, "Late Summer"

Lu Xing sat in the classroom, looking exhausted.

The teacher on the podium was giving a lecture, his voice neither too loud nor too soft.

Sunlight streamed in obliquely through the window, falling on the backs of the students in the front row.

The lecture hall was packed, with only the rustling of turning pages and the occasional soft tapping of chalk on the blackboard.

At this moment, Lu Xing's eyelids were slowly drooping.

He no longer wanted to know what time he went to bed yesterday.

All I remember is that this morning, the two of us were woken up by the alarm clock together.

……

Last night, only the small bedside lamp was on in the bedroom.

Shen Qingyi hugged her pillow and held her phone up in the middle.

"You have an 8 AM appointment tomorrow..."

"Ah...it really is."

"Then I'll need to set an alarm... What time should I set it for?"

"Six-thirty, perhaps?"

The girl tapped the screen twice with her finger.

【06: 30】

"Okay."

Lu Xing looked at it and then took his own phone.

"I'll book another one for 6:40."

Shen Qingyi blinked.

Are you afraid I won't be able to get up?

"...This is just to be on the safe side."

"snort."

Shen Qingyi put her phone aside and this time obediently lay down.

"You wait, I'll definitely get up before you."

……

At 6:30, the alarm clock rang.

Neither of them moved.

"Well……"

Shen Qingyi shrank further under the covers and gave a muffled hum.

Lu Xing struggled to open his eyes and reached out to grab his phone.

The room fell silent again.

At 6:40, when the second alarm rang, Shen Qingyi suddenly opened her eyes.

wrong!

The girl opened her eyes and found that Lu Xing was already dressed and wiping his face with a washcloth.

"Land journey!"

"Um……"

Why didn't you call me!

"I just woke up too, and you didn't have class this morning, right?"

Lu Xing threw the washcloth into the trash can and said with a smile:

"Isn't it good to let you sleep a little longer?"

Before the girl could speak, Lu Xing continued in a cheeky tone:

"Yeah, but I got up first."

Shen Qingyi slowly opened her eyes wide.

I hate you!

A pillow appeared on Lu Xing's face.

……

In the classroom, Lu Xing raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

The reality is... he's incredibly sleepy right now.

"Land journey".

Zhang Yang, who was in the front row, suddenly turned around and lowered his voice.

"The teacher is calling you!"

Lu Xing stood up.

The teacher adjusted his glasses and asked the same question again.

He paused for a moment, then answered.

The classroom fell silent for a moment.

The teacher nodded.

"...Good answer, sit down."

"You need to go to bed early tonight, you can't fall behind in class."

A few faint laughs could be heard from all around.

Zhang Yang turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

Lu Xing sat back down in his chair, seemingly unconcerned.

I could have gone to bed earlier...

But how can I sleep with a fairy lying next to me?

She was already alluring enough, but I didn't expect her to be so proactive...

hateful.

Lu Xing blinked, feeling his eyelids grow even heavier.

……

When the first class ended, my phone screen lit up twice.

[Shen Qingyi: Did you doze off?]

Lu Xing quickly typed and replied instantly:

[Lu Xing: No.]

The other side paused for a few seconds.

[Shen Qingyi: You're lying, you must be asleep!]

Lu Xing didn't insist any further and lowered his head to type:

[Lu Xing: The classroom is a giant hypnotic place; everyone inside is manipulated by the teacher...]

Shen Qingyi: What are you talking about...?

[Shen Qingyi: Hmph, you pighead, we're having lunch together.]

Lu Xing: Okay.

He put down his phone and looked up at the podium again.

The teacher actually explained things very well.

But last night... he really didn't get enough sleep.

……

After lunch, Lu Xing returned to his dormitory.

Pushing open the door to 317, Lin Yuanzhou was slumped in a chair, scrolling through his phone.

Zhou Lian wasn't there, but there was a pile of legal statutes spread out on the table.

Terrifying law students.

Hearing the door open, Lin Yuanzhou looked up and his eyes lit up immediately.

"Yo!"

"You're willing to come back?"

"Um."

