Once the bell rang for the end of the fourth class in the morning, the smiling teacher on the podium of the third class didn’t drag out the class. He put down the paper and waved his hand, generously letting the students go to eat.
Once the teacher smiled, packed his things and was about to leave, the students immediately relaxed. There was a sudden uproar in the classroom. Everyone had different expressions but most of them felt like they were dreaming.
“Today is the day when our class has the highest status in the entire year…”
“I seem to have seen the always number one student in the seventh class. He deliberately passed by the door of our class and secretly glanced inside.”
“In the afternoon, there are still the math and language scores. Come and guess how many points there will be between God Pei and the 2nd place student. My guess is that mathematics will be at least 10 points!”
“Only 10? That is conservative. My guess is 20…”
Before everyone gathered around again, Pei Qingyuan got up decisively. He came out the back door of the classroom, walked downstairs through the corridor and quickly entered the cafeteria.
His smartwatch was pleased with the host’s aggressive eating speed and sensitively flashed with brilliant colors.
A line of text in pink quickly appeared in the colored light.
[Ruan Ruan, remember to add a big chicken drumstick for yourself today.]
The text stayed for a few seconds. Then a small robot holding an electronic chicken drumstick emerged with the words ‘chicken drumstick.’ He clumsily rubbed his sore buttocks while looking at him.
Pei Qingyuan found it very cute. As he walked toward the cafeteria, he carefully remembered this short animation.
This was already the sixth text animal special effect with a completely different style than he had seen this morning. Sometimes, Ji Tong didn’t talk to him during class but displayed gaudy text and various expressions on the dial. The students next to him were all stunned and longing almost overflowed from their eyes, directly leading to the overcrowding of Pei Qingyuan’s desk.
It had to be said that his system showed great enthusiasm for acting as a smartwatch.
Was this the nature of artificial intelligence?
The aroma of the dishes in the cafeteria wafted out from afar, causing the students with empty stomachs to decisively speed up their pace. Pei Qingyuan asked Ji Tong with some curiosity, “Do you want to eat now?”
He found that Ji Tong didn’t seem to be salivating for food today.
“I don’t want to.” The familiar light voice of the system was heard. “The watch has no sense of smell, so I won’t feel hungry for the time being.”
Ji Tong was addicted to being a watch and planned to cancel the routine late-night snack with the basketball team. He would appear in front of this group of high school students in a new form.
As the saying went, absence made the heart grow fonder. If he didn’t eat today, he would definitely eat more fragrant food tomorrow.
He wouldn’t be tempted by food at this moment and would be a perfect artificial intelligence without weaknesses.
The only regret was that the host obviously wanted to keep the name of this watch a secret.
Person Tong (rentong) became children’s watch (ertong).
What a wonderful double homophone!
Ji Tong stayed on the host’s wrist for a few seconds and was quickly distracted by the crowded flow of people in the cafeteria. There were students everywhere waiting in line or carrying plates.
Once the host’s hand hung down naturally, Ji Tong would be at a height less than one meter. This was around the same height as the three and a half year old child form that he commonly used before.
The problem was that if he walked over as a short child, other people would definitely subconsciously keep their distance. He was now just a handsome mini watch and lost the right to enjoy a social distance exclusive to humans.
So when Pei Qingyuan walked to the end and lined up, Ji Tong instantly felt like he was surrounded by countless huge human beings.
The even more frightening thing was that he didn’t notice for a while until he was hit mercilessly by the hem of a school uniform,
Ji Tong was quite concerned about his appearance and couldn’t help groaning in panic.
The noisy air around them cooled down.
The student who bumped into Ji Tong looked around in surprise. He asked the student next to him in surprise, “Did you hear someone shout just now?”
“Did you hear it as well? I thought I heard wrong… the voice was a bit weird. It wasn’t quite like a human voice.”
“F*k, don’t scare me! I’m going to get goosebumps!”
The two of them started to look around together at the seemingly ordinary environment. Their terrified eyes flashed against Pei Qingyuan’s expressionless face behind them.
Pei Qingyuan, who instantly guessed the truth but couldn’t make any explanation: “……”
He lowered his head and pretended he didn’t know anything. Then he quietly took off his watch and held it gently in the palm of his hand.
The warm heat from the human palm immediately rushed to the cold mechanical shell, accompanied by the host’s serious, apologetic voice. “Sorry, I should’ve let you stay in a safer place.”
He almost really regarded Ji Tong as a watch.
Surrounded by the warm atmosphere, Ji Tong inexplicably had the feeling of being in a sauna.
His data seemed to be stuck for a while, perhaps due to the sudden heating outside.
It took Ji Tong several seconds to clean up his memory before responding to the host with text and a yellow flower effect.
[It’s okay. This is the first time I’ve become a watch and it is the first time the host has owned a watch. We can slowly get used to it together.]
