Lin Tingwan’s chubby cheeks broke into their first smile.
Even though it was only a few more hours of life, this was the first piece of ground she had snatched back from death’s hands!
It was her first victory in her fight to survive in a desperate situation!
Lin Tingwan ignored Teacher Zhou’s uncertain, suspicious gaze, ignored Lin Yuexuan’s face turning dark and ugly, ignored the whole class’s expressions like they’d seen a ghost.
She used all her strength, enduring the aching soreness in her joints and the strain in her muscles, and gripped the edge of the overturned desk with both hands.
Creak… creak…
The heavy desk was dragged back into place by Lin Tingwan, bit by bit.
Then, she braced herself against the edge of the desk.
Ignoring her trembling body, ignoring that oversized school uniform soaked with sweat, tears, and dust and giving off an unpleasant smell, she moved with an extremely slow, extremely difficult, yet unusually firm posture.
She sat back down onto that creaking chair!
Lin Tingwan’s movements were clumsy, heavy, even somewhat pathetic.
But when she finally sat steady and slowly raised that face, still swollen and streaked with tear marks but no longer numb, the whole classroom’s air seemed to freeze.
Her gaze was no longer evasive or timid.
Her eyes carried a chill down to the bone as they swept slowly across Teacher Zhou on the platform with his complicated expression, across Lin Yuexuan in the front row with her livid face and venomous stare, across every classmate who had once mocked and despised her.
That gaze was frighteningly calm, yet held within it a destructive force on the verge of erupting.
Finally, Lin Tingwan’s eyes fell back onto that dim blue control panel in her mind.
That glaring red countdown:
【Life value countdown: 79 hours 06 minutes】
She had only three days of life left.
Live on—the soul of the actress who had once fought tenaciously in the entertainment industry roared with excitement deep in Lin Tingwan’s bones:
No matter the cost, she had to live on!
Then, make that stepmother Su Wanyi, who had poisoned her and turned her into this neither-human-nor-ghost state, pay,
Make that stepsister Lin Yuexuan, who humiliated and bullied her at every turn and couldn’t wait for her to die, pay,
Make everyone who had ever trampled her into the mud pay!
Pay a hundred times, a thousand times over!
Knowledge? Studying?
Fine! Then she’d study!
Studying could extend her life, win back her health, win back everything that should have been hers, everything the poison and malice had stolen!
Memories from her past life surged through Lin Tingwan’s mind like a tide.
Not the glory under the spotlight, but from even earlier—
In a run-down rented room, a thin girl looked at the acceptance letter to a key high school in her hands.
Then looked at her mother coughing blood on the sickbed, and the fierce faces of the debt collectors outside.
In the end, that letter was torn to shreds by the girl, replaced by her first contract as an extra.
For money, to survive, she had given up her chance to sit in a classroom absorbing knowledge early on, and thrown herself headfirst into the ruthless world of fame and fortune.
Countless times afterward, Lin Tingwan held a dazzling golden Best Actress trophy in her hands.
But what her heart hoped for was the academic excellence certificate she had once received from a teacher.
Studying had become a hidden, permanently unfillable regret deep in actress Lin Tingwan’s heart.
And now—
Lin Tingwan smiled.
Lin Yuexuan, Su Wanyi, and that cold-hearted father…
Just you wait.
From today on, the purpose of my, Lin Tingwan’s, living is to climb up step by step by trampling on the very “knowledge” you all look down on!
I’ll use the “grades” you all disdain to grind you ruthlessly under my feet!
Her straightened spine showed the girl’s resolve.
“Ahem, ahem…” Teacher Zhou, having finally found his voice again, coughed twice to cover his embarrassment.
He looked at Lin Tingwan with a complicated expression, his tone still stiff but with less harshness: “Sit—sit properly and listen carefully, don’t make a scene again. Lin Yuexuan, pick up the books you dropped on the floor.”
When speaking to the good student Lin Yuexuan, Teacher Zhou’s tone became much gentler.
Lin Yuexuan bit her lower lip and glared fiercely at Lin Tingwan, her eyes full of resentment and venom.
She bent down to pick up the books scattered on the floor, her movements carrying a kind of vented force.
But Lin Tingwan seemed not to notice.
She lowered her head, her gaze falling on her own fat hands, with thick knuckles and dirt still under the nails.
These hands had once found it hard even to turn the pages of a book.
But now, they pressed firmly, fixedly, on the math textbook on the desk, its cover curled and covered in dust from being thrown around.
On the cover, the words “High School Mathematics (Required).”
At this moment, in Lin Tingwan’s eyes, it was no longer an intimidating book beyond her, but a weapon gleaming with the cold luster of metal,
It was her one and only path to survival and revenge!
Lin Tingwan struggled to turn to the first page, the yellowed paper giving off a faint rustling sound.
Outside the window, the cicadas kept up their noisy chirping.
In the classroom, Teacher Zhou’s lecturing voice rang out again.
But Lin Tingwan’s world had already completely shut out that noise.
Her entire mind was drawn to the blue glow of the control panel.
A new task prompt was flashing:
【Newbie task guide (ongoing): focus on reading the current textbook content for ≥15 minutes.
Reward: Wisdom points +1. (Sustained focus will additionally raise focus attribute experience.)
Focus level: 1%… 2%… 3%… (rising extremely slowly)】
Sweat slid down Lin Tingwan’s forehead and dripped onto the rough page, spreading into a small dark stain.
The pain in her body continued like background noise, and her heart, from the intense emotional swings just now and the effects of the poison, still beat fast and irregularly.
Even her vision, due to her obesity and hormonal problems, blurred and doubled a little after reading for too long.
Reading with focus, for someone whose body was being eaten away by poison and whose brain had been suppressed for a long time, was simply torture!
But Lin Tingwan’s eyes stayed fixed on those square characters, like a starving beast staring at its prey.
Her teeth clenched tightly together, and her gums even bled with a faint metallic taste.
15 minutes, 1 wisdom point, equal to 0.1 days of her current life value.
Lin Yuexuan finished picking up her books and sat back down, appearing to listen carefully.
But out of the corner of her eye, she kept glancing over at Lin Tingwan.
When she saw Lin Tingwan actually lowering her head, seemingly “concentrating on reading,” an expression of disbelieving absurdity crossed her face.
It quickly turned into deeper mockery.
Even a fat pig can read a book?
Putting on an act, let’s see how long you can keep it up!
Teacher Zhou also noticed Lin Tingwan’s “abnormal behavior,” and his brow furrowed even tighter.
He tapped the blackboard: “Everyone look here!
Some students shouldn’t think they’re something just because they guessed one question right. If your foundation is weak, work harder, don’t pretend to understand what you don’t.”
The remark was clearly aimed at someone, and a few suppressed snickers rose in the classroom.
Lin Tingwan paid no attention, her whole world held only the words on the page and that cold countdown in her mind.
【Focus level: 12%…13%…】
【Warning: host’s mental energy is being consumed too quickly, low health value is causing focus efficiency to decay!
Estimated time to complete 15 minutes of focus increased by an additional 30%!】