After five consecutive days of skills classes back at school, I discovered a serious problem.
The five basic systems Chen Lan taught—Physical Enhancement, Perception Training, Technical Proficiency, Resistance Strengthening, and Coordination Synchronization—sounded practical and scientific. Running can resist erosion, closing your eyes can count existences, blade swinging can be mentally rehearsed three hundred times, guidance can reroute Rift Zone energy around the heart, holding hands can unify five as one.
But none of the four members of B-07 Squad follow this routine.
Tang Lan's physical enhancement? Does she even need it? One punch can send a Level 3 Physical Enhancement person flying out of the Rift Zone. Her shield isn't "resisting erosion for 30 minutes," it's "judging attacks invalid." She doesn't need to "survive 30 minutes"—her shield is "attack invalidation judgment."
Zhou Fang's technical proficiency? He plays his jammer smoothly, but the principle is making rules bug out, not "prediction, lock, execution." He relies on understanding machinery, not muscle memory.
Gu Yan's perception? He doesn't calculate "something's wrong." He directly "sees" the probability clouds of Rift Zone base code and models predictions. This isn't perception anymore—it's analysis.
The most outrageous is Shen Xingyao.
Spatial marking? Spatial sovereignty? This thing doesn't even exist in the five basic systems. What Chen Lan teaches is "perceive spatial anomalies." What Shen Xingyao plays is "space is my hands and feet." She's not training—she is space.
I sat in the Administration cafeteria, gnawing on a protein block while mentally reclassifying my teammates in my mind:
Tang Lan—Dark-type Absolute Defense User, skill "Domain Expansion: Invincibility," hidden attribute "Musclehead-turned-combat-genius," suspected backstory "Former special forces sole survivor of total team annihilation, actually sacrificed teammates to gain shield demon god powers."
Zhou Fang—Tech-side Rule Hacker, skill "All Things Can Bug," hidden attribute "Logistics repairman awakened ability," suspected backstory "Soul devoured by equipment, symbiotic with machinery."
Gu Yan—Strategist Causality Calculator, skill "Predictive Modeling," hidden attribute "Doctorate military background," suspected backstory "Sister devoured by Rift Zone, joined Administration for revenge." Wait, that one's real.
Shen Xingyao—Spatial-type Final Weapon, skill "Mobile Execution Ground," hidden attribute "Strategic academy top graduate," suspected backstory "Entered Level-A Rift Zone to find missing mentor, actually mentor was devoured by space, she inherited mentor's powers."
As for me—Lin Jin, Rule Rewrite-type, skill "Pencil is Truth," hidden attribute "17-year-old high schooler slept through chemistry class and accidentally entered Rift Zone," suspected backstory "On surface a 17-year-old student, actually Rift Zone reincarnation, pencil is my soul-bound divine artifact."
Thinking this, I nearly spat out my protein block.
With my imagination, it's a waste not to write novels. Administration's annual blockbuster My Teammates Are All Hidden Bosses, director & screenwriter Lin Jin, starring B-07 Squad, guest villain Image Master, box office guaranteed to explode.
"Homework Guy, what are you laughing at?" Zhou Fang leaned over, "Find a bug in the protein block?"
"No." I composed myself, "Thinking about the skills class."
"What's there to think about that crappy class?" He bit into his protein block, "Five basic systems, fooling outsiders. Really entering a Rift Zone, who plays physical enhancement with you?"
"Then what do you play?"
"Play life." He said it matter-of-factly, "Tough life beats everything."
"Where do your abilities come from?"
"Born with it." Tang Lan sat down with her tray, "The day I awakened, I knew I could block everything. Not trained, carved into my bones."
"So the five systems are lies?"
"Not lies." Gu Yan approached with his tablet, "They're giving ordinary people a chance to live. Adaptoids are one in ten thousand—the rest need self-preservation skills."
He pulled up a model—the training effect curve of the five systems:
"Ordinary people training to Level 5 can last 15 minutes in a Level-C Rift Zone, long enough for rescue. As for us—" he adjusted his glasses, "We awaken at Level 5, training Levels 6, 7, 8... no ceiling."
"What about Captain Shen?"
"Her?" Zhou Fang laughed, "She awakened at Level 10, who knows what level now. In the entire Administration, no one can beat her."
"Except the chief." Tang Lan added.
"The chief can't either." Gu Yan said, "He's too old, sync rate can't keep up."
"So Captain Shen is the strongest?"
"No." A cold voice sounded—Shen Xingyao sat down with her tray, "The strongest is the rules."
She pushed her tray to me: "Protein block, can't finish. You help."
I took it—she'd eaten one-third, the remainder arranged in a fan shape, like some geometric pattern.
"Rules are dead, people are alive." She said, "But the longer people live, the more like rules they become. The five systems let ordinary people live like people, not like rules."
"What about us?"
"We already are rules." She didn't look at me, "So we don't need to learn."
The atmosphere suddenly quieted.
I recalled Chen Lan's words: "The greatest weakness of adaptoids is always thinking they're special. But in Rift Zones, special means priority for being devoured."
But Shen Xingyao was right—we are rules. High devouring priority, but also strong devouring ability.
"What's the point of skills class then?" I asked.