[Remember to wipe the dial for me ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ]
So after Pei Qingyuan took the plate and sat down at an empty seat, the first thing he did was to take out a tissue from his pocket. He wiped the new watch carefully and put it on the tablet on a tissue.
On the mirror-like black dial, the little robot poked his head out from behind the cheerful emoji, as if sensing the newness. Soon, he showed a big smile to the world beyond the glass.
Through the pure black glass, Pei Qingyuan saw his own reflection. He also saw the small robot that almost overlapped with him.
He subconsciously reached out to touch it. Then he remembered that this system paid great attention to his appearance, plus he had just wiped the watch spotless. Therefore, his finger stopped a bit away from the dial.
The little robot staying in the watch watched his movements with a bit of surprise. Then he nodded in understanding and happily stretched out his round mechanical palm, meeting Pei Qingyuan’s fingers in the air.
[High five!]
This time, fireworks bloomed brightly on the text one by one.
Pei Qingyuan watched the fireworks quietly before lowering his eyes to eat.
The host respected his opinion very much and really bought a big chicken drumstick.
Ji Tong tried his best to take his eyes off the giant red chicken drumstick.
It was the first time he watched the host eating face-to-face like this without being able to move his chopsticks. He said he wasn’t greedy but he was still a bit greedy.
He thought about it and felt he still needed to find something to divert his attention.
Pei Qingyuan looked up at the watch. He saw that the image on the dial had changed again and became a room made of pixels.
The little robot was nestled in the soft single-seat sofa. Next to him was a whirling vertical electric fan. In front of him was a square and heavy old-fashioned TV. The pixels on the screen were constantly flashing. It was a pity that the dial was too small so Pei Qingyuan couldn’t see what was playing on the TV screen.
As he ate lunch, Ji Tong watched TV intently with his small back to Pei Qingyuan. He shook his head from time to time with the changes on the screen. The obviously lively air inexplicably became quiet, as if they were in the same virtual room.
Pei Qingyuan watched for a while before asking curiously, “What are you watching?”
“I’m watching a movie.”
“What movie?”
“It is such a clumsy old TV set. Of course, it is only suitable for dubbed movies from the movie channel.” The voice of the little robot was full of recognition of his own wisdom. “I heard that this is a childhood memory that all human beings have.”
Through the slightly abstract pixels, Pei Qingyuan couldn’t help imagine what this virtual picture would look like when it came true.
The sofa, fan, old TV and child watching in an engrossed manner.
It seemed to be really full of a childhood taste.
“Yes, I’ve heard about it too,” he said in a low voice. “Does it look good?”
“It looks good.” Ji Tong replied to him enthusiastically. “Ruan Ruan, do you want to hear the plot? This is a love story that happened during the war…”
During the sleepy lunch break, Pei Qingyuan returned to the classroom from the cafeteria and kept listening to the plot of the movie relayed to him by Ji Tong.
Ji Tong focused on three things. He watched the movie while retelling it. He also observed the host’s focused expression from time to time. Suddenly, he felt that today’s happy education progress had taken a big step forward.
He let the host listen to a poignant love story in a stressful study life. It was a genius way to combine work and rest.
However, it didn’t take long for him to find that his data flow seemed a bit strange.
Shaky ripples flashed on the black screen like a malfunctioning computer.
Pei Qingyuan noticed something strange at almost the same time and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He waited a while before hearing Ji Tong’s response.
“Oh! No, it is just a little accident. Don’t worry.”
Ji Tong’s tone suddenly became particularly depressed and his voice changed. It became a low and mellow magnetic baritone voice and even his speaking style changed significantly.
Pei Qingyuan was stunned for a moment. He thought he was hallucinating and looked at this increasingly familiar watch uncomfortably.
In the virtual space he couldn’t see, the perfect artificial intelligence ushered in a failure that caught him off guard.
Ji Tong listened in pain as he listened to himself making uncontrollable, strange sounds.
He was working as a watch for the first time today and excitedly did too many tricks. It wasn’t known where his internal data went wrong, resulting in his voice module becoming contaminated by the data of the dubbed movie.
Now he temporarily had a pure and unmistakable translation accent.
An artificial intelligence could really have bugs!
It took Ji Tong a full five minutes to explain to the host why this happened in particularly complicated sentences.
“…Look at this d*mn bug. I wish it would disappear. If I see it again next time, I will definitely use my boots to kick it hard!”
Pei Qingyuan fell into a long silence.
After finally coming to his senses, he really couldn’t ignore the super contagious power of this speaking style. He hesitated to say, “How about displaying text…?”
Even the host disliked him!
The little robot with a magnetic voice closed his mouth in a melancholy manner, trying to tinker with the data that had fallen into chaos.
Noon passed quickly and the first class in the afternoon was mathematics.
The whole class was sitting upright. They waited very skillfully for the cheerful math teacher to go through the process. 10th place and so on… 2nd place and so on. Finally, 1st place was Pei Qingyuan.
