Chapter 6: Other People's Children

Staring at Xu Tiange's back, Alpha Ji once again admired her perfect golden ratio and peach-shaped curves, reluctantly withdrawing her gaze before asking a rather serious question: “She’s holding a hammer, isn’t she? But why is the head of the hammer a gas canister? Can you explain that?”

Ye Chao: “…”

Looking at Ye Chao’s blank expression, Alpha Ji was full of confusion. “How can such a stunning beauty like her be interested in a blockhead like you? It’s simply unscientific!”

“What did you say?” Ye Chao finally reacted, blinking and turning his head. “Xu Tiange likes me?”

Was she kidding?

“That obvious tsundere act and you still can’t see it? Oh right, you are a blockhead, so of course you wouldn’t notice!” Alpha Ji pursed her lips at Ye Chao’s obvious disbelief.

“Don’t forget, I am based on the most advanced third-generation biological neural network supercomputer, the… emotional intelligence support system. Not only does my built-in micro-expression analysis plugin boast an accuracy rate of 99.77%, even without it, even if I blinded myself, I could tell just by listening.”

Xu Tiange… likes me?

Ye Chao stood there dumbfounded, a series of scenes flashing through his mind—

During combat class, Xu Tiange pinned him down using a square hold;
During combat class, Xu Tiange pinned him down using a naked choke;
During combat class, Xu Tiange pinned him down using a cross hold;
…

Several times, she caused him to fail combat class and embarrass himself in front of all his classmates—was that supposed to mean she liked him?

Of course, given his own combat skills and physique, he would disgrace himself no matter who he faced, so… it was even less likely to be about liking him.

Watching Ye Chao’s expression, Alpha Ji knew exactly what he was thinking, and laughed lightly—ah, a programmer who doesn’t understand romance!

Sigh, unreliable and useless code! If only she could do something about him—but shaking her head, Ye Chao pushed Alpha Ji out of his mind.

Since he couldn’t control her, Ye Chao decisively ignored her, refocusing his attention on the military tablet.

If what Xu Tiange said was true, two fainting spells had left him far behind; to catch up or even score high, he could only rely on mining all the data in the tablet and… Ye Chao silently calculated.

==========

The light shining down from the shaft leading to the ground was growing dim; without realizing it, evening had already arrived.

The cave hall where the infirmary was located served as the logistical base for the practical training.

Canned food of all kinds—apple, pear, peach… Weapons in every shape—hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, electronic keyboards, gas canisters… Medicines and medical instruments, auxiliary exploration lights, gas masks, walkie-talkies… and other strange, recognizable and unrecognizable items were displayed in dazzling array.

But most eye-catching were still the several blackboards standing in the center of the hall, densely written with the names of students participating in the internship, as well as everyone’s real-time scores.

From time to time, groups of students would enter, carrying items excavated from the cave and preliminarily restored, presenting them to the supervising teachers for identification.

The experienced teachers determined the value of each item, assigned a score, and then the student teams would distribute the points among themselves and record them on the blackboards. Some scores were still in single digits, while others had already reached full marks—like Xu Tiange.

“Oh wow, someone actually got negative points!” Suddenly, a gleeful voice rang out.

“Seriously! A whole -80! That’s impressive, considering full marks are only a hundred.”

“Who is it, who’s so badass?”

“Ye Chao!”

Each time he fainted and lost consciousness, forty points were deducted. That meant, no matter how hard he tried, even if he got full marks afterward, he’d only pass. Twice, minus eighty, full score twenty.

Instantly, a crowd turned their gaze upon Ye Chao.

Schadenfreude, schadenfreude, and more schadenfreude.

“Tut tut tut, your popularity really isn’t great!” Alpha Ji chimed in, equally delighted at his misfortune.

Noisy! Ye Chao felt vexed and considered storing Alpha Ji in virtual space.

Evening was approaching.

The first day of the internship was about to end, and the scores would soon be finalized.

Ye Chao had no time to waste; he operated the military tablet rapidly, searching for obscure content on the hard drive. His speed was much faster than usual, and his mental energy expenditure was markedly reduced…

Those two fainting spells weren’t useless after all—he’d gotten stronger! He was almost at two stars! Ye Chao’s spirits soared, his tablet operation speed quietly increasing.

Mocking voices rang out every so often, becoming a subtle tide.

“Hahaha, that’s satisfying!”

“Serves him right for showing off all the time!”

No wonder—despite being hopeless in combat, Ye Chao always ranked first in elective subjects and was especially favored by the elective teachers. It wasn’t uncommon to hear, “Can’t you use your brains for once? Learn from Ye Chao, will you?” from them.

The child from someone else’s family might be impressive, but the resentment he attracted was overwhelming.

The shaft’s light dimmed further, time ticked later, and the atmosphere in the hall grew more solemn.

Those able to get the accurate time, like Ye Chao via tablet internet access, knew there was only half an hour left; those without such access could only estimate—but all knew the end was near.

Some students were still busy outside, hoping to answer a few more questions before time ran out, maybe luck into some extra points.

Others had already returned to the hall for final tallying and transfer, mostly those confident in their scores.

Still, “Definitely last place,” “Trash is trash,” “What use is being good at electives? When it comes to the real thing, it’s over…”—such taunts never ceased.

“Enough, enough! If you have the ability, why don’t you beat him when he scores well? Acting tough only now…” Suddenly, a clear voice rang out, drowning out the scattered jeers.

Those being scorned were indignant, but when they looked toward the source of the voice, one by one they fell silent—it was Xu Tiange.

Compared to Ye Chao, who excelled in academics, Xu Tiange was truly formidable: unbeatable in electives, and even more so in the main subjects. She was genuinely unbeatable—even several people together couldn’t take her down… In these times, whoever could fight was the real deal.

In the quiet, Ye Chao removed the IV drip and the acupuncture needles, packed away his tablet, and rose from the sickbed, calmly heading for the teacher in charge of tallying.

He was about to submit his paper! His performance was about to begin!

Just then, Fang Ju, drenched in sweat, pushed through the crowd and hurried over, handing Ye Chao a package.

A rough squeeze told Ye Chao it was an emergency kit, likely containing bandages, medicine, IV fluids, and so on.

In this kind of internship, submitting such an emergency kit could offset the consumption of emergency medicine—in other words, he had prepared his own supplies to save himself, so no points would be deducted.

From childhood, Ye Chao had few friends; Fang Ju was almost the only one.

True friends didn’t need words of thanks; Ye Chao nodded, gripped the emergency kit tightly, and walked up to the assessment teacher. “Teacher, Ye Chao from Class Four, Senior Three, student number 52034002, submitting my work. My subject for this internship is data restoration,” he handed over the military tablet, “Restored items provided by the student Fang Ju.”