Chapter Two: The Battle of Love and Club Activities

"Pop quiz! When you think of school and youth, what comes to mind?"
In a fast-food restaurant near the Central United University, at a four-person table by the window, a blonde girl wearing a top hat slammed the table excitedly and fired off a sharp question at her friends.

The restaurant diners glanced over curiously. While waiting for lunch, Qin Qianbai raised her hand.

"Qin, please!"
"Teacher, I think it must be romance."
Cardesia snorted disdainfully. "How naive, Qian. Romance is considered the symbol of youth, but such outdated ideas should be tossed in the trash! 'Life is short, fall in love, girls'—that's not the era we're in anymore. Boys who propose relationships under the guise of enjoying youth are nothing but creatures driven by their lower instincts. Stay well away from them!"

"Oh."
Qin Qianbai stared at the seat diagonally opposite. Sitting beside Cardesia, Shi Yu was reading a paperback with such intense focus, it was as if the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything were hidden within its pages.

She decided to help her friend out a little. "Cardesia, are you not interested in romance at all?"

"Not in the least!—Well, that's a lie, of course. Everyone desires love, and I’m no exception."

The young man in the suit kept his hands steady, shifting his gaze ever so slightly and twitching his ear. Even for someone as skilled in martial arts as her, it was barely noticeable.

"But Qian, romance wastes plenty of time and turns people into idiots! Precious youthful years shouldn’t be squandered on such things."

Shi Yu’s attention returned to his book. She decided to try one last time.

"Does Cardesia plan to wait until after starting work to try romance?"

"Mmm~" The blonde girl stood and declared triumphantly, "I think forty is the perfect age!"

Shi Yu’s expression was utterly spectacular for a moment.

Such a look hardly belonged on a handsome face.

"Wow, impressive."

She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Shi Yu Lianyi finally closed his book. The young man in the suit wore his usual gentle smile, as if he was only now hearing the conversation, and asked curiously, "Forty—do you mean…?"

Cardesia waved her finger. "I mean the period for romance, Lianyi. Think about it: with my intelligence, by forty I’ll certainly be a powerful figure, at least a globally successful entrepreneur. Material security is the basic prerequisite for romance!"

She remembered Cardesia had barely scraped sixty on her last professional exam, only passing after much pleading with the instructor.

Achieving that level of power with just-passing grades must be quite the challenge.

"Sounds logical," the young man from Zero Island smiled, "Will you select from the outstanding people you know then? Thinking ahead, I see."

Impressive.

Qin Qianbai thought the truly forward-thinking one was him. Shi Yu Lianyi was asking this to begin preparing for the future decades in advance. The moment he heard those words, he was already considering matters post-forty! What strategic foresight—treating romance like warfare!

This wasn’t a conversation, but a clash—a battle of wits over fast food, a ruthless stratagem where the prepared outmaneuver the unsuspecting! The besieging general Shi Yu’s army sent spies into the city under the guise of a truce… How would the defending fortress respond?

She looked at the cheerful Cardesia.

"No way!" The blonde shook her head vigorously. "Who wants to date forty-year-old men? I’ll drive my luxury car and hang out at the high school gates!"

Terrifying.

The defending general slapped a pistol on the negotiating table.

The contest had escalated from intelligence warfare to threats of heavy weaponry—a change in the nature of battle!

Sensing danger, Qin Qianbai sought to interject, but Shi Yu’s coalition hadn’t surrendered yet!

"So, Cardesia’s ideal is a young high school teacher?"

She imagined a bead of cold sweat sliding down Shi Yu’s impassive face. His tone was as calm as usual, but to her ear, it was forced—held together by willpower.

The besieging general fought on, inspecting the pistol for signs of a wooden fake… but that was impossible. The enemy commander never bluffed; every move was earnest!

Qin Qianbai raised her hand to urge the attackers to retreat. Stop, Shi Yu! Any further and you’ll trigger a catastrophic assault—this is no longer a mere skirmish!

Then she heard the blonde say,

"Lianyi, are you stupid? Of course I’ll hit on boys who’ve just started high school!"

Cardesia squirmed gleefully in her seat.

"Want to play with big sister? I’ll show you all the cool stuff~ If you want anything, big sister’s got it~ Then I’ll bring them home and do this and that~ Ah! Just thinking about it is so exciting!"

Boom.

It was as if a mushroom cloud exploded above Shi Yu’s head.

While his opponent was still pondering which direction the attack would come from, she whipped out a machine gun and unleashed a tactical nuclear strike on someone whose tactics were still stuck in the age of melee weapons. This wasn’t just excessive—it was annihilation.

To truly capture the horror of the scene, it was as if a master sorcerer racked their brain to break the opponent’s power, only to discover their adversary was Yan Qi himself.

