Looking at the change in the middle of his palm, Zhang Yu couldn’t help thinking, “What does this even mean? Will I die once it fills up?”
Sadly, no one could answer the unease in Zhang Yu’s heart.
After morning P.E. class ended, Zhang Yu limped along with his half-dead body and ate lunch together with Bai Zhenzhen and Zhou Tianyi.
After a short rest, afternoon classes began again.
The first period in the afternoon was History.
The teacher was an elderly man with a head of white hair.
Once the old man entered the classroom, he sat down at the podium on his own, flipped open his book, and started teaching in a casual, leisurely manner.
As for the students below, whether they were seizing the time to rest, doing breath control, cultivating, or even leaving the classroom to do body refinement, he didn’t seem to care at all.
Zhang Yu wasn’t interested in listening to this history teacher’s lecture.
He only flipped through his textbook quickly, his mind constantly recalling its contents and combining them with his own memories to understand.
“There are no countries in the Primordial Ruins. Everything is monopolized and controlled by the Top Ten Sects. There are thirty-six floors on the surface of the Primordial Ruins. The first floor is about the same size as two Chinas and is made up of cities of various sizes. Each city is managed by a city government set up by a Grand Sect.”
“Except for things related to immortal cultivation, the tech level of the first floor seems about the same as my previous life. But ordinary people seem to have it even harder here.”
“Zhang Yu has always lived on the first floor of the Primordial Ruins. As for what’s above… he’s only ever seen it in TV and movies.”
According to what Zhang Yu remembered, only by getting into university could one enter the second floor of the Primordial Ruins.
Only by graduating from university and joining a Grand Sect could one go even higher.
You could say that in the Primordial Ruins, only by mastering greater immortal cultivation power and gaining higher authority could you ascend step by step.
And the higher the floor, the denser the spiritual energy, the more developed immortal cultivation technology was said to be, and resources were more abundant.
Thinking up to here, Zhang Yu couldn’t help looking out the window, taking in the sunshine spreading everywhere.
“This sky and sunlight seem so real… Are we really inside some gigantic building?”
“If the first floor alone is the size of two Chinas, just how massive is the whole Primordial Ruins? We’re definitely not on Earth anymore, right?”
“How did I even come to this world?”
Unwittingly, he started recalling the scene of when he first came here: the strange ritual, the dizziness that followed once again making his head spin.
Zhang Yu quickly shook his head.
For him right now, compared to those big questions, things like high school grades, living expenses, making money, P.E. class—all these immediate affairs needed his focus even more.
But just as thinking about grades and cultivation made his head ache all over again.
Besides P.E. in the morning, there were four main subjects in immortal cultivation: dao heart, spiritual power, martial technique, and daoist technique.
Dao heart counted for 150 points, spiritual power for 150, martial technique for 100, daoist technique for 100.
According to his memories, Zhang Yu’s grades had been dropping across the board recently—not a single subject wasn’t getting worse.
At this rate, it seemed only a matter of time before Songyang High School expelled him.
But another question popped into Zhang Yu’s mind.
“From the looks of it, Zhang Yu’s family isn’t rich, and he has no outstanding talent for immortal cultivation. Whether in the first-year or second-year interview, he didn’t seem to do well. So how did he even get into Songyang High School?”
Zhang Yu racked his brains.
He only remembered that the original Zhang Yu entered Songyang High School with rather poor interview results.
Thinking of Zhang Yu’s family, a thought flashed in his eyes.
He took out his phone and opened his contacts.
“Right, should I contact Zhang Yu’s parents and his sister after school?”
Through the afternoon’s classes, Zhang Yu spent his time reviewing and sorting through the memories in his mind, gaining a deeper understanding of the knowledge in his head, this world, and Zhang Yu’s identity.
In the blink of an eye, the clock reached six, and school let out.
All the courses for the day were over, but for the vast majority of Songyang High School students, only half the day had passed.
Next, they had to attend various tutoring sessions and then study on their own until late at night before getting any rest.
Unlike his classmates rushing off to their tutoring centers, Zhang Yu was sitting alone in the deserted cafeteria.
He hadn’t attended tutoring for two weeks now, ever since his savings and credit had run out.
After dinner, he hesitated for a while and finally opened his phone.
“Let’s give it a try.”
First, he called Zhang Yu’s mother.
Then his father.
No one picked up.
Recalling the memories related to Zhang Yu’s parents and sister, he could only helplessly dial his sister’s number in the end.
“Zhang Yu?”
The chilly voice from the other end made Zhang Yu steel himself, “Sis, could you lend me some money?”
