Chapter 54 The Mysterious Ning Shijun

Back in the classroom, a cold silence filled the air.

With only one month left until the College Entrance Examination, everyone in the class had their own plans. Most of the time, they didn't come to the classroom at all; if they did show up occasionally, it was just to collect the cultivation resources distributed by the school, coming and going in a hurry.

At this moment, only a few students were scattered across the seats, each busy with their own tasks.

Gu Ye didn't recognize any of them. He sat down at his desk, while Chu Ling had already pulled out his holographic glasses and started playing games.

"Don't you have anything else to do all day?"

"Me?" Chu Ling pointed at himself with a dazed expression, momentarily unsure of how to respond.

After snapping out of it, Chu Ling said calmly, "I'm fine. I have my wife!"

"What does Yezi's leveling up have to do with you!"

"Oh, Old Gu, I forgot to tell you. Ye Suxuan's bloodline card and mine are linked."

"I know that!" Gu Ye remembered the dragon and phoenix he had seen at the Dusk Underwater Restaurant; the two were clearly one entity.

"In our bloodline card contract, I'm in the sub-position. I can't do anything."

Chu Ling shrugged, his tone instantly becoming aggrieved.

Then, with an expression of profound grief, he covered his face with his hands and spoke with a choked voice.

"Every day, I can only watch helplessly as my wife cultivates and breaks through. As soon as she improves, my level rises automatically without me having to lift a finger."

"Old Gu, do you understand how I feel? I'm in so much pain, it's unbearable!"

"You..."

"Fuck! I'm such a masochist!" Gu Ye really wanted to slap himself; he shouldn't have asked in the first place.

The others in the classroom also heard Chu Ling's words. Veins popped on their foreheads and the corners of their mouths twitched incessantly; they were clearly struggling to restrain themselves.

They couldn't believe the nonsense he was spewing; they wanted to level up while lying down too.

"Forget it, ours are different."

Seeing it was almost lunchtime, Gu Ye called Chu Ling to go to the cafeteria.

The two strolled toward the cafeteria and headed straight to the fourth floor. The massive fourth-floor cafeteria was completely empty. They grabbed some food from a window and sat down nearby to eat.

"Old Gu, the cafeteria the school prepared for us isn't bad. Although it doesn't have spirit beast meat every meal like my home, it can still meet the needs of you commoner students."

"Even eating can't shut you up. Just eat." He knew, of course, that the fourth floor was exclusive to the Sprint Class. Most of those who could get into the Sprint Class were children from prominent Noble Families; they looked down on cafeteria food and mostly had their families send exclusive nutritional meals.

Moreover, with the difficulty of this year's College Entrance Examination skyrocketing, those commoner students who had originally squeezed in had all voluntarily withdrawn from the Sprint Class to save their lives. Now, in the entire Sprint Class, he was the only commoner student left.

Gu Ye took a bite of food, chewed twice, and frowned.

The food was bland and even had a hint of bitterness; the texture was ridiculously poor.

"It's barely edible," he murmured. Images of hot pot, barbecue, milk tea, and crawfish from his past life involuntarily surfaced in his mind... Thinking about those various delicacies made his mouth water.

This was his first time eating at the school cafeteria, and he hadn't expected it to leave such a deep psychological scar. He secretly resolved never to come back.

This experience made him even more determined to develop cards that could create gourmet food.

As for why the last meal brought out from the Dusk Underwater Restaurant smelled so good, Gu Ye felt it was because it emitted a fragrance that enticed the soul; he couldn't even remember the actual physical taste.

After finishing their meal, the two walked out of the cafeteria. "I'm going to train. You go ahead and play your games!"

Chu Ling looked heartbroken. "Old Gu, are you going to leave me too?"

Hearing his words, many people nearby looked over. Seeing this, Gu Ye, who was walking normally, suddenly started running.

"Phew~"

Running to the school's martial arts hall, Gu Ye found an empty training room, flipped the "Occupied" sign, and took out the Card Master skill he had exchanged with Willow Crab for computer time last time.

The Card Master skill was a Bronze-level resistance skill named "Clear Spirit Protection." It allowed a Card Master to effectively resist dizzying debuffs.

Resistance and protection skills were basically mandatory for every Summoner Card Master.

To let their summons fight with peace of mind, Card Masters had to learn to be independent and protect themselves so their summons wouldn't worry.

"Let's begin. Studying is truly a painful thing. Back when I was a top student, I never thought learning a Card Master skill would be this agonizing." Gu Ye reminisced about the past, missing the days when he was a top student.

"Ash, Ash..."

"Present!" Ash was not only the guard of the school's Precious Card Pavilion but also the hub of all the school's systems.

"Open the external object simulation system, mental-type dizziness category."

"Understood. Please wait. Opening the external object simulation system. Dizziness effects are being calibrated... Calibration complete. System opened. I wish you a pleasant training session!"

Time passed minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye, three hours had gone by.

Gu Ye turned off the simulation system and slumped on the floor, completely exhausted. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, his face was pale, and his head was still spinning. With Ash's help, he had barely managed to master the basic usage of Clear Spirit Protection.

He rested in the training room for a full half-hour before slowly recovering. He stood up, stretched his stiff limbs, and walked out of the martial arts hall.

Leaving the hall, Gu Ye walked along a campus path when a steady, powerful hand suddenly slapped his shoulder.

"Who's there!" Gu Ye was startled. Turning around to see the newcomer, he was instantly speechless.

"Uncle Jun, why don't you make any sound when you walk? Don't you know scaring people can kill them?" Gu Ye looked at Ning Shijun crossly, but secretly thought that if Ning Shijun had wanted to kill him just now, he would already be a cold corpse.

Gu Ye stared at Ning Shijun and asked, "Do you need something from me?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted to chat with you."

"Chat? We don't have anything in common to talk about." Gu Ye was a bit puzzled. He had only met Ning Shijun once; why was he acting so familiar?

"What if we do have something in common?"

"Follow me!" Ning Shijun started walking forward. Seeing this, Gu Ye quickly followed, wanting to see what he was up to.

As for Ning Shijun having ill intentions, Gu Ye felt that based on what just happened, if Ning Shijun wanted him dead, he would have died hundreds of times already.

"Xiao Ye, what do you think of the Federation's Noble Families?" Ning Shijun went straight to the point with his first sentence.

"How else can I look at them? I look at them while lying down, of course. Am I supposed to sit up and look?" Gu Ye curled his lip and replied.