Chapter 328: Grand Mansion and Fortune

"My future plans?"

Hearing Director Gao's question, Zhang Yu's mind flashed with many thoughts in an instant, and he finally answered, "I want to participate in the Top Ten Tournament."

Hearing Zhang Yu's words, not only Tulishan was taken aback, but even Director Gao was slightly stunned.

Director Gao had anticipated many answers from Zhang Yu, such as bluntly wanting to make money, or staying on top, or saying he would serve Wanfa University...

But he never expected that the other party would actually want to participate in the Top Ten Tournament?

At this moment, Director Gao's gaze toward Zhang Yu became meaningful, and he thought to himself, "This kid... is even more ambitious than I imagined."

But Director Gao was never afraid of ambitious or desirous students; rather, the more ambitious and desirous they were, the more likely they were to stand out in his view.

Otherwise, without ambition or desire... why cultivate immortality? Why not just be a mortal, muddle through life, and wait for death?

Originally, in Director Gao's eyes, Zhang Yu was just a first-tier student risking his life for his future, but now that he knew the other was actually planning to participate in the Top Ten Tournament, he instead thought more highly of Zhang Yu.

Looking over Zhang Yu before him, Director Gao said calmly, "To compete, you need to be among the top in the entire department. You're still far from that."

Zhang Yu said calmly, "I'll give it my all to try."

Seeing the determination in Zhang Yu's eyes and feeling his unwavering will under scrutiny, Director Gao smiled slightly. This Zhang Yu was even more interesting and a bit more outstanding than he had originally expected.

"Alright, don't say I didn't give you a chance." Director Gao said calmly, "From now on, you must participate in at least one construction site project each semester. It's both for the benefit of the department and a chance for you to train."

"But you are free to choose which specific project to participate in."

As he spoke, one by one, civil engineering department projects appeared before Zhang Yu's eyes through a spirit realm projection.

There were war fortress constructions on the front lines, cemetery repairs in deep mountains, renovations of spirit realm network data centers, expansions of Hehuan University's amusement park, constructions of flying sword laboratories...

Looking at these projects, all sorts of thoughts surged in Zhang Yu's mind. Staring at one of the projects, he thought, "They even have this? I must go there once!!"

"But not now," Zhang Yu thought. "I'll wait until I've made up for my physical deficiencies, then go to the construction site to freeload some food and drink."

Director Gao then continued, "Of course, the department won't just make you work for nothing."

"In addition to your salary, you'll be given access to medicine discounts. From now on, you can directly get discounted medicine from the School of Pharmacy."

"There are also experimental drugs that can't be bought on the market, which will gradually be made available to you."

As he spoke, a list of medicines for purchase and contact information for the School of Pharmacy were turned into files and sent to Zhang Yu's eyes.

After saying this, Director Gao paused, as if considering something, and finally said, "Starting today, this set of student dormitory suites on the 318th floor is lent to you temporarily."

The address, condition, and permission key of the 318th floor dormitory were sent to Zhang Yu.

This was a top-tier dormitory of 15 square meters, with one living room, two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a ceiling height of 6 meters. It came with a large amount of spirit energy and data flow supply each month, and the dormitory floor area also provided paid services like laundry, cleaning, training rooms, labs, etc.

Director Gao then said, "I've also opened the permissions for the anti-gravity passage for you. You can use it freely from now on."

Zhang Yu knew that the central anti-gravity passage was a high-speed vertical passage running through the entire Wanfa University City. Through the anti-gravity passage, one could quickly reach any floor of Wanfa University City within seconds.

Whether it was the 318th floor dormitory or the anti-gravity passage, both obviously greatly increased the convenience of Zhang Yu's life and cultivation, saving him a lot of time.

But this wasn't the end. Director Gao looked at Zhang Yu and threw out the final temptation.

Director Gao: "If you can achieve first place in your freshman class at the end of this semester, then I will accept you as a nominal disciple."

Tulishan, who was nearby, felt a slight shock in his heart upon hearing this: "Director Gao didn't mention this before, did he? Could it be an impromptu decision?"

A disciple of a Nascent Soul True Lord, even if just a nominal disciple, was an opportunity that countless students dreamed of.

In Tulishan's view, Director Gao had given so many benefits and such a great opportunity all at once. Wouldn't Zhang Yu be stimulated to cultivate desperately? Not stopping until death?

But the next moment, the pie-in-the-sky alarm in Tulishan's mind went off, and he immediately came to his senses, thinking to himself: "No, Director Gao probably doesn't expect Zhang Yu to actually surpass Ji Yuanshu and take first place in the class."

"He's just using this nominal disciple opportunity as bait, dangling it in front of Zhang Yu to make him keep desperately working without stopping."

But Tulishan also understood that being able to make Director Gao dangle a carrot already proved Zhang Yu's excellence; after all, ordinary students wouldn't even have the chance to have Director Gao dangle a carrot in front of them.

