Wolf Beneath the Sheepskin?

Adjusting his plans was a matter for later. Even if Little Black Ox's knowledge was limited, Chen Nan intended to squeeze him dry before considering anything else.

So, after finishing his meal, Chen Nan took advantage of the lunch break to interrogate Little Black Ox until his head spun.

In the end, Chen Nan obtained the following rough information:

The country he was currently in was called the Qingyang Kingdom, while Wu City, where the Orphanage was located, was a medium-sized city.

Life in the Orphanage was divided into three parts: study, labor, and eating, drinking, relieving oneself, and sleeping.

The subjects were extremely miscellaneous. Sometimes, certain individuals even studied things unlike everyone else's. As for how they differed, that was impossible to explain clearly.

After Little Black Ox's jumbled introduction and Chen Nan's own sorting, they could roughly be divided into several categories.

First came academic subjects, which every orphan had to take. Then there were etiquette, dance, musical instruments, opera, acrobatics, physique, and all sorts of other subjects, though they varied from person to person.

Girls generally focused on subjects such as etiquette, dance, opera, and physique.

Boys generally focused on musical instruments, acrobatics, and the like.

Of course, there were also some special subjects, as Little Black Ox called them, which none of them had ever seen. Generally speaking, only especially outstanding girls and boys could study those.

For an Orphanage alone, Chen Nan felt there were far too many subjects here, and something about them was strange, giving him an indescribable feeling.

But those were not what concerned him most.

From Little Black Ox, he had finally learned about the matter most worth investigating: the Preparatory Academy.

The Preparatory Academy coming to the Orphanage to recruit one student was actually a kind of policy benefit. It was similar to how key high schools reserved a certain number of slots for ordinary rural middle schools.

After all, the Orphanage was a welfare institution. Naturally, the welfare had to be properly provided for appearances' sake.

But in reality, the Preparatory Academy had never managed to recruit a student from the Orphanage each year. The Preparatory Academy was highly unusual, not an ordinary school, and its admission requirements were extremely demanding.

The Orphanage was only given one recruitment opportunity and one slot. Even if two people met the requirements, only the better one would be selected.

Yet over the years, not once had anyone met its admission requirements. Thus, the Preparatory Academy's recruitment visits to the Orphanage had basically become a mere formality.

No one in the Orphanage took it seriously. Only Chen Nan attached such importance to it, both before and after his transmigration.

Recruitment generally took place on September 12th, usually no more than three days off.

Chen Nan calculated that it was currently late July. There was still over a month before recruitment day, no matter what. That gave him plenty of time.

As he drifted through his wandering thoughts, it was nearly time for afternoon classes. Chen Nan still had injuries, and by all rights, they were not light. Since Director Wang had already magnanimously overlooked his offense, he had specially granted Chen Nan three days of sick leave.

Given the strict atmosphere throughout the Orphanage, Chen Nan could not quite understand what granting sick leave was supposed to mean. But since they had given it to him, there was no need for him to be a fool and insist on attending.

Besides, he wanted some time alone. He needed to communicate with his little brothers.

Very soon, a small Rat burrowed into the room. Little Black Ox had long since left.

Chen Nan asked the Rat, "Have you gathered enough companions?"

The Rat squeaked, its little triangular head nodding vigorously.

Chen Nan continued, "What is the situation in the sewers?"

The Rat began squeaking and gesturing at the same time. Chen Nan's mind suddenly sank into a hazy state. Then blurred lights and shadows appeared, gradually arranging themselves into scenery.

From the indistinct images, it was indeed the sewer. It stretched endlessly onward, with forks and winding passages, yet there was no exit.

This was something Chen Nan had not expected. He did not know what exactly this Orphanage was guarding against, but the sewers had been completely sealed off. At the sewer outlet stood a row of iron bars. Filthy water and the like could flow out, but people absolutely could not.

It seemed there was only one explanation: to prevent certain students from escaping through this route.

Chen Nan shook his head and withdrew from the Rat's consciousness, then sat there lost in thought. If he could not find a way out through the sewers, he could only think of another method.

He looked at the Rat, knowing that this task would have to be handed over to them again.

What surprised Chen Nan about this communication was that his mental link with the Rat had reached such depth that he could peer into the Rat's spiritual world.