"The point is letting you know how ordinary people live." Gu Yan pulled up a photo of Changzheng High's skills classroom, "So you can protect them, instead of accidentally rewriting them along with the Rift Zone."
"Have I done that?"
"Yes." Tang Lan said, "Three months ago, Level-C2 Rift Zone 'Forgotten Bookstore,' you wrote 'Bookstore Rule: Customer is God' with your pencil, contaminating the entire Rift Zone's base logic. The ordinary customers inside nearly became part of the rules."
I froze, completely forgetting this.
"You forgot." Shen Xingyao said, "Aftermath of exceeding 30% sync rate—selective memory loss. Gu Yan wrote you a report saying you 'had no choice but to save people.'"
"Actually?"
"Actually, you just wanted to change the bookstore's rule to 'no selling homework' because you were annoyed the owner sold exercise sets." Zhou Fang chuckled, "Captain Shen covered for you, said you were a rookie who didn't know severity."
"I..."
"No need to apologize." Shen Xingyao said, "You saved three people, destroyed half a Rift Zone. Administration assessment deemed it worthwhile."
She rapped my head with the folder: "But next time, ask me first. Don't act on your own."
"Copy that."
20:00, briefing room.
Regarding Image Master's intel, Gu Yan's model produced new results.
"Image Master isn't one person." He adjusted his glasses, "It's an organization."
A topology graph appeared on screen, center—Image Master, outer five nodes: Accountant, Wang Mo, Teacher Zhang, Logistics Department, Skills Class.
"Skills class?" I froze, "Chen Lan?"
"Not Chen Lan." Gu Yan said, "The class itself. The five systems are Image Master's screening mechanism. The faster you train, the more easily he marks you."
"Mark then what?"
"Become his 'story material.'" Shen Xingyao said, "His ability requires massive 'real samples' to copy. The five systems are his sample collection."
"Are we..."
"We're also samples." She said, "But we're 'uncopiable' samples. Your pencil, Tang Lan's shield, Zhou Fang's bugs, Gu Yan's models, my space. These, he can't copy."
"Why?"
"Because we're 'happened,' not 'taught.'" Gu Yan pulled up a model, "The five systems teach 'possibility'—we awakened 'inevitability.' Possibilities can be imitated, inevitabilities cannot."
"So Image Master wants my workbook?"
"Right." Shen Xingyao said, "Your workbook records the process from 'possibility' to 'inevitability.' With it, he can crack our uncopiability."
"Now the workbook is gone..."
"Even better." She said, "You're now a blank sheet—he has no starting point."
"But I still have to keep attending class."
"Right." She nodded, "You need to fill that blank sheet with new stories. Let him copy until he pukes."
21:30, training room.
The five systems from skills class were restructured by B-07 Squad into live combat training.
Physical Enhancement—Tang Lan made me wear the weighted vest, then punched me: "Withstand ten seconds, you pass."
Perception Training—Shen Xingyao hid twenty spatial marks in the training room. I closed my eyes to find them—she placed one for each I found, until the room was filled with light.
Technical Proficiency—Zhou Fang disassembled his jammer, had me write an "Assembly Guide" with my pencil. One step wrong, he wouldn't put it back together.
Resistance Strengthening—Gu Yan built a micro Rift Zone, locked me inside to write a "Survival Diary." Each line increased sync rate by 0.1%, until 42% when he'd pull me out.
Coordination Synchronization—All five of us in cloaks played blind walking in the training room, me in front, them on shoulders. Midway Tang Lan would suddenly punch, requiring me to write "Don't hit"; Shen Xingyao would suddenly teleport, requiring "Wait"; Zhou Fang would suddenly sing, requiring "Shut up"; Gu Yan would suddenly report data, requiring "Quiet."
After one round, I'd filled ten pages—each sheet silvery-white.
"This is your new workbook." Shen Xingyao said, "Fill a sheet, tear it up. Let Image Master scavenge—everything he picks up will be nonsense."
"Why nonsense?"
"Because it reads: Tang Lan punched, I wrote don't hit, she still hit because I didn't write 'Don't hit too hard.'" Zhou Fang chuckled, "These details, he can't copy."
"Without copying details, he can't copy us." Gu Yan said, "This is our defense mechanism."
22:00, dormitory.
I opened new Derivative Workbook Set 13.
First problem was composite function differentiation, very hard. I wrote three solutions, each annotated:
[Method 1: Shen Xingyao's solution—fast but error-prone]
[Method 2: Tang Lan's solution—brutal but effective]
[Method 3: Zhou Fang's solution—detour but fun]
Silvery-white letters like marginalia.
After finishing, I tore up the workbook and threw it in the trash.
But at the moment of tearing, I felt a gaze cast from outside the window.
Teacher Zhang stood at the chemistry department office window, looking at me, that familiar grin on his face.
I took out my pencil, writing on the glass: [Teacher, you haven't slept yet?]
He replied: [Waiting for your homework]
Me: [Handing in tomorrow]
Him: [Want it tonight]
Me: [Then come get it]
He smiled, so happy, like finally waiting for a student to volunteer their test paper.
Then, he vanished, erased from reality like by an eraser.
I walked to the trash, picked up the torn workbook pieces, reassembled them, and found on Set 13's back a new line of golden text:
[28 days until Gaokao]
[Your workbook, received]
Image Master is now grading my homework.