Chapter 117: Superhuman Ability (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

"Android Application Development Revealed" has 515 pages; excluding illustrations and source code files, the full text runs to 220,000 characters.

Chen Yansen needed only a dozen or so seconds per page; though he couldn't manage a photographic memory, his brain was like a system running multiple tasks in parallel—receiving information on one side while comprehending it on the other.

For every page, including charts and annotations, he could easily recount over 90% of the content.

Reaching the latter half of the book, his speed of receiving and comprehending information only grew faster.

This several-hundred-page book, he finished in just over forty minutes.

However, a new problem arose.

This book covered a broad range of knowledge; Chen Yansen had zero foundation and lacked practical experience, and was simply forcing the knowledge into his head by dint of powerful memory and comprehension.

If he wanted to fully construct a logical framework and knowledge system, he still needed to draw on other books to make up for the gaps.

Chen Yansen stood up, returned the book to its place, took two more, and went back to his seat.

One was "The First Line of Code in Android," which contained a large number of example codes and could help him start from foundational knowledge and common techniques, learning in a way that went from the simple to the profound.

The other was "Android Development Exploration," an advanced book that mainly explained the principles of high-level techniques, such as activity launch modes, the view drawing process, and memory management.

Chen Yansen flipped through the books extremely fast; to an outsider, the odds were that he was just showing off.

Su Meiling wore an equally puzzled expression. She knew Chen Yansen's temperament—the students at the surrounding tables weren't worth him showing off for. As for herself, she had long since seen clearly that Chen Yansen had no interest in her.

"Flipping that fast, can he really remember it?" Su Meiling was full of doubt.

In fact, the library wasn't crowded on Friday morning, and the only person who noticed Chen Yansen's strange behavior was Su Meiling.

"Hey! Class Monitor Chen, what materials are you looking for?"

Su Meiling mulled it over for a while, figured Chen Yansen might be searching for specific material in the books—that was why he was flipping so fast—and walked over to greet him.

"Oh, Secretary Su, no class this morning?" Chen Yansen came back to himself, looked up, and tossed off a perfunctory reply.

"We're in the same class—would you really not know whether I have class in the morning?"

After sitting down, Su Meiling rolled her eyes and said in a low voice.

"I've never even looked at the class schedule—how would I know?" Chen Yansen set down his book and said with perfect self-assurance.

Su Meiling had a gentle and pretty face; today she wore a pleated tassel skirt that revealed a stretch of fair ankle, and the tear mole at the corner of her eye added a touch more recognizability.

No wonder Tang Zhenzhe couldn't get her out of his mind!

A girl like this—well-bred, sensible, and poised—married into the family would bring prosperity for at least three generations.

Unfortunately, Chen Yansen had no interest in this type of girl, and naturally couldn't be bothered to engage more.

"You have the nerve to say that." Su Meiling pouted, nearly laughing out loud.

A student who skipped class as recklessly as Chen Yansen was probably the first since the founding of Xu Academy.

"If there's nothing else, I'm going to keep reading." Chen Yansen waved his hand and said with a smile.

The unspoken meaning: please trouble yourself to leave.

Su Meiling froze for a moment. Usually it was boys who clung to her, flattered her, and curried favor with her; Chen Yansen's rejection left her stunned, and for a moment she stood rigid on the spot.

After speaking, Chen Yansen lowered his head and kept flipping through the book.

Seeing that Chen Yansen had no intention of paying her any more attention, Su Meiling walked out of the library in a huff, afraid that if she stayed any longer, just looking at Chen Yansen's face would truly be enough to irritate her to death.

Just then, Tang Zhenzhe sent a message, asking her to see the newly released "Single Men and Women." Still in a temper, Su Meiling rejected him without hesitation: "Class Monitor, I really don't like guys of your type."

On the other side, Tang Zhenzhe, upon receiving the reply, let out an "Ow!" and burrowed back into his blankets, crying loudly.

Luckily, in room 8302 he was the only one, so he didn't have to worry about face.

Chen Yansen read three books straight through in the library, took another six from the shelf, registered them with the librarian, and headed toward the Startup Park.

This highly efficient way of learning was somewhat addictive to him—like playing a game, with fast feedback and big rewards.

Going up to the second floor, Chen Yansen set down his books; seeing Wang Zihao wasn't at his seat, he went to the cafeteria alone.

No sooner had he left than Song Yuncheng returned; seeing so many books piled on the opposite desk for the first time, she was astonished.

After all, she had never once seen Chen Yansen study.

Out of curiosity, Song Yuncheng walked over and flipped through them—apart from one CET-4/6 English vocabulary book, the rest were all professional books on computers and system development.

"Sister Yuncheng, want to grab lunch together?" Just as she was spacing out, Xu Xingxing came over and invited her with a smile, with Du Yaoyao from the editing group beside her.

"Sure." Song Yuncheng agreed with a smile, and the three of them went downstairs.

After lunch, Chen Yansen returned to the second floor of the Startup Park, picked up a copy of "Thinking in Java," and began flipping through it.

By the time Song Yuncheng came back, Chen Yansen was already reading "Core Java"; the questions left over from "Android Application Development Revealed" that morning had also found their answers in these two books.

