Chapter 123 - 115: God-like Ability
Secrets of Android Application Development was 515 pages long. Not counting illustrations and source code files, the full text contained 220,000 characters.
It only took Chen Yansen a dozen or so seconds to read a page. Although he didn’t have a perfect photographic memory, his brain was like a multitasking processor, simultaneously receiving and comprehending the information.
He could easily recall over ninety percent of the content on each page, including diagrams and notes.
As he reached the latter half of the book, his speed of information absorption and comprehension increased even more.
He finished the several-hundred-page book in just over forty minutes.
However, a new problem arose.
The book covered a wide range of topics. Chen Yansen, starting from scratch with no practical experience, had simply relied on his powerful memory and comprehension to cram the knowledge into his head.
To truly build a logical framework and a systematic understanding, he would need to supplement his learning with other books.
Chen Yansen stood up, returned the book to its original spot, and then grabbed two more before returning to his seat.
One was The First Line of Code: Android, which was full of code examples that could help him learn by starting with the basics and common techniques in a simple and clear manner.
The other was Android Development Exploration, an advanced book that primarily explained high-level technical principles like Activity launch modes, the View drawing process, and memory management.
Chen Yansen flipped through the pages at an incredible speed. To an outsider, it most likely looked like he was just showing off.
Su Meiling was just as bewildered. She knew Chen Yansen’s personality; the students at the surrounding tables weren’t worth showing off for. As for herself, she had long since realized that Chen Yansen had no interest in her.
’Can he really remember anything flipping through it that fast?’ Su Meiling wondered, full of doubt.
In reality, the library wasn’t crowded on a Friday morning, and Su Meiling was the only one who had noticed Chen Yansen’s strange behavior.
"Hey! Squad Leader Chen, what are you looking for?"
Su Meiling mulled it over for a moment. She figured Chen Yansen must be flipping through the pages so quickly because he was searching for specific information, so she walked over to greet him.
"Oh, Secretary Su. No class this morning?" Chen Yansen snapped out of his trance and looked up, offering a perfunctory reply.
"We’re in the same class. How could you not know if we have class this morning?"
Su Meiling sat down, rolled her eyes, and said in a low voice.
"I’ve never even looked at the class schedule. How would I know?" Chen Yansen said, putting his book down with an air of complete justification.
Su Meiling had a gentle and pretty face. Today, she was wearing a pleated tassel skirt that revealed a sliver of her fair ankles. The beauty mark by the corner of her eye made her even more distinctive.
No wonder Tang Zhenzhe couldn’t get her out of his head!
A girl like her—well-read, poised, and graceful—would bring good fortune to at least three generations if you married her.
Unfortunately, Chen Yansen wasn’t interested in this type of girl, so naturally, he couldn’t be bothered to interact with her much.
"You have the nerve to say that," Su Meiling said, pouting, almost bursting into laughter.
A student who skipped classes as brazenly as Chen Yansen was probably a first in the history of Xuyuan.
"If there’s nothing else, I’m going to get back to my book," Chen Yansen said with a smile, waving his hand dismissively.
The subtext was clear: Please go away.
Su Meiling froze. Normally, boys were always fawning over her, putting her on a pedestal, and trying to please her. Chen Yansen’s rejection stunned her, leaving her momentarily speechless.
Having said his piece, Chen Yansen lowered his head and continued flipping through his book.
Seeing that Chen Yansen had no intention of speaking to her again, Su Meiling walked out of the library resentfully. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer and had to look at his face, she might actually die of anger.
Just then, she received a message from Tang Zhenzhe, asking her to see the new movie Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Still fuming, Su Meiling rejected him without hesitation: "Squad Leader, I’m really not into guys like you."
On the other end, Tang Zhenzhe let out a howl upon receiving her reply, dove back under his covers, and started crying loudly.
Fortunately, he was the only one in room 8302, so he didn’t have to worry about saving face.
Chen Yansen finished all three books in one go at the library, grabbed another six from the shelves, checked them out with the librarian, and headed for the Innovation Park.
He was becoming fascinated by this efficient way of learning. It was like playing a game—fast feedback and huge rewards.
When he got to the second floor, Chen Yansen put down his books. Seeing that Wang Zihao wasn’t at his desk, he went to the cafeteria by himself.
He had just left when Song Yuncheng returned. She was astonished to see so many books piled on the desk across from hers for the first time.
After all, she had never seen Chen Yansen study before.
Curious, Song Yuncheng walked over to take a look. Aside from a CET-4 and CET-6 English vocabulary book, the rest were all technical books on computers and system development.
"Sister Yuncheng, want to get some lunch together?" As she was lost in thought, Xu Xingxing came over and asked with a smile, with Du Yaoyao from the editing team beside her.
"Sure," Song Yuncheng agreed with a smile, and the three of them headed downstairs.
After finishing lunch, Chen Yansen returned to the second floor of the Innovation Park and picked up a copy of Thinking in Java to read.
When Song Yuncheng got back, Chen Yansen was already reading Core Java. The questions he had from reading Secrets of Android Application Development that morning were answered in these two books.
