The next morning, Jiangcheng University buzzed with whispers.
News of Lin Yi's stunning simulation result had already spread beyond the AI Club. Students in the tech building whispered about the "new genius" who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Some called it luck. Others whispered about cheating.
Luo Bin said nothing—but his clenched fists and stormy expression in class made it clear: he wasn't letting this go.
Lin Yi noticed the stares, the mutters. But he didn't react.
He had learned early: attention is a spotlight. You decide when to stand in it.
And he wasn't ready yet.
That evening, Lin Yi returned to the AI lab. It was mostly empty. Most students had gone home or to the cafeteria.
But Luo Bin was still there.
He sat hunched over his laptop, face bathed in pale light, eyes bloodshot. His project was still a mess—overloaded with functions, full of redundant loops, error-prone logic. His jaw clenched as he muttered under his breath, tapping keys angrily, only for the simulator to crash again.
Lin Yi stood by the door for a moment, watching.
Then, slowly, he walked in.
Luo Bin didn't look up.
"What do you want?" he spat. "Here to gloat?"
Lin Yi calmly pulled up a chair beside him.
"You messed with my code."
Luo Bin's hands froze on the keyboard.
"I traced it," Lin Yi continued, voice low but clear. "You rewrote parts of it three nights ago. You were careful, but not careful enough."
Luo Bin finally turned to him, lips tightening. "So what? You're going to report me? Get me kicked out?"
"No," Lin Yi said quietly. "I'm going to help you fix your code."
Luo Bin blinked.
"What?"
"I looked at your logic tree yesterday. It's inefficient. Your AI overreacts to every change in the simulation. You need to implement state memory and conditional restraint logic."
"Why… the hell would you help me?" Luo Bin snapped. "I tried to ruin you."
Lin Yi shrugged. "You're not my enemy. Your insecurity is."
Luo Bin stared at him like he was looking at an alien.
"You could've exposed me," he muttered.
"I could've."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I don't care about showing people how small you are," Lin Yi said, standing. "I'd rather show them how big I can become."
He turned to leave—then paused.
"Check your drive. I sent you a sample code base with annotations. It should give you a better foundation."
[New Interaction Logged: Luo Bin – Rival Status Updated to Neutral]
[Karma Bonus: +3 | Reputation: +2]
[System Comment: Kindness is strength. Mercy is dominance in disguise.]
As Lin Yi left, Luo Bin sat frozen in his chair.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
Then, slowly… he opened the file Lin Yi sent.
And realized—it was better than anything he'd written in weeks.
The next day, during the lunch hour, Lin Yi was stopped outside the dining hall.
By Luo Bin.
In public.
The same Luo Bin who once mocked him, who tried to sabotage his project.
"Hey," he muttered.
Lin Yi turned calmly. "Yeah?"
Luo Bin looked awkward, as if the words were hard to force out.
"…Thanks."
Lin Yi said nothing. Just gave a small nod.
Zhao Qing, sitting nearby with her new boyfriend, spotted the scene. Her eyes narrowed.
"Isn't that the guy who tried to sabotage the club's project?" she whispered.
"Why's he thanking Lin Yi?"
Her boyfriend scowled. "That loser's just lucky. He probably bribed someone. Watch, he'll slip eventually."
But deep inside, even Zhao Qing was beginning to feel something unfamiliar when she looked at Lin Yi.
A twinge of doubt.
And curiosity.
That night, Lin Yi returned to his dorm and opened the system panel.
[Daily Reputation Growth: +5]
[Progress Toward Evolution: 13%]
[New Option Unlocked: Intermediate Project Accelerator – Cost: ¥20,000]
He didn't activate it yet.
Instead, he opened his laptop and began writing from scratch again.
Because he knew something no one else around him did:
He was no longer the poor boy picking up bottles.
He was the future.
One silent line of code at a time.