Chapter 254: Efficiency that reaches a certain point is just ineffective growth; a lower level is better

To be honest, seeing the pop-up notification for the new task, Lin Li's heart had already skipped a beat.

He had thought the wretched system was going to continue torturing him with Beautiful Lady.

Lin Li was good at finding joy in suffering, but that didn't mean he liked to suffer. However, after reading the task description, he felt a sense of relief.

Compared to the previous two tasks, this one was much easier to accept.

And it seemed to be the final task in this series.

Lin Li raised an eyebrow slightly; it wasn't hard to notice that in every series of tasks with strong continuity, the final task's rewards always included a 【Title】.

The four titles he currently possessed, as well as 【Fruit of Persistence】 and 【Pull Up Pants and Deny】, were all given under such circumstances.

But this discovery didn't seem to have much meaning.

Lin Li looked at this title. To be honest, it was hard to judge.

What was hard to judge wasn't the title's ability, but its effect.

Damn it.

Wretched system, this title reward doesn't match the task's prologue very well, does it?

The prologue pretentiously says it's to draw a perfect conclusion to the encounter between him and Beautiful Lady, so what does rewarding him with the 【Pull Up Pants and Deny】 title mean?

This behavior of his, in the words of his mentor Song Lu, was "paying for nothing," and the nature of it was extremely vile.

However, the title's effect wasn't as ridiculous as its name.

By equipping this title, as long as he paid the price of being unable to see anyone else's face, he could completely keep his identity information secret.

This was absolutely asymmetrical.

Because according to the title's description, he should still be able to record and distinguish others by their clothing and voices, just not see their faces, but others couldn't do so through 【any】 channel.

It was suspected to be the same effect as Superman's glasses.

This would be a title that could be used in both reality and the apocalypse world.

However, this task...

"Ye Jing, does your shelter have a car?" Lin Li looked at Ye Jing.

"A car? Yes. Are you talking about the kind that still works?" Ye Jing asked after a moment of surprise.

"Yes." Lin Li nodded.

"We have two that have been modified and are in use, with the driving noise and armor minimized. There are several others that haven't been driven for a long time; I'm not sure if they have any faults. Do you need a car? Right now? If so, I'll go back and have someone drive one over immediately," Ye Jing said in a rush.

One reason for her urgency was that Lin Li's task priority was very high.

The second was that she didn't want to keep digging into Beautiful Lady's stomach.

"Fine, as long as there's a car." Lin Li nodded upon hearing this.

It was good that this world had ready-made cars.

Otherwise, if Lin Li wanted to bring a car from reality, his strength wouldn't allow for a sedan, and he didn't know if the system would recognize a bicycle or tricycle.

Although Lin Li had a "Repair Crystal" that he could use on abandoned vehicles by the roadside, it was better not to use it if he didn't have to.

As for the differences in driving between the two worlds, Lin Li felt that with his comprehension, if he let them teach him, he would learn quickly.

The first element of the task had been found, but there was another one.

"Home."

Where was Beautiful Lady's home?

Was it enough to just send her back to where he met her, or did he have to find Beautiful Lady's real, former home in this ruined Yunguang City and send her to the downstairs of that building?

Lin Li leaned toward the latter, since there still had to be some "bedtime exercise," but if it was the latter, wouldn't that be like looking for a needle in a haystack?

If Beautiful Lady was just a beggar from out of town, searching all of Yunguang City wouldn't work either.

"Ye Jing." Lin Li looked at Ye Jing again.

"Yes?"

"Can you help me determine her identity information? Most importantly, let me know where she lived—when she was alive."

Following Lin Li's hand, she looked at Beautiful Lady beside her. Ye Jing: "?"

Looking at the riddled, barely human-shaped Beautiful Lady, Ye Jing fell silent.

"This, this, I'm afraid it's a bit..." Ye Jing was in a difficult position.

"Forget it, it's indeed difficult for you. We'll talk about it later. Can you drive?" Lin Li waved his hand and asked instead.

"Yes."

"Fine. You might need to teach me how to drive the vehicles in your world later. For now, go back and bring the car over.

By the way, I don't know if I can return the car to you, but as a reward, I will return to Earth soon and help you bring back at least another batch of food, no less than this time."

Walking in this empty world was tiring enough, and the car would be useful after completing this task, so there was no need to return it.