There was nothing to be done; not just the fortress, but the entire battlefield was obliterated. Shi Yu’s army scattered in disarray, even the commander collapsed helplessly.

With a thud, Shi Yu Lianyi slumped onto the table.

He pressed a hand to his stomach and managed to reply, "Is… is that so… Certainly, very much your style…"

Qin Qianbai acted quickly. No, this was too one-sided, she had to rescue Shi Yu.

"By the way, why isn’t our lunch ready yet? Aze is so slow."

Well done, she silently praised herself.

A perfect change of topic to fit the moment! That’s strategy!

Cardesia reached out and shook the suited youth. "What’s wrong, Lianyi? I rarely see you react this much."

"It’s… it’s the book I was reading… I was deeply moved by the story…"

Impossible.

This woman wasn’t deterred by strategy at all; she kept inflicting damage!

Miss Qin drew her pocketknife, something even her grandfather would approve of. At this point, violence was the only option—

Just then, the gray-haired youth who’d gone to buy lunch finally returned, carrying trays.

"Done. Make some room—two buckets of fried chicken, two large fries, three beef burgers, one bio-kangaroo burger—Whoa, what happened? Did Shi Yu get hit by a psychic?"

Gongsun Ce stared in surprise at the scene before him. The young man in the suit, shaken back and forth, was clearly sending a ‘save me’ signal, while Cardesia seemed to be the culprit. What on earth could have happened to reduce Shi Yu to this state?

He turned his inquisitive gaze to the expressionless girl. She pondered for a second, then said,

"Shi Yu tried to defeat an armed opponent barehanded, but she pulled out a tactical nuke before the battle even started."

"No, even if you say that, it’s even harder to make sense of the situation."

"Cardesia said she plans to seek out current high school boys for romance after turning forty."

"My god."

The psychic expressed his opinion in three succinct words. He set the lunch on the table. "You might not believe this, but I made a kid cry at my job this morning."

That sentence successfully captured Miss Cardesia’s interest. She released Shi Yu and asked expectantly, "Did you use the White Hammer? Or the Invisible Fist? Or maybe the Instant Spiral?"

Shi Yu, near death, thanked him silently with his eyes, then slumped in his chair like a venerable old sage ascending peacefully.

You’ve done your best, Shi Yu.

The psychic offered silent condolences to his friend as he replied, "It was a middle schooler trying to run away from the airport. I deduced their actions and identity, used the lowest possible power to control them, hoping to show a dependable adult side—but the kids screamed ‘demon!’ and sobbed apologies."

Cardesia curled her lip, unimpressed.

"Tch! They cry at that? Newcomers have such weak nerves these days. And trying to escape from the airport—the most heavily guarded place? At least do some homework first."

Indeed, it was clear those kids were being used… but saying more would backfire. He didn’t want his overly curious friends getting involved.

"Too little force, too gentle," the psychic shrugged, deflecting. "But what’s with that strange nickname anyway? Why call Gongsun ‘demon’? Do I look the least bit like one?"

Miss Qin, already halfway through her burger, said, "Sounds like someone who shoots fire from their chest."

"Where’d the classic super robot come from?"

"Sounds like a man who’s abandoned everything for battle."

"I don’t look like a blue-skinned, red-winged dark hero, do I?"

At that moment, Shi Yu finally sat up, returning to his usual demeanor.

Having bought his friend enough recovery time, Gongsun Ce could finally enjoy his fried chicken. "So, what were you all talking about?"

Cardesia, reminded of the original topic, stood and slammed the table again, nearly spilling the cola.

Shi Yu helped steady it.

"It’s youth! Gongsun Ce, what do you think of when you hear ‘youth’ and ‘school’?"

Youth, school—when you start with those keywords, there’s only one answer: ‘that’.

In front of old friends, he didn’t need to pretend to be an aloof university student uninterested in subculture. The gray-haired youth replied without hesitation, "Of course, a school romance comedy full of all sorts of beautiful girls! I highly recommend—"

The blonde in the top hat gave him a look reserved for trash.

"Enough, I shouldn’t have asked you. Qian, this hopeless otaku is beyond saving—take him out."

"Mm. Good idea."

"Why are you coming at me with a dinner knife? Did I say anything offensive?"

Cardesia ignored the pair performing a knife defense demonstration and turned to her friend engrossed in his book. "Lianyi~?"

Shi Yu Lianyi closed his book. "Club activities, I suppose?"

"Huh?" "Why?"

The blonde swiftly wrapped her arm around her friend. "That’s Lianyi for you! Exactly right, youth and school are all about club activities!"

Gongsun Ce shot the suited youth a glance, silently asking, (Why?)

Shi Yu’s voice sounded with a hint of resignation in his mind.

(Because Cardesia dragged me to visit every club on campus this morning.)