Chapter 017: Campus Daily Life

After that brief moment earlier, the player had not spoken again. The other two local players in the discussion group remained silent, eerily so.

Ke Mingye understood, given that a player's identity at the start should be random: office workers, orphans, fugitives... anything was possible. They might have been in situations where they couldn't break away, like paying respects at their parents' graves, so not replying for the time being was not a big deal.

He didn't bother with that discussion group anymore and finally arrived at the school's teaching building at 07:20.

Just as he ascended the stairs, he brushed past a familiar figure, and a faint voice reached his ears.

"You're up so early, yet you arrive at school so late?"

Bai Qiuwu spoke, pausing two or three steps higher on the stairs, turning her head to look down at Ke Mingye.

"I went for a run, so I was a bit late," Ke Mingye replied, lifting his eyes from his phone to meet her gaze.

A ray of morning light streamed through the window at the end of the corridor, falling on her lead-grey bright hair, as if one could see their own reflection in her crisp pupils.

Bai Qiuwu casually tossed him a bottle, "Here, Mom asked me to give this to you."

"Oh."

Ke Mingye caught the bottle and glanced down at it. It was a bottle of calcium tablets.

"Study hard."

Bai Qiuwu quirked the corner of her mouth at him, then continued upstairs.

"Sure, sis, same to you," Ke Mingye casually replied as he watched her back.

The students walking up the stairs, both boys and girls, would mostly give sidelong glances towards Bai Qiuwu. Ke Mingye didn't want to talk to her at school for this very reason—if this were a Japanese school setting, she'd be the type to find love letters overflowing from her shoe locker when she opened it in the morning.

Ke Mingye continued up the stairs and stopped on the second floor. The first classroom around the corner was his class.

He put his phone in his drawer and sat down in his seat. By then, the classroom was already full of students.

In any parallel world, high schools in China are always among the most competitive.

The reason why it's rare to see Chinese high schoolers saving the world in fantasy themes is typically because their daily schedule is filled with classes from morning to afternoon, followed by evening self-study after dinner, with their time clearly organized.

Luckily, with summer vacation approaching, the school had discontinued the evening self-study. This allowed Ke Mingye to stay home last night.

However, for Ke Mingye, being at school was far more relaxing than being at home.

After all, compared to being trapped with a bunch of secretive monsters, forced into playing a hair-raising pretend game, he would rather stay in school, do some questions, and ease his tight nerves.

This body's former self didn't have many friends either due to a very solitary personality; he usually kept to himself, which minimized the trouble of socializing.

Upon entering the classroom, Ke Mingye heard the boys and girls gathered together, fervently discussing the superhuman attack that had occurred in the city center last night.

In this world, the essential nature of the Superheroes video dark web was similar to that of adult websites in his past life: officially prohibited, yet most people have a link or two saved just in case.

At that moment, a boy sitting in the back row had placed his phone on the desk, playing the live broadcast recording from last night, with other students crowding around the desk.

As the volume of discussion and exclamations rose, few remained in their seats, all drawn to the commotion.

When, at the end of the recording, Qing Ya suddenly burst out from the darkness, his eerie mask filling the entire screen; although many students were mentally prepared, they still jumped in fright when they saw the scene, scattering away from the desk with screams.

The entire classroom fell quiet for a second, and those who weren't watching looked up from their desks, exchanging glances as if they expected the class teacher had arrived.

Ke Mingye, toying with his phone, had already grown accustomed to such commotion.

He yawned, thinking to himself, "Do they understand? This is the 'terrifying Crow Man's' oppressive presence. Anyone who wants to play a villain in the future had better learn a thing or two..."

There were also many high school girls who were fans of "Magical Girl Ash." When they saw last night's video on TikTok, they were screaming in excitement, saying how elegant and stylish the outfit was, determined to save their pocket money to buy one. It was common for students to purchase one-to-one scale replicas of the Magic Girl Cosplay outfits on online shopping platforms, similar to how people buy merchandise related to their favorite celebrities.

As stars gradually fade from people's sight, naturally, another kind of person replaces them to stimulate a similar economic effect.

