Chapter 251: Fictional Novel On The Library Shelf
Next, when the class bell rang once again, Xuan Chong suddenly felt nervous; under the sunlight at the doorway, the new teacher walked up to the podium.
Teacher Gao, who taught math, slammed his book on the desk, and chalk dust slightly splashed along the gaps in the podium.
“Class is starting.”
“Hello, teacher~”
The instinctive reaction kicked in, and Xuan Chong immediately sat up straight in his seat, fully focused; however, after Xuan Chong carefully listened through the entire class on the conversions of “sin, cos, tan,” and meticulously copied the questions onto his exercise book with a pen; time ticked by second by second, and nothing else happened.
The transmigration that occurred during history class did not happen in math class; it seemed like what just happened in history class was merely a dream.
However, Xuan Chong still felt deeply moved: this knowledge was something he should have learned once in middle school and quickly forgotten after adulthood; now, it was like a program activation, readily usable in his brain, so much so that upon seeing a triangular object, he could habitually derive trigonometric functions.
“Reborn?” Xuan Chong felt somewhat confused, but it felt more like he had returned to the past, to when he was twelve or thirteen years old.
This math class passed without any strange events, and with the class dismissal bell ringing once again, the period ended.
Next, the third period, the fourth period, until noon dismissal; Xuan Chong felt he had never listened so attentively in middle school as he did today. That said, if he could really study like this, Xuan Chong thought: my Gaokao score would probably jump up another level.
However, the cost was hunger. His brain’s nutrition consumption was too high. At dismissal, he was extremely tired and didn’t want to move at all. Even the novel hidden in his desk pocket held no appeal to flip through.
At noon dismissal, Xuan Chong dug out one yuan from his pocket, eyed the snack shops, and swallowed his saliva; finally, he went to the neighboring steamed bun shop and bought a cold steamed bun left over from the morning.
The next week was all routine.
Parents’ nagging, asking “Did you listen well in class today?” followed by “Have you finished your homework?” After asking, they let him go into his room, and they turned on the television outside.
Once upon a time, Xuan Chong didn’t understand; but now he suddenly realized, wasn’t this just like the routine resource collection in games decades later? — A few years later, QQ became popular, and everyone would routinely click to plant vegetables; ten years later, WeChat arrived, and parents would share their daily walking steps.
Xuan Chong silently experienced the habits of the past.
Xuan Chong: Hmm, if it were me at this age in my previous life, once the TV outside started playing the rhythm of “Hey, friend, if you’re here…”, not to mention at least half, nearly a third of my mind would fly outside.
However, thinking about how in the future he’d have to waste ten-tenths of his mind on the rat race at his work post—hmm, better focus now and finish the homework.
After finishing his homework, Xuan Chong walked out of his room and asked: “Dad, I feel like my mental power is insufficient; I get dizzy in class.”
His mother, who was knitting, immediately became nervous: “What if something’s wrong with his brain? Go to the hospital for a check-up, quick, check it out.”
Xuan Chong remembered his family circumstances were good; except for giving little pocket money, they were never stingy with anything else needed; the brain gold in his room wasn’t finished yet, and it came with zinc gluconate calcium. Now after rebirth, he knew those things were useless, pure IQ tax.
The next day, Xuan Chong got a box full of small candy pieces and put it in his backpack. During math class, he sucked on one, and with energy in his brain, he wouldn’t be hypnotized by the math teacher.
Before leaving, his old man said: “When you’re done, remember to drink water and rinse mouth in time, don’t ruin your teeth.”
Xuan Chong, carrying his schoolbag: “Got it, got it, I know!”
…Xuan Chong’s most familiar impression of his parents was: as long as he studied well, they would try their best to satisfy other conditions that could be met…
From then on, every morning, Xuan Chong ate two eggs, just like taking auxiliary cultivation pills internally in cultivation novels.
And during breaks, he diligently did broadcast gymnastics and eye exercises. — Although he could no longer remember exactly what the body fixing technique was, he knew his body had to be in good shape.
Xuan Chong knew that after growing up, he would have to face the tidal wave of the “rat race” era.
After testing for these past few days, he knew that after rebirth, he had no golden finger. Thus, he settled down honestly and did everything he could as well as possible.
Xuan Chong sighed: In a certain sense, rebirth was a golden finger. Back then at this age, he hadn’t awakened yet. In his previous life, it wasn’t until he was eighteen that he realized he should study.
Boys awaken relatively late; Xuan Chong was now five years ahead. After all, in his previous life, he had gone through the stages of not being confused and knowing heaven’s mandate; returning to his youth, he wouldn’t be dazzled by “the flowers gradually fading and captivating the eyes.”
