October 10th, the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays had ended, at half past twelve noon, in a university dormitory building, room 604.
Lying on his bed browsing TikTok, Zhang Yanhang had just opened the app and because he had previously followed Zhao Yalan’s account, a new video from her was suggested to him not long after he logged on.
Hearing that familiar "Wu Lake!" from the phone’s speaker, Zhang Yanhang’s face showed a very subtle expression. He didn’t expect that this time his sneaky attack from behind had actually been recorded, which was utterly ridiculous.
However, even though it was recorded, it wasn’t fully captured. To be precise, only part of it was captured. Zhao Yalan seemed to have used the milk tea shop’s surveillance footage for the other part, and combining the two, perfectly reenacted Zhang Yanhang’s whole "criminal" process.
Zhang Yanhang checked the number of likes for the video and was stunned to see it had reached 430,000. "I remember the last video only had around a hundred thousand likes, and now it suddenly jumped to over four hundred thousand. Why do these absurd videos even become popular?
Could it be that I’ve been out of touch with the masses for too long? I feel like I don’t really understand current trends anymore."
Zhang Yanhang tried to find some clues in the comments section about why the video had become popular. He found that the top liked comment was, "Too slow! In the next video, I want to see you two get married on the spot and start live streaming your merchandise!"
And Zhao Yalan had replied to that comment, "It wasn’t staged! There really was some weird guy picking a fight!" Zhang Yanhang could testify to that; indeed, there was no script, everything was impromptu.
Further reading the comments, Zhang Yanhang only found more typical comments like demands for more updates, joke playing, and tagging others. Yet, he still couldn’t figure out the reason behind the video’s popularity.
Zhang Yanhang then checked Zhao Yalan’s follower count and discovered it had startlingly risen from 220,000 to 380,000. "A single video gaining 160,000 followers? Isn’t that a bit outrageous?"
But soon, Zhang Yanhang found out that Zhao Yalan had actually posted two videos yesterday. Besides the one that garnered over four hundred thousand likes, there was another with over two hundred thousand likes.
This two hundred thousand-liked video detailed how Zhao Yalan got her white sneakers back. After watching this new video, Zhang Yanhang saw that not only had she retrieved her white sneakers, but she also found a piece of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures along the way. It seemed that finding this treasure was why she flaunted it on TikTok. The source of thɪs content is novel⦿fire.net
"Good grief, am I the Heavenly Destiny Master, or are you? Picking up sneakers and stumbling upon Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, what luck, huh?" Zhang Yanhang carefully recalled his three encounters with Zhao Yalan, and it seemed that every time there was some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures nearby.
The first time was the Earth Spirit Fruit, the second was the Silver Frost Flower, and the third time was the unknown Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures Zhao Yalan herself found.
"Once could be a coincidence, twice might still be a coincidence, but three times really can’t be considered a coincidence anymore. It seems Zhao Yalan really is incredibly lucky..."
However, even though he knew about Zhao Yalan’s amazing luck, Zhang Yanhang didn’t seem to care. After all, his luck couldn’t be worse than hers. He had Multiple Choice as well as Domination, and could Pause Time when uncertain about things. In terms of unexpected encounters, surely no one could beat him.
Zhang Yanhang had a feeling that he would definitely meet Zhao Yalan again soon. They attended the same school, and their living places were also nearby, enhancing the likelihood of these unexpected encounters.
Speaking of which, "What color am I wearing today? It’s not still the pink one, is it?" His Perception instantly enveloped Zhao Yalan’s dormitory building, only to find no sign of her. "Not in the dorm at this time? Then, could she be in the cafeteria eating?"
Zhang Yanhang expanded his Perception Range to its maximum, quickly covering the entire university. He focused mainly on the food halls at the perimeter, but still didn’t find Zhao Yalan. "Not even in the cafeteria? Well, forget it, I’m too lazy to search anymore."
After giving up his search for Zhao Yalan, Zhang Yanhang liked her two videos and then continued to browse TikTok. After all, it was only half past twelve, and he wouldn’t have class until one-thirty.
Though there was still an hour left, Zhang Yanhang planned only to spend another fifteen minutes on TikTok before turning it off. He wasn’t actually that idle; in fact, he had many other things to do and was unexpectedly quite busy.
The reason he opened TikTok this time was mainly because Sun Jiaming mentioned it during the first class in the morning. He had said that Zhang Yanhang had hooked up with a senior on the app.
Hearing this, Zhang Yanhang immediately thought it must be Zhao Yalan posting a new video, so he decided to check out what it was.
Zhang Yanhang was primarily concerned that his righteous deeds, meant to serve as moral benchmarks, were unfairly misrepresented by Zhao Yalan. But after watching the videos, he found that Zhao Yalan actually had some conscience and hadn’t badmouthed him.
October 10th, the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays ended, at half-past two in the afternoon, in a university academic building, specialty class classroom.
Watching the strips of Crimson Iron Ant Meat sizzle on the griddle, Zhang Yanhang skillfully brushed them with a pre-made barbecue seasoning, flipping the already cooked strips and picking them up into his bowl.
The faint white smoke along with a strong aroma wafted through the entire classroom, but this aroma also attracted an uninvited guest.
A young female Computer Science teacher, uncommonly with a full head of hair, stood by Zhang Yanhang and patted his shoulder. "Although I can understand an Awakener’s hardships, do you really think this is okay?"
Zhang Yanhang turned to look at the specialty class teacher. From her complex gaze, Zhang Yanhang seemed to understand something, then nodded and made an OK gesture. "Got it! There’s really nothing to be embarrassed about. If you had mentioned it earlier, I would have already dealt with it."
Zhang Yanhang then took out a new pair of bowls and chopsticks from his Waist Bag and scraped a big bowlful of grilled meat off the griddle, all offered to the specialist teacher. He was grilling meat here because he felt a bit bored after his Cultivation session, and had not eaten lunch either.