Chapter 238: Professional Intelligence
The Zhou family estate.
Zhou Chechen flung off his outer coat and hurried into the house. He had come straight back after school today to ask his elders what exactly was going on with the Immortal Capital’s Foundation Establishment exam and why he had known nothing about it before.
But as Zhou Chechen passed through the main hall, he slowly came to a halt. Seeing the people in the reception room, a look of astonishment crossed his face.
“Chechen, you’re just in time.”
Zhou Yang in the reception room had also noticed Zhou Chechen’s arrival and beckoned him over, “This is your Uncle Zhang, and your Auntie Bai.”
“These two are immensely talented, and their future accomplishments will be limitless. I associate with them as peers, so from now on, you will call them Uncle Zhang and Auntie Bai when you see them.”
Zhou Chechen froze on the spot, seemingly unable to process what was happening for a moment.
Zhou Yang shot him a glare and said, “This child, why don’t you know how to greet people?”
Zhang Yu chuckled, “Look, you’ve scared the boy.”
He waved his hand and said, “It’s fine, we’re all schoolmates. You can just call me Brother Yu and her Sister Zhenzhen from now on. We’ll call you Little Zhou.”
Bai Zhenzhen looked at Zhou Chechen and said, “Why hasn’t this child shown any gesture of goodwill upon meeting us?”
Zhou Yang gave a helpless smile, “He’s been spoiled by his father, has no manners at all.”
Then, he looked at Zhou Chechen and said, “You see your Uncle Zhang and Auntie Bai, why don’t you know to give them a red envelope?”
“Hurry and transfer a greeting gift to your elders. Transfer ten thousand, do you hear me?”
Under Zhou Yang’s piercing gaze, Zhou Chechen unwillingly transferred ten thousand to both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
Bai Zhenzhen smiled faintly, “Good boy, Little Zhou. Go on and play by yourself now. We still have matters to discuss with your Uncle Zhou.”
Then, under Zhou Yang’s forceful stare, Zhou Chechen managed to grit his teeth and say, “Brother… Brother Yu, Sister Zhenzhen.”
As he walked away, Zhou Chechen felt as if something inside him had shattered into pieces. At that moment, he felt with immense clarity that due to the absolute gap in their achievements, he and Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were no longer in the same dimension.
He thought to himself, I am still just a chess piece, while they are gradually leaping off the board, leaping towards a much larger one.
After Zhou Chechen left, Zhou Yang said, “There will be more family members around in the evening. Let’s continue our talk in my study.”
Not long after, as Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen departed, Zhou Yang reflected on the day’s events.
Upon discovering that the news of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen obtaining their Foundation Establishment Qualification Certificates had spread throughout the city, and especially after Oasis Group got involved, Zhou Yang knew… he had already lost the best opportunity to make a move against them.
Without wasting efforts dwelling on how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had managed to suppress the prodigies from the Immortal Capital and get their certificates, Zhou Yang’s first thought was how to handle the aftermath.
“In that case… I’ll first try to ease the tension.”
Compared to continuing the fight or waiting for their possible future retaliation, paying to quell the disaster and further de-escalating the relationship… seemed to be the best option at present.
Thus, Zhou Yang had also wanted to donate a sum of money to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, and at the same time, probe their attitude.
Zhou Yang recalled his conversation with the two today. After accepting his three million, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had behaved very friendly, seemingly not holding any grudges at all.
“The last time, Zhou Chechen had already brought people to apologize to them and offered compensation.”
“This time, with me personally stepping forward, in the best-case scenario… they should no longer be hostile to the Zhou family.”
“Unless… the two of them are particularly vengeful, or they know about the evil god behind me.”
“If they still want to come after me after today, then they can’t blame me for a fight to the bitter end.”
“However…” Thinking of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s current situation, Zhou Yang sneered inwardly, “They’ve attracted so much attention now. They might just crash and burn on their own at some point, so it might not even be my turn to worry.”
On the other side, after Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen left the Zhou residence, the smiles on their faces gradually faded.
Zhang Yu said slowly, “It seems he wants to ease relations with us. How much sincerity do you think he has? Is it a temporary delay, or does he really not want to fight us anymore?”
Bai Zhenzhen said, “Logically speaking, he probably really doesn’t want to fight us anymore, but we can’t rule out an accident.”
Zhang Yu thought, That’s right.
As long as the Zhou family isn’t eliminated, as long as everyone who knows of Fu Ji’s existence isn’t cleaned up, I cannot be at ease.
Fu Ji said, “At least for now, he’s willing to de-escalate with you, so just pretend to have a truce with him.”
“Time, after all, is on your side.”
And just after Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had finished their business with Zhou Yang, they were immediately summoned by Yun Ni, the captain of the Patrol Team.
She claimed that to reward them for their diligent work in the Patrol Team over the past year, the team was promoting them to top-tier outsourced personnel.
Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were both slightly stunned. Heaven knows what diligent work they, who had been on the phantom payroll for a year, had done for the Patrol Team. They only felt that ever since arriving at the Patrol Team’s office building, everyone had been so polite, so friendly.
Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh in his heart, Ever since I became number one in my grade, I feel like there are more and more good people at Songyang High School. Everyone is so kind.
And after I got my Foundation Establishment Certificate, the number of good people in the entire city of Songyang has started to increase.
