Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 210 - 209 Advanced Darkness Class

In the corridor outside the laboratory, Fu Xuefeng started to scold.

"Licking the paper when the invigilator wasn’t looking, that was a last resort."

"At your level, playing tricks like that is to belittle yourselves, do you understand?"

Although he was scolding them, Fu Xuefeng’s tone was very gentle, scolding while carefully watching Li Zheng and Lin Yujing’s expressions, for fear of really making them angry.

"Thankfully Director Zhang didn’t see it..." Fu Xuefeng said, lowering his voice, with a confident tone, and said seriously, "If he had seen it, it could have affected your future signing opportunities."

Li Zheng’s head tilted to the side as he clenched his teeth in secret.

What a pity it would have been better if they had been caught.

Seeing that both of them were looking down, Fu Xuefeng thought his words had hit home, so he softened his tone and asked, "Did you two not train in experiments before?"

"We did have training at our own school," Li Zheng nodded in response.

"This... I mean no offense, but from what I know, Lake Ying Middle School..."

"Alright, it’s almost as good as not having trained at all," Li Zheng sighed, "Our teacher is not a professional competition teacher. Getting us to this level theoretically has already involved all-nighters... There really wasn’t much time to focus on experiments."

"Hmm," Lin Yujing rarely chimed in agreement.

Although the description of staying up all night was somewhat exaggerated, it was true that Tao Feifei had developed a lot of white hair while training the two of them.

If it had been Jiang Qinghua’s rate of progress, Tao Feifei could casually spend about ten minutes a day arranging things to be in order.

But with Li Zheng and Lin Yujing, they were entering a new realm every day, and the problems they dealt with unconsciously grew tougher each day.

In the end, Tao Feifei had to struggle to keep up with their pace, and often had to consult them about problems in reverse...

It could be said that Tao Feifei’s workload had surpassed the study intensity of most competition students.

And yet she was only paid a regular teacher’s salary and bonus; doing this was purely overtime work...

These circumstances were naturally seen by Li Zheng and Lin Yujing as well.

It was just that, besides their performance, they really couldn’t think of anything else they could offer to compensate Teacher Tao.

Thinking of this, Li Zheng suddenly widened his eyes and stared straight at Fu Xuefeng.

In his thirties, an associate professor at Jinghua.

Although he had the typical look of a man in the sciences, Teacher Tao now...

Probably wouldn’t be picky.

"Teacher Fu, are you married?" Li Zheng suddenly asked in return.

"???"

"Are you married, do you have a partner?"

"No... what does this have to do with anything?"

"You don’t have a partner? Then you are in luck, let me tell you," Li Zheng perked up, leaning in and whispering, "Our physics teacher, smart and beautiful, hardworking, with a good temperament, a sweet voice..."

The more Fu Xuefeng listened, the more afraid he became, "Why... why do you care about this?"

"To put it another way," Li Zheng spread his hands, "aren’t you curious about the physics teacher who taught me and Lin Yujing?"

"That is a bit..."

"Come on, send me your basic information, let’s get a preliminary background check on both sides."

"...No, Li Zheng, don’t mess around, we’re discussing your issue right now," Fu Xuefeng hastily took a step back, forcibly changing the subject, "Listen to me, the students in this class already have a very high level of experimental skills, not only trained daily by competition teachers at their own schools, but also have plenty of training classes and opportunities to observe... The two of you as a team won’t work, you’ll hold each other back. It’s better to pair up with students who are more proficient, so you can improve faster."

"That’s... not necessary," Li Zheng hesitated on the surface, but in his heart, he had already started cursing.

Do you know how hard I worked to team up?

Fu Xuefeng then turned to look at Lin Yujing, "What about you?"

"...I don’t like copying homework," Lin Yujing said lowly, twiddling her fingers, "Starting from scratch and figuring it out on my own is more interesting. Otherwise, I’d rather not do it."

"No, experiments are different from theory," Fu Xuefeng gesticulated, "Experiments are, in plain terms, about proficiency, much like a chef or a technician. It’s completely different being taught by a master than doing it yourself. I’ll definitely try my best to guide you, but the other students have also paid the same money; it wouldn’t be good to lean too obviously towards you."

"Um…" Lin Yujing found it somewhat difficult to defend herself.

Li Zheng, however, stepped forward with a chuckle, "Hey, Teacher Fu, don’t worry, we learn things really fast, and we’re actually enjoying doing the experimental work together."

"Enjoying?" Fu Xuefeng retorted, "But are you participating in the physics competition for fun?"

Lin Yujing nodded vigorously, "Yes, that’s right."

"What else?" Li Zheng spread his hands in bewilderment.

