In the evening, after dinner Lin Zichen rested for a while, then quickly went upstairs and hid in his room for high‑intensity training.

He trained for more than three hours until his whole body felt numb and finally stopped, drenched in sweat.

During his break, he didn’t waste time either. Sitting on the floor, he used his phone to search for news related to the Rat God Cult, keeping track of the cult’s movements.

A quick search showed that in less than a day, several more cult members had been arrested.

It had to be said, the efficiency of the City Security Headquarters was truly high.

The only pity was that they still hadn’t managed to catch a Giant Aberrant Rat.

They hadn’t even seen the shadow of one.

It was as if this creature called the Giant Aberrant Rat had never existed in the human world at all, leaving people bewildered.

After resting enough, Lin Zichen put away his phone, picked up his clothes and went to the bathroom.

Once he finished showering, he turned off the lights and went to bed.

Before sleeping, he deliberately set his alarm clock for 3 a.m. planning to test his body’s stats on the street late at night when no one was around.

* * *

In the blink of an eye, several hours passed.

The phone alarm rang.

Lin Zichen woke up at the sound, got dressed, brought his measuring tools and sneakily left the house.

He found a blind spot in the surveillance cameras and began testing.

* * *

In less than ten minutes, the results came out.

His 100‑meter sprint only took 3.59 seconds.

His vertical jump reached 7.02 meters.

He could lift a car weighing about 1650 kilograms with one hand.

Compared with the last test, all three stats had improved.

After finishing his tests, Lin Zichen didn’t linger outside, but ran home at a steady pace with his measuring tools.

On the way back, while passing through a greenbelt, he spotted a fat rat by the side.

Looking closely, he was shocked to find the rat was crouched on the ground eating a bird!

It was a sparrow!

The sparrow was still alive, its wings flapping as it struggled to escape the rat’s mouth, but it was futile.

Lin Zichen was stunned by the sight.

He had seen cats eat birds.

But a rat eating a bird? What was going on?

How did it even catch the bird?

Frowning, Lin Zichen felt the whole scene was strange. He quickly avoided the rat and chose another route home.

On the way, he used his phone to call the Security Office to report the situation.

The people there just told him not to get close. Other than that, they said nothing, not even asking about the location, as if they didn’t care.

* * *

The next morning.

After breakfast, Lin Zichen stood at his doorstep playing with his phone, waiting for Shen Qinghan so they could go to school together.

Not long after, Shen Qinghan came out holding a small bag of cookies.

She stopped in front of Lin Zichen, took out a cookie and offered it to his mouth with a sweet smile, “Mom made these cookies last night, try one.”

These were made by Xu Meng especially for her to take to school and share with classmates, hoping she could get along well with everyone.

Lin Zichen took a bite and smiled, “Aunt Meng’s cookies are as delicious as ever.”

“Of course!”

Shen Qinghan said proudly.

After a brief chat, the two set off for school.

As they walked through the school gate and along the path, Lin Zichen suddenly heard someone calling his name from behind.

Turning around, he saw a tall girl.

She looked like an upperclassman.

“Ah, junior Zichen, it really is you! I thought your back looked familiar!”

Seeing Lin Zichen’s handsome and familiar face, the girl became excited and ran up to him.

Lin Zichen glanced at her but didn’t recognize her, feeling puzzled.

The girl smiled brightly, “Junior Zichen, do you remember me? Back when you were in your first year and joined the School Sports Meet, I was always cheering by your side, shouting so much my throat went hoarse.”

Lin Zichen honestly had no memory of it, but on the surface he politely smiled, “Of course I remember.”

Hearing this, the girl was overjoyed.

Lin Zichen didn’t chat much more. After saying goodbye to the senior, he left with Shen Qinghan toward the Class 1 Grade 10 classroom.

On the way, Shen Qinghan couldn’t help but sigh, “Xiao Chen, you’re really popular, no matter where you go there’s always a little fangirl chasing after you.”

Lin Zichen only smiled.

Once they reached the classroom, Shen Qinghan shared the cookies with Li Chuxin and He Yu.

It was the first time those two had eaten such tasty cookies. Learning that Shen Qinghan’s mother Xu Meng had made them by hand, they praised her endlessly.

As Xu Meng’s daughter, Shen Qinghan listened on, her heart full of joy.

Not long after, the class bell rang.

The students of Class 1 Grade 10 welcomed their very first high school lesson.

The subject was Mechanical Modification and the teacher was Cai Yuanfei, a bespectacled science guy.

The first lesson was simple, mainly explaining some basic concepts and ideas.

After listening briefly, Lin Zichen realized it was all material he had already read as a child, so he pulled out a book from home and started reading, not wasting time.

Everyone else listened intently.

After all, not everyone had grown up reading extensively like him with a photographic memory.

Most students had to keep up with the teacher’s pace.

While Lin Zichen read quietly, Lu Gang and Wang Shujie, the two prodigies from Nanguan City, were very active in class.

Every time the teacher asked a question, they answered immediately and always correctly, shocking the class with their knowledge.

As the teacher, Cai Yuanfei was full of praise for them, saying they truly lived up to being Nanguan City prodigies with such abundant knowledge.

After Mechanical Modification came Gene Fusion.

This class was taught by Liu Deren, also a bespectacled science guy.

The first lesson was also just concepts and ideas.

Lin Zichen found it was content he had already self‑studied, so he kept reading his own book.

Meanwhile, Lu Gang and Wang Shujie continued being active, impressing the teacher.

After teaching for so many years, Liu Deren said he had never seen such well‑prepared students. He even gave them a thumbs up, saying, “Incredible! Students from Nanguan City are really remarkable. In all my years of teaching, I’ve never seen such outstanding ones. You’ve truly opened my eyes.”

Hearing such praise, both Lu Gang and Wang Shujie were filled with pride.

Before long, the bell rang.

After two classes of Mechanical Modification and two of Gene Fusion, the morning lessons were over.

“Brother Jie, I heard you ranked third in Nanguan City’s high school entrance exams, that’s amazing!”

“Lu Gang, I heard you can easily lift 300 kilograms with one hand, is that true?”

“Wow, Nanguan City prodigies are on another level!”

At lunchtime, most of the class gathered around the two Nanguan City prodigies, marveling at their strength.

Watching this, He Yu couldn’t help but feel sour and muttered, “Damn, these two love showing off, they were performing the whole class, afraid no one would notice how great they are.”

Lin Zichen, however, thought their showing off was normal. Nothing to dislike.

After all, they had studied so hard and put in so much effort. Having achieved such results, wasn’t it natural to show off a little?

Often, the greatest motivation to strive upward is the chance to show off once you succeed.

Returning wealthy but keeping silent is like wearing fine clothes at night—it’s pointless.