009. The Instructor
“Stand straight! Relax! Count off!”
“Everyone’s here, now run two laps! Keep up! Stay in formation!”
In the afternoon, the sun was glaring down, making the air on the playground feel like it was warping. The moment Ning Chu stepped into the sunlight, his skin quickly began to sweat, making him feel sticky and uncomfortable.
Due to his height, he was one of the front runners in the team, right next to the intimidating instructor, which made him too scared to slack off—he just focused on running his heart out.
Fortunately, his stomach pain had eased up significantly by the afternoon, and it was no longer an issue.
He had a good lunch—a couple of meat dishes, a veggie, and a glass of yogurt—so filling he nearly exploded afterward, even managing to catch a nap.
As long as he ate and slept well, he was confident he wouldn’t be the first to faint during the standing exercises.
After two laps, Ning Chu was panting heavily.
With the instructor calling for a break, he plopped down on the grass, massaging his aching calves while gulping down half a bottle of mineral water.
“Ugh, I’m dead!” Wang Jie, the ultimate couch potato who never exercised, was dramatically lamenting, “I could’ve died out there! Why on earth are we doing this early in the morning? Are we even allowed to live?”
Ning Chu shot him a sideways glance, which made Wang Jie lurch over.
“What’s up?”
“Feeling much better, it’s not a problem.”
“Oh~,” Wang Jie sighed, “If I had a stomach ache, I’d definitely take a few days off.”
“I heard military training earns you credits. If you skip it this year, you have to make it up with the freshmen next year.”
“Is that for real?”
Ning Chu bit his lip, neither agreeing nor denying it. The university he attended in his previous life had similar rules.
Taking advantage of the break, he scanned the playground before his eyes settled on a lively girl from the next class.
Hmm… he thought he should really get a girlfriend.
In a world filled with quality girls, aside from breaking the plot for his own gain, wanting to find a girlfriend and enjoy life wasn’t too much to ask, right?
But that girl looked a bit taller than him, standing at about a little over a meter sixty.
Short girls usually have those innocent loli faces, and while he knew the girls on the playground were all over eighteen, they weren’t in an anime. The thought of pursuing a loli-type girl made him feel an irrational guilt.
Plus, why did he suddenly gain this layer of soft flesh on his chest in the shower earlier?
Remembering that unexpected sensation, all romantic thoughts fled his mind. He lazily flopped back on the grass, staring up at the bright blue sky, lost in thought.
In the first week after he crossed over, he sprouted a couple of little red beans on his chest, and now, it seemed like this unexpected development had turned them into little bao buns.
There had to be a connection there, right?
“Why’s the instructor here?”
The voices around brought Ning Chu back to reality. He turned his head and spotted the instructor walking toward them, carrying a cardboard box.
Scenes from the book about the instructor immediately popped into his head and gave him a bad impression, and he muttered under his breath, “Gentlemen, bad eggs…”
“Come on, I brought you some water and bread, all in the box.” The instructor’s smile was sunny, his appearance gentle and approachable, quickly winning over the hearts of the students. “I’ll set the box here. Go grab some when you take breaks. Let’s do well in this military training, and afterward, we’ll have a nice meal together to recover.”
Ning Chu yawned discreetly, evaluating the instructor with a side glance as he walked toward the instructor to engage in quiet conversation, who was chatting away with the man in a low tone.
Remembering that the instructor’s plot comes later on, he figured there was no need to worry about them plotting something weird.
Hey! If the instructor was still a decent human being and not a perv, maybe there was still hope, just like that simpleton Zhang Shaoqing?
And if there wasn’t any hope, sending the instructor to jail in advance could prevent his plot from ever happening!
This sudden thought crossed Ning Chu’s mind.
He didn’t have to wait for the plot to unfold before sabotaging it. He could strategically take care of key characters before anything happened.
To do that, the original novel that came with his crossing would be crucial!
Just when he was beginning to form a peculiar idea, he suddenly snapped back to attention as he noticed the instructor and the teacher were both looking at him and whispering about something.
About what? Me? I haven’t even turned into a girl yet! Why are they focused on me?!
Are they into both guys and girls? This is getting creepy!!
With a wary gaze, he kept an eye on the instructor, his previously relaxed posture becoming tense as his body unconsciously tensed up like a wary cat.
Fortunately, the gaze on him didn’t linger for long; the instructor shared a few laughs with the teacher and then walked straight to the front of the students.
“Tomorrow evening at five, we’re having a class meeting in D203. Anyone interested in running for class officer, prepare yourself!”
Only a fool would want to be a class officer.
Especially for positions like class leader or deputy leader—there are no perks, just a lot of running errands, and you end up taking on the blame for anything that goes wrong.
Ning Chu glanced at his three roommates, only to find them glued to their phones, completely disinterested.
Military training resumes.
After warming up with those two laps, it was back to the long, tedious Standing Like A Statue routine.
Their space was on the edge of the playground, blessed with a little shade from the trees nearby. Unfortunately, Ning Chu could only hide his feet in the shade while his head was roasting in the increasingly intense sunlight.
“Ning Chu, are you thinking of running for class officer? I heard it can earn you extra credits, and it’s easier to get scholarships.”
Behind him, Wen Yang, seizing a moment when the instructor wasn’t looking, whispered cheekily.
Just as Ning Chu was about to shake his head, a light bulb went off in his head.
If he wanted to preemptively deal with the plot character to prevent the story from unfolding, he definitely needed to get close to the instructor to check if he was acting weird right now…
Being a class officer was a perfect cover.
Plus, he wasn’t a female character in the plot yet, so engaging with the instructor wouldn’t have any danger.
Without thinking too much, he nodded slightly.
“Are you considering it too?”
Considering it too?
Curious, he turned around to see Wen Yang’s expression, but was abruptly smacked on the back of the head by the instructor, who scolded intimidatingly, “What are you moving around for?!”
He quickly stood at attention, not daring to move an inch, his eyes quickly glancing over the instructor’s towering height of nearly two meters.
The novel didn’t provide much background information about Wen Yang, but after spending over a week together, he sensed that Wen Yang was living quite frugally.
Wen Yang was usually the one partnering with Zhang Shaoqing for takeout deals.
The key was that Wen Yang, this sturdy tall guy, managed to survive on only a meat dish and a veggie for each meal, totaling only nine bucks, and he never ate fruits or milk tea snacks.
Meanwhile, little Ning Chu at one meter sixty always piled on two meat dishes at each meal, fearing he wouldn’t grow taller if his nutrition faltered.
“Are you eyeing that scholarship?” After a quick analysis, Ning Chu understood Wen Yang’s intention, “If that’s the case, you run, and I’ll vote for you.”
“Sure.”
Then he could let Wen Yang get inside and gain the instructor’s trust to get intel.
That would also prevent the instructor from playing both sides and leading him right into the lion’s den.
“Hey! You there! Can’t keep your mouth shut, can you?!”
Ning Chu’s face paled; he quickly closed his mouth and refrained from saying another word.
