The System is Abstract, Luckily, So Am I

Chapter 163 : Must I Be an Envoy of Crap?

The next day, Saturday.

A third low-grade spirit stone appeared in his [Inventory].

[Consecutive one month... accumulate at least half a shichen (15/30)]

Before he knew it, Task One was already half complete.

These twenty low-grade spirit stones really weren't easy to get.

However, it had indeed helped Lin Li develop the habit of "waking up early." Sometimes, he would even wake up naturally before his alarm went off.

At times like this, Lin Li generally wouldn't choose to go back to sleep until the alarm rang.

Because based on Lin Li's past experiences, if you went back to sleep at a time like this, you'd either find that time passed very quickly, and the alarm would ring after what felt like just a moment.

That was actually fine.

What he was really afraid of was finding that time passed very "slowly."

What is true panic? It's when you decide to take a quick snooze, only to find that the nap felt suspiciously long.

When you suddenly sit up in a panic, there's a small chance you'll find the alarm is just about to ring the next second. But there's a much higher chance you'll see that it has already gone off a long time ago.

Grabbing a jacket from home and putting on a backpack full of knowledge, a freshly showered Lin Li rode his bike to the Nansang Library.

The weather still hadn't cooled down today. The reason Lin Li brought a jacket was that in places like the library, if they used centralized air conditioning, certain areas could get exceptionally cold. It could make your hands and feet freeze on a hot summer day—leaving you not angry, but shivering cold. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Because he arrived very early, even though it was the weekend, the library was full of empty seats.

It was indeed a bit cold. His prediction was correct, so Lin Li sent a reminder in the group chat:

[Lin Li: The library is a bit cold. It's best to bring a light jacket.]

As for not reminding them so he could share his own jacket later? Sure, it would be warm, and sure, it would look cool, but what if he got cold? Absolutely not.

His purpose for coming here was to study, not just to read books. So, after glancing at the electronic map on the machine on the first floor, Lin Li reserved a study room.

An eight-person room. Having five people sit in it wouldn't be considered a waste.

He then headed to the study room, poured himself a cup of hot water, and began studying his three science subjects plus math. Whenever he encountered a question he couldn't do or didn't understand, he would organize it and set it aside.

...

Chen Yuying was the first to arrive after Lin Li.

She was dressed very simply today, wearing a fitted T-shirt paired with a denim skirt. Perhaps listening to Lin Li's advice, she had also draped a semi-transparent white long-sleeved jacket over her shoulders.

She wasn't wearing any makeup today, but that didn't hinder her beauty in the slightest.

"I knew you'd be early, but I didn't expect you to be *this* early," Chen Yuying leaned forward on her tiptoes. Realizing there was no one else in the room, she relaxed significantly and walked over.

"Class Rep, why didn't you tell me when you headed out?" Lin Li answered with an irrelevant question, looking annoyed.

"Why, were you going to come downstairs to pick me up?" Chen Yuying asked with a smile.

"You'll understand in a bit. Also, Class Rep, this outfit looks great on you." After Chen Yuying took the seat in front of him, Lin Li openly admired her for a moment before speaking.

"Thank you. What you're wearing is also..." Chen Yuying closed her delicate mouth.

Because Lin Li was wearing his school uniform today.

"Praise me, why did you stop? How do I look?" Lin Li suddenly became aggressive.

"You look very... continuously self-improving!" After pondering for several seconds, Chen Yuying raised her pale, slender finger and pointed at Lin Li, jumping slightly as if she had found the correct answer.

Lin Li gave her a thumbs up. "Great praise."

Because "Continuous Self-Improvement" was the motto of Nansang Middle School.

"Of course," Chen Yuying's eyes, curved like crescent moons, held a hint of smugness.

"Class Rep, I've marked the questions I don't know in this workbook. Could you take a look for me?"

He could admire her later. Lin Li hadn't forgotten his main purpose and handed the workbook over.

"Sure thing. These ones circled in red are the ones you don't know, right? Let me read the questions first." Resting her chin on the thermos she had brought, she propped the workbook up in front of her eyes while swaying her head from side to side. It was very cute.

"Uh... no, the ones circled in red are the ones I *do* know," Lin Li added weakly.

Chen Yuying: "..."

She stopped swaying her head, blinked, and looked up. "Lin Li, you're an idiot."

