Heavenly Net and Earthly Cage

Heavenly Net and Earthly Cage

Bang.

As the door shut, only Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling remained in the office.

Still working the barbell in his hands, Lan Ling said, "President, this Zhang Yu is a little greedy."

Zhou Chechen lay on the sofa and chuckled. "He's poor. A single stroke of success, the recklessness of youth—it's all perfectly normal."

"If I'd raised my score by seventy points in a month like he did, I'd be just as arrogant."

"Give him another month to think it over."

Lan Ling's gaze turned cold. "President, are you really going to raise his contract terms again?"

Zhou Chechen said calmly, "Lan Ling, you've seen too few poor people. You still don't understand them."

"Limited by family education, experience, and living standards, poor people's horizons are often very narrow."

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

"But Zhang Yu could keep his cool and say he wanted to go back and consider it. That makes me think even more highly of him."

"If he can improve his grades again in next month's Monthly Exam, what's wrong with raising his treatment by one grade?"

Lan Ling frowned. "I'm just afraid people like him will never know when enough is enough."

Zhou Chechen laughed heartily. "All right, Big Lan. Be more magnanimous. Don't fight with the people below us."

"Zhang Yu and us aren't walking the same road. He won't come compete with us for our positions. We were never competitors to begin with."

"On the contrary, the better he does and the more he improves, the more we earn. That only makes him more worth investing in..."

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

"I'll be making up lessons in the Spirit Realm all afternoon. Don't come looking for me unless there's something important."

In the cafeteria.

The moment Zhang Yu left the Student Union office, he rushed over to Bai Zhenzhen.

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

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

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

Bai Zhenzhen said calmly, "The moment you went in, did he rush over to shake your hand without even having time to put on his shoes?"

Zhang Yu froze slightly, his words dying in his mouth.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "It's always the same. Every time Zhou Chechen gets someone to sign a contract, this is how he receives them."

"Huh?" Zhang Yu was startled.

So he was pulling the whole 'welcome a friend without even putting on his shoes' act with me?

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

Bai Zhenzhen snorted. "Did he really clear them?"

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

"Did he also tell you there'd be no interest, that you didn't need to rush to repay it, and that you could slowly pay it back after graduating college and finding a job?"

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

Bai Zhenzhen said, "That's probably what he tells everyone he wants to sign."

"But don't you dare think that's a good thing."

"Saying you don't have to repay it is nothing but lip service."

"If you stop repaying and the debt becomes overdue, all the power of decision will be in their hands."

"If he truly doesn't care, then sure, nothing will happen."

"But the moment he applies for compulsory enforcement, the money in your account will immediately be used to repay the debt."

"If that isn't enough, your assets will be used as collateral."

"Think about it. What's your most valuable asset?"

Zhang Yu's gaze flickered. He really did not have any assets. If compulsory enforcement came, he would probably just become a deadbeat.

But Bai Zhenzhen gave a cold snort. "The most valuable things on you are your cultivation, your flesh and blood tempered a thousand times over, and your dantian forged through unceasing cultivation."

Zhang Yu's eyes narrowed. "You mean they would?"

Bai Zhenzhen nodded. "Under compulsory enforcement, if you have money, you repay with money. If you don't, your assets are auctioned off. Once everything outside your body is sold, naturally they'll sell your organs, your flesh and blood, your dantian..."

He had long since stopped expecting any moral bottom line from Kunxu, but hearing Bai Zhenzhen's words still made Zhang Yu's heart sink.

And Bai Zhenzhen continued, "Don't even think about running. This contract isn't merely a paper contract."

"Do you remember the Law Department among the Eight Divine Departments?"

"When the Student Union signs this contract, they use talismans to respectfully invite the Heavenly Covenant and Contract Great God of the Law Department to bear witness. When it comes time for compulsory enforcement, it will also be carried out by the Eight Divine Departments."

Well, damn. Zhou Chechen, I'm baring my heart to you, and you're playing tricks behind my back? Are you trying to send your brother into one of those scam compounds?

Across from him, Bai Zhenzhen continued, "However, if you fully comply with the contract, and your grades improve in line with their expectations, they might not necessarily do anything to you."

"But there's another crucial point: the other section of the contract, regarding your choice of university and major when applying to college, as well as compensation for violating the relevant clauses."

"In other words, once you sign, they get to decide which university and which major you apply for."

"And then there are all kinds of other rules and restrictions. Break any of them, and the penalty will be an astronomical breach-of-contract fee..."

Seeing Zhang Yu's blank expression, Bai Zhenzhen said irritably, "Didn't you read this part of the contract?" Zhang Yu said righteously, "The benefits in the beginning had me so overwhelmed that I was afraid if I kept reading, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from signing. That's why I hurriedly refused Zhou Chechen and ran to the cafeteria to find you."

Bai Zhenzhen nodded. "All right. I suppose Yu Zi's willpower is extraordinary."

