Don't talk to me (DTTM)

Chapter 1

7AM.

Yu Sheng drags a rough hand through sleep-mussed hair. One hand stretches out from the ball of sheets and slaps down blindly.

The incessant racket of the phone is finally silenced.

In the early morn, the house is dimly lit.

Through the gaps of the loosely drawn curtains, eye-piercing rays of sunbeams force their way through, shimmering and quivering where they scatter on the floor.

The phone stubbornly comes back alive.

The default ringtone blares aloud, its volume utterly treacherous. Vibrating to add, it buzzes away to no goddamn end.

It seems likely to keep that up all day if he doesn't pick up the phone.

Yu Sheng has his eyes half-closed when he wrangles free from the clingy tendrils of sleep. One hand scoops up his phone to answer the call.

"SHENG GĒ*! COME TO SCHOOL!"

(*Gē 哥 : Big Bro)

The moment the call's picked up, a voice booms out from the phone, deafeningly loud:

"It's 7 already! Where are you? The sun's out and shining..."

Yu Sheng sits up abruptly.

Instincts ingrained from years of ploughing through school gates takes over. Yu Sheng ditches his phone and pulls on his short-sleeved polo, just about downing half a large glass of water. He is just about to fly out of his bed when his gaze abruptly lands upon the newly torn calendar.

16th July, Friday.

It is the 3rd day of summer vacation.

"......"

Yu Sheng clamps his hand over his phone and inhales sharply through his teeth:

"To hell with your Granddad! It's summer vacation!"

Last night, he'd ran into a potential substitute player* and ended up trouncing that White Silver for some 10 consecutive matches. Reluctant to wrap it up, he'd ended up battling through the whole night. As a result, his head is now muddled as if stuffed with glue. Every little bit of movement draws a dull throb.

(*Someone you hire to help you level up your account)

He had initially been intending to make up on lost sleep by sleeping through today. But alas, he's ripped out of his sleep at just 7 by a call.

"It is summer vacation, alright. But there's another exam today. Sheng Gē, did you forget? Starting at 8, gotta arrive half an hour sooner – It's that city-wide unified exam!"

Loudmouth obviously doesn't feel his pain, because he goes on to boom thunderously in his ear:

"They've looked at the name list already! I hear that this time, Jin Linkun's also coming to our school for the exam! It's that Study God who tops the unified exam every time! Last year, we were all waiting for him to top it, but then for some mysterious reason, he suddenly got suspended..."

The legend of the Study God kept circulating amongst the high schools of City A ever since then. The voice from the phone grows increasingly excitable, rambling non-stop. It's almost as if he has suddenly received a spark of inspiration to turn over a new leaf and plunge into the sea of knowledge as a know-all.

Yu Sheng's pounding headache ratchets in intensity. He covers his eyes with one hand and pulls the phone further away from himself. Bit by bit, he pulls himself out of the muddle this ground-breaking news had thrown him into.