Luke Carter was at home over the weekend, barely having enough free time to play games, collecting homework as he said, "About this matter, Wanda, you say something."

Wanda: "Can't say, next one."

Logan Wright was still eating breakfast, holding a bag of meat buns in his hand. He finally managed to swallow what was in his mouth before defending everyone: "About this matter, the main thing is that we're too easily satisfied. Look, we're always fantasizing in the group chat, and that's already enough for us."

The classroom was noisy, some reciting texts, some copying homework.

Mad Dog paced by the window twice.

Every time he walked by, the class would quiet down for a moment.

"Good, well said, contentment brings happiness," Luke Carter clapped his hands, checked the homework, and noticed that although Henry Howard had arrived early, he hadn't handed in anything, so he called out, "Bro Henry, hand in your physics homework? Ethan Bro, yours too."

Ethan Young had just put his things down. Hearing this, he lowered his head to look for his physics exercise book in his desk.

This was homework assigned last Thursday. Just two pages, he barely wrote anything, most of it was blank, and the parts he did fill in were mostly wrong answers.

Before he could take it out, his hand was pressed down by Henry Howard.

Ethan Young glanced at his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Your skills are really lacking," Henry Howard said in a low voice. "You're just going to hand it in like that?"

Ethan Young didn't react.

He had left blank what should and shouldn't be left blank, full of mistakes—a piece of homework that would definitely get him called to the office for a one-on-one lesson with the physics teacher.

Before Ethan Young could figure it out, he heard Henry Howard say five words to Luke Carter: "We had physics homework?"

""

Luke Carter was speechless, but not surprised at all. He casually picked a book from the pile of homework and tossed it to Henry Howard, reminding him, "Page fifty-six, hurry up, I need to hand it in before class starts."

The throw was accurate, Henry Howard caught it right on, whistled cockily, and said, "No problem, done in two minutes."

"So," Henry Howard grabbed a pen, opened the book, and planned to copy a few questions just for show, "convinced or not?"

Ethan Young raised his hand and pressed his temple. "Convinced."

Before the morning math self-study, Old Warren hadn't had enough gossip in the class group chat, so before the bell rang, he asked again what was going on. After listening to the students' explanations, he said, "I see, that's pretty good, I suggest everyone in our class download one."

Logan Wright: "No, no, no, teacher, it's not really suitable for us."

Luke Carter: "Can't do it."

Wanda: "Would rather die than submit."

The more everyone chatted, the more excited they got. Just then, the bell rang, and Old Warren knocked on the podium: "Alright, class is starting. For this morning's self-study, I'll teach you a really tough problem."

William Warren hadn't finished speaking when Henry Howard turned his head and asked, "Wanna play a game?"

Playing a game, but as they duo queued, the team chat started to go off in a different direction.

[Handsome Howard]: About that last problem, I have three solutions.

[xy]: Two, where's the third one from?

[Handsome Howard]: Take the midpoint of the hypotenuse, connect it to point f, take another look.

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77. Chapter Seventy-Seven

Old Warren finished writing the problem and drew a diagram on the side. To make the problem easier and clearer, he had already drawn the auxiliary lines in advance.

Ethan Young looked up at the blackboard twice, more or less understanding what Henry Howard's third solution was about. Although this method worked, it involved a bunch of unnecessary data, and you'd have to go around in circles a few times to finally get the answer.

[xy]: The calculation is too complicated.

[Handsome Howard]: It's alright, I can do it in my head in three minutes.

[xy]: You're so cocky.

On the phone screen, the two game characters were surrounded by flashy skills. Ethan Young finished typing and quickly unleashed a wave of attacks from the skill bar.

Handsome Howard followed the attack, charging straight out of the encirclement to take on the big boss in the back.

That monster was tough and hard to kill. After a lot of effort, it was finally low on health. Out of the corner of his eye, Henry Howard saw five words pop up in the team chat in the upper right corner.

[xy]: What's your plan?

Ethan Young didn't directly ask, "How long are you going to keep pretending?"

Plan.

