Chapter 141: College Exams End, Pianpian Departs (Repaying monthly ticket debt 8)

Xiong Wenwu knew that the reserve was a relatively isolated place.

And the breeding base within the reserve was isolation upon isolation.

The demon-blooded employees here were born here, grew up here, and died here...

Someone like An'an before him was vastly different from him, who was already in the first year of high school.

Because An'an had failed the placement exam at age six, she had been kept at the breeding base to work ever since childhood.

Even so, because of this, An'an worked and grew up at the base, eventually helping Xiong Wenwu in later years.

But over twenty years of work experience and long-term company training had made her an outstanding Red Tower employee, winning the reserve's annual Best Employee award for eight consecutive years.

Her award poster read: "What I love most is working for the company!"

"What I hate most is February, because that month only has 28 working days!"

"What I care about least is my salary! I am willing to lighten the company's burden and be the first to take a pay cut in the reserve!"

"My creed is: Don't fight with money, don't fight with connections, only fight with my life!"

"I am the reserve's Best Employee for eight years running!"

An'an stared at Xiong Wenwu as if she were looking at a wayward son. Pointing at the eight Best Employee certificates behind her, she said angrily, "You actually want me to exploit company loopholes and help them sneak in to leech off the spirit vein?"

Furious, she rushed over and fiercely swiped her claw at Xiong Wenwu's body.

Xiong Wenwu didn't dare fight back and could only continue to persuade her: "Sis! The breeding base is about to be shut down, and the company is going to pack you up and sell you to the Oasis Group!"

An'an said, "If the company wants to sell me to someone, they must have their reasons. I'll just follow the arrangement."

Xiong Wenwu said, "The Oasis Group doesn't treat demon-blooded employees as well as Red Tower Livestock does. They'll use you for experiments."

An'an didn't believe him: "The manager said that after I go to Oasis Group, I'll still be assigned to work at the breeding base. He wouldn't lie to me."

Xiong Wenwu sighed, knowing that in An'an's eyes, his credibility was lower than the reserve manager's.

With a thud, Xiong Wenwu's massive frame knelt to the ground.

"Sis, help me, please."

Seeing Xiong Wenwu like this, An'an's momentum instantly weakened. Flustered, she said, "You! You! What are you doing? Did you fail the monthly exam? Or can't you pay off your loan?"

Xiong Wenwu said in a low voice, "Sis, I'm about to be eliminated."

An'an: "Huh? You... didn't you do pretty well in the last few monthly exams? How could you..."

Xiong Wenwu said, "Because my competition performance is terrible. If I keep being this bad, Father will eliminate me and send me to the bad class."

He pointed at Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen beside him and said, "If you don't believe me, ask them. They're the ones who beat me in the competition and got me eliminated."

Seeing the look Xiong Wenwu shot them, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen exchanged a glance and nodded straightforwardly, admitting the matter.

Xiong Wenwu looked at the bewildered An'an and continued, "Sis, they said that if I can arrange for them to get a chance to absorb the spiritual vein, not only will they let me win in the next competition, but they'll also tutor me for free to improve my grades."

"Sis, I'm begging you. I don't want to be eliminated by Father. I want to get a better rank in the competition. Can you help me?"

"If you don't believe me, here are the news reports and videos of our competition. Take a look..."

An'an first looked up the competition information online, then watched videos where Xiong Wenwu was beaten bloody by Bai Zhenzhen in the martial arts competition and had his muscles torn in the sports competition, yet still lost to Zhang Yu...

The red panda An'an turned to face Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen, clasped her paws together in a bow, and said, "How much money do you want? I'll pay for him. He really worked his butt off to get into high school. He has a chance to go to college..."

Zhang Yu laughed and said, "Ten thousand an hour."

Upon hearing this, An'an's face turned pale. As a demon-blooded employee who hadn't even attended high school and hadn't cultivated immortality, her monthly salary was only two thousand.

Bai Zhenzhen said from the side, "If you can't afford it, just let us absorb the spirit vein. For every hour we absorb, we'll spend an hour tutoring him."

Xiong Wenwu pleaded, "Sis! I want tutoring! I want to keep going to high school and take the college entrance exam! I don't want to work in a factory. Please help me!"

The red panda An'an gritted her teeth, looked at the kneeling Xiong Wenwu, and finally let out a long sigh. "Fine."

At that moment, An'an felt that her company spirit and company soul were shattered, and she had let down the certificates on the wall.

So the next day, led by Xiong Wenwu and An'an, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen entered the breeding base through the material transport passage and arrived at a room in the incubation chamber.

As soon as he entered the incubation room, Zhang Yu felt an incredibly refreshing wave of air rush toward him, washing over his body from head to toe, even making him feel as if his soul had been cleansed, giving him a sensation of floating like an immortal.

"Is this air from a spirit vein? It's even more comfortable than in the protected area."

He took a deep breath, feeling the spiritual energy churning back and forth inside his body, greedily absorbed by every inch of his flesh and blood.

