Chapter 2: School

Chapter 2: School

The ticking of the clock echoed in the classroom, where Zhang Yu was intently working on the exam paper in front of him.

But the exam seemed endless. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't finish it.

His seat seemed to drift farther and farther away from his classmates, until he could no longer see their figures, as if he were being swallowed by the darkness behind him.

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and panic surged within him. His hand, which had been writing steadily, began to tremble and lose its strength.

Finally, he fell into the bottomless darkness along with countless books and exam papers, and Zhang Yu jolted awake in bed.

"Was it a dream?"

"It seems to be some of Zhang Yu's past memories."

He rubbed his head, feeling the fragmented memories of his original self swirling in his mind, shifting and changing.

Although Zhang Yu had taken control of this body, he hadn't fully integrated with the original memories. Many details required focused effort to recall.

Especially the memories of the bizarre ritual from yesterday, which made him feel dizzy whenever he tried to remember, leaving him completely unable to recall what had happened.

He checked his phone and saw it was only five in the morning. He thought about going back to sleep but found that this body couldn't fall asleep again.

It was as if getting up at five every day to go to school had become an instinct for this body.

"Why do I feel guilty if I keep lying here?"

Zhang Yu sat up, thinking it was probably the influence of the original memories.

He patted his slightly flat stomach and decided to stand up, thinking, "Forget it, I might as well go to school. At least I can get a full meal there."

He remembered that Songyang High School provided three meals a day, and this month's meal fees had already been credited to his card.

With a debt of 700,000 and only about 50 yuan to his name, he couldn't afford to eat out.

So, he left the stuffy apartment, walked through a dirty alley, and joined a crowd on the bus.

Squeezed among the mixed odors of sweat and food, the air conditioning seemed ineffective, and Zhang Yu felt like a deformed takeout box being jolted toward the city center.

After an hour and a half and two bus changes, Zhang Yu, drenched in sweat, finally stepped off the bus.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he thought, "Why do I have to commute?"

"Oh, right, because I can't afford the dorm fees."

Unlike his living area, the place where he got off the bus was in the city center, with high-rise buildings and clean, wide roads. The air was much fresher, and the people walking by were mostly well-dressed, looking like urban professionals.

After a few stops, he finally reached the school gate, where he could see the large sign for Songyang High School of the Immortal Path.

At the school gate, an electronic screen displayed the top ten students' grades for each of the three high school grades.

This clearly showed that Songyang High School placed a high value on academic performance.

If Zhang Yu had to summarize his memories, he would say that at Songyang High School, grades were everything. It was a world where everyone judged by scores.

Studying and exams were as natural as breathing, and almost everyone had extreme score discrimination.

Comments like, "You scored so low, no wonder you have to wait so long in the cafeteria line", or "You scored so low, you don't deserve to sit with us in the cafeteria", or "Top students should mercilessly insult the underachievers", were considered positive energy in the school.

"This is a world obsessed with scores, a hell for underachievers."

Zhang Yu looked at the screen, which showed 'Grade Tenth: Zhang Yu,' and sighed, "At least I'm one of the high scorers."

"Even though my ranking might not be entirely deserved right now, at least I haven't been exposed yet. I should still be able to live a decent life in school, right?"

Songyang High School's cafeteria provided breakfast, so Zhang Yu followed his memory and headed there.

As he walked, he noticed that despite the long queue, the students in the cafeteria were incredibly quiet. Almost everyone was silently queuing, quietly taking their food, and calmly finding a place to eat, like gears in a precise machine.

Some students even read books while eating, trying to make the most of every minute.

He found a seat and took a bite of a meat bun. Just then, a girl with black hair and a pale face sat down opposite him.

Zhang Yu's mind immediately recalled her name.

"Bai Zhenzhen."

"More accurately, Bai Zhenzhen, the top scorer in the first year, the queen of the academic hierarchy."

Looking at the girl drinking porridge in front of him, Zhang Yu wondered, "Is she my friend?"

"Because I'm in the top ten of the grade? Is this what the top students' circle is like?"

Bai Zhenzhen was the kind of person who, unless she smiled, always seemed to be in a bad mood. Even ordinary words from her sounded distant and cold.

Sitting across from Zhang Yu, her silence made him feel as if she had some issue with him.

While Zhang Yu was trying to recall his memories of Bai Zhenzhen to confirm their relationship, she spoke up, "Meet me at Tranquil Garden after breakfast. I'll be waiting there."

Watching her leave, Zhang Yu's eyes showed a flicker of thought.

After finishing his meal, he left the cafeteria and headed to Tranquil Garden at the back of the school.

This quiet spot behind the dormitories was almost deserted, as most students were heading to the teaching buildings.