After a silent pause, just when Zhang Yu thought she was going to hang up, her voice came through the phone:
“When you were in first grade, I told Mom and Dad there was no point going on the path of immortal cultivation since you have no talent for it. It’s just wasting time and money.”
“After the split, Mom stubbornly believed your delusions and tried to pay for your high school herself. She even wanted to borrow from me lately for your tutoring fees.”
“Heh, so now you stubborn idiot want to borrow more money for cultivation. To keep studying in high school, you must be up to your neck in debt by now, right?”
Facing her accusations, Zhang Yu was left speechless.
According to his memories, everything she said was true.
After their parents separated, with each taking one sibling, Zhang Yu’s mother was struggling with little income.
Even so, Zhang Yu kept borrowing small loans to continue cultivation, patching one loan with another just to persist.
His mother helped him repay his debts again and again, only to see the hole grow even larger, until finally she too left him behind.
The voice on the other end continued:
“This is the last time we’ll ever contact each other. You pay back your own debts.”
“One piece of advice: drop out and find a job to pay back what you owe.”
“For old times’ sake, I’ll send you 500. That’s enough to keep you alive until you find work.”
Hearing the call disconnect, Zhang Yu let out a helpless sigh. “Well, at least I managed to get 500.”
Adding in the 500 Bai Zhenzhen gave him, Zhang Yu’s total savings finally broke 1,000.
But on the way home, his sister’s advice echoed in his mind.
“Drop out and work, huh?”
Lying back on the bed in his rented room, Zhang Yu stared blankly at the slightly moldy ceiling.
Falling grades, penniless, deep in debt, body worn out—he had to admit, dropping out and working might truly be the rational choice.
Just then, a stabbing pain shot from his palm.
That symbol only he could see was now finally filled up with black.
At that same moment, a clear female voice sounded from nearby, “Kid, the God Summoning Ceremony is complete. It’s time for three wishes.”
Zhang Yu jerked his head around and saw a stuffed doll sitting at the edge of his bed.
The cloth had yellowed and faded, the stitches crooked and about to fall apart.
Zhang Yu suddenly realized—wasn’t this the same doll he’d seen during that strange ritual on the rooftop the day he arrived here?
The doll said, “Hey, did you hear me? Three wishes. Not one less.”
Faced with this bizarre scene, Zhang Yu only wanted to escape.
He was no longer the clueless newcomer he’d been upon arrival.
After sorting through his memories, he understood that the gods in this world weren’t some vague figures of faith, but managers who ruled over all matters, big and small, within the Primordial Ruins.
But those True Gods were not the kind a nobody like Zhang Yu could summon.
To be called forth by his so-called God Summoning Ceremony, this must be one of those infamous Evil Gods who sowed disaster and massacre, hunted by the Top Ten Sects and the various True Gods.
Stories of mortals making deals with Evil Gods, only to die wretched deaths, their souls annihilated, were bedtime tales every child on the first floor of the Primordial Ruins grew up with.
“Zhang Yu must have been truly desperate, going to an Evil God at the end…”
“No wonder just thinking about those memories gives me a headache. Is this also the Evil God’s doing?”
At that first sign of danger, Zhang Yu wanted to run, but then he stopped himself, suppressing his shaking body.
The original Zhang Yu turned to the Evil God because he really had no other way out.
Spend a lifetime as a lowly beast of burden just to repay debt, or risk his life for a sliver of hope to continue immortal cultivation?
“Evil God, my first wish is for you to help me realize 100 wishes!”
After saying this, Zhang Yu swallowed nervously and looked at the doll. “You can do that, can’t you?”
“Heh, something so simple? Of course I can.”
As Zhang Yu let out a smile, the doll scoffed: “But my choice is… I won’t do it.”
“Because now that the God Summoning Ceremony is finished, it’s your turn to grant my three wishes.”
“If you refuse to fulfill my wishes, or purposely delay, or fail at any point, you’ll die from ritual backlash—flesh torn asunder, your soul scattered to nothing.”
“My first wish is for you to grant me another 1,000 wishes.”
Hearing this, Zhang Yu was dumbfounded, cursing inside: “Wait… so the God Summoning Ceremony was just to have me grant your wishes? Is this guy an idiot? A thousand wishes? Seriously?”
After stating her first wish, the doll gave a slight smile.
Twin black button eyes, hollow and endless, stared straight at Zhang Yu.
“Ready? I’m going to state my next wish.”
Zhang Yu tensed up inside. “What else could this ghost want?”
“If I really have to finish a thousand wishes, aren’t I just her slave?”
