Chapter 42: Gathering of Winds and Clouds, The Fish Transforms into a Dragon

Anshui County was not far from Tangdu; it only took an hour and a half to arrive via the highway.

However, traveling from Anshui County to Wang Donglai's home required a two-hour journey, most of which consisted of dangerous mountain roads.

After Wang Donglai's results were released, top-tier schools interested in recruiting him began setting off, driving toward Anshui County.

As for Wang Donglai, he was currently waiting quietly at home for these people to arrive.

He wasn't idle, though. The rewards he received for completing the first stage of the main quest were incredibly generous, and he was currently studying them.

First, he opened his status panel.

【Player: Wang Donglai】

【Attributes: Constitution 9, Intelligence 8】

【Level: Level 1 (1600/2000)】

【Reading Category: High School Compulsory】

【Skill: Photographic Memory】

【Abilities: Sense of Direction, Speed Reading, Mental Arithmetic】

Chinese: lv6 (154/15000)

Mathematics: lv5 (314/10000)

English: lv5 (264/5000)

Geography: lv4 (941/2000)

Politics: lv4 (645/1000)

History: lv4 (712/1000)

Chemistry: lv2 (514/2000)

Physics: lv2 (431/2000)

Biology: lv2 (597/2000)

Even after the Gaokao, Wang Donglai had not put down his high school textbooks. On one hand, it was to gain experience points and level up these subjects; on the other, it was to better tutor Wang Chenyue, as she had chosen the liberal arts track following his persuasion.

In this way, Wang Donglai could ensure that Wang Chenyue would not follow the same path she had taken in his previous life.

After reviewing his information, Wang Donglai focused his mind to check the rewards provided by the system.

10,000 Universal Experience Points.

One Reading Experience Multiplier Card.

One Lottery Draw Opportunity.

Combined with one point each to Intelligence and Constitution, these rewards were remarkably high.

What delighted Wang Donglai even more was a note beneath the Universal Experience Points.

【Note: Universal Experience Points can be used freely to either increase personal level or subject levels.】

Seeing this note, Wang Donglai was ecstatic.

Without hesitation, he made a decision immediately.

"System, allocate points!"

With a thought, Wang Donglai's personal level quickly rose to Level 2.

Seeing that the remaining Universal Experience Points were enough to raise him another level, Wang Donglai did not hesitate and leveled up again. The information on the system panel changed instantly.

【Player: Wang Donglai】

【Level: Level 3 (0/10000)】

With 4,600 Universal Experience Points remaining, Wang Donglai decided not to use them further.

While this amount seemed large, it wasn't enough to instantly raise any single subject to a level where he could obtain a skill. It was better to save them for critical moments in the future.

Furthermore, after leveling up twice in a row, Wang Donglai noticed changes in the system.

Not only did he gain two more opportunities to unlock reading categories, but the method of acquiring experience had also changed.

【Note 1: Players can obtain experience by reading different books of the same type. Repeatedly reading the same book will no longer provide a constant amount of experience.】

【Note 2: Players can obtain experience through practical experimentation, publishing papers, etc. The system will provide experience based on the depth of the player's knowledge.】

【Note 3: Knowledge has no limits. The host may choose whether to unlock the knowledge ceiling. Once unlocked, the experience required for subject upgrades will change.】

【Note 4: Attribute points, skills, abilities, and other items rewarded by this system are for the player's personal use only.】

【Note 5: Once the host's personal level reaches Level 3, experience can be gained from any reading, but only reading designated book categories will grant extra experience bonuses.】

After reading the notes, Wang Donglai gained a deeper understanding of the system's operating rules.

The information left him overjoyed.

With these changes, he could make his previous plans much more aggressive and bold.

To strike the water in the middle of the stream, one must row hard to move forward.

Thirty years was too long; he would fight for the present moment!

It was already 2012. Tencent and Alibaba had already risen, and their momentum was unshakable.

New-age platform economies like food delivery were not something Wang Donglai cared for; he had no interest in them.

There weren't many opportunities left in the internet ecosystem.

The only one that would later become an internet giant, ByteDance, had already been established and was about to receive its Series A funding of one million dollars, with a valuation already in the hundreds of millions.

