Chapter 6: Burn, My Youth!

Ding...

As the system announced that the transaction was successful, Chen Yufeng suddenly felt a wave of dizziness sweep over him. Fortunately, it lasted only two or three seconds before he regained his senses. Not only did the pain and dizziness vanish, but it seemed as though his mind had expanded to hold infinite knowledge: astronomy, geography, the mysteries of the universe, the Bagua, and all manner of subjects now lay within his grasp.

So it wasn’t a lie after all—this truly was no ordinary academic prodigy!

The most direct evidence was that, as he glanced casually at the English test paper on the desk beside him—a paper he usually couldn’t make heads or tails of—not only could he now understand it, he grasped it thoroughly. The questions seemed no more difficult than a kindergarten assignment.

As Chen Yufeng was quietly reveling in this, Zheng Mingjie had already picked up an English test paper and handed it to him.

“Yufeng, since you’re so confident, try this test. I’m not even asking you to score high—if you can get fifty points, I’ll let you be the homeroom teacher, how about that?”

Chen Yufeng didn’t even bother to waste words. He took the test and the pen and began to write.

For the next few minutes, his hand seemed guided by some divine force; the pen never paused, moving swiftly, as if he were answering one-plus-one or two-times-three—simple as a child’s homework. Every glance at a question brought the answer instantly to his mind, with not the slightest hesitation.

After five or six minutes, he put the pen down.

“Teacher, I’m done.”

Chen Yufeng’s face lit up with a cheerful smile as he handed the test to the English teacher, Zheng Ying, and then turned to Zheng Jiancheng, saying:

“Sir, you can keep being the homeroom teacher. Uh... as for my end, just treat the class to a lavish meal, that’ll be enough.”

Then he turned to Qin Yiran:

“Principal, I’ll take ten days or half a month off and come back when I feel like it. Also, I’ll gift this year’s top college entrance exam score to our alma mater.”

With that, he dashed off before anyone could protest, disappearing in a flash.

“Chen Yufeng, you—”

Zheng Mingjie was about to give chase when Zheng Ying cried out in astonishment:

“How is this possible? Perfect... a perfect score! One hundred and fifty points!”

She hadn’t believed it at first, but after comparing his test with the answer sheet several times, she found them identical.

“What? One hundred and fifty points? What nonsense are you talking about? You must be seeing things,” Zheng Mingjie said, his first instinct disbelief. He snatched the test and compared it with the answer key.

The shock hit him like a tidal wave—every answer was perfect.

My god, how could this be?

Zheng Mingjie was left speechless in astonishment.

Qin Yiran, too, couldn’t believe that the student who usually ranked tenth from the bottom could possibly achieve a perfect score. But when he took a look for himself, his expression matched that of Zheng Mingjie and Zheng Ying—utter disbelief.

How could this be?

Just moments ago, Chen Yufeng had completed the test in five or six minutes, right before everyone’s eyes, making cheating impossible. They’d all assumed he was just guessing, which explained his speed, but no one expected him to get every answer right and score full marks.

Who could believe this was luck?

Even the luckiest person could only guess their way to forty or fifty points at best. Scoring a perfect one hundred and fifty was beyond imagination.

The sixty or seventy classmates in the room, seeing the principal and teachers so dumbfounded, began to understand.

Could it be that Chen Yufeng really got a perfect score?

But how could that be?

He usually scored only a dozen or twenty points on English tests, never breaking forty. In class, he never paid attention, always reading novels or sleeping.

How could he possibly get a perfect score? Was he cheating the system?

Even the top students in the class had only ever managed one hundred and thirty or forty at best, and a perfect English score was almost unheard of in the school’s history.

Shocked as they were, the facts before their eyes left them no choice but to believe.

For a long moment, everyone—from the principal and teachers to the students—wore an expression of sheer incredulity, staring blankly after Chen Yufeng’s vanishing figure, their minds reeling in the wind...

“Burn bright, my youth!”

The sense of triumph in Chen Yufeng’s heart was overwhelming.

It was now clear that the divine system’s functions were real—he could exchange for anything he needed. The possibilities were endless.

Ha ha.

With the divine system, I am truly unrivaled!

Leaving the school, Chen Yufeng hailed a taxi to the construction site where his parents worked, planning to persuade them to find easier jobs so they wouldn’t have to labor so hard.

Once he started making money, they wouldn’t have to work at all. They could simply enjoy a comfortable life.

The taxi crawled through stop-and-go traffic, and after two hours, Chen Yufeng finally arrived at the construction site where his parents were employed.

He got out and walked straight towards the work area.

The vast construction site was alive with activity: several pieces of heavy machinery were at work, the thunderous roar of excavators and bulldozers filling the air, while massive trucks rumbled back and forth, kicking up clouds of dust.

He hadn’t been here in over twenty days. Seeing the scene again filled him with mixed emotions.

If not for the divine system, after graduating high school, he might very well have started his own brick-carrying career right here.

“Yufeng, what brings you here today?”

As he searched for his parents, a man in his forties approached. Chen Yufeng recognized him—Xu Weidong, a co-worker of his parents’ from their hometown.

“Hello, Uncle Xu. I’m here to see my mom and dad,” Chen Yufeng greeted him with a smile.

“Your parents...” Xu Weidong’s face stiffened.

Seeing his expression change, a sense of dread gripped Chen Yufeng’s heart. A bad premonition rose within him, and he asked urgently,

“What happened to my parents? Why can’t I find them?”

“They...” Xu Weidong looked at him, hesitated, and after a brief pause, still didn’t tell him the truth. He merely shook his head and sighed, “Yufeng, you’d better go home.”

“Did something happen to my parents?” The sinking feeling in Chen Yufeng’s heart grew stronger at Xu Weidong’s response.

“You’ll know when you get home.” That was all Xu Weidong would say. Then he patted Chen Yufeng’s shoulder and added, “Yufeng, listen to your uncle. No matter what happens, you must face it bravely. You’re grown up now—be a man.”

“No, Uncle Xu, you’re joking, right? My parents are fine, they must be fine, nothing’s wrong, nothing at all...” Chen Yufeng’s mind went blank as the worst possibilities flashed through his thoughts. His whole body trembled uncontrollably, but he kept reassuring himself,

“Why am I crying? It’s nothing, it’s nothing serious, at worst just a small incident. What could possibly happen...”

Without another moment’s delay, he hailed a taxi to the bus station.

Then he boarded a coach bound for his hometown of Yuxi Town...