Chapter 1: Interview

"Are we there?"

"Don't be nervous. Your grades are so good; you'll definitely pass."

"Don't worry about the surgery fees. Mom found a new part-time job. I'll help you get the money together. Just focus on the interview."

Looking at the messages from his mother on the screen, Zhang Yu silently put away his phone, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and waited quietly.

After a long while, a call of numbers came from the front.

"Candidate number 989, Zhang Yu."

Zhang Yu stood up and walked into the interview room.

He looked at the three interviewers and put on a polite smile he had practiced for a long time: "Hello, I am Zhang Yu from Dongyang Junior High School."

The interviewer in the middle looked at him and said indifferently, "Why do you want to apply to our school?"

Zhang Yu: "Your school has a long history, deep heritage, and abundant teaching resources. It has always cultivated many outstanding talents for society..."

The interviewer frowned and interrupted, "Don't give me that formal talk."

Zhang Yu said honestly, "I want to get into a prestigious university. Songyang High School has the highest university admission rate among the schools I can apply to."

The interviewer smiled slightly and looked at the materials in his hand, saying, "Hmm, perfect scores in all subjects, top of the whole school? No wonder you were recommended."

"Your grades are no problem, but to get into Songyang High School, relying solely on school exam results is far from enough."

He thought for a moment and asked casually, "How many hours do you sleep every day now?"

Zhang Yu: "Five hours."

The interviewer said in surprise, "Five hours?"

"The students at our school have been sleeping an average of no more than two hours a day since elementary school. And the outstanding graduates from previous years basically don't sleep at all."

"You actually need to sleep five hours a day, which means you study three hours less than others every day. Over nine years, that's nearly ten thousand hours..."

Zhang Yu was stunned. He hadn't expected that, despite thinking he had been very hardworking, he was still so far behind others in effort.

Zhang Yu quickly said, "I will work hard to catch up with them."

The interviewer on the left asked, "How much of the high school curriculum have you studied?"

Zhang Yu calmed down a bit and said confidently, "I have already finished self-studying the first-year high school courses."

The other frowned: "Only first-year? Don't you know that when we have classes here, it's assumed that the students have already finished the entire high school curriculum?"

Zhang Yu was dumbfounded. This was another piece of information he didn't know. What he had thought was an advantage had suddenly become a disadvantage.

Just as he was at a loss, the interviewer in the middle asked the next question.

"In order to improve learning efficiency and prevent premature romance, our school requires all students to undergo sterilization surgery to remove the relevant organs before enrollment, so that they can focus on cultivation from then on."

"Do you know about this?"

Finally hearing something he already knew, he quickly replied, "My family is already preparing for it. I will definitely have the sterilization surgery before the semester starts, so that my hormone levels remain at the most suitable level for studying."

The interviewer nodded noncommittally: "Alright, today's interview is over. You may go out now."

Zhang Yu walked out of the classroom feeling uneasy. He felt that his interview time seemed shorter than that of other students.

After he left, the interviewer in the middle shook his head: "Not sterilized even by junior high school? This kid's resolve towards the Dao isn't firm enough."

The female interviewer beside him smiled: "I think he came here knowing nothing. He doesn't have any of the necessary test reports or extracurricular exam results. I have to say, the quality of recommended students from these ordinary junior high schools is getting worse year by year. If it weren't for the support policy, they wouldn't even be qualified to see us."

The interviewer in the middle nodded: "Sigh, I thought the poor would be more hardworking. Maybe I expected too much of them."

"Put him on the backup list for now."

With that, he tossed Zhang Yu's resume into the wastepaper basket next to him, where it joined several hundred other backup resumes.

Although Zhang Yu felt that his interview this time hadn't gone very well, he had no extra time to dwell on it. He had already started preparing for one interview after another, going to different high schools.

"Student Zhang Yu, we've learned that your family's financial situation may be insufficient to cover the tuition here. However, we offer favorable loan services for financially disadvantaged students, as long as you are willing to mortgage some non-essential organs..."

"Don't worry, you haven't come to the wrong place. We know you are male, and although our school is a girls' school, we have never discriminated against males. As long as you undergo gender reassignment surgery, not only can you be admitted, but you will also be regarded as a seed student with resolute Dao heart, and have the opportunity to enter the key class to study the Primordial Yin Qi Refining Art..."

"It's a pity. You are still a little short of our admission standards. However, this year, in order to take care of financially disadvantaged students, we have introduced a special talent policy. If you are willing to give up your physical body, you can study as a soul-cultivation special talent student inside the principal's Ten Thousand Soul Banner..."

"Classmate, you've come to the right place—this is the perfect high school for a down-to-earth genius like you."

