4: Chapter 4 Nosebleed

Chapter Four

After typing thousands of words in one go, Wang Shuo let out a long sigh.

The writing process had been arduous; these things kept hovering in his mind, yet they seemed somewhat beyond his control. When he wasn't concentrating, this content mostly appeared as individual words flashing rapidly through his mind. But when he focused his attention on a specific word, more detailed information would flash forth—sometimes a large block of numbers, sometimes a profound passage of text, or sometimes a mess of incomprehensible patterns.

Wang Shuo didn't care about the details; he just followed his gut and wrote whatever came to mind. After finishing, he took a closer look and realized there were things in there that even he couldn't understand.

Frowning, he decisively deleted the parts he couldn't understand. Wang Shuo reviewed it carefully once more, and after confirming there was nothing he didn't understand, he gritted his teeth and clicked upload.

It was just random writing anyway; it didn't matter if it was right or wrong, he would just treat it as paying for a lesson.

After comforting himself like this in his heart, Wang Shuo looked at the small number of remaining points in the top right corner of the page and bit his lip as he closed the forum. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to resist reading the works of some other master. For a poor person like him, every forum point was precious.

Forcing himself to suppress the desire to keep reading, Wang Shuo closed the forum page and carefully cleared his browsing history. Although this was his own computer and no one usually used it, it was better to be careful; after all, one could tell from the location of the forum that this wasn't a website that lived in the light.

Clicking on a random link on a headline website, Wang Shuo glanced at it. It was about the latest invention from a certain Japanese company—it seemed to be an incredibly impressive robot. Its appearance perfectly replicated a human female, and it could carry on conversations and even perform some physical movements.

Wang Shuo tried searching for the progress of Chinese robots and found that all finished products were still stuck at the state Japan had been in twenty years ago. Although some were wrapped in artificial silicone skin, just looking at the appearance, neither the texture nor the level of detail could compare to the Japanese company's product in the report, not to mention other functions.

"If only I had the ability. Robots like this, with limited movements, limited expressions, and imperfect language and emotional settings, simply aren't up to standard."

He sighed inwardly at the lack of ambition in Chinese technology companies, while fantasizing that one day he could have his own technology company and create his own tech products.

The very moment this thought crossed his mind, Wang Shuo felt a sharp pain in his head; it seemed as if what happened at noon today was happening all over again.

"What the... hell."

Wang Shuo only managed to spit out these words before falling directly to the floor, apparently having fainted.

"Host's thinking and consciousness fluctuations are abnormal, beginning judgment..."

"Judgment result: Host has autonomously accessed the database... Permission check: no abnormalities... Starting repair of intelligent module..."

"Intelligent module under repair... Repair progress: 0.001%..."

"Critical sequence missing... Unable to continue repair... Enabling guidance mode..."

"Executing host reinforcement sequence... Strengthening host's Brain Domain... Starting execution..."

"Reinforcement complete..."

As the voice faded, Wang Shuo, lying on the floor, opened his eyes. He looked around in a daze, touched the blood all over his face, and only then did he remember what had happened.

"What the hell."

Wang Shuo didn't know what to say anymore. First, his head was dizzy, and this time, he had fainted directly and even bled a huge puddle of nosebleed. Could he have contracted some incurable disease? A cerebral infarction? A cerebral hemorrhage? Cerebral edema?

Or something even more serious... Brain cancer?

It shouldn't... be that unlucky, right? He was only eighteen; his best days had just begun. Heaven wouldn't have the heart to watch him die so young, would it?

He ran to the bathroom to carefully clean the blood off his face, but the blood in his nostrils just wouldn't stop. In the end, Wang Shuo could only stuff two wads of toilet paper in, and he had to change them every few minutes.

Looking at his comical appearance in the mirror, Wang Shuo couldn't help but smile bitterly. He could at least say he looked decent; although he didn't have the heaven-defying good looks of the Fourth, he could at least count as a handsome guy. But now, it seemed he could no longer be associated with being a handsome guy.

Messy hair, a sallow complexion, gaunt cheeks, two white wads of toilet paper stuck in his nostrils that were very eye-catching, and bloodstains stuck to his collar.

It was truly terrible.

Especially his complexion; it didn't look like an eighteen-year-old youth at all, but rather someone who had been malnourished for a long time. Even worse was his stomach; Wang Shuo could hear his own stomach growling.

After tidying up his appearance and changing into a clean T-shirt, Wang Shuo threw himself back onto the bed, cradling his head with his hands, staring at the ceiling, and couldn't help but start thinking about his future life.

He knew the situation at home; it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It could only be described as getting by—not rich enough to be satisfied, but better than some. Food and clothing weren't a problem, and school wasn't a problem.

His dad was a researcher, his mom was unemployed, and the family relied on his dad's meager salary to live.

"Looks like I need to find a part-time job," Wang Shuo muttered to himself. He should save what he could for the family; after all, it wasn't easy for his mom and dad.

"Grumble..."

Hearing the sound, Wang Shuo's face twisted. Life, or whatever, really should start with filling one's stomach. Thinking that the Boss or others might be feasting right now, Wang Shuo felt even hungrier.

He considered calling the others, but in the end, he decided against it. Face was the most important thing; if he said he wasn't going, he wasn't going. A man keeps his word.

