Chapter 99

To prevent theft and fire, and also to guard against potential criminal intrusions from outside the school, Nanjing University of Technology has installed surveillance equipment on campus.

However, the locations where the cameras are installed are mostly quite selective.

Aside from some laboratory buildings and important campus facilities, surveillance equipment in places like the male and female dormitory buildings is generally installed only at the first-floor entrances and emergency exits.

As for inside the dormitory buildings, even in the hallways of the male dorms, no cameras are installed in order to protect the students' privacy.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of Sun Cheng's investigation!

Although Barricade didn't spend much effort pulling up the footage of people entering and exiting his dormitory building over the past day, trying to track down who stuffed the invitation into Sun Cheng's dorm room relying solely on the footage from the entrance was no easier than finding a grain of gold in a pile of sand.

"By the way, rummage through the Nanjing University of Technology student registration system and see if you can find a list of all the students living in this dormitory building..."

Sun Cheng didn't actually know the dormitory assignment criteria for Nanjing University of Technology; he only remembered that he and the others in his room had all been arranged there by the Class Counselor initially. As for whether the school had kept specific statistics, no one could say for sure.

However, this was still an avenue for investigation, which was why he gave the order to Barricade again.

A human body is ultimately not like a Decepticon's; having not eaten since last night, he felt extremely hungry.

After leaving the dorm and quickly washing up, Sun Cheng changed his clothes, grabbed his wallet and phone, and headed toward the cafeteria.

Just as he arrived at Cafeteria No. 4, the one closest to his dorm, he unexpectedly saw a familiar figure waiting in line to get food—it was none other than Lu Lan.

"Old Lu..."

Sun Cheng paused slightly, taking a moment to remember that the last time he returned to the real world, he had promised Lu Lan he would pay him back. But he had been entangled by Xiao Hong and his gang that night, and it was already very late when he returned to the dorm; he didn't know if Lu Lan had come looking for him.

"Good thing I brought my wallet..."

When he withdrew money last time, he had remembered the matter of paying back the debt and had taken some cash from the bank to carry with him specifically to pay Lu Lan back.

Seeing him now, Sun Cheng walked over with a smile and tapped him on the shoulder as he was looking down at his phone. "Old Lu, out for food?"

Feeling the tap on his shoulder, Lu Lan shivered instinctively and hurriedly looked up, only then noticing Sun Cheng.

"A-Cheng..." He quickly put away his phone and nodded. "Yeah, just finished class, I'm starving..."

"Let's go, stop waiting in line..."

Sun Cheng pulled him out of the queue. "Let's go eat outside. My treat, and I'll pay you back the money I owe you while we're at it..."

Relationships during college are relatively simple. There are indeed worldly and cunning people, but compared to the majority, things are quite simple; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to borrow ten thousand yuan or so from his classmates just by relying on his status as class monitor.

Upon hearing that he was going to pay him back, a look of joy appeared on Lu Lan's face. He lightly nudged Sun Cheng's chest and laughed, "Sure! With graduation only a few days away, there aren't many days left to mooch a meal off you, the future big boss!"

Sun Cheng smiled slightly. The two of them walked out of the school gate one after the other and arrived at a small snack street near the school. They picked a small shop that still had a private room, ordered two cold dishes, two vegetable dishes, three meat dishes, and a pot of soup, and then had the owner bring over a case of beer.

"You ordered too much, too much. The two of us really can't finish it, it's too wasteful..."

Lu Lan's family background was average. If it weren't for the face he gave him as class monitor, he probably wouldn't have lent him money. Although two thousand wasn't a lot, it was likely money he had saved up through frugality.

Sun Cheng smiled. "It's fine, I didn't eat breakfast either, and I'm starving right now!"

Perhaps because there weren't many people eating in the shop at this hour, the owner quickly stir-fried three or four dishes and brought them over.

Sun Cheng took the initiative to open a bottle of beer for him and handed it over. After filling his own glass, he raised it to clink it lightly against his. "Old Lu, I really want to thank everyone from before. Back then, my head was full of starting a business, but my thinking and preparation were insufficient, and I suffered quite a few losses. It was thanks to your support that I didn't collapse!"

"Ha..." Lu Lan downed the beer in one gulp and wiped his mouth. "Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen a pig run, right? Starting a business isn't that simple, everyone knows that!"

That was the honest truth. After all, Nanjing University of Technology was a premier institution of higher learning in the country. Countless students tried to start businesses after graduating from Nanjing University of Technology every year, but how many succeeded?

Not many at all!

Most of them either ended up settling down as office workers or turned to taking civil service exams.

Starting a business—it is absolutely not something that can be achieved with just technology.

With the right time, place, and people, lacking one makes you a shooting star, lacking two leaves the path full of thorns; if you have none of the three, you probably end up like his former self, with projects dying in the cradle!

Clinking glasses, Sun Cheng soon finished a bottle of beer with him.

His tolerance for alcohol was poor, and since he was drinking on an empty stomach, he couldn't help but start to feel slightly tipsy, the alcohol going to his head.

To avoid forgetting things while drunk, Sun Cheng took advantage of the fact that he was still clear-headed, took out his wallet, counted the money, and added an extra five hundred to pay Lu Lan back directly. "Old Lu, I won't say any extra words, you count the money..."

Lu Lan didn't count it either and stuffed it directly back into his pocket, asking him with some surprise, "You didn't explain clearly yesterday, how is your project doing lately? I haven't seen you in class for half a month, and I heard from Liu Kun that the project has already flopped..."

"Liu Kun..."

He had reminded Sun Cheng; he had almost forgotten that there was still one person he hadn't settled accounts with.

Sun Cheng's eyes flickered, and he shook his head. "It's nothing. Before, I was too busy trying to pull in investment everywhere and didn't pay much attention to the development side. As a result, some people were greedy, and some were busy stirring up trouble, which almost caused the project to flop... But it's good that they left. I can consider myself starting with a light load. I've revised my old business plan, pulled in a new investment, and I'm just about to do something big!"

He didn't mention Liu Kun, but this roommate of his, whom he had thought he could confide in, had almost ruined Sun Cheng this time. Having been distracted by the sudden death of Xiao Hong and that mysterious invitation that had appeared out of nowhere, he had almost forgotten about Liu Kun.

Now that he had been reminded by Lu Lan, Sun Cheng wouldn't make the same mistake again. While chatting with him, he had already begun to ponder in his heart how to deal with this former roommate.

With something on his mind, he, who already had a poor tolerance for alcohol, no longer had the momentum of drinking like a cow, and the frequency with which he picked up food increased.

The meal lasted nearly an hour. Sun Cheng must have been starving, as he had ordered quite a few dishes and ended up not wasting them; most of them had gone into his stomach.

Lu Lan was not like him. Although he had no classes in the afternoon, he was preparing to go to the library to sit for a while as his graduation exams were approaching, so after chatting for a while, he stood up and took his leave.

Sun Cheng didn't try to keep him, but before he left, he entrusted him with a task: "By the way, Old Lu, I might be too busy to get away lately. There are a few other classmates in our class who lent me money. Later, could you help me tell everyone that I will pay them back through Panda OO online red envelopes in the next two days!"

"Sure, I'll keep that in mind, I'll tell them in a bit!"

After Lu Lan agreed, he left quickly. Once he was gone, Sun Cheng didn't stay either. He quickly settled the bill, walked out of the small shop, and hailed a car at the intersection; he was preparing to move out and rent a place outside as well.

PS:

I went back to my hometown today, so the update was uploaded a bit late.

This is the first update; there will be two more in a bit, as compensation for not updating last night because I got too drunk.