The value of the car to the shelter was definitely much greater than gold, but it didn't matter; Lin Li could always pay a reward that satisfied them.

If two bags weren't enough, he'd bring four; if four weren't enough, he'd bring eight; if eight weren't enough, he'd ask Shi Dongchen if he wanted to fly.

"Okay, I'll go back now! It doesn't matter, no need to return it! Hu Fei... Hu Xiaojing, you stay here for now." Ye Jing set off immediately, without taking Hu Fei.

"I might have already left when you return, so like this time, just contact me via the communicator." Lin Li added.

It was unrealistic to complete this task in the remaining time. Just the time for Ye Jing to bring the car back and forth would mean he would have already returned to reality, not to mention that Lin Li still needed to find a safe place to put the things and leave.

When she drove the car over, he would be able to repay her with two boxes of food.

"Okay, no problem." Ye Jing responded as she hopped away.

Only Lin Li, Hu Fei, and Beautiful Lady remained upstairs.

Packing Beautiful Lady back into the snake-skin bag, she was still an important task-completion prop. Noticing Hu Fei staring longingly at the Xiling meatball soup, Lin Li smiled and pointed at the soup for Hu Fei:

"If you want to eat, finish it all."

"Big Brother Lin Li is my big brother!" Hu Fei smiled honestly and started eating as soon as he went up.

Lin Li looked at the system.

Equipping 【Thunder Caller】 in the secondary title slot, the effect was indeed weakened by half.

Two title slots were quite useful, counting as an extra optional buff slot. He didn't know what the result would be if 【Pull Up Pants and Deny】 took effect at 50%.

Lifting his leg, he kicked forward, the sound cutting through the air.

The "physical strength" improvement had never been obtained before, and Lin Li's feeling was very obvious.

It wasn't just having more strength than before; even when he beat his legs hard with his fists, the pain was much less than before.

It seemed the strength improvement was very hardcore, and defense was included.

If Lin Li were to kick Beautiful Lady's head again now, it definitely wouldn't be as painful as before.

Damn, if his strength keeps increasing, will the doctor find that even his nails can't be cut? That would be the end.

Before Lin Li could continue to delve into this blind spot, a crunching sound came from behind him.

Lin Li turned his head and fell into a brief silence.

Hu Fei was biting into ceramic bowl shards.

"You... can even eat this?" Lin Li asked in surprise.

"It doesn't taste good." Hu Fei shook his head.

"Then why are you still eating it?"

"Big Brother Lin Li told me to finish it all." Hu Fei chewed the ceramic shards like chocolate, his face showing difficulty, but his eyes were firm.

Lin Li: "..."

Hu Fei was stupid, but Hu Fei was obedient.

"I told you to finish the meatballs; you don't need to eat the bowl. You stay here and wait for Ye Jing; I'm leaving first, see you in a few hours." Lin Li smiled, then dragged Beautiful Lady and his other equipment away.

"Big Brother and Little Sister-in-law, have a safe journey."

After making preparations for his return just like last time, Lin Li waited for the system to automatically send him back to reality.

Looking at the time recorded on his spare phone, Lin Li did a calculation, and his brow furrowed.

The ratio was wrong.

He had stayed for the full five and a half hours. According to the 1:180 ratio, reality should have passed about 110 seconds, so 1 minute and 50 seconds would be normal.

Even if his operation was wrong, the error couldn't be a full seven seconds.

Lin Li took out a calculator and calculated based on one minute and fifty-seven seconds, finding that the time flow ratio had become 1:169, approximately 1:170.

The ratio had shrunk.

What did this mean? Did it mean that in the future, with the system's updates, the time flow would become closer? Or was it because the number of times he went became closer, or was it just random?

The system didn't speak, just kept being wretched.

Since things had come to this, he should take a shower first.

Since he couldn't figure out the reason, it was better to curse the system a few times to feel comfortable.

Morning.

After exercising, Lin Li rode his bike to school with breakfast.

The somewhat old bicycle was pedaled fast and maintained this speed the whole time.

And Lin Li, who looked like he was pedaling with all his might, was very relaxed, without any fatigue.

The improvement in physical strength was indeed very comprehensive.

His leg endurance, explosive power, and jumping ability all had significant improvements.

He could jump over 3 meters in a standing long jump without any extra movements. As for the standing vertical jump, the result was also remarkable; Lin Li couldn't measure the exact number, but his reach was a full half-meter higher than before.

