Chapter 80: Deep Gameplay of the System

(Minor revision to the previous chapter)

Originally, Yu Xiaoli was just probing, never expecting to knock out a big golden egg!

The huge good news made her feel as if her body had become several times lighter.

Although she could accept all of Zhai Da's "bad" traits—even if Zhai Da was "don't bully the young for being poor, don't bully the middle-aged for being poor, don't bully the old for being poor, the dead are the most important..."

That didn't mean she wasn't gratified by all of Zhai Da's "good" traits.

As they chatted, the corners of her eyes were already glistening with tears.

Afterward, Zhai Da went to wash the dishes according to the old rules, but Yu Xiaoli wanted to stop him, arguing that he should spend more time studying.

Zhai Da told Yu Xiaoli to keep a calm mind and live life as it should be lived. "If you cook, you don't wash; if you wash, you don't cook" was the family rule. Since Yu Xiaoli and Lu Wei had cooked, leaving the dishes to him was fine.

He wasn't the kind of bookworm who couldn't fit anything else in his brain just for the sake of studying.

Pushing his mother out of the kitchen, Zhai Da washed the dishes in an orderly fashion. After finishing, he didn't leave immediately but instead fished out that 【Hardman's Razor】 and the whetstone from the corner of the cupboard.

He didn't know how to sharpen a knife, but he could Baidu it on his phone.

He didn't have complex tools, just a whetstone and those common items found in the kitchen.

Making do with what he had, he just messed around with it; after all, he wasn't trying to grind out a peerless blade.

Or rather, for a gadget used to shave that would reduce pain, making it too sharp would be dangerous instead.

By the way, this was also an attempt.

He had never systematically changed the "material form" of 【Equipment】 like this before.

The stains on the handle were cleaned off. The rust on the blade didn't actually spread to the edge visually, but for safety's sake, it was better to sharpen the whole thing.

White vinegar, baking soda, and rapeseed oil were all useful things, and they were all in the kitchen. If he felt the friction wasn't enough, he could add some salt or sugar.

And when Zhai Da had been sharpening for ten minutes, it seemed the amount of material lost by this 【Equipment】 exceeded a certain threshold, and Zhai Da actually received a system prompt.

"Detected that 【Hardman's Razor】 is being modified... Equipment effect disabled (temporarily)..."

Zhai Da was stunned and stopped his movements.

"Detected that 【Hardman's Razor】 modification is complete, re-evaluating..."

"Integrity evaluation... Functionality evaluation... Conceptual evaluation..."

"Evaluation passed, 【Hardman's Razor】 status remains unchanged."

Zhai Da pondered for a moment...

So... equipment can be modified!

What would happen if it failed? Completely destroyed?

Or... were there other possibilities?

Zhai Da continued to sharpen. A few minutes later, it seemed he exceeded a certain threshold again, and he received the system prompt again: Being modified, effect disabled...

Once he stopped, it evaluated as successful again.

Clearly, just sharpening to remove rust wouldn't result in any other outcome.

The integrity, functionality, and concept of the 【Hardman's Razor】 hadn't changed.

Zhai Da was thoughtful. He threw the 【Hardman's Razor】 into a mineral water bottle and then poured in "rapeseed oil" according to the tutorial.

Tomorrow, he would take it out and pass it over a fire, and this 【Hardman's Razor】 would be reborn. He would try it himself first; if it really wasn't of much use, he could temporarily lend it to Fan Junwei.

He had already used the brute-force method in his system space; 【Hardman's Razor】 couldn't be synthesized with anything currently in his hands, and its effect was also quite annoying.

It was originally a small task done on a whim. If it weren't for Fan Junwei, he probably wouldn't have really used this thing, wouldn't even have bothered to sharpen it, just tossed it aside waiting for some year or month to synthesize it and be done with it.

But at this moment, it gave Zhai Da a brand-new understanding of the system.

【Sets】, 【Modification】... these were undoubtedly deeper ways to play with the system.

If a razor could be modified... what about a bicycle? A deck of playing cards?

But he had neither the tools nor the technique... he couldn't just grind a blade out of a bicycle...

