Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel

Translator: Piper Panda

Editor: Kleep

“Zeno, why don’t you have hair?”

“Zeno, why don’t you change your clothes?”

“Zeno, why won’t you talk?”

Zeno was holding a school uniform and squatting in the corner drawing circles on the ground. Now he regretted not confessing when he had the chance.

Looking at the three curious little lolis, Zeno wished he could just dig a hole to hide in.

His weakness had ruined his life.

The cause of this matter was from when they went to report as new students. It was well known that the college had no tuition fees, but that did not include free room and board. Of course, there was one exception.

Just like how poor students classified as ethnic minorities in China were given an allowance by the government, Hong Yue Continent had a similar advanced policy. Students with rare physiques could enjoy free accommodations.

What was a rare physique? For example, a boy with a pure water spiritual root, or a girl with a pure dark spiritual root¹.

Thus, in order for Zeno to enjoy this preferential policy, he had to remain silent about his mistaken gender. A penny beats a hero².

Fortunately, Providence Academy was like a large industry and a lot of famous warriors and magicians had attended. Every year, the support from former students was enough to fully support the operations of the college. The so-called tuition was just the icing on the cake. Many of the students who came in were geniuses. If not all of them, at least 80-90% of them could achieve great successes in the future.

Accordingly, the welfare benefits were also the best on the mainland—provided that the students met the conditions.

Zeno thought that this was fate. He was determined to walk down the road of being a fake girl. Who could be more pitiful than him, but there was no other choice if he wanted to integrate into this world.

In the last five years, he had already killed all of his thoughts of going back to his own world. Besides, what was left there for him anyway? A cold apartment, a cold computer screen, and cold interpersonal relationships.

Zeno clenched his teeth; he did not want to surrender here. He must first pass through bitter hardships, work himself down to the bone, and starve his body if need be. In any case, Zeno had chosen to shoulder the responsibility of saving Hong Yue Continent. He regarded it as his test!

Little loli No. 1 was obviously very curious about Zeno's bare head. She had been asking about it non-stop, and Zeno could only use his hands to protect his head while avoiding her little claws.

These three seven to eight-year-old little lolis were Zeno's brand new roommates. All of them were girls with extreme magical talents. In the future, they would most likely be highly promising students of Providence College. Students with similar talent would be assigned to the same dormitory, which was convenient for the arrangement and collective management.

Xi Wei was assigned to the men’s dormitory, and it was uncertain if he and Zeno's relationship was broken or back to normal. This made Zeno puzzled about what to do next.

Since entering the school, it became necessary to obey the management of the college. Zeno was also unable to skip classes to find Xi Wei. He could only try to catch him during noon and in the evening each day. However, not even a shadow of Xi Wei had been seen these last few days.

“Zeno, why do you come back so late every day?” After coming back empty-handed again, the frustrated Zeno pushed open the door of the bedroom, loli No. 1 was curious.

In addition to loli No. 1, Anne, the other two little girls were gathered around the table looking around from time to time. Giggling while smiling happily, they heard the question and turned to look at Zeno; all of their eyes were full of curiosity.

Zeno pretended not to hear, and asked, “What are you all looking at?”

The conversation topic was easily shifted. Annie replied, "We are looking at today's Magic Bulletin."

“Magic Bulletin?”

Lorraine cleared the things on the table, “Zeno, look, a weird person has recently shown up.”

The so-called Magic Bulletin was a transparent red crystal plate. It used magic to project images and information. It was also a tool used by senior students to exercise spiritual strength. It could convey some new things to other students. It was one of Providence Academy's premium features.

On the red crystal plate, some images were played in a loop. Zeno froze with a glance. The image was someone he knew well—it was his protagonist that he had been looking for these past several days!

Zeno grabbed the crystal plate so fast, he scared Lorraine, who patted her chest and complained, “Slow down.”

The image was not too clear, but Zeno, who was so familiar with Xi Wei, could recognize him with a glance. Xi Wei was carrying a boulder and walking laboriously under its weight as he moved it from the bottom of a small slope to the top, and then back again.

Lorraine looked at him again and giggled, “What is this big brother doing, why is he moving a rock like this?”

Zeno was dumbfounded. He put down the crystal plate and ran outside. Anne yelled after him, “Where are you going, Zeno?”

Zeno suddenly slammed on his brakes. That was right, where was he going? He knew it was a slope, but Providence Academy was so big, where was he going to find that slope?

What’s more, the recordings on the Magic Bulletin were not in real-time, so that meant that Xi Wei would probably have left and would not still be stupidly moving a boulder over there.

Lorraine ran over and grabbed Zeno's hand, confused, "Zeno, you aren't playing with us. Grandpa Clark told us not to bully you. Lorraine didn't bully Zeno, right?"

The remaining two little lolis also said that they did not bully Zeno, why didn't he get along with them?

Zeno caught a small detail, Lorraine…seemed to be the granddaughter of Master Clark?

So Zeno excitedly held her hand, “Lorraine, I want to see Master Clark.”

Lorraine tilted her head and said sweetly, “Okay, let’s go look for Grandpa.”