Estimating, he had reached the level where he could easily dunk.

Sigh, he didn't have much time to be a human anyway; after a while, he wouldn't be able to be a human at all.

Now with this jumping ability, combined with his height, arm span, and insight, when he played basketball with those stinky brothers, wouldn't his blocks be one after another without a peep?

Lin Li decided that after the sports meet, in PE class, he would make Bai Bufan hate basketball from then on.

Stare him down and kill him.

Wasn't his cultivation just to see Bai Bufan's crying face like a flower? School.

Walking to the stairwell, today's wild history was late but truly late.

Lin Li entered from the front door and was then frightened by Wang Ze's eerie smile.

He thought there was some trick, but after Lin Li found that half the boys in the class had this expression, he suddenly remembered this was the "smile theory" from the beginning of Bufan's work week, so he followed suit and smiled.

Damn, this class could remember a casual sentence from last week until today; they were hopeless. Fortunately, there was still a chance to be divided into classes.

There was still hope.

As for Bai Bufan, no wonder he didn't tell wild history today; the wretched guy was sleeping on the desk.

He was probably staying up late again.

After handing the breakfast he bought for the girls to them, Lin Li cleared his throat and shouted at Bai Bufan:

"Bufan!"

"Abandon, abandon!" Bai Bufan was startled by the shout and sat up, immediately picking up the textbook to memorize words. "A bench, abandon!"

The way he memorized it would make Koko blush if he saw it.

!

Carefully looking around, finding that it wasn't the teacher coming but just Lin Li calling him, Bai Bufan looked at Lin Li angrily: "What!?"

Lin Li smiled and inhaled, starting to chant loudly:

"I couldn't handle the things you asked me to do this weekend. There are no waterbeds or theme rooms in the hotel this weekend, and the room can only hold four living creatures at most. You asking for eight male maidens alone is making it difficult for the front desk. You have to prepare the scented candles, whips, collars, and glycerin enemas yourself, but the hotel has already printed Bao Wei's avatar on the toys, so you can use them directly when the time comes.

I sent you a message on my phone, but you didn't answer, so I can only tell you now."

The whole class was silent.

Then they burst into laughter.

"Why is there my photo?" But Zhou Baowei couldn't laugh.

Bai Bufan: "?"

"You're slandering again! Get out!"

"Bufan, oh Bufan, you stay up late so often; I dare not imagine how short your lifespan is. You wouldn't want me, a black-haired person, to send you off, a black-haired person, would you?"

After sending the breakfast and returning to his seat, Lin Li's expression began to mourn Bai Bufan's appearance.

"It's okay, the lifespan lost from staying up late long-term is made up for by the waking time increased by staying up late long-term." Bai Bufan put the breakfast under the desk, preparing to eat it during the class meeting or Chinese class, and chose to continue lying down, saying lazily.

Lin Li: "..."

Don't say it, you really don't have to say it.

You group of people who stay up late (pointing fingers).

"And I didn't rest well not because I stayed up late, but because I had a nightmare. Last night I dreamed I was beaten by a group of people. After being scared awake, I continued to sleep, but these bastards said 'You dare to come back,' and beat me until I was flat on my back and couldn't take care of myself. I feel like I didn't sleep well at all, like I'm about to get sick."

Bai Bufan sighed sadly.

"It's okay, think on the bright side, dreams are the opposite; maybe you'll be beaten by a group of people today too." Lin Li comforted him.

"Didn't you say it's the opposite? Why am I still being beaten by a group of people?"

"In reality, you will be beaten until you are flat on your back and can't take care of yourself."

Bai Bufan: "?"

"Is your opposite direction too physical? Damn!" Bai Bufan picked up the English book and buckled it on his head. "Don't call me during morning self-study, talk to me when Koko comes."

Bai Bufan felt his right shoulder being patted.

Just as he was about to curse, remembering the previous experience, Bai Bufan sat up with a start and looked at the back right with a flattering smile—once bitten, twice shy, the lesson of "I am Xue Jian" was still fresh in his memory.

Damn.

It was Lin Li again.

In fact, Xue Jian didn't walk into the classroom until the first class meeting bell rang today, and sat at the podium table, taking a sip of tea.

"Class meeting, a few things."

"The school has checked, the weather for the next few days starting the day after tomorrow is quite good, no rain and cloudy, very suitable for holding a sports meet."