To Chen Nan, this was also a very good thing. At the very least, there would be more things he could make the Rats do.

It seemed he needed to explore and practice more in the area of mentally communicating with small creatures. After all, this was the only ability he could rely on at present.

And this ability gave Chen Nan a bold thought: with an ability like his, he should be able to pass the Preparatory Academy's assessment. After all, this counted as extraordinary power, didn't it?

Whatever the Immortals Little Black Ox spoke of were like in this world, Chen Nan was different from ordinary people in the end. No matter what, that was some comfort to him.

The matter of the sewers was temporarily set aside.

He gave the little Rat another order and began assigning tasks to the gathered Rats.

He needed some Rats to explore the situation outside the Orphanage, so that if the worst came to pass, he would know where was suitable for escape and hiding.

At the same time, he instructed the Rats to dig holes in appropriate places based on the terrain outside. Naturally, the burrows had to be concealed. Neither the entrances nor the exits could be discovered by the people at the Orphanage.

Apart from that, Chen Nan asked the Rats to keep stealing food for him.

Because Chen Nan was still hungry. The little he had eaten at noon was hardly worth mentioning. But he knew that the only thing he could ask for was to ensure adequate nutrition, not to eat until he was full.

He could not let others discover that he had started putting on flesh, because that would not match his diet.

Such a strange occurrence would certainly arouse suspicion, and once someone became suspicious, it would pose a hidden danger to him.

But he had to ensure his nutrition. He could not lack vitamins or protein. As for sugar and fat, they could remain scarce for now.

For a child his age, sufficient nutrition would at least prevent delayed development in the body's various systems, lest he be left with some congenital deficiency turned acquired weakness. That would be an extremely unfavorable factor for his future.

The Rats split up and got to work. Chen Nan felt that the Rats in this world were truly rather intelligent.

Of course, perhaps that was only an illusion. After all, on Earth, he had never been able to communicate with Rats so closely.

In short, he only needed to communicate with one Rat and let it distribute the tasks. The other Rats could all complete them well.

That greatly reduced the risk of exposing his abnormality. It was quite good.

Very soon, the three days of sick leave passed. Chen Nan had only suffered superficial injuries, and by then he had nearly recovered. Therefore, on the fourth day, he had to return to class no matter what.

Chen Nan was still somewhat interested in the Orphanage's courses. At the very least, there were academic classes, which meant he could obtain useful information through them somehow.

Yet the moment class began, Chen Nan was dumbfounded.

Good heavens, what exactly did this Orphanage teach?

They only had two academic classes in the morning, and this lesson was a physiology class on men and women. The content was explained with such vividness—no, vivid was not the right word. It was too easy to make people's thoughts run wild.

How should he put it? What needed to stand out stood out, what needed to be profound was profound, and the two could even be combined, making every principle crystal clear in a way that went from deep to shallow.

Chen Nan sighed. Before he had transmigrated, even his physiology classes had never taught things like this.

Was this a class? Was this learning?

Fine. Since they had once called certain actors teachers, then this naturally counted as learning too.

Looking around at the other students, they had clearly experienced this sort of lesson many times and were not the least bit surprised.

But this gave Chen Nan an even worse impression of the Orphanage. Was this really an Orphanage? Or was it merely something else wearing the skin of an Orphanage?

If it was the latter, then his troubles would be immense.

The more Chen Nan thought about it, the heavier his heart became. Had the Preparatory Academy failed to recruit students from the Orphanage for years because its assessment standards were truly too harsh? Or, like the sewers, were these orphans simply not allowed to leave at all?

If it was the latter, then what could he do even if he possessed extraordinary abilities?

If the Orphanage had the means to prevent the Preparatory Academy from recruiting anyone here for years, then it certainly had the means to prevent him from passing the assessment as well.

Chen Nan could guess the method with his toes. And for a Preparatory Academy, whether it could recruit a single welfare student from here was truly a matter as small as a sesame seed.

No one would investigate something like that.

In summary, it meant one thing: the route he had hoped to take—entering the Preparatory Academy through a legitimate assessment and thus leaving the Orphanage—was probably blocked as well.

Chen Nan felt stifled, while even greater pressure surfaced in his heart.

The choices left to him would certainly not be easy. Where, then, should he go from here?