Learning English

It was time for biology class for Chen Mu. Chen Mu's biology teacher was a young fellow with an unmistakable passion for teaching.

While Chen Mu was busy worrying about the matter of his nightly self-study session, Zhuo Xiaobai could be seen slumping in his chair behind him. Zhuo Xiaobai was aimlessly swiping around on his phone, sighing every once in a while. 

"The Korean team won again. What are they fooling around for…" Zhuo Xiaobai said to himself. At this time, the teacher was discussing a question related to genetics. 

"Zhuo Xiaobai, you should answer this question." Upon noticing Zhuo Xiaobai's head was lowered, the biology teacher intentionally called him to answer the question. It did not matter whether Zhuo Xiaobai could answer the question, the teacher only assumed that Zhuo Xiaobai would at least learn some self-restraint from it. 

"Huh?" Zhuo Xiaobai stood up with a clueless expression on his face. 

"Answer the question—when a white horse mates with a black horse, what color will its offspring be?" asked their biology teacher. 

"A zebra?" Zhuo Xiaobai offered a tentative answer. The class burst into roars of laughter; some of the students even bent over to slap their desks in laughter. 

"You'll be standing throughout the rest of this period." The biology teacher's pent up anger that had been hidden all this while spilled out without warning. 'It seems like your brain isn't wired the same way as everyone else's, eh…' 

"Chen Mu, answer the question," said the biology teacher. 

"Huh? What's the question?" Chen Mu's thoughts had been focused on accomplishing the new mission the System had assigned him. Hence, he unfortunately missed the teacher's question. 

The biology teacher thought to himself, 'Could it be that Chen Mu has stopped listening to class too? This isn't mathematics, though.' 

Therefore, the biology teacher repeated the question. Chen Mu was lucky to have built a sturdy foundation in his studies and managed to reply with the right answer as he said, "It depends on its nuclear and cytoplasmic inheritance. Both of them are dominant and control the genes regarding the horse's color. Cytoplasmic inheritance is a maternal trait, while nuclear inheritance follows Mendel's laws." 

"Yes, you may sit. Did you get all of that, Zhuo Xiaobai?" asked the biology teacher. 

"I got it. I got it." Zhuo Xiaobai nodded frantically. Eventually, the biology teacher allowed him to sit down after letting him stand for a few minutes. 

Chen Mu felt cold sweat form on his back. He thanked the heavens for his solid foundation. Otherwise, it would have ended disastrously. Pushing everything aside, what in the world could he use as an excuse to skip the self-study session at night? 

As recess after their afternoon class arrived, Chen Mu understood that he would face certain doom if he did not make a move. If he played truant toward the session, his parents would be informed for sure. If that happened, the only thing left he could do would be to prepare his own funeral garlands. 

Hence, Chen Mu hurried went over to his homeroom teacher's office. Seeing that Ms. Liang was still there, Chen Mu approached her without any hesitation and greeted her. 

"Chen Mu? What's going on?" Ms. Liang was twenty-eight years old that year, and she was an outstanding postgraduate from the province's top normal university(TN: A normal school is an institution created to train high school graduates to become teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum.). She was a looker and a wonderful teacher. Therefore, no matter which class she was assigned to teach in, the results of her students would skyrocket.

Having been elected as the homeroom teacher of an elite class in a key school at such a young age was a firm validation of her competence. 

"It's like this, Ms. Liang. I think the level of my English isn't very good, and it's dragging my average down. So, I found a foreigner to help me practice with my English, and I'm hoping that I can appeal to be exempted for a week from the nightly self-study sessions. I wonder if you'll approve of this request?" asked Chen Mu. Before he entered the office, Chen Mu had already taken five deep breaths. Whether it was his gaze, tone, or breathing rhythm, he gave nothing away. 

"Oh? A foreigner? What's the person's name?" asked Ms. Liang. 

"Ryze. He's American," answered Chen Mu. 

"Oh, alright then. You don't have to attend the nightly self-study sessions this week. However, you only scored a hundred and thirty-one marks in your last English test. I want you to score a hundred and thirty-six marks in the coming monthly exam. In other words, improve by five marks. Could you promise me that?" asked Ms. Liang. 

A trap! It was all a trap! Chen Mu understood that everything he had done so far would be in vain if he shook his head. The general rule of thumb with every teacher was that as long as the student's results fulfilled their expectations, they would not mind overlooking most things. However, if the student's results sucked, even heading out of class for a toilet break would be considered as an act of disruption toward the class. 

