My best friend isn’t interested in assassinations, only in secret crushes.
She yawned and asked Ke Lin if there were any more guys around her like Lin Xirun—smart, emotionally intelligent, gentle, and handsome.
Ke Ni thought for a moment. “No, there’s only a self-important genius and a genius civil servant.”
Her best friend fell silent, at a loss for words.
A moment later, a second yawn came through the phone.
Her best friend said sleepily, “Reality is so harsh, it’s boring. I’m going to sleep.”
Ke Ni rolled over in her double bed—it was spacious enough that even if she lay diagonally, her feet wouldn’t reach the edge.
Suddenly, a bright idea popped into her head like a shining lightbulb.
There were a lot of contestants staying in this hotel right now.
Was it possible that, just as her best friend said, there really was someone here who was both intellectually and emotionally gifted?
Ke Ni coaxed gently, “Lu Xiaoyao, why don’t you come stay with me tonight?”
Her best friend refused without hesitation.
“Not going.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too far, and I’m tired.”
“So you don’t want to meet a handsome guy who’s smart and charming anymore?”
“That was just me talking nonsense.”
Through the phone, Ke Ni heard the sound of her best friend pulling up the covers and muttering drowsily, “Honestly, I’m actually kind of scared of meeting someone like that. I feel like, with my brain, if someone tried to sell me, I’d help them count the money without even realizing it.”
Ke Ni stared at the bright ceiling light.
“Who isn’t afraid?”
“Ke Xiao Huo, your sister’s tired. Let’s sleep now.”
Before hanging up, her best friend mustered the last bit of clarity to repeatedly remind Ke Ni not to stay up late, and she cheered her on three times for the preliminary contest tomorrow.
Ke Ni replied listlessly, “Good night.”
“Good night.”
The call ended, and the hotel room fell silent again.
The plan to lure her best friend over had failed.
On the TV screen, the hotel’s name and a welcome message kept scrolling across the top, reminding Ke Lin that there was a voice assistant in the room—she could call its name if she needed help.
Ke Ni looked around the room and called out to the hidden voice assistant.
The voice assistant replied, “I’m here.”
“Turn off the TV.”
“Okay.”
The TV screen went dark in an instant, becoming a black mirror reflecting the room’s lights.
Ke Ni called for it again, then asked a question about comparing isomers.
The voice assistant replied in a serious tone, but gave an answer that was completely off base.
Ke Ni said earnestly, “You should really retake high school math. You won’t get into a good university like this.”
The voice assistant replied in a calm voice, “Sorry, I didn’t understand your question.”
Ke Ni gave up talking to the voice assistant.
Her best friend’s offhand comment—”I’m actually kind of scared of meeting someone like that”—kept echoing in Ke Ni’s mind.
She wasn’t afraid of meeting smart people in private, nor of interacting with them.
But she was very much afraid of running into such people as opponents in a competition—that was different.
Ke Ni was very clear about herself:
She knew she definitely didn’t belong to the group of exceptionally intelligent people.
She was no prodigy, genius, or extraordinary talent—those titles had nothing to do with her.
She was just an ordinary person with a bit of cleverness and a lot of experience practicing problems.
And she really disliked competitions.
Usually, Ke Ni would play board games or puzzle games with friends, but competitions made her extremely nervous.
Just like now—she couldn’t sleep at all.
She wasn’t tired, and she was hungry.
Feng Zi’an’s attitude at dinner had seriously affected Ke Ni’s appetite.
She couldn’t even enjoy the delicious barbecue.
Ke Ni opened the food delivery app and searched for the barbecue place they’d eaten at that night.
The barbecue place was still open.
If this were a survival game, a line of English would definitely flash across the screen:
m so luckly!
She happily ordered herself a pile of skewered meats, chicken wings, fish tofu, grilled corn kernels…
The delivery wouldn’t take long, so Ke Ni idly scrolled through her phone for a while.
Half an hour later, the hotel room’s landline suddenly rang, startling her.
The voice on the phone was a delivery robot, Qiao I5, using its artificial human voice.
It said it had arrived at her door and asked her to open up.
Ke Ni opened her door.
The little robot had a button on its head that read “Open Door.”
Another delivery robot was “walking” out of the elevator, passing Ke Ni’s door and diligently heading further down the hallway.
It was already ten o’clock at night, and they were still busy?
Other people had ordered takeout, too.
Were they other contestants?
As Ke Ni took her food out of the robot, she heard a door open on the right side of the hallway.
Instinctively and curiously, she glanced in that direction—
And saw a face she absolutely did not want to see again.
Jing Sicun stood in the doorway of his room, wearing a loose white bathrobe provided by the hotel.
He hadn’t bothered to tie the belt properly, just made a loose knot.
The two ends of the belt hung down, and the robe’s neckline was open almost to his abdomen.
Maybe he sensed someone else in the hallway, because as he reached out to press the robot’s button, Jing Sicun glanced over at Ke Ni.
Ke Ni quickly looked away.
The little robot in front of her detected that the food had been taken and began its shutdown procedure.
“Closing compartment door, please do not touch. Task complete. Have a nice day.”
The little robot rolled away with a plaintive beep.
Jing Sicun, however, spoke coldly, “What are you staring at?”
They were the only two living people in the hallway.
Jing Sicun wouldn’t be talking to the delivery robot.
So he was talking to her?
She’d only glanced for a second!
Did it really matter that much…
No, he was the one who chose to come out dressed like that.
If he didn’t want people to see, he should’ve put on a jacket and zipped it up to his chin before opening the door—he certainly had one.
Ke Ni frowned and turned away.
Jing Sicun didn’t look her way again, just bent down to retrieve his food from the robot’s open compartment.