Seeing him flip through the book as if counting money, Song Yuncheng couldn't help teasing: "Boss, did you hide money in the book? Searching so seriously?"

Chen Yansen glanced up at Song Yuncheng and said softly, "Yes, and not just money—your photo too."

"How could you possibly have my photo?" Song Yuncheng reflexively objected, knowing in her heart that Chen Yansen was joking.

Chen Yansen gave a faint smile, paid Song Yuncheng no more attention, and spent the entire afternoon reading.

During a break, he also read through the CET-4/6 English vocabulary book in one pass. Unlike his previous life, this time he didn't get stuck on "abandon," but memorized the entire book in one go.

His English had been limited to simple communication—such as asking someone to change position—and now that he had the ability to easily master a new language, he was naturally very willing to learn.

Before five o'clock, he had finished six books.

With nothing to do, he found an uncut, original-language version of "Titanic" and rewatched it.

In the film, the lines, intonation, speaking speed, and pronunciation of the male and female leads and supporting characters were all parsed by Chen Yansen's brain layer by layer, like peeling an onion, drawing out the essence.

Rose's pronunciation leaned toward the British standard accent, while Jack's leaned toward the Midwestern accent of the Lighthouse Country.

Chen Yansen mimicked in a low voice; with a physique and spirit beyond ordinary human limits, he easily reproduced the original sound.

By the end of one film, he could, following the grammatical habits of European and American speakers, quickly call up words, phrases, and slang from his brain. Though it couldn't be called mastery, compared to his previous life, it was absolutely dozens of times stronger.

Chen Yansen did a rough calculation: in at most a week, he would be able to communicate with Europeans and Americans without barriers, using nearly native-like language habits.

Learn a new language in a week?

He had originally felt that adding nearly 500 strands of Human-Path salary fire to his spirit had yielded no tangible benefit; now he felt he'd gotten a huge bargain. If it weren't for the happiness of the rest of his life, he should have added to his spirit attribute long ago.

Chen Yansen read books for an entire day straight, taking in over two million bytes of text, diagrams, sample images, and other information, yet felt no fatigue at all.

"I'll continue tomorrow."

Chen Yansen stood up, stretched, looked around, and beckoned to Wang Zihao. The two went downstairs, called Wang Teng, and went to eat dinner together.

Wang Teng had been at the Virtual Academy for half a month now. He had adapted to both life and work, and spending his days on campus had brought back the comfort of his college days.

On the way, Chen Yansen casually asked Wang Teng to recommend a few books on system development. After reading for a day, he had noticed that most of the library's collection was from several years ago and couldn't keep up with current technological developments.

Wang Teng was curious but didn't ask more. He recommended different books covering design patterns, programming languages, practical applications, and other aspects.

"Brother Sen, are you planning to learn system development?" Wang Zihao asked with a smile.

"Just getting a feel for it. I should understand some of the principles, otherwise when the Aurora System launches, I won't even be able to explain the product properly — people would laugh their teeth off."

Chen Yansen said unhurriedly.

He had no desire to become the butt of some ridiculous 18,000-horsepower demon-level joke.

Wang Zihao nodded, thinking: I should find time to pick up some common sense about R&D too, so I don't embarrass Brother Sen.

After the three finished eating, they returned to the startup park together. Chen Yansen grabbed a few books and headed straight for the library.

Returning some, borrowing some — another six books.

As for the books Wang Teng had recommended, he had already placed an order on JD. Over the past half year, JD, in order to acquire new users at low cost, had pushed book prices down to cost.

They were all genuine copies anyway, so of course Chen Yansen chose to buy them cheap.

Li Guoqing of Dangdang. com hadn't expected that books, such a niche category with an annual market of less than ten billion, would also catch Liu Qiangdong's eye, leading the two to fall out.

The business world was only so big; when vital interests were at stake, even the closest of relationships would fall apart.

Chen Yansen took his books and went straight back to the faculty apartment. Just as he reached the fourth floor, he saw Meng Jie standing at the corridor edge, wearing a light blue slip dress.

The cool moonlight fell on her face, her skin was Bai Xi, her brows and eyes were pretty — she just didn't look very happy.

Only then did Chen Yansen recall that with so many things going on lately, the last time the two had met was half a month ago; day to day, they kept in touch entirely through WeChat.

Anyone who didn't know better would think the two were in a long-distance relationship.

This was Meng Jie's first time in a relationship — how could she bear being suddenly neglected? That lost, melancholy look of hers, in her roommate's eyes, was the picture of a heartbreak.

Under her roommate's pressing questions, blushing, she admitted that she and Chen Yansen had only kissed and hugged, nothing more.

"Then it's normal that he doesn't reach out first. Boys are all horny — if you keep refusing him, and Chen Yansen is this outstanding, there are plenty of girls chasing him. You'd better be careful."

Her roommate's words made Meng Jie's heart skip a beat.

She, who hadn't thought much of it before, deliberately dressed up carefully — under her dress she wore a pair of lace-trimmed white stockings, wrapping her fair, slender calves.

Hearing the sound of someone coming upstairs, Meng Jie immediately turned to look at Chen Yansen, a trace of hesitation and grievance in her eyes.

(End of chapter)