A week later, during a classroom exam, Xuan Chong sneaked a few honey dates, then timed himself and finished the test paper.
Although he had been very diligent lately, that didn’t mean he could hand in early. As an ordinary examinee, he should face the exam like a general.
And a general should familiarize himself with the battlefield situation in advance, then invest “appropriate troop strength” targetedly, while reserving reserve troops.
Here, the battlefield situation was: the major categories of questions on the test paper—”multiple choice,” “fill in the blanks,” “application analysis”—with each question’s exam points being situations on different fronts.
The “troop strength” he could invest on the exam was his own computational thinking ability. He needed to quantify time in advance, precisely allocating his brain power for “solving questions” to each time segment.
In the end, when Xuan Chong finished everything, he only left “five to ten minutes” of reserve thinking margin to review the entire test paper.
Xuan Chong summarized: Except for particularly prodigious examinees, most people—well, like himself—even with the utmost effort in studying, couldn’t possibly fill out a two-hour test paper in just one hour.
Reading takes time, thinking takes time, calculating and checking takes time; under tight time pressure, recalculating after a miscalculation in panic also takes time.
As the exam bell rang, Xuan Chong raced against time to do the questions. After filling the test paper, he confirmed three multiple choice questions he wasn’t sure about; the fourth blank in fill in the blanks didn’t have a similar standard question type in this week’s examples; in the big questions, the second-to-last one seemed “too simple,” probably because he missed an exam point. Estimating, those were likely the only deduction points.
After handing in the paper, Xuan Chong heard the bell again, and while stretching, the Brave Soldier in his desk fell out once more.
Seeing the book on the ground and the popped-out library card, Xuan Chong suddenly remembered he was supposed to return it!
…On the library card photo, he was a bumpkin wearing flat-top glasses…
At dismissal, Xuan Chong ran into the math teacher Teacher Gao in the hallway and instinctively made way; this Teacher Gao stopped and said to Xuan Chong: “Your grades have improved recently; keep it up. Next time, continue.”
Xuan Chong nodded perfunctorily: “Thank you for your concern, teacher; I will definitely study hard.” Absentmindedly confirming the teacher had passed a few steps and was out of his view.
After waiting for the teacher to go upstairs, Xuan Chong took a deep breath, hid the novel from his pocket deep in his backpack. He hid all his novels very well; in the eyes of high school teachers, reading novels was like playing King of Glory years later—both sources of “declining grades” in student days. On this, Xuan Chong thought: “The teacher is right.”
The school library was in the science building, with osmanthus fragrance in front; first floor, right turn after entering, a two hundred square meter room.
The shelves held all sorts of books, from astronomy science to novels; hmm, and red classics from the 60s and 70s, Zhou Bapi stories, and technical books like local steelmaking methods; judging by the yellowed pages, they were decades old. Of course, there were new books too.
Xuan Chong swiped his library card at the door, then greeted the on-duty teacher. After all, in his memory, this library teacher was very kind to him.
The teacher pushed up his glasses: “Haven’t seen you around much lately?”
Xuan Chong: “Busy with exams.”
After finishing the procedures, Xuan Chong returned the book to the teacher, then pondered a bit and still walked into the library.
Unknowingly, Xuan Chong arrived at the spot where he borrowed the Brave Soldier novel, glanced around, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He discovered a historical alternate novel called Qin End Heroes Biography. As if compelled, Xuan Chong opened the book, but after the first glance, he was stunned because the content was very captivating.
…Story collection…
Later, during the afternoon “multimedia information class” (the class teaching students to use the internet), Xuan Chong skipped that unimportant class and speed-read the entire novel in the library.
It recorded a story.
A boy surnamed Ma was born; his family originally surnamed Zhao, changed to Ma after a great defeat forced them to leave their homeland; and the family tradition he inherited had no use in this great unification era. Moreover, their family’s books were listed as banned by the Great Qin officials.
Yes, the First Emperor unified under heaven, collected all weapons under heaven, cast twelve gold men to eradicate rebellion from the six states nobles; physical “soldiers” were banned, but what about ideological “soldiers”?
When the book burning edict was issued, the Ma boy remembered the elders personally supervising him to memorize all the military treatises passed down from ancestors, then throwing the bamboo slips into the fire to burn.
The elder said to the boy in front of the fire: “Do you know everything in the military treatise?”
The Ma boy nodded.
Then the elder: “If you use it in the future, how will you?”
The boy was bewildered.
The elder sighed: “Memorizing it doesn’t mean you can use it. Start from the ranks, follow veteran generals in campaigns, then take command.” — The boy knew his family changed from Zhao to Ma because an ancestor had memorized military strategy from youth but lost the first battle.