"So the first and last sports meet for our Class 4, Grade 1 will be held starting the day after tomorrow."

"I know everyone has brought mobile phones this week. If you have one, hand it in now."

The routine phone collection session.

Lin Li looked at Bai Bufan upon hearing this.

Bai Bufan was confident, elegant, and unhurried, taking out a model phone from his backpack, shaking it in front of Lin Li, and then handing it in generously.

On the way back, he gave Lin Li a charming smile.

"Well, prepared."

This was the lesson of once bitten, twice—

"Bufan, take back your model phone and hand in the real one."

Bai Bufan's pace stopped, and his smile transferred to Lin Li's face.

Turning his head slowly, Bai Bufan tried to play dumb: "Ah?"

However, Xue Jian just held the "phone" Bai Bufan handed in, pressed the power button for a long time, looked at the unresponsive phone, and then looked at him with a smile.

Bearing Principal Wang's expectations, Xue Jian also had a reason to stare at Bai Bufan!!

Bai Bufan: "..."

"Damn."

The matter was exposed, Bai Bufan admitted defeat and willingly handed over his mobile phone.

"Why does Old Jian only check my phone!" Returning to his seat, Bai Bufan looked at Xue Jian's attitude of ignoring the phones handed in by others, feeling the obvious differential treatment, and said unwillingly.

"Because your character is despicable." Lin Li sneered. "If you did some human things like me on weekdays, you wouldn't be doing no human things at all."

Bai Bufan: "..."

Someone doesn't have self-knowledge; who is too lazy to say.

Damn, if Lin Li brought a phone to the dormitory, Bai Bufan couldn't imagine what kind of strict defense it would be.

"Students who need to charge when returning them, tell me later," after the phones were collected, Xue Jian stood up directly: "I'll put the phones in the office first, Yuying, just tell everyone what you want to say."

"Okay."

Xue Jian left with a bag of phones, and Chen Yuying walked to the podium.

"Everyone, the main thing I want to mention to everyone is that I found other classes are rehearsing opening ceremony performances, so I was thinking if our class should also have one, otherwise at the opening ceremony our class will just be stupidly walking around the playground, which will be a bit boring.

It's a pity that this idea was brought up a bit late, and the sports meet is set for this week, so we can only brainstorm together to see if there is any temporary remedy. If the program can't be decided, we can also make a fuss about the clothing."

Chen Yuying said.

"What is an opening ceremony performance? Is it by class?" Someone asked curiously.

"Wait a moment, let me find the video from the previous session."

Chen Yuying opened the multimedia and then played the opening ceremony video of the previous sports meet.

At the opening ceremony, each class would walk past the rostrum one by one, and the broadcast would say, "Walking towards us is Class XX, Grade X, they are high-spirited and heroic," and then at the rostrum, each class would shout a class slogan to the principal and other leaders.

And at this time, the class could choose whether to stay at the rostrum to perform.

Not only performing for the teachers, but also for other classes waiting on the playground.

According to the recordings of previous sessions.

Some classes would send a few people or even a whole class to dance, some classes would perform a stage play without lines, and some would even dance the dragon and lion dance in front of the rostrum.

When the music "You Are Too Beautiful" played in the video, the boys in the back row were a bit dazed.

What year is it today?

In this era when the Kun dance has faded, the previous session of seniors was still trying to pass on this spark.

Tears.

Of course, this opening ceremony performance was not mandatory by the school, otherwise Wang Ze would have told everyone the week before last. In fact, many classes just shouted a slogan and then walked past directly to the next class.

"The school said that if there is a performance, it cannot exceed three minutes. After watching, does everyone have any ideas, or is there anyone who volunteers to perform?" Chen Yuying asked.

The crowd, which was still noisy, fell silent immediately.

Mainly because the time was too tight, a whole-class rehearsal project was unlikely. If only a part of the people were sent, even those willing to perform couldn't come up with a program that others could accept in a short time.

Seeing Chen Yuying's words about to fall to the ground, Lin Li couldn't bear to see this scene. Although he didn't know what to do, he still said loudly:

"Monitor, I have a plan!"

Everyone in the class looked at Lin Li.

"Don't hurt Bai Bufan." Bai Bufan warned.

"Then I have no plan." Lin Li instantly turned into a wilted eggplant.

Bai Bufan: "..."

You damn.

"Lin Li, tell me." Chen Yuying looked at him with a smile.