But if he didn't go, how would he solve his dinner problem?

After thinking for a long time, Wang Shuo silently took out his phone and dialed Zheng Jun's number.

"Hey, Boss, do you have any seats left?"

As for face, he would worry about that after his stomach was full...

After asking for the location, Wang Shuo grabbed his jacket and bolted downstairs, bursting with the fastest speed he had ever achieved for the sake of food.

At this time, public transport would definitely be too late. Wang Shuo looked at the school gate; a taxi happened to be pulling up. Wang Shuo didn't care about anything else, went up, opened the door, and sat in.

"Hey, you! This is the car we called!"

Just as Wang Shuo was about to close the door, a voice suddenly came from beside the taxi.

Only then did Wang Shuo see that, without him noticing, two girls were standing beside the taxi—one tall and one short. The tall one had a slender figure, wearing a light blue long dress, with shoulder-length hair that fell just right. The slightly shorter girl had a ponytail, wore a yellow casual T-shirt on her upper body, and cropped pants on her lower body, revealing white ankles, seemingly without socks.

At this moment, the girl in yellow was questioning him with an angry face, while the girl in the blue dress stood quietly to the side.

Wang Shuo ignored her. He had just surprisingly discovered that he could observe what others were wearing, what they looked like, their expressions, their height, and weight at a single glance. When had his observational skills become so good?

Seeing that Wang Shuo didn't speak, the girl in yellow became even angrier. She grabbed the car door with one hand and said angrily, "I'm talking to you! Did you hear me? This is the car we called, what right do you have to get in!"

This time, Wang Shuo finally reacted, but he was the type to eat soft but not hard, and besides, he was already in the car; no matter what, he wasn't getting out again.

"I got in the car first, what makes you say you called it? Did you use Didi?"

"You! The driver only stopped because we waved!" the girl in yellow said angrily.

"That settles it then. Maybe the driver stopped because he saw me waving. Besides, I got in first, so that means I called it." Wang Shuo looked indifferent. "Let go, it won't be good if I pinch your hand; I don't have the money to pay for your treatment!"

"You!" The girl in yellow clearly hadn't argued with anyone before; her face turned red with anger, yet she couldn't say a word.

"What 'you' what? Hurry up and find another one. You don't have to hang yourself on this car; otherwise, don't blame me for not warning you if you can't find a car later."

"You! You!" The girl in yellow pointed her finger at Wang Shuo, and even her neck started to turn red.

"Alright, Qin Lan, don't make yourself sick with anger." Seeing that the girl in yellow was about to explode, the girl in the blue dress spoke softly to comfort her.

"But he stole our car!"

"It's fine."

"Qin Xiaoting, can you not be so calm every time! I'm about to explode with anger."

"Alright, alright, don't be angry. I know Qin Lan is the kindest and wouldn't be angry over something like this." The girl in the blue dress smiled gently, took the hand of the girl in yellow, and comforted her.

"Hmph!" The girl in yellow rolled her eyes. "There are no cars left. We've waited for half an hour, this is the only taxi. You figure it out!"

"Okay, let me talk to him." Saying this, the girl in the blue dress turned her head toward Wang Shuo, her voice so soft it was almost melting. "This classmate, Qin Lan has a quick temper, please don't mind it. May I ask where you are going?"

Wang Shuo finally saw the girl in the blue dress clearly. Just now, she had been keeping her head down, not knowing what she was thinking. Now that she lifted her head, she was indeed stunning.

At least, Wang Shuo had never seen such a beautiful girl.

"I'm going to Snack Street." Toward a beautiful girl, he always had little resistance; Wang Shuo stated his destination without concealment.

"That's great." The girl in the blue dress smiled slightly. "Qin Lan and I are also going to Snack Street. I wonder if we could..."

"If it's on the way, then get in." Wang Shuo looked reluctant, but who told him to occupy someone else's car? Although he had been eloquent and sharp-tongued, stealing was stealing after all. Sigh, his conscience was bothering him.

"Many thanks to this classmate." The girl in the blue dress continued to maintain her sweet smile, as if she had specifically practiced it.

"No need to keep saying classmate, classmate. My name is Wang Shuo, a freshman this year."

"Qin Xiaoting, this is my good friend Qin Lan." After getting into the car, Qin Xiaoting also introduced herself and the yellow-clad girl beside her.

Wang Shuo could hear the yellow-clad girl, Qin Lan, give a soft hmph.

"Are you also freshmen?" Wang Shuo asked curiously.

"Yes. We just met some new friends, so we booked a place to have a gathering." Qin Xiaoting nodded.

"Me too, more or less." Wang Shuo said, then stopped talking. Qin Xiaoting was very beautiful, but it had nothing to do with him.

Wang Shuo didn't speak, and Qin Xiaoting also sat quietly in the back seat, occasionally whispering something to Qin Lan beside her.

Wang Shuo could occasionally hear words like "car," "something to do," "gathering," and "pick up," but since it had nothing to do with him, he didn't listen carefully.

Half an hour later, the taxi arrived at the destination.

His stomach had been growling the whole way, and Wang Shuo, who was almost driven crazy by hunger, conscientiously paid the fare. Without waiting to say goodbye to the two girls in the back row, he hurried out of the car and ran towards the location that the Boss had sent him.