Lu Xing put the bag on the table and turned on the computer.

"I thought you were going to have to move out."

"Hmm, I'm going back to the dorm to get something."

"...Huh? Taking something?"

Lin Yuanzhou sat up straighter.

How many nights have you slept in the dorm this week?

Lu Xing pulled the monitor forward a little without turning around.

"Including today... well, one night."

"Tsk."

Lin Yuanzhou shook his head.

The curtain on the upper bunk was pulled open halfway, and Zhao Lin's voice drifted out from inside.

"That's normal~"

"Normal my foot! This is called staying out all night!"

"But he has a home to return to; it's here that's what it means to stay out all night."

"..."

Hold?

That makes sense.

Lin Yuanzhou opened his mouth, but couldn't respond for a moment.

Lu Xing couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.

Just as the smile began to spread, a series of new messages popped up on the screen.

In the chat group for everyday tools, dozens of messages accumulated overnight.

He scrolled up the scroll bar and looked at each item one by one.

The version has been iterated to v0.3.2.

The vast majority of people in the group are there to ask questions.

Someone asked when the new game interface would be supported, and someone posted a screenshot of the error message.

[Task execution failed. Please check if the game window is in the foreground.]

"Cannot be recognized."

Lu Xing stared at the screenshot for two seconds. This was definitely not a simple problem of not having the game running.

[Lu Xing: First, check if the window title is correct.]

A short while later, the other party replied.

[Um... how do I see the window title?]

Zhao Lin got out of bed at some point and stood behind him, looking at the screen.

"Heh, he's using full-screen mode, right?"

"Um."

"Tell him to turn the user manual into full-screen mode, zoom in a hundred times, and read it word by word."

Lu Xing: "..."

Lin Yuanzhou dragged his chair over and happened to see another message in the group that had been highly upvoted.

Could you add a feature to automatically check me in during class?

He cleared his throat and typed his reply with a solemn expression.

This tool is only for automating the game process and does not currently support attendance-related functions.

After sending it, he scrolled down to the next one.

Could you help me with my homework?

Lin Yuanzhou's fingers stopped on the keyboard; this time, even he didn't want to reply.

Zhao Lin replied quietly.

"He's too lazy to do his homework, so I might as well just have him send his graduation certificate over."

……

The messages in the group chat were scrolling by very quickly.

Lu Xing exited and opened the code repository.

There is a newly submitted request; the submitter's avatar is a white-haired character.

Oh……

It's the world of anime and manga.

The other party was very thorough, fixing the interface misalignment issue after the game update and even providing test screenshots.

Lu Xing read it from beginning to end.

Tsk tsk, no problem.

That's what seniority looks like...

He directly selected the merge option.

Zhao Lin leaned against the table.

"Anime again."

Lin Yuanzhou, with a Pocky stick in his mouth, leaned closer again.

"The most ruthless coders?"

"right."

Just as Zhao Lin was about to say something, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated.

hum.

Zhao Lin picked up his phone and glanced at the screen.

And then it didn't move again.

one second...

two seconds.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Xing sensed something was wrong and looked up.

Zhao Lin remained silent.

Lin Yuanzhou also came over.

Who posted this?

Zhao Lin then slowly turned the screen around.

……

It was an email.

From: Getty Images

The title is very short.

[Award Notification]

The dormitory was quiet for a moment.

Lu Xing released the mouse and suddenly stood up.

???

Not a buddy...

So much time has passed, and you actually won an award?

Zhao Lin's fingers trembled slightly, but he still opened the email.

The page loads very quickly.

Several lines of text appeared clearly on the screen.

Congratulations! Your work, "Late Summer," has won second prize in the Getty Images National Photography Competition.

Zhao Lin stared at that line of text for a long time.

Then, he suddenly laughed.

He laughed very softly, and his voice was slightly off-key.

"What if my dad finds out..."

Before he could finish speaking, he lowered his head and buried his face in his hands.

Lin Yuanzhou opened his mouth, as if to say something...

But in the end, he scratched his head and said nothing.

The dormitory was quiet...

No one spoke anymore.