The sun rose quietly over Jiangcheng University.
Inside Room 307, alarm clocks buzzed obnoxiously from every corner, but Lin Yi had already been up for an hour. He sat at his desk, his laptop open, eyes focused on code scrolling across the screen. His fingers moved steadily, tapping lines of logic like a pianist rehearsing a masterpiece.
His system-enhanced brain worked with new precision. What once took him two hours, he now did in twenty minutes. The Auto Tutor App had long expired, but its afterglow lingered—his understanding of programming and systems design felt natural now, like breathing.
[Daily Login Bonus Claimed: ¥1,000]
Lin Yi glanced at the floating screen with calm satisfaction before dismissing it. He no longer got excited over a thousand yuan. What mattered now was how to use what he had.
Across the room, Zhang Chao yawned and rolled off his bunk.
"Lin Yi, what are you doing? Studying again? We have Intro to Algorithms today, not an exam."
"I know," Lin Yi said without looking up.
Zhang scratched his head. "You're acting weird lately."
Lin Yi said nothing. He simply closed his laptop and tucked it into his worn backpack. It was still too early to draw attention. He had a long road ahead.
The lecture hall was already half-filled when Lin Yi arrived.
The professor, a middle-aged man named Hu Jianming, stood scribbling code onto the whiteboard.
Lin Yi quietly found a seat near the back.
Students slowly trickled in. Most weren't here to learn—they were here to not fail. Professor Hu's class was infamous for low pass rates and brutally confusing midterms.
Zhao Qing walked in with her new boyfriend, Qiao Feng, right behind her. He was dressed in branded sneakers and a flashy watch, loudly cracking jokes as they took a front-row seat.
Lin Yi didn't look their way. He simply took out his notes.
Professor Hu cleared his throat. "Today, we'll discuss recursive backtracking algorithms. Most of you probably have no idea what that means."
Laughter rippled across the room.
"Don't worry," the professor continued. "You'll still fail whether you understand or not."
More laughter.
"Here's a challenge," Hu Jianming said suddenly. "Anyone who can solve this problem—" he pointed at a complex algorithm puzzle projected on the screen "—gets a guaranteed 20 points added to their final grade."
The room went silent.
Zhao Qing leaned in toward Qiao Feng. "You're a computer science major too, right? Try it."
Qiao Feng scoffed. "That? Please. It's child's play."
He strutted up to the board, snatched the marker from the professor's hand, and began scribbling confidently. Five minutes later, he stepped back.
"Done."
Professor Hu stared at the board for a long moment… then shook his head.
"Wrong."
Qiao Feng blinked. "What?"
"You misunderstood the base case logic. Your loop would enter infinite recursion. In other words… crash."
Snickers spread through the room.
Embarrassed, Qiao Feng slinked back to his seat.
"Anyone else?" the professor asked, eyebrow raised. "Anyone brave enough to attempt what your 'rich genius' just failed?"
Silence.
Then, a quiet voice from the back.
"I'll try."
Heads turned.
Lin Yi stood up, adjusting his old hoodie. He walked to the front slowly, calmly, as if unaware of the whispers.
"Isn't that the guy who picks bottles?"
"What's he doing?"
Zhao Qing's eyes narrowed.
Lin Yi took the marker and stared at the problem. The solution was clear in his mind. The system had not only given him knowledge—it had taught him how to think.
He wrote step by step, annotating each condition, defining variables properly, and carefully creating the recursive call with its correct base and return structure.
Five minutes later, he stepped back.
Professor Hu stared at the board. Then at Lin Yi. Then back again.
"…Correct."
The room exploded.
"No way!"
"That guy solved it?"
Professor Hu looked almost amused. "What's your name again?"
"Lin Yi."
He nodded. "Lin Yi… good work. Come see me after class."
Lin Yi nodded and returned to his seat without a word. The eyes that had once only looked at him with mockery now followed him in stunned silence.
Zhao Qing frowned deeply. Qiao Feng scowled.
"What's with that guy all of a sudden?" she whispered.
"He probably cheated," Qiao Feng hissed.
But Lin Yi didn't hear them. He was already opening his notebook and taking down the next problem the professor wrote. His face was calm, focused—not smug. As if this was normal.
Because to him, now… it was.
After class, Professor Hu pulled him aside.
"You're not just smart. You think like an engineer," he said. "I'm putting you on the candidate list for the school's elite research project team."
Lin Yi blinked. "Me?"
"Don't look so surprised. Most students can't do what you did up there. If you're interested… there's a ¥5,000 monthly stipend."
Lin Yi smiled faintly.
"I'm interested."
Back at the dorm, he sat at his desk and checked the system.
[New Mission Unlocked: Join a Campus Organization – Reward: ¥20,000]
[Intelligence Level: +3]
[Academic Standing: 1st among 180 students in Major]
Lin Yi leaned back in his chair.
Step by step.
No flash.
No bragging.
Just progress—quiet, steady, powerful.
Let them wonder. Let them gossip. Let them envy.
He was just getting started.