169: Chapter 169 Digestion

"Good... morning? Old Zhou, you're living right across from me now..."

"Yeah... Instructor Lauren arranged it for me yesterday, saying we could look out for each other."

"Not bad, but I have to head out quickly. Don't think I don't know that third-years don't actually have many classes."

"Haha..." Zhou Hong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Thank you, Li Ming."

"I told you, it's what I should do..." Li Ming skipped down the stairs three steps at a time, then predictably face-planted.

"Damn..." Struggling to get up, Li Ming ran wobbling toward the teaching building.

The anesthetic was still in effect; Anshan's prescription definitely had something to it—no wonder he woke up in her bed this morning...

Wait, was Anshan still sleeping?

"Crap!"

Li Ming screeched to a halt and ran back.

Anshan and Alert probably hadn't gotten up yet; now it would be Instructor Lauren's turn to come knocking.

——————

"The results of your diagnostic test are out." Ms. Stuart walked in clicking her small high heels, holding a stack of papers. "You guys are really... something. Only three of you passed."

"First place, Anne Müller, 135 points."

The quiet girl didn't react, just continued taking her notes.

"Second place, Li Ming, 105 points."

Li Ming showed no expression, just kept looking down at his phone. Most of the questions were just linear equations in one variable; if he couldn't even do those, his middle and high school years would have been for nothing.

"Third place, Cliff Rhodes, 92 points."

Cliff looked away. Actually, he had been peeking at Li Ming's paper. It was just that Li Ming fell asleep during the second half of the exam, so Cliff couldn't see anything, and since Li Ming hadn't written a single thing for the final big questions, Cliff had to rely on himself.

Ms. Stuart sighed. "From now on, my course content will include supplementary general education. Although you might not want to learn it... you need to know that our courses are necessary."

"Alright, today we'll start with linear equations in one variable..."

Li Ming's face scrunched up. You mean we have to learn linear equations from scratch?

Forget it, better just sleep.

Sighing, Li Ming leaned down and closed his eyes to rest, only to be headshotted by Ms. Stuart with a piece of chalk.

"Li Ming, go stand in the back."

"Yes, Ms. Stuart..."

Li Ming shuffled to the back of the classroom and stood there.

A punishment like this was trivial.

He remembered once in ninth grade, he was secretly drawing while others were working on papers. The Chinese teacher, who was also the homeroom teacher, tore up his paper on the spot and said she wouldn't give him any more papers in the future.

She probably expected him to back down, but as for the final result...

For the next two weeks, she really didn't give him any papers, and he didn't ask for any, simply not doing them. Half a month later, the homeroom teacher obediently started giving him papers again.

Watching a group of adults listening to Ms. Stuart's lecture like little kids, Li Ming felt quite nostalgic. This kind of purity, untainted by knowledge, was quite rare.

Thinking this, Li Ming narrowed his eyes and fell asleep right there while standing.

"...Li Ming, you!..."

Li Ming was headshotted again, followed by bursts of uncontrollable laughter from around him.

"Go wash your face, now!"

"Yes, Ms. Stuart..." Li Ming wobbled and drifted out.

Ms. Stuart's authority was in a major crisis.

"Quiet, everyone! Alright, let's continue..." Ms. Stuart slammed the desk repeatedly.

——————

Noon.

"You, explain yourself. What's wrong with you today? Did you go and do something again yesterday?"

Ms. Stuart wasn't angry; she was just asking.

"Nothing, hehe..." Li Ming rubbed his head. "I was just drugged a bit by Anshan last night..."

Ms. Stuart ran out, her small high heels clicking rapidly.

"I haven't finished..." Li Ming reached out to stop her, but she was already far away.

Sighing, Li Ming drifted toward the cafeteria.

Twenty minutes later, Anshan walked into the cafeteria carrying Ms. Stuart, who had X_X eyes, followed by Alert with a complicated expression.

"Here, your homeroom teacher. Comfort her yourself." Anshan threw Ms. Stuart onto the seat next to Li Ming and went to get her own lunch.

"Uh..." Li Ming looked at Alert, who gave an innocent smile that said "I don't know anything," making Li Ming break into a cold sweat.

"Ms. Stuart, are you okay?" Li Ming waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Waaaah X﹏X, it's a betrayal of the master!"

"Wait, where did you learn that idiom? And how is this a betrayal of the master?" Li Ming said helplessly. "Fine, fine, what do you want to eat, Ms. Stuart? I'll go get it for you."

"I can get it myself! Don't treat me like a child!" Ms. Stuart snapped back to reality and flailed her arms at Li Ming.

Hmm, good, looks like the teacher's HP has recovered a bit.

Li Ming patted her head. "There, there, what do you want to eat?"

The 1.4-meter-tall little teacher froze on the spot, and then...

"Li Ming!!!"

Thud!

"Gwah! ———"

Cliff's jaw dropped at another table, and even Linde felt the pain just by watching.

——————

"Today we're talking about... uh, Li Ming? Li Ming, are you okay?"

Instructor Lauren looked at Li Ming, who seemed completely burnt out. He was slumped in his chair, leaning to one side with his head down, tongue sticking out, arms hanging straight down, and legs splayed out ungracefully. He looked like a corpse that had been moved there.

Cliff, on the other side, facepalmed; he was the one who had moved him.

"What happened to him?"

"He got beaten up by Ms. Stuart. The back of the chair he was sitting on was smashed to pieces," Cliff replied.

"...Forget it, never mind him. Let's continue. Today we're going to talk about the environments for using formations..."

Li Ming rubbed his stomach, feeling a little better now, and finally pulled his legs in to sit up straight.

"You're better?"

"A little..." Li Ming still had a look of utter despair.

"You brought this on yourself." Cliff rolled his eyes at him.

"Li Ming, tell me the role of fleet speed." Instructor Lauren suddenly called on him.

"It helps in seizing advantageous sea areas and positions during fleet deployment, making it easier to cross the T," Li Ming answered.

"Correct, though that's not the standard answer. On the vast ocean, speed determines the fleet's strategic mobility. A fleet with a speed advantage can choose whether or not to engage..."

Anne Müller glanced back at him, then turned back to continue listening to the lecture.

"Impressive, Li Ming. You know everything," Cliff elbowed him.

Li Ming glanced at him sideways. He did know, but crossing the T wasn't actually that useful for him anymore.

But then again, in terms of simulated combat alone, Cliff had made significant progress. Maybe soon he would be chasing Li Ming around...

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