After a long silence, Fu Xuefeng reached into his pocket, wanting to light a cigarette.

But remembering he was in the academic building, he had to hold back.

No choice, he waved his hand dismissively, "Alright then, as long as you’re happy. Go play, but don’t break any more experimental equipment…"

"Thanks, Teacher Fu."

"Hmm."

Just as the two had taken a few steps, Fu Xuefeng suddenly raised his hand, "Right… um, how old is your physics teacher?"

...

Back in the classroom, classmates had already started discussing their experiment results in groups.

Qi Yingnan and Duan Peipei were quite confident, with no intention of discussing, instead walking straight towards Li Zheng and Lin Yujing who had just returned.

"We’ve talked it over." Qi Yingnan said with an air of righteousness, not hiding anything, and directly addressed Li Zheng, "If you need it, we can switch positions between Li Zheng and Duan Peipei. Both of us are seasoned hands; we can get you started in two days."

Beside him, Duan Peipei nodded too.

Of course, it was a nod towards Lin Yujing.

She had already visually and physiologically blocked out Li Zheng.

"Thanks so much!" Li Zheng said with a fist salute, "We appreciate your kind offer, but we’ll do the experiment on our own."

"Thank you." Lin Yujing also hummed in response, acknowledging Duan Peipei.

Everyone was there for training, and future competition was inevitable. Qi Yingnan and Duan Peipei’s willingness to team up with and guide the weakest competitors, helping their most formidable rivals, was quite generous of them.

"Alright, alright…" Qi Yingnan then grinned and shook his head, his magnanimous expression slowly turning fierce, "The Jianghu is perilous, and weapons have no eyes. If you’re not prepared for the upcoming assessments, don’t blame your brother for not being courteous."

"What’s there to be courteous about?" Li Zheng snorted with laughter, "Are you going to burn my circuit or what?"

"Have you forgotten? Director Zhang is scouting people to sign contracts," Qi Yingnan sneered, "If you’re really sure you don’t need help, then I won’t tell you a word over the next few days for the sake of my own ranking. You may not need that contract, but I do."

"Ha ha, I thought it was something serious," Li Zheng laughed out loud, "Help yourself."

"You’re celebrating too early." Duan Peipei clenched her teeth, not looking at Li Zheng but scolding into the air, "Director Zhang might lower the signing bonus when he finds out your real experiment level. You’ll beg, but it won’t come back then."

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing immediately exchanged glances.

Both of them showed signs of delight.

That would be great!

"Keep laughing," Duan Peipei said, clenching her fist, "Even if you’re first in theory, there might come a time when you can’t make the provincial team."

"No, no, that’s an exaggeration…" Seeing Duan Peipei really getting angry, Qi Yingnan quickly raised his hand to calm her down, "A normal person who’s first in theory might indeed fail to make the team, but with their scores… even with zero in the experiments, they can make it..."

Duan Peipei fumed, "Lin Yujing might, but Li Zheng has no chance!"

Li Zheng saw her exasperated face and couldn’t help but frown.

It was only about making things clear… why did it feel like they had become enemies?

Women, is love and hate really just a matter of moments?

"Let’s drop it…" Qi Yingnan hurriedly pushed Li Zheng, "From now on, we can talk nonsense all we want, but I won’t help you at all with the experiment."

"Take care!"

"Take care!"

Li Zheng and Lin Yujing then returned to their table to clean up their messy experiment station.

As Li Zheng dumped the solution, his face gradually grew stern, "It seems… we’re being looked down upon…"

"Hmm." Lin Yujing wiped the table, nodding silently, "Angry."

"Hmph." Li Zheng sneered, "After all, I’ve only contended with kids from Ren Da Fu and City No.1. My friends from No. 4 Middle School and Jinghua probably still don’t understand us well. How about we get serious?"

"Get serious!"

Qi Yingnan and Duan Peipei didn’t know that if they hadn’t brought up this matter, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing would likely have continued goofing around a bit, enjoying the fun of pioneering experimental learning and increasing their grades without much rush.

But now, they were about to unleash their full academic power.

...

The time spent studying was always joyful and fulfilling.

Especially study camps, which basically ran from nine in the morning to nine in the evening.

With morning runs and about an hour of early self-study added in, the pace was truly comfortable.

The study content was physics, and the experimental partners were classmates.

Simply perfect.

Li Zheng wouldn’t get bored even if it continued like this for a year, let alone a week.

However, when it came to actual study intensity, it was really that one hour of early self-study that counted.

Located in Jinghua University, there were plenty of resources available regarding physics experiments.

Li Zheng was shameless, even insinuating himself into the Department of Physics dormitory to ask around for books to chew on, not even sparing the graduate institutes.

