A new day began. At 6:30 a.m., the electronic watch alarm went off.
Wang Wen, who had been staring at the ceiling in thought, was brought back to the present by the alarm.
He reached over and turned it off.
He got up and switched on the tap to wash his face and brush his teeth.
The water sputtered out like a gravely ill patient, trickling for a short while before dwindling to drips.
At last, it stopped altogether.
Wang Wen saw that the water meter had run dry.
There was nothing he could do. He needed water.
He gritted his teeth and swiped his card to buy a ton of household water, spending 10 Points.
At least he was finally clean.
He went outside. It was still quiet.
When he arrived at The Academy's athletic field, he found someone already running laps.
Wang Wen nodded.
There was never a shortage of hardworking people in this world.
He loosened up his joints and jogged to warm up. Ten minutes later, he switched to intervals, alternating between fast and slow. Another ten minutes passed, and he was exhausted as a dog.
He braced his hands on his knees and panted hard, sweat pouring down his face.
He was so tired he wanted to curse.
His body at this age was frustratingly out of shape.
That little bit of exercise had nearly made him fall apart, and his calves were already threatening to cramp.
Had he really never exercised in his past life, twenty years from now?
Damn it!
He'd wasted the best years of his youth!
He'd let his body go to waste at the age when it was most full of energy.
Unforgivable!
With that nameless anger surging through him, Wang Wen roared his way through a full strength-training routine.
Then he threw himself onto the athletic field without a care, sprawled on the ground like a stranded fish, his arms and legs twitching as he lay there, unable to move.
At some point, the person who had been running laps left.
Now Wang Wen was the only one lying on the field.
After resting for a while, he checked the time on his electronic watch, got up, and slowly stretched as he walked along the edge of the field.
At 7:00, he returned to his room, soaked a towel, wiped himself down twice, then washed the towel.
His ears twitched slightly. He got dressed and went out. The skinny boy was just about to knock on his door.
The two went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Along with their usual food, Wang Wen deliberately picked up two bottles of milk, one for each of them.
The boy happily drank his milk and asked curiously, "Did you really make money yesterday?"
When Wang Wen nodded, he continued, "How much?"
Wang Wen held up one finger.
The boy muttered, "It can't be 10 Points. Two bottles of milk cost more than that. You made 100 Points? In just half a day yesterday afternoon? Where was the job? I want to go too!"
He counted on his fingers. "A hundred a day means three thousand a month! My god! That's practically daylight robbery!"
Wang Wen pressed his counting fingers down and said solemnly, "Not a hundred Points. A million Points. They gave me a hundred thousand as a deposit, and the remaining nine hundred thousand should arrive in the next couple of days."
"Pfft!"
At a nearby table, a young man and woman who seemed to be close classmates were eating together. The girl suddenly spat out her food.
A mouthful of rice porridge sprayed all over the young man's face.
She repeatedly apologized and stood up to help wipe him off with tissues. In her haste, she noticed Wang Wen and the skinny boy looking over, then "pfft!"—she sprayed the young man's face again.
The girl covered her mouth, mortified.
She bowed and apologized in a flurry, then ran off in embarrassment, leaving the young man dazed, his face covered in the remains of breakfast.
On the way to the classroom,
the skinny boy looked dejected.
Wang Wen asked him what was wrong.
The boy said, "If it were a hundred Points, I'd have been confident enough to try it with you. But a million Points is out of my league. That's not a number I can get involved with."
Wang Wen looked at him in surprise. "You actually believe I made a million?"
The boy said dejectedly, "Why wouldn't I? You have no reason to lie to me."
"Good brother!" Wang Wen clapped him on the shoulder, delighted.
As soon as they entered the classroom, before they could sit down, someone stopped them.
Yu Zhi pointed at Wang Wen furiously, then turned to the Department Chair beside her. "Teacher, ask him yourself!"
The Department Chair was a bespectacled, middle-aged, portly man. He gently adjusted his glasses and asked Wang Wen amiably, "I heard you entered the World Tower yesterday?"
"No," Wang Wen said, shaking his head.
The Department Chair froze, then looked back at Yu Zhi in confusion.
Yu Zhi was beside herself. "Teacher, don't listen to his lies! I saw him enter the portal with my own eyes yesterday!"
The Department Chair looked back at Wang Wen.
Wang Wen understood. "Entering the portal doesn't mean you have to enter the Tower. I just went to look around the Grand Plaza."
"You...?" Yu Zhi's eyes widened as she stared at him in disbelief.
"All right," the Department Chair said kindly, trying to smooth things over. "Even if you didn't enter the Tower, the Grand Plaza is crowded and full of all sorts of people. You should be careful there. Yu Zhi's concern isn't unwarranted. Wang Wen, next time you go to the portal, at least inform a teacher at The Academy first. Understood?"
Wang Wen nodded in agreement and watched the Department Chair waddle away.
Behind him, Yu Zhi said coldly, "Wang Wen, don't think you can get away with it just because you fooled the teacher. I can see right through you!"
Wang Wen turned around and asked with a laugh, "Then tell me, what do you think I'm up to?"
"Heh." Yu Zhi sneered. "Don't think threatening me with your death will make me give in. It'll only make me despise you even more. You disgust me!"
Wang Wen's mind drifted to the girl at breakfast who hadn't been able to hold back her laughter.
He suddenly understood how she'd felt.
While his thoughts wandered miles away,
Yu Zhi kept right on talking. "Wang Wen, I told you already, we're never going to happen. Can you stop clinging to me and making a scene?!"
The skinny boy couldn't stand listening any longer. He knew Wang Wen had gone to make money yesterday afternoon, and it had nothing to do with romance. Seeing Yu Zhi go on and on, he couldn't help trying to explain. "Yu Zhi, you've got it wrong. Wang Wen was—"
"Shut up!" Yu Zhi shouted viciously at the boy. "I'm talking to Wang Wen. What the hell does it have to do with you?"
It was one thing for a young girl to misunderstand him. He'd lived two lifetimes; this sort of thing was a joke to him, almost entertaining enough to enjoy with his post-meal excitement.
But when Yu Zhi shouted the skinny boy into silence, leaving him hunched and too afraid to speak,
Wang Wen got angry and shifted half a step, blocking the boy from her.
"You should shut up." He stared at Yu Zhi expressionlessly and gestured toward the space beyond the desk, telling her to move aside and stop blocking his way to class.
Yu Zhi was furious. "What did you say? How dare you speak to me like—"
"Get lost." Wang Wen couldn't be bothered to listen to her ramble. He slapped the desk, making a loud crack.
The commotion drew the attention of the students in the classroom, and they all turned to look.
Yu Zhi gritted her teeth and nodded repeatedly. "Fine, Wang Wen. You'll regret this!"
With that, she spun around and left, blazing with rage. She made up her mind that she would never say another word to Wang Wen for the rest of her life—not even a single syllable!
Damn Wang Wen!
Scum! Trash! Useless! An ant! A failing student!
If I ever look at you again, I'm a dog!
Yu Zhi returned to her seat, still fuming. She couldn't even be bothered to answer her friend's questions.
Ever since she'd left that place, nobody had dared treat her like this!
Her beauty was her greatest confidence. No man could resist a face as alluring and radiant as hers.
Damn Wang Wen!
Yu Zhi grew angrier the more she thought about it. Before she could come up with a way to vent her anger or get revenge,
a voice suddenly came from the classroom doorway. "Wang Wen? Is Wang Wen here? Come out for a moment. Someone wants to see you."
Before you continue