skill Enhancement Token (Basic Level)' can, when used, increase all the user's skills by one level or a single skill by two levels." This is a good thing! It seems my luck isn't too bad.

Continuing to read: "The skill enhancement limit is at the World Level. If the limit is exceeded, it will be ineffective. The item's validity period is 36 hours. Please use it within the validity period." Then the countdown began.

Zhang Qiu couldn't help but jump up and exclaim, "Damn!" There's actually a time limit, this system is really shameless.

Originally, Zhang Qiu planned to keep the token and use it when he had more skills, so all his skills could be upgraded by one level, which would be great.

But the shameless system only gave him 36 hours, a day and a half, and where could he get so many skills in such a short time?

Now, Zhang Qiu only had two skills: Proficiency in Computer Science (Provincial Level) and Proficiency in Martial Arts (Provincial Level).

If he used it now, Zhang Qiu felt it might be a waste. Besides, there were still 36 hours left. Why not wait until the last hour to use it? Maybe he would gain a few more skills tomorrow or the day after. If he gained two skills each day, he would have six skills in total.

With this mindset, Zhang Qiu put aside the Skill Enhancement Token and returned his attention to the computer.

Although he failed to recover the data from the old hard drive, his Proficiency in Computer Science covered a wide range of knowledge and skills.

He knew everything about computers, and his knowledge in every field was complete, making him truly all-knowing and well-rounded.

His interest in hacking, of course, was no exception, and his eyes were drawn to Lin Lai's private photo album again.

"Hmph! I failed here last time, but this time I'll take on the hacker behind the scenes!"