ATLAS TRANSLATES

The three special classes at Jiang University had access to the best resources, especially the Tongfeng and Boyuan classes.

They even had designated classrooms.

The Tongfeng class was in Room 307 of the Physics Building. It was a large multi-functional lecture hall with ten seats in the middle row and five seats on each side.

When Bai Lian, Ning Xiao, and Tang Ming arrived at Room 307, most of their classmates were already there. They were sitting in the middle section, though not completely filled — only a few students per row, spanning six rows.

The three of them took seats in the first row on the left side.

The Tongfeng class had a strong academic atmosphere.

Most students were from the National Training Team, having represented their region in various international physics and mathematics competitions. They had already formed their own groups.

When new students arrived, very few looked up. Most continued working or discussing their projects in low voices.

Bai Lian sat in the innermost seat, opened her laptop, and browsed through files.

Ten minutes later, Xu Zhiyue and Liang Wuyu entered with their notebooks and pens.

Xu Zhiyue wore a Jiang University T-shirt. Her eyes immediately found Bai Lian, and she sat right behind her.

Some students from the Boyuan class knew Liang Wuyu from the laboratory. One called out, “Liang Wuyu, want to sit here?”

A male student in the second middle row pointed to the empty seat beside him. All the academic elites knew each other.

Liang Wuyu glanced at the row with Bai Lian and the others, noticed Xu Zhiyue sitting behind Bai Lian, hesitated for a moment, then declined the offer and sat behind Tang Ming.

At least Tang Ming was familiar.

Tang Ming and Liang Wuyu chatted briefly while Xu Zhiyue barely looked up.

At 7:50, Zhou Wenqing entered.

His gaze first swept to the left side. After introducing himself, he said, “I’m the Tongfeng class advisor and homeroom teacher. As everyone knows, we exceptionally have five new students today. Bai Lian, please stand up and introduce yourself to everyone.”

Bai Lian closed her laptop and stood up.

Most of the Tongfeng class turned to look at her.

“Ning Xiao, please stand and introduce yourself…”

“…”

Zhou Wenqing called up all five students to introduce themselves. Finally, leaning on the desk, he asked, “Which project group has the fewest members? You’ll need to guide the new students.”

The other Tongfeng class students looked at each other uncertainly. Finally, a bespectacled male student in the third row stood up. “Professor Zhou, it’s our group, we have six people.”

The other groups breathed a sigh of relief.

Nobody wanted to guide newcomers.

“Good,” Zhou Wenqing looked at them and nodded. “Bai Lian, you and your group will first familiarize yourselves with the process under Ding Wenyang’s group. Next month we’ll reassign groups.”

—

The Tongfeng class only had two classes per day, each lasting four hours with breaks in between.

Zhou Wenqing would teach mechanics all morning. During the break, he took his teacup to his office.

Ding Wenyang sat next to Tang Ming and actively greeted them: “The one at the far end is Wang Xin, he’s our group’s genius. Wang Xin, say hi to the new students.”

Wang Xin glanced at Tang Ming’s group, nodded slightly, then went back to reading his printed documents.

“Don’t mind Wang Xin’s cold demeanor. He joined the Jianjing Training Camp app three years ago and is now ranked 99th overall,” Ding Wenyang said, sitting beside Tang Ming.

At these words, both Xu Zhiyue and Liang Wuyu looked up.

Liang Wuyu had just left the newcomer rankings with barely over a million points, ranked in the thousands.

Those who made it to the top 100 overall usually had around 7 million points.

Tang Ming remained notably calm. “So, Brother Ding, what does our project group do?”

Ding Wenyang leaned back casually. “The project group isn’t much, really. It’s just to get familiar with the atmosphere. Every two weeks we report our learning progress and complete Professor Zhou’s paper discussions. The paper discussions are the important part.”

“We’re starting paper discussions already?” Tang Ming and Ning Xiao’s foundation was too weak; they had barely read any papers. Only Bai Lian had experience with them.

To their surprise, even these National Training Team students were reading papers?

“Yeah, new students,” a male student from the second row who had called out to Liang Wuyu earlier came over. Hearing Tang Ming’s words, he couldn’t help but laugh, then asked Ding Wenyang, “Ding Wenyang, did you ask if the new students have studied Advanced Physics yet?”

Jianjing Advanced Physics wasn’t open to outsiders.

He patted Ding Wenyang’s shoulder sympathetically.

“Advanced Physics?” Tang Ming looked up, confused.

Ding Wenyang suddenly remembered this issue. He went to Zhou Wenqing’s office and returned with five books.

Tang Ming greeted Wang Xin friendly and took the books from Ding Wenyang. “So these are the books you mentioned…”

Five books with familiar emerald green covers, with white text:

‘Jianjing University Physics’ Editor-in-Chief: Jiang Fuli

When Tang Ming saw the familiar name, his words caught in his throat.

Seeing Tang Ming staring at the book, Ding Wenyang thought he was just curious about it and lowered his voice instinctively. “You must have heard of this book, right? Only our undergraduates can access it. Many experiments in it are from the main institute. We finished it in our senior year at the National Training Team – you’ll need to catch up.”

“No, I mean the editor…”

“Shh,” Ding Wenyang, who usually spoke freely about other professors, clearly had reservations about this. He stood up. “Class is starting. You should familiarize yourselves with this Advanced Physics text first.”

