My actions and whereabouts are up to me (6)
Weston clasped his long fingers together, turned in her direction, and casually scrutinized her face.
The girl was delicate and charming, with a proud smile, bright and soft almond-shaped eyes with thick eyelashes, and an elegant posture, like a smug little fox.
Her long, lustrous hair, soft as silk, cascaded down her back. She stood tall and straight, her shoulders relaxed. The simple pearl necklace around her neck was worth millions of cin, a record-breaking piece of jewelry that had just been auctioned the previous week. Even he, who didn't pay attention to such things, had heard about it.
Shu Ningmiao exuded an air of refinement and composure from head to toe, and there was not a trace of the timid and cautious feeling that ordinary students have when facing their teachers.
He tapped the edge of the table and nodded, gesturing for her to sit in the seat opposite him.
As soon as Shu Ningmiao sat down, his sharp eyes swept over her: "Your terminal is undisclosed military equipment."
"Impressive," Shu Ningmiao said with a fake smile. "He can recognize her even after being disguised like this. No wonder he's qualified to work at the Pinne National Research Center."
“It was a gift from my brother; he had already applied for it.”
"Your brother is—" He paused slightly, "Shu Changyan, no wonder."
He looked at her, his gaze thoughtful.
Here we go again, the part she hates most: the teacher trying to build connections.
She didn't know when it started, but all the teachers who had taught her would casually mention Shu Changyan's name at some point, as if her brother was the most dazzling and unmistakable label on her.
“Shu Ningmiao.” Weston suddenly called out her name, pulled out one of the forms with her ID photo on it: “You had good grades when you were at this school.”
"Yes." Shu Ningmiao tilted her head, somewhat puzzled as to why he brought this up.
Before they officially enter university at the age of eighteen, they generally have a six-year basic education, which the Pinhians call "preparatory school." Before that, there is no more official school education; at most, they can only receive home education and private care.
The University of Cornunos initially developed from a preparatory school, so the area where Cornunos's "preparatory" and general higher education classes are held is also referred to as "the main campus".
The six years of preparatory school mainly consist of basic education, such as literature, history, mathematics, foreign languages, art, and some aristocratic sports.
Shu Ningmiao was quite self-aware; the things taught in these elite schools were probably child's play for a genius like Weston who could get into the National Research Center.
She was indeed at the top of her class at school, but she didn't think she was good enough to warrant Weston specifically mentioning her achievements. Weston bringing this up probably meant there was more to tell her.
Having received her confirmation, Weston looked up: "As punishment for using the terminal in class, you will perform two months of community service here."
Shu Ningmiao's smile faded almost imperceptibly: "Teacher, may I ask what the content of the voluntary labor is?"
"Cleaning, grading homework, organizing bookshelves, Ms. Shu, would you like me to demonstrate how to 'work'?"
Weston placed his clasped hands on his knees, his voice gentle and more lively than when he was teaching—it seemed he was more enthusiastic about criticizing others than lecturing: "It seems you've never received any labor education in six years because your brother dotes on you so much?"
Hearing his words, Shu Ningmiao was immediately annoyed, and a dark cloud gradually welled up in her beautiful eyes. She had never been punished with voluntary labor, of course, because she had never made a mistake.
But she couldn't refute Weston's words. Shu Changyan was indeed her brother, and as long as this relationship existed, no one in the school would dare to easily interfere with her. She could deny everything, but she couldn't deny this fact.
Shu Ningmiao tried her best to maintain a smile despite her anger, but she still couldn't suppress the sarcastic remark that came out: "I can hire a nanny for you."
She looked around and saw that not a single book or item was properly placed, from the table to the bookshelf. She couldn't even tidy her own desk. Weston didn't need a student doing voluntary work; she needed a hardworking and devoted nanny.
"If that's the case, you probably won't have a chance to get back the 5 credits that are about to be deducted from your credits."
Weston didn't even lift his eyelids, his meaning was clear: choose between voluntary labor and losing credits. He moved a stack of papers in front of her and continued flipping through the forms in his hand.
Shu Ningmiao glanced down and saw that the cursive characters on the paper looked somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the stack of papers he had piled up like draft paper was actually homework in Old Pinhian.
—He even teaches an elective course in Gupinian at the Cornunos school?
It seems that even geniuses can be manipulated and directed by their superiors in the workplace.
Weston slightly bent his knuckles, and the quill pen on the table flew over, base and all.
Shu Ningmiao caught the quill pen that flew into her hand, and the pen made a crisp snapping sound in her hand.
She now understood why Weston had specifically brought up her grades. If her grades weren't good, she wouldn't be able to understand the Gupinian homework at all, let alone help him grade it!
Shu Ningmiao now regrets clicking on the terminal in class, but in the end, Kornunos didn't have any rule that playing with the terminal in class would result in mandatory labor; it was a rule he made himself.
Maybe he targeted her because he saw her A+ grades in Gupinian for three consecutive years.
It's no use getting angry now; she did touch the terminal, giving Weston leverage.
Five points isn't much, but Shu Ningmiao refused to lose even a single point outside of the subjective questions—she simply couldn't accept any flaws in her score.
Holding the broken pen in her hand, she reluctantly began to correct his homework.