Cute as she was, her words were truly hurtful.

"No, Class Rep, this is a collection of difficult problems I bought. I already know all the basic stuff. Every single question in here is at the level of the final multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank question on an exam!" Lin Li felt he needed to explain himself.

He had been working so hard for the past two weeks; it was impossible for him to only know a few questions in a normal workbook.

Chen Yuying looked at it for a while longer.

Seeing that she hadn't spoken for several minutes, Lin Li became smug. "See, Class Rep? It's really hard, isn't it?"

Chen Yuying looked back at Lin Li and smiled gently. "A, C, B, D, D, one-half, 64, increasing, a3..."

Lin Li: "..."

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the answer key, which had no step-by-step explanations.

All correct.

*Damn.*

*Hard my ass.*

Comparing oneself to others really is enough to make one die of anger.

"I don't want to live anymore. I'm going to commit... suicide." Lin Li slumped onto the desk, almost ready to 'defend himself' right in front of a girl.

*When is the system going to turn me into a genius who understands everything at a glance?*

...

The notification light on his phone blinked. Lin Li picked it up; it was Bai Bufan telling him he had set off.

[Lin Li: It's almost damn ten o'clock. Didn't you say yesterday you were going to come as early as me?]

[Bai Bufan: The five minutes of playing on my phone before going to sleep are the happiest and best four hours of my day.]

*Understood.*

*This undisciplined piece of trash.*

Lin Li put down his phone and continued studying. After Chen Yuying finished explaining another question to him, Lin Li signaled that she didn't need to explain the next one just yet.

He took out his phone again.

[Lin Li: Bufan, are you on the street right now?]

[Bai Bufan: Yeah, I'm almost there. Like, actually almost there.]

[Lin Li: I'll definitely believe you this time. Turn your head and look.]

[Bai Bufan: ?]

After a dozen seconds, Lin Li immediately sent another message.

[Lin Li: Are you an idiot? The other side. Why are you looking over there?]

Half a minute later.

[Bai Bufan: ? No, I've looked all around, I don't see you?]

[Bai Bufan: Where exactly are you?]

[Lin Li: Nansang Library, 6th Floor, Study Room 12.]

[Bai Bufan: ?]

[Lin Li: Bufan, even though I didn't see it, just imagining you spinning your head around on the street like an idiot makes me laugh so hard hahahahaha.]

[Bai Bufan: Voice Message 60s]

Seeing Lin Li laughing so happily, Chen Yuying curiously clutched her chest, stood up, and leaned over, wanting to see Lin Li's phone.

Her originally faint, elegant fragrance suddenly became rich, and he could almost feel the breeze from her fluttering eyelashes.

Lin Li simply pushed the phone toward Chen Yuying.

After reading it, Chen Yuying also let out a soft laugh.

"Are you a fucking idiot you motherfucking grass-fed son of a bitch Lin Li a dog like you should have strangled yourself with the umbilical cord in your mother's womb..." After tapping the screen, a voice message exceeding the legal limit of 'mom' and 'mother' began to play without pause.

Cursing without mentioning someone's mother is just making small talk; cursing without mentioning someone's mom is like a gentle massage.

Bai Bufan never made small talk, and he never gave gentle massages.

Chen Yuying immediately covered her ears and looked at Lin Li, blinking rapidly as if she had done something wrong.

"You clicked it yourself, it has nothing to do with me," Lin Li shrugged and paused the voice message.

Chen Yuying quickly realized what was going on, her clear eyes widening. "So, Lin Li, the reason you were annoyed that I didn't tell you I was leaving earlier... was because you wanted to trick me like this too?"

"What else? Did you think I was going to go downstairs to pick you up, Class Rep?" It was Lin Li's turn to blink rapidly.

"You're so mean!"

"I still have Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu left to torment. Looking forward to it."

...

[Ding Sihan: Lin Li!! I was wondering why you didn't talk in the group chat and suddenly DM'd me!!]

[Ding Sihan: I'll remember you tricking me this time! Just you wait! You bastard!]

[Lin Li: Don't scold me in the group chat, I still need to trick Qu Wanqiu later.]

[Ding Sihan: Hmm? Okay. Wait? How about I trick her instead?]

[Lin Li: That works too.]

...

"Ding Sihan!!" Qu Wanqiu, who arrived last, burst into the study room. After confirming there was no one outside their class present, she rushed forward, grabbed Ding Sihan by the neck, and started shaking her.