Henry Howard stared at the word "plan," his hand suddenly stopping. He was about to land the final blow, but for some reason, he pressed heal instead.

Then his game character stopped all actions and drank a potion on the spot.

In just a few seconds, the situation changed.

Handsome Howard just stood there drinking potions, his health dropping chunk by chunk.

When all the health was gone, the character fell. At the exact moment he went down, Henry Howard finished typing a message and sent it.

[Handsome Howard]: I think I found the answer.

Henry Howard kept typing, but before he finished, a pop-up appeared in the middle of the screen: Your friend Sean Parker requests to join the team.

William Warren spent two blackboards explaining that tough problem, while the sound of the neighboring class reciting poetry drifted in through the window.

"While your minds are still fresh this morning, let me explain this problem," William Warren finished a piece of chalk, pinching the tiny stub, and was about to get a new one when he noticed the two in the back row with their heads down, doing who knows what, ""

This time, William Warren didn't throw the chalk stub. He made a "shh" gesture to the class, signaling everyone to stay quiet, then picked up the ruler and walked over without a word.

Luke Carter held back a laugh, fist pressed to his mouth, and said to Wanda, "Bet fifty cents, those two are done for today."

"Not necessarily," Wanda leaned over, "With Bro Henry's tricks, I believe he can come back from the dead."

Turns out Wanda was overthinking it.

Henry Howard was holding his phone, and when William Warren walked up, he could see the game screen on Henry Howard's phone clearly. The evidence was irrefutable—they were totally busted.

William Warren bent down for a closer look. "You two have quite the rich lives, huh."

Ethan Young only had time to leave the team and close the chat.

Henry Howard did the same.

William Warren could only see two poorly dressed game characters in the game lobby, and on Henry Howard's screen, the system message kept popping up: Your friend Sean Parker requests to join the team.

Your friend Sean Parker requests to join the team.

""

Sean Parker was totally confused when the homeroom teacher called him to the office.

When he pushed open the office door, he saw his Bro Henry and Ethan Young were there too.

The homeroom teacher of Class 8 sat in a relaxed, casual posture, one arm draped over the back of the chair, a red pen between his fingers, and asked offhandedly, "Alright, tell me, what were you doing during morning self-study?"

Sean Parker answered nervously, "Studying hard."

Henry Howard was in a good mood, standing to the side as if the teacher had called him out for praise, chuckled, and prompted, "Sean Parker, be honest. Look into my eyes and think carefully."

Sean Parker: ""

Ethan Young leaned against the wall. He hadn't slept well last night, didn't catch up on sleep during morning self-study, and now, after standing in the office for a while, he finally started to feel sleepy, quietly leaning back a bit.

In the office, subject reps were coming in and out with stacks of homework.

They were all reporting on homework: who hadn't handed it in, who was still missing, who left their test paper at home.

The only ones out of place were the three of them, standing there getting lectured right after Monday morning self-study.

"Teacher, I really know I was wrong. I shouldn't have given in to the temptation of games," Sean Parker hadn't expected to be this unlucky, but still obediently admitted his mistake, "I will turn over a new leaf, quit gaming, and study hard from now on."

While Sean Parker was bowing his head and admitting his mistake, Ethan Young secretly nudged Henry Howard's hand, half-squinting as he asked, "What answer did you find?"

Henry Howard heard this and turned to look at him.

He had always liked the way kids looked in school uniforms. Even though the No. 2 High uniform was nothing special and everyone complained about it when it was first handed out, any chance to not wear it made you feel more confident, like you were walking on air.

But Ethan Young was different when he wore it. Clearly looking unruly, with cold, impatient eyes, like he could roll up his sleeves and fight you any minute, yet he still wore it obediently every day.

"The answer you gave me," Henry Howard said quietly, "In the cinema, the answer you gave me."

At first, Henry Howard didn't have any strong feelings about being good at school and being liked by teachers.

He wasn't the type to just bury his head in books. He played whenever he wanted, never missed a popular game, and was always involved in whatever was going on in class.