Chapter 119: Monster
The next day, 7:01 AM
Mo Tan climbed out of his game pod and took a shower. However, instead of starting to cook as usual, he walked to the wardrobe, took out a set of clothes he rarely wore, and changed into them.
A... school uniform.
Yes, it was a school uniform. I think many people might have forgotten the fact that Mo Tan, besides being a hacker, a shut-in, a good young man of the new era, and 【Data Blocked】, was also a student.
But even if he only went to school a few times a year, even if his attendance rate had already become one of Tanhua University's urban legends in B City, even if he had long since mastered the knowledge he needed to learn in these four years, and, while in a certain personality, had given it the somewhat sharp evaluation of 'utter nonsense'...
He was still a student after all.
So, on this day, January 15, 2049, even if he had already used certain channels to communicate with some high-ranking officials at Tanhua University and successfully secured various conveniences for himself...
That didn't mean he didn't need to take the annual assessment!
"As expected, I'm late~" Mo Tan glanced at his phone and sighed, "I knew I shouldn't have asked him last night."
The person he was waiting for was naturally Yi Dong. As Mo Tan Tong Xue's classmate, he also had to take the exam today, so Mo Tan mentioned it to him in the game last night, but...
"Sorry I'm late! Let's go quickly!"
Twenty minutes later, a familiar voice sounded outside the door.
"It's unlocked," Mo Tan replied casually, picked up the small bag on the table in front of him, and then listlessly walked to the door to change his shoes.
Immediately after, Yi Dong's head poked in from outside the door, and he grinned, "I guess we probably won't have time for breakfa—uh? What's this?"
"Breakfast, grab it," Mo Tan said, handing the bag to Yi Dong while tying his shoelaces with one hand, "Toast and fried eggs. It's better than nothing."
Yi Dong took the bag, peeked inside, and chuckled dryly, "How did you know I'd be this late?"
Mo Tan stood up, walked out, and, while taking out his keys from his pocket, shook his head, "I didn't know. If I had time, I would have saved these for dinner. Let's go."
"Hey," Yi Dong stuffed his entire fried egg into his mouth, and as he walked downstairs, he mumbled to Mo Tan, "Don't you think we're being a little gay like this?"
Mo Tan turned and gave him a glare, "If you really have such a preference, I'd be happy to help you plan a 'friend-finding' event."
"Hehe, just kidding," Yi Dong shrugged and patted Mo Tan's shoulder with a grin, "But you wouldn't do that, Mo Tan Tong Xue, with your proper moral compass."
What he said was well-founded. After all, as Mo Tan's long-time friend, Yi Dong could naturally tell at a glance which personality he was currently in, and it wasn't even that hard to guess.
To use our more common terms, Mo Tan, when in a chaotic neutral state, might have gone to school alone the moment he realized Yi Dong might be late, then forged a fake report on the way to the school infirmary to get a sick note for Yi Dong. The reasons would include, but not be limited to, 'syphilis,' 'menstrual hemorrhage,' 'unexpected pregnancy,' and other very amusing content, and it would also be absolutely convincing...
And Mo Tan in an Absolute Neutral state might choose to wait for Yi Dong while watching anime, reading novels, playing games, or listening to crosstalk, but he would definitely not make breakfast for two during this time. Instead, he would go to school to take the exam with Yi Dong on an empty stomach, holding the mindset that 'missing one breakfast won't kill you.'
Only Mo Tan, currently in a lawful good state, would make the aforementioned moves, so Yi Dong was very confident in his assessment.
"I don't think my moral compass is that proper, but I currently have no interest in tailoring a same-sex dating proposal for you," Mo Tan shrugged, then smiled slightly, "But that's just 'currently' no interest. I can't guarantee what will happen later..."
"I was wrong!" Yi Dong readily conceded, then walked with an exaggerated expression to the incredibly flashy, extremely high-class, and expensive SSC-13 parked downstairs, bowed ninety degrees to Mo Tan, and opened the right car door, "Please, after you~"
Mo Tan chuckled dryly as he sat in the passenger seat, rolling his eyes at Yi Dong, who walked around to the other side to get in, "Damn capitalists."