But after slightly activating the Great Sun Qi Sea technique, he looked at the light sources around him and a trace of regret appeared in his eyes.

Xiong Wenwu beside him asked, "Is there still a problem?"

Zhang Yu said, "Is there any light source here? We need more light when we cultivate."

"Light?" Xiong Wenwu thought for a moment and said, "How about incubation lamps? They're used to warm dragon eggs."

So, under An An's reluctant guidance, Zhang Yu and Xiong Wenwu moved over a dozen incubation lamps together.

As the lamps were turned on, Zhang Yu felt as if several little suns had appeared before him. Under the intense radiance, the surrounding spiritual energy seemed to shine toward his body along with the light, causing his Great Sun mana to surge violently. Fuji, on Zhang Yu's chest, analyzed: "These incubation lamps are not ordinary lamps; they're used to hatch dragon eggs. The light inside has been processed by some kind of immortal technology, making it better at condensing spiritual energy."

With the spirit vein plus the effect of the incubation lamps, the true spirit root even began to breathe in tandem with the Great Sun Qi Sea...

The Great Sun mana inside his body erupted like a volcano, roaring and surging back and forth within him.

Zhang Yu felt the spiritual energy rushing in from all directions, and he had the illusion of soaking in a pool of spiritual energy.

His breathing efficiency kept increasing! Increasing! Increasing again! Finally it reached a limit where it could no longer improve.

"So this is the true full-power effect of the breathing technique when you have a spirit vein, a spirit root, and a level 10 Qi Refining mid-stage breathing technique?"

Zhang Yu felt that at this moment he was truly practicing breathing and cultivating immortality; compared to this, his previous efforts were like sucking on car exhaust.

But on second thought, mana for students of key high schools was something they could achieve step by step; after a few years, they could eventually reach the limit of 100.

And now, in order to reach the level of senior year by the end of their first year, he and Bai Zhenzhen had to put in a lot of effort and money.

Just then, Bai Zhenzhen beside him said, "Yu, give me the spirit root quickly; I want to try it too."

After looking at each one,

After the true spirit root was drawn away, Zhang Yu felt his breathing speed suddenly drop by 30 to 40 percent, and a sense of loss surged in his heart.

"It seems that in the future, A Zhen and I can only come separately..."

So Zhang Yu let Bai Zhenzhen stay here to cultivate first, and he would come next time.

On the way out, Zhang Yu asked Xiong Wenwu curiously: "The money you asked us for, you plan to use it to help An An, right?"

Xiong Wenwu was silent for a moment, then said: "I want to help her pay off her breeding debt so she can leave this place, and won't have to worry about being sold to the Oasis Group in the future."

In the following days, Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen's cultivation made rapid progress, with both their physical strength and mana rising steadily.

Although their Dao heart did not surge like that, it was also steadily improving.

Zhang Yu only regretted that Yu Xinghan hadn't heard anything about the spirit realm, saying that they would have to wait until after the college entrance exam, when a large number of senior students graduated, in order to free up spots.

In the blink of an eye, time had arrived at the beginning of June.

Tomorrow is the day of the college entrance exam.

And this also means that the day of Zhang Pianpian's departure is getting closer and closer.

As the college entrance exam approached, the atmosphere inside Songyang High School became increasingly tense, and the status of senior students rose like a rising tide; a single look from them could make junior and sophomore students step aside.

Even the usually stern teachers now spoke softly to senior students, afraid of any losses before the exam.

During this period, although with the increase in data, the same training methods would inevitably become less effective.

But by the time June arrived, Zhang Yu's physical strength had risen to 5.99, his mana had grown to 60.2, and his Dao heart reached level 5 (25%).

However, as he ate more and used more medicine, plus the expenses of the protected area, his savings were also depleting. Even with income from tutoring and sparring, his savings had now dropped to a little over 120,000.

And as far as he knew, Bai Zhenzhen's income was even lower than his, and her savings were nearly gone.

In those days, Zhang Yu often sighed to himself: "The path of immortality truly spends money like water."

"But at least the money wasn't wasted. We are getting closer to White Dragon's standards: Dao heart level 6, mana above 70 units, physical strength above 7.5, which was her level at the beginning of her senior year."

"With the remaining two months, we should be able to reach it."

But Zhang Yu also knew that in the time to come, with Zhang Pianpian's departure, he would face even more trials.

…

Three days later, shortly after the college entrance exam ended.

Zhang Yu received a call from Zhang Pianpian.

"I'm about to leave."

"After I'm gone, staying in the city and at school will be safest for you."

"But you and I both know that's impossible."

Zhang Yu nodded slightly. Since they had to take the foundation establishment exam, there was no way they could just stay at school or in Songyang City the whole time.

Zhang Pianpian continued, "The other rich people aren't a threat for now. The ones who hold the deepest hostility toward you are Zhou Chechen and Lan Ling."

"After I leave, you need to be careful."

…