Chapter 44: Who says you can't study while running?

"Secret crush? How did I know?"

Liu Miaomiao looked at Lu Mingfei with some disbelief.

"You were just one step away from hanging a sign on your chest during the Monday morning assembly that said 'I like Chen Wenwen' and jumping up to announce it out loud!"

"It's not that exaggerated, is it..."

Lu Mingfei felt a bit ashamed and gulped, "To be honest, I've always felt that, aside from the possibility that Chen Wenwen might have vaguely sensed it, I was hiding it quite well..."

"That's true."

Liu Miaomiao was almost laughed into anger, "From the perspective of the entire city, your concealment was indeed very successful; it's just that people in a 'small' place like Shilan Middle School knew about it!"

Lu Mingfei was struck as if by a bolt from the blue; his pupils shook, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Liu Miaomiao, I'm telling you, don't scare me; I'm a coward and can't handle being scared! Doesn't our school strictly forbid puppy love? If it had reached that level, why wouldn't the dean of students have come to find..."

Halfway through his sentence, Lu Mingfei realized it himself—the school forbids puppy love, not secret crushes. To reach that level, he would probably have to go into Red Alert and ask Dr. Yuri for some technical assistance.

So, there was naturally no need to worry about a secret crush that was basically impossible to succeed; it was better to avoid adding more trouble.

"Figured it out?" Liu Miaomiao asked.

"Figured it out..." Lu Mingfei scratched his hair.

He felt inexplicably irritated, a bit... angry?

But why would he be angry?

Logically, this shouldn't be the case. It wasn't as if being looked down upon was a one-day or two-day occurrence; there hadn't been many people in his life who looked at him properly, so after all these years, what difference would one more time make?

Facing this situation, his most normal reaction should be to feel utterly dejected, then find an internet cafe to bury himself in playing StarCraft, finding a sliver of psychological comfort while ravaging his opponents... thereby escaping reality.

But this time, when the dejection that usually clung to him like bone-deep gangrene struck again, it was dispelled by that nameless fire in the depths of his heart.

A weak match naturally cannot cope with a splash of cold water, but the Lu Mingfei of today is no longer that ordinary match of the past.

He is working hard to become stronger, gaining power that he can physically feel and that belongs entirely to him.

Lu Mingfei hadn't even realized this point himself, but "when one possesses a sharp weapon, the desire to kill arises"; after becoming stronger, confidence naturally arrived as promised!

If being "looked down upon" is cold water, then "confidence" is a hot fire. How could a rising hot fire be extinguished by a little cold water? It would only burn more fiercely after a "hissing" sound!

Lu Mingfei's voice was low when he said this, and coupled with his habitual hair-scratching gesture, Liu Miaomiao thought he had been hit hard and was feeling dejected. This fit the personality of Lu Mingfei in her impression.

So after thinking about it, she still raised her hand and poked Lu Mingfei.

"Don't be depressed. The past is the past, and now is now. You are studying so hard, and with your talent for the piano, as long as you persist and don't give up, it won't even take half a year! In a month, you'll make them drop their jaws, and even make Chen Wenwen regret it!"

Lu Mingfei lowered his hand from his hair and looked at Liu Miaomiao, somewhat dazed.

The only beam of light in the darkness—that was a lifeline.

The Chen Wenwen of the past had played such a role in Lu Mingfei's life—

That afternoon, the setting sun slanted across the newly replaced desks, the creepers outside the window hung down, and the evening between spring and summer was exceptionally quiet.

There were only the two of them in the classroom; Lu Mingfei was erasing the blackboard, and Chen Wenwen was sitting on the podium humming a song, when she suddenly turned her head to ask him, saying, "Do you want to join our Literature Club?"

The Lu Mingfei of the past had wished for time to stop at that moment, so that the gaze between him and Chen Wenwen would be eternal.

He had also once thought that no other scene could compare to that moment, which was etched into his heart.

