247: Chapter 247 This mental state is a hundred years ahead of all humanity.

Jiang You felt a surge of blood rush to his head, and his vision started to black out.

He looked at the visibly awkward Mo Wu, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly.

He wanted to complain, he wanted to roar, he wanted to ask the heavens why they had to torture this poor salted fish like this.

But in the end, a thousand words faded into a feeling of utter exhaustion and despondency.

Jiang You didn't say a word.

He turned around expressionlessly, like a walking corpse drained of its soul, walked to the main door, and pulled it open.

Then, he turned to the side and made a "please" gesture toward the door, his movements entirely mechanical.

Mo Wu lowered his head in embarrassment, like a child who had done something wrong, and tiptoed out, hugging the wall.

"Goodnight, classmate Jiang You..."

"Bang."

Jiang You closed the door expressionlessly. Since the lock was broken, he had to engage the security chain. Feeling it still wasn't safe enough, he placed a glass on the door handle.

He turned around, didn't even bother turning off the lights, and threw himself onto that large bed in an utterly numb posture.

He pulled the quilt over his head, wrapping himself up tightly like a silkworm cocoon.

In the darkness under the covers, Jiang You kept his eyes squeezed shut, chanting like a mantra, frantically hypnotizing himself over and over again:

"This is a dream..."

"This must be a nightmare..."

"As long as I fall asleep, when I wake up tomorrow morning, I will still be on that broken wooden bed at Magic City Martial Arts University..."

"It's all fake... It's all fake..."

Amidst Jiang You's desperate self-hypnosis, the first night in the magical Imperial Capital finally came to a ridiculously absurd end.

...

Morning.

Brilliant sunlight filtered through the gaps in the floor-to-ceiling windows, playfully spilling onto the luxurious bed in Room 2808 of the Qianlong Hotel.

"Huuu— haaa—"

Accompanying a long, satisfying stretch, the bundle of quilt on the bed that had wrapped itself into a cocoon suddenly squirmed.

Immediately after, with a "swish," the quilt was kicked away.

Jiang You, wearing his spongebob pajamas with a few holes in them and sporting hair as messy as a bird's nest, ejected himself from the bed and sat bolt upright.

He took a deep breath of the fresh Imperial Capital morning air. In his signature dead-fish eyes, there was no longer the despair of questioning life from last night; instead, they shimmered with a light of almost clear, pure stupidity.

"Ah! A new day has begun!"

Jiang You spread his arms and sent a super energetic greeting to the Imperial Capital CBD outside the floor-to-ceiling windows:

"Good morning! Imperial Capital! Another day full of hope!"

Yes.

This is the ultimate self-cultivation of a top-tier salted fish—as long as I fall asleep fast enough, as long as I hypnotize myself deeply enough, yesterday's social death can't catch up to today's me!

After a night of deep sleep, Jiang You's Brain had successfully initiated a "formatting" program, classifying last night's large-scale abstract Shura field, which compared to the apocalypse, into the "nightmare caused by travel fatigue" folder and pressing the permanent delete key.

Jiang You was in a great mood and hopped out of bed, humming a little tune.

However, out of some muscle memory, he still decided to conduct a routine "safety check."

Jiang You walked to the bedside, bent down naturally, lifted the hanging bed sheet, and poked half his body into the pitch-black space under the bed.

He shouted at the empty space under the bed, which didn't even have a speck of dust:

"Principal! Are you still there?"

"If you are, squeak! I'll swipe two tea eggs for you when I go down to the buffet later!"

"Old Lu? Are you there?"

After confirming that there was nothing under the bed but air, Jiang You nodded with satisfaction, stood up, and brushed the dust off his hands.

Then, he strode to the floor-to-ceiling windows, "swished" open the heavy velvet curtains, and shouted at the bright glass:

"Senior Xie? It's dawn, time to check out!"

Then he wandered over to the huge mahogany wardrobe in the corner and pulled open both doors:

"Fugui? Batian? You two aren't in there practicing couples yoga, are you?"

Looking at the empty curtains and wardrobe, Jiang You let out a long sigh of relief, a look of "as expected, I was dreaming" appearing on his face.

"I knew it. How could so many people grow in my luxury single room? It must have been from sitting on the bus too long yesterday, making my head fuzzy."

Finally, Jiang You walked to the vanity, picked up his toothbrush and towel, and arrived in front of the luxurious bathroom that had burst out with four peerless beauties last night.

He stopped, raised his hand like a gentleman, and knocked three times on the frosted glass door of the bathroom.

Jiang You cleared his throat and asked loudly and politely through the door gap:

"Ahem! Um... is anyone in there?"

"I'm going to open the door to take a leak! If anyone is there, hurry and hide! Otherwise, I'm not responsible if you get a sty!"

He waited