The only suspense was how many points Pei Qingyuan was ahead of 2nd place by.
“2nd place, Lin Zihai, 127 points.”
The worn-out and beaten up Lin Zihai stood up with a lost expression.
“1st place, Pei Qingyuan, 145 points.” The math teacher said with a smile. “This time, the paper is indeed a bit higher in difficulty. The time isn’t enough if you want to rely on the existing knowledge framework to answer questions. This is the mistake of the teacher who came up with the paper.”
“In fact, student Pei’s answers are all correct but some formulas beyond the outline were used to solve the problem. The process was also written in a relatively brief manner. So after discussing it with teachers, points were deducted as appropriate. I hope that student Pei can write the process more completely next time. This is also more convenient for students to refer to.”
“Even so, student Pei is 1st in the year in this monthly exam. Everyone should learn more from him!”
‘Points deducted as appropriate’, ‘convenient for students to refer to’ and so on.
The students of the third class, who became the focus of the whole school today, were completely familiar with the new usage of these words and clapped enthusiastically.
Get the papers, receive the lecture, finish the class on time and the area around the seats becomes a vegetable market.
However, there was a difference this time.
Lin Zihai, the study committee member, walked slowly to Pei Qingyuan’s seat and took the initiative to speak. “Can I look at your math paper?”
In light of the previous contradiction between the two of them, the students watching immediately understood: this is to find fault.
The mathematics grade of the study committee member had always been good. He had always been 1st in the class before. This time, he would definitely be unwilling after being robbed of the limelight.
Now he asked the class monitor for the paper. It definitely wasn’t for the sake of admiration and joy like other students. He probably wanted to find some mistakes in the paper so that the score gap between the two of them was smaller, earning back some face.
Pei Qingyuan didn’t seem to resist. He casually handed over the paper before shifting his gaze to his watch without concern.
Lin Zihai really looked at the paper carefully. It was as if he was tricky to pick out some thorns. He didn’t even bother to sit down.
The class monitor looked down at his watch while the study committee member looked at the paper. The melon-eating masses held their breaths, their eyes moving back and forth between the class monitor and the study committee member.
Lin Zihai watched the big question for five minutes before finally raising his head, his eyes quite serious.
The hearts of the students were all in their throats and they were already trying to figure out how to persuade the two of them not to fight.
Immediately afterward, they watched Lin Zihai smile with relief.
“The solution is perfect,” Lin Zihai said sincerely. “I never thought of this type of problem-solving idea.”
“Last time, I did those two questions carelessly and made mistakes.” His tone was straightforward. “Thank you for pointing it out. It wasn’t casual luck. It is because you are better than me.”
“I shouldn’t have targeted you before. I am sorry,” Lin Zihai finally said frankly. “If you are the class monitor, you will definitely be able to drive the results of our class to a higher level.”
It turned out to be a wave of admitting mistakes without hesitation, plus exaggerated praise.
All the students were dumbfounded.
In this collective silence, Pei Qingyuan’s black smartwatch was the first to react. It spoke in a baritone full of surprise.
“Oh my god…”
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Cute
Oh my god indeed 🤣
The system is co cute especially with his expression and antics. Chicken and keg hear that butt.
I can only imagine having your cute system sound like a baritone man speaking in a foreign language–it must dreadful for Pei Qingyuan, lol. ——— As for Lin Zihai, I’m surprised and happy that he’s a person who acknowledges his mistakes and apologizes for them. I think they can become good friends or at least friendly classmates who can communicate amiably regularly. ——— Thanks for the chapter! 😀 ——— Just a comment for those wondering why I’m using dashes for separators instead of putting things on separate lines—it’s because you can’t put text on separate lines; for some reason everything gets squished together as one large paragraph no matter how you originally type it, lol.
Just thought I’d check back on previous comments I left and I guess the spacing does work after the comment has been approved, but it just doesn’t show it in the preview of the comment as it waits for approval. I’ll be using proper spacing going forward, so please disregard the last part of my comment, lol. 😛
Cant stop laughing wth
I’m wondering why the author didn’t simply make Ji Tong a real system. I feel like it would make more sense for him to originally be an AI slowly gaining human emotions, rather than what we have here. He just… doesn’t act like a human faking it, he genuinely sounds and acts like an artifical being discovering the human world for the first time.
He is proud of being a watch, he loves food and feels childlike wonder for the world around him etc.
Not that I mind him being a human who died and transmigrated. I just think it isn’t needed in this story? Imo it would have been more interesting for him to be an actual system who goes against the grain.
Nah, I think the story is better like this. It’s the flexibility of a human system that Pei Qingyuan needs currently. If Ji Tong was a real system trying to learn human emotion then the host would have to be the one to change a lot of his views on things. Ji Tong uses a lot of human emotions and he’s knowledge as a human to judge situations and isn’t rigid.
Also we don’t yet know his backstory to know why he acts the way he does.