“I… I won?”

Shen Qinghan looked a little dazed.

She had considered losing and she had considered a hard‑fought narrow win—but she had never considered winning this easily.

‘That was Ma Xiwei! A top genius who had undergone gene fusion before the term even started! And she hadn’t even lasted ten seconds against me. Am I really this strong?’

The more Shen Qinghan thought about it, the more unreal it felt—she wondered if she was dreaming.

But the faint pain in her knee kept reminding her it was real.

She really had crushed Ma Xiwei with absolute superiority.

* * *

At the same time, people in the stands, the leadership box and the competitors’ waiting area were all stunned—without exception, every face was filled with disbelief.

Especially in the waiting area, where shocked exclamations erupted nonstop.

“Ma Xiwei actually lost?! And with no chance to fight back?! How is that possible?! Weren’t they saying Shen Qinghan was just a vase?! What vase—she’s a vase encrusted with diamonds! One hit from that and you’d die!”

In the waiting area, Li Moyu was completely dumbfounded; he blurted exclamation after exclamation, his chatterbox nature on full display.

Beside him, Luo Yongjian stood slack‑jawed, his mouth open wide enough to fit a fist, unable to speak for a long while.

He had figured himself for number three in the Gifted Class; now he was directly number four…

* * *

Over in the leadership box, the school leaders and a whole slate of Student Union members were wide‑eyed, shocked by the combat power Shen Qinghan had unleashed.

“Xiwei!”

The doting father Ma Zhenhe, seeing his daughter knocked out, cried her name and rushed to the platform to check her injuries.

Liu Chuanwu looked thoroughly astonished, “What’s the deal with this childhood‑sweethearts pair? Their family backgrounds are simple enough—how are both of them such geniuses?”

Student Union president Zhou Xuehong stared at Shen Qinghan on stage with appreciation on his face and said to the vice president beside him, “Shen Qinghan’s potential is immense. We must recruit her into the Student Union and groom her as a presidential seed candidate.”

The vice president frowned, “President, Shen Qinghan is Lin Zichen’s fiancée. She’s been following him doing stand‑ins and opposing us—she’s not recruitable.”

Zhou Xuehong said blandly, “There are no eternal enemies in this world, only eternal interests. If the preferential terms are good enough, there’s no one you can’t recruit.”

* * *

A bit over ten minutes later, the remaining two quarterfinal matches wrapped up one after another.

Counting the first two, all four results were in.

The four advancing were Lin Zichen, Shen Qinghan, Li Moyu and Luo Yongjian.

Soon, the big screen above the platform began the random pairing.

A few seconds later, the matchups appeared:

Lin Zichen vs. Shen Qinghan.

Li Moyu vs. Luo Yongjian.

Seeing her opponent was Lin Zichen, Shen Qinghan flushed with excitement, “Xiao Chen, we’re going to share the stage—this is the first time since we met!”

“Is it worth getting that excited over?”

“Absolutely worth it—very worth it!”

Lin Zichen smiled, “If you’d drawn Luo Yongjian, we could’ve fought in the final.”

Shen Qinghan said optimistically, “I’m already satisfied to make the semifinals. I won’t ask for the final. Not drawing Li Moyu is fortune enough.”

* * *

Before long, the semifinals began.

First up were Li Moyu and Luo Yongjian.

The fight lasted more than a minute.

In the end, Li Moyu won with some effort and advanced to the final.

After he stepped down, soon enough, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan took the stage.

They took their places and within moments, at the referee’s signal, they began to trade blows.

“You shouldn’t have led with a kick—use a punch there. Wrong choice.

That punch angle is poor; it exposes you to a counter.

Your legs are clamping too tightly; open them a bit.”

Holding his own strength down to Shen Qinghan’s level, Lin Zichen sparred while patiently pointing out her shortcomings.

He turned a fiercely competitive semifinal into a teaching match.

A teaching match in the truest sense.

A boyfriend coaching his girlfriend.

The scene made many girls in the audience green with envy—they wanted a boyfriend who could be their coach too.

The bout lasted a little over three minutes.

It ended with Shen Qinghan conceding of her own accord.

She didn’t feel conceding was shameful; both she and the crowd knew she couldn’t beat Lin Zichen.

Most importantly, Lin Zichen was her live‑in fiancé.

What’s shameful about losing to your fiancé?

* * *

Half an hour later, the last round of the Freshman Tournament—the final—finally began.

The two finalists were Lin Zichen and Li Moyu.

As soon as they took the stage, Li Moyu refused to be outdone, “Lin Zichen, maybe I’m not as strong as you right now, but don’t think you’ll beat me easily. I’ll force a draw even if I have to hold out by sheer grit!”

As soon as he finished, Li Moyu activated the Demon‑Eyed Giant Ape gene in his body, transforming into a mass of muscle.

Compared with the opening trial, he was now even more robust—at least fifty percent stronger by the looks of it.

Lin Zichen said nothing.

When the referee below shouted “Begin,” he stepped forward in a single bound, closed on Li Moyu and with one kick booted him off the platform, winning with ease.

For a moment the scene went silent.

Then a buzz of noisy commentary broke out.

The school leaders in the box, in particular, couldn’t help exclaiming, marveling at the power of Lin Zichen’s physique.

“He one‑shots everybody. That physical toughness is outrageous.”

“With a body talent like that, do you think he might actually make something of the pure‑blood human path?”

“It’s definitely possible.”

One by one, the school leaders spoke, reassessing Lin Zichen.

They no longer slapped a prejudiced label on him—“this one will surely fade into mediocrity”—just because he chose the pure‑blood human path.

* * *

After the Freshman Tournament ended, Yuan Dongzhi awarded the top eight freshmen.

The prize was simple and direct—credits.

As champion, Lin Zichen received five hundred credits.

In a subsequent placement match, Shen Qinghan beat Luo Yongjian to take third place and happily received credits.

After some time awarding prizes and taking group photos, Yuan Dongzhi picked out the top five and had them attend a winter break special training camp.

The five were Lin Zichen, Shen Qinghan, Li Moyu, Ma Xiwei and Luo Yongjian.

“This winter break training camp will be held at the military district headquarters in Southern River Province—the military district in charge of suppressing Source Site No. 36. I won’t say much about the Source Site. You’re all geniuses with solid family backgrounds—you’ve probably heard a bit from your elders at home.

Even if you haven’t, it doesn’t matter; there will be dedicated courses on the Source Site at the camp. The camp starts in ten days—on the 25th of this month. On the morning of the 24th at seven o’clock, gather downstairs at the Administration Building. I’ll personally drive you over and drop in on some old friends along the way.”

With that, Yuan Dongzhi left quickly.

Once she was gone, Li Moyu looked at Lin Zichen with full confidence, “This winter break I’m going home for a second gene fusion—to fuse a higher‑grade aberrant beast gene. When it’s time to head to the military district for camp, I won’t just be stronger than you—I’ll crush you.”

Though he’d just lost the final to Lin Zichen with a one‑kick finish, Li Moyu’s confidence was undimmed.

That was the confidence that came from strong talent for gene fusion—and from the backing of a great clan.

Hearing his tough talk, Lin Zichen only smiled and said nothing. He quickly took Shen Qinghan’s hand and left the podium.