“Hey, don’t you guys think that Mr. Carter actually really resembles the Emperor?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true! Mr. Carter and Caesar both have a ‘凯’ in their names!”

Amid everyone’s flattery, Kevin Carter didn’t open his mouth to refute them, but instead kept up a smile that could make the girls blush.

Clearly, he was enjoying all this praise.

Of course, he didn’t imitate Caesar by popping his collar at this moment, because his school uniform collar was already standing up.

Just as Kevin Carter was feeling smug, a jarring voice rang out: “Where did this Caesar come from, anyway?”

The flattery stopped abruptly, and everyone turned their gaze toward the source of the voice—Ryan Howard was sitting at his desk, looking up slightly at them as they entered from the back door.

“What did you say, Ryan Howard?” The boy who yesterday didn’t want to be Ryan Howard’s dad glared at him, thinking Ryan Howard was deliberately going against Mr. Carter.

But Ryan Howard asked with a puzzled look, “Didn’t you guys say before that Kevin Carter was a lot like Cristiano Ronaldo? The reason was that they both have the surname Luo. How did it suddenly turn into Caesar? Isn’t Caesar that Roman emperor? Did he get reincarnated? And now he plays soccer?”

The boy frowned and said, “What the heck is ‘Xi Luo’?”

“Not ‘Xi Luo’, it’s C Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo. Brian Lee, you don’t even know who Cristiano Ronaldo is, and you call yourself a soccer fan?” Ryan Howard’s sincere expression made it hard to tell if he was seriously asking or mocking Brian Lee.

“You don’t even know who Caesar is, and you have the nerve to talk about me?” Brian Lee shot back.

Ryan Howard grinned confidently: “There’s no point in arguing, Brian Lee. Ask everyone here—are there more people who know Cristiano Ronaldo, or more who know this Caesar? Speaking of ‘the Emperor’, I do know a player with that nickname, but it wasn’t a compliment at first…”

Before Ryan Howard could finish, a burst of laughter erupted from the crowd across from him.

“I told you, Brian Lee, why bother arguing with Ryan Howard? He’s just like his name.” Someone among the group laughed.

“Exactly, exactly!” Someone in the crowd even pointed at their head, hinting that Ryan Howard had a screw loose.

“No idea what’s gotten into Ryan Howard today…”

“He got his account hacked!” Big Scott, Ryan Howard’s deskmate, raised his hand.

“No wonder, no wonder! Must’ve been a big loss, huh? Fifty yuan gone, that’s gotta hurt!”

“What are you talking about? Who lost fifty yuan?”

“I get it, Ryan Howard. Let’s not provoke him anymore, or else Ryan Howard will really start acting up! I’m telling you, when Ryan Howard acts up, even he’s scared of himself!”

“Hahaha!” Another round of laughter, and everyone crowded around Kevin Carter as they walked away.

Ryan Howard turned and glared at his deskmate, then muttered, “How could anyone not know who Cristiano Ronaldo is? Arguing for the sake of arguing, what’s the point?”

Hearing this, Big Scott looked Ryan Howard up and down seriously: “Hey, Ryan Howard, it’s just fifty yuan, you’re not really that upset, are you?”

“What!” Ryan Howard snapped, “You actually betrayed me just now, I’m breaking up with you…”

“Wait, who’s this C Ronaldo you keep talking about?” Big Scott asked in confusion.

Ryan Howard was exasperated: “You’re with them too? C Ronaldo! Cristiano Ronaldo! Number 7 for Real Madrid, the one who’s called ‘peerless twin stars’ with Messi, how could you not know?”

Big Scott looked even more confused: “What’s Real Madrid? And who’s Messi?”

Ryan Howard opened his mouth to retort, but seeing Big Scott’s expression, he was stunned. He couldn’t tell if Big Scott was faking it or not.

So he asked cautiously, “You really don’t know who Messi is? Lionel Messi, the Argentinian superstar, Maradona’s successor, the real boss of Barcelona FC…”

Which only brought more questions from Big Scott: “Who’s Maradona? I know Barcelona, it’s the second largest city in Spain, but what’s Barcelona FC? And you’re funny, Ryan Howard, the way you introduce people sounds like something out of Game of Thrones, with a bunch of titles added on…”

“You know Game of Thrones, but you don’t know Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? And you don’t know Maradona either?” Ryan Howard pinched Big Scott’s chubby arm.

Big Scott let out a yelp, drawing glances from people nearby. But when they saw it was Ryan Howard’s deskmate, they just looked away, unfazed.

“What are you doing, Ryan Howard!” Big Scott complained, rubbing the red mark on his arm.

“I’m checking if I’m dreaming.”

“Then pinch yourself!”

“Ouch.”

“So you do feel pain!” Big Scott huffed and turned away, ignoring Ryan Howard.

As for Ryan Howard, he looked down at his own thigh, hesitated, and then pinched it.

Then…

“Hiss—!” He sucked in a breath, collapsing onto his desk in pain.

Damn, that really hurt! So he wasn’t dreaming!

Do they really not know who Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi are?!

Chapter 3 This World Is a Bit Different

As the cheerful music started playing, cheers erupted in the classroom: “School’s out!”