Two-Pronged Preparations

At present, Chen Nan had only two choices to make. The first was to use the rats' help to escape this orphanage and set his life free.

The second was to wait for the Preparatory Academy's enrollment assessment in September.

Though in Chen Nan's mind, that was an almost completely unreliable choice, he still wanted to give it a try. It was like someone on the verge of death hearing of a way to save their life—they would have to try it.

And beyond taking a gamble and pinning his hopes on that slim chance, there were other reasons for making this choice.

He wanted to understand just what this so-called Preparatory Academy was, and what kind of people the "immortals" Little Black Ox spoke of actually were.

People like that would come during the assessment. This was a rare opportunity for him to come into direct contact with such people.

From Chen Nan's train of thought, it was already clear which choice he had made. Of course, the two choices did not conflict much—at least, for now.

As they considered their own affairs, the two morning classes came to an end.

Chen Nan felt utterly soaked after class, having sweated far too much. Sigh, it was still because this body was too frail! To think that at such a young age, I could enter the Illusory Realm of Great Void. That's seriously amazing.

At noon recess, he and Little Black Ox returned to their "super villa" as usual, eating "Pearl Jade White Jade Soup" while chatting.

The information Little Black Ox could provide was limited. Chen Nan wanted to know who else he could talk to, so he asked, "Little Black Ox, besides having you as my good friend, do I have any other friends I can talk to?"

Little Black Ox rolled his eyes. "Ever since you got struck by lightning, you've started daring to think of anything. Other than me, who would bother with you?"

Chen Nan looked up at him. "Is my popularity really that terrible?"

Little Black Ox laughed. "If you were in a cesspit and had terrible popularity, would you think that was something to be happy about or troubled by?"

Chen Nan froze, then said in surprise, "That was actually pretty philosophical."

Little Black Ox snorted. "You said that! If it weren't because you lost your memory, I'd think you were shamelessly fishing for compliments."

Chen Nan gave a dry laugh. "Then why is my popularity so bad? What's the specific reason?"

Little Black Ox thought carefully before saying, "My popularity is bad because I'm useless and can't learn anything. But you're different. Whatever you learn, you learn well—but you refuse to teach them.

So they got angry and made all the children ignore you.

And because I'm too useless, nobody cares if I keep company with you."

Listening to him, Chen Nan roughly pieced together what had happened. It seemed Little Black Ox was being dragged down by him while enjoying this "villa" treatment.

Of course, Little Black Ox's words also carried other implications, but Chen Nan had already noticed some clues, so he did not care much.

The two stopped talking and began resting. Before long, Little Black Ox fell asleep.

Chen Nan naturally was not worried that Little Black Ox would play any tricks on him, so he summoned the rats.

Around two or three rats came in, carrying some dried meat and a little fruit. Looking at Little Black Ox, Chen Nan could only feel a little apologetic. There was only enough food here to replenish his own nutrition. Stealing too much might draw attention, so for now, he could only eat alone.

As he ate, he communicated mentally with the rats and obtained some information from them. For instance, the rats had already scoured the areas around the orphanage. As for where would be safe enough to dig a tunnel, they were waiting for his instructions.

This required Chen Nan's ability to peer into the rats' spiritual worlds, so he kept training in that regard. Naturally, such an ability would improve with each passing day.

Besides that, Chen Nan also needed the rats to find him some valuables.

Since the orphanage was located on a mountain in the outskirts of the city, there were almost no residents nearby. Thus, the search for valuables could only target the orphanage staff.

Through his constant mental connection with the rats, Chen Nan discovered that peering into their minds was truly important. It was like equipping himself with a large number of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

Rats could go anywhere. That meant Chen Nan could easily grasp what lay in every corner of the orphanage.

Another fifteen days passed. Chen Nan had become extremely proficient at controlling rats. He had also gained a crystal-clear understanding of the area around the orphanage, as well as the valuables within it.

And when it came to those valuables, Chen Nan was truly shocked.

