Chapter 35: Awakened by the Silver League's Explosion at Dawn

After stepping outside and onto the street, Zhou Quanyi stubbornly clung to a lamppost, mumbling someone's name under his breath. Who exactly, no one could make out. Jiang Zheng tugged at him and said, "Boss, let go so we can go."

"I'm not going... I'm not leaving. I want to be with my little darling," Zhou Quanyi murmured, rubbing his cheek against the lamppost.

Jiang Zheng was at a loss for words. He didn't find Zhou Quanyi perverse; it was just that a drunken person's world was fundamentally different from that of the sober, often resulting in inexplicable behavior.

"Boss, this isn't your little darling. It's a lamppost," Jiang Zheng tried to reason.

"She is! You're lying to me." Zhou Quanyi insisted.

Jiang Zheng could only sigh. There was no reasoning with him.

He tried to drag Zhou Quanyi away by force, but Zhou clung to the lamppost for dear life, refusing to let go, all the while crying out for his "little darling."

Just then, Jiang Zheng caught sight of Yang Bo filming with his phone out of the corner of his eye.

"What are you doing, Second?" Jiang Zheng asked.

"I'm filming the boss, so I can show him when he sobers up," Yang Bo replied with a mischievous grin.

"How could you do something like that? The boss is drunk and not in his right mind. Recording his embarrassing moments now is no different from taking advantage of someone!" Jiang Zheng declared, righteous and indignant. "Remember to send me a copy later."

Yang Bo felt a twinge of guilt at Jiang Zheng's first words. They were all brothers from the same dorm; perhaps it really wasn't right to do this. But Jiang Zheng's last sentence completely threw him off.

"Why are you staring at me? Keep filming," Jiang Zheng urged.

Yang Bo snapped back to attention and hurriedly complied.

Suddenly, a startled voice rang out nearby, "Third, that's sausage on the ground—you can't eat that!"

Jiang Zheng and Yang Bo spun around to see Wang Bing and Yu Qingkui wrestling a sausage out of Liu Hua's grasp.

"Third, where did that sausage come from?" Jiang Zheng asked.

"Picked it up off the ground just now. He grabbed it and tried to stuff it in his mouth—won't let go," Wang Bing replied.

The two fell silent. One was hugging a lamppost, the other eating sausage off the ground...

Jiang Zheng sighed and told Yang Bo, "Record it."

Yang Bo grinned, "Don't worry, I've already started."

It took all four of them quite some effort to pry Zhou Quanyi from the lamppost and toss away the sausage Liu Hua was clutching. After hailing a cab back to campus, they supported their two drunken companions as they made their way to the dorm.

Even then, the two were far from settled—belting out songs at the top of their lungs, and badly out of tune at that. Passersby stared at them as they walked by.

Jiang Zheng and the others felt their faces burning with embarrassment. This was mortifying.

At long last, they managed to get back to their dorm. The two drunken friends, as if having exhausted all their energy outside, collapsed onto their beds and quickly fell asleep.

Shaking their heads, the others could only sigh helplessly. After washing up, each lay down to rest.

Tonight's dinner party had been a joy, though not without its flaws, but certainly memorable. As for the blackmail material on Zhou Quanyi and Liu Hua, Jiang Zheng fully intended to keep it safe.

Suddenly, Jiang Zheng realized he had forgotten something. There was something he hadn't done today.

What was it?

It soon came to him—he hadn't done his exercise; he hadn't gone running.

Had he collected all his rewards? Jiang Zheng didn't know. The system came with no manual, so he was often left to figure things out on his own.

He checked the time and gave up on the idea of going out for a run. The dorm would soon be locked; it was too late for a walk.

Still, he couldn't let his exercise lapse. If running was out, what could he do instead?

The system didn't specify a particular form of exercise, though Jiang Zheng had gotten used to running. Could he do something else instead?

He wasn't sure, but he decided to give it a try. There was no harm in experimenting, since there was no time to go out anyway.

So Jiang Zheng started doing sit-ups and push-ups in the dorm room.

After working up a sweat, he took a shower to clear his head.

He couldn't immediately tell if it had any effect. The improvements to his physical fitness had become less noticeable. At the beginning, each gain had been obvious; now, not so much.

Still, it gave him a sense of comfort—at least he had exercised, he hadn't skipped it entirely.

Sometimes you just need a little psychological reassurance.

With that in mind, Jiang Zheng was finally able to fall asleep peacefully.

The next morning, Jiang Zheng was awakened by his phone vibrating—not the usual alarm.

Out of consideration for everyone's rest, they all silenced their ringtones at night, leaving only the vibration on. But the alarm was never muted; a morning wake-up call was too important to miss.

If the phone was vibrating, it must mean there were messages.

Still bleary-eyed, Jiang Zheng reached for his phone. There was still a while before his alarm was set to go off. Why so many messages?

He scrolled down, glanced at his notifications—and immediately jolted awake.

He saw a message indicating someone had tipped him with a Silver Alliance.

All the other messages were comments in the book review section, all triggered by this Silver Alliance reward.

Usually, a book with a few Alliance Leaders was already doing well. There were many big names on the site, but even more books.

For a newcomer like Jiang Zheng, to have an Alliance Leader was already thrilling—let alone a Silver Alliance.

Was this even something a new author could dream of?

But a Silver Alliance was now right before his eyes, given freely by a reader, not through any backroom dealing.

The difference was significant.

This was the highest form of recognition a reader could give a book.

What does it feel like to be woken up in the morning by a Silver Alliance reward?

Jiang Zheng could only say it felt fantastic, exhilarating.

He couldn't even think of going back to sleep. Only when his alarm finally rang did the excitement begin to ebb.

With such a generous tip, he couldn't just sit back and do nothing, could he?

Jiang Zheng decided to publish an extra ten thousand words today to thank the benefactor for their support.

He'd promised his editor not to update too fast during the new book period, but with a Silver Alliance, how could he not add extra chapters?

As the alarm sounded, his roommates woke up too.

Zhou Quanyi saw Jiang Zheng sitting on his bed in a daze and asked, "Fourth, aren't you getting up to get ready for class?"

Jiang Zheng quickly responded, putting thoughts of the Silver Alliance aside for now and getting up to prepare.

On the way, he could hardly contain his joy.

A Silver Alliance brought more than just financial reward; it also meant greater popularity.

You could say that a Silver Alliance was as valuable as a high-quality recommendation.