Ethan Young had taken a shower and remembered that his phone was still on airplane mode. As soon as he turned it off, over a dozen text messages flooded in, the notifications chiming endlessly.

Most were from Aunt May, asking where he was, telling him not to lose his temper, to hurry home, and that his mom was very worried.

Ray's Mom had sent two messages as well, and finally there was one from Ray, asking if he’d gotten home yet.

Ethan Young replied: Home.

Ray: Good, as soon as I got home my mom grabbed me and asked if I knew where you went. The way she acted, it was like you’d gone missing or something, she was so nervous, scared me half to death.

Although Ms. Miller spoke harshly, acting like she wouldn’t listen no matter what he said, she didn’t insist on the private tutoring anymore and just let it go.

Jack Cooper, who had nothing to do with the whole thing, instead strutted around like a victorious rooster, in an exceptionally good mood, and kept bringing it up from time to time.

Ethan Young had learned to “behave,” remaining cold but polite the whole time: “Mm, yes, you’re awesome, you’re amazing, you’re right, happy now? Satisfied?”

Jack Cooper: “Why does that sound even more infuriating?”

Without having to deal with tutoring, Ethan Young had a lot more free time during the holidays.

The Quiz Masters Clash competition’s season system was based on school holidays, ending when school started. In other words, winter and summer breaks marked the start and end of each season. This summer was the first trial run for this niche game, and the final winner would become the prestigious first-ever “题王.”

“I Love Studying”: Has x-straight-A-student not logged in today? Are they sick?

“For a Better Tomorrow”: Why assume they’re sick? Can’t you think more positively? People have lives too, you know.

“I Love Studying”: Because in my eyes, as long as x-straight-A-student is still breathing, he won’t give up studying. He’s so diligent, a perfect blend of talent and hard work, never arrogant or impatient, doesn’t even sleep at 5 a.m. He’s my role model.

“Even Death Can’t Stop x-straight-A-student from Studying” was currently surfing the web with two old aunties.

Ethan Young: “A single.”

Yvonne Shaw: “Three with one.”

Ray's Mom: “Pass.”

Ethan Young played another card: “Bomb.”

The queen of Blackwater Street, comrade Yvonne Shaw, had recently become obsessed with playing mobile Dou Di Zhu, always looking for people in the group to play cards with her.

Ray's Mom glanced at her terrible hand: “I’m done, I’m done, I can’t win anyway, I have to go cook.”

Yvonne Shaw: “Why are you always like this, running away when you can’t win?”

Ray's Mom said openly: “I really have to cook, or else what, let my Big Ray eat shit?”

“”

Ethan Young said, “I’m out too. If you play with me, you’ll lose no matter what, what’s the fun in that?”

Ethan Young was famous for his good luck at cards, and Ray Jones always called him “Boss Young.”

Back during New Year’s, when everyone gathered to play cards, Ethan Young was always firmly boycotted by everyone—they didn’t want to play at the same table as him. So Ethan Young ended up like a pitiful old man with no children to care for him in his twilight years, sitting alone on the side, watching TV and sipping hot water.

At first, Ray Jones would still stand up for his buddy, forcibly dragging him to the table: “He’s not as amazing as you all think, really, his card skills are just so-so, it’s all dumb luck. If you don’t believe me, just watch, today he’ll be so bad it’s embarrassing.”

In the end, Ethan Young completely let him down—not only did he win all the money he could, he even ended up with four IOUs.

Ethan Young logged back into Quiz Masters Clash because he suddenly remembered there was a limited-time double XP event this weekend.

[Quiz Master Studio]: Tonight is Quiz King Carnival! Are you all ready? Not only are there new question types, with richer and more complete content for each subject and even higher difficulty, we’ve also launched a brand new spectator mode! You can now watch top students answer questions and go head-to-head in real time! The competition is open and transparent, skill is all that matters, so cheaters and hackers have nowhere to hide!

The launch of spectator mode sparked heated discussion across the server.

“I Love Studying”: Awesome! Now I can see exactly where I fall short compared to others, and maybe their problem-solving approaches can help me develop new ways of thinking. Looking at the same question from different angles, I’m sure I’ll get twice the results with half the effort!