Bai Zhenzhen was standing by a flower bed. As soon as she heard Zhang Yu's footsteps, she turned around and quickly walked up to him.

"Dad!"

With a thud, she knelt on the ground, hugging Zhang Yu's legs and said, "There were too many people in the cafeteria, so I didn't have the courage to say it."

"Can you lend me some money? My micro-loan is almost a month overdue! I'll kneel to you..."

Zhang Yu mentally cursed, "What kind of school is this, where the top scorer and the tenth-ranked student are both in debt?"

He then remembered that his relationship with Bai Zhenzhen wasn't because of the top students' circle but because she was his recruiter for micro-loans.

To reintroduce, Bai Zhenzhen, his classmate, was a good friend who shared loan information from various platforms and had a solid friendship built on borrowing money together.

Thinking about how she had been trying to figure out how to borrow money from him while maintaining her cold demeanor in the cafeteria, Zhang Yu shook his head in exasperation, "Let go of me first. I don't have any money to lend you."

Bai Zhenzhen shook her head, "You're the tenth-ranked student. How much could you have spent? You must have applied for fewer loans than me, right?"

She hesitated and then said shyly, "If you help me pay off my debt, you can do anything you want."

Zhang Yu's eyes lit up. Looking at Bai Zhenzhen's now blushing face, he found her different and charming.

He looked her up and down and asked, "Anything?"

Bai Zhenzhen bit her lip and nodded, "Yes."

Zhang Yu said, "Can I pawn you, then?"

Bai Zhenzhen let go of him and glared at Zhang Yu, "Yu, are you really broke?"

Zhang Yu showed her his phone, displaying his balance and overdue loan information.

Bai Zhenzhen stood up, dusted off her pants, and looked at Zhang Yu in disbelief, "You owe 700,000? You'll probably have to work for a long time after graduation to pay it off."

"You're spending so much money in your first year of high school?"

Bai Zhenzhen shook her head, "Zhang Yu, how did you spend this money?"

Zhang Yu rubbed his head, "I forget... Let me think."

Bai Zhenzhen looked at him suspiciously, "Did you invest in something? Did someone scam you?"

As Zhang Yu tried to recall, he became uncertain, "I don't think so..."

Bai Zhenzhen's expression turned serious, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was off with Zhang Yu's 700,000 debt. "Let me see your phone."

Zhang Yu understood her concern. After all, investment, fraud, gambling, sudden death, and mental breakdowns were the top five causes of death in Songyang City, with mental breakdowns ranking fifth.

Zhang Yu felt a growing doubt about his past life and immediately took out his phone. "I was also thinking about reviewing how I spent this money. Let's check the transaction history together."

The two of them scanned through the phone screen, seeing Zhang Yu's past expenses.

As Zhang Yu looked at these, many related memories began to flood his mind.

Dan Cauldron Apothecary - 280.00

Dan Cauldron Apothecary - 250.00

Time Waits for No One Meditation Chamber - 120.00

Zhang Yu explained as he looked, "These are the costs for buying elixirs at the apothecary and renting a meditation chamber for meditative respiration..."

In Songyang High School, the curriculum included subjects like Chinese, mathematics, physics, and history, but the most important content was related to the Immortal Path.

The Immortal Path is the path by which one gradually becomes an immortal. It is the most crucial and heavily weighted part of the high school curriculum and is key to getting into prestigious universities.

Meditative respiration is one of the most basic skills in the Immortal Path. Through meditative respiration, one gathers the spiritual energy from the air to accumulate spiritual power within the body.

Only with sufficient spiritual power can one enhance their combat abilities and advance to higher realms. Spiritual power is the foundation for all Immortal Path techniques.

For example, to advance from the Qi Refinement Realm to the Foundation Establishment Realm, one needs at least 60 points of spiritual power. The maximum spiritual power one can accumulate in the Qi Refinement Realm is 100 points.

In the system established by the ten major sects, everything is standardized and quantified, including spiritual power. The spiritual power meters in the school are precise to one decimal place.

Bai Zhenzhen nodded slightly and continued flipping through the transactions.

Water Show Catering Service Co. - 532.00

Zhang Yu explained, "This is for nutritional supplements at the cafeteria. It was quite expensive."

In the practice of the Immortal Path, the strength of the physical body is also crucial. Consuming food rich in spiritual energy and Immortal Path elements is a regular part of a cultivator's routine, known as nutritional supplementation.

Dragon Soaring Educational Services Co. - 1500.00

Dragon Soaring Educational Services Co. - 3000.00

Zhang Yu recalled, "Ah... This is for tutoring fees and renting a spiritual root."