Tang Ming passed the books to Ning Xiao and Bai Lian.

Bai Lian took the Jianjing Advanced Physics book: “…”

Nearby.

Ding Wenyang returned to his seat. His neighbor asked quietly, “They haven’t even systematically studied Advanced Physics yet. Can they keep up with us?”

Hearing this, Ding Wenyang remained silent. His gaze turned to the boy beside Tang Ming, who wore a long coat with long bangs in front, occasionally lifting his head to reveal slightly gloomy eyes.

Like a panther hiding in darkness.

Ding Wenyang shifted his gaze to Bai Lian. She wore a white top with slightly wider sleeves than usual, her right hand typing steadily on the keyboard, a red ribbon falling onto the keys.

He wasn’t sure what she was looking at.

Behind her, Xu Zhiyue had barely lifted her head the entire time. Among these five, only Liang Wuyu, who had laboratory experience, seemed somewhat reliable.

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t say you don’t know,” his groupmate whispered. “This affects our GPA too. Don’t you want to go to the Ross summer camp?”

The Ross summer camp was considered sacred ground among university students. The most important requirement was recommendation letters.

The Physics Department would make recommendations, but they only recommended students with high regular GPAs. The biweekly project groups also used a scoring system.

In other words, competition was everywhere in the Tongfeng class.

Ding Wenyang lowered his eyes. “Anyway, we’re changing groups next month. We’ll see then.”

—

Evening.

At the Finance College Student Union.

The Arts Department handed the program list to the Student Union president. “This is the program list we agreed on with the Physics Department. Take a look.”

“Wait…” The Finance College president read from top to bottom and immediately noticed two programs.

Bai Lian, Song, “Chongshu Jiuri” Bai Shaoqi, Guzheng, “Chongshu Jiuri”

“Chongshu Jiuri” had been the hottest song since the college entrance exam, still topping various music app charts.

It came with guaranteed traffic.

Although the two colleges were joining for a social event, there was still implicit competition.

“Aren’t these two the same?” The Finance College president thought briefly. “Go negotiate with the Physics Department and have them change their song.”

Bai Shaoqi and Song Min were both new students in the Finance College. Song Min was the major investor in this freshmen welcome party – he had started his business in Jianjing during summer break. Everyone, from the External Relations Department head to the Finance Department president, would give Song Min face.

Everyone knew about Bai Shaoqi’s relationship with Song Min.

Plus, Bai Shaoqi’s online fame needed no explanation – most people were coming to the welcome party because of her.

The Finance College would naturally side with their own.

—

Bai Lian returned to her dorm after 9 PM.

In Room 407, Kong Wei posed against her wardrobe, asking her two roommates, “Ladies, is my welcome pose standard enough?”

Yu Simin put hand flowers in her hands. “Like this. I’ll applaud from the side. Xu Qian, what do you think?”

Xu Qian was somewhat diplomatic: “…I feel like Bai Lian probably isn’t the type who likes this kind of formality.”

“Never mind, your opinion doesn’t matter.” Yu Simin rejected Xu Qian’s opinion.

As soon as Bai Lian stepped into 407—

“Bang—”

A small flower cannon exploded, and Kong Wei waved hand flowers to welcome her.

Xu Qian stood to the side with crossed arms, raising an eyebrow at Bai Lian, her eyes saying— [I tried to stop them.]

Bai Lian stood at the dorm entrance. She stood straight, wearing white clothes and a black skirt in an ancient style, the jade hairpin in her hair looking increasingly translucent under the dorm lights.

Her slender fingers removed a strand of ribbon that had fallen on her forehead. “…Thank you.”

She sighed, feeling somewhat regretful.

When Ye Jingxian came to 407, Yu Simin and Kong Wei were humming Yan Lu’s song while sweeping the floor.

However, she wasn’t in the mood to ask them about it. Her expression wasn’t good – she had just argued with Bai Shiming and people from the Arts Department.

“Junior…” Ye Jingxian looked at Bai Lian, who was sitting lazily in her seat, and didn’t know how to begin.

Bai Lian leaned against the chair back, still holding her phone, and said to Jiang Fuli on the other end: “Wait a moment, a senior is looking for me.”

“Senior, go ahead.”

“It’s about the Finance Department,” Ye Jingxian explained the whole situation in one breath, finally looking at Bai Lian. “Junior, I didn’t handle this well.”

“Why should we be the ones to change the song?” Kong Wei threw the broom aside, frowning. “The Finance Department is being so arrogant, using investment as leverage.”

Bai Lian listened quietly, her pale fingers tapping the screen.

Ye Jingxian watched Bai Lian’s expression.

“The Finance Department probably fears Junior Bai singing this song. They want to use this welcome party to make a name for their department,” she knew Bai Lian originally didn’t want to participate in this welcome party, and had only reluctantly agreed to sing one song. Ye Jingxian felt quite guilty towards Bai Lian: “Or Junior, this time we could just…”

Bai Lian raised her phone, pushed slightly with her foot to turn the swivel chair, one leg casually bent, her black and gold dress flowing out, “Fine, then I won’t sing. I’ll do something else.”

“Huh?” Ye Jingxian and the others in 407 hadn’t expected this answer. “What- what will you do instead?”

Bai Lian tilted her head, that lazy yet graceful confidence radiating an overwhelming aura. She said unhurriedly: “Sword dance, spear performance, guzheng… take your pick.”