Chapter 63: CH 63

“No, you don’t have to.”

Zong Yan steeled himself and quietly gulped.

His previous score in physics was 35 points. But after going through a mental ordeal, his score on the midterm plunged to 25.

To be fair, although Zong Yan didn’t do very well in physics, his grades were stable. He got around 30 points every time. He’d never suffered such a devastating loss.

After the physics teacher finished correcting the exam, he asked Zong Yan to the office for tea. In a serious voice the teacher told him to find a cram school during winter break and that he must not think of giving up.

“Time is growing short. At the last meeting of our teaching team, we all agreed that with your grades, a top tier university is no problem for you.”

As far as Zong Yan could remember, his physics teacher had always given him the cold shoulder, but right now his face contained nothing but encouragement. “I heard that you want to apply to Tsinghua? Tsinghua has an excellent engineering program. It’s very suitable for boys like you. You’re so good at mathematics. If you want to develop into pure science, you could also consider Beijing University.

“You’ve always been a bright child and you’re usually very self-disciplined. Your teacher didn’t do the right thing before. Let me apologize now. You’re a senior in high school. Don’t let personal feelings get in the way of your future.”

It was then that Zong Yan realized Mr. Liu was just a small old man with grey hair and a hunched body.

Mr. Liu had previously retired, but he was specially recruited and came back to teach physics. If not for the fact that he wanted to rest, he would have focused on third year students specifically. Instead, he’d taken a new class and followed it through all three years of high school.

That had some advantages. For example, the relationship between teacher and student was stronger.

“I know, Mr. Liu,” Zong Yan said, feeling guilty.

Now that he thought about it, aside from giving him detention and openly criticizing him in class, hating iron for not being steel, Mr. Liu hadn’t done anything else to him.

It was just that as a teenager Zong Yan had strong self-esteem and couldn’t tolerate any frustration. Over time, things had become somewhat hostile.

But now that he thought about it, how could there be any real animosity between a teacher and a student? A teacher would certainly hope his students would be admitted to a good school and develop well in the future. And just now, an old and respected teacher had actually extended an olive branch to Zong Yan, hoping he wouldn’t be prejudiced against a subject just because he didn’t like his teacher.

Teachers are educators, and their sincerity didn’t have to be spoken. There was nothing unusual about it.

Zong Yan and Mr. Liu had fought from the first year to the third. He never thought they’d reconcile like this.

“I took your test paper from the teacher who graded it this time. In the past you only wrote down a formula for the major questions. I didn’t expect to see that this time, you wrote a large number of dense equations and calculations. But your formulas were very strange, and it wasn’t clear where they came from. I’ve never heard of negative particles that can transform themselves. But your teacher sees that your attitude has changed. You have the right mindset now. It won’t be difficult to learn.

“You can do it. Jiayou.”

The physics teacher patted him on the shoulder. “You’re young and you have the energy to work hard. You’re even able to get a perfect score in math. What’s so hard about physics? Have confidence in yourself. Your teacher believes you’ll be able to overcome this difficulty. Tsinghua and Beijing University are waiting for you next year. You’ll make your family proud!”

It was thanks to this conversation that Zong Yan had psyched himself up. He was looking forward to winter break to start cramming, hell-mode style.

But as it turned out, he suffered a psychological blow from the New Year’s ceremony and did nothing but lay around at home for a few days. Anyway, before he could start his plan, he was suddenly interrupted by Yog-Sothoth.

Zong Yan thought to himself, there’s no way I can do that kind of tutoring ah! Last time I lost ten points, this time won’t it be 15? I’ll probably hit zero by the end of winter break. I’d be stupid to do this!

“This time we’ll do it the human way.” The omniscient and omnipotent Lord, who’d changed his appearance, spoke without mercy. He didn’t give Zong Yan any space to refuse but pushed a pile of textbooks onto the table.

To be honest, after the last tutoring session that sent Zong Yan’s performance backward instead of forward, Yog-Sothoth had felt a rare bit of frustration.

