Chapter 11: Little Dinosaur’s Doubts

Up to now, the school’s renowned top student, Wen Jiang—who excelled comprehensively in cultural Supernatural Abilities—still had two long-term Supernatural Ability assignments unfinished. He seemed destined to race toward the deadline.

This didn’t quite match the stereotypical impression people had of academic overachievers, who supposedly completed all their holiday homework a month in advance. But Wen Jiang didn’t think it was his problem.

Coincidentally, both assignments involved Xie Qi to some extent.

The first was the group project he had collaborated on with Lin Wenzhi last year. Due to the special and experimental nature of the content, the assignment now lingered in a wondrous limbo—no one knew when it might finish, or even how much progress had been made. To fully grasp and advance it, theoretically, Lin Wenzhi needed to reach S-Grade, or Wen Jiang’s Supernatural Ability had to grow further.

Lin Wenzhi believed A-Rank was her forever home and showed no enthusiasm for upgrading her ability. Wen Jiang, meanwhile, had already surpassed observable limits as an S-Grade; there were no concrete numbers for further progress. Advancement judgments became fuzzy, relying mainly on his own intuition.

It was like a wuxia novel protagonist cultivating—sure, constant accumulation made one stronger, but without specific reports like “Inner strength +10 from today’s training, 90 short of next level,” there was no clear metric. Based on Wen Jiang’s current sensations… he figured there was an eighty percent chance, or maybe seventy, or possibly by semester’s end, he’d think, My hair is thicker, so I’ve gotten stronger.

Fortunately, the assignment had felt vague and ethereal from the start. The teachers weren’t pushing; they just said to do as much as one could. The deadline had been extended from last year to this one, so Wen Jiang and Lin Wenzhi comfortably adopted a hands-off approach.

Ignoring it was part of doing the assignment. Xie Qi was an experimental subject in the group project. The clash of S-Grade and S-Grade Supernatural Abilities sounded thrilling, but the only instruction he’d received was “act like nothing happened.” No one had mentioned it since.

The second was Wen Jiang’s individual practical assignment, which couldn’t be left to chance—it was his current focus.

Finding a suitable task relied heavily on luck. After randomly drawing and completing seven out of ten, it had stalled. Recently, he’d rallied and accepted Xie Qi’s dance invitation.

Xie Qi’s invitation was straightforward: just dance together at the Wen Family banquet. Once Wen Jiang accepted, it needed teacher approval, with added details, specific scoring points for the practical grade. Wen Jiang had questioned Xie Qi twice.

The first round clarified the task’s broad direction. Xie Qi had rejected treating Wen Jiang as mere window dressing—a flower or diamond accessory—so the overall goal was to ensure the dance succeeded, leaving a positive, lasting impression at this high-society banquet.

The second questioning happened during dinner with Xie Qi. Wen Jiang was eating fish noodle soup on the top floor of Yi Restaurant when he suddenly received a message from his teacher.

Students who dined at Yi Restaurant were mostly from the Combat System. A Lifestyle System student appearing out of nowhere seemed to intrigue everyone. Wen Jiang felt the surrounding gazes—including Xie Qi’s across the table, which flicked toward him idly now and then.

A fine actor should be used to attention. Wen Jiang found it bearable. Xie Qi was accustomed to scrutiny too. But if anyone stared at their table too long or too often, Xie Qi would lift his eyelids and sweep a glance in that direction. Those bold stares vanished whoosh, never to return.

Compared to usual, people seemed extra daring today. Even after looking away at first, their eyes drifted back leisurely, as if tugged by an invisible string—pull here, and they couldn’t resist being drawn over. Xie Qi knew something was off. Midway through the meal, he looked at Wen Jiang.

Wen Jiang ate his fish noodles unhurriedly, scooping a spoonful of golden broth to his lips. He seemed utterly relaxed, his back naturally straight. When eating, he only slightly lowered his head, lashes drooping lightly. Not a drop spilled from the spoon, and he made no sounds upon chewing. He exuded an effortless nobility.

His table manners had never been crude, but they hadn’t always given this impression. Xie Qi couldn’t pinpoint when the change happened.

Wen Jiang met the gaze of Xie Qi, who was watching him eat. Inspiration struck. He blinked, and the old-school aristocratic aura suddenly dissipated, reverting to his usual natural, faintly lazy demeanor. Expressionless, he admitted, “I did it on purpose.”

In a moment like this—surrounded by focused attention, unable to leave—it felt wasteful not to practice a role.

Most Lifestyle System Supernatural Abilities weren’t flashy; they blended too seamlessly into everyday life, fusing naturally with human capabilities. Activating them often went unnoticed, which was an advantage.