A spiritual root is a special talent that only a few geniuses possess, significantly enhancing a cultivator's cultivation efficiency and combat power.

As one of the most famous thresholds in the Immortal Path, even Zhang Yu and his mother, who were in middle school, knew about the legends surrounding spiritual roots. The original Zhang Yu even used renting a spiritual root as an excuse to get money from his mother for tutoring.

However, with the advancement of Immortal Path technology, ordinary people like Zhang Yu can now rent spiritual roots to boost their cultivation efficiency.

As they continued flipping through the transactions, most of the expenses were related to the Immortal Path, with Zhang Yu providing brief explanations at the beginning.

After quickly going through Zhang Yu's expenses for the past few months, Bai Zhenzhen looked at him with sympathy. "You really spent all this money on your Immortal Path cultivation?"

"Only to end up 700,000 in debt and rank 10th?"

"It's only been three months since the start of the term. What are you going to do next?"

As a person who had just arrived in this world, Zhang Yu was naturally at a loss. He shrugged and said, "I'll just take it one day at a time and figure things out slowly."

Seeing that class was about to start, they walked towards the teaching building while chatting.

"How can you seem so relaxed when you're 700,000 in debt, compared to me with 200,000?"

Bai Zhenzhen reminded him, "You won't have any money to spend on your studies from now on!"

"Do you know what happens when you can't afford to study? Do you realize how dangerous our situation is?"

Zhang Yu: "What happens?"

Bai Zhenzhen said, "There's a monthly exam in three weeks. For the next three weeks, you won't have money to rent a spiritual root, buy elixirs, attend tutoring classes, or even buy daily supplements... While others are constantly improving, it's normal for your class ranking to drop by dozens of positions, and you'll be kicked out of the Demonstration Class!"

As Bai Zhenzhen spoke, many related memories flooded Zhang Yu's mind.

There were ten classes in the first year, from Class 1 to Class 10, divided based on the results of the monthly exams.

According to Zhang Yu's ranking, he was placed in the best-treated Class 1, also known as the Demonstration Class.

The monthly exam results not only considered the regular general knowledge tests but were primarily based on Immortal Path cultivation achievements.

After all, general knowledge education only accounted for 50 points, while the Immortal Path subjects totaled 650 points.

Since everyone was a first-year student and had only started cultivating after the start of the term, their cultivation levels were not significantly different.

Although he was currently ranked 10th, if he couldn't maintain his previous rate of progress over the next few weeks, he could easily fall to a much lower rank.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "If you keep running out of money, your ranking will keep dropping, and your treatment will keep getting worse. This vicious cycle will gradually push you from Class 1 to Class 10!"

She looked grave, "Without money or good grades, you'll become nothing more than combustible waste in the eyes of the teachers, a laughingstock among the Demonstration Class students, and a target for the Standard Class students to feel superior about themselves!"

Bai Zhenzhen held her head, "In such a situation, you won't be able to maintain your cultivation resources or your resolve, and your grades will only get worse. Eventually, you'll fall below the demotion threshold and be kicked out of Songyang High School with a body full of injuries and a mountain of debt."

Seemingly envisioning that tragic future, Bai Zhenzhen looked up at the sky and sighed, "Do you want to live at the bottom of the school's hierarchy, be repeatedly humiliated, and end up as a dropout and a social outcast?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yu's lips twitched. "What do you suggest I do, then?"

Bai Zhenzhen fell silent for a moment, then turned to him. "Bro, to be honest... if you're 700,000 in debt and only ranked 10th, you might not be cut out for the Immortal Path."

"I don't know how you got into Songyang, but my advice is to drop out and find a job. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll just sink deeper and deeper."

Zhang Yu didn't respond, but he sighed inwardly. "The only good thing about this world is that you can cultivate, but now I'm told I don't have the talent for it after just one day here?"

Back in the classroom, Zhang Yu's phone vibrated. He saw that Bai Zhenzhen had transferred him 500 yuan and sent a message.

Bai Zhenzhen: Pay the water and electricity bills first.

Zhang Yu was taken aback and suddenly sniffed his clothes, realizing that Bai Zhenzhen had noticed the smell from not having showered for a few days.

Although he was used to the smell, it was likely quite noticeable to others.

Thinking about how Bai Zhenzhen, who was in a poor financial situation, had still given him money, Zhang Yu sighed and typed out a long message on his phone, then deleted it all and simply replied: Thanks.

After putting away his phone, Zhang Yu looked at his palm and saw that the symbol was now half-filled with black.

On the way to school and into the classroom, Zhang Yu had noticed that only he could see this symbol on his palm.

He calculated that the symbol would be completely filled with black by tonight, but he had no idea what would happen then.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end