76: Start digging the foundation

Wu Zhihao and the other two stood swaying in the wind.

What happened to going up to enjoy the AC and eat BBQ?

Why only let Sun Chao up and kick us down?

And buddy, what the hell do you mean our gratitude wasn't sincere?

Right,

The reason Su Chen kicked them off the car was because they weren't sincere—their gratitude wasn't sincere.

It was quite frustrating; they had said thank you and all sorts of nice things.

Where did you see that we weren't sincere? Why could that fat guy Sun Chao get in just by saying "thank you"?

Though dissatisfied, they couldn't really say anything; after all, they couldn't beat him.

Helplessly, they could only set up their tents on the spot.

Even though Su Chen was dissatisfied with them, staying with him guaranteed their safety; if another Fourth-tier Exotic Beast appeared, he could save them.

Looking at the instant noodles in the pot that the Ear Rat had messed with, they suppressed their anger and ate.

BBQ was clearly right next to them, yet they could only eat instant noodles.

The air-conditioned room was clearly right next to them, yet they could only huddle in a tent over a small stove.

They really wanted to get in the car, so badly.

Just as they were feeling bitter, the tent zipper was pulled open, and a figure appeared:

"Alright, I was just teasing you. Come on up."

"Su Chen, you're so nice! Thank you!"

'Ding! Gained Lin Feitong's favorability. lottery ticket +5.'

'Ding! Gained Wen Yueyue's favorability. lottery ticket +5.'

'Ding! Gained Wu Zhihao's favorability. lottery ticket +5.'

...In the RV's living room, eight people sat around the dining table to eat, and it didn't feel crowded.

Sun Chao and the other three felt unspeakable happiness as they grilled their own portions of BBQ.

Su Chen didn't mind treating them to a meal, but he couldn't bear to let Xia Weiyu act as manual labor.

Wu Zhihao and the others had no complaints; compared to huddling in a tent eating instant noodles, this was already much happier.

'Ding! Gained Wen Yueyue's favorability. lottery ticket +0.1.'

Wen Yueyue began to complain:

"Thank you, Su Chen. We've been eating compressed biscuits and instant noodles for the past two days. It's been so long since we had meat. This is wonderful!"

"Eat more, I still have plenty here."

Su Chen picked up his chopsticks and placed several pieces of meat Xia Weiyu had just grilled into Sun Chao's plate:

"Sun Chao, come on, have some more meat."

"Brother Chen, I'm really grateful. You have no idea how much I've been craving BBQ these past two days!"

'Ding! Gained Sun Chao's favorability. lottery ticket +2.'

Although he didn't make Xia Weiyu grill for them, Su Chen would still occasionally pick up some meat and give it to Sun Chao.

He didn't mind sharing the meat Xia Weiyu grilled with Sun Chao.

Everything is relative; Sun Chao had given him a lot of lottery tickets, so naturally, he had to be a bit friendlier.

As for the other three, he didn't care much. Even though they expressed gratitude, the System wouldn't lie.

I've already started ignoring these 0.01 and 0.1 tickets.

Good talent indeed brings great returns, but it depends on the situation.

These three seemed a bit hard to crack, so Su Chen didn't waste any more effort. Instead of chatting with them, it was better to focus on someone with a simple personality.

Like Sun Chao.

"Here, Sun Chao, have a bowl of soup. It's hot."

"Thanks, Brother Chen!"

'Ding! Gained Sun Chao's favorability. lottery ticket +3.'

Su Chen really liked this kind of friend. It would be great if he could poach him to Poxiao... During the mealtime chatter,

Su Chen also learned that Sun Chao and the other three were freshmen at Shuimu Superpower Academy, in the same year as them.

They had come to the Xingtai Mountain Range this time to do a d-rank mission and complete their assessment.

Hearing about their workload, Wang Xiaoting couldn't help but be a bit surprised, not even noticing when Xiao Qian stole the meat from her chopsticks:

"Wow! Ten d-rank missions in one semester? That averages out to two a month. Your workload is so heavy!

We only have three missions a semester, so we just need to do one every two months.

And even with that, many of us still can't manage."

Lin Feitong was first stunned:

"What? Only three? My god, is it really that few?"

"Yeah, but our Poxiao is just a third-rate university after all. We definitely can't compare to elite schools like yours."

Poxiao... "Are you kidding me?"

Sun Chao suspected he had misheard.

Currently, there are twelve Superpower Universities in total. Aside from the top five elite schools, the other seven are collectively called third-rate Superpower Universities.

Because the gap is huge—extremely huge!

The minimum talent requirement for the top five elite schools is B-rank. Conversely, B-rank talent is top-tier in the other seven third-rate Superpower Universities—the elite of the elite.

The reason for this is resources.

The top five schools have abundant resources, while the other seven Superpower Universities receive very little funding each year.

Limited funds mean they only recruit Ability Users with E, D, or C-rank talents.

The best they get is B-rank, but even those are the bottom tier of B-ranks who couldn't meet the entrance thresholds of the elite schools and had to settle for second best, choosing from these seven universities.

Gaps in talent, resources, and mentors have created a clear dividing line between the five elite schools and the other seven superpower academies.

What surprised them was Su Chen's strength—at the First Rank, he could insta-kill a Fourth-tier Exotic Beast.

With this kind of strength, he would have no trouble even at their Shuimu; he could even go toe-to-toe with the strongest students in their year!

Why go to Poxiao?

"You don't believe it?"

Wang Xiaoting took out her Student ID from her pocket and tossed it to Sun Chao.

This time Sun Chao believed it—this couldn't be faked. An E-Rank Talent was also understandable; with that talent, one could only come here.

"Then what about you, Su Chen?"

"We're all from the same school, here to do a mission."

Yang Junlong chimed in, "Fatty, are you interested in joining us? A slow-paced life is great—easy assessments and a relaxed lifestyle.

Besides, with your talent, you'd already be a top student here.

In our year, there were two A-rank Talents, but now only my boss is left.

If you're willing to come, I'll give up my spot as second in the grade to you."

Sun Chao still couldn't understand:

"Su Chen, why didn't you choose a better Superpower University back then? Even though someone with your talent would stand out at Poxiao and might get a certain amount of resource allocation...

but the resources there are limited. Even with resource allocation, what you get would only be the standard level at an elite school like ours, which you could get with a bit of effort."

"No, I never thought about competing.

I just think the slow life right now is quite good. There's not much pressure, people around me aren't 'involutional', and I don't have to worry about assessments every day."

What could I say? Could I say I did it for the Empress?

"Involution? You're right, it really is quite competitive, and the pressure is mountain-high."

Sun Chao had a small thought:

"Then... if I transfer over, will there be any preferential treatment?"

Su Chen shook his head. "No, there won't be any preferential treatment or benefits. Everything depends on your own Ability.

By the way, I didn't get any preferential treatment when I went there either.

Because the place is quite poor. At that time, the Dean wouldn't even part with one extra Spirit Stone for me, telling me to figure it out myself by doing missions."

Hearing that even Su Chen didn't get preferential treatment, Sun Chao stopped thinking about benefits.

This really was the case of someone just wanting a slow life.

Even knowing there would be no resource advantages, Sun Chao was still a bit hesitant.

He kept making a choice in his mind: to go or not to go.