Rot in the Gutter

Seeing Gao Teng's candid expression, Zhang Meizhu felt much more at ease.

She only wanted to get into a top-tier university and secure a bright future; romance and such were far too troublesome for her.

"Let's go."

Zhang Meizhu raised her flashlight, cast the beam forward, and took the lead into the depths of the sewer.

Gao Teng followed closely behind, but after walking only a few meters, he heard a whistling sound as several cockroaches the size of rice bowls flew toward them, wings buzzing!

"My turn!"

Gao Teng's face lit up with joy. He shoved Zhang Meizhu against the wall and swung his blade at the incoming cockroaches.

The blade flashed through the air, and in the blink of an eye, the cockroaches were hacked to pieces, splattering thick, viscous fluid all over the ground.

[You have gained 9 Merit Points]
[You have gained 15 Merit Points]
[You have gained...]

Listening to the notifications, Gao Teng shook his head inwardly.

The merit points these cockroaches provided were too meager; if hundreds of them swarmed him at once, that would be a real thrill to slaughter.

"Gao Teng, you went too far."

Zhang Meizhu rubbed her shoulder, which had been bruised by the impact, and complained, "Are these cockroaches some kind of treasure? You might as well have just let me smash my head against the wall and die."

Gao Teng snapped his fingers: "Good idea. Your corpse would be perfect for attracting even more mutated creatures, allowing me to hone my skills even better."

Zhang Meizhu: "...You really know how to talk like a human."

Gao Teng chuckled: "I'll take the lead from now on. I'll handle killing any mutated creatures we encounter."

Zhang Meizhu snorted, offering no objection.

If someone was willing to do the heavy lifting, she was more than happy to slack off.

The two continued deeper into the tunnels, and Gao Teng proceeded to hack down three more rats, his strikes swift and full of force.

Watching this, Zhang Meizhu said with some surprise, "When we first met, you couldn't even finish off a single cockroach without hacking at it several times. Your strength seems to have grown quite a bit."

Gao Teng shrugged: "There are only two months left until the college entrance exams. If I keep standing still, my life will be completely hopeless."

Zhang Meizhu raised an eyebrow: "Try your best, then. Aim for a vocational college."

Gao Teng smiled and didn't argue.

If he told her now that he could get into a key university, Zhang Meizhu would only think he had lost his mind.

Regardless, facts would prove everything; in two months, he would overturn everyone's perceptions!

"Oh, right."

Gao Teng turned his head to look behind him at Zhang Meizhu: "Medicine prices have been rising lately. Is your money enough? Have you thought about hunting monsters?"

"Forget it."

Zhang Meizhu refused without a second thought: "The risks of hunting monsters are too high. With the entrance exams only two months away, I don't want any trouble."

Gao Teng clicked his tongue; he knew that would be her answer.

It was a pity that with his current strength, he couldn't handle real monsters, otherwise, he would have gone off to slaughter them alone and farm merit points like crazy.

"Gao Teng, are you running out of money to pay back your loans?" Zhang Meizhu asked. "I advise you not to do anything stupid. Monsters aren't that easy to kill; one slip-up and you'll lose your life. I don't want to see you end up as monster dung."

Gao Teng shook his head, unable to help but laugh. Just as he was about to speak, a voice filled with sobbing suddenly echoed from ahead.

"The loans are never-ending. Once you step onto the path of martial arts, you only end up borrowing more and more money. The higher your cultivation, the more expensive the pills. If you stop taking them, your progress slows; if you keep taking them, you'll be in debt forever. It never ends! It never ends! It just never ends!"

Gao Teng and Zhang Meizhu exchanged a look and immediately went on high alert.

They shone their flashlight toward the source of the sound, and a ragged, disheveled youth stumbled out.

His skin was deathly pale, his eye sockets were sunken, and his long hair was matted with filth; he looked as if he had been living in the sewers for a long time.

"Tang Chao?"

Zhang Meizhu squinted into the flashlight beam, recognizing him after a moment, and let out a startled cry.

Tang Chao was her desk mate, and he had been missing for nearly a year.

She had assumed he was already dead; she never expected him to be living in the sewers.

"You... are you Zhang Meizhu?"

Tang Chao's eyes regained a flicker of clarity, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Zhang Meizhu said in shock, "I never expected to run into you here. With your grades, you could have easily gone to university. Why did you give up on yourself?"

Tang Chao seemed to have been triggered by something massive, and he began to howl hysterically: "What does it matter if I went to university? Huh? I borrowed too much, too much money. In the future, I would just keep borrowing, and borrowing, and borrowing. I can't fill this hole. I can't see a single shred of hope."

"Why? Why has my life turned into this? Ah?"

Zhang Meizhu's expression was filled with incomprehension as she said, "Using other people's money to strengthen your own power and elevate your social status—this is clearly a profit. What are you having a breakdown for?"

Tang Chao's eyes widened instantly, as if he had just heard the biggest joke in the world.

"A profit? You actually call this a profit? Do you think borrowed money doesn't need to be repaid? Was it given to you for free? Robbing Peter to pay Paul, borrowing more and more—I can't pay it back, I can't pay it back!"

Zhang Meizhu let out a sigh. "Since you knew your talent was insufficient, you should have acted within your means. Forcibly raising your cultivation level will only crush you to death."

Countless veins bulged on Tang Chao's face instantly, and he shrieked at the top of his lungs, "It's easy for you to say! Who is willing to stay at the bottom of society? Who wants to be stepped on by others? I don't want to live a cowardly life; I want to get ahead, I want everyone to look up to me!"

Zhang Meizhu had nothing to say.

Is living a steady life and working hard every day not happiness? Who says you must get ahead to be considered a real person?

Tang Chao had been driven mad by his own desires. He clearly held a hand of rotten cards, yet he insisted on betting his entire life to win one big hand. In the end, didn't he lose everything?

"Zhang Meizhu, how I wish I were like you. You were born a genius with a limitless future, unlike me, who can only hide in this sewer to dodge debts, living neither like a human nor a ghost."

"I envy you. I truly, truly envy you. I want to bite you into pieces, one mouthful at a time, so you can rot in this sewer just like me!"

Tang Chao suddenly let out a strange laugh, his face revealing a hint of ferocity.

Feeling this tangible killing intent, Zhang Meizhu's expression turned cold instantly. "Get lost! Or I'll beat you to death!"

"Beat me to death? I'll kill you!"

Tang Chao's eyes turned vicious, and he lunged toward Zhang Meizhu.

But he had stayed in the sewer for too long, and his body had long since withered into a pathetic state. With a single kick, Zhang Meizhu sent him flying, and he crashed heavily into the sewage.

He struggled to crawl up, tears and snot streaming down his face. "I can't even beat a woman. I'm useless, I'm such a failure. I want you to die, I want to..."

Tang Chao suddenly grabbed a piece of jagged metal and stabbed it violently into his own neck, dragging it across to create a deep, jagged wound.

In an instant, blood gushed out, and a pungent, metallic stench rapidly permeated the sewer!