Chapter 37: A Tight Net

*Thud.*

With the closing of the door, only Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling remained in the office.

While continuing to train with the barbell in his hands, Lan Ling spoke up, "President, this Zhang Yu is a bit greedy."

Lying on the sofa, Zhou Chechen chuckled and said, "He's poor, after all. It's normal for someone to become arrogant and reckless once they achieve sudden success."

"If I had improved my score by 70 points in a single month like him, I'd be just as cocky."

"Let's just give him another month to consider it."

Lan Ling's gaze turned cold. "President, do you really intend to increase his contract benefits again?"

Zhou Chechen said indifferently, "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 vision of the poor is often very shallow."

"In a situation like the one just now, nine out of ten would have signed the contract with us on the spot."

"But since Zhang Yu can keep his composure and say he needs to go back and think about it, I actually hold him in higher regard."

"If his grades can improve even further in next month's exam, what does it matter if I bump him up a level in benefits?"

Frowning, Lan Ling said, "I'm just afraid people like this are insatiable."

Zhou Chechen laughed heartily. "Alright, Big Lan, be more magnanimous. Don't compete with those below you."

"Zhang Yu isn't on the same path as us, nor will he come to compete for our positions. We have never been in a competitive relationship with them."

"On the contrary, the better he does and the more progress he makes, the more we earn, and the more worthy he becomes of our investment..."

As he spoke, Zhou Chechen placed a Spirit Realm mask over his head.

"I'll be spending this afternoon catching up on lessons in the Spirit Realm. There's no need to come looking for me if you have nothing important."

...

Inside the cafeteria.

As soon as he stepped out of the Student Union office, Zhang Yu rushed toward Bai Zhenzhen.

Seeing her still calmly eating, Zhang Yu said urgently, "A-Zhen, you'd better give me a good reason."

"Do you know how much resolve it took for me not to sign just now?"

"You have no idea how much they admire my talent..."

Bai Zhenzhen said calmly, "Was it like this: as soon as you walked in, he rushed over to grab your hand, and he didn't even have time to put on his shoes?"

Zhang Yu froze momentarily, his words dying in his throat.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "It's always the same. Every time Zhou Chechen finds someone to sign a contract, that's how he welcomes them."

"Huh?" Zhang Yu was shocked.

*So he plays the 'welcoming guests with shoes on the wrong feet' trick with his buddies, huh?*

Zhang Yu added, "But he also cleared my debts."

Bai Zhenzhen snorted and asked, "Did he really clear them?"

"He probably just became your creditor, didn't he?"

"Did he also tell you not to worry about interest, that there's no rush to pay it back, and that you can pay it off slowly after you graduate and find a job?"

Zhang Yu was startled again. "He said that to you too?"

Bai Zhenzhen said, "He probably says that to everyone he intends to sign."

"But don't you dare think this is a good thing."

"The so-called 'no need to pay back' is nothing more than lip service."

"If you don't continue paying, once the debt is overdue, the decision-making power lies entirely in his hands."

"If he truly didn't care, then it wouldn't be an issue."

"But once he applies for compulsory execution, the money in your account will immediately be used to settle the debt."

"If the money isn't enough, he'll use your assets to offset it."

"Think about it—what is your most valuable asset?"

Zhang Yu's eyes flickered. He truly didn't have many assets; a compulsory execution would likely just result in him being labeled a deadbeat.

Bai Zhenzhen, however, let out a cold snort. "The most valuable thing you possess is your cultivation, your tempered flesh and blood, and your diligently cultivated Dantian."

Zhang Yu's gaze tightened upon hearing this. "Are you saying they would...?"

Bai Zhenzhen nodded. "Compulsory execution: if there's money, pay the money; if there's no money, auction the assets. Once the external possessions are sold off, they will naturally sell your organs, your flesh, your Dantian..."

Although he had long since abandoned any expectations for the moral baseline of Kunxu, Zhang Yu's heart still sank upon hearing Bai Zhenzhen's words.

Bai Zhenzhen's explanation continued: "Don't even think about running. This isn't just a paper contract."

"Remember the Law Department among the Eight Great Deities?"

"When this contract is signed, the Student Union will use talismans to invite the Great Deity of Heavenly Covenant and Covenant of the Law Department to witness it. When the time comes for compulsory execution, it will be carried out by the Eight Great Deities themselves."

*Good heavens, what a piece of work Zhou Chechen is,* Zhang Yu thought, his heart racing with every word. *I treat him like a brother, and he plays me? Is he trying to send me straight to a labor camp?*

Across from him, Bai Zhenzhen continued, "However, if you fully comply with the contract and your grade improvements meet their expectations, they might not do anything to you."

"But there is another key factor, located in another part of the contract: regarding your choice of university and major when applying, as well as the compensation for violating relevant clauses."

"In other words, once the contract is signed, which university you attend and which major you choose will be entirely up to them."

"And besides that, there are all sorts of various restrictions; once violated, they come with astronomical breach-of-contract penalties..."

Seeing Zhang Yu's bewildered expression, Bai Zhenzhen said irritably, "Did you not even read that part of the contract?"

Zhang Yu said righteously, "The benefits at the beginning were so overwhelming I could barely stand it. I was afraid that if I kept reading, I wouldn't be able to resist signing, so I rushed to the cafeteria to find you!"