With the system, Wang Donglai had already decided on the path he would take.

Research on one hand, and Internet + Industry on the other.

He would use the wealth from the internet to fund research, and then use breakthroughs in research to drive industrial evolution, eventually feeding back into the internet to form a closed loop.

With the current changes to the system, Wang Donglai's plan could become even more radical and daring.

He possessed the memory of social development trends for the next decade, and with the reading system by his side, all he had to do was follow the nodes in his memory to catch the wind and take off rapidly.

With this thought flashing through his mind, Wang Donglai quickly finalized two reading categories.

Computer Science!

Economics!

The former would allow Wang Donglai to quickly become a top-tier programmer, serving as the core of the commercial empire he intended to build.

The latter would become his sharpest weapon, safeguarding his commercial empire.

Having decided on these two majors, Wang Donglai looked at the final two rewards.

The Lottery Draw and the Reading Experience Multiplier Card.

He had already decided to save the Reading Experience Multiplier Card for Computer Science books.

There were too many books in this field; even without the experience points, Wang Donglai knew the number would be astronomical.

Computer science covered too much ground; even a slight subdivision could separate it into computer science, software development, electronic information, communications, software engineering, and more.

An average programmer needs four years of study to graduate, and without talent, they remain just a simple programmer.

Frontend, backend, low-level architecture, software design and development, programming, algorithms, and so on.

This knowledge was as vast as the sea, and professional textbooks were notoriously dense, difficult, and tedious.

Although Wang Donglai could use the system to grind them all to the top given enough time, time was exactly what he lacked most.

Using the Reading Experience Multiplier Card here would be most appropriate.

As for the lottery draw.

Wang Donglai simply offered a brief prayer in his heart and used the opportunity.

A massive spinning wheel appeared, covered in various colorful and miraculous items.

Micro-controllable nuclear fusion technology!

Room-temperature superconductor technology!

Super Artificial Intelligence technology!

Nuclear-powered aerospace fighter technology!

Limb regeneration technology!

Brain domain development technology!

Dyson Sphere technology!

Quantum physics technology!

The items appearing on the wheel made Wang Donglai's eyes widen instantly.

Any one of these technologies, if released, would likely cause a global shockwave.

The pointer in the center of the wheel spun several times and, under Wang Donglai's nervous gaze, finally came to a stop.

Human Sixth Sense Development Technology: 30-Day Trial Card!

When he saw the prize the pointer indicated, Wang Donglai was stunned.

Human Sixth Sense Development Technology?

After the initial shock, his reaction was one of pure joy.

Sixth sense?

Isn't that intuition—that various debated superpower?

According to current scientists, everyone is born with a sixth sense. It is the "heart sense" of humanity, alongside hearing, sight, smell, touch, and taste. It is similar to intuition and is also called "extrasensory perception" (ESP). Its ability is to receive information through channels outside of normal senses, allowing one to foresee upcoming events regardless of previous experience—a true superpower.

Recalling the various theories and miraculous stories about the sixth sense he had read in miscellaneous essays during middle school, Wang Donglai's excitement was beyond words.

The only flaw was that this trial card was only for thirty days.

Then, a question arose.

How could he use this trial card to extract the maximum value?

In an instant, various methods flashed through his mind.

Buy lottery tickets?

The thought was discarded immediately; that was fundamentally impossible.

Aside from the lottery, there weren't many ways to maximize value within thirty days.

After thinking for a moment, Wang Donglai suddenly sighed.

A thousand schemes and endless cleverness could not overcome reality.

Wang Donglai currently had no money. The only three hundred yuan he had was the extra living expenses Wang Yanxing had specifically sent him near the Gaokao, which he hadn't spent.

As for his family, Wang Donglai knew they were not wealthy.

In the early years, they had done a lot of business but lost a lot of money, leaving them with significant debt.

In recent years, Wang Yanxing and Cao Shuxian had gone to work on construction sites to earn money, both to pay back relatives and to support the schooling of Wang Donglai and Wang Chenyue.

"It seems I can only wait for the rewards from the county and the school after the results are out."

With this thought, Wang Donglai composed himself and returned to his books.

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(End of Chapter)