Then her tone shifted as she brought up something else. "Yu Zi, have you noticed that the filthy rich people at our school rarely clash with poor ghosts like us?"

"Hasn't it always seemed like they're refined, gentle, friendly, and polite? Like they rarely throw their weight around and bully people?"

Zhang Yu thought back for a moment, then nodded. "It does seem that way."

Bai Zhenzhen said, "Because rich people and poor people aren't competing on the same track. From beginning to end, they never considered us competitors, which is why they can seem almost human."

Zhang Yu frowned slightly. They were all taking the Gaokao together. What did she mean by not competing on the same track? Could they get into college through aerobics?

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "Because poor people apply to ordinary universities, while the filthy rich aim for the Ten Great Top Universities."

"For them, with their financial resources, there are plenty of ways to get into ordinary universities. They simply don't see poor ghosts as competitors."

"Only the top universities require even them to fight with everything they have against other rich people."

Zhang Yu could not help asking, "Can't poor people apply to top universities too?"

Bai Zhenzhen said, "The Ten Great Top Universities have limited admission slots. Divided among each city, there are even fewer."

"In Songyang City, the yearly admissions slots for all ten combined... only amount to a few dozen people."

"Those slots have long been monopolized by them through all kinds of methods."

"A Grade A Contract is one such method. They sign talented poor ghosts with good grades, then directly decide which universities they apply to."

"Of course... once you sign this contract, you can't apply to the Top Ten. But you become their investment project, so they'll still be polite and friendly to you. They'll still be your good classmates."

"But if you refuse to sign—and especially if you later show any inclination to apply to the Top Ten—then you truly become their competitor."

"What awaits you will be unimaginably brutal competition. You'll see the various inhuman methods they really use, as well as pressure flooding toward you from every direction."

"The admission slots at the Top Ten Elite Schools are something their circle protects together. They will never allow any poor ghost to lay a finger on them."

"On this matter, even the Student Unions of all Key High Schools share glory and share disgrace."

"And don't expect the school to interfere too much. When the parents' social influence far exceeds the school's, even the Principal often can't control the Student Union."

Hearing Bai Zhenzhen's explanation, Zhang Yu immediately understood. The Songyang lords were joining forces to squeeze out the stinking poor ghosts.

At that moment, he felt as though he could see an invisible net, covering the sky and the earth, hanging over every student's head and pressing down so hard that they could barely breathe.

Zhang Yu could not help sighing. "Is the gap between the Top Ten Elite Schools and ordinary universities really that huge? Enough to make them this afraid?"

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

"The Ten Great Sects are something people can never escape from birth to death. They are the forces that determine Kunxu's direction."

"And only by entering the Top Ten Elite Schools does one have a chance to enter the Ten Great Sects."

"As for graduates of ordinary universities? The Ten Great Sects will not accept them as disciples. At most, they can become employees of some corporation under one of the Ten Great Sects."

Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. As expected, even after graduating college, there was no escaping educational discrimination. Ordinary university graduates could only be outsourced disciples for life.

Bai Zhenzhen continued, "Of course, there's another very important point: only the Ten Great Sects... can grant immortality."

A trace of yearning entered her voice.

Immortality—the ultimate pursuit in the hearts of countless cultivators. It could be said that among all cultivators who had set foot upon the path of immortality, who had never thought of it?

Zhang Yu also recalled that immortals existed only within the Ten Great Sects.

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

"If you want to apply to the Top Ten Universities, what you'll face is a slaughtering net spread across heaven and earth."

"Yu Zi, now that you know all this... what are you planning to do?"

Under Bai Zhenzhen's gaze, Zhang Yu looked incomparably conflicted.

Should I sign? If I sign, I can study and take exams safely. With the Feather Scroll, even if I attend an ordinary university and work for a Sect corporation, I should still be able to do very well, right?

But... the Ten Great Sects...

At that moment, Zhang Yu thought of the Immortal Spiritual Roots that only disciples of great sects could implant, the Immortal Sect Grade cultivation techniques that only disciples of great sects could use, and immortality itself, which only disciples of great sects could attain...

In every shape and form, beyond counting, countless chasms lay between the futures offered by the Top Ten Elite Schools and ordinary universities—chasms he knew of and chasms he did not.

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

Hah... study seriously, work hard, get into college, join a great sect, then earn money to buy all the antiques in my shopping cart.

To join a great sect, I have to get into the Top Ten...

Fuck... I never had a choice to begin with.

Seeing Zhang Yu's constipated expression, Bai Zhenzhen patted his shoulder. "Think about it slowly. This really isn't a decision you can make easily."

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

As Bai Zhenzhen rose to leave, Zhang Yu suddenly asked, "What about you, A-Zhen? What are you planning to do?"

Bai Zhenzhen paused slightly, then said with absolute resolve, "I won't sign."

"I'm going to apply to the Top Ten."

Feeling the chill within him slowly fade away, Zhang Yu seemed to see the choice in his own heart directly.

He smiled. "Then we'll do it together."

(End of Chapter)