7: Chapter 7 [Temporary Insight] Fragment ×1

Chen Zhen took a thirty-minute nap, and after waking up, he stared blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes.

He sat up with a kip-up and moved to the desk.

Let him think...

The tasks for the afternoon were Chinese and English.

Chinese consisted of five classical Chinese reading passages, while English consisted of cloze tests and reading comprehension.

Chen Zhen was better at science subjects; his liberal arts had always been mediocre.

But after he obtained the System, the situation became a bit different.

When doing classical Chinese, if he encountered an unfamiliar content word, the system panel would pop up definitions and example sentences—

It didn't translate directly but guided him to deduce the meaning himself.

For example, the character " soldiers".

In different contexts, it could mean "soldier," "weapon," or "military affairs."

The System would list all possible interpretations for that sentence, letting Chen Zhen look at them and choose based on the context.

If he chose correctly, experience points would be added.

If he chose incorrectly, it didn't matter; the System would analyze the reason for the error.

It was just like a very patient tutor.

The same was true for English.

When he encountered long and difficult sentences, the System would break them down into subject, predicate, object, attribute, adverbial, and complement.

It would mark them in different colors, letting him reassemble them himself.

After finishing a reading passage, it would also summarize the question-setting patterns: detail questions, inference questions, main idea questions...

Two hours later, Chen Zhen completed today's liberal arts tasks.

The system panel popped up a summary at this moment:

[Chinese study 2 hours; Efficiency assessment: Good; Learning Dimension experience + 6.5]

[English study 1.5 hours; Efficiency assessment: Good; Learning Dimension experience + 5.2]

[Current Learning Dimension progress: 25.2 / 100]

[Preview: When Learning Dimension reaches Lv.2, the ability [Deep Understanding] will be unlocked]

A week passed, and the Learning Dimension was still three-quarters of the way from leveling up.

Chen Zhen leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes to rest.

The sound of cicadas came from outside the window, one sound overlapping another, long and monotonous.

Zhou Shu was no longer in the living room; she had gone to take a nap.

His mother was likely resting as well; the house was very quiet.

Chen Zhen rested for a while, then opened the system panel to check today's total progress:

[Total Cultivation: 7.83 / 100]

[Health Dimension: 13.5 / 100]

[Learning Dimension: 25.2 / 100]

[Social Dimension: 55 / 100]

[Skill Dimension: 0 / 100 (Locked)]

He calculated, in terms of the Hundred-Day Foundation Building.

There were still ninety-three days left and ninety-two points of Cultivation to go.

He needed to accumulate one point on average every day.

Chen Zhen opened his eyes and looked at the calendar on the desk.

Less than one-tenth of the summer vacation had passed; the remaining days were still long.

How does one unlock this [Skill Dimension]?

What skill to learn?

Is it similar to a specialty?

Forget it, no rush for now.

...

In the evening, his mother started preparing dinner.

Chen Zhen jumped to his mother's side.

"Mom, I'll come help too."

He helped—peeling garlic, picking vegetables, and washing rice.

While doing these, the system panel continuously popped up small experience point rewards.

Both the Health Dimension and Social Dimension were slowly climbing.

His mother talked more than usual while cooking.

"Your dad's workplace is busy lately; they say they're doing some kind of safety inspection."

"Auntie Wang upstairs' daughter got into graduate school, and it's a good school. You should learn from her! Strive to get into a good university; there's only this one year left."

"Your aunt called and said she wants to go traveling during the National Day holiday, asking if we want to join."

Chen Zhen listened to his mother talk, mostly responding with "Mm" or "Ah."

However, his mother didn't really want to chat about anything in particular when cooking; she was just talking while her hands were busy, as long as there was an audience.

When dinner was almost ready, Zhou Shu also woke up.

She rubbed her eyes and walked out of the room, still a bit dazed from just waking up.

"Xiao Shu, you're awake?" his mother turned around, "We'll be eating soon, go wash your face."

Dinner was three dishes and one soup, with smaller portions than at noon.

His mother picked up food for Zhou Shu from time to time, and also for Chen Zhen.

"Eat more; you studied for so long this afternoon, it's brain-draining."

"Alright, alright, that's enough, Mom, you eat too, you eat too."

Seeing the small mountain in his bowl growing higher and higher, Chen Zhen hurriedly said.

After finishing the meal, Zhou Shu took the initiative to wash the dishes.

His mother didn't want to always contradict the children, so she didn't stop her.

She sat on the sofa and turned on the TV; the sound of the news broadcast filled the living room.

Chen Zhen returned to his room and started the last task of the day: reading.

The range of "extracurricular books" required by the System was very broad:

Including literature, history, popular science, and even philosophy.

A few days ago, he read "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," and today he switched to "1587, a Year of No Significance."

This was a book he had dug out from his father's bookshelf, an old book with yellowed pages.

Of course, he had told his dad about it.

He flipped to the first page, and the system panel popped up a prompt as usual:

[Start Reading; Recommended focus time: 1 hour]

He took a deep breath and began to immerse himself in the text.

The text in the book had a cold, austere quality, dissecting the bureaucratic System of the late Ming Dynasty clearly and cruelly.

Chen Zhen originally didn't have much interest in history.

But the System would pop up background annotations, character relationship charts, and key event timelines while he read.

It was like adding color to a black-and-white photograph.

As he read, he suddenly understood why the System wanted him to read these.

It wasn't purely for exams, but for understanding.

Understanding the operating logic of complex Systems.

Understanding the distortion of human nature under institutions, understanding the rise, fall, and Karma of an era.

This understanding itself seemed to be a kind of Cultivation.

However, for someone like him who wasn't interested in history and rarely read books, it was even more of a kind of Cultivation.

system panel:

[Deep Reading 45 minutes; Information absorption rate: 72%]

[Learning Dimension experience + 3.8; Cultivation + 0.25]

[Extra: Obtained [Temporary Insight] Fragment × 1 (Collect 10 to synthesize a special ability)]

Yo, there's also a fragment collection System.

10 of them, huh, still need 9 more; don't know if I can collect them all within half a month.

Because he only obtained a fragment, Chen Zhen just glanced at the system panel.

His attention turned back to the book.

Unknowingly, time passed, and his mother's voice came from outside the door:

"Chen Zhen, it's getting late, don't read too late."

"Got it, Mom," he replied.

He read for another fifteen minutes, just as a chapter ended.

He closed the book, and the system panel popped up today's reading summary.

At 9:20, he had already tidied up the desk and was ready to wash up.

When Chen Zhen walked out of the room, he saw his mother still in the living room.

But the TV was already turned off; she was flipping through a family photo album.

The dim, yellowish light from the floor lamp fell on her shoulders.

Chen Zhen's footsteps paused, "Mom, why are you still in the living room?"

"I'm heading back to the room soon," his mother didn't look up, "Are you going to wash up? Go ahead."

Chen Zhen entered the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror while brushing his teeth.

His hair was a bit long; it was time for a haircut.

His complexion looked much better than a week ago, and his dark circles were so faint they were almost invisible.

His eyes... how did they seem clearer?

Don't know if it was psychological.

By the time Chen Zhen finished washing up and came out, his mother had already returned to her room.

The living room light was still on, and the photo album was spread out on the coffee table.

Chen Zhen walked over, wanting to turn off the light, when his gaze fell on the open page.

It was a photo of him in elementary school.

It was him at the school sports meet, where he took third place in the 400-meter run, with a bronze medal hanging around his neck.

He was smiling very happily, grinning, and was missing a front tooth.

The photo was a bit faded, and the edges were curled.

He looked at it for a few seconds, gently closed the album, and turned off the light.