Zhai Da thought again of "Grandpa's Metalworking Notes," which were currently sitting idle on the bookshelf because he couldn't understand them.

That might be an important key.

The rest of the night was calm and efficient, entirely focused on studying.

Zhai Da and Lu Wei took turns using the 【Literary Girl's Pen】, then guided each other, progressing together.

Lu Wei was responsible for math and physics; Zhai Da was responsible for Chinese and English.

That "working hard together" at the dinner table was by no means Lu Wei being polite; the two's combination was truly excellent.

By the way, Zhai Da also tried the 【Undying Lightbulb】 he obtained today. He stepped on a stool, unscrewed the original lightbulb on the ceiling, and replaced it. The interface on the ceiling was also quite old, and it fit this piece of equipment perfectly.

Then he discovered it really could light up... but it was also really dim.

To what extent? He felt that lighting a lighter was better than this lightbulb.

In the end, Zhai Da just bit the bullet and accepted it. Although the effect of preventing distraction and carelessness was hard to notice and couldn't be brought into the college entrance exam hall, at least it could increase the efficiency of him and Lu Wei studying in his room.

For serious lighting, he still had to rely on the desk lamp.

At one o'clock in the morning, the two took showers one after another. When Zhai Da came out of the bathroom, it was already completely quiet outside.

He lay on the bed, fully relaxed, and stretched. His hip, which had been pulled, still hurt a bit. In the darkness, Zhai Da kept kicking his legs, trying to loosen up whatever tendon it was.

"Zhai Da..."

Lu Wei's voice sounded through the wall.

"Hmm?"

"Let's go to the same university..."

In the narrow room next door, Lu Wei faced the wall, waiting for a response.

Her voice always lacked too much emotion, to the point that even Zhai Da, who possessed a mature soul, couldn't clearly distinguish the real reason behind her words.

Was it because of nervousness, or because of encouragement?

Was it because of fear, or because of politeness?

Or perhaps...

Was it because of friendship, or because of love?

Zhai Da also felt in his heart that it would be great if he and Lu Wei were at the same university.

But this kind of "great" shouldn't be achieved by sacrificing Lu Wei's future.

Doing such a thing would lead to people pointing at his spine and cursing him.

Making it seem like I don't want to...

Zhai Da could think this way, but he couldn't express it.

He still had to force himself to stand from the perspective of being "rational, neutral, and objective" to persuade her, because he knew that if he brought it up, Lu Wei wouldn't be able to refuse.

"Do you know how much of a change the boost from Beijing University or Qinghua University can bring to one's life? Your lower limit will be higher than many people's upper limit."

"Qinghua, Beijing University... are they really that important?"

"... Of course."

"You haven't been to them either."

Zhai Da:...

There was only another long silence.

In the small room, Lu Wei reached out her slender, pale hand and touched the texture on the wall: "The same university."

Zhai Da thought to himself that chatting with a broken record was really tiring. He turned over and said, "It's still too early to talk about this... We'll fill out the applications after we know our scores. Let's play a song and sleep... What do you want to listen to?"

"The same university."

"If you don't speak, I'm playing 'Tan Te' (Anxious)."

Lu Wei:...

"Then... 'Zhi Zu' (Contentment)."

There wasn't much of a range to choose from; Zhai Da's knockoff phone only had the few dozen songs he had copied into it before.

As a habit for the two before sleep, they had listened to them countless times over and over. Occasionally, when they encountered a good one, Lu Wei would ask Zhai Da the name of the song.

Before long, the soft singing came through the wall.

On both sides, the movement gradually ceased.

Only the screen of the knockoff phone remained lit, scrolling through the lyrics.

"How to possess a rainbow..."

"How to embrace the wind of a summer..."

"The stars in the sky laugh at the people on the ground~ always unable to understand, unable to feel content..."

"We will... the same university..."

The whisper the young girl said to the wall became the final ripple of the night.

It stirred in the heart of Zhai Da, who actually hadn't fallen asleep and was lying there with his eyes open. ===== CHAPTER 81 =====