Although the Jinghua students initially thought a lunatic had come and just wanted to punch him, they ended up being quite friendly after understanding the situation. Some gave pointers, some gave books, some sold them for 5 yuan each, and some even started bragging about their own past competition days.

With help from these unconventional means, Li Zheng’s progress during early self-study was incredibly fast, and he didn’t even leave out the research handbooks the doctoral students used in the labs.

On the other hand, because he was progressing too rapidly, as if he had changed into a different person every day, Lin Yujing seemed to feel the crisis as well.

For the first time ever, she stayed up until ten o’clock at night to sleep, and would get up at seven in the morning, spending about forty minutes in the early morning and evening secretly cramming.

As for the daily lab operations, the two of them were constantly trying to outdo one another, scheming and competing, afraid of becoming the lesser one.

After all, under this terrifying pace of progress, a single day standing still could see them left behind by two whole realms.

...

January 9th, Wednesday.

The last day of the advanced class, everyone woke up very early.

8:30 a.m.

Jinghua University, Jingfen Garden Cafeteria.

Students from the advanced class arrived one after another, each eating expressionlessly, with very few engaging in casual chatter. The atmosphere was subtly different from before.

It seemed like everyone was hiding something.

Was it because it was time to part?

No.

Nobody cared about parting...

They cared about something else.

Although no one said it aloud, from each other’s eyes, they could feel something.

A deep and dark understanding.

Their every silent exchange of gazes was like a conversation.

When A gazed deeply at B, it wasn’t because he had fallen in love with B, but rather he was probing—

"You know?"

If B responded with a similar depth, it was an acknowledgment—

"I know."

On the contrary, if B looked baffled, thinking A had fallen for him.

Then he was still naïve.

As time passed, those who were naïve became fewer and fewer, and it seemed like everyone at some point had their innocence taken from them, becoming deep and reticent.

In this final morning, there was no more naïveté in the class.

Only a group of men who had lost their childlike innocence, deep and then dark.

And Li Zheng was almost the only boy left.

In this strange atmosphere, even his savory tofu pudding didn’t taste good anymore.

He couldn’t help but turn to look at Qi Yingnan.

Qi Yingnan’s eye bags were swollen, he scooped at his white porridge mechanically as if he was a walking corpse.

"What’s up..." Li Zheng asked, "everyone got possessed by an alien parasite or what?"

Qi Yingnan offered a mirthless chuckle, huffing, "It’s been going on for several days now, haven’t you felt it?"

"I didn’t pay much attention... just wanted to say goodbye to everyone today."

"Must be nice."

"Stop bullshitting and hurry up," Li Zheng cursed, "what’s the situation, exactly?"

"It’s all because of you," Qi Yingnan smirked and sighed," You were the one who opened Pandora’s box. Now, there’s no going back."

"Fuck, speak human!"

"Hey!" Qi Yingnan sighed resignedly, no longer hiding anything.

"It’s actually my fault... I talk too much."

"You should know, signing contracts in these types of advanced classes was impossible in the past."

"But this year, based on what I learned from you, there’s a possibility of getting signed if we perform exceptionally well."

"I should have kept this secret to myself and worked hard to improve my grades alone."

"But I couldn’t keep it in and told Duan Peipei, and another classmate of ours from No. 4 Middle School."

"Then that classmate told his junior high school classmate... a jerk from Ren Da Fu."

"After that, we couldn’t keep the matter under wraps..."

"Darkness has gradually spread through the entire advanced class."

"For that contract, we must be among the top."

"Those who were naïve at first, once they got the news, would hide their abilities and give their all."

"What was once a pastoral study camp has become a cruel gladiator ring for contracts, without anyone realizing it."

"At this moment, the advanced class has turned into a forest of contracts."

"Each of us, a contract hunter."

"Silently hiding our true strengths... unnoticed..."

"There’s no turning back now, Li Zheng... there’s no turning back..."

"It’s too fucking dark."

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng finally couldn’t help but curse, "Don’t think I haven’t read ’Three-Body’!"

"Hahaha!" Qi Yingnan laughed loudly, "Hey, it’s more or less the same; because of the contracts, the class atmosphere really has changed. Right now, we all envy you and Lin Yujing for not caring about these conflicts, playing house on the experiment table every day."

"Playing house?!"

"Just... messing around," Qi Yingnan nudged Li Zheng with his shoulder, "After all, you two aren’t competing for laboratory grades."

"Heh." Li Zheng chuckled without arguing.

Contract hunters hiding in the shadows, huh...

It’s time for you all to experience the power of a god-level civilization’s preferred placement service.