Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator

Chapter 63: Trash! The Worst Transfer Student in the History of First High School
Under the mottled shade of the trees, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves, scattering spots of light on the ground. A gentle breeze rustled the foliage.

A young man lay on a campus bench, his eyes unfocused. The surroundings were so still, it seemed as if time itself had stopped.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him, cutting off the sunlight.

Chen Pingchuan snapped back to reality. He sprang to his feet with a kip-up and retreated backward, startled. ”What are you doing?” he shouted.

The girl who had startled him was his new classmate. She was about 170 cm tall and slender, with long black hair.

Her eyes were especially captivating, as lively and brilliant as twinkling stars. Dressed in her school uniform, she clutched a rather hefty book.

Seeing his reaction, a flicker of panic crossed the girl’s face, followed by a blush. She hurriedly lowered her head.

Her arms hugged the book tighter, pressing her ample chest into an alluring shape as the tip of her left foot scuffed nervously at the ground.

Seeing the girl’s quiet, pretty cheeks turn bright red, Chen Pingchuan instantly made his decision. I have to get out of here, fast!

”Don’t say anything,” he blurted out. ”You don’t have to thank me. It was no trouble at all. Okay, that’s all.”

With that, Chen Pingchuan turned to make a quick exit.

However, just as he turned, he keenly sensed movement behind him. The girl’s right arm shot out like a bolt of lightning, reaching for his own arm to stop him.

With his reaction speed, he could have easily dodged her, but at the last second, he forced himself to stop his instinctive evasion.

He didn’t know why he did it. Perhaps he just didn’t want to stand out.

Chen Pingchuan turned back with a helpless, pained smile. ”Classmate,” he said, ”what was... your name again?”

”Feng Jiaqi. Grade 12, Class 1. Height one seventy-five, weight fifty-five kilograms, three sizes—”

”Stop, stop, stop! I didn’t ask for all that. Why are you telling me this?”

At Chen Pingchuan’s interruption, the girl fell silent again, leaving him at a loss. If you have something to say, just say it! You won’t talk, but you won’t let me leave either. What in the world do you want?

Yet, seeing her trembling slightly like a frightened little rabbit, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsh.

Although he had already labeled her as useless in his mind, Chen Pingchuan still cared about his image, so he patiently tried to communicate with her.

”Okay, you’re Feng Tongxue, right?”

”Mm,” the girl hummed softly in reply.

”First, if this is about what happened in the classroom, you don’t need to thank me. I couldn’t have solved those problems anyway, even if I hadn’t helped you, so there’s no need to feel guilty.”

”Second, if you have something to say, just say it. Don’t be so hesitant and clingy. If people see this, they’ll think I’m bullying you.”

Hearing this, Feng Jiaqi snatched her hand back as if she’d been electrocuted. The blush that had been confined to her face now spread all the way to the tips of her ears.

”No, it’s just... I just wanted to thank you for your help earlier. It’s my first time, because it involves...”

”Okay, there you go again. Why are you telling me all this? I’m not Grandmaster Fang. Hurry up and go. The next class is the mock martial exam, and I need to prepare.”

Chen Pingchuan figured he wasn’t very good at consoling people. After all, his words left the girl in front of him standing frozen on the spot, an expression of disbelief on her face.

Finally, Feng Jiaqi bit her rosy lip and said to Chen Pingchuan, ”Chen Tongxue, I will repay you. I’ve never interacted with a young master from a noble family before, but I will try. Thank you.”

With that, she turned and scurried away like a frightened rabbit.

After running for about five seconds, she seemed to remember something. She turned around and shouted back to Chen Pingchuan, ”Do your best on the mock martial exam!”

She even made a little cheering gesture.

Chen Pingchuan impatiently waved her away, but the upward curl of his lips betrayed his true feelings.

When the bell rang for class, the students assembled into their class formations on the athletic field. As Grade 12, Class 1, they were naturally the first to be tested.

”Li Lei! Strength Attribute Conversion Value: 1.8. Rating: Average. Result: Pass!”

”Next!”

...

”Chen Pingchuan! Strength Attribute Conversion Value: 0.8. Rating: Low. Result: Fail!”

The male proctor standing beside the testing machine double-checked the value on the display. After confirming he hadn’t misread it, he gave Chen Pingchuan a pitying look before announcing his score in a detached voice.

The proctor’s words made the surrounding students’ expressions change instantly. The female students who had previously admired Chen Pingchuan’s handsome face were no longer infatuated; they now looked at the good-looking transfer student with disdain.

Meanwhile, a few of the male students who had been jealous of his looks now wore smug, nasty expressions, their attitudes dripping with ridicule and contempt.

”0.8? I remember the lower-class citizens from the outer district were at that level about a year ago.”

”Hah! Some ’young master from a noble family’ he is. He’s probably just an illegitimate son.”

”Don’t insult illegitimate children. That was then, this is now. Even they aren’t this pathetic anymore. It’s been over a year since the Cataclysm. With enough resources, even a pig would be stronger than him.”

”Speaking of which, how did a worthless loser like him even get into First High? Who did he pull strings with? Do they not look at strength at all? This is ridiculous.”

Seeing her students gossiping and mocking Chen Pingchuan, Fang Yuxin felt a knot of unease in her stomach. Even if she herself had criticized Chen Pingchuan—partly due to her own emotions, but mostly due to her educational philosophy—his classmates shouldn’t be doing something that makes the entire class a laughingstock. It meant there was a problem with her own moral instruction as their teacher.

Therefore, she loudly reprimanded the mocking students.

”All of you, be quiet!” she snapped. ”He is your classmate. In future missions, he is supposed to be the person you can trust the most. Regardless of his strength, you should not be ridiculing him.”

In response to Teacher Fang’s lecture, the students verbally agreed.

”Teacher Fang is right. We’ll treat him well.”

”Yeah, yeah, we’ll definitely take care of him. We can just have him carry our gear in the back.”

Of course, for every sycophant, there was a detractor. Some students, using the others as cover, muttered quietly amongst themselves.

”The gear’s too heavy. You’d better carry it yourself. Our ’young master’ can’t lift it.”

”Who wants to be on a team with him? He’ll just drag us down and we’ll fail the mission.”

”Actually, I think it could be a good thing.”

”What do you mean?”

”If we take on a difficult mission and a Black Demon attacks, we just have to run faster than him. See? He’d be useful then.”

”Liu Haofeng, that’s not right. He’s our classmate, after all.”

The student who was called out, Liu Haofeng, first let a sneer cross his face before it was quickly replaced by a calm, fake smile. ”I was just kidding. You don’t really think I’d do that, do you?”