Chapter 240: Professional Intelligence

Chapter 240: Professional Intelligence

At the Zhou family mansion.

Zhou Chechen flung off his coat and hurried inside. He had rushed home right after school today, wanting to ask the elders in his family about the Foundation Establishment exam in Xiandu—what exactly was going on? Why had he known nothing about it before?

But as he passed the living room, he gradually slowed to a halt. Staring at the people in the reception hall, a look of astonishment spread across his face.

"Chechen, you’ve come at just the right time."

Zhou Yang, seated in the reception hall, also noticed Zhou Chechen’s arrival and waved him over. "This is your Uncle Zhang, and Aunt Bai."

"Both of them are exceptionally talented, with boundless future achievements. I treat them as equals, so from now on, when you see them, just call them Uncle Zhang and Aunt Bai."

Zhou Chechen stood frozen, as if he hadn’t quite processed the situation.

Zhou Yang shot him a glare. "What’s wrong with this kid? Why doesn’t he greet anyone?"

Zhang Yu laughed heartily. "Look, you’ve scared the boy."

He waved a hand and said, "It’s fine. We’re all classmates. Just call me Brother Yu and call her Sister Zhenzhen from now on. We’ll call you Little Zhou."

Bai Zhenzhen looked at Zhou Chechen and said, "This kid meets us and doesn’t show any sign of courtesy?"

Zhou Yang gave a helpless smile. "He’s been spoiled rotten by his father—doesn’t know a thing about manners."

With that, he turned to Zhou Chechen and said, "When you see your Uncle Zhang and Aunt Bai, don’t you know to send a red envelope?"

"Hurry up and give your elders a meeting gift. Transfer ten thousand each. Do you hear me?"

Under Zhou Yang’s piercing gaze, Zhou Chechen reluctantly transferred ten thousand to Zhang Yu and ten thousand to Bai Zhenzhen.

Bai Zhenzhen smiled faintly. "Good boy, Little Zhou. Go play by yourself. We still have matters to discuss with your Uncle Zhou."

Then, under Zhou Yang’s relentless stare, Zhou Chechen gritted his teeth and said, "Brother... Brother Yu, Sister Zhenzhen."

As he turned and walked away, Zhou Chechen felt as though something inside him had shattered into pieces. In that moment, he keenly realized that the absolute gap in academic achievement between himself and Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had placed them in entirely different dimensions.

He thought to himself, "I’m still just a pawn, while they’ve already begun to leap outside the chessboard, toward a much larger one."

After Zhou Chechen left, Zhou Yang said, "There will be more people at home tonight. Let’s continue our discussion in my study."

Not long after, as Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen departed, Zhou Yang reflected on the day’s events.

When he discovered that news of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen obtaining their Foundation Establishment certificates had spread across the entire city—especially with the Green Oasis Group involved—Zhou Yang knew... he had lost his best chance to make a move against Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.

Without wasting much thought on how Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had managed to outshine the Xiandu elite and pass the Foundation Establishment exam, Zhou Yang’s first concern was how to handle the aftermath.

"So... I’ll try to mend relations first."

Compared to continuing the conflict or waiting for possible retaliation in the future, spending money to avert disaster and further easing tensions now seemed like the best course of action.

Thus, Zhou Yang decided to donate a sum of money to Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, while also testing their attitude.

Recalling the exchange with the two today, after accepting his three million, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen had behaved quite amicably, showing no signs of holding a grudge.

"Last time, Zhou Chechen had already brought people to apologize and offer gifts."

"This time, with me personally stepping in, under the best circumstances... they should no longer be hostile toward the Zhou family."

"Unless... they’re particularly vengeful, or they know about the evil god behind me."

"If they still come after me after today, then don’t blame me for going down fighting."

"But..." Thinking of Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s current predicament, Zhou Yang sneered inwardly. "They’ve drawn so much attention now. They might just crash and burn on their own. No need for me to worry."

...

On the other side, after leaving the Zhou residence, the smiles on Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen’s faces gradually faded.

Zhang Yu said slowly, "It seems he wants to mend relations with us. How sincere do you think he is? Is he just stalling, or does he really not want to fight us anymore?"

Bai Zhenzhen replied, "Logically speaking, he probably really doesn’t want to fight us anymore. But we can’t rule out surprises."

Zhang Yu thought to himself, "True."

"If the Zhou family isn’t eliminated, and everyone who knows about Fuji’s existence isn’t cleaned out, I won’t feel at ease."

Fuji said, "At least he’s willing to ease tensions for now. So pretend to agree to a truce."

"Time is on your side."

Just as Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen finished their discussion with Zhou Yang, they were immediately summoned by Yun Ni, the captain of the patrol team.

She said that to reward their hard work over the past year in the patrol team, they were being promoted to top-tier outsourced personnel.

Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen were momentarily stunned. Heaven knew what hard work they had actually done in the patrol team, having been paid for doing nothing for a year. They only felt that upon arriving at the patrol team’s office building, everyone was so polite, so friendly.