Of course, the great omniscient and omnipotent Lord would never reflect on his own behavior. He attributed everything to the inadequacy of human physics.

Zong Yan: …

What else could he do? All he could do was learn. If he angered this person into giving him a sudden flood of enlightenment, the problem wouldn’t be his physics score hitting zero, the problem would be sudden-onset dementia.

Surprisingly enough, Yog-Sothoth sat down at the desk with a pen in his hand. The Five-Three in front of him opened to a section on charged particles that Zong Yan had never understood. The evil god indicated that he should start working on the exercises.

He wasn’t sure why, but seeing this guy act so grounded made Zong Yan feel a bit flustered. 

Of course, Zong Yan certainly wasn’t going to openly refuse.

When he finished working a problem and pushed it over, a cold and slender hand grazed his cuff and landed on the sheet in front of him, then mercilessly circled an error. “Wrong. This formula is useless.”

Oh! He’s actually teaching.

It was a bit creepy to be personally tutored by an evil god, not to mention the only reason for this personal guidance was to raise a tiny human’s physics grade. Should he feel surprised, maybe honored?

As Zong Yan stared at the formula on the paper he couldn’t stop worrying about the only 25 points he had left.

Maybe Zong Yan was a bit too wary, but he really wanted to preserve those remaining 25 points. He didn’t know if his world view would be demolished again after this round of tutorials. It was hard to say.

But if the evil god was one foot tall, Zong Yan was ten feet tall. He had his own way of resisting.

That’s it—I won’t listen, I won’t listen, I just won’t listen at all!

Even if the other party was the Lord of Omniscience and Omnipotence, there was no way he could tell whether someone was paying attention, right? Ha ha ha ha!

Zong Yan thought he was extremely clever. He listened to the lecture in a casual manner. After Yog finished speaking, Zong Yan went to work with his pen.

This time, he deliberately slowed down his writing speed, hoping to stretch things out. He wanted to get this tutorial session over as fast as possible.

Then, while the other party was explaining, Zong Yan’s mind began to wander in the sky, something he was very experienced at. For example, he imagined himself living it up, punching Elder Gods and kicking Outer Gods and Great Old Ones left and right. Then he thought about what takeout he’d like to order in the evening. It seemed like an interesting movie was released recently, maybe he should go see it, etc., etc.

… Unfortunately, this brilliant avoidance method didn’t last long. The relevant party soon discovered it.

Yog pinched a corner of the Five-Three book, and his voice suddenly dropped two degrees compared to his previous straightforward narration. “I explained this question to you just five minutes and three seconds ago. Were you listening or not?”

“Yes,” the black-haired teen answered with great confidence and conviction. There wasn’t the slightest hint of a guilty conscience.

“Very well then, please restate what I said before.” Considering the goldfish brain of a human, which forgot whatever it was looking at a second later, the evil god lowered his standards even further. He gave a cold sneer, “Just describe it in general.”

Zong Yan: “…”

When the Lord of Omniscience and Omnipotence saw this reaction he almost laughed with anger.

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Lately it seemed that Zong Yan had been in a bad mood. That was why Yog had reached this point—to try to find something to distract him. Yog hadn’t hesitated to lower himself. He’d even gone so far as to spend a hundred-millionth of a second loading the knowledge of human high school physics, then went into battle personally to help.

This couldn’t be called a gift—it was straight up indulgence. And what was the result?

“A disobedient student will be punished by his instructor.”

In the dim light, the man’s smile was unspeakably dangerous.

The face of Yog’s new avatar was a little too sharp. If you just looked at his temperament, it was very much in line with his erudite and elegant identity. But when his expression grew cold, Zong Yan’s hair stood on end. It was like a dangerous hunter had just locked on him, as frightening as if he were about to be strangled.

It’s over, it’s over—that tone of voice—something bad was about to happen.

Zong Yan found himself seated on the stool, unable to move.

He watched in horror as a swarm of indescribable and terrifying shadows unfurled behind the gray-haired evil god.

