Chapter 37: A Net Cast from Heaven and Earth
Thump.
With the closing of the door, only Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling were left in the office.
Lan Ling continued to pump the barbell in his hand as he spoke.
“President, this Zhang Yu is a bit greedy.”
Zhou Chechen lay on the sofa and chuckled lightly. “He’s from a poor background. It’s perfectly normal for someone like that to get a little arrogant and reckless after a sudden taste of success.”
“If I raised my score by seventy points in a single month like he did, I’d be just as arrogant.”
“We’ll just give him another month to think it over.”
Lan Ling’s gaze was cold. “President, are you really going to raise the contract benefits for him again?”
Zhou Chechen said faintly, “Lan Ling, you’ve seen too few poor people. You still don’t understand them.”
“Limited by their upbringing, experience, and standard of living, the poor often have a very narrow perspective.”
“In a situation like the one just now, nine out of ten would have signed the contract with us on the spot.”
“But Zhang Yu was able to keep his composure and say he needed to go back and consider it. For that, I have to think a little more highly of him.”
“If his score improves again in next month’s exam, what does it matter if I raise his benefits by one level?”
Lan Ling frowned. “I’m just afraid that sort of person will be insatiably greedy.”
Zhou Chechen laughed heartily. “Alright, Big Lan, you need to be more magnanimous. Don’t squabble with the people below us.”
“Zhang Yu isn’t walking the same path as us, nor will he be competing with us for our positions. They have never been our competition.”
“On the contrary, the better he does and the more progress he makes, the more we earn, making him an even more worthy investment…”
As he spoke, Zhou Chechen had already placed a spiritual interface mask over his head.
“I have to attend remedial lessons in the Spirit Realm all afternoon, so don’t come looking for me unless it’s important.”
Inside the cafeteria.
The moment he left the student council office, Zhang Yu rushed over to Bai Zhenzhen.
Seeing that she was still calmly eating, Zhang Yu said anxiously, “Zhen, you’d better give me a good enough reason.”
“Do you know how much determination it just took for me not to sign? You have no idea how much they appreciate my talent…”
“Did he rush over to shake your hand the moment you walked in, so fast he didn’t even have time to put on his shoes?”
Zhang Yu paused, the words dying in his mouth.
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “It’s always the same. That’s how Zhou Chechen treats everyone he wants to sign a contract with.”
“Huh?” Zhang Yu was astonished.
So he was playing the ‘honored guest’ card with me, huh?
Zhang Yu added, “But he also canceled my debt.”
Bai Zhenzhen snorted and asked, “Did he really cancel it?”
“Or did he just become your new creditor?”
“Did he also tell you there’s no interest, that you don’t need to be in a hurry to pay it back, and that you can just repay it slowly after you graduate and find a job?”
Zhang Yu was stunned again. “He said that to you too?”
Bai Zhenzhen said, “He probably says that to everyone he wants to sign.”
“But don’t you dare think this is some kind of favor.”
“His so-called ‘you don’t have to repay’ is just empty talk.”
“If you don’t continue to pay your debt and it goes into default, the decision is entirely in his hands.”
“If he really doesn’t care, then nothing will happen.”
“But the moment he applies for compulsory enforcement, the money in your account will immediately be used to repay the debt.”
“If there isn’t enough money, your assets will be used to cover it.”
“Think about it, what is your most valuable asset?”
Zhang Yu’s eyes flickered; he didn’t really have any assets to speak of. If they tried for compulsory enforcement, he’d probably just end up as a deadbeat.
But Bai Zhenzhen gave a cold snort and said, “The most valuable thing you have is your cultivation—your flesh and blood tempered through a thousand trials, and the dantian you’ve tirelessly trained.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu’s expression hardened. “You’re saying they would?”
Bai Zhenzhen nodded. “Compulsory enforcement. If you have money, you pay. If you don’t, your assets are auctioned off. Once your worldly possessions are sold, they’ll naturally move on to your organs, your flesh and blood, your dantian…”
Although he had long since held no expectations for the depravity of Kunxu, Zhang Yu’s heart still sank upon hearing Bai Zhenzhen’s words.
And Bai Zhenzhen’s explanation continued. “And don’t even think about running. This contract isn’t just on paper.”
“Remember the Law Division within the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods?”
“When this contract is signed, the student council will use a talisman to respectfully request the Heavenly Covenant God from the Law Division to act as a witness. Any compulsory enforcement will then be carried out by the Eight Ministries of Righteous Gods.”
Well, I’ll be damned. What a piece of work, that Zhou Chechen.
The more Zhang Yu listened, the more alarmed he became.
I pour my heart out to you, and you try to screw me over? Are you trying to get me locked up in some kind of scam?
Across from him, Bai Zhenzhen continued, “However, if you fully comply with the contract and your academic improvement meets their expectations, they might not necessarily do anything to you.”
“But there’s another crucial part, another section of the contract concerning your university applications—the choice of university and major, and the penalties for violating those terms.”
“In other words, after signing the contract, which university and which major you apply for will be decided by them.”
“On top of that, there are all sorts of other clauses, and violating any of them comes with an astronomical breach-of-contract fee…”
Seeing Zhang Yu’s bewildered expression, Bai Zhenzhen said in exasperation, “Didn’t you read that part of the contract?”
Zhang Yu said righteously, “The benefits they listed up front were so good I could barely handle it. I was afraid I’d sign on the spot if I kept reading, so I quickly turned Zhou Chechen down and ran here to find you, didn’t I?”
Bai Zhenzhen nodded. “Fine, I suppose that counts as you having exceptional willpower, Yu-boy.”
Then her tone shifted as she brought up another matter.
“Yu-boy, have you ever noticed that the filthy rich students at our school rarely get into conflicts with us poor devils?”
“Haven’t they always been gentle, kind, and polite, rarely using their power to bully others?”
Zhang Yu thought back for a moment, then nodded. “I guess that’s true.”
“It’s because the rich and the poor aren’t even competing in the same race. From start to finish, they’ve never seen us as competitors, which is why they can appear to be decent people.”
Zhang Yu frowned slightly at her words. Everyone took the same college entrance exams, so what did she mean by “not in the same race”? Could they get into university through gymnastics?
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “Because the poor are testing for ordinary universities, while the goal of those filthy rich kids is the Ten Greats, the top-tier universities.”
“For them, with their financial power, getting into an ordinary university is a given. They don’t consider the poor devils competition at all.”
“Only for the top-tier universities do even they have to give it their all to compete with other wealthy people.”
Zhang Yu couldn’t help but ask, “So poor people can’t get into top-tier universities?”
“The enrollment quotas for the Ten Greats are limited, and even fewer are allocated to each city.”
“For example, in Songyang City, the total number of spots for all Ten Greats combined… is only a few dozen each year.”
“These spots have long been monopolized by them through various means.”
“Contracts like the Grade-A one are one of those means. They sign up talented and high-scoring poor devils, directly controlling which universities they apply to.”
“Of course… once you sign this contract, although you can’t apply to the Ten Greats, you become their investment project. They will continue to be polite and friendly to you, their good classmate.”
“But if you don’t sign this contract, and even show an inclination to apply for the Ten Greats later on, then you truly become their competitor.”
“What awaits you will be an incredibly brutal competition, and you will see all the truly inhuman methods they employ, along with pressure coming at you from all sides.”
“The enrollment quotas for the Ten Greats are something their circle collectively protects, something they will never allow any poor devil to touch.”
“On this point, the student councils of all the key high schools are in it together; they rise and fall as one.”
“And don’t expect the school to interfere much. When the social influence of the students’ parents far exceeds that of the school, the principal often has no control over the student council.”
Listening to Bai Zhenzhen’s explanation, Zhang Yu immediately understood. The big shots of Songyang City were ganging up to exclude the damn poor.
At that moment, he felt as if he could see an invisible net, vast and suffocating, covering the sky and blanketing the earth, cast over the heads of all the students.
Zhang Yu couldn’t help but marvel, “Is the gap between the Ten Greats and ordinary universities really that big? Big enough to make them this afraid?”
Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes. “What do you think?”
“The Ten Great Sects are an inescapable part of life, from birth to death. They are the power that decides the very direction of Kunxu.”
“And only by entering one of the Ten Greats do you have a chance to enter one of the Ten Great Sects.”
“As for graduates from ordinary universities? The Ten Great Sects won’t accept them as disciples. At best, they can become an employee of some corporation under the Ten Great Sects.”
Zhang Yu sighed internally. So even after graduation, you couldn’t escape academic discrimination. A degree from an ordinary university meant you were destined to be a contract disciple for life.
Bai Zhenzhen continued, “Of course, there is another very important point. Only within the Ten Great Sects… can one achieve immortality.”
A trace of longing crept into her voice.
Achieving immortality, the ultimate pursuit in the hearts of countless cultivators. It could be said that of all the cultivators who set foot upon the Immortal Dao, there was not one who hadn’t dreamed of it.
Zhang Yu was reminded of it as well: immortals existed only within the Ten Great Sects.
Bai Zhenzhen said, “Anyway, that’s the situation.”
“If you want to apply to the Ten Greats, you will face an all-out effort to crush you.”
“Yu-boy, now that you know all this… what are your plans?”
Under Bai Zhenzhen’s gaze, Zhang Yu’s expression was one of extreme hesitation.
Should I sign? If I sign, I can study and take my exams in peace. With the Feather Book, even if I get into an ordinary university and work for a sect’s corporation, I should be able to live quite well, right?
But… the Ten Great Sects…
In that moment, Zhang Yu thought of the Immortal Spiritual Root that only disciples of the great sects could implant, the Immortal-grade cultivation techniques only they could use, and the fact that only they could achieve immortality…
Countless disparities, both known and unknown, separated the futures offered by the Ten Greats and ordinary universities.
Just as Zhang Yu was wavering, a chilling sensation welled up from his heart. The appearance of a countdown timer reminded him of something.
“Heh… Study hard, get into a good university, join a great sect, and then earn enough money to buy all the antiques in my shopping cart.”
To join a great sect, I have to get into one of the Ten Greats…
Damn it… The truth is I never had a choice.
Seeing Zhang Yu’s conflicted expression, Bai Zhenzhen patted his shoulder and said, “Take your time. This isn’t an easy decision to make.”
“They should have given you a month to consider it, anyway.”
As Bai Zhenzhen stood up to leave, Zhang Yu suddenly asked, “What about you? Zhen, what are your plans?”
Bai Zhenzhen paused for a moment, then said with absolute resolve, “I’m not signing.”
“I’m aiming for the Ten Greats.”
Feeling the chill within him slowly dissipate, Zhang Yu seemed to see his own heart’s choice clearly.
He smiled. “Then let’s do it together.”