69: Chapter 69 Advice on Taking on Disciples

Tuesday, 7:30 AM. Chen Zhen stepped into the classroom.

As soon as he sat down, Zhang Meng leaned over and lowered his voice: "Did you hear? Zhou Rui had a fight with Old Zhao in the office yesterday."

"What about?"

"He questioned Old Zhao about why only two people were selected, claiming the selection was unfair, and that his grades were clearly better than yours and Chen Hao's."

Zhang Meng winked and gestured.

"In the end, Old Zhao just slapped the selection scorecard down in front of him. Guess what happened?"

Chen Zhen didn't guess.

Zhang Meng couldn't hold it in himself: "He was first in the written test and first in the interview. But in the psychological evaluation column, he was given a C."

"C?"

"The psychology teacher said he was 'excessively paranoid with abnormal social tendencies' and recommended postponing his selection." Zhang Meng clicked his tongue. "This guy is too stubborn; he argued with the professor over two questions during the interview and offended him."

Chen Zhen glanced at the back row.

Zhou Rui was sitting there, head down, reading a book, as if nothing had happened.

But his aura felt wrong.

It was more "chaotic" than yesterday. Within that clean and transparent structure, some tiny static had appeared.

Anger, and also unwillingness.

"Chen Zhen."

Su Xiaoya from the front desk turned around and handed him a piece of paper: "Physics competition registration form. Old Li asked the class representative to distribute them. Are you participating?"

Chen Zhen took it and glanced at it.

National High School Physics Competition. City preliminary in late October, provincial semi-finals in December, national finals next March.

"I'm signing up," Chen Hao turned around from the front row. "Together?"

Chen Zhen thought for a moment: "Sure."

"Then I'll sign up too," Su Xiaoya raised her hand.

Zhang Meng wailed from the back row: "You're all signing up? Why am I, a sports student, joining in on the fun..."

"You can sign up for fun," Su Xiaoya said.

Zhang Meng rolled his eyes.

The first class was Old Li's physics.

Old Li was in his fifties with graying hair; he lectured at a measured pace, but every sentence hit the mark.

Today he was teaching comprehensive electromagnetism, and the blackboard was covered with electric field lines and magnetic field lines.

After finishing an example problem, he put down the chalk and scanned the classroom.

"Who can come up and solve this problem?"

Silence fell below.

This kind of problem was at a competition level, and students in a regular class generally couldn't solve it.

Old Li's gaze swept across the classroom and finally landed on Chen Zhen.

"Chen Zhen, you come up."

Chen Zhen stood up and walked to the podium.

He picked up the chalk and glanced at the problem.

The motion of a charged particle in a composite field, involving electric force, Lorentz force, and circular motion—three intersecting knowledge points—was indeed competition-level difficulty.

But with one glance, he had already automatically constructed the model in his mind.

[Knowledge Fusion] activated, and all relevant knowledge points connected instantly.

He set pen to paper.

Six lines of formulas, one sketch, three steps of derivation.

The whole process took less than three minutes.

When he put down the chalk, there was dead silence below.

Old Li stared at the blackboard for five seconds.

Then he smiled.

"The answer is correct, and the methodology is even more concise than the reference solution."

He looked at Chen Zhen: "Did you study this yourself over the summer break?"

"I read a few books."

Old Li nodded and didn't ask further.

But Chen Zhen noticed that Zhou Rui in the back row was staring intensely at the lines of formulas on the blackboard.

His aura had become even more chaotic.

The bell rang, and Chen Zhen went to the restroom.

When he came out, Zhou Rui was standing in the hallway, blocking his path.

"Your solution to that problem," he stared at Chen Zhen, "why did you choose a 45-degree angle for the decomposition of the electric force?"

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"The result of the force analysis."

"That's not right." Zhou Rui shook his head. "Conventional methods would choose 30 or 60 degrees because the magnetic field direction is at a 30-degree slant. You chose 45 degrees because you determined from the start that the particle's final trajectory was a circle, and 45 degrees simplifies the subsequent calculations the most."

Chen Zhen didn't speak.

Zhou Rui stepped forward: "How did you determine that? The problem didn't give that information at all."

People were coming and going in the hallway, but no one paid attention to this side.

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"Intuition."

Zhou Rui was stunned for a moment.

Then his expression changed.

It wasn't anger, but a more complex emotion.

Confusion, unwillingness, and a little… excitement.

"Intuition," he repeated the word. "You solve problems using intuition?"

"Sometimes."

Zhou Rui was silent for a few seconds.

Then he nodded.

"Understood."

He turned and left.

Chen Zhen stood in place, watching his retreating figure.

[System Prompt: The target individual's interest in you has increased significantly]

[Suggestion: Keep your distance, or… consider taking them as an apprentice]

Apprenticeship?