"Ugh, I can't speak, let me go—" Ding Sihan struggled with a laugh.

"Hey, Class Rep. They say pinching the philtrum boots a person up, and choking the neck adjusts the volume. If you pinch both at the same time, does it take a screenshot?" Lin Li watched the scene for a moment, then turned to Chen Yuying opposite him and asked very seriously.

Chen Yuying: "..."

"Sometimes I really want to crack your head open and see what's inside," Chen Yuying sighed. "How do you even associate things like that?"

"My head is full of that." Lin Li pointed to the slogan on the wall of the study room.

[Reading is a joyful duty].

"Reading?" Chen Yuying blinked.

Although she felt she might already know the answer, she didn't want to believe it.

"No."

"Joyful?"

"No."

"Then it must be 'a'." Chen Yuying tried hard to avoid the correct answer.

"No."

"...Does it have to be 'duty'?" Chen Yuying's sigh carried a hint of a smile. She didn't know whether to say Lin Li was self-aware or just gross. *(Translator's Note: 'Duty' sounds like 'doody'/poop).*

"Not entirely." Surprisingly, Lin Li shook his head.

"Hmm?" Now Chen Yuying was a bit confused.

"Class Rep, pay attention to the font color. 'Duty' comes in different types," Bai Bufan, who was sitting next to Lin Li, had been itching to answer for a while. After scratching his head and cheeks, he finally couldn't hold back his reminder.

Looking at the yellow font, Chen Yuying: "..."

Lin Li nodded, his tone deep and profound: "A very accurate reminder. Different colors represent different meanings. Red is destruction, blue is indifference, green is disguise, purple is mystery, orange is anger, black is the final destination, and yellow means 'send the link'."

Chen Yuying hid her face behind her textbook, indicating she no longer wished to communicate with Lin Li.

Lin Li had no choice but to go tease the dog. Looking at Bai Bufan's dark circles from staying up late playing on his phone, he spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear: "Bufan, if Xing Tian stays up late, where do his dark circles go? Does that count as a hardcore fetish?" *(Translator's Note: Xing Tian is a headless mythological figure with eyes on his chest/nipples).*

Bai Bufan: "..."

Sure enough, whenever this guy lowered his voice to talk to him, nothing good ever came out of it.

Lin Li's brain was full of yellow shit, that was an undeniable fact.

How on earth did he come up with a question that makes your *nipples* go dark?

Bai Bufan truly didn't understand.

However, returning a peach for a plum, Bai Bufan also asked: "Lin Li, then let me ask you. When Newton shoots his 'glue', is it a Newtonian or non-Newtonian fluid?"

The two teenage boys simultaneously fell into deep thought.

It was truly a hearty and exhilarating feast of the mind.

...

"What are we eating for lunch?" Having successfully mastered another type of math problem, Lin Li stretched lazily, threw an arm over Bai Bufan's shoulder, and asked the three girls opposite them.

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu had arrived quite late. After everyone gathered, they hadn't studied for long before it was almost time for lunch.

"Mhm, mhm, I have an idea for this! Let's eat at this place, I've been wanting to try it for a long time!" Hearing this, Ding Sihan immediately looked much more energetic than when she was studying.

Lin Li frowned slightly.

*Dammit, is this the kind of person I used to lose to in exams?*

*Lin Li, you really are trash!*

"Are you two okay with eating this?" After the girls discussed it for a bit, they asked Lin Li and Bai Bufan.

It was a meat crab casserole restaurant. Lin Li took a look and nodded. "I'm fine with it."

"I'm fine with it too," Bai Bufan echoed.

"Then let's head downstairs and go to this place now," Ding Sihan stood up and said cheerfully, then frowned. "That restaurant is four kilometers away from us. Should we take a taxi? But there are five of us, do we take two cars?"

"No need," Lin Li waved his hand and pointed at Bai Bufan. "Bufan rode his bike here. The four of us will take a car, and he can just bike over."

Bai Bufan looked at the bicycle key that Lin Li had just forcefully shoved into his hand, then looked up at Lin Li.

Lin Li smiled.

He smiled too.

*Fuck.*

*Bastard.*

Remember, the flower language of a bastard is 'you snooze, you lose'.

*(End of Chapter)*