Chapter 5: Climbing the Desk

Chen Mu knew Wei Dalei had a slight fear of heights since childhood; above the third floor he tried to avoid standing near windows, so asking him to climb twenty-something floors was practically a death sentence.

But others didn't know; seeing Wei Dalei big and strong, now awakened with a strength-type ability, they assumed he was making excuses and refusing to go.

Some people's gazes turned strange.

Gu Ping let out a hum, intentionally or not.

Wei Dalei's face flushed red; he cared about face, couldn't bear such looks, especially with Zhao Xiao Yan nearby, making him unable to save face; in a flash of anger he blurted, "Fine, I'll go!"

"Wait." Chen Mu couldn't just watch his good brother walk to his death, interrupting: "Old Wei, calm down!"

Wei Dalei sighed: "But someone has to go; the monitor just said, without that cake, even if we leave the classroom we don't know when we'll find food—we might all starve, so I might as well take a chance."

"I'll go." Chen Mu said.

"Boss, you're joking!" Wei Dalei jumped in fright.

"I thought of a method last night; it should be fine."

Not wanting Wei Dalei to die pointlessly was one reason; another was that without the cake, he himself would likely starve; though dangerous, Chen Mu felt he had a certain chance.

He didn't explain much, but seeing someone step forward, everyone naturally welcomed it.

After shrinking, vision was extremely limited; the whole classroom had become a giant maze, with countless massive wooden pillars standing inside—honestly, quite impressive.

Of course, this also created difficulty in determining direction.

Fortunately, there was Zhao Xiao Yan.

Everyone followed Zhao Xiao Yan, tracking the smell, and slowly found beneath Du Jia Jia's desk.

After arriving at the spot.

Chen Mu looked up; that height was indeed intimidating.

He composed himself and took a deep breath.

Then he slowly extended his palm and pressed it against the wooden desk leg.

His intention followed the movement.

The next moment, a semicircular handle slowly appeared on the smooth surface.

Success!

Chen Mu's idea was simple: although his ability couldn't move the whole desk, it could change the shape of part of it.

Actually, the biggest difficulty in climbing the desk isn't the height, but the smooth legs lacking any grips.

But now, the problem is solved.

Tang Jing, from seeing Chen Mu's first move, knew what he intended and couldn't help nodding.

Dong Junwei couldn't help praising: "Chen Mu, well done!"

Others also kept cheering.

After all, whether Chen Mu could get the cake concerned everyone's survival.

……

Chen Mu tucked his T-shirt hem into his sports pants and tightened his belt.

Then he began climbing.

With each step up, he created a handle on the desk leg.

Then, like climbing a ladder, he went up step by step.

Honestly, even with grips, this wasn't an easy task, a major test of stamina and mentality.

When he had climbed a quarter of the way, Chen Mu couldn't help glancing down, heart pounding; though he'd grown up roughing it outdoors, climbing trees and crawling through holes was familiar, but this height still made his heart tremble.

He quickly turned his head back, focusing his attention ahead.

Wei Dalei looked up from below and exclaimed: "Boss is boss; even without acrophobia, even if you gave me grips, I couldn't climb that high." He then told everyone about how they went from fighting to becoming friends in middle school.

Everyone secretly clicked their tongues, thinking it was lucky they hadn't offended this seemingly frail guy before.

Dong Junwei gazed at Chen Mu's midair figure, lost in thought.

When he had climbed two-thirds of the way, Chen Mu stopped moving.

Everyone's hearts were in their throats; the acrophobic Wei Dalei even more so dared not look up, only constantly asking Zhao Xiao Yan beside him what was happening.

Although not yet exhausted, his childhood tree-climbing experience told Chen Mu he absolutely must not wait until his strength was gone to think of resting, or he might not get a chance.

If it were a tree, he should now find a branch to sit on and recover strength.

But such conditions were obviously absent now.

The next moment, inspiration struck.

His hands kept moving, on the smooth wooden surface he carved out several large and small rings, then slipped his hands and feet through them, binding himself tightly like performance art.

Then he gradually relaxed his whole body.

Although the motion wasn't graceful, at least it required no effort, allowing his body to rest a moment.

However, as soon as he relaxed, Chen Mu felt his head spin violently, then a wave of drowsiness hit, nearly making him fall asleep.

He struggled to keep his eyes open, forcing himself to stay awake.

Although he was now tightly bound, if he fell asleep he had no doubt he would tumble down.

His head felt dizzy—certainly not a good sign.

Chen Mu pondered; the only cause he could think of was overusing his ability.

It seemed this so-called Special Ability consumed something like mental energy; once overloaded, the body was fine but the head couldn't take it.

He dared not risk further, so he simply stayed still, pressed tightly against the desk leg to rest.

Those below didn't even dare breathe loudly; seeing Chen Mu paused for a long time, they increasingly felt something was off.

"What's wrong, Xiao Yan?" Wei Dalei, still not daring to look up, anxiously asked Zhao Xiao Yan beside him.

Zhao Xiao Yan didn't have time to mind his overly familiar nickname, full of worry: "Chen Mu hasn't moved in a long time."

What's wrong with him?

I don't know, he seems to still be resting.

"It won't go wrong, will it?" someone asked softly.

Don't talk nonsense.

But he's been resting for a long time.

Climbing up isn't as easy as imagined; the higher you go, the more it tests one's mind and skill. Tang Jing said with a solemn expression: "Moreover, I suspect Chen Mu is unwell from overusing his ability."

What's wrong?

I don't know. Tang Jing shook her head.

What should we do? Wei Dalei urged: "Let's go help him."

Tang Jing shook her head: "How can we help? Among us, who has the ability to climb that high? And even if we got up there, what could we do?"

Are we just going to watch him helplessly? Wei Dalei was anxious, not daring to speak too loudly, as if afraid it would affect Chen Mu above.

Actually, Chen Mu was already far from them; even if they shouted loudly, they might not hear him.

Tang Jing said: "No need to worry too much; I saw that before resting, Chen Mu's movements showed no panic, indicating he had things under control; he's just resting this long as a precaution."

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone saw Chen Mu move again.

During this time, Chen Mu tried to relax his body as much as possible, emptying his mind of thoughts—not thinking of cake, not thinking of the many people waiting below, clearing all thoughts.

He rested for a full half hour.

Only then did he try to climb up again.

This time, he was more cautious than at the start, almost stopping to rest after every few steps.

As Chen Mu resumed climbing, everyone's hearts tensed again.

Wei Dalei held his head, crouched on the ground, feeling utterly useless.

Tang Jing, usually calm, couldn't help but her lips tremble slightly.

After about another twenty minutes, Chen Mu finally reached the edge of the desk, and then, scrambling, he rolled into the desk's interior.

Only then did everyone collectively exhale.

Dong Junwei relaxed, only to discover that her clenched fist had left her nails digging deep marks into her palm.