The Ma boy received a sword, then left the family. To conceal his surname, he went to the old lands of Han, thus resolved to establish faith, and changed his surname to Han.
However, with under heaven greatly stabilized, his military strategist heritage had no place to be used, so he wandered destitute in the marketplace. Due to poverty yet carrying a sword only old nobles wore, he suffered much bullying, living off others under their halls, eating for a day or two until the host grew impatient; one day, the host ate early without his share, forcing the boy to leave. Blocked by ruffians in the marketplace, he had to crawl between legs.
But just as he thought he would starve to death, great chaos under heaven erupted, and he finally had a use.
The Han boy joined the then most powerful Chu army under heaven and served under that similarly young “Feather” general.
After the army corps won a war, Han decided to offer advice; but after Feather General heard it in surprise, he asked about his family background. After all, in those days, those who knew “military strategy” were rare talents from the six states era.
However, the Han boy, being young, faced the god-like Feather General like a newbie facing a goddess in love, blurting out his family origins. But—precisely because he revealed his family, the Feather General’s attitude visibly cooled, not adopting the suggestion.
The Han boy realized this was the infamous “great defeat” from his family ancestor; after all, the nation’s troops handed to a “well-read in military books” famous young general ended up as bones in a pit.
From then on, the Han boy knew he could never reveal his real surname again.
…The page flipped to the last two-thirds…
Xuan Chong saw the chapter titled “Ten Sides Ambush”—Han General looked at Feather finally trapped in stalemate, a hint of pleasure in his breath.
Xuan Chong finished the book; the last page clearly stated: “This story is purely fictional; any resemblance is coincidental.”
Xuan Chong: “Fictional? Hmm, but pretty logical.” Not to mention anything else, that granary management rule of innovating on the old proves Han Xin’s ancestors definitely had someone in the national storage system. Zhao She was an official managing taxes early on, with outstanding results.
At this point, Xuan Chong understood that under ancient productivity conditions, a complex “skill” was often passed down through generations in a family. Even master to apprentice often held back a hand.
Xuan Chong left the library, inexplicably went to the library teacher, and renewed the Brave Soldier novel, since in the entire library, this novel seemed to have some inexplicable connection to him.
Finally, Xuan Chong looked at the last page again: “This story is purely fictional; any resemblance is coincidental.”
…What year is it tonight?…
After Xuan Chong left the library.
The teacher pushed up his glasses, walked to the shelf, picked up the novel Xuan Chong had browsed, checked the cover, and slowly said: “This story did happen, but not in the main world’s past timeline.”
The class bell rang again; in the empty library, the teacher pressed enter on the large old monitor in front of him. Instantly, the entire library transformed strangely; books on the shelves turned into smooth interfaces, each with a plane teleportation gate.
The teacher’s clothing was no longer local cloth plaid attire, and even his appearance changed to an extremely youthful visage.
As for the large old monitor in front of her, it became a space window. The teacher reached into the space window, picked up the “novel” interface of Qin End Heroes Biography that Xuan Chong had just looked at, input some “feature codes” from the interface, and conducted a search.
In the dimensions, there was a special “historical spacetime area” constantly simulating historical lines, inputting severed historical record information, and after spacetime logic verification, restoring past history.
Note: 21st century old videos can be algorithmically corrected to HD. In the 40th century, incomplete historical records can be causally logically repaired through multiverse calculations.
At the plane boundary of the Qin End Heroes Biography novel, the teacher reached out and dug out seven or eight gemstone-like objects.
Inside these gemstones, lights like living things flickered.
Teacher: “Oh, infused consciousness. This unlucky one (Pu E) invested quite a lot.”
This referred to the teaching aids Xuan Chong encountered in history class; the normal dimensional term was “infused consciousness.” Each gemstone stored obsession information, and obsession information preserved some remnant consciousness.
This was the essence of what transmigrators like Pu E drew as “character cards” in the wisdom and courage system.
The shiniest gemstones in this library teacher’s hand were “Zhao Cheng” and “Wu Hengyu.” Of course, there were others; evidently, during Pu E’s last transmigration, her system’s character card storage was poked through and fleeced.
This was the achievement in the planes of that “good student” who just entered the library, and returning the book confirmed the achievement.
The teacher checked Xuan Chong’s transmigration situation: “Hmm? Total of forty-seven academic credits earned, consuming less than five credits. Tsk tsk, excellent achievement, as expected from the xxx (censored) specially recruited source.”
Academic credit calculation: Xuan Chong’s total test paper score was around 34 points; plus Zhao Cheng’s mental surrender, Xian Daoren’s admission of defeat, Wu Hengyu’s sigh—these obsessions’ handles exposed and seized by the library counted as extracurricular credits.
