Chapter 189
Qingda University's Second Dining Hall was at its peak mealtime, and a wave of heat carrying the aroma of food rushed over them.
The air was a mix of the spiciness of chili fried pork and the rich, savory scent of braised meatballs. The clattering of metal trays, the cafeteria aunties' signature "Do you want green onions?", and the buzzing of thousands of people all blended together.
This was college, characterized by a genuine, down-to-earth vitality.
Li Ming and Zhang Qi followed behind Gu Ran, looking a bit awkward and not knowing where to put their hands and feet, like huskies that had accidentally wandered into a pack of wolves.
Although their worldviews had just been shattered by that Audi A6L with the "66666" license plate, they had recovered their senses, yet the feeling of restraint in their hearts still lingered.
In their simple and limited understanding, a "big shot" who drove that kind of car would at least eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant, or at the very worst, go to a private room near the school and order a few expensive dishes, right?
Coming here to squeeze into this greasy, massive dining hall where you had to fight for a seat?
It wasn't scientific!
It wasn't very "rich kid" at all!
"What are you spacing out for? Go grab a seat."
Gu Ran skillfully swiped his newly issued meal card at the window. Turning around with two stainless steel trays, he saw the two guys still standing there like bodyguards and couldn't help but laugh. "What, do you need me to invite you to sit down? There are no waiters to pull out chairs for you here."
"Ah? Oh, oh! Right away!"
Zhang Qi reacted quickly, hurriedly using his backpack to claim four seats by the window. His movements were smooth and practiced; it seemed he had done this a lot in high school.
Gu Ran set the trays down.
There was no abalone or shark fin, just the most ordinary home-style Mapo Tofu, twice-cooked pork, a side of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a free bowl of seaweed egg drop soup.
"This..." Li Ming looked at the plate of tofu glistening with red chili oil, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. "Brother Gu, you're just eating this? I thought..."
"Thought what? Thought I grew up drinking morning dew?" Gu Ran broke apart his disposable chopsticks without any fuss, picked up a piece of meat, and popped it into his mouth.
"Sit down and eat. Don't make it look like I'm engaging in class oppression. This twice-cooked pork is pretty good, it has a great wok-fried flavor."
Seeing him so down-to-earth and completely lacking the arrogance of a wealthy heir, their tense nerves finally relaxed.
"Brother Gu, you are a man of culture! That's a broad perspective!" Zhang Qi gave a thumbs-up. Just as he was about to sit down and brag a bit, the dining hall, which had been as noisy as a wet market, suddenly fell into an eerie silence for a moment.
It was as if someone had suddenly hit the mute button on a loud movie.
Immediately after, whispers spread from the doorway like a tide, accompanied by the sound of countless sharp intakes of breath.
"Holy shit... who is that?"
"A freshman? I haven't seen her before. With those looks... is she Nüwa's graduation project?"
"From the School of Economics and Management? Or the Arts Department? Her aura is absolutely stunning!"
Li Ming was facing the doorway. The chopsticks in his mouth dropped onto the table with a clatter, his eyes bulging like brass bells.
Zhang Qi turned his head to follow his gaze, and in the next second, he was petrified too, his brain practically short-circuiting.
At the entrance of the dining hall, a girl in a white T-shirt and light blue jeans was slowly walking in.
There was no heavy makeup, no pile of designer brands, and even her hair was just casually tied up in a high ponytail.
But that face, under the slightly greasy cafeteria lighting, was dazzlingly fair, as cool and pure as a handful of untainted snow, looking as if it came with a built-in soft-focus filter.
She held two bottles of chilled cola in her hands, her gaze sweeping over the noisy crowd before finally settling on Gu Ran's table.
Her initially aloof expression instantly melted, the corners of her eyes curving up in a smile.
Amidst the dead silence of hundreds of male creatures staring at her, she walked straight over. Her high ponytail swayed gently with her steps, every stride stepping right onto the hearts of the onlookers.
Gu Ran was looking down, drinking his soup, when he suddenly felt a chill on his cheek.
The chilled cola, covered in condensation, was pressed against his warm face, making him shrink his neck in surprise.
"It's so hot. Why did you start eating without waiting for me? You're asking for a beating."
The young girl's crisp voice rang out, carrying a hint of playful reproach. "Here, I bought this for you."
Gu Ran put down his soup spoon and naturally pulled out the chair next to him, his movements so practiced it almost hurt to watch. "No way, I was just tasting it for you, in case the auntie's hand shook and she put in too much salt. Hurry up and sit down to rest a bit. Are you done organizing your dorm?"
"Yeah," the girl sat down beside him, naturally picking up the chopsticks Gu Ran had just used. She picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork, put it in her mouth, chewed twice, and narrowed her eyes in satisfaction like a little cat being fed. "Delicious!"
Across from them, Li Ming and Zhang Qi were completely dumbfounded.
Sharing utensils?
So intimate?
She didn't even mind Gu Ran's saliva?
Crack.
It was as if the sound of countless young men's hearts breaking echoed through the dining hall, shattering like glass all over the floor, impossible to sweep up.
"Cough." Gu Ran twisted open the cola and took a sip, pointing at his two roommates opposite him who had already lost the ability to think. "Let me introduce you. These are my roommates, Li Ming and Zhang Qi. This is Ye Zhenzhen, from the medical department, my... family."
The word "family" was a direct declaration of sovereignty, and its destructive power was off the charts.
The girl's cheeks flushed slightly, but she waved at the two of them generously with a bright smile. "Hello there! If Gu Ran gets lazy and doesn't clean up in the dorm in the future, just tell me. I'll deal with him."
"H-hello, sister-in-law!"
As a gossip king determined to become a Know-It-All, Zhang Qi's brain was struggling to keep up with the situation right now.
He looked at Gu Ran's calm and collected face, and then at the breathtakingly beautiful Ye Zhenzhen beside him, roaring madly in his heart:
It is one thing to be rich!
I can tolerate him being handsome too!
But his girlfriend is a goddess of this level?!
Is he really here to attend college? He is a max-level player coming to slaughter the beginner's village!
Human joys and sorrows are not connected; right now, I just find this couple in front of me to be too loud...
"Um... Brother Gu, you are truly badass." Li Ming picked up his chopsticks, wiped them on his clothes, and held it in for a long time before squeezing out this single sentence.
The atmosphere at the dining table became subtle yet lively because of the young girl's addition.
A beautiful woman is inherently the best icebreaker, let alone a beautiful woman with a good personality and no arrogance.
Although Ye Zhenzhen looked aloof, she always gave Gu Ran's friends plenty of face. With just a few sentences, she had the two nerds completely charmed and disoriented.
Having eaten their fill, this lunch filled with the taste of romantic "dog food" drew to a close, and the topic naturally shifted to their college plans.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
