Chapter 3: Turning the Page

Chen Meng had no idea how he made his way back from the cafeteria. He soon realized that he was the only one who could see that line of text; whenever he focused his mind, it would automatically appear. Emerge, vanish, vanish, emerge... Chen Meng found it endlessly entertaining, but gradually he calmed down. He needed to figure out what was happening—perhaps this was an opportunity to change his current circumstances.

After a long while, he finally formed a guess: perhaps he possessed some kind of magical artifact, or perhaps it was a system. Everything that had happened was likely the result of this artifact or system. He decided to call it a system for now. After all, the fact that he’d been reborn into this world was already full of puzzles, but he could accept that.

"Alright, whatever you are, as long as you can get me into college, I’ll thank your ancestors for eight generations," Chen Meng muttered to himself. Given his current situation, whether you called him desperate or reckless, this was his last lifeline. "If fate can be changed, it’s all up to you. But… how do I use these knowledge points?"

"I’ll spend a knowledge point—give me a first-level divine body!"

"Nothing happened. Still mute?"

"Maybe that's too difficult. Then, give me five more points of intelligence!"

"That doesn’t work either?"

"So does one knowledge point equate to one piece of knowledge? Give me a piece of knowledge, is that it? This feels so stupid."

...

After fiddling for a long time, Chen Meng still had five knowledge points. Nothing had changed at all.

"Dammit, what kind of system is this? Not even a manual," he grumbled. Just then, he saw the teacher for this class approaching outside the classroom.

Startled, Chen Meng quickly grabbed his textbook, buried his head in it, and pretended to be deeply engrossed in reading.

But then, a shocking scene unfolded. The textbook before him turned into a beam of white light, shrinking rapidly until it was no larger than a fingernail, then shot straight into his forehead.

"My book!" Chen Meng cried out, jumping to his feet. Many classmates stared at him in astonishment.

He quickly looked down at his desk—the book was still there; it hadn’t vanished after all.

"Was that an illusion?" Chen Meng couldn’t tell, and he failed to notice the look in the alchemy teacher’s eyes at the podium.

"Chen Meng, what are you doing!" the alchemy teacher bellowed. "If you don’t want to study, at least don’t distract others—get out!"

Only then did Chen Meng remember that this was the alchemy teacher, Zhang Dali, the only teacher in their class who still practiced corporal punishment.

Definitely someone not to mess with!

Chen Meng knew he was in the wrong, and since he couldn’t understand anything in this class anyway, he simply walked out the back door and stood in the corridor to be punished.

"Useless as mud, don’t follow Chen Meng’s example. In ten years, you’ll see—he’s not even living in the same world as you," Zhang Dali said, shaking the test papers in his hand. "Today, we’ll go over the mock exam. I want to praise Tang Wenjing—she scored 144 in alchemy, the only student in school to break 140."

A collective gasp swept the room. That score would be outstanding even in the real college entrance exam. Moreover, the mock exam had been set rather hard this time. When the real exam came, Tang Wenjing might even get a perfect score.

However, Tang Wenjing’s overall score in the mock exam wasn’t the highest in the class; she only ranked ninth. She had a serious problem with unbalanced subjects—her rune studies were only ninety-four, barely passing.

...

Outside the classroom, Chen Meng’s mind was wandering.

When he focused again, the world before him was utterly transformed: he saw a vast expanse of stars, countless celestial bodies flickering in and out of view. Amid this starry sea, a book floated serenely.

High School Runes!

It was his textbook from that morning’s class, one he hadn’t yet put away.

"So it wasn’t an illusion—the book was truly absorbed into me. As for this starry expanse, in novel terms, this must be my sea of consciousness," Chen Meng thought. The content of the book had been absorbed into his mind by some mysterious power—that explained everything.

Knowledge points: 5
Pages turned: High School Runes (0/862)

He noticed that the display had changed, now showing an additional statistic: pages turned.

High School Runes—pages turned?

Suddenly, Chen Meng understood. This must refer to flipping through the pages of the book. But how? And what would happen when he did?

Time to find out. He concentrated and silently intoned, "High School Runes, turn the page!"

At his command, the book floating among the stars flipped open to the first page as if stirred by a breeze. The words on that page turned into glowing motes of light, flying straight into the starry expanse.

In that instant, a flood of knowledge poured into Chen Meng’s mind like data being uploaded. He didn’t need to memorize, comprehend, or study—he understood everything immediately.

Of course, it was only the introduction and table of contents for the High School Runes course.

Knowledge points: 4
Pages turned: High School Runes (1/862)

The data in his mind updated: one knowledge point used, and the count of pages turned increased by one.

"Using a knowledge point lets me turn a page," Chen Meng murmured. "So the name is accurate: spend knowledge points, gain knowledge."

"High School Runes, turn two pages."

Another two pages of knowledge flooded in.

The feeling was exhilarating—learning everything he wanted without any effort.

"My chance to turn things around is right before me. I can definitely get into college—no, a top college," Chen Meng thought, more confident than ever. With such a powerful learning hack, as long as he had enough knowledge points, there was nothing he couldn’t learn.