Bai Zhenzhen nodded. "Fine, I suppose your willpower is quite extraordinary, Yu-zi."

Then, she shifted the topic to something else. "Yu-zi, have you ever noticed that those filthy rich people in our school rarely have conflicts with us poor folks?"

"Have they always seemed gentle, refined, and polite, rarely using their power to bully others?"

Zhang Yu searched his memory and nodded. "It seems so."

Bai Zhenzhen: "Because the rich and the poor aren't competing on the same track. They have never viewed us as competitors from beginning to end, which is why they appear human."

Zhang Yu frowned slightly. Everyone was taking the same college entrance exam; what did she mean by "not on the same track"? Could they get into university through rhythmic gymnastics?

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "Because the poor aim for ordinary universities, while the targets of those filthy rich people are the Top Ten Elite Universities."

"For them, with their financial resources, they have plenty of opportunities to enter ordinary universities. They don't see the poor as competitors at all."

"It is only at the elite universities that even they must fight with everything they have to compete against other wealthy individuals."

Zhang Yu couldn't help but ask, "Can't poor people apply to elite universities?"

Bai Zhenzhen: "The enrollment slots for the Top Ten Elite Universities are limited, and they are even fewer when divided among every city."

"In a place like Songyang City, the annual enrollment slots for all ten combined... amount to only a few dozen people."

"These slots have long been monopolized by them through various means."

"Class-A contracts are one such method—signing with talented, high-achieving poor students to directly decide which university they apply for."

"Of course... even though signing this contract means you can't go to the Top Ten, you become their investment project. They will still treat you politely and kindly, acting as your good classmates."

"But if you don't sign this contract, or if you even show a tendency to want to apply to the Top Ten in the future, then you truly become their competitor."

"What awaits you will be incredibly brutal competition. You will see their true, inhuman methods, and the pressure that will surge toward you from all directions."

"The enrollment slots for the Top Ten Elite Universities are something their circle collectively maintains; they will never allow any poor person to touch them."

"In this regard, even the Student Unions of all key high schools are in the same boat—one rises, all rise; one falls, all fall."

"Don't expect the school to intervene much either. When the social influence of the students' parents far exceeds that of the school, the principal often can't control the Student Union."

Listening to Bai Zhenzhen's words, Zhang Yu understood immediately: the Songyang elites were working together to squeeze out the poor.

At this moment, he felt as if he were seeing an invisible, massive web, covering the sky and earth, looming over the heads of all students, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.

Zhang Yu couldn't help but lament, "Is the gap between the Top Ten Elite Universities and ordinary universities really that large? Does it make them that afraid?"

Bai Zhenzhen rolled her eyes. "What else would it be?"

"The Top Ten Sects are things one can never leave from birth to death; they are the forces that determine the direction of Kunxu."

"And only by entering the Top Ten Elite Universities do you have the chance to enter the Top Ten Sects."

"As for graduates of ordinary universities? The Top Ten Sects won't take them as disciples; at most, they'll just become employees of some corporation under the Top Ten Sects."

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. As expected, even after graduating from university, one couldn't escape academic discrimination. Graduating from an ordinary university meant being an "outsourced disciple" for life.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "Of course, there is one more very important point: only the Top Ten Sects... can achieve immortality."

A hint of longing seeped into her tone.

Achieving immortality—the ultimate pursuit in the hearts of countless cultivators. It could be said that any cultivator who stepped onto the path of immortality had thought of this.

Zhang Yu also remembered: Immortals only existed within the Top Ten Sects.

Bai Zhenzhen: "In short, that's the situation."

"If you want to apply to the Top Ten, you must face overwhelming suppression."

"Yu-zi, now that you know all this... what are your plans?"

Under Bai Zhenzhen's gaze, Zhang Yu appeared incredibly hesitant.

"Should I sign? If I sign, I can study and take exams safely. With the *Yu Shu*, even if I go to an ordinary university and work for a sect-affiliated corporation, I should be able to live quite well, right?"

"But... the Top Ten Sects..."

At this moment, Zhang Yu thought of the Immortal Spiritual Roots that only disciples of great sects could possess, the Immortal-grade cultivation techniques only great sect disciples could use, and the fact that only great sect disciples could achieve immortality...

Countless differences, known and unknown, existed in the futures of the Top Ten Elite Universities versus ordinary universities.

Just as Zhang Yu felt his hesitation, a chill rose from his heart. Along with the appearance of a countdown, it reminded him of something.

"Heh... study hard, work hard, get into university, join a great sect, and then make enough money to buy everything in my shopping cart."

"To join a great sect, I must get into the Top Ten..."

"Dammit... I actually never had a choice to begin with."

Looking at Zhang Yu's constipated expression, Bai Zhenzhen patted his shoulder and said, "Take your time to think. This choice isn't easy to make."

"They should have given you a month to consider."

As Bai Zhenzhen stood up to leave, Zhang Yu suddenly asked, "What about you? A-Zhen, what are your plans?"

Bai Zhenzhen's movements paused slightly, then she said with absolute determination, "I won't sign."

"I'm going for the Top Ten."

As Zhang Yu felt the chill slowly dissipating within his body, he seemed to see his own choice clearly.

He smiled. "Then let's do it together."

(End of Chapter)