Wen Jiang excelled at this. A closer look revealed the terrifying talent beneath his restraint, fully deserving his S-Grade rating. Xie Qi had been surprised the first time he noticed. Now, hearing it confirmed, he felt an odd pride and praised frankly, “Pretty good.”

Wen Jiang agreed, “I think so too.”

Though the dance at the Wen Family banquet had a slow, ritualistic traditional nobility vibe, the “off-stage” requirements might not match that persona. Wen Jiang segued smoothly into the main topic, asking if Xie Qi had any additional requests.

Xie Qi thought for a moment and added, “No dancing with anyone else.”

Wen Jiang nodded. “Sure.”

After multiple rejections, such quick agreement felt flattering. Xie Qi eyed him a few times and added, “Leave the venue with me at the end.”

Wen Jiang said no problem.

Xie Qi’s mind raced. He added, “Don’t leave my line of sight for the entire banquet.”

Wen Jiang flashed an OK sign.

Emboldened by mischief, Xie Qi proposed, “And have lunch with me after the banquet too.”

You think adding “after the banquet” makes it part of the task? Wen Jiang replied businesslike, “We’ll talk about that later.”

This questioning targeted ancillary configurations beyond the main task. With only one day left before the Wen Family banquet, springing these add-ons now was deliberate—to leave no prep time for Wen Jiang. He wasn’t surprised.

Following procedure, he recited several “off-dance-floor” persona references for Xie Qi: clumsy type, hot-tempered type, elegant type, cross-dressing type, timid type, dominant type, and more.

Deprived of a lunch guarantee, Xie Qi sulked, his gaze on the table as Wen Jiang listed personas, gradually drifting to Wen Jiang’s left. “Just stay as you are,” it slid smoothly to the right, “…Act a bit more intimate. We’re dance partners, after all.”

Wen Jiang fully grasped the intent and settled on the standard type.

In the days since removing Gao Mingcheng from his “prime suspect” list and focusing on the practical assignment, Wen Jiang had been bombarded with frequent texts from Player 1, suddenly received “mutual encouragement” from his deskmate, and now faced the banquet tomorrow—a test of his Supernatural Ability training. No new mishaps had arisen.

After her “mutual encouragement,” Lin Wenzhi dove straight into her own script project, too busy for him. Wen Tianlu stuck to sideline spectating, sending messages diligently but doing nothing else.

Wen Tianlu knew boundaries with his texts—never too early or late, never got mad if ignored. Routine: a few messages daily; if lucky with a reply, a few more. He excelled at self-entertainment.

Wen Jiang told Qian Lang about it. Qian Lang yelped “Oh ho!” and bolted upright in bed to message: Ignore him. He’s got a black heart.

Qian Lang still seethed over Lin Xun showing up with his little lover and dragging Wen Jiang into poker. He cited ironclad proof: He and Lin Xun are thick as thieves!

Qian Lang: Don’t fall for his facade!

Qian Lang: Accomplices in crime, birds of a feather, in cahoots, cut from the same cloth.

Wen Jiang sighed: Your language skills have improved.

…Was that the point?! Qian Lang scratched his hair, trying to think for Wen Jiang across the sea. But he wasn’t sure if this was good or bad.

Their circle had grown up together; they shared traits, treating “insiders” and “outsiders” very differently—just varying degrees.

So this could be a good draw. Whether Wen Tianlu was genuinely into Wen Jiang or some messaging mishap occurred, if “Wen Jiang’s guardian second-gen” Xie Qi left school early for the Secret Tower, there’d still be “third-gen guardian” Wen Tianlu as backup.

Or it could be the worst draw.

Wen Tianlu: (laughs) How fun. I think it’s pretty amusing.

Qian Lang stared at the reply, his expression turning grave.

S-Grade Ability Users resisted 【Absolute Trust】. To “hit the jackpot,” it needed emotional buy-in from an S-Grade—like this message striking right at the heart, impossible not to believe. But even a sincere confession wouldn’t faze Wen Tianlu.

Teasing Wen Jiang like this felt more like “can’t wake someone pretending to sleep.” Qian Lang knew his ability: eyes closed in feigned slumber, but they might really fall asleep anytime.

From what Qian Lang knew of Wen Tianlu, hitting his sweet spot so perfectly to spark interest probably meant…

After some thought, Qian Lang messaged Wen Jiang.

Qian Lang: Jiang ah

Qian Lang: Are you engaged?

He felt his line of thinking too narrow and quickly added: Do you like playing around with cheating?

Wen Jiang: …

Wen Jiang: ?