Seeing him flip through the pages like he was counting money, Song Yuncheng couldn’t help but tease, "Boss, did you hide money in your book? You look so focused."
Chen Yansen glanced up at Song Yuncheng and said softly, "I did. And not just money, I hid your picture in here too."
"How could you possibly have my picture?" Song Yuncheng retorted instinctively, though she knew Chen Yansen was just kidding.
Chen Yansen just gave a faint smile and went back to his reading, ignoring her for the rest of the afternoon.
During a break, he also read through the entire CET-4 and CET-6 vocabulary book. Unlike in his past life, this time he didn’t get stuck on "abandon" and instead memorized the whole book in one go.
His English proficiency had previously been limited to simple communication, like telling someone to change positions. Now that he had the ability to easily master a new language, he was naturally very happy to learn.
Before five o’clock, he had finished all six books.
With nothing else to do, he found an original, uncut version of Titanic and rewatched it.
His brain analyzed every aspect of the dialogue from the main characters and supporting cast—the intonation, the speed, the pronunciation—peeling it back layer by layer like an onion to absorb the essence.
Rose’s pronunciation leaned toward a standard British accent, while Jack’s was closer to a Midwestern accent from the Lighthouse Country.
Chen Yansen quietly imitated them. Relying on his physique and Spirit, which surpassed the limits of an ordinary person, he easily replicated the original voices.
By the end of the movie, he could already retrieve words, short phrases, and slang from his brain and use them according to the grammatical habits of people from Europe and America. While he wasn’t fluent, he was dozens of times better than in his previous life.
Chen Yansen did a rough calculation: at the slowest pace, it would take him a week to be able to communicate barrier-free with people from Europe and America using near-native speech habits.
Learn a new language in a week?
He had originally felt that adding nearly 500 wisps of Human Dao Fire to his Spirit hadn’t yielded any tangible benefits, but now he felt he had struck gold. If it weren’t for securing the happiness of his ’lower half,’ he would have boosted his Spirit attribute long ago.
Chen Yansen had been reading continuously for a day, absorbing over two million bytes of information—text, charts, diagrams, and more—yet he felt no fatigue at all.
"I’ll continue tomorrow."
Chen Yansen stood up, stretched, and looked around before waving Wang Zihao over. The two went downstairs, called for Wang Teng, and went to get dinner together.
Wang Teng had been at Xuyuan for half a month and had adjusted to both life and work. Spending his days on campus brought back the comfortable feeling of his own university years.
On the way, Chen Yansen casually asked Wang Teng to recommend some books on system development. After a full day of reading, he had realized most of the library’s collection was several years old and couldn’t keep up with current technological advancements.
Although Wang Teng was curious, he didn’t ask too many questions. He recommended various books covering topics from design patterns and programming languages to practical applications.
"Brother Sen, are you planning to learn system development?" Wang Zihao asked with a smile.
"Just getting familiar with it. I need to understand the basic principles. Otherwise, when the Aurora OS is released, I won’t even be able to explain the product. People would laugh their heads off."
Chen Yansen said unhurriedly.
He didn’t want to become the butt of some ridiculous joke, like the one about "18,000 horsepower."
Wang Zihao nodded, thinking to himself, ’I should find some time to learn the basics of development too. I don’t want to embarrass Brother Sen.’
After dinner, the three of them returned to the Innovation Park. Chen Yansen grabbed a few books and headed straight for the library.
He returned his books and borrowed six more.
As for the books Wang Teng recommended, he had already ordered them on Jingdong. For the past six months, Jingdong had been pushing book prices down to the cost line in a bid to acquire new users cheaply.
Since they were all legitimate copies, Chen Yansen naturally chose the cheaper option.
Li Guoqing of Dangdang Network never expected that Liu Qiangdong would also set his sights on books, a such a niche category with a market of less than ten billion a year, causing the two to have a falling out.
The business world is only so big. When vested interests are at stake, even the closest relationships can fall apart.
Carrying his books, Chen Yansen went straight back to the faculty apartments. As soon as he reached the fourth floor, he saw Meng Jie standing in the hallway, wearing a light blue slip dress.
The cool moonlight fell on her face, illuminating her fair skin and pretty features, but she didn’t look very happy.
Only then did Chen Yansen remember that with so much going on lately, the last time they had seen each other was half a month ago. They had been relying entirely on WeChat to stay in touch.
Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought they were in a long-distance relationship.
It was Meng Jie’s first time in a relationship, so how could she bear being suddenly neglected? To her roommate, her dejected and melancholy look was a clear sign of a breakup.
Under her roommate’s questioning, she blushed and admitted that she and Chen Yansen had only kissed and hugged, nothing more.
"Then it’s normal that he’s not actively seeking you out. Guys are all perverts. If you keep holding out on him... Chen Yansen is such an amazing guy, tons of girls are chasing him. You’d better be careful."
Her roommate’s words made Meng Jie’s heart skip a beat.
Having previously not given it much thought, she had now deliberately dressed up, even wearing a pair of white, lace-trimmed stockings under her dress that clung to her fair, slender calves.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Meng Jie immediately turned to look at Chen Yansen, her eyes filled with a trace of hesitation and hurt.