Seeing Zhang Yu's face change repeatedly, Director Gao patted his shoulder and smiled, "Don't get too excited. I will keep my word. Just go all out and give it your best shot."

But Zhang Yu was worried about one thing: "Damn... if I perform too well in the civil engineering department, won't they suppress me and not let me transfer to the artifact refining department? Won't they force me to take a master? I don't want to be at a construction site for life!"

Looking at Director Gao's smile, Zhang Yu finally asked, "Can I live in this dormitory with my current roommate?"

This was obviously a trivial matter for Director Gao, and he said casually, "The dormitory assigned to you is yours to handle as you see fit."

Leaving the Civil Engineering building, Zhang Yu suddenly realized that this agreement hadn't even been signed with a contract.

Fuji chuckled and said, "For someone of that stature, signing a contract with you is just a restraint on himself. If he doesn't sign, he has plenty of ways to make you keep your end of the deal, but if he decides not to, there's nothing you can do about it."

Zhang Yu took a deep breath and thought to himself, "I still need to get stronger, richer, and keep climbing upward."

Then he sent the news about the new dormitory to the dorm group chat.

Yu Xinghan: A 15-square-meter mega mansion?!

Le Mulan: This place is much closer to the classroom.

Zhang Pianpian: The monthly data allowance in this upper dorm is pretty generous.

That evening, Zhang Yu moved with Yu Xinghan, Le Mulan, and Zhang Pianpian into the dormitory on the 318th floor.

Looking at the dorm that had expanded from 5 square meters to 15 square meters, Zhang Yu felt that standing here, he no longer had to hold back his muscles, and his arms and legs could finally stretch out a bit.

Then Zhang Yu sent a list of discounted medicines to Le Mulan and asked, "Mulan, help me see which ones are more cost-effective and suitable for me."

Just then, someone @ed him in the Foundation Establishment class group.

"Is it Ji Yuanshu?"

…

Wanfa University City.

Inside a 100-square-meter suite on the 450th floor.

Ji Yuanshu's consciousness returned from the depths of the spirit world, having finished a one-on-one finance course.

Over the past semester, even though he was a Civil Engineering student, he hadn't paid much attention to his major courses but instead focused on finance courses.

After all, according to his plan, he was merely a passerby in Civil Engineering; the Finance department was his true destination.

And the prodigies of the Finance department would be his real future competitors.

For Ji Yuanshu, as long as he could secure first place in his class, he should put more energy into finance courses to prepare for competition in the finance department.

Just then, a message appeared in his eye display—it was from his mentor, Vice Director Lin of the Civil Engineering department.

Director Lin: What's going on? Why is your final ranking only 26 points ahead of second place?

Sensing the reproach and disappointment in his mentor's message, Ji Yuanshu quickly explained, "Because I spent more time on finance courses."

Director Lin: You mean after learning finance, your grades are worse than if you only studied Civil Engineering?

Director Lin: Did I let you study finance for this?

Ji Yuanshu didn't answer. Instead, his mind recalled what his mentor had once said to him.

"Yuanshu, Civil Engineering... is like picking up leftovers in a mud pit."

"If you just focus on engineering in Civil Engineering without thinking about finance, you'll be eating dirt on construction sites for the rest of your life."

"Even if you profit from the University War, it's just barely scraping by, getting scraps."

"Only by wielding fortune and leaning on the tide of humanity can you take a further step."

The memory flashed through Ji Yuanshu's mind.

At that very moment, Director Lin sent another message: This year, no matter which grade, we have to overwhelm them and drive their stock prices down completely.

Director Lin: Make good use of what you've learned in the Finance department.

Director Lin: For the final comprehensive score of your freshman year, I want you to lead the second place by over 100 points.

Faced with Director Lin's demand, Ji Yuanshu did not refuse.

Because he knew that in this battle over the direction of the Civil Engineering department, his position was just a small part of the struggle, and he had no right to refuse.

Moreover... he felt he could do it.

"I've really gotten the hang of the fortune and fate techniques of the Finance department."

"Since that's the case, I'll give it a small try."

Glancing at the current class ranking, Ji Yuanshu tapped his fingertip lightly, and the fortune divination service of the Finance department appeared in his eye display.

The data for Zhang Yu and Gong Shu Jin—including their rankings, grades, consumption records, borrowing history, work hours, classroom performance, health status, address, income, deposits, and so on—all surfaced.

Next, predictions regarding their interests, personality, potential, lifespan, and more also appeared one by one.

Ji Yuanshu murmured to himself: "According to the final fortune prediction, there is no possibility that these two can surpass me."

Then the data for the entire class surfaced one by one, helping Ji Yuanshu predict each person's thoughts.

"In the eyes of the vast majority, the winner is inevitably me."

"Both popular sentiment and the overarching trend are in my hands."

Having confirmed the general trend, Ji Yuanshu understood that the next step was to further guide popular sentiment and borrow from fate.