"I don’t want to go. Right now, it's bedtime,” The little girl's voice shocked everyone back to their senses.

Zeno was frustrated. It seemed that he would not be able to go out today. When Teacher Tassia came, the bedroom would be sealed.

Providence Academy's seal was not like being locked in a prison, but instead a magical array. Although this method was not complicated, it was set up to prevent children from entering and leaving school grounds without permission.

Tassia was patrolling and made sure that all four children were there. She ordered them to go to bed early, then took the magic bulletin and placed it on the shelf by the door. Someone else would take it away tomorrow.

It was not that late, but a few of the girls had already said goodnight to Zeno as they rubbed their eyes and went back to their rooms.

Zeno was tossing and turning, sleepless. He did not know where his protagonist was. However, now that he knew a little, the questions in his mind kept tormenting him. Why did Xi Wei want to move that stupid rock? This was not working and studying, who made this work-study program? Was this a kind of labor-intensive workout, or did someone make him do it?

Meanwhile, Xi Wei was struggling to move the boulder up the slope again. Under the moonlight, the top of the slope faintly revealed the shadow of a certain person.

“The nineteenth time, one more time before you can finish today,” gloated the shadow.

Xi Wei did not look at it as he lifted the stone onto his shoulders and then started his descent. The shadow seemed to be used to it, and did not care. It walked leisurely beside Xi Wei, “Why do you listen to Belle’s words? She is really beautiful, much more than my sister. Oh! Are you trying to pursue Belle?"

Xi Wei remained silent. Evan snorted and continued, “When will you fight me again? The last time you were physically weak in the forest, so we couldn't fully enjoy ourselves.”

Xi Wei finally glanced at him, “Why fight, you won't pay me.”

Evan was first stunned because Xi Wei replied, then he excitedly stepped forward toward Xi Wei, “You'll fight me if I pay you?”

He walked in front of Xi Wei and started walking backward, so he would not affect Xi Wei’s progress.

Xi Wei coldly hummed in agreement, “But first, finish things here.”

Evan put his hands behind his head and said, “Miss Belle is always very busy with stuff, how could she have time to supervise you every day?”

The moonlight reflected off of Belle's beautiful face, not even the night could stop her radiating beauty, “He needs my help, so I gave him an opportunity. Why do you insult me like this?”

The two of them made a deal, and it had nothing to do with Evan. But for some reason, Evan did not like Belle's appearance. Whenever they met, he always had to deal a few sharp sentences. However, there was no deep hatred between him and Belle. She was the principal's pearl, an overly confident woman, and rumours said that she was the yet-to-be-announced saint of the Temple of Light. Evan did not have the time to add grudges to his pre-existing enmity.

Belle's identity was special. Of course, the identity of all the aristocrats in this school was clear. She would be courteous toward the prince of the Miya Empire, but she was also a woman of vengeance. She had already memorized Evan's face, and he was now on her blacklist.

While they were speaking, Xi Wei had climbed up the slope from the bottom again. Even though it was winter, his clothes were soaked with sweat.

When Belle saw that he had finished his task, she turned and walked away, as if she really only came here to supervise his work.

Evan handed Xi Wei a towel to and went to pat him on the shoulder, but he had already left. He shrugged his shoulders, “Sometimes I'm really curious. What kind of environment did you grow up in? You're so strong.”

Zeno, who had barely slept all night, got up while it was still dark to run to the door and wait for the magic array to be lifted. When it opened, he would immediately rush out to find his protagonist.

It was very warm inside, but it had already started snowing again outside. Amongst the snowflakes that drifted down, a familiar figure was coming closer. Zeno immediately ran toward the figure, but before he could reach it, he slammed into a transparent light screen. It hurts! No matter how hard he hit it, he could not get past the light screen.

Xi Wei took a red crystal plate from his magic pouch that he carried on him. He placed it inside the magic storage box that was situated near the door on his way out. He turned and left, without looking in Zeno's direction from beginning to end.

Zeno started yelling anxiously as he slammed against the light screen, “Xi Wei! come back! Please, come back!”

Xi Wei turned back and looked toward the direction of the sound, but it was too dark and the magic array was blocking his vision, so he saw nothing.

The familiar figure was gradually disappearing again.

Look at me! Please see me! Just look at me!

Look at this girl go. Aren’t you all (me included) super thankful for her?? Every chapter quicker is closer to some resolution my friends! I was hoping to also have the next RAAS out tonight, but that likely won’t happen. Shouldn’t be too long though!

1. I'm not quite sure about this one, but if we are using a similar system to other novels, then i think that a pure water spiritual root, is a cultivation furnace,(AKA they can help improve someone else’s cultivation through sexual intercourse). A pure water spiritual root is commonly possessed by girls, and because girls are 'yin' it should also be rare for a girl to have such strong 'yang' power, like a dark spiritual root. (People think Zeno is a girl, and he has a strong affinity to dark spiritual power, so he gets free accommodation) ↩
2. A penny beats a hero means being unable to do something big because of something small. ↩