Half asleep, Gu Zai'an kept feeling a tickle on his face, as though someone's eyelashes were brushing against it.
A bed that cost a thousand yuan a night really did deliver. The moment he lay down, he was out.
He had been sleeping peacefully and hadn't had nearly enough of it when a needle suddenly jabbed him in the backside.
He jolted awake, clutching his butt and howling, “Which little bastard is ruining my beauty sleep at this hour? Keep it up and I'll resent you to death!”
[Host, do you know what day it is?]
“Huh?” Gu Zai'an remembered that he had transmigrated into a novel last night. But after thinking it over, he still couldn't work out what was special about today. He gave up and asked, “So what day is it?”
A little yellow-and-black bee materialized out of thin air in front of him, its enormous eyes bulging.
Gu Zai'an jumped and patted his chest. “Could you stop making such a terrifying entrance every time? Seriously, one of these days you're going to give me a heart attack.”
The little bee rolled its eyes hard. [Reporting to the host: please stop getting hung up on details. You need to report to school immediately. Today is the first day of the Joint Academy term.]
Leaning forward, its tiny wings beating furiously, the bee added in a mysterious tone, [There will be very serious consequences if you don't go!]
The Joint Academy, put simply, was where some students who failed to get into university went after graduating from high school. They studied there for three years before moving on to university.
Many unsuccessful applicants chose that route. It was effectively repeating three years of school, after which they would be placed at prestigious universities whether their scores were high enough or not.
Since the system had not yet been introduced nationwide, Joint Academies were housed within universities. After three years, students could enroll directly as long as they passed their subjects.
To stop people from gaming the system, the Joint Academy had entrance requirements: applicants had to score ten points above the undergraduate admissions cutoff on the college entrance exam and have no criminal record within three generations of their family.
Everything else was just like high school.
Gu Zai'an had been an academic disaster in his original world too, scraping only three hundred points on the college entrance exam. He wasn't much better than this body's original owner. And now he was being told he had to spend another three years at the Joint Academy? That was... horrifying.
He sighed deeply. “Other people get cheat powers and save the world when they transmigrate into books. Me? I'm back to Five Years of College Entrance Exams. This is tragic.”
[Host, as a World Inspector, the male lead is your entire world. You can do it!]
With that, the little bee disappeared again.
And so, saddled with the princely debt of two thousand yuan, Gu Zai'an headed for the Joint Academy.
The entrance looked no different from a high school's, except that the gates were taller and broken glass was scattered along the outer wall.
In other words, security was strict.
After heaving countless internal sighs, Gu Zai'an noticed that everyone around him was looking his way, as though he were some kind of spectacle.
“Weird. Why are they staring? Is there something on my face?”
He felt his face. His skin was smooth and soft; he couldn't find anything unusual.
While he was still puzzling over it, a dark-skinned young man dressed head to toe in streetwear brands approached. His hair was dyed purple, and his grin was so wide it nearly reached his eyes.
Gu Zai'an immediately turned away, chanting silently: He's not here for me, he's not here for me...
“Gu Zai'an, why are you ignoring me? Didn't we agree we'd steal the show together today? What's up? Getting shy when it counts?”
A hand landed on his shoulder. The guy had a booming voice too; practically everyone at the school gates heard him.
Gu Zai'an went numb. He was sure at least a hundred pairs of eyes were on him now.
How was someone with social anxiety supposed to survive this?
He turned stiffly, his legs feeling weak. “Hi...”
Lin Qinyan raised an eyebrow and teased, “Well, well, well. I didn't expect you to outdo me in the shameless department. Fine, you've stolen the spotlight. I'll settle for second place.”
Confused, Gu Zai'an looked down at his clothes—and promptly turned to stone.
Why had his shirt looked black in the hotel, only to turn vivid lime green in the sunlight? And only now did he notice how bizarre his pants were: the rips were on the back, while the front was perfectly intact. That wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the silver chain looped around his crotch.
Was this a normal outfit? Was it? And how had he gone an entire night without noticing?
Forget this world. Let it end.
[Warning. Warning. Strong unwillingness to perform assigned duties detected. The host is hereby sentenced to immediate death and must pay thirty million yuan in damages for breach of contract.]
Gu Zai'an nearly choked. What kind of one-sided contract was this damned system running?
“Wait, wait, wait! I don't want to die! I don't!”
The system's alarm fell silent at once.
Lin Qinyan slung an arm around Gu Zai'an's neck like a good buddy and cheerfully dragged him through the gates.
Gu Zai'an remembered now.
Lin Qinyan was the original owner's close friend, straightforward and simplehearted. In their first year of high school, nobody had wanted to talk to him because he was dark-skinned. Only the original owner had treated him like a normal person.
So Lin Qinyan had become one of Gu Zai'an's devoted followers, tagging along to bars and all sorts of disreputable places. But because Lin Qinyan had a curfew, Gu Zai'an had never paid him much attention. He was just another part of the entertainment.
Later, after the female lead imprisoned Gu Zai'an, Lin Qinyan had even risked his life trying to rescue him. He hadn't succeeded.
And why? Because the original owner was absolute scum. Determined to take someone down with him if he died, he had stopped halfway through their escape and tricked this trusting young man into dying alongside him.
What a piece of work!
Gu Zai'an cursed him silently.
The most pressing issue now was how he was supposed to survive a whole day at school dressed like this.
He looked Lin Qinyan over, and inspiration struck. “Buddy, how about we swap outfits?”
“No way,” Lin Qinyan refused at once. “I couldn't steal your spotlight!”
Copying the original owner's manner, Gu Zai'an ordered, “Lin Qinyan, don't make me say it twice.”
“An, I just don't want to steal your thunder. Besides, haven't you always looked down on my clothes?” Lin Qinyan asked timidly.
That was indeed how the original owner had behaved. With friends and parents alike, he always put himself above everyone else. Swapping clothes was certainly not something he would have done.
But Gu Zai'an didn't care! He just wanted to stop attracting so much attention.
“Three, two, one...” He began counting, pretending to lose patience.
Lin Qinyan tightened the arm around his neck, pressed his head to his chest, and dragged him toward the restroom. “Okay, okay! Since my clothes have earned your approval, An, let's do it.”
Struggling to breathe, Gu Zai'an patted his chest and discovered that the guy's pecs were ridiculously soft.
Huh? So this was what pecs felt like?
Neither of them knew that an ordinary car had pulled up by the road when Gu Zai'an reached the gates. Gu Qingbai had stepped out and was about to greet him when Lin Qinyan beat him to it.
Gu Qingbai's face turned thunderous. He looked back at the driver. “Who's that with him?”
“The Lin family's young master, Lin Qinyan. The eld—er, he often spends time with Gu Zai'an,” the driver said, leaning out and choosing his words carefully.
“Lin Qinyan.” Gu Qingbai repeated the name, then followed them into the restroom.