“Serve the Motherland”: Praise to the dev team, spectator mode is such a surprise! I’ve always wanted to see the leaderboard gods solve problems.

“Study Study Study, My Life Is Only About”: This summer has been so fulfilling because of you guys. Every time I open this app, I know there are endless questions waiting for me, and it makes me so happy. I’ve tackled so many tough problems I’d never see otherwise, constantly challenging myself and keeping my passion for learning alive.

Ethan Young still paid no attention to anything outside his own little world, diving straight into answering questions, not noticing the new line of small gray text in the upper right corner, which kept flickering and changing.

Current viewers: 82.

“I Love Studying”: x-straight-A-student’s answering speed is kind of terrifying

“For a Better Tomorrow”: x-god is amazing, like a genius answering questions. No wonder he’s climbing the leaderboard so fast. I haven’t even finished reading the question and he’s already halfway done, 666.

“Study Study, My Life Is Only About”: Did anyone understand that last solid geometry problem? He just drew five auxiliary lines right away? Is that how it works?

“Strive Upward”: Those auxiliary lines were slick, that move was impressive, solved both sub-questions in one go.

“For a Better Tomorrow”: Everyone, spam 666!

Ethan Young had no idea that nearly a hundred lunatics were watching him answer questions.

All he knew was that at 3:30 a.m., he finally managed to push “shameless” off the top of the leaderboard.

n一1: jsdhdax.

------------

10. Chapter Ten

Before going to bed, Ethan Young happily posted a moment: It’s over [/smile].

Which set Ray Jones’s imagination running wild.

Based on all his buddy’s posts from the past week or so, Ray Jones had already made up a tragic, world-shaking, tangled love story in his head: I love you, you love him, in the end you don’t belong to me, if I can’t have you I’ll destroy you.

The plot twisted and turned, full of climaxes, mysterious and thrilling.

Ray Jones cautiously commented to show his concern: Let the past stay in the past.

Ethan Young couldn’t understand where this inexplicable “bro, you and I both know” attitude was coming from: What do you know?

Ray Jones replied: I get it, I really do, don’t be sad.

Later, Ethan Young asked himself more than once: if he’d known this game would be such a pain, and that he’d meet a relentless, crazy rival, would he still have clicked on it?

—He probably wouldn’t have.

No.

He’d rather die than play.

The night Ethan Young knocked “Quiz Master” off the top, the whole server celebrated.

It was like the poor masses had finally been liberated from evil, everyone wanted to stand up and sing, and even their problem-solving felt smoother.

“Study Study, My Life Is Only About”: July 25th, I’ll remember this day forever, the sky over the liberated zone is blue.

“I Love Memorizing Words”: One Quiz King falls, and millions see hope.

“Top Ten in Grade”: Off to bed, feeling great. Tomorrow I’ll do ten more sets of practice tests to express my joy.

Their happiness didn’t last long. Before “Top Ten in Grade” could finish those ten sets, the next night, the missing “shameless” suddenly came online. This guy kept answering questions all night until dawn, tirelessly reclaiming the number one spot.

The sky over the liberated zone was no longer blue.

When Ethan Young logged in again, he saw the discussion area full of wailing, cursing, and people calling for x-god to step up, the atmosphere heavy with resentment.

“English Class Rep”: Did you guys watch yesterday?

“For a Better Tomorrow”: Yeah, halfway through answering, shameless noticed we were watching and wrote in the answer area, ‘Stop watching, you guys don’t get it anyway.’

“For a Better Tomorrow”: He even used a smurf account to check out our discussion area and mock us.

Ethan Young: “”

Although everyone was calling for x-god, after a few rounds with the Quiz King, Ethan Young and his rival kept trading first place back and forth, neither sleeping for several nights in order to defend their spots, so exhausted they could barely function. If they kept going, it’d be a death sentence.

He was thinking maybe he should just let it go, log off and sleep, since there was no point in fighting anymore. But he couldn’t control his hands—after finishing one question, he habitually clicked “next,” and as he kept clicking, a system prompt popped up.

Ethan Young refused three or four times, but judging by the situation, if he didn’t accept, he probably wouldn’t be able to continue answering.

Quiz Master: Are you tired?