On the way to school in the afternoon, Wang Ming kept pestering Jiang Xia.

"Old Jiang, what on earth did you talk about with my mom? How come she was praising you to the skies? She even told me I should learn from you."

It was the first time he’d ever seen his mom praise someone so highly. He himself had received precious few compliments for his own drawing skills growing up, so it felt unbelievable.

Jiang Xia said shamelessly, "Your auntie said I’m a once-in-a-century drawing prodigy, destined to become a world-class animator in this lifetime."

"Oh, give me a break! Would it kill you to not brag for once?"

Wang Ming was speechless. This guy’s art school entrance exam scores weren’t even as good as his own, yet he had to admit that Jiang Xia’s drawing skills had improved dramatically.

It was like he was a seasoned veteran who had been immersed in the world of animation for ages, not a rookie at all.

Seeing such practiced technique in a high school student was a real contradiction.

Jiang Xia couldn’t help but smile. "So, are you going to help me or not?"

"Work with you on Cat and Mouse?" Wang Ming’s eyebrows shot up.

"That’s right."

"Forget it. I want to focus on my studies for now. After the college entrance exams, if you still need a hand, I’ll come help you then."

"That works too."

Jiang Xia didn’t press him. He could do it alone; it would just be a bit slower.

By his estimates, he could probably make five or six episodes between now and the end of the college entrance exams. But the most important thing right now was to finish the first episode.

The two of them chatted and laughed all the way back to school. There were only a few people in the classroom, so with nothing else to do, Jiang Xia took out his storyboards and started drawing the key-frames for the first episode.

He was on a tight schedule and had to seize every available moment.

◇

The sun sank in the west, its last rays draping him in a soft, gauzy light.

The classroom gradually filled up. The atmosphere in the liberal arts track was generally more relaxed than in the science track, with most students fooling around and joking with each other.

"What are you drawing?" Chen Yao, who had entered the classroom at some point, suddenly leaned over and asked.

"Oh, just doodling," Jiang Xia replied evasively.

"Pfft, this cat has such a smug grin."

She glanced at the drawing paper. The cat was wearing a smug grin, leaning against a wall as if listening for something.

Before Jiang Xia could answer, she sat up straight, pulling a notebook of corrected mistakes out of her desk while asking, "Did you finish all the homework the teachers assigned?"

Jiang Xia’s breath caught in his throat. A line that should have been drawn in one smooth stroke was suddenly interrupted.

"There was... homework for the weekend?" he asked sheepishly.

"Of course. One test paper each for Chinese, Math, English, Politics, History, and Geography." As she spoke, Chen Yao shot him a sidelong glance. "You didn’t do it again, did you?"

"Ahem... It’s not that I didn’t do it, I just forgot."

Jiang Xia’s face flushed. He felt ashamed even saying it. But he couldn’t be blamed. He had just transmigrated back then, and his focus hadn’t been on schoolwork at all.

Chen Yao pursed her lips. "That’s still the same as not doing it."

She glanced at the still-unfazed boy and said earnestly, "Classmate Jiang Xia, even if the teachers don’t check, doing the test papers is for your own good. The more problems you do now, the fewer mistakes you’ll make on the exam. You’re not so slow that you don’t understand a simple principle like that, are you?"

Hearing that it wouldn’t be checked, Jiang Xia actually breathed a sigh of relief. ’A dignified transmigrator like me, how humiliating would it be to be punished by having to stand in class.’

"Yes, you’re right, Classmate Chen Yao."

He put away his drawing paper, then pulled the test papers out of his desk. He took one look at the math one and, without a second thought, put it at the bottom of the pile, deciding to start with Chinese first.

’First, I’ll try to do it without looking at the book. If I can’t remember something, I’ll check the book. And for the stuff I really don’t know, well, I have a top student for a deskmate. Worst case, I’ll just have to ask her a few times over.’

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but the knowledge points he thought he had completely forgotten somehow magically came back to him after a single glance at the textbook—pronunciation and character forms, classical Chinese, poetry, reading comprehension... he remembered it all with perfect clarity.

’Does rebirth have this side effect, too?’

’If that’s the case, then the other subjects too...’

His eyes lit up. He finished the foundational questions on the Chinese paper as fast as he could and then took out the liberal arts comprehensive test. The result was just as he’d expected.

Knowledge that had been buried so deep inside him it was almost forgotten was now being rapidly illuminated, like flicking on a light in a dim room, as soon as he came into contact with the textbooks.

But he could clearly feel that this returning knowledge was only what he had mastered in the past. The problems he couldn’t solve before, he still couldn’t solve now.

However, for now, this was more than enough. At the very least, he could keep up with the teachers’ lectures and wouldn’t be completely lost in class.

This way, he could spend more time on his own things. The progress on the Cat and Mouse project could most likely be sped up even more.

Jiang Xia let out a long breath. This was truly a pleasant surprise.

He originally thought he would need to spend a huge amount of time reviewing everything from scratch. Now, he just needed to pay close attention in class and fully understand every example problem the teachers went over, and that would be enough to handle the college entrance exams in three months.

There were no teachers for the evening self-study session on the weekend. The head teacher would occasionally walk into the classroom to take a look around, see that almost all the students were buried in their review materials, and then leave with his hands behind his back.

Jiang Xia spent the entire evening self-study session rediscovering his lost knowledge. Chen Yao gave him a surprised look. ’Did this guy have a sudden change of heart? He’s even spending the ten-minute break between classes focused on his books. He didn’t even react when Wang Ming called out to him.’

’This isn’t like him at all. Shouldn’t he be napping on his desk, or taking out a pencil to sketch and draw?’

It wasn’t until the bell rang, signaling the end of the third period, that Jiang Xia awoke from his state of complete absorption. He had spent nearly five hours catching up on about seventy to eighty percent of his three years of high school knowledge.

He even had a feeling that after entering that state of focus, his learning efficiency had skyrocketed. Many things he hadn’t understood before, he could now grasp with sudden clarity, as if he’d had an epiphany.

At this thought, Jiang Xia couldn’t help but laugh.

’As expected, all us reborn folks come with our own cheats.’

’If I can keep up this state for the next three months, wouldn’t getting into the Central Academy of Fine Arts or the National Art Museum be a piece of cake?’

"Old Jiang, can you tone down that smile? It’s so creepy. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were having some dirty thoughts," Wang Ming’s voice suddenly cut in, making the students in the desks front and back of them burst out laughing.

Jiang Xia’s face twitched. He couldn’t be bothered to explain himself to this guy. He slung his backpack on and said, "Let’s go. Time to head home."

Following the crowd out of the classroom, he looked out to see the hallway was a sea of people.

"Speaking of which, what were you laughing at just now? I saw you staring at our class beauty’s back, you were practically drooling. You weren’t fantasizing about her, were you?" Wang Ming gave him a suggestive wink.

"Bullshit. You think I’m you?" Jiang Xia spat back, annoyed.

His last romance had just ended. He figured it would be difficult to develop feelings for another woman anytime soon. Right now, his mind was solely focused on his great undertaking.

His thoughts began to drift, and just then, the lights in the hallway suddenly went out.

The crowd immediately erupted in a chorus of groans. Jiang Xia subconsciously looked into the distance; it was still pitch black.

His heart skipped a beat. ’A city-wide blackout?’