After a long silence, she finally spoke in a nonchalant tone: "Teacher, there is physical training this afternoon."
“Is that so? Then you’d better finish what you’re supposed to do before noon.” Weston poured himself a cup of black tea from the teapot on the other side of the table, remaining unmoved.
How did this become her problem? Shu Ningmiao held back for a moment, then gave him a bright smile: "I understand."
Old Pinhian was highly sought after in high society, signifying elegance and sophistication, and serving as a universal ticket to many prestigious circles—a simple matter for her.
Her elective courses in Gupinian at the higher education level started from the very basics, and she could easily grade more than a dozen assignments. The only thing she was unhappy about was Weston's attitude.
After she finished writing, Weston condescended to cast a glance at her and thoughtfully asked, "Your superpower is strength enhancement?"
“Maybe,” Shu Ningmiao placed the broken quill pen on his desk. In her anger, she seemed to be losing control of her strength again, just like before. “I don’t know.”
Before awakening, her strength was only at the level of an average person, but if it really was a strength-enhancing ability, she thought about the status suffixes that would change after the ability was activated, and felt that it was not that simple.
Weston picked up a card between his fingers and tossed it to her.
"Disposable".
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head again, staring at the mountain of documents he had piled up without looking up.
Shu Ningmiao caught the card and glanced at it briefly. It was printed with abstract lines, shaped like half a brain, and had small print on the back: "Instructions for Use of National Research Center Access Card".
This is actually a one-time pass for the National Research Center!
After awakening a superpower, one can usually deduce the superpower's ability through its name and a few trials. However, there are some more complex abilities that one cannot fully explore on one's own, and in these cases, one needs to use some auxiliary detection tools.
Currently, the only place that can conduct tests for supernatural abilities is the National Research Center in Pinhes. To get tested at the research center, you not only need to pay a high price, but also have to wait in a long queue.
In reality, there aren't that many complex supernatural abilities. It's just that many people feel they have undiscovered potential and are unwilling to give up, so they want to confirm it again. This leads to supernatural ability testing always being overcrowded, with long queues even for the access channels.
This card was quite valuable, and it was exactly what she needed. Holding the pass in her hand, Shu Ningmiao's feelings suddenly became complicated.
Weston, while unceremoniously ordering her around, was undeniably generous. And...wasn't he expelled from the research center? How could he still get his hands on something like this?
What "major mistake" did someone like him make?
Shu Ningmiao was still staring blankly at the card in her hand when Weston said impatiently, "If you want to collect punishments for the next class, I don't mind if you have another cup of tea here."
Shu Ningmiao stood up gracefully: "No, thank you, Professor Weston."
She deliberately emphasized Weston's name.
"Your voluntary labor alone is enough."
It's enough to disrupt her after-school life.
Weston sneered.
Shu Ningmiao quickly took out her terminal after closing the office door. The terminal was filled with a dense array of unread notifications. She prayed that Weston hadn't glanced at it curiously when he took it away.
Shu Ningmiao clicked on the game icon again and found the same message; the game had pushed it to her more than a dozen times.
The message was sent two hours ago. Shu Ningmiao recalled that it must have been shortly after class ended, and she hadn't arrived at Weston's office yet.
Wasn't that when she was teaching Su Ni a lesson?
Shu Ningmiao's expression gradually turned serious. Could this guy also be a target for her advances?
Well… although Shu Ningmiao felt disgusted by Su Ni, to be fair, he was quite handsome. But does this game only choose its male lead based on appearance? Have any of the characters we've unlocked so far been normal?
Shu Ningmiao opened the push notification with the most folded elements.
Survival Tip: It's recommended that the player apologize and reconcile with the younger brother, giving the character a happy family.
This notification was sent to her every thirty seconds, probably more than twenty times. No wonder Weston was irritable the moment he saw her.
The repetitive push notifications scrolled to the bottom, and suddenly the notification changed to another piece of text.
Survival Tip: Please do not attack the characters you are trying to conquer!
The three exclamation marks following the message indicate a strong tone. At this point, she should have already hit Su Ni, so further pushes wouldn't make a difference.
"Will the game adjust its prompts based on her actions...?" Shu Ningmiao pondered. The so-called "survival tips," though she didn't know why they appeared, were probably intended to help her avoid the game's original death ending.
Based on the two suggestions it has given so far, one is to break up with Shi Yu, and the other is to reconcile with Su Ni, its inclination is very clear.
Its guiding principle is to "avoid any potential conflict with the protagonist."
If the protagonist falls in love with Shi Yu, then as Shi Yu's nominal girlfriend and fiancée, she will inevitably find herself in conflict with the protagonist.
If the protagonist falls in love with Su Ni, he will empathize with her and hate her vicious and mean-spirited older sister who targets Su Ni.
By following the game's "survival tips," she can perfectly avoid conflict with the protagonist and thus deviate from the death ending.
But these two suggestions are essentially the same. Because whether she breaks up with Shi Yu and annuls the engagement, or accepts her illegitimate younger brother, both will force her to give up some of the benefits she has already planned.
Perhaps life always requires choices, but before she understands the ins and outs of her "death," Shu Ningmiao has no intention of rashly sacrificing anything for it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
