Chapter 1 Part 2

An outsider like Shen Yu? Forget it.

His first run ended in predictable failure.

Shen Yu had zero chances to approach Zhou Jinsheng. Every low-rent ploy met the Zhou guards’ iron fists, snuffed in the cradle.

Forget currying favor as a lackey—he barely glimpsed the man. At banquets, he’d steal hurried looks at the target through crowd gaps—

His original body’s status wasn’t shabby, but in this tycoon-generated world, the tiniest gap yawned into chasms.

Shen Yu couldn’t breach that pyramid peak clique. Lackey quals? Nonexistent.

Worse, cozying up to the protagonist shou got him bagged and lake-dunked by that old fogey Zhou Jinsheng.

Shen Yu: Heh.

Task crashed and burned. On the verge of retry, man and system reflected in pain. To dodge repeats, the system pitched a new plan: arrive eight years early, encounter the still-youthful teen antagonist.

However, due to the disruption of the time order, the World Will would detect the anomaly more quickly and accurately, notice them, and carry out expulsion.

Thus, the time Shen Yu and 007 could stay in this world was extremely limited.

System 007 instructed: 【My energy can only support the Host staying at this time node for three months. Due to excessive energy consumption, eight years later, the Host will also only have three months.】

Although the time was shortened, there was at least a chance to get close to Zhou Jinsheng—how was that not a huge improvement?

Though the first strategy attempt had failed, at this moment, no one understood Zhou Jinsheng better than Shen Yu.

He knew everything about Zhou Jinsheng—his interests, ideals, grand ambitions… everything.

Moreover, Zhou Jinsheng liked men.

007: 【By chance, the Host is a pretty good man.】

【…】Shen Yu: 【That’s not what I meant by messing around with him.】

Shen Yu politely declined the Chen siblings’ overly enthusiastic—and somewhat suspiciously motivated—offer to show him around, and instead proactively suggested exchanging contact information, saying he would seek their help if there were any issues.

Chen Jinyang and Chen Miaomiao exchanged a glance and agreed to Shen Yu’s proposal.

After obtaining their contact information, Shen Yu parted ways with them at the school gate and headed to the academic affairs office following the signs.

The dean of instruction was around fifty years old, with all silver-white hair that wasn’t thick but also not bald—very upright, like snow grass covering the soil on his head.

His face looked quite young, full of vitality and elegance. He always carried a white handkerchief and maintained a seven-part amiable demeanor toward everyone. Upon meeting, he grabbed a handful of Vitality Candy from the desk and handed it to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu glanced at the desk. Books were propped up in front, potted plants with flowers and grasses sat beside them, and the center was piled with various confiscated items—magazines, lighters, cigarettes, snacks, and all sorts of odd trinkets.

Shen Yu withdrew his gaze, accepted the dean’s offering, and followed behind him toward the classroom, listening to the man’s constant chatter along the way.

“Your classroom is on the third floor of Yifu Building, at the very end—Class 3-1. Since you transferred in at this time, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Just get a feel for Jingyang’s atmosphere. Class 1 has a good class vibe. Right now, it’s morning reading, so I’ll take you to the class to have a look first…”

Shen Yu maintained a patient, attentive listening expression, so the dean grew more and more satisfied with him, liking him more with every glance. He smiled and said, “Come on, come on, we’re almost there.”

The summer trees on both sides brought waves of greenery, with dappled sunlight spilling onto the long corridor of Yifu Building. Recitation voices surged against the ceiling overhead, like chanting scriptures.

In the midst of their conversation, they arrived at the end of the long corridor.

The back door of the classroom faced outward and was wide open. Light and shadows rose and fell with the desks and chairs, scattering across the floor in faint, flickering patches—like a string of unrefined, blurry dreams.

At the end of the light and shadows, Shen Yu spotted Zhou Jinsheng at a glance.

He sprawled across two desks like some grand overlord taking a nap, his posture as wild and unrestrained as could be.

The dean acted as if he hadn’t seen it, eyes straight ahead as he led Shen Yu in, handed him over to the homeroom teacher, and chatted idly with her outside for a good while. Shen Yu’s ears were about to grow calluses from listening, and only after a few more minutes did they finally complete the handover procedures regarding him.

The dean left contentedly with his hands behind his back.

Lin Hai led Shen Yu onto the podium and slapped the lectern heavily with his palm. “Quiet down. I’ll take a moment of your time. Everyone knows that although the terrain of the two places is similar, the educational methods differ. So Jingyang and Derman have always wanted to exchange students…”

As soon as he spoke, the class stopped their scripture-chanting recitation. All eyes turned uniformly to Shen Yu. Though the gazes weren’t particularly friendly, who could hate him? He was too good-looking—tall with long legs. Standing on the podium, he looked like a model. His aura seemed cold, but his face carried a warm smile that made him impossible to dislike.

A female student in the front row let out a “Wow,” then blushed and lowered her head to whisper discussions.

“Fuck, keep it down.”