In no time, his five knowledge points were exhausted.

Knowledge points: 0
Pages turned: High School Runes (5/862)

Looking at his now-empty knowledge points, Chen Meng recalled, "I remember I only got the five points after charging five hundred yuan to my meal card. Does that mean spending money at the cafeteria earns knowledge points? Or is it any spending? I need to test this."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Chen Meng eagerly sought out Ma Yiqun.

"Chen Meng, what’s up?"

"Borrow some money!"

He’d only brought five hundred yuan, all spent that morning—now he was broke. But he knew Ma Yiqun had at least two hundred in his pocket.

Ma Yiqun eyed him suspiciously and whispered, "What do you need money for? Planning to sneak off to an internet café?"

Chen Meng didn’t know what to say. Seeing him silent, Ma Yiqun was sure he’d guessed right.

"The school’s checking strictly these days. If you get caught, they’ll call your parents for sure."

Ma Yiqun’s voice dropped even lower. He could sort of understand Chen Meng; after all, his grades were terrible, and hard work hadn’t helped. Might as well slack off entirely.

"Are you lending it or not?" Chen Meng couldn’t be bothered to explain.

"How much?"

"Two hundred. I know you’ve got it."

"Can’t. I’ll give you a hundred—the other hundred I still need," Ma Yiqun said.

"Fine, a hundred will do," Chen Meng agreed. This was just a test; if his hypothesis was correct, spending a hundred yuan should yield another knowledge point.

After rummaging in his pocket, Ma Yiqun produced a crumpled hundred-yuan note, which Chen Meng snatched up without ceremony.

It was just borrowing money—why act like he’d never pay it back?

Chen Meng headed straight for the school’s small shop near the gate. It was run by a relative of one of the school officials, selling study guides and stationery.

"Boss, how much for the Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Simulation set?" Chen Meng pointed at a pile of dusty exam prep materials by the door. With only three months until the college entrance exam, any serious students would have bought theirs long ago. Only those who’d given up, like him, wouldn’t bother wasting money now.

"The full set? Originally one-eighty, but you look like a diligent student—one-fifty for you."

Chen Meng nearly laughed. How could you tell I’m a diligent student?

Who buys prep books at this stage if they’re truly diligent?

"One hundred for the set."

"Impossible, I paid at least one-twenty wholesale."

"One hundred. The exam's almost here, and unless someone’s lost their mind, nobody’s buying this stuff anymore. Next year, when the current sophomores move up, they won’t buy last year’s stock either."

The boss was left speechless by Chen Meng’s reasoning.

Without further ado, Chen Meng slapped a hundred yuan on the glass counter, grabbed a full set of Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Simulation—nine hefty volumes in all.

They were surprisingly heavy!

At that moment, the data in his mind shifted.

Knowledge points: 1
Pages turned: High School Runes (5/862)

"As expected, spending a hundred yuan gives one knowledge point. It doesn’t matter what you buy or where, as long as you spend money," Chen Meng concluded. Another idea struck him, and he flashed the boss a mischievous grin. "Uncle, on second thought, with my grades, buying this is a waste. I won’t buy it after all."

He swiftly retrieved his money and returned the books.

The boss’s expression darkened. Was this a joke to you? Did you even think before buying? Less than half a minute and you regret it?

Chen Meng’s data shifted again.

Knowledge points: 0
Pages turned: High School Runes (5/862)

"It’s deducted? Makes sense—if it can be added, it can be subtracted. So clever tricks won’t work. At least the system has some intelligence," Chen Meng analyzed. Seeing the boss about to explode, he smiled again, "Uncle, I’m just kidding. Didn’t expect you to take it so seriously."

The boss stared, dumbfounded, as Chen Meng put the money back down.

For money’s sake, he let it go.

Sure enough, when Chen Meng spent the money again, his knowledge point returned. He still had one more thing to test.

"Use one knowledge point, turn the page."

At his thought, the page count for High School Runes changed from five to six, and the knowledge from page six poured into his mind.

Assimilating this new knowledge, Chen Meng glanced at the boss and grinned again. "Boss, you actually believed me? When have you ever seen a bottom-of-the-class student like me buy study guides?"

With that, he quickly pocketed the money again.

The boss, now furious, finally snapped. "You little brat, what class are you in? Messing with me? I’ll have my uncle expel you!"

Frightened, Chen Meng threw the hundred yuan down, grabbed the study guides, and ran, shouting over his shoulder, "I’m buying them! This time for real!"

Watching Chen Meng disappear, the boss gripped the crumpled note and hurled his cup across the shop.

...

"This last time didn’t add a knowledge point. So, once money’s been spent, even if you get it back and spend it again, it won’t add more points. In short, you can’t spend the same money twice. Any attempts to cheat the system won’t work," Chen Meng concluded. "Now I basically understand how the system works. To sum up, you spend money to gain knowledge points and become a top student overnight. It’s a pay-to-win system!"

But pay-to-win was a problem—Chen Meng was broke!

He needed to find a solution.