"Is that all?" Su Hang teased Shuai Yu, raising an eyebrow. "You seem more excited than I am. Why don't you sign up yourself?"
"Come on, don't kid around. I may look big, but my stomach's tiny—just two bowls of noodles , and then I'm done." Shuai Yu chuckled awkwardly, patting Su Hang on the shoulder. With a sheepish grin, he said, "Listen, I'm your manager now. I've been running errands for you, even making investments. When you win the prize, don't forget to share the spoils."
"Hold on!" Su Hang interrupted, giving him a strange look. "So all this is just for you to get a piece of cake?"
"Bro, I'm not made of money," Shuai Yu said, rolling his eyes. "I'm broke right now. You wouldn't hog everything, would you? And after all the effort I've put in, you can't expect me to walk away empty-handed."
"What investments have you even made?" Su Hang asked skeptically.
"Didn't I treat you to dinner today? For the next few days, all your food and drinks are on me—I'll make sure you're well-fed. I'm not asking for much—just a 40-60 split. I'll take 40, you take 60. And I won't even ask for a share of the house. Deal?" Shuai Yu proposed.
"In your dreams!" Su Hang shot him a side-eye. "Doing all this for a lousy deal and still asking for 40 percent? Always looking to take advantage, aren't you?"
"Well, then how much?" Shuai Yu pressed.
Su Hang raised a middle finger.
"One percent?!" Shuai Yu exclaimed, his face falling. "Come on, bro! Show some mercy. I'm drowning in debt here!"
Seeing his dramatic plea, Su Hang couldn't help but laugh. They settled on an 80-20 split—Su Hang would keep 80 percent of the prize, and Shuai Yu would get 20 percent for his efforts.
"Alright, it's a deal. Tomorrow, I'll take your info to Shrimp Bro and get you signed up. The Rongcheng regional round is next Saturday. The prize is only 100,000 yuan, but it's enough for us to live comfortably for a while," Shuai Yu said with a grin, nudging Su Hang playfully.
"Rongcheng regional round? So there's more than one contest?" Su Hang asked, surprised.
"Exactly! Isn't that better? We might win an extra 100,000 yuan," Shuai Yu said with a sly smile.
"Good point!" Su Hang chuckled. To him, the idea of eating his fill and earning money at the same time was practically heaven.
"Alright, it's settled. Don't tell anyone else. Let's keep this between us and quietly rake in the cash," Shuai Yu whispered conspiratorially.
After a moment of thought, Su Hang added, "One thing, though—I don't want to attract too much attention. Ask Cai Jiuxia if I can wear a mask during the contest."
"What? You'd hide your face at a prime opportunity to get famous? Playing mysterious now?" Shuai Yu asked, exasperated.
"Just ask," Su Hang insisted. If it were a more prestigious competition, like calligraphy or painting, he'd happily show his face. But a competitive eating contest? No thanks. He didn't want to be seen as a monster.
After some experimentation, Su Hang had found his limits. The system could absorb energy from food, but it wasn't infinite. Once his energy points hit 100, he'd genuinely feel full. Eating beyond that was unnecessary.
In practical terms, as a Level 1 Scholar God（the system level is 1）, Su Hang's energy cap was 100 points. By his calculations, this translated to about 100 Baozi.
This was enough to dominate the competitive eating world. Moreover, he could use up his energy points and replenish them by eating more. As long as he had enough food, he could keep going.
The one million yuan(about 137,000 dollar) prize money and the house were now firmly in his sights.
The next morning, Su Hang got up at the crack of dawn, with no classes scheduled, and jogged to a small grove near the school's sports field.
His dorm was too crowded to use the Ultimate Learning System in private. He needed a secluded spot. After all, the system was his biggest secret and had to stay that way.
Autumn had arrived, and the ground in the grove was sparsely covered with fallen leaves. Although Su Hang hadn't been at the university for long, he already knew that this place was famously dubbed the "lovers' battlefield" of the polytechnic. Countless upperclassmen had supposedly sown their seeds here, and countless upperclasswomen had reportedly unleashed their passionate cries.
Every inch of this ground seemed to carry the essence of the students who had come before. Walking into the grove, one could almost feel the lingering intensity of hormones in the air—a reminder of how many lives had once sparked here, only to wither away before they could take root.
The grove was quiet and serene. Su Hang found a bench and sat down. Pulling up the system, he noticed his energy points had already maxed out at 100. Eagerly, he retrieved the information he had extracted from Qin Shiyu and Cai Jiuxia.
Name: Qin Shiyu
Age: 21
Level: None
Extractable Specialties:
1. CET-6-English
Would you like to extract and refine?
[Yes] or [No]
2. The Eighth Set of Radio Gymnastics (F-level)
Would you like to extract and refine?
[Yes] or [No]
-------
Name: Cai Jiuxia
Age: 43
Level: None
Extractable Specialties:
- Culinary Skills (Special Level 2)
Would you like to extract and refine?
[Yes] or [No]
---
Qin Shiyu had two extractable specialties. One was her CET-6 English, which tempted Su Hang. After all, he'd barely scraped by in English during high school. But it wasn't urgent right now.
The second was a peculiar skill: "The Eighth Set of Radio Gymnastics."Could this really be refined? And what use would it have? Clicking on it, Su Hang discovered that even a basic refinement required 50 energy points—10 more than the CET-6 English skill.
Intrigued, he asked the system about it.
To his surprise, the system responded, "This set of gymnastics enables the host to gain energy points through physical exercise."
"Huh?" Su Hang's eyes lit up. The system had previously mentioned two ways to acquire energy: eating food or exercising.The latter turned out to have such a beneficial effect.
"If you choose double refinement, this set of gymnastics will be significantly enhanced. Each practice session will earn you 1 energy point," the system added.
"Just 1 point?" Su Hang frowned. "That's way too little. To max out my 100 energy points, I'd have to practice 100 times!"