15: Chapter 15 Buying a Cell Phone

Time passed bit by bit.

Chen Fan was immersed in his own rhythm, chapter after chapter.

By four o'clock in the morning, the tapping sound finally slowed down.

Chen Fan stretched his stiff neck and glanced at the bottom right corner of the screen.

Word count: 50,123.

Fifty thousand.

After writing for such a long time, Chen Fan was exhausted, and his fingers felt slightly unnatural from the prolonged keyboard tapping.

Finally, he could test the efficacy of the energy potion.

He mentally communicated with the system, wanting to take out the energy potion.

[Ding, please extract in an unobservable location.]

The system's notification sound suddenly rang out. Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, then, as if remembering something, he looked up and indeed saw a surveillance camera in the upper right corner.

"Holy crap, good thing the system gave a warning." Chen Fan felt a wave of lingering fear.

If the system hadn't warned him, and he had taken it out directly only to be caught on camera, he would probably be dragged off for research tomorrow.

Chen Fan stood up, stretched his stiff legs, and then walked slowly toward the restroom.

He walked into a stall and locked the door.

This should be safe enough.

He communicated with the system again.

This time, the system didn't give a warning. A blue bottle, made of some unknown material, appeared in his hand. It was very small, about the size of a pinky finger.

Chen Fan stared at the bottle for two seconds.

Such a small bottle, does it really work?

He twisted off the cap—

A faint, refreshing fragrance drifted out. He couldn't describe the scent; it was a bit like mint, and a bit like morning dew mixed with the scent of grass. Just by smelling it, Chen Fan felt his previously groggy brain clear up a bit.

He didn't hesitate any longer and tilted his head back, downing it in one gulp.

As the liquid in the bottle disappeared, the bottle in Chen Fan's hand also vanished.

Noticing this, Chen Fan was inwardly delighted. The system was great; it even handled the cleanup.

He didn't have to worry about the bottle clogging the sewer or being discovered by anyone—there were no traces left; it was perfectly clean.

Just then, Chen Fan felt a cool current flow from somewhere into his limbs and bones. His whole being instantly became energized, like the first sip of water after being thirsty all summer day, like a breeze suddenly blowing into a stuffy classroom, like the moment of waking up naturally after a full eight hours of sleep—

He felt alive from the inside out.

He was stunned for a moment and stretched his neck.

It wasn't sore anymore.

He clenched his fists again.

His fingers weren't trembling, and the swollen feeling in his joints had also disappeared.

Chen Fan stared at himself in the mirror for two seconds.

His eyes—

He had stayed up all night, and his eyeballs were full of red bloodshot veins, like a rabbit.

But now, the whites of his eyes were clean, clear, and distinct, as if he had slept for a full twelve hours.

He leaned closer to the mirror to take a careful look.

They were really gone.

He blinked, then blinked again. Not a single bloodshot vein remained, and even the eye bags from staying up late had faded significantly.

He washed his face and walked out of the restroom. Returning to his seat, he checked the time—4:35 AM.

In the past, he would have collapsed and fallen asleep by this time. But now, he was as energetic as if it were eight in the morning, and a thought even popped into his head:

Write another twenty thousand?

Without hesitation, Chen Fan's fingers continued to tap on the keyboard.

By 6:30, he stretched his neck and looked at the screen.

Word count: 70,234.

Seventy thousand.

Adding the previous fifty thousand, he had written a total of seventy thousand words today.

He stretched his fingers and clenched his fists again.

No soreness, no swelling, no trembling.

He stood up and jumped twice. His body felt light, his mind clear, and his eyes bright, just as if he had just had a full eight hours of sleep.

He had been writing all night without the slightest feeling of fatigue.

Chen Fan couldn't help but laugh out loud.

This [energy potion] is truly awesome.

He wondered if there would still be [energy potion] after the shop refreshed today.

He immediately opened the shop to check.

None.

The energy potion didn't refresh, but something Chen Fan wanted to buy appeared.

[High School Physics Proficiency]

[High School Biology Proficiency]

These two actually came together.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan couldn't afford either of them.

...

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

Around 10:00 AM on Sunday, after finishing breakfast, Chen Fan prepared to set off for the county.

According to his usual habits, he would normally set off in the afternoon, but he and his parents were going to the county early today to hang out with classmates in the county town.

His father, Chen Jianjun, even gave him an extra 50 yuan.

In reality, Chen Fan was going early to buy a mobile phone and, by the way, get a SIM card.

An hour and a half later, Chen Fan had arrived at the largest shopping mall in the county.

On the first floor of the mall, there were dedicated counters for various major mobile phone brands.

Chen Fan looked around, and soon found the Nokia counter.

Arriving at the counter, a woman around 30 years old was sitting in front of the counter cracking melon seeds.

Arriving at the counter, the woman glanced sideways at Chen Fan without making any move, continuing to crack melon seeds.

Chen Fan wasn't angry. With his student appearance, others would surely think he was just looking and had no intention of buying, so it was normal for her to ignore him.

When he actually wanted to buy, she would immediately become very enthusiastic.

Seeing Chen Fan continuously looking at the phones inside the counter, the woman finally stopped cracking melon seeds. "Young man, are you looking to buy a mobile phone?"

"Yeah." Chen Fan nodded.

She pushed the bag of melon seeds aside, stood up, and the perfunctory smile on her face instantly changed into an enthusiastic expression—the speed of the change stunned Chen Fan for a moment.

Hearing that Chen Fan wanted to buy a phone, the woman's attitude changed immediately. She threw away the melon seeds in her hand, stood up, and said enthusiastically, "Young man, which model do you like? Let me introduce them to you."

"I want a phone that can make calls, send texts, and go online, one that was released within the last two years."

The woman's eyes lit up. She leaned over and took out a few sample phones from the counter, placing them one by one in front of Chen Fan.

"Released this year? There are plenty of those. This 6303c, released in June, stainless steel casing, 3.2-megapixel camera, and it can play music—" She said, handing the phone to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan took it and held it; the feel was indeed good.

Seeing that he was interested, the woman picked up another one: "This E63, it has a full keyboard, typing is super fast, suitable for students like you to send texts, and it can go online and send emails."

As the woman introduced it, Chen Fan looked at the Nokia E63. Unlike other candy-bar phones with 9-key keypads, this one had a full keyboard with dozens of keys, looking a bit like a miniature computer keyboard.

In fact, while browsing the internet a while ago, Chen Fan had done his research and consulted on some forums and message boards. This E63 was quite suitable for his current stage, as it had all the basic functions.