"Let me introduce the benefits here: we add cognitive enhancers to the drinking water, ensuring students maintain Level 5 focus at all times."

"Every day, the homeroom teacher will issue you over 900 grams of supplements specially designed for ox demons, guaranteeing your cultivation efficiency is more than ten times the original."

"Even the air circulation system is filled with nerve stimulants, so you'll never need to sleep again—and all of this is free."

"Of course, to withstand these functional-enhancing supplements, you must undergo modification at our designated hospital."

"Don't worry, it's just implanting some small magical tools to boost your metabolism. Here's the specific price list…"

One interview after another, question after question.

Either thresholds so lofty that he could see no hope of reaching them.

Or contracts riddled with traps, making him feel he would be swallowed whole.

All of this suffocated Zhang Yu, leaving him gasping for air.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that even though he had ranked first in the entire school at an ordinary middle school in the suburbs, compared to those students in the city center, there was already a world of difference.

And even now, he only knew the tip of the iceberg about how vast that gap really was.

All his hard work over the past few years seemed to have become a joke.

In the end, he was no different from those classmates who never studied; he too couldn't get into high school.

Returning home, Zhang Yu sat silently like a stone statue.

The phone on the table vibrated repeatedly.

Mom: How did the interview go?

Mom: I have to work overtime today. Remember to heat up the food in the fridge.

A moment later, the phone vibrated again.

Mom: Son, don't worry. Whether you choose sterilization or sex reassignment, Mom will definitely scrape together the money for the surgery.

But Zhang Yu didn't look at the vibrating phone. He just stared blankly at the ceiling, wanting to think about the future, yet feeling his mind was empty, with nothing to squeeze out.

Just then, his phone vibrated violently again.

Zhang Yu initially wanted to ignore it, but after the phone vibrated for over a minute, he finally couldn't help picking it up, only to find the caller had already hung up.

Then he received a message from that person: "Your 5,000 backup funds are ready—arrive in your account in just ten seconds…"

"A loan ad?"

"Hmph."

Zhang Yu figured that his interview data had probably been sold by some school.

But after putting the phone down for a moment, he picked it up again and reopened that message.

…

That night, when his mother came home from overtime, she found that Zhang Yu, who had looked ashen earlier, seemed to have recovered, sitting upright at the table reading a book.

"Mom, don't worry. I won't be knocked down that easily."

"If not this year, I'll take the exam again next year. I will cultivate immortality."

"Tomorrow I'll go find a cram school. I will make up for everything I'm missing, one by one."

Early the next morning, Zhang Yu rushed out. When he came back that evening, his face was beaming with joy.

"Mom, I found an immortal cultivation cram school. The teachers there are all hired from key high schools. If I study with them, I'll definitely get into a high school."

"Don't worry about tuition. They thought I've always had good grades and knew my family wasn't well-off, so they waived my tuition for now. As long as I get into Songyang High School next year, I won't have to pay it back—it'll count as advertising for them."

"Don't worry, they're a big company. They wouldn't cheat anyone."

His mother watched Zhang Yu leave for cram school before dawn every day, and after coming home late at night, he would still study until two or three in the morning.

She watched him bring back textbooks for Chinese, math, physics, and more from sophomore and junior years of high school, planning to finish all those general education subjects (except immortal cultivation) within a year. She felt proud of her son's diligence.

But when she saw the boxes of medicine he brought home, a flicker of doubt arose in her heart.

Zhang Yu explained with a smile, "Mom, since I was young, I've already studied ten thousand hours less than those top students. If I don't work harder, they'll just leave me further and further behind."

"These neural stimulant supplements let me sleep only half an hour each day, improving my study efficiency so at least I won't keep falling further behind the students in the city."

"Don't worry, these medicines don't cost any money."

"The principal of our cram school thinks highly of me; he gave me all these medicines."

Hearing that it was from the principal, his mother was even happier that her son was being appreciated.

Soon Zhang Yu brought back even more things.

Besides all kinds of high school textbooks and neural stimulant supplements, there were also capsules to regulate hormone levels, supplements specially for beast spirits, and several bottles of unlabeled medicinal powder.

Zhang Yu had plenty of explanations too—sometimes saying he bought them cheap while working part-time, sometimes saying classmates gave them to him, sometimes saying they were rewards from the cram school...

His mother was delighted by her son's diligence, and even happier about his good relationships and outstanding performance at the cram school.

She transferred 1,000 yuan to Zhang Yu and told him to remember to thank his classmates and teachers.

But gradually, she noticed Zhang Yu's mood starting to change. Sometimes he would be cheerful before leaving the house in the morning, but come back in the evening without a word and go straight to sleep.

