Lin Xiaoxiao’s heartbeat quickened a beat at this moment.
This was the first time in her life that she had ever willingly gotten this close to a boy her age.
No matter how proud and natural she acted on the surface, deep in those glittering eyes, there was still a hint of barely concealed nervousness and testing.
She was waiting for Su Yu’s reaction.
But Su Yu didn’t notice the swirling, unspoken teenage feelings behind that light punch.
Having lived two lifetimes and endured three brutal years scraping by at the bottom, his mental circuits had long since filtered out romance and poetic sentiment.
Feeling the soft force on his shoulder and catching the faint, elegant fragrance as the girl leaned in,
Su Yu’s expression remained calm, without flinching.
He just took it as the Miss letting off some steam after acing her exam—a casual way of connecting with someone her age.
“Okay,”
Su Yu nodded faintly, going along with her words.
Seeing that Su Yu hadn’t dodged and had actually nodded in compliance,
Lin Xiaoxiao grew bolder.
She pushed her luck by rising on her tiptoes.
A slender arm reached out and hooked expertly around Su Yu’s neck,
pulling him down slightly.
The distance between them instantly shrank to less than ten centimeters.
Su Yu frowned slightly.
He could even feel Lin Xiaoxiao’s warm breath against his ear as she spoke.
The faint fragrance of the girl grew stronger at the tip of his nose, making him, a loner used to keeping his distance, feel a bit uncomfortable with the closeness.
He turned his head and looked at the pretty face inches away, speaking in a calm tone.
“Classmate Lin, isn’t this a little too close?”
Hearing this, Lin Xiaoxiao’s arm around Su Yu’s neck stiffened almost imperceptibly.
A faint, telltale blush crept up her fair ears.
But there was no way she’d admit her little scheme.
This princess, known across the school as an untouchable beauty, steeled her heart and decided to play the tough-girl role to the hilt.
“Too close? What are you on about? This is what we call pure revolutionary friendship!”
Not only did Lin Xiaoxiao not let go, but she also glared back playfully and blustered to change the subject.
“You’re my little sidekick now! What’s wrong with the big boss slinging an arm around her underling’s neck?”
“We’re brothers in arms—no room for petty rules, get it?”
Su Yu thought it over and found it made some sense.
He just figured the Miss was used to being the center of attention and had a childish, bossy streak.
Seeing Su Yu stay silent, Lin Xiaoxiao’s eyes gleamed with mischief, and she doubled down, forcefully changing the topic.
“Since you’re under my protection now,”
she said, a sly smile curling at her lips, “Shouldn’t you learn some manners?”
“Call me Sister.”
Faced with this slightly spoiled demand, Su Yu looked into her bright eyes and shook his head.
“I’m three months older than you.”
“I don’t care!”
Lin Xiaoxiao stubbornly tightened her arm around him, as if she wouldn’t let go until he complied.
“The one who teaches is the elder, the strong are the rulers!”
“My vital energy is higher than yours, so I’m the sister!”
Su Yu looked at her determined expression and sighed inwardly.
This girl was not only stubborn but also endearingly childish.
Remembering her kindness in trying to give him medicine earlier,
Su Yu didn’t argue further.
“Sister Lin,”
he said flatly, with no emotion.
Two extremely perfunctory words.
But to Lin Xiaoxiao, they sounded like a musical symphony.
“That’s more like it!”
Lin Xiaoxiao let go, satisfied, and dusted off her hands.
The joy in her eyes was almost overflowing.
In the rest area far away,
Zhao Ze stared at the two figures acting intimately in the waiting zone.
His nails had dug deep into his palms, and blood trickled through his fingers.
Jealousy!
Wild jealousy!
That was Lin Xiaoxiao!
The untouchable rose that even the top rich kids in Jiang City dared not even gaze at too long!
And now she was willingly hooking some commoner’s neck and smiling so brightly?!
“Su Yu…”
Zhao Ze grit his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
“The practical exam…”
“I’m going to kill you. I swear it!”
...
“Dong—”
At ten in the morning,
the vital energy test ended completely.
The announcement sounded again.
“All examinees who have passed the vital energy threshold, please proceed to the academic building for the combined humanities exam.”
“Exam duration: two hours.”
“Closed book.”
The humanities exam.
In this high-martial world, while physical power was fundamental, theoretical knowledge was equally crucial.
Weak points of alien beasts for dissection, wilderness survival techniques, martial laws of the Great Xia nation, advanced combat theory deduction…
This knowledge determined how long a martial artist could survive outside the city walls in the wild.
Even in top schools like Jingdu First Martial University, if you failed the humanities portion, even a perfect vital energy score would get you directly rejected.
Su Yu followed the crowd into the third exam hall,
found his seat, and sat down.
The proctor began distributing test papers.
A thick stack, over a dozen pages.
An enormous volume of questions.
Su Yu picked up his black pen and scanned the first multiple-choice question on the paper:
[Given that a third-tier Iron-Armored Rhino is in a berserk state, with its abdominal armor thickness at 15 millimeters, how many points of vital energy must be released using the Yellow-Tier Upper-Rank martial technique "Fist of Rupture" to break through its defense?]
An extremely tricky practical theory question.
But Su Yu didn’t pause for even a second.
His pen tip landed on the answer sheet, directly blackening option C.
His photographic memory, combined with the terrifying computational speed of his martial-artist-level brain,
made these questions like a college student doing first-grade arithmetic.
Completely effortless.
Swish, swish, swish—
The room was filled with only the sound of pens scratching paper.
Most examinees were biting their pens, deep in thought.
But Su Yu’s hand moved like a precision printing press, at an even, fast pace, marking correct answers on the test sheet.
History questions.
Law questions.
A major on alien beast dissection.
…
The exam ended quickly.
Walking out of the academic building,
harsh sunlight fell on his face.
The campus was empty, with only a few teams of city defense soldiers patrolling.
Su Yu followed the tree-lined path toward the school gate.
Just as he stepped outside,
“Beep, beep—”
Two crisp car honks sounded.
The black armored SUV was parked by the curb.
The window rolled down.
Lin Xiaoxiao, wearing a pair of large sunglasses, rested one hand on the steering wheel and tilted her head at Su Yu.
“Get in.”
Su Yu didn’t stand on ceremony; he opened the passenger door and sat inside.
The car’s AC was running strong, and the seats were top-grade leather with excellent support.
“How’d it go?” Lin Xiaoxiao asked casually as she started the engine.
“Solid,”
Su Yu replied, leaning back and closing his eyes.
Lin Xiaoxiao pursed her lips.
She didn’t push the topic further but stepped on the gas, the SUV roaring softly as it merged into Jiang City’s main road.
“Sister’s taking you somewhere.”