CHAPTER 4
Editor and proofreader: Fherlie Paguio

---

Ye Qingyun couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at the chair, then back at Gu Shenyuan.

After all, in the original work, Gu Shenyuan was not the type to care about someone who mocked or questioned him. According to his character, he should ignore Ye Qingyun completely, letting him stand there until the end of time, regardless of how sore his legs got, completely focused on the test paper he had to write.

As a technology enthusiast, Ye Qingyun was indeed someone who preferred to sit when possible. He hesitated for less than a second before sitting down.

“What kind of broken chair is this? It’s so hard.” Ye Qingyun took advantage of the situation and acted like a jealous side character, “Ha, the chairs back where I’m from are way softer than yours!”

Gu Shenyuan didn’t respond again. He examined all the questions and then began to write on the test paper.

The initial questions were relatively simple, meant to ensure Gu Shenyuan wouldn’t embarrass himself by scoring zero. So when Ye Qingyun saw Gu Shenyuan writing, he was pleased but not overly surprised.

Ye Qingyun stood by, hands in his pockets, and gradually shifted his attention from the test paper to Gu Shenyuan.

Gu Shenyuan was very quiet; apart from his hands writing and his chest rising and falling as he breathed, the rest of his body remained completely still, like a stone sculpture.

His dark lashes hung low, and his pale skin paired with thin lips gave him an air of detachment, making him seem unapproachable and unlikely to be moved by anyone.

And indeed, that was the case.

In the original book, because of this face, many people liked Gu Shenyuan, and there were countless suitors. But no matter how many people pursued him, it was all in vain; Gu Shenyuan treated them all like air.

Although this book was a melodramatic romance, the reason Gu Shenyuan was the protagonist and not the protagonist’s side character was that he remained single throughout, never being with anyone.

The author of the book originally wanted to write an absolutely cold, icy beauty character, so they put in a lot of effort in the early chapters to depict how indifferent Gu Shenyuan was to love and romance, how he was someone to be admired from afar but never to be touched. However, the portrayal became so forced that by the later chapters, the authors themselves didn’t know how to write about Gu Shenyuan falling in love. After writing two awkward chapters, they were met with harsh criticism from readers, resulting in a meltdown, leading to an abrupt and poorly executed ending.

After recalling the book’s content, Ye Qingyun saw Gu Shenyuan lift his eyes, and their gazes met directly.

Being caught peeking is always quite embarrassing, but Ye Qingyun was quick-witted and immediately said with a hint of jealousy, “You’re not even that good-looking; why would Pu Tian choose you? Hmph, enjoy it while it lasts; he’ll get bored of you soon enough.”

Gu Shenyuan’s expression remained unchanged as if he hadn’t heard this sarcastic provocation at all. He lowered his gaze and resumed writing the test paper.

Ye Qingyun shifted his attention to the test paper and was taken aback. Gu Shenyuan had already completed the fill-in-the-blank and multiple-choice questions and was now working on the application analysis question.

Ye Qingyun glanced at the finished questions and found that Gu Shenyuan had answered them all correctly, even those that required careful reading and a deep understanding of the book’s content.

This test paper was of moderate difficulty, with only the last major question being quite challenging; the rest leaned towards understanding the entire book. The fact that Gu Shenyuan could finish the earlier sections so quickly indicated that he had definitely read the whole book multiple times and understood it well.

Ye Qingyun couldn’t help but want to show a kind smile, but fortunately, he caught himself in time and maintained the fierce facade of the main character.

Gu Shenyuan wrote smoothly until he reached the last major question.

This question analyzed the powers and elements, asking what kind of ability a person with a power concentration level of 37.5 and a mental strength level of A would possess to survive in a certain extreme environment.

A large amount of data about the environment was provided on the side, some of it useful and some purely intended to confuse. Such content had not been detailed in other people’s old books, and it wasn’t explained thoroughly in the text either, making it quite challenging to grasp through self-study.

Gu Shenyuan furrowed his brows and began calculating on a draft paper. Ye Qingyun watched him fill up two whole sheets of draft paper, remaining silent for a long time before finally writing down the last answer on the test paper.

“Is it correct?” Gu Shenyuan looked over and spoke.

“Yes, yes, the thought process was fine; it was just a small error due to misremembering some piece of data among dozens of pages, and even if the answer was wrong, what did it matter? This year’s Outstanding Student Award was yours!”

Ye Qingyun cheered silently in his heart, but his face remained haughty and cold as he sneered, “Of course it’s wrong. I told you, how could you understand my book?”

This time, his sarcasm didn’t go ignored. Gu Shenyuan frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed, saying coldly, “Hmm.” He paused, perhaps realizing his tone was too harsh, and added, “Thank you for your trouble.”

Ye Qingyun: “……?”

Did he hear that right? Gu Shenyuan, who always spoke in the same tone to everyone, softened his tone to talk to him.

Ye Qingyun was shocked, feeling a mix of teeth-gritting jealousy as he replied, “Stop with the pleasantries. Pu Tian told me to explain it to you; of course, I’ll explain! You can’t use this to hold over me and go tell him bad things about me!”

After a moment of silence, Gu Shenyuan said, “I won’t.”

Oh my god, Gu Shenyuan had spoken more than two soft words to him!

Ye Qingyun coldly sneered as he turned away, “Do you think I would believe you? Fine, I’ll go prepare content that suits you and come back tomorrow.”

Having said that, Ye Qingyun left without a second glance.