Chen Zhen shook his head, brushing the thought aside.

Now was not the time to think about this.

The third period in the afternoon was P.E. class.

For the third year of high school, P.E. was basically free activity.

Zhang Meng dragged Chen Zhen to play basketball.

"Come on, come on, we're short on people."

Chen Zhen was dragged onto the basketball court.

Opposing them were a few boys from the next class. The leader was over 1.8 meters tall, muscular, and rumored to be a key player on the school basketball team.

"Zhang Meng, did your class manage to get enough people?" The boy dribbled the ball over, scanning Chen Zhen. "Who's this? New kid?"

"My seatmate, Chen Zhen," Zhang Meng said. "He's a top student, don't bully him too hard."

The boy laughed: "A top student? That's perfect, let him see what real strength is."

The whistle blew, and the game began.

Zhang Meng jumped for the ball and lost. The opposing key player took the ball, crossed over with a change of direction, and charged straight to the basket.

Chen Zhen stood outside the three-point line, not moving.

The ball went in.

"Defend him!" Zhang Meng shouted.

Chen Zhen nodded.

The next round, the opposing key player took the ball again. This time he charged straight at Chen Zhen, a smile on his face: "Top student, let me teach you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the ball was gone.

He hadn't even seen how Chen Zhen moved.

He only felt a blur before his eyes, and the ball in his hands was gone.

By the time he reacted, Chen Zhen was already standing outside the three-point line, raising his hand.

The ball traced an arc in the air.

Swish.

The whole court fell silent for two seconds.

"Holy crap!" Zhang Meng was the first to shout. "Chen Zhen, since when could you play basketball?"

Chen Zhen didn't answer.

He just looked at the opposing key player.

The man's expression changed from surprise to unwillingness, and then to… doubting his own existence.

[Physical Optimization] + [Spirit Control Perfection] + [Spiritual Resonance].

Playing basketball was as simple as children's play compared to object control training.

For the next ten minutes, the opposing key player never touched the ball again.

Chen Zhen stole, assisted, shot three-pointers, and drove to the basket.

Everything he did worked.

He was like a precision machine; every shot was just right, and every defensive move was an accurate prediction.

The final score was 32 to 8.

Chen Zhen scored 25 points by himself.

When the whistle blew, the opposing key player stood there, looking dazed.

Zhang Meng rushed over and hugged Chen Zhen: "You kid, you were hiding your skills!"

Chen Zhen patted his shoulder and walked to the sidelines.

In the shade of the trees, a few girls were watching.

Su Xiaoya was sitting among them, holding a water bottle. Seeing him walk over, she was stunned for a moment, then handed it to him.

"You played well."

Chen Zhen took the water bottle and took a sip.

After school, Chen Zhen packed his bag, ready to leave.

Chen Hao stopped him: "That problem, that solution of yours, can you teach it to me?"

"Which one?"

"The one in physics class."

Chen Zhen looked at him.

Chen Hao's expression was very serious, and he adjusted his glasses: "I thought about it all afternoon, but I couldn't figure out how you determined the 45 degrees."

Chen Zhen thought for a moment, pulled a piece of scratch paper from his bag, and drew a few strokes on it.

"Look." He pointed at the sketch. "The direction of the electric force is fixed, and the direction of the Lorentz force changes with velocity. But in this problem, the particle's final trajectory is a circle. The symmetry of the circle dictates that the calculation is only simplest when the direction of the electric force component is perpendicular to the line connecting to the center of the circle."

Chen Hao stared at the draft for a dozen seconds.

Then he raised his head, a hint of realization in his eyes.

"You… used geometric symmetry?"

"Yes."

Chen Hao was silent for a few seconds.

"Where did you learn this?"

"I thought of it myself."

Chen Hao glanced at him and didn't ask again.

But he carefully folded that piece of scratch paper and put it in his pocket.

"Thank you."

Returning home in the evening, Chen Zhen received a text message.

From an unknown number.

"I am Zhou Rui. Add me on WeChat."

Chen Zhen looked at the text, thought for a moment, saved the number, but didn't reply.

Five minutes later, another one came.

"I know you have a secret. Not the kind of ordinary secret. The real kind."

Chen Zhen stared at the screen.

Is this guy sick?

He replied: "What do you want?"

Zhou Rui replied instantly: "I don't want anything. I just want to tell you that I won't tell anyone."

"Why?"

"Because I want to learn too."

Chen Zhen looked at the message and remained silent for a long time.

He remembered the System prompt: "Suggestion: Consider taking an apprentice."

He thought of Chen Yuanshan, Engineer Zhou, and Professor Yang.

They all had their own "Legacy."

Apprenticeship?

A third-year high school student taking another third-year student as an apprentice?

Who would believe that?

He put down his phone and didn't reply.