Ke Ni noticed they’d both ordered from the same barbecue place—there must only be a handful of good spots to eat and drink nearby.
The delivery robot, less than a meter tall, stood in front of Jing Sicun like a little butler.
When he bent down, his robe gaped open even more, and his tone was even flatter than the robot’s: “Don’t go.”
Ke Ni took one last look at the Bluetooth earpiece in Jing Sicun’s ear and closed her door.
He was probably on a call.
There are only so many coincidences in the world. Running into someone at the café could be called a coincidence.
But meeting him again in this hotel—there was no need to wonder anymore.
Jing Sicun must be participating in this preliminary contest, and he’d definitely get through.
Takeout barbecue didn’t taste as good as eating it fresh at the restaurant, and the complicated tension she felt didn’t ease with food.
The first round of the preliminaries was an online written test—just answering questions on a computer.
Even so, Ke Ni still needed to lock herself in her room, put on earplugs, and sit upright at her desk, taking deep breaths for several rounds before she could start.
Who knew what tomorrow’s competition would be like?
As she tossed and turned in bed, Ke Ni suddenly found herself thinking wryly:
People like Jing Sicun probably wouldn’t lose sleep over something like this.
“Brain competition” and “Jing Sicun”—both had left their shadows on Ke Ni, to varying degrees.
As expected, Ke Ni had a very unpleasant dream, and when her phone woke her up in the morning, she’d already forgotten most of the details.
No need to dwell on it.
She probably just dreamed of herself looking like a beaten wolf in some past brain challenge.
Ke Ni answered the phone.
“It’s 7:27, Lin Xirun. This had better be important.”
Lin Xirun sounded urgent.
“Ke Ni, come to the restaurant, I have something important to tell you.”
The hotel restaurant was on the first floor.
Lin Xirun sat at a big round table in the back, surrounded by unfamiliar faces.
Looks like he hadn’t given up on his strategy of befriending other contestants before the competition started.
Lin Xirun waved at Ke Ni from afar.
She nodded.
She grabbed a tray and did a full lap around the buffet area, picking out a few things that looked good before slowly walking over to the big round table.
Zhu Ye and the ever-arrogant Feng Zi’an were both there.
Lin Xirun and Zhu Ye squeezed together to free up a seat for Ke Ni, and Lin Xirun said with complicated emotions, “Ke Ni, we’ve met a very strong opponent.”
Rumor had it—no one was sure which contestant had started it—that Jing Sicun had also signed up for the preliminaries.
The news had sparked a lively discussion about him in the restaurant.
Some people were worried, others eager for the challenge.
Lin Xirun, seeing Ke Ni’s lack of reaction, assumed she didn’t know who Jing Sicun was, so he started to explain, saying that Jing Sicun had once participated in a hugely popular brainpower competition show.
“He won the championship.”
As he spoke, Lin Xirun even tried to pull up video footage of the contest for Ke Ni to see.
Ke Ni was eating her fried egg and really didn’t want to watch anything that might ruin her appetite.
With her right hand holding her chopsticks, she used her left to press Lin Xirun’s phone down onto the table.
She bit into the golden fried egg white and said, “Don’t bother. I know.”
Nearby, a few contestants Ke Ni didn’t recognize were chatting.
“I wonder how strong Jing Sicun is these days? Did he really study abroad?”
“He was really scary good in his early days.”
Ke Ni glanced around.
There was a hidden excitement in the eyes of all these contestants.
Except for Ke Ni herself, who felt negative about the competition, everyone else seemed very interested in Jing Sicun.
A girl who’d immigrated overseas as a child was tilting her head, listening as someone explained who Jing Sicun was.
Maybe the storyteller was intentionally hyping things up, turning Jing Sicun into some kind of legend.
Lin Xirun asked, “Ke Ni, have you seen Jing Sicun compete?”
Ke Ni replied, “Like you said, that show was extremely popular.”
Lin Xirun asked, “So why aren’t you surprised?”
Ke Ni wanted to say, What’s there to be surprised about? She might not even make it past the second round, let alone face Jing Sicun in the competition.
Just then, the overseas girl asked in accented Chinese, “So, I’m definitely going to lose?”
Feng Zi’an snorted.
“Heh, none of you might even make it through the preliminaries.”
After that, he ignored the looks from the others and kept eating his noodles as if no one else was there.
He wasn’t wrong…
But Ke Ni didn’t want to look down on any contestant, nor could she express her real feelings about the competition in front of the eager Lin Xirun, so she changed her answer.
Ke Ni picked up the rest of her fried egg.
“What’s so surprising? I saw him yesterday.”
Lin Xirun froze.
“Yesterday? Who did you see?”
“Who else?”
Lin Xirun asked suspiciously, “Where?”
Ke Ni held up half her fried egg.
“In the hotel hallway. I saw him when I went to pick up my takeout.”
Maybe thinking of the late-night barbecue, Lin Xirun felt a little embarrassed.
“You stayed up late to order food?”
Ke Ni snorted, just about to put the egg in her mouth, when she suddenly noticed a lot of people were watching them.
Lin Xirun noticed too and shrugged helplessly.
Being stared at by a group of truly gifted people, Ke Ni felt rather annoyed.
She finished her fried egg under their gaze.
The overseas girl, now even more curious after hearing all about Jing Sicun, propped up her chin and asked Ke Ni with big, shining eyes, “The Jing you saw—what’s he like?”
Ke Ni had too many impressions of Jing Sicun, but they were all too personal to share.
Someone swiped a card at the restaurant entrance.
Without looking back, Ke Ni swallowed her egg and spat out four words: “Dressed indecently.”