“Or, what if she asks for something I could never possibly accomplish… wouldn’t I die for sure?”
The doll said slowly, “I’ve thought of it. My second wish is… for you to help me collect a batch of antiques.”
Zhang Yu swallowed. “Antiques?”
The doll giggled. “Relax, I’ve already picked them for you. Just buy everything in your shopping cart.”
Zhang Yu paused, then took out his phone, pulling up his shopping cart from memory.
It was crammed with Buddhist statues, offering tables, incense burners, wooden swords… All expensive, each one over ten thousand yuan.
If he couldn’t afford these antiques, he couldn’t fulfill the wish, which meant he’d die from ritual backlash for failing the Evil God’s wish.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu quickly asked, “Couldn’t you pick another wish? I can’t afford this many antiques.”
“Stalling, are you…” The doll’s eyes darkened, malice billowing from the black holes. “Trying to back out? If you can’t buy them, borrow. If you can’t borrow, sell your heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, and lungs. There’s always a way.”
Zhang Yu fixed his eyes on the doll, speaking slowly. “If I did that, I’d die just to finish this one wish, right?”
The doll chuckled. “So what?”
Zhang Yu said, “You can either lose a person who could’ve granted your thousand wishes right here and now…”
“Or give me a bit of time, and once I become a disciple of a Grand Sect, I’ll buy up your antiques and keep going until all thousand wishes are fulfilled.”
“Hm?” The doll looked at Zhang Yu with surprise. “Go on.”
Zhang Yu: “I calculated it. Even if I worked on the first floor of the Primordial Ruins for decades, I couldn’t save enough to buy all those antiques.”
“But if I could join a Grand Sect, I could save that kind of money in a few years.”
The doll: “So?”
Zhang Yu: “So… as long as I study hard, cultivate diligently, get into a prestigious university, graduate, and join a Grand Sect, I can use my sect salary to make your wishes come true.”
The doll was silent for a moment, then blurted out, “So what, you’re going to study hard, get a job, and use that money to fulfill my wishes?”
“Are you playing me?”
An overwhelming sense of malice rushed forth.
The doll’s eyes became black holes, sucking in all the surrounding light.
Zhang Yu clenched his fists, forcing down his trembling legs and stared at the doll, word by word: “Your first wish was for me to grant you a thousand wishes. The second is to buy the antiques in your cart.”
“If I starve to death trying to buy the antiques, how can I grant a thousand wishes?”
“If I knowingly walk into death to grant your second wish, isn’t that intentionally failing your first?”
“If I deliberately fail the first wish, the ritual will punish me. I’d die before even getting to the second wish.”
“So studying hard, getting into college, working a real job is the only plan I see that could complete your first and second wishes.”
When Zhang Yu finished talking, the room became deathly silent.
A moment later, the doll’s voice said:
“Let me see your account balance.”
After seeing Zhang Yu’s balance and all the overdue loan notices, the doll was silent for a long time.
“This brat…” the doll thought to herself, “this situation shouldn’t happen. The ceremony’s target is supposed to be a rich person. Buying those antiques would be no more trouble than raising a finger.”
“But this kid… he’s so poor, so poor he found a loophole in the wish.”
“Damn it, wasn’t I supposed to get a rich mark? Why’d I get stuck with this loser!”
After a long silence, the doll looked at Zhang Yu and said, “What you said… isn’t unreasonable.”
“All right. Go study hard. When you have the money, I’ll come find you.”
With that, she sneered again: “But remember, all this is only so you can fulfill my wishes.”
“If you show the slightest laziness in the process, you’ll die from the ritual backlash.”
Watching the doll fade away, Zhang Yu let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the bed.
Suddenly, something occurred to him and he shouted: “Wait—that ceremony… what did I get out of it?!”
Though he suspected his transmigration was related to the ritual, he didn’t dare mention this secret directly, choosing to hint around the topic instead.
Unless he had no other choice, he’d keep Earth’s secret buried forever.
The doll was completely gone, but a voice lingered by Zhang Yu’s ear: “Your potential has been awakened, but everyone’s potential is different. As for what it is… you’ll have to feel it for yourself.”
Outside the room, the doll was muttering as she walked: “This kid’s talent is lousy. Awakening potential at best would mean a little more spiritual power, or slightly stronger flesh. He’s probably not getting into university, let alone joining a Grand Sect. How could he ever complete my wishes?”
“But quick thinking, I’ll give him that… Let’s see how far he can struggle.”
Inside, Zhang Yu watched as the black symbol in his palm started to change gradually.