Sometimes he would be happily eating dinner, then after taking a phone call, he would frown tightly and not be able to eat another bite.

She knew it must be the pressure of cultivation that had Zhang Yu on edge.

All she could do was buy more of his favorite foods and save up more tuition for him, hoping to help relieve some of the pressure.

Gradually, she also noticed that Zhang Yu was especially protective of his phone. Not only did he hardly ever let it leave his hand, but he also wouldn't allow anyone to touch it casually. When he got a call, he would always go into the bathroom and close the door before answering.

Once, she saw his phone was out of battery and went to charge it, only to have Zhang Yu angrily scold her.

Understanding the pressure he was under, she never dared touch his phone again, afraid of affecting his cultivation.

Suddenly one day, Zhang Yu asked her for tuition money, saying the cram school had invited seniors who got into top universities to give lectures, and the money was for them. Then there was a recommendation fee for the high school admissions teacher.

And a fee for a spirit root test at the hospital.

And he needed to buy a civilian-grade children's flying sword together with his cram school classmates.

From two or three thousand to seven or eight thousand... the last time, he had her transfer twenty thousand yuan directly, saying it was the rental fee for a Heavenly Spirit Root.

But good news finally came: Zhang Yu successfully got into Songyang High School.

His mother was overjoyed. She felt proud of her son's hard work and talent, and readily agreed to everything Zhang Yu mentioned next—tuition, miscellaneous fees, medicine fees, and so on.

But after school started, the money Zhang Yu asked for kept increasing, and the family gradually couldn't make ends meet.

Finally, one afternoon, listening to the voice on the other end of the phone, his mother's heart trembled.

"Hello? Is this Zhang Yu's mother?"

"Do you know your son's loan has been overdue for 30 days..."

!

That night, Zhang Yu confessed everything to his mother.

Over the past year or more, all the expenses during his studies were never free, appreciated, or gifted as he had claimed... The money all came from loans he took out on various platforms.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"But I really want to cultivate."

"Even if I spend my whole life unable to repay the debt, I still want to cultivate..."

After hearing all this, his mother silently sold everything valuable in the house, then borrowed some more money to pay off Zhang Yu's debts.

She thought that next, her son would be able to cultivate in peace.

But soon she discovered that her son had a new loan overdue.

Repaying... borrowing... repaying... borrowing...

Finally, his mother couldn't help but urge Zhang Yu to spend less money.

"Mom, I can't stop these pills. If I stop, my Dao heart will regress, and all my previous efforts will be wasted..."

"I have to rent a Heavenly Spirit Root. Without a Heavenly Spirit Root, I can't keep up my magical power..."

"I need to top up this VIP card for the cram school, otherwise I won't understand the cultivation techniques taught by the school teachers in class..."

Advanced immortal technology allows even mortals without spiritual roots to embark on the path of immortality, but the price is that they must undergo the most expensive learning and maintenance regularly to keep going.

Three months into the semester passed in the blink of an eye. Watching the debt grow higher and higher, to the point where even the rent, water, and electricity at home could no longer be afforded... everything seemed like an endless nightmare. His mother could no longer bear it.

So when Zhang Yu came home from school one day, he no longer saw his mother.

After reading his mother's message, he sat in a daze for a long time, and finally silently walked up to the rooftop.

On the rooftop of the rented apartment.

A sharp pain struck the man's mind, gradually awakening his chaotic consciousness from the darkness.

He opened his eyes and looked forward, seeing a street bustling with people and flowing with sewage not far ahead.

On both sides of the street, neon-lit advertising signs flickered. Looking further up, rows of pitch-black buildings crowded together, as if they were about to block out the entire sky.

Under his feet was a dilapidated apartment. On the mottled red brick wall, a financial advertisement video was being projected, showing cultivators soaring through the sky and burrowing into the earth, all jointly promoting a thirty-day interest-free cultivation loan for new users.

"Wasn't I playing Black Myth?"

"Where is this?"

Just as he was wondering what was going on, he turned around and saw the rooftop covered with candles.

Rows of candles flickering with scarlet flames surrounded him and a worn-out doll.

It was a cloth doll with yellowed and faded fabric, crooked seams, as if it might split open at any moment.

The eerie scene seemed to stimulate his brain, causing fragmented memories to churn and jump in his mind.

"This isn't China anymore... I've been thrown into another world?"

He found it somewhat hard to accept the fact of transmigration.

But the real memories of immortal technology kept pounding against his consciousness, gradually merging him with the original body while constantly reminding him that the world before him was indeed another world.

This place was Kunxu, a superstructure standing on the earth like a pyramid, with a total of thirty-six floors above ground and eighteen floors below.