But the thought kept swirling in his mind.

At eleven o'clock, Chen Zhen finished his Cultivation and lay on the bed.

The phone lit up again.

Zhou Rui sent the final message:

"No need to rush to reply. I know you won't trust people easily, but I have plenty of time."

Chen Zhen stared at the screen for a few seconds.

Then he turned off the phone and closed his eyes.

Wednesday.

During morning reading class, Chen Zhen was studying English words when a note was passed from the front row.

Chen Hao's writing: "Are you free after school? Going to the Library?"

Chen Zhen replied: "Sure." The note was passed back.

Zhang Meng leaned over from the back row and whispered: "What are you going to the Library for? Studying?"

"What else?"

Zhang Meng rolled his eyes: "Fine, I don't understand the world of top students."

Su Xiaoya from the front desk turned around: "I'm going too."

Zhang Meng raised his hand: "Then what about me?"

"You?" Su Xiaoya smiled. "Didn't you say you were going to train?"

Zhang Meng was stunned: "How did you know I was going to train?"

"You change into sportswear every day after the third period. Do you think I'm blind?"

Zhang Meng shut up.

After school, the three of them walked to the Library together.

Passing by the basketball court, Chen Zhen glanced over.

The key player who had been crushed yesterday was practicing shooting alone; he shot ten and made three.

His aura was very low.

Frustration, unwillingness, self-doubt.

Chen Zhen withdrew his gaze and kept walking.

The Library was on the third floor, and there weren't many people in the afternoon.

They found a spot by the window and sat down, each reading their own book.

Chen Hao took out his physics competition problems, Su Xiaoya took out her Chinese reading material, and Chen Zhen pulled Engineer Zhou's notes from his bag.

Of course, the cover was wrapped in a book jacket, making it look like a regular reference book.

After flipping through a few pages, [Anomaly Perception] suddenly pulsed.

Downstairs, someone was approaching.

The aura was very familiar.

That clean, transparent structure.

Zhou Rui.

He was coming upstairs.

Chen Zhen didn't look up and kept reading.

The footsteps got closer and closer. Then, a figure sat down opposite him.

Zhou Rui.

He placed his bag on the table, pulled out a physics competition problem book, opened it, and started solving problems.

He didn't say a word the whole time.

Chen Hao looked up at him, then looked at Chen Zhen, his expression complex.

Su Xiaoya was stunned for a moment, but she didn't speak either.

Four people, one table, as quiet as four strangers.

But Chen Zhen knew this was just the beginning.

At five-thirty, Chen Zhen packed his things, ready to leave.

Zhou Rui also closed his book and stood up.

The two of them walked out of the Library one after the other.

In the hallway, Zhou Rui caught up with him and walked side by side.

"What book were you reading?" he asked.

"A reference book."

"No," Zhou Rui said. "The cover is a reference book, but the sound of the page turning is wrong. Reference books are on coated paper; that one of yours is regular paper. And the frequency of your page-turning—one page every two and a half minutes—that's not reading, that's looking up information."

Chen Zhen stopped and looked at him. Zhou Rui stopped too.

"You observe very carefully."

"I'm used to it," Zhou Rui said. "I'm sensitive to all anomalies."

Chen Zhen was silent for a few seconds.

"What exactly do you want?"

Zhou Rui looked at him, his eyes as clear as glass.

"I want to know why you can be so fast."

"What's so fast?"

"Everything," Zhou Rui said. "Solving problems fast, playing basketball fast, reacting fast. There is something about you that is different from others. I want to know what that is."

Chen Zhen didn't speak.

Zhou Rui didn't rush him either, just stood there waiting.

The sunset shone in from the window at the end of the hallway, casting long shadows on the ground.

The silence lasted for half a minute.

Then Chen Zhen spoke.

"Do you believe that there are supernatural things in this world?"

Zhou Rui was stunned for a moment.

Then he smiled.

That was the first time Chen Zhen had seen him smile.

"I have been waiting for someone to ask me this question."

Eight o'clock in the evening, Secret Base.

Chen Zhen sat cross-legged in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array; twenty-five Hetian jade pebbles emitted a warm, gentle light, and three spiritual plants surrounded him.

He was thinking about Zhou Rui's words.

"I have been waiting for someone to ask me this question."

Zhou Rui's answer was more convincing than any explanation.

He had been sensitive since he was a child.

He could see colors others couldn't see, hear sounds others couldn't hear, and feel emotions others couldn't feel.

His parents had taken him to see countless doctors, who all said there was no problem, just an overactive imagination.

But he knew it wasn't.

He knew what he saw was real.

It's just that no one believed him.

Until today.

Chen Zhen didn't answer him, only saying: "If you really want to know, tomorrow after school, Riverside, under the old willow tree."

Then he left.