Zhang Yu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. "Ever since I became the top of my grade, I’ve felt that there are more and more good people in Songyang High School. Everyone is so kind."

"And after I got my Foundation Establishment certificate, the whole city of Songyang started having more good people."

At that moment, Zhang Yu understood even more deeply why Kunxu people had to study hard and take exams. In this wretched Kunxu, the better your grades, the more hell could gradually turn into heaven.

After being promoted to outsourced personnel, Yun Ni also brought him good news. "You’re now top-tier outsourced personnel, so you can attend cross-layer meetings once a month."

"By coincidence, Pianpian has also taken a position on the second layer, so she can communicate across layers too..."

Zhang Yu quickly understood. This was an excuse to give them a chance to communicate with Zhang Pianpian.

So next, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen entered a private meeting room. As the dedicated network connected, under their expectant gazes, a line of text appeared.

"Zhang Pianpian, Foundation Establishment cultivator, Talisman Department, Wanfa University, is speaking with you."

Zhang Yu was startled, but then felt a slight relief.

He thought to himself, given Zhang Pianpian’s talent and strength, after being on the second layer for so long, passing the Foundation Establishment exam and completing Foundation Establishment didn’t seem impossible.

"But isn’t this too high-profile?"

Then the screen flickered, and Zhang Pianpian appeared before them.

Seeing Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen on the screen, Zhang Pianpian was momentarily taken aback, as if she hadn’t expected the people on the other end to be them.

But she quickly recovered, smiled slightly, and said with relief, "It looks like you two passed the Foundation Establishment exam. The patrol team is starting to treat you well?"

As Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen spoke, one after the other, they recounted the process of passing the Foundation Establishment exam and the current situation in Songyang City.

Although Fuji 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 after listening. "Although I said before that I’d wait for you at Wanfa University."

"Given your current situation, you could also make other choices based on the conditions offered by those recruitment representatives..."

During the conversation with Zhang Pianpian, Zhang Yu asked about the long string of titles displayed on the communication interface.

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."

"Every university is a city. All companies and administrative institutions in the city are under the university’s jurisdiction."

"And here, academic qualifications, universities, departments, and cultivation realms divide people into ranks."

"Even with the same academic qualification and the same university, just different departments can be ranked into three, six, or nine classes. In a good major... even the toilet paper in the dedicated teaching building is of better quality than the book pages in a poor major."

"Here, everyone looks at others first by cultivation realm, then by academic qualification, then by university, and then by major."

"University students can thoroughly humiliate vocational college students. Students from the top ten universities can step on the heads of students from other schools."

"Everyone wishes they could tattoo their cultivation realm, academic qualification, university, and major on their foreheads, displaying them one by one."

And even within the same university, only good majors grant access to better classroom resources, letting you sit closer to the front during lectures.

For a poor major, you might not even get to enroll in courses, and I hear you have to queue at the back even for the restroom.

So on the second level, it’s only natural to lay out your situation in detail and be treated according to your rank.

Zhang Yu nodded at this, but felt no surprise; in his view, Kunxu was exactly the kind of place that sorted people by rank.

This situation was hardly unexpected—it was just that, compared to the first level, the distinctions between people seemed even finer.

Zhang Pianpian continued, “By now you should understand how important choosing a major is. Even if you get into a decent university, if you don’t pick a good major, you’ll end up leading a relatively failed life.”

“Not to mention income gaps that could be tenfold or a hundredfold—some majors even struggle to find jobs.”

“But luckily, you both have Foundation Establishment certificates, so your options for majors should be broad. I can tell you what I know.”

“Take Wanfa University, for example: Finance, Artifact Refining, and Dao Arts are the three top faculties.”

“However, the paths of Finance and Dao Arts require too much background and wealth—I wouldn’t recommend either for you two.”

“As for Artifact Refining, it’s a late-game choice for you. Though the early stages are tough, you should have a chance…”

“Civil Engineering is also good—it’s great for building a foundation.”

“After all, you can start working and earning money as soon as you enter Civil Engineering. Earn for two years, lay a solid foundation, and then switching majors is a decent option.”

“But never graduate from Civil Engineering. If you get a Civil Engineering diploma, you’ll be stuck in that pit for life…”

“And don’t sign up for Archaeology either. The better you get at it, the deeper you’ll have to go into the eighteenth layer of Kunxu, excavating the ruins of sects buried in the past, studying those sects eliminated by history…”

“Other majors like Security, Weapons, and Military are also good early-stage choices—they boost you quickly and earn money fast, but you’re likely to be optimized out when you get older…”

Zhang Yu nodded slightly and asked, “Is Starfire True Person a case like that?”

Zhang Pianpian sighed, “Yes. If he had chosen a different major back then, his life might have turned out differently.”

“Oh, and don’t pick Medicine either. That major is currently dominated by family forces on the second level—all local clans. Outsiders can’t get ahead there…”

Through Zhang Pianpian’s introduction, various pieces of intelligence about majors and universities on the second level unfolded before Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, gradually giving them a rough outline of their future choices.

(The chapter ends)