Tier 3 by age 20?
Shen Ning thought about it. Based on the system’s reward notifications, the most recent one said she was mid-Tier 2, dated 14 months in the future. And 14 months from now, she’d be nineteen and a half—nearly twenty.
“I’m not as talented as he is,” the girl sighed quietly.
After suddenly witnessing what a true genius looked like, she felt an inexplicable sense of defeat.
“How are you not talented? You’re only eighteen,” Xiao Snow encouraged her. “You’ve still got a year and a half. It’s possible.”
“No way. I already know that by the time I’m twenty, I’ll probably just be…”
“You’re already Tier 2—it’s not that far off.”
“I’m only just… Wait a sec.”
That’s right. Mid-Tier 2 in 14 months—that happened in the timeline without the system. In this current timeline, she was already just half a tier away from Tier 3. For most people, a half-tier gap might mean months or years of cultivation—or even a lifelong impossibility.
But for Shen Ning, it might only be a few milestone missions away. Forget twenty—if she really put in the work, hitting Tier 3 by nineteen was a conservative goal.
“Suddenly you’re making a lot of sense, Xiao Snow. Like I always say, you’re more helpful than the school’s psychological counselor.”
“…?”
Xiao Snow had no idea what she suddenly realized. He didn’t know what exactly he’d said that clicked—or even whether the school had a counselor.
He’d certainly never seen one.
In any case, their intelligence-gathering mission was over, and one long-standing mystery was resolved. Now Shen Ning had a new top priority—completing the task currently pinned to her system dashboard:
ComplexStringWithÄÖÜandotherUnicodeCharactersTwo-Star Mission: First Handshake with a Big Shot.
Requirement: Bare foot, ten minutes.
Only one milestone task appeared at the two-star level—unlike the first star, which had two. This one was a little more unhinged than the one-stars, but still not as outrageous as the three-stars. She was stuck in a weird in-between.
So… what now?
As Shen Ning walked, she mulled it over. When she neared the classroom, she looked up—and saw Xu Chuyao wandering around asking every person she passed:
“Hello! Excuse me, have you seen a girl from my class named Shen Ning? You know, the one you guys all call the murder queen, red eyes, white hair, gives you nightmares with just one look… No? Okay, thanks anyway!”
Suddenly Shen Ning didn’t feel like walking forward anymore.
“Hello! Excuse me, have you—ah, never mind.” Xu Chuyao spotted her in the distance and began waving enthusiastically. “There! You’re there!”
A few minutes later, the two girls found themselves again on the deserted path beside the classroom building.
Yao Yao didn’t really know why, but she grabbed Shen Ning’s hand and silently led her there, looking suspicious and guilty the whole way.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Chuyao asked worriedly. “Did you steal someone’s instant noodle seasoning packet?”
Shen Ning’s eyelid twitched with irritation. “If you didn’t say all that weird crap while asking around for me, I could’ve walked over here like a normal person.”
Thanks a lot, really.
“Ah—so you heard that…” Xu Chuyao scratched her hands nervously. “Well, I didn’t see you when I got back, and you missed class too. I was worried something happened to you.”
She said it casually, but Shen Ning actually believed her. She remembered the night she was locked up, and how this thunderous girl had come looking for her in the old school building in the dead of night. That memory softened her a little.
“I’m fine. Just had something to do. I was on the rooftop.”
With her mood mellowed, her tone lost its edge too.
Xu Chuyao, however, gave her a strange look. She thought: I said all that and she’s not mad? Has she developed resistance to my nonsense from constant exposure?
Then how am I supposed to get my missing villain points?
“And you? What were you doing this morning?” Shen Ning asked.
“I told you last night! I was acting as lead interrogator—questioning those clown guys we caught.”
Xu Chuyao was telling the truth, but Shen Ning looked confused.
“You told me… last night?”
“Yeah, right before you were about to go berserk! You thought I was lying, didn’t you?!”
How rude! Yao Yao would never lie just to avoid being smacked. She was a good girl! Even if her finger touched her panties, she’d still tell the truth!
Shen Ning decided to redirect: “How did the interrogation go?”
At the mention of this, Xu Chuyao’s eyes lit up. Without caring about the topic shift, she plopped down on a nearby public bench and started gushing. She gave a quick summary of her conclusions and then launched into the juicy details—info she got from the higher-ups, stories about overlooked border towns, forgotten gangs, and so on.
Shen Ning listened closely, though she wasn’t nearly as excited by the novelty as Xu Chuyao was. For her, everything outside Mine District 13 was already unfamiliar. Surprise had long since become routine.
Watching the girl chattering away with such animation, Shen Ning couldn’t help asking, “You really like this stuff?”
“Of course! I love it.” Xu Chuyao answered without hesitation. “I love hearing stories more than anything.”
Especially the kind that couldn’t be found in books in her past life—those gave her a wonderful sense of the world finally filling itself out.
Shen Ning nodded. Stories, huh. Lots of people liked them. Her new friend Xiao Snow liked stories too—except he liked digging them up, while Xu Chuyao liked listening to them.
Wait a minute… If she liked hearing stories that much—then maybe…
“I’m telling you, the interrogation was supposed to be just a formality. But the moment I got those files from HQ, I knew this trip was worth it—”
Xu Chuyao was just about to share how excited she’d been when she noticed Shen Ning looking hesitant.
“What is it? If you’ve got something to say, say it! I won’t laugh.”
Liar. You always laugh the loudest.
But Shen Ning spoke anyway. “I… also have some very secret stories. From before I came to this school. Things that happened back in my hometown.”
Xu Chuyao’s eyes immediately lit up. A tragic backstory?! She’d heard rumors before, but now she’d get the firsthand version—the emotions, the perspective… This was premium content.
“Yes yes yes, tell me, I’m all ears!”
Seeing that the big thunder girl had taken the bait, Shen Ning set a condition: “I’ll tell you, but on one condition.”
“Keep it secret? No problem. You can count on me!”
But the white-haired girl shook her head lightly. “Not that. Of course it has to stay secret—if you tell anyone, it could put you in danger too.”
“Ah, classified info, got it. So what’s your real condition?”
“My request… no, I should say plea…” Shen Ning took a deep breath and said it all in one go: “Can you give me your foot?”
A breeze blew through, rustling the silence between the two girls.
Xu Chuyao tucked a wind-blown strand of hair behind her ear and blinked innocently. “Is… that sanitary?”
“It is, if you’ve washed it.”
Shen Ning kept her face serious, as though asking something extremely solemn.
But Xu Chuyao had snapped out of it. “No, no! This isn’t about hygiene—what the heck do you need my foot for?!”
The original heroine in the novel had nothing like this kind of fetish!
Shen Ning had predicted she’d be questioned, and prepared her answer in advance. “I just want to take a look.”
“A look?”
“Yeah… maybe touch it too.”
Xu Chuyao reeled. “You also want to touch it?!”
“Possibly. Not just once, either.” Shen Ning still kept her poker face, though her tone wavered under the thunder girl’s scandalized glare. Gritting her teeth, she finished:
“…I need to touch it for ten minutes.”
Ten minutes… 😨