At this reminder, the front row’s voices immediately stopped as if reacting on cue. Someone instinctively glanced stealthily toward the back corner. Seeing that the living King of Hell hadn’t stirred, they relaxed, and no one dared speak up from behind.

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow.

He reached out, picked a piece of white chalk at random from the chalk box on the podium, turned, and with two swift strokes, wrote two bold and flourishing characters on the blackboard.

Turning back, Shen Yu’s gaze once again inconspicuously swept over that empty zone in the back row.

Well, still sleeping.

What a sound sleeper.

Shen Yu set down the chalk, his lips curving into a perfect arc of a smile. “Hello, everyone. I’m Shen Yu. No particular hobbies. I occasionally race cars. Anyone needing a basketball teammate, come find me anytime.”

Lin Hai’s gaze swept over the empty desks in the back row. The class had only about twenty desks and chairs in total, and now there were just two empty spots left—one next to Zhou Jinsheng, and one diagonally in front of him. No matter how you chose, it wasn’t an ideal seat for a new student.

The boys in the class who had taken an instant dislike to Shen Yu clearly realized this too and began gloating in schadenfreude.

This ancestor… The homeroom teacher furrowed her brows, ultimately picking the lesser evil and assigning the seat diagonally in front of Zhou Jinsheng to the new student. She quietly cautioned Shen Yu a few words, then waved her hand for everyone to resume morning reading.

Amid a barrage of ambiguous stares, Shen Yu walked to his seat. The desk surface was very clean. He stuffed his bag into the desk cavity and quietly observed his surroundings.

Compared to other schools, Jingyang’s desks and chairs could be called spacious, leaving ample space for students.

But they couldn’t withstand the user having such long limbs. In his peripheral vision, Zhou Jinsheng’s pair of legs—wrapped in black school pants, long and straight—were awkwardly confined in the relatively cramped space between the desk and chair.

Recalling all the past events, Shen Yu almost burst into tears of joy. He itched to rush forward, shake Zhou Jinsheng awake, and shout: 【007, this is the first time I’ve been this close to the strategy target.】

One small step for Shen Yu, one giant leap for the mission.

The System couldn’t help but feel a trace of excitement too: 【007 is experiencing this for the first time too. Very excited.】

Shen Yu’s new deskmate had a very low presence. He wore black-framed glasses with overly long bangs covering his eyes, like a plant quietly growing in the corner—total study god vibes.

After sitting for a full three minutes, Shen Yu finally spared some attention for his deskmate and belatedly realized that something seemed off about his school uniform?

Shen Yu looked over at the oddity. On the clean, snow-white school shirt, transparent tape held scraps of torn toilet paper in various shapes.

Shen Yu reached out and casually peeled off the paper strips. His deskmate’s entire body trembled violently in an instant, like a rusty machine suddenly restarted, and he looked at Shen Yu in shock.

Shen Yu curved his eyes into a smile and greeted him proactively. “Hey~ Classmate, you had some stuff stuck to your back by accident. I took it off for you—no need to thank me.”

“By the way, let me introduce myself. I’m Shen Yu, your new deskmate.”

The deskmate stared at him in a daze.

After a long moment, Cheng Yitan finally realized that staring so blankly wasn’t polite. A faint blush rose on his face, and he stammered, “H-Hello, I-I’m Cheng Yitan.”

“Cheng… Yi… Tan?”

Hearing this name, Shen Yu was somewhat surprised. He pronounced it character by character as if confirming—like reciting a tender love letter, lingering and affectionate.

It was hard to imagine that this person, who ultimately killed Zhou Jinsheng with his own hands in the original storyline, had been so fragile in his youth. Shen Yu propped his chin, masking his surprise, and smiled warmly at Cheng Yitan. He always knew how much others adored his looks and was skilled at leveraging that advantage.

Shen Yu’s tone was sincere, lavish with praise. “What a nice name.”

His deskmate’s ears tingled. He awkwardly pushed his Chinese notes onto Shen Yu’s desk and shyly whispered, “D-Do you… want to look?”

Was this an invitation to become study buddies?

Shen Yu looked down. Cheng Yitan’s handwriting was beautiful, but the notes were crammed full of dense, headache-inducing text. Shen Yu fell silent.

How was he supposed to tell his enthusiastic deskmate that he had zero interest in studying?

But his persona was supposed to be pretty good at it. Shen Yu felt a bit helpless, tilted his head, and smiled. “Sure.”

Outside the window, the summer breeze shook the holly leaves wildly. Tree shadows passed through the glass onto the desks and chairs. As Shen Yu’s words fell, there came a “Clang!”

Shen Yu didn’t react at first, nearly blurting out “What the fuck was that?”

Wait—

That sound seemed to come from behind him?

The entire classroom hit pause in an instant, everyone going ostrich-mode in unison.

Only Shen Yu was still out of the loop, confusion showing on his face.

“Noisy.”

Zhou Jinsheng didn’t even lift his head. Nausea surged in his stomach. Eyes closed, he purely by feel extended his leg and kicked heavily toward the source of the noise. The desk leg let out a dull thud.

Shen Yu frowned.

The voice from behind was low and icy.

“Scram.”