"Less nonsense," Yi Dong pouted, made a disdainful gesture at Mo Tan, then skillfully started the car, heavily... lightly pressing the accelerator, and drove towards the school at about 10km/h.
Fifteen minutes later,
"I really don't understand," Mo Tan sighed deeply, saying to Yi Dong, who was next to him, half-lying on the steering wheel with toast in his mouth, "What's the point of you driving a sports car that can reach 600 kilometers per hour in a country where the maximum speed limit is 120, and in a city where every road is incredibly congested?"
Yi Dong was silent for a long time, then squeezed out four words from between his teeth: "Energy saving and emission reduction."
Mo Tan pointed out the window.
An old man on an antique bicycle whizzed past on the roadside.
The bike lane wasn't congested...
"Alright," Yi Dong said with a long face, "I'm just being a pain in the ass, okay?"
...
Half an hour later, the two finally arrived at Tanhua University, a long-established prestigious private school located in Chengpu District, B City.
"By the way~ shouldn't you prepare first?" On the way to the academy building, Yi Dong said to Mo Tan next to him, "I'm afraid something might go wrong."
The latter blinked, "Something wrong? What could go wrong? Am I going to blow up every toilet in the entire building?"
"You've done it before!" Yi Dong looked at him with great regret, "In the second half of junior high, the week before summer vacation, every toilet directly opposite the teachers' office in Building A was..."
He shivered and didn't continue.
"Ah, that's a story with a certain 'flavor,'" Mo Tan said with an exceptionally narcissistic sigh, then seriously added, "It was during my chuunibyou phase. Does that count?"
Yi Dong covered his forehead with one hand, his face full of black lines, and said, "Are you going to say some more obscure things next, like 'Cubism,' or 'art,' to fill the school with cheerful air?"
"Oh, you're quite knowledgeable, kid," Mo Tan nodded in relief, then nodded again, "However, I have indeed been a bit too uninhibited lately. You wait a moment..."
By this time, the two had already reached the first floor of their college building (Yi Dong led the way). Mo Tan casually told Yi Dong something, then turned and walked towards the nearest restroom.
"Hey! Didn't you say you wouldn't blow it up?!" Yi Dong exclaimed in shock.
Mo Tan ignored him...
Five minutes later,
Mo Tan, who had actively completed his personality conversion, anxiously walked out, grabbed Yi Dong's arm, and started walking upstairs, "Quick, quick, we're going to be late!"
Yi Dong didn't waste words, he just flung out, "Just enough to pass, please, I beg you," and then rushed to the classroom with Mo Tan.
"I can, but do you still remember the secret code I taught you last time?"
"Forgot."
"What about the Vigenere cipher?"
"Forgot that too."
"Alright, then just wait to fail."
"Hey!"
"In a bit, number the words and characters on the test paper. Keep an eye on the electronic clock in the classroom. In the last fifteen minutes, I'll... understand?"
"What if I misread it?"
"Fail."
"Damn it!"
...
Next came the exam, which lasted for most of the day. During this process, Mo Tan's mental state was quite stable, he performed very normally, and he helped Yi Dong cheat just enough for sixty points on each subject. The rest of the time was basically spent in a daze.
Boring, but not without meaning...
This was Mo Tan's evaluation of the current education system many years ago.
By the time of Mo Tan and Yi Dong's generation, the domestic standard for cultivating talent was no longer the somewhat ridiculous 'score is king' model. Although all past subjects still existed, they also left enough room for choices for young people. Students who aspired to build spaceships and cannons didn't need to spend too much effort on poetry and prose or deciphering articles; those who liked to study literature only needed to know how to avoid being electrocuted to pass physics; students devoted to painting, calligraphy, and music also didn't need to painstakingly train for long-distance running and long jump to get a high school diploma...
The emphasis in the four words 'compulsory education' gradually shifted to 'education' rather than 'compulsion.'