————

The door slammed shut with a bang, completely cutting off Gu Shenyuan’s gaze behind him.

Ye Qingyun let out a huge sigh of relief, the tension in his body finally easing.

This was too unusual; Gu Shenyuan’s attitude was just too strange.

“System, is Gu Shenyuan also a player from another world?” Ye Qingyun asked.

The system weakly explained, “No, only one player can exist in a world. Too many players would cause the world to collapse. Besides, if he were a player, acting this way would be suicidal. Only the original can ignore their character setup and do whatever they want.”

Ye Qingyun frowned.

Although being treated this way by Gu Shenyuan felt great, if he was the original character, then Gu Shenyuan’s actions were too odd.

Could it be that he was being so nice to Ye Qingyun to get him to teach him without holding back?

Even though Gu Shenyuan, in the original story, was also someone willing to learn new knowledge, he wasn’t that desperate for it.

The system was uneasy: “Could it be that Gu Shenyuan is attracted to your looks?”

Ye Qingyun chuckled at that.

“Gu Shenyuan wouldn’t like someone just for their looks.” Ye Qingyun said slowly, “Did you forget the plot of the book?”

In the original story, there was a scene where the universe’s most beautiful person was sent to seduce Gu Shenyuan. Instead, Gu Shenyuan told the beauty to put her clothes back on and then reported her for violating public order and security management regulations, having the police take her away without a hint of sympathy.

The system recalled this plot and immediately fell silent.

Ye Qingyun couldn’t think of Gu Shenyuan’s motives, so he simply decided not to overthink it and regarded him as a diligent student. After all, he was just a hardworking side character; such inexplicable plot changes had nothing to do with him.

Ye Qingyun returned to his room to prepare for the upcoming lesson. Time flew by, and soon it was noon.

There was a cafeteria on the starship, which opened for two hours during meal times. Those who missed it had to eat nutritional supplements on their own.

Ye Qingyun was tired of eating nutritional supplements. Plus, since he was new here, he wanted to explore and observe the surroundings. He set down his book, opened the manual given to him by the burly man upon his arrival, confirmed the cafeteria’s location and dining conditions, and then headed toward the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was undoubtedly the liveliest place at this hour. As soon as Ye Qingyun approached, he could hear the chaotic sounds of chatter coming from inside.

“Did you hear that the guy who can make everyone ugly has moved in? Da Hei, you drove to pick him up yesterday, right? Did you get so ugly on the way back that you crashed?”

“What? When did he come?”

“How did the boss agree to let him on the ship? Could it be that he was moved by years of unwavering enthusiasm?”

“Hey, hey, A Ke, calm down; even if you’re jealous, don’t break anything!”

Ye Qingyun continued walking forward, listening to the discussion inside.

“Don’t talk nonsense; he looks good in real life.”

That was the voice of the burly man who had brought Ye Qingyun back.

No one believed the burly man’s words, and they all burst into laughter: “Are you kidding me? If he looks good, how come the boss has ignored him all these years?”

“Everyone knows about the boss’s flirtatious nature; he often brings back people who look just average to play for a few days. That guy must not even meet that average standard!”

“What did you take to say such things with a guilty conscience?”

The burly man continued to argue, “Nothing is absolute; he looks good!”

The crowd scoffed, clearly not convinced, and shifted the topic elsewhere.

Ye Qingyun reached the entrance of the cafeteria, lifted the curtain meant for blocking, and walked inside.

The once bustling cafeteria fell silent; Ye Qingyun could feel the eyes of the crowd glued to him, following his every move.

This silence didn’t last long and was quickly replaced by hushed whispers.

“Who is this person? The boss’s new beauty?”

“He looks better than the previous ones; he must be super expensive…”

“Brothers, I’m reserving him first; whoever tries to compete with me is not giving me face!”

“Bah, keep dreaming!”

Ye Qingyun didn’t care about what they were saying and continued forward. He caught the enticing aroma of food, which was incredibly tempting for someone who had mostly been eating nutritional supplements since arriving in this world.

The cafeteria resembled the school cafeterias Ye Qingyun was familiar with. He walked up to the serving window and saw a dozen or so dishes.

The dishes were divided into two categories: one was free and quite ordinary, while the other required payment and looked significantly more luxurious.

Instead of money, they charged contribution points.

Contribution points were earned by contributing to the space pirate crew, and technically, everyone had them since no one on the ship was idle. Even the various beauties brought back by Pu Tian had contribution points because they made him happy, so he generously gave them many points.

Everyone had contribution points; there were no exceptions. Newcomers, unless Pu Tian deliberately withheld them, would also receive a welcome gift of a hundred contribution points.

As Ye Qingyun approached the facial recognition machine, it suddenly lit up and emitted a loud alarm—

“Beep—please note, your contribution points are zero!”

Ye Qingyun: “……”

“He was still free labor, huh?”

“Alright, Pu Tian, as expected of you, you are scummy!”

Ye Qingyun took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and was about to scoop some free food when he heard a commotion in the dining area.

As the space pirates heard the announcement about the zero contribution points, their eyes lit up.

What did having zero contribution points mean? It meant that this beauty had already been abandoned by their boss, and they could take action!

Opportunity knocks but once!

A burly man sitting closest to Ye Qingyun suddenly lunged forward, standing beside Ye Qingyun. He leaned on the facial recognition device and struck a cool pose, slowly turning his head toward Ye Qingyun while the machine loudly announced the balance, revealing a charmingly rogue smile: “Eat whatever you want; it’s on me.”

Ye Qingyun: “……”