Chen Mu had experienced something similar in his junior high years when his results were slightly better than average. The top student in the class would consistently come ten minutes late each day because his house was far, and the teachers would appear understanding of his unfortunate condition. On the other hand, students who had terrible results were slapped on if they gave excuses like they woke up late. 

At that time, Chen Mu had an "eighth-grader syndrome" moment and thought about how unfair the teachers were for playing favorites. 

Upon conquering the position as the top student in his year, Chen Mu also realized how wonderful it felt to be privileged. 

As it turned out, the true form of dissatisfaction did not stem from the existence of privilege but from the fact that such privilege was not enjoyed by oneself. 

An example would be—if one made a fortune, one would never think about how unfair it would be to decide to share one's money with the poor in the name of equality. If not, one would end up becoming everyone's target for injustice and get ridiculed that they were born with a silver spoon in the mouth. 

After promising Ms. Liang, Chen Mu was relieved that he had found a solution to his problem of skipping his nightly study sessions. Otherwise, he did not know what else he could do. 

Chen Mu immediately rushed toward the cybercafe. The tournament that was to take place that coming weekend was Chen Mu's first opportunity to earn money via League of Legends. 

In addition to noble purposes such as instilling good qualities and achieving great feats, riches were still Chen Mu's drive to study. If one could earn money from other means, it would be a viable way to survive as well. Sadly, in reality, no matter how much someone loved League of Legends, they could not depend on the game to feed themselves. The difficulty in doing so would be greater than studying; nothing less. 

To illustrate that point—although Zhuo Xiaobai was terrible in his studies, he was equally as terrible in playing League of Legends. His standards could not compare to Chen Mu who only started playing the game a week ago. 

Of course, everyone had an intrinsic interest to play games. If interest could be called the best teacher, Zhuo Xiabai would already have the best teacher in the world teaching him. Yet, he only managed to hit six hundred ELO points. If that did not show his lack of talent, Chen Mu was not sure what did. 

Chen Mu switched on the computer in the cybercafe. There were not a lot of people at night because a large majority of people who played the game normally had to attend class. It was more common to find university students entering and exiting the premise. 

Chuzhou City was a Tier-3 city; there were no famous universities in the city. The best institutions there were Tier 2 institutions. Based on Chen Mu's understanding, there were a lot of people who played online games including students from more decent universities. Among opponents that he would get matched up against on the weekend, Chen Mu was afraid that he would face teams that had been formed by university students.

Since Chen Mu no longer had to attend his nightly study sessions, he was able to play more relaxedly. He even researched new tactics. 

Afraid that his opponents would surrender at twenty, Chen Mu intentionally missed a few opportunities to provide his team with support in order to prevent destroying his opponents too quickly. After all, Chen Mu's main objective was to earn internet credit.

True enough, he could now earn internet credit much more easily. Then, a thought occurred to him, 'Am I not being too deceitful?' 

"The Host should not worry. All the best League of Legends players were experts full of calculations and tricks up their sleeves. It's a sign of prowess. As long as the Host does not use the same tricks outside your games, it is the ultimate way." The System offered its encouragement without any hesitation. How could the System ever allow its Host to doubt himself? In League of Legends, strength was power and winning was everything. As long as everything remained within the game, the end would always be justifiable. 

"..." Chen Mu seemed to begin to understand the System even more. What the System was trying to say was that there was nothing he needed to be considerate about. It also meant that he could utilize some despicable methods that he had thought of earlier without any regard. 

Before the nightly self-study session at school ended, Chen Mu managed to hit Level 30 and complete the System's mission. 

Subsequently, the internet credit Chen Mu had managed to earn in his account reached an all-time high of fifty yuan; it was inclusive of the cost he had spent gaming for five to six hours. 

If he managed to keep it up, Chen Mu assumed that it would not take him long before he realized the plan of renting out his account. 

Chen Mu glanced at the clock and saw that there was only half an hour left before class ended. Hence, he hurriedly surfed the Internet for an English movie that had no subtitles to watch. The reason behind him watching a movie in such a manner was to ensure that he searched for a translation the very moment he encountered an unfamiliar word. Only that way would he be able to understand the movie. It was truly helpful for him in improving his English. 

If Chen Mu did not manage to reach his goal in the upcoming exam, he was afraid that he would end up being taken care of in the 'elite' way the following month. There was no such thing as free lunch in the world—everything was an equivalent exchange.