At this moment, the whole teaching building was bustling with noise. Just about every student was discussing last night's events with no sign of stopping, indicative of the high level of attention the matter received.

Mostly, it was naive boys fiercely debating the combat capabilities of the superhumans, afraid that their favorite superhero might seem inferior.

Ke Mingye sat quietly in a corner of the classroom, resting his chin on his hand.

He was quite curious, what these people would think if they knew that Magical Girl Ash, in reality, was a junior high student two grades younger than them.

However, considering the chaotic personalities fostered by internet culture that beset contemporary high school students, even after learning of this Magic Girl's identity, they would likely become even more zealous in their speech.

Well, at most, the supportive comments would shift from "Sister is so awesome, I love her!" to "Ash, mommy loves you!"— such bizarre remarks.

Among the high school male crowd, the fans of "Diviner Black Wukong" were especially numerous, and it wasn't unusual for figurines of this Divine Communicator to sell out overnight.

However, the students in the class were discussing members of his own family.

Having grown up with them, Ke Mingye knew each person's true nature, so the mystery that otherwise attracted others was absent for him. Even knowing their secret identities didn't captivate him with their charm.

He couldn't fathom why Bai Zini's popularity was so frighteningly high in China, even outpacing other members of the Magical Girl Alliance by a large margin.

Perhaps in a country as conservative as China, where everyone was used to watching magic girls who were pure-hearted and well-mannered on TV, a Magic Girl who flaunted her disobedience and independence so boldly was a refreshing sight.

Of course, speaking of such characters, there was an even more independent figure involved in last night's events…

To be precise, that individual had been so headstrong that he had faced universal condemnation— undoubtedly, it was Ke Mingye's father, Ke Youqing, also known as the vigilante "Qing Ya."

It was a harsh reality that in Chinese high schools, admitting to being a fan of a widely condemned, subpar vigilante like "Qing Ya" could lead to isolation and ridicule, and even get you labeled as "mentally abnormal."

Even political studies teachers would proclaim in class that it's totally fine to idolize superheroes and Magic Girls since they are the heroes of the people and the country; however, low-grade characters like "Qing Ya" should be avoided to prevent negative influence.

That said, there were always a few eccentric individuals in every class who insisted on going against the tide and liking something different, so despite being overwhelmingly rejected by society, "Qing Ya" did in fact have a significant fan base in China, although the composition of this group was somewhat questionable.

There were four classes in the morning. Each time the bell rang for the break, Ke Mingye would make sure to find an empty spot to silently complete twenty push-ups.

So by the time school ended at noon, he had managed to drag his sluggish, tractor-like body through the hundred push-ups required for his daily task without missing a single one.

[Daily Task Two: Do one hundred push-ups (Completed)]

[Reward received: One freely assignable attribute point]

Ke Mingye, looking dejected, slumped in his seat, gasping for air as he looked at the panel.

He was genuinely worried he might drop dead any second now. Starting out in hell wasn't a joke; his body was beyond being described by the mere words "poor constitution."

"Frail" would be a more appropriate term.

He rested his head on the desk for a moment before opening the player panel, pretending to scroll through short videos on his phone so as not to attract attention from his classmates.

He clicked the plus sign next to the "Physical Fitness" attribute, prompting a notification to pop up.

[Notification: "1 attribute point" has been added to the "Physical Fitness" attribute.]

[Current player attributes are as follows—Physical Fitness: 10 points; Neurological Reaction: 9 points; Spiritual Power: 10 points]

Ke Mingye moved his shoulders a bit and couldn't be sure if it was just his imagination, but the feeling of fatigue seemed to have eased somewhat.

At the same time, a subtle warmth flowed back and forth through his bones and muscles like the tide.

After allocating the points, he closed the panel. With nothing else to do, he lay his head down on the desk and began scrolling through videos.

Just opening an entertainment app in this world, like Douyin or Weibo, would almost immediately present a superhero's face, or at least be on the way to seeing one.

As soon as Ke Mingye opened the video app, the first recommended video was a highlight reel of the "Superhero Round Table's" top hero—"Channeler Zeus."