Starting from the first floor, which was as vast as a continent, each floor was a new world.

As for what the world outside Kunxu looked like, Zhang Yu's mind held no answer.

He only knew that within Kunxu, it was a world where the great immortal sects reigned supreme.

The major sects stood high above, essentially monopolizing food, energy, transportation, education, research, healthcare, finance, the internet, and every other industry. Before the sect enforcement teams, the government and military seemed more like security guards at the door.

But ordinary people could not enjoy most of the benefits brought by immortal technology; instead, they were busy struggling to make a living every day.

And he was living on the first floor of Kunxu, a high school student named Zhang Yu who had been admitted to Songyang High School, and had recently become obsessed with some sort of bizarre ritual...

"Now I've become Zhang Yu of another world."

Just then, a sting came from his palm, waking Zhang Yu from the impact of memories.

He looked down and saw a transparent symbol appearing in his palm, slowly turning black.

"What is this thing?"

With the night wind blowing, the surrounding scarlet candlelight flickered.

The worn-out doll on the ground stared straight at him with empty eyes made of black buttons.

He tried to recall what had happened, but the more he thought, the more his head ached and the dizzier he became.

The atmosphere in the air grew more eerie and sinister. Zhang Yu, holding his still-dizzy head, felt the world spinning around him.

When he came to his senses, he found that he had already left the rooftop in a daze and returned step by step to his own doorstep.

Glancing at the rent overdue notice, he stepped through the door. What met Zhang Yu's eyes was only a bed and a table.

"Is this my home?"

Feeling his skin sticky with sweat and the unbearably stuffy environment around him, Zhang Yu wanted to find the air conditioner remote, but then remembered there was no air conditioner in this house.

He wanted to wash his face with water, but found that the water had already been cut off.

Zhang Yu sat down on the bed with some helplessness.

"What a shithole."

"Even if there really were immortals, so what? This kind of life is worse than a world without immortals."

Zhang Yu's gaze swept across the wall and he noticed that behind the desk, the wall was plastered with certificates of merit from childhood to the present.

First grade, second grade, third grade... all the way up to ninth grade—the original Zhang Yu had been ranked first in his grade almost every year.

Looking at these certificates, memories of receiving awards surged up in Zhang Yu's mind: "The original Zhang Yu was a diligent, hardworking student who had excelled academically since childhood."

"Songyang High School, where he currently attends, is also a key high school in the city."

"I'm a top student."

Recalling the knowledge in his mind, Zhang Yu's eyes gradually brightened: "Getting into a prestigious university means I can establish my foundation, joining a major sect means I can form a golden core, and then I can climb up in Kunxu, leave this slum, enjoy more benefits of immortal technology, and even live a few hundred more years without a problem."

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu suddenly felt that coming to this world might not be such a bad thing.

Just as he was thinking this, his phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Yu, the loan you took out on our platform is now three days overdue..."

After hanging up, Zhang Yu scrolled through his text messages and found a dense list of payment reminders—all notices sent by various platforms after the original owner's loans became overdue.

At the same time, the related memories surged out of his mind.

"This guy started borrowing money for extra lessons even before entering high school. After getting into Songyang High School, in order to keep up with everyone's grades, he had a 'bright idea': he began borrowing from one platform to pay off another, taking out loans everywhere to buy medicine and tutoring, forcibly stimulating his potential. In the end, not only did he owe more and more money, but his potential was gradually drained dry."

"This bastard is a fake cultivation genius propped up by loans from online platforms."

"Even his own mother couldn't stand him and finally just left."

Calculating the total amount of overdue loans, cold sweat immediately began to pour from Zhang Yu's forehead.

Because he realized that with compound interest, Zhang Yu already owed more than seven hundred thousand yuan across various platforms.

And when he checked his own account, there was only a little over fifty yuan left.

"I owe seven hundred grand... damn it!"

Zhang Yu suddenly punched the bed and growled, "In this world... even for a high school graduate who was a favored son of heaven, this is a massive debt."

"No wonder this guy was obsessed with some weird ritual... He's just a pathetic loan-addict with no hope in life."

"He got his kicks, and now I have to pay off his debt?"

At that moment, the lights in the room suddenly went out.

After flipping the switch several times and checking on the neighbors' situation, Zhang Yu confirmed one thing... his power had been cut.

"This crappy place..."

"If only I could wake up tomorrow morning and be back home... that would be great..."

With all kinds of messy thoughts churning in his mind, Zhang Yu eventually drifted into a drowsy sleep on the bed.

And on the palm of his hand, the originally transparent symbol had been filled in one-tenth black.