The next moment, those shadows gradually solidified, taking over the entire room, writhing over the carpet, covering the ceiling.

They somehow avoided all the other contents of the room, forming a huge cocoon that completely enveloped Zong Yan.

The scene was really damaging to his San value.

Zong Yan instinctively grabbed a card from the void but a second later, he was caught by the wrist.

When he looked up, he met a pair of golden eyes.

No, those eyes couldn’t be called golden anymore.

It was something that couldn’t be described in words. It was the brightness of an array of stars unfolding across the entire sky.

Just a glance could snatch the soul away.

As Zong Yan looked on in horror, those spirit-shadows disappeared inside his head.

Every one of the shadows was terrible, but they submerged into Zong Yan’s temple without the slightest hindrance.

At the same time, a strange and mysterious sensation gradually crept into his mind.

He felt as if he’d been stripped of all disguise, leaving his spirit exposed to a freezing wind. In the vast sea of his consciousness, an indescribable presence suddenly appeared, occupying this territory with uncontestable authority.

‘What is this?!’

Zong Yan looked at Yog with horror.

‘Your spirit has already connected with mine.’

The gray-haired evil god smiled slightly, but this smile gave Zong Yan the creeps. Cold chills ran down his spine.

‘In other words, I can now see all the thoughts in your mind. Of course, you can do the same to me. But let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t try to spy on me through the psychic bridge, or you’ll be lost in the sea of my spirit. You’ll be completely annihilated. Not even your soul will remain.’

If an evil god wanted to know what was in a person’s mind, how easy, just take out their brain and you were done. Otherwise, a psychic tentacle could reach out, probe inside, and grab all a person’s thoughts. After the target’s mind was seized it would leave a bit of insanity as a side effect, no big deal.

Of course, a fragile human being couldn’t endure that kind of stimulation, so Yog-Sothoth compassionately constructed a simple psychic bridge.

To share such a bridge with the all-knowing and all-powerful Lord was an enormous honor.

By definition, a psychic bridge was a two-way channel. While Yog was able to view Zong Yan’s thoughts, Zong Yan could also attempt to reach the evil god’s true self.

However, right now Zong Yan was nothing more than an insignificant stream of consciousness. If he rashly tried to touch the evil god’s substance, he would be swallowed up by billions of glorious spheres, and nothing would be left.

Zong Yan: “…”

‘Very well, now we’ll study.’

Yog shoved the exercise book over to him with a benevolent air.

—

The author has something to say:

Zong Yan: This is too hard for me, really.

—

TL Notes:

devastating loss – 滑铁卢 – Waterloo – The site of Napoleon’s defeat in 1815

time is growing short – from 时间就是金钱 – “time is money”. I think the point is that there isn’t much time left, time is valuable, etc.

top tier – literally says “top3” – “top1” should refer to Beijing University (formerly known as Peking University), “top2” means Tsinghua and Beijing University, and “top3” would include the other universities that round out the top 10 of the national ranking in China. There’s no solid consensus on the third highest-ranking university. It sort of depends on your major. (from Baidu)

hating iron for not being steel – 恨铁不成钢 – be exasperated at sb.’s failure to make good; regret that one’s offspring does not live up to one’s expectations

sincerity didn’t have to be spoken – 桃李不言 – Peaches and plums do not speak — sincere men need not speak much

You’ll make your family proud – from 光宗耀祖 – make one’s ancestors illustrious; bring glory on one’s ancestors; glorify and illuminate the ancestors; One’s ancestors will be rendered illustrious

the evil god was one foot tall… – 邪神高一尺宗衍高一丈 – This is based on an idiom, “道高一尺，魔高一丈”, “the Dao is one foot high, the demon is ten feet high”. The more you advance, the greater the obstacles or resistance you will face

I won’t listen, I won’t listen… – 我不听我不听我就是不听大法 – There’s a very similar popular meme. The last part mentions the “Great Law” (大法) or fundamental laws of the country. I wasn’t sure of a good English equivalent

[ Project Page | Ko-Fi ✿ | Other translations by Confectioner ]

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