The only compulsory subjects were history, Chinese, and English, which now shared half the sky with Chinese.
As for other subjects... as mentioned above, physics only needed to be learned enough not to get electrocuted, chemistry enough not to get poisoned, and politics enough not to get investigated by the authorities~
As for deeper knowledge, it was entirely up to personal choice.
Scores were still the most important metric, but the weight of 'ideas' and 'innovation' was also steadily increasing.
Homework still existed, but it gradually became flexible and lively, for example, 'using no more than five hundred words, briefly explain how you can speak human language,' a kind of thing without a standard answer, rather than just a simple 'task' used to waste paper.
In short, through the above, rather brief introduction, the only point I want to convey is...
That is, those things didn't have much to do with Mo Tan.
Genius is an objective existence. In fact, each of us has the potential to be a genius: learning genius, music genius, painting genius, breath-holding genius, sports genius, reading genius, balance genius, speed-reading genius, social genius, disguise genius, eating genius, and so on...
Everyone is more or less endowed with some talent, and although too many people cannot bring it into play, its objective existence cannot be denied.
And only when objective talent combines with subjective effort can its practicality be fully realized.
Mo Tan was a person who honed all his strengths to the extreme, while also trying his best to turn all his flaws into strengths.
Fortunately, his possibilities were about... three times more than others.
Provided he didn't lose control or go mad, this was absolutely a terrifying advantage.
If one were to look at him from a God's-eye view, Mo Tan in his childhood, regardless of which personality he was in, had significant flaws. If there really were four such people, then none of them could have become the Mo Tan of today.
But fortunately, these personalities all belonged to him.
Everyone has many facets of themselves, but Mo Tan's every personality had many facets of 'himself.'
The cunning and precocious side let him know what he needed; the tenacious side allowed him to endure boredom and loneliness; the crazy side enabled him to break free from thought constraints; the kind side gave him a chance to stop the former; the calm side helped him dispel confusion; the meticulous side allowed him to protect himself...
And many, many more~
Ultimately, he became the Mo Tan of today.
Because he was the same person, he would not be confused, contradictory, or chaotic in this process.
This principle is very simple. It's like in a war, if a commander has the ability to handle the workload of an entire staff department, then his role will definitely be greater than ten staff departments combined.
Mo Tan achieved it. Although the process was not easy, he ultimately did it...
So now he is like a monster.
A monster capable of maximizing his advantages and perfectly concealing all his flaws.
Although his 'personality conversion' was uncontrollable in most cases, the knowledge he acquired, his thoughts and ideas at different times, and his understanding in a certain field were all universal.
'What if we think about it differently?'
This, which is difficult for most people to do, is exceptionally simple for him.
So Mo Tan can be called a monster...
And Innocent World made this monster controllable, even duplicating him into four monsters with distinct personalities.
When the passive effect of 'fickleness' was eliminated in a certain sense, and Mo Tan was able to completely dominate his 'current' self at a certain period, things became very subtle~
As Black Vatican, he could act at what he considered the most suitable pace.
As Tan Mo, his madness was harder to stop.
As Mo, he could uphold his principles.
As Mo Tan...
...
"Hey! All done!" Yi Dong, who had been next to Mo Tan for a long time, waved his hand in front of his eyes, "Come back to life, quickly find a place to eat something and then get online. What are you thinking about?"
Mo Tan, who had been immersed in doubt, shrugged, "Ji Xiaoge."
"Huh?!" Yi Dong's jaw almost dropped, "What did you say?!"
"Ji Xiaoge," Mo Tan, who had been pondering what was unreasonable about 'reality' and 'Innocent World,' mumbled, then looked up and asked Yi Dong, "Recall, how beautiful do you think she is?"
Yi Dong's jaw still hadn't closed.
However, just then, a small face timidly peered in from outside the door.
"Yi Dong Tong Xue? And Mo... Mo Tan Tong Xue? It really is you two."
"Huh?"
"Yu Cheng?"
Chapter 116: End