But now, Lu Mingfei knew he was wrong, wrong to an outrageous degree—

The cold wind rolled snow particles as it rampaged through the corridor; Liu Miaomiao's scarf was blown until its corners fluttered, and the goose-yellow fluff brushed against his ear. In this instant, all the howling and noise fell silent, and only that touch of warmth dispelled all the cold.

What kind of mood Chen Wenwen was in when she invited him to join the Literature Club two years ago, Lu Mingfei no longer had any way of knowing, nor did he want to investigate further.

But at this very moment, when Liu Miaomiao said these words to him, the trust and comfort in her tone, under 【Emotion Perception】, could not be faked in the slightest!

【Warning, electric shock countdown...】

Lu Mingfei shivered; the time had dragged on too long, and the electric shock button on the Schedule was stirring!

But bearing such trust from Liu Miaomiao, it would be too excessive not to respond.

His brain twitched, and he raised his hand to pat Liu Miaomiao on the head.

"Got it! Don't worry, whether Chen Wenwen regrets it or not doesn't matter... at the very least, I have to make others feel that your judgment is fine!"

After saying this, he didn't wait for Liu Miaomiao to react, turned around, and ran away in a puff of smoke.

Liu Miaomiao stood stunned in place for at least three or four seconds; she subconsciously touched the spot on her head where Lu Mingfei had just touched her. The scorching heat she felt then seemed to still linger, so hot that she subconsciously pulled her hand back.

"Wha... what do you mean by making others feel my judgment is fine? What does my judgment have to do with you!"

Her face was flushed red, and she finally reacted.

But Lu Mingfei had already run into the classroom under the threat of electric shock. If they started messing around again in the classroom, he feared it would be "confirmed" even more severely, and it even had a flavor of being "unscrupulous"...

"If you have the guts, don't go home tonight!" Liu Miaomiao stomped her foot and headed toward the classroom.

Learning, for Lu Mingfei, was no longer the torture it had been in the past.

When any act of slacking off or dragging one's feet could be completely prevented, and he could easily enter a state of "Flow State" of complete focus and extremely high efficiency regardless of which subject he was studying, the only thing Lu Mingfei needed to struggle with was "which subject to study."

After looking at the Data Panel, except for during class when he couldn't change the subject and had to follow the curriculum, Lu Mingfei chose to devote all remaining Self-study time to 【Physics】.

This morning, before he had started studying, Lu Mingfei's Physics Proficiency panel was—

【Physics LV0—Proficiency 66/100】

Compared to other subjects, the proficiency of Physics was actually the one furthest from leveling up.

But Lu Mingfei still chose Physics; he had a reason for doing so—after Physics leveled up, the resulting entry would likely have a direct help in improving his "combat power"!

Although it sounded a bit strange for a student to focus on "combat power," Lu Mingfei had no other choice; last night, he had truly and clearly seen the face of the "real world."

At that time, there was the flammable and explosive Senior Brother Chu standing in front, but what if he encountered it alone, what if?

Using 【Explosive Sprint】 to run away directly would only last ten seconds at most. Adding 【Ming Jin: First Layer】 was only a temporary burst, and both had huge side effects. If he didn't win, wouldn't he be finished?

Without even having his "three axes" gathered, Lu Mingfei naturally had no sense of security.

But until three o'clock in the afternoon, when 【Warning, the 【Basketball Training】 plan time has arrived, please immediately head to the destination Qingning Basketball Hall...】 appeared before his eyes, Lu Mingfei's 【Physics】 proficiency had only increased by thirty points.

96/100, just four points away!

Lu Mingfei was so frustrated he almost vomited blood, but he still honestly packed up his things.

When he picked up a palm-sized "Handbook of Physics Formulas and Laws," his movements paused, and a bright idea struck him—

"If I memorize formulas and laws while Running, and look at some practice problems to think through the solutions, that should count as Learning and add to my Proficiency, right?"

"Whatever, I'll just try it and see!"

Working hard on typing right now! Daily request for follow-up reads and monthly tickets!

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(End of chapter)