Chapter 53: Late-Night Gaze

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Late-Night Gaze

Late at night.

The campus paths were nearly deserted.

A cool breeze rustled through.

Gu Qing activated Lightning Reflexes and strolled back toward his dorm, carefully observing his surroundings.

He was looking for any unusually fat rats nearby.

If he saw one, he’d kill it.

Hmm?

A sudden chill ran down Gu Qing’s spine.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt like something was watching him.

It was as if a ferocious beast lurking in the shadows had locked onto him, ready to pounce and tear out his throat at any moment.

He followed his intuition and looked up in the direction the feeling came from.

His gaze landed on the roof of a nearby girls’ dormitory.

It was shrouded in the deep darkness of night, enveloped in a dead silence. He couldn’t see a single figure.

’Is it my imagination?’

Gu Qing frowned.

He stood there staring for several seconds, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary on the roof of the girls’ dorm, he started walking toward his own building again.

At the same time, on the roof of that same girls’ dormitory, a slender, graceful figure stood silently in the night, her body completely merged with the darkness.

She looked down on Gu Qing from above, a hint of astonishment in her eyes.

’He can sense me watching from this far away?’

’It seems the Extraordinary Power within him is far more potent than I anticipated.’

’Such high-quality food... I must find a chance to eat him.’

’I’ll devour all the Extraordinary Power he contains.’

’And take another step forward on my own Extraordinary path!’

...

When Gu Qing returned to his dorm room,

his roommates were gathered around, eating a late-night snack.

They were having barbecue.

"Huh? Old Gu, didn’t you say you were staying out tonight? What are you doing back?" asked Gao Fei, who was facing the door. He looked completely bewildered to see Gu Qing.

Gu Qing replied, "Plans change."

Qian Duole asked curiously, "What changed?"

Gu Qing said, "You probably won’t believe this, but I ended up at the police station again."

Chen Zijie chuckled. "Well, I’ll be. So you didn’t go get a room with your girlfriend, you got a room *for* a one-night stand and got busted by the cops, huh?"

"Old Gu, that’s what you get for hogging all the fun."

"If you had just invited me and Duole along, your little escapade wouldn’t have ended in disaster."

Chen Zijie teased him with a grin.

Then he pulled a chair from behind him, pushed it to the side for Gu Qing, and said, "Come on, have some barbecue and a beer with us. Just remember to chip in for your share afterward."

"Well, since Young Master Jie himself is offering, I’d be a fool not to take it for free!"

Gu Qing said with a laugh.

He then plopped down onto the chair, grabbed a grilled sausage, and started eating.

Gao Fei picked up a can of beer and smiled. "It’s rare for all of us to be here. Come on, a toast!"

"Cheers!"

"Bottoms up!"

"Cheers!"

With a few shouts, the four of them raised their beers and drank, the atmosphere warm and friendly.

Gu Qing had just finished his beer and set the can down.

Suddenly, that inexplicable chill ran down his spine again!

The familiar sensation of being watched had returned!

Gu Qing’s brow furrowed.

He immediately got up, walked to the balcony, and looked in the direction his intuition was pointing.

Outside, the night was thick and pitch-black; he couldn’t see anything at all.

’Is it my imagination again?’

Gu Qing’s brows knitted tightly.

But the feeling of being watched was so real.

It didn’t seem like an illusion at all.

Yet he truly couldn’t find anything.

It was incredibly frustrating.

At that very moment, on the dormitory building across from the balcony, the same graceful figure who had been watching Gu Qing earlier was now plastered against the wall like a gecko. Her body was completely one with the night as she stared intently at Gu Qing on his balcony.

’Oh?’

’He really can sense me watching?’

’My previous judgment was correct. He really does possess a potent Extraordinary Power.’

’But... you lucky Extraordinary Contactor, you’ve had the misfortune of running into me.’

’You are destined to become nutrients for my evolution!’

...

「The next day.」

Gu Qing spent the morning in class, grinding through practice problems with the grad school exam top student, Yang Yuntong.

They worked nonstop for four hours.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class,

several lines of text popped up right on time before his eyes.

[You have studied with your classmate Yang Yuntong for over an hour] x4

[Focus +1] x4

[Learning Ability +1] x4

[Learning Ability has accumulated 100 points. You can now obtain the Attribute: Extraordinary Comprehension]

[Current Points Acquired: 70]

’Just 30 more points to get Extraordinary Comprehension.’

’If we could grind problems together all day, I could max it out in just three days.’

’Today is Thursday.’

’If I do it for three straight days, I can get it done by Saturday.’

’The only problem is, how do I get Yang Yuntong to spend all day grinding problems with me?’

Gu Qing fell into deep thought.

Ever since he learned last night that Zhou Yuan had been taken back to the organization by Lin Tianyang, and would most likely not be returning to school, he had set his sights on Yang Yuntong.

He planned to spend the next few days grinding problems with this top student.

Ideally from morning till night.

He wanted to get his hands on the Extraordinary Comprehension Attribute as soon as possible.

After thinking for a long while,

Gu Qing still couldn’t figure out how to get Yang Yuntong to study with him all day.

In the end, he decided to just stop thinking about it.

He looked directly at Yang Yuntong and said,

"Yuntong, there’s something I’d like to ask you."

"What is it?"

Yang Yuntong was packing her things to leave. Hearing him speak, she paused with a puzzled expression and looked at him.

Gu Qing said, "I want you to accompany me for three days."

"Huh?"

Yang Yuntong’s face instantly turned red.

Gu Qing cleared his throat. "Ahem, what I mean is, I want you to study with me for three days straight. Like, all day, from morning till night."

"Why me?"

Yang Yuntong was very confused.

Gu Qing explained, "You need the right atmosphere to study. I think you’re a really serious student, so I wanted to go study with you at the library."

Yang Yuntong was still puzzled. "But why for three days straight?"

She thought his request was a bit strange.

If she hadn’t asked Gu Qing to a movie before, only for him to pretend he didn’t hear and turn her down,

she would be suspecting right now that he liked her and was trying to hit on her.

"I can’t really explain why, but I really need you to study with me for three straight days."

"Of course, I won’t ask you to help for free."

"As compensation, I’ll give you a deluxe physical copy of one of Yiyang Junyuan’s music albums, and I’ll cover all your meals for the next three days."

Yiyang Junyuan was a very popular singer at the moment.

Gu Qing had seen Yang Yuntong’s Friends Circle posts and knew the singer was her idol.

"Alright, then."

Yang Yuntong agreed. "I don’t have much else to do, anyway. I usually just study in my dorm, so switching to the library doesn’t make a difference to me."

Even if Gu Qing hadn’t offered her an album or to cover her meals, she still would have agreed to help him.

Because Gu Qing was very handsome, and she had always had a bit of a crush on him.

It was just a small favor that required little effort, so she had no reason not to help.

Seeing the top student agree,

Gu Qing stood up and said with a smile,

"Let’s go, then. We’ll go to the student life area to eat. You can have whatever you want, my treat."

"Oh, that’s not necessary. Just treating me to a cheap meal at the cafeteria is fine."

Yang Yuntong said, adjusting her glasses.

Gu Qing gave the top student a mental thumbs-up. ’What a good girl!’

...