At this moment, Zhang Yu understood more and more why the people of Kunxu had to study hard and take exams. In this broken Kunxu, the better your results, the more hell could gradually turn into heaven.
And after being promoted in their outsourced positions, Yun Ni brought him another piece of good news.
“You are now peak outsourced personnel, so you can attend one cross-layer meeting each month.”
“It just so happens that Pianpian has also taken a position on the second layer and can communicate across layers as well…”
Zhang Yu quickly understood. This was using the excuse of a cross-layer meeting to give them an opportunity to communicate with Zhang Pianpian.
So, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen went to a private meeting room. As the dedicated network connected, a line of text appeared before their expectant eyes.
“Myriad Laws University, Talisman Department, Foundation Establishment Cultivator Zhang Pianpian is speaking with you.”
Zhang Yu was startled, but then a sense of relief washed over him.
He thought that with Zhang Pianpian’s talent and strength, after being on the second layer for so long, getting a Foundation Establishment Certificate and then completing Foundation Establishment didn’t seem like such an incredible thing.
“But isn’t this a bit too high-profile?”
Then the screen flashed, and Zhang Pianpian appeared before them.
Seeing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen on the screen, Zhang Pianpian was momentarily stunned, seemingly not expecting them to be on the other side.
However, Zhang Pianpian quickly recovered, smiled, and said with gratification, “It seems you two passed the Foundation Establishment exam, and the Patrol Team has started to give you preferential treatment?”
In a back-and-forth conversation, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen told Zhang Pianpian about their experience passing the exam and the current situation in Songyang City.
Although Fu Ji knew a lot, both Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen trusted Zhang Pianpian more and wanted to consult her about their upcoming university applications.
Zhang Pianpian nodded and said, “Although I previously said I would wait for you at Myriad Laws University.”
“Given your current situation, you can also make some other choices based on the conditions offered by those recruitment representatives…”
During their chat with Zhang Pianpian, Zhang Yu asked about her long string of titles displayed on the communication line.
Zhang Pianpian explained, “You’ll understand when you get to the second layer. Starting from the second layer, throughout the second, third, fourth, and even the fifth and sixth layers, everything serves the universities.”
“Each university is a city, and all the companies and administrative bodies within the city are managed by the university.”
“And here, academic qualifications, university, department, and realm divide people into different classes.”
“Even with the same degree from the same university, just being in different departments can create a complex hierarchy. In a good major… even the toilet paper in the dedicated teaching building is of better quality than the pages of books in a poor major.”
“Here, everyone looks at a person’s realm first, then their degree, then their university, and then their major.”
“University students can ruthlessly insult vocational college students, and students of the Ten Greats can step on the heads of students from other schools.”
“Everyone wishes they could tattoo their realm, degree, university, and major on their forehead for all to see.”
“And even within the same university, only the good majors get better class resources; they can even sit a few rows closer during lectures.”
“Poor majors might not even be able to register for the classes they want, and I’ve heard they even have to wait at the back of the line for the restroom.”
“So on the second layer, displaying your status in detail and being treated according to your different rank is a matter of course.”
Zhang Yu nodded, not surprised in the least. In his view, Kunxu would naturally classify people according to different levels.
The situation described above did not surprise him at all; it was just that compared to the first layer, the distinctions between people seemed to be more refined.
Zhang Pianpian continued, “Hearing this, you should also understand how important choosing a major is. Even if you get into a decent university, if you don’t choose a good major, you’ll only live a relatively failed life.”
“Not to mention a ten-fold or hundred-fold difference in income, some majors even have difficulty finding a job.”
“But it’s a good thing you have your Foundation Establishment Certificates, so your range of choices for majors should be quite broad. I can tell you what I know.”
“Taking Myriad Laws University as an example, Finance, Artifact Refining, and Daoist Arts are the three departments at the pinnacle.”
“However, the paths of Finance and Daoist Arts require too much background and wealth, so I don’t recommend you two choose them.”
“Artifact Refining would be a late-game choice for you. Although it’s difficult at the beginning, you should have a chance…”
“Civil Engineering is not bad either, suitable for building a foundation.”
“After all, in Civil Engineering, you can start working and earning money right away. Earning money for two years to build a good foundation before transferring majors is also a good option.”
“But whatever you do, don’t study Civil Engineering until graduation and get a Civil Engineering degree. Then you’ll find it hard to escape that pit for the rest of your life…”
“Also, don’t apply for the Archeology Department. The better you are at this major, the more you have to venture into the eighteenth subterranean layer of Kunxu, excavating the ruins of sects annihilated in the past and studying the sects eliminated by history…”
“Others like Security, Weapons, and Military are also good early-game majors. The progress is fast, and you earn money quickly, but you’re prone to being optimized when you get older…”
Zhang Yu nodded slightly and asked, “Is that the situation with True Person Starfire?”
Zhang Pianpian said with some emotion, “That’s right. If he had chosen a different major back then, perhaps his life would be different now.”
“Oh, and don’t apply for the Medicine Department either. This major is currently dominated by the family factions on the second layer. It’s full of people from local prestigious families. Outsiders won’t be able to make a name for themselves if they go in…”
Through Zhang Pianpian’s introduction, all sorts of intelligence about the majors and universities of the second layer emerged before Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, gradually giving them a rough outline for their future choices.