Chapter 96 What kind of man wants Izanagi?

Buzz, buzz, buzz, in the dimly lit room, the alarm clock rang.

Jiang Nian opened his eyes, terribly sleepy. Last night, he had tackled the multiple-choice questions of the Golden Sun math paper. He had been stumped by the ninth sub-question, and could barely do any of the subsequent ones.

In the morning, while brushing his teeth in the bathroom, Jiang Nian clicked open the task panel again.

He had been too tired last night, only briefly glancing at the rewards. Seeing nothing good, he had gone to sleep. Now was a good time to examine the tasks carefully and study them.

“Standing at the crossroads of thirty-eight, fitness is showing initial results, and weight has returned to 70 kilograms. Small gifts are lubricants to draw people closer. Please continue to maintain a good relationship with Xu Qianqian.

Task: Give Xu Qianqian a satisfactory small gift. Reward: Eliminate the negative effect of fatigue once (resets daily at midnight, cannot be accumulated).”

This time, no information was given, and the task was quite ordinary. After a pleasant date, maintaining the relationship with a small gift, right?

It made sense, but what was this ‘eliminate the negative effect of fatigue’ thing?

Jiang Nian gargled, rinsing his mouth, still feeling a bit muddled after brushing his teeth. At this moment, a question popped into his head: did a man’s cooldown period count as fatigue?

After excessive exertion, directly skip the cooldown and negative effects.

Isn’t this a garbage skill version of Izanagi?

If he had a friend who chose to start studying at 10:30 PM, then at 11:20 PM, immunity to one fatigue side effect, and then continued deep learning.

Then, precisely at midnight, the fatigue cooldown would reset, and all fatigue and side effects would be swept away. That would be equivalent to three consecutive days of studying.

He would be invincible, a Lu Bu among men.

Jiang Nian suddenly became excited, gesticulating wildly, even feeling energetic about going to school.

A fall rain brings a chill.

Last night’s downpour and this morning’s heavy rain were perfectly reasonable.

Zhennan’s temperature had plummeted overnight. Li Hongmei had urged him to wear more before going out, not to run out like a monkey in just a short-sleeved shirt.

After washing up, Jiang Nian went out alone, carrying his bag and an umbrella.

Xu Qianqian wouldn’t deliberately wait for him. If they happened to meet, they’d walk together; otherwise, they’d go their separate ways. Mornings were rushed, and their biological clocks differed, so walking together was pointless.

Going home after evening self-study was an exception; it was tacitly understood as an unmissable time to walk home. They didn’t always chat on the way; sometimes, they remained silent the entire time.

Because they were so familiar, they didn’t feel awkward.

Entering the classroom, he returned to his seat after using the restroom.

Zhang Ningzhi had arrived very early and was doing homework at her desk. Today, she wore a purple windbreaker, with her school uniform jacket hanging on her chair. She was too meticulous.

Afraid of giving a speech at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, right, baby?

“Changed clothes?” Before Jiang Nian even sat down, he casually complimented her, “Your windbreaker is really nice; the purple makes your skin look even fairer.”

Xu Song truly didn’t deceive me; my sister said purple has a lot of charm.

“Ah? Really?” Zhang Ningzhi, who was writing, put down her pen and pulled out a small mirror from her desk drawer. “My mom said the same thing when I left this morning!”

“Yes, it feels like you’ve brightened up by a few shades.” Jiang Nian praised casually, leaning down to retrieve his glass thermos from his desk. “Did you fill your water? Want to go together?”

“Okay, then let’s go together.” Zhang Ningzhi stood up nervously.

Jiang Nian’s mouth was slightly open, and he swallowed the next few words.

“Let’s go.”

Originally, Jiang Nian planned to zone out at his seat for half a minute, slowly adjusting to being a zombie, before going to get water.

Actually, he didn’t like hot water; he just wanted to go to the water dispenser at the back of the classroom to fill a bottle with cold water. But what was wrong with drinking something warm, especially since it was raining today?

Never mind, a man should treat himself well.

Wind and rain swept through the corridor, and Zhang Ningzhi and Jiang Nian walked side by side.

They walked with some distance between them, roughly between strangers and lovers. A little more than friends, slightly ambiguous. That distance.

It was early morning, and no one was watching them.

Zhang Ningzhi held it in for a long time, then forced out a topic.

“Um… your cup is glass, aren’t you afraid of breaking it?”

“Thanks, I’ve already broken two.”

“Ah? Then why do you still buy glass ones?” Zhang Ningzhi found it hard to stay calm.

As soon as she turned her head, she could see Jiang Nian looking at her, his presence exceptionally strong. His gaze seemed to probe into her heart, and her face began to warm up again.

So much so that she didn’t dare to walk too fast or too slow, carefully measuring each step. Her mind was a mess, and every now and then, a thought would pop up.

Do I really look fair now?

Yes, baby, very fair, a very textured fairness.

“Because… it looks good, I’m rather superficial,” Jiang Nian said bluntly. “With a glass thermos, if you put some tea leaves in, the color is quite beautiful.”

One sentence ended the topic, and the awkward conversation continued.

Zhang Ningzhi was nervous, and Jiang Nian was also a little nervous. To be fair, the Young Miss’s charm indeed made it hard for one not to pay attention; even her slightly pursed lips seemed alluring.

One more look and he’d explode.

Throughout the entire process of getting water, both of them were somewhat distracted, pretending to be calm.

Jiang Nian was slightly better; the hot water scalding his fingers brought him back to his senses. Slowly, he returned to his original state, less constrained and nervous, and simply looked openly.

Zhang Ningzhi turned and met his gaze, then quickly looked away.

She wanted to quicken her pace to leave, but unconsciously slowed down. The corridor was full of students reading aloud, bustling, and no one noticed the tumultuous emotions in her heart.

During English morning reading, the whole class stood up to recite vocabulary.

Jiang Nian was tired, so he pulled out his chair and sat down directly. He sat stiffly in his seat for half a minute, then took out his glass thermos. He took a small sip.

Three seconds later, he let out a satisfied sigh.

Zhang Ningzhi watched, wanting to laugh, and secretly curved her lips while reciting vocabulary.

Li Hua couldn’t stand it anymore. He stopped humming the theme song of his “GG Bond” and looked down, scolding.

“Nian, how can you progress with such sloth?”

“My English score is over 140; I have no room for improvement,” Jiang Nian retorted casually. “Hua, you can’t even score ninety, you see me like looking at the moon in a well.”

“Haha, weakling, still mocking me?” Li Hua laughed wildly. “Nian, in math and comprehensive science combined, I’m a full hundred points ahead of you!”

“Haha, your mom!” Jiang Nian also broke down and suggested, “Let’s not hurt each other as brothers. I’ll do math, you memorize vocabulary, alright?”

“Okay.” Li Hua picked up the Scream on Jiang Nian’s desk and sprayed himself with it. This was the stake he lost in a bet last night, and he had been in pain all night.

Jiang Nian took out his math review book and began specialized training. Soon, he heard Li Hua, while memorizing words, suddenly start singing, “I chase the light of dreams.”

Alright, alright, you’re Nangong Wentian too, are you?!

As he was doing math problems, Jiang Nian couldn’t help but hum along. While working, he looked up at the front seat; Wu Jungu seemed to have taken a leave of absence.

English morning reading ended.

Wu Jungu arrived late, looking not too well.

Jiang Nian was too sleepy to pay much attention and fell asleep at his desk. A large number of students in the classroom were also asleep, only waking up when the bell for the first and second English classes rang.

Xi Bao was wearing a cute outfit today. Heh, old women just love to pretend to be young.

Then, Jiang Nian was called upon.

He was shocked. One second he was loudly mocking in his mind, the next second he was called up. What was Xi Bao’s background? Had she awakened some incredible superpower?

“Jiang Nian, 143, quite stable.”

Oh, oh, handing out papers.

Jiang Nian went to the podium to get the answer sheet, returning with a guilty look. He couldn’t be glib in front of the whole class; it would seem too frivolous.

Everyone’s test papers were handed out, except for Wu Jungu, whose scores fluctuated significantly.

Sun Zhicheng was very nervous all morning, his attention almost entirely on Chen Yunyun. So much so that he couldn’t sleep peacefully during breaks; if Chen Yunyun got up, he would definitely panic.

He didn’t even know what he was panicking about, he just instinctively prayed that Chen Yunyun wouldn’t interact with Jiang Nian again.

Perhaps his prayers worked; all morning, Chen Yunyun stayed within her group, or else she would pull Wang Yuhe along to the restroom.

Due to the rain, the long break usually used for running exercises was also freed up.

Sun Zhicheng specifically looked; everyone in Jiang Nian’s row was sleeping, not one person had gotten up.

Chen Yunyun was also sleeping; she went to the restroom in the middle and then came back. Her school uniform covered her head, and she had been hunched over, writing problems.

After his deskmate Lin Dong stopped online chatting, his free time exploded. Noticing Sun Zhicheng’s unusual state, he patted his shoulder and asked an extra question.

“A-Cheng, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing, I got a little wet when I came this morning, feeling a bit dizzy.” Sun Zhicheng improvised completely, yet still looked in Chen Yunyun’s direction.

However, no miracle occurred; there was no movement at all.

“Holy cow, you’re not running a fever, are you?” Lin Dong reached out to touch Sun Zhicheng’s forehead.

Sun Zhicheng wasn’t sick at all, but now he did feel a bit dizzy. His body felt weak and a little uncomfortable.

He instinctively dodged and explained.

“It’s nothing, a small problem.”

Just then, the class monitor passed by, overheard their conversation, and Li Qingrong looked at Sun Zhicheng, stopping voluntarily and asking.

“Do you want to ask for leave? I have leave slips. The homeroom teacher should be in the office.”

“No, no, no.” Sun Zhicheng quickly waved his hand, feeling a slight warmth in his heart, but he was uneasy about leaving like this, afraid that if he wasn’t there, Chen Yunyun and Jiang Nian would get together again.

“Thank you, Class Monitor, I can manage, it’s no big deal.”

Li Qingrong hummed, turned, and continued walking along the narrow aisle towards the front row.