It seems there is a strong, joyful emotion filling Chen Shouyi's entire chest.
Zhang Xiaoyue's little hand is tender and smooth, damp with sweat all over.
There are his sweat, and hers as well.
The conversation suddenly stopped, leaving the atmosphere tranquil, no one spoke, and everything seemed unspoken.
Zhang Xiaoyue only felt dizzy, as if her entire body was burning, light and floating as if standing on mist. Her footing lost its grip, not knowing how long she walked or where she was heading. At such moments, who would care, one wishes never to reach the end.
Only hearing Chen Shouyi's voice brought her back to reality: "Right, I haven't asked how I did in the monthly exam?"
"You're still concerned about the monthly exam, aren't you planning to take a break from school?" Zhang Xiaoyue's rapid heartbeat slowly calms down.
"After all, it's my exam, the result of a month's hard work."
"Not bad, you ranked 28th!" Zhang Xiaoyue covered her mouth and laughed: "I checked last year's end-of-term grades at the class teacher's office, you improved by one in class, and eight in the grade."
Chen Shouyi felt a bit embarrassed. He thought he had worked harder than before, yet he only improved by one rank.
But thinking about it, as he worked hard, others also didn't slack off. Especially after entering senior year, everyone inevitably feels a bit of urgency.
He decisively stopped continuing this topic.
He looked at the girl's face, as exquisite as porcelain, and petal-like lips, seemingly within reach, causing a stir in his heart.
"I suddenly remembered the question you asked earlier?"
"What question?" Zhang Xiaoyue tilted her head.
Chen Shouyi bore his wildly beating heart: "Didn't you ask on the phone earlier 'how do you feel about intimacy?'"
"Isn't this enough, what more do you want?" She gently pinched Chen Shouyi, expressing discontent.
Chen Shouyi stopped walking, turned around to stand face to face with her. She seemed to sense something, her heart fluttered like a deer, head shyly lowered, and then lifted again, her watery big eyes looking at Chen Shouyi, both timid and daring.
"Not enough!" After saying this, he lowered his head and leaned in.
The girl's eyelashes fluttered uneasily, breathing huffed, yet she didn't evade, her lips warm with a trace of heat, sultry and soft, her slender body gently shivering.
The two awkwardly moved, and after a while, finally parted.
"You bit me!" Zhang Xiaoyue said, overwhelmed with shyness.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry!" Chen Shouyi was overwhelmed with joy, losing his previous steadiness.
After all, he's just a seventeen-year-old boy, facing his first kiss, inevitably clumsy.
"Now satisfied?" Zhang Xiaoyue teased.
Chen Shouyi nodded repeatedly, somewhat overwhelmed with happiness.
"Then in the future, will you bully me?" Zhang Xiaoyue raised her head expectantly and asked.
"No! Of course not!" Chen Shouyi quickly promised.
...
The young couple immersed in the joy of first love, completely unaware of the passage of time.
Only a call from Zhang Xiaoyue's mother urging her to return home startled them.
Chen Shouyi escorted Zhang Xiaoyue to the gate of her community.
Returning with light steps, heart filled with burning passion, eager to shout a few times, and announce to the world.
When Chen Shouyi returned to the hotel, opened the briefcase, and prepared to release Shell Lady, he found she was already asleep.
She seemed to be dreaming, with her small face smiling broadly, occasionally muttering a few words.
He quickly and quietly took her out, placed her on the bed, and as soon as he untied the bandage, she awoke. She sleepily opened her eyes, seeing she was back in familiar surroundings.
Quickly tearing off the tape from her mouth, she sat up, patting the quilt, and energetically demanded to watch cartoons:
"Prepared! Prepared! Prepared!"
Chen Shouyi was in a good mood and didn't argue with her, took the remote, and turned on the TV.
Meanwhile, he continued responding to Zhang Xiaoyue's text while continuing to study the universal language.
...
Early next day, he habitually opened the attribute panel.
Other attributes had not changed, but Will had increased by 0.2 points, reaching 11.6.
This was obviously related to the incident with the Barbarian yesterday.
His heart felt little waves, not expressing any joy, as Will seemed to be the least useful of all attributes, apart from improving one's psychological quality and coping with extreme situations, it served no other purpose.
In contrast, he valued other attributes more, as they manifested strength more straightforwardly.
Unfortunately, since his body was transformed by the Book of Knowledge, apart from perception, no other physical attributes had improved, and the effect of Martial Arts 36 had become less noticeable.
...
The alternate world has forty hours each day, and it's still in a dangerous night there; he doesn't want to take risks there.
Carrying the briefcase with the Shell Lady, he once again went to the Archery Dojo.
According to routine, he searched through the experts inside, contemplated them in the Memory Space for a while.
Then he took a war bow and continued to shoot arrows.
Upon practicing, he immediately felt a difference from last time, not only did his archery not become awkward, it became more precise, every time he was about to shoot, he had a vague sense, foreseeing whether he would hit.
He couldn't help but recall some experiences shared online by archery experts; when they shoot, they don't deliberately aim at the bullseye, they shoot as they draw, relying solely on feeling and intuition.
He pondered inwardly.
This so-called "feeling" should be "perception," right?
Almost identical to how he feels now.
He immediately changed the way he was shooting, perhaps too deliberately, and at first, this feeling was hard to grasp.
Out of ten arrows, six or seven missed the target, even worse than before.
But slowly, he found the knack.
He gradually abandoned the distractions in his mind, becoming tranquil, with no thoughts at all.
"Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!"
Arrows swiftly struck the targets, making dull noises.
"Thunk!"
Finally, an arrow directly hit the bullseye.
Then the second, third...
His shooting speed increased, fetching arrows, nocking, drawing, and shooting all in one smooth motion, invigorating.
Grabbing the quiver hanging from his waist, he found all three quivers were empty.
He looked at the target ahead only to see it densely packed with arrows, resembling a porcupine, with a small half directly centering the target, basically shot later on.
"Little brother, good archery!"
Chen Shouyi heard a voice, turned around, and realized a crowd had gathered to watch.
This is the treatment reserved for experts, now he also received it.
Though there were only three people, incomparable to the real experts, he was acknowledged.
Chen Shouyi felt joy inside but said humbly, not conversing much.
Reclaimed arrows, exchanged the thirty-meter target for fifty meters, and continued practicing.
The distance increased nearly double, archery accuracy immediately declined.
Initially, in ten arrows, only one or two directly hit the bullseye.
But the more he shot, the previous feeling gradually returned, by practicing for two hours, he could basically hit the target every time.
Meanwhile, the number of watchers expanded from three to five and quickly grew to ten.
Chen Shouyi paid no mind to the spectators; it's the atmosphere here, the more viewers, the greater the glory.
...
At noon, he had lunch at the Archery Dojo's cafeteria, rested a while, and began practicing moving targets.
Moving targets, it's his first time practicing.
Chen Shouyi thought practicing would be difficult, given compared to stationary targets, moving targets posed an entirely different challenge.
But once he started, he found not much difficulty.
No need to deliberately calculate the trajectory of moving targets, just casually nocking and shooting, relying on the feeling in his heart, he naturally hit the bullseye, the high perception showing its full potential in archery.
When he left the dojo in the evening, he had accumulated a crowd of over twenty watching him.
...
Sitting in the taxi, he opened the attribute panel.
Found archery had gone from entry-level (10) to proficient (3).
Chen Shouyi quietly clenched his fist at the backseat, now confident in passing the Martial Arts Apprentice assessment.
PS: Sorry for being late today. Please give me a recommendation.