An orphanage was originally a welfare institution. Such an institution could not operate for profit. Therefore, there should not have been any enormous wealth within it.

But the investigation revealed otherwise. Especially with Director Wang—Chen Nan found a small treasury belonging to him. It contained gold, gemstones, curios, antiques, and all manner of treasures, piled up like small mountains.

Though that treasury was certainly in a secret location, buried deep underground with an extremely concealed entrance,

the old saying still held true: nothing could be hidden from rats that could slip through every crack.

Moreover, after deliberately spying on Director Wang for many days, Chen Nan discovered that the man had an enormous number of secrets.

Chen Nan had basically figured out the orphanage and what sort of person Director Wang was. Calling that man scum, even multiplied by ten to the ninth power, would not be enough to describe even a fraction of his vileness.

But he could not take any action now, much less expose himself. Otherwise, his life could vanish as easily as someone crushing a mosquito to death.

This further strengthened Chen Nan's resolve to leave this place, while also making him understand just how difficult the road ahead would be.

Over all this time, he had focused only on training his abilities and studying plans to escape the orphanage. To reduce the attention others paid him as much as possible, he had not investigated anything else about this world at all.

Because his most urgent task was still escaping this dragon's pool and tiger's den of an orphanage. Once he left, the sea would be wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky high enough for birds to fly. Once he regained his freedom, getting whatever he wanted would become far easier.

For that very reason, Chen Nan also behaved very calmly in his later classes.

There was something rather interesting.

Although the original owner's memories had been shattered and vanished after being struck by lightning, the skills ingrained in his body had not been forgotten.

At the orphanage, boys of relatively low status were generally made to learn all kinds of musical instruments. Chen Nan could play practically every instrument very well, and now, he especially liked playing a certain wind instrument.

It was basically identical to the xiao on Earth. Whenever he played it, he felt as if he had returned to Earth.

When people fell on hard times, they missed their hometown. That truly was not false at all.

Since Chen Nan remained so quiet and did not cause trouble, he safely passed a month.

Actually, it could only be said that Chen Nan had been making himself nervous. Even if he had stirred up some trouble during that time, nothing would have happened.

People were all like this. First, they thought themselves too important, especially believing they were that important in other people's eyes. Second, once they had a secret, they became uneasy, thinking others would discover it.

Those were all ordinary human feelings, but the truth was that for someone like Chen Nan, whom he could crush at any time, Director Wang did not take him seriously at all. The only reason he kept him was that he still had value. No one would turn their back on money.

One man did not care, while the other had value. Those were the most fundamental reasons Chen Nan was able to stay alive.

This day, it was already September. Chen Nan knew the turning point of his transmigrated fate was drawing near. He had to prepare everything properly.

The first thing to prepare was his escape route. At noon that day, after Little Black Ox fell fast asleep, Chen Nan immediately got up, had several rats keep watch for him, and then secretly went outside.

He had already designed his escape route, and the rats had dug the tunnel accordingly. He had come out this time to inspect that tunnel.

It was located near the orphanage's northern wall, where several trees provided cover, making it extremely concealed. To avoid drawing attention, the tunnel had not been fully dug through. On the inside of the wall, there was still a layer about ten centimeters thick beneath the surface.

Chen Nan had come this time only to confirm its location, so he would not be left scrambling when the time came. He lightly stepped on it and tested it. Ordinary walking posed no problem.

When it came time for him to leave, he only needed more rats to dig quickly. That ten-centimeter layer of earth would soon collapse. Then he could escape from there.

Since the rats had dug from outside the wall toward the inside, they had scattered the excavated dirt down the mountain. With shrubs all around as well, this secret passage would be very difficult to discover.

The passage was basically complete. He could leave whenever he wanted, but Chen Nan still wanted to try the assessment and see whether he had that kind of luck.

If he were truly selected and entered the Preparatory Academy directly, then everything would become easy.

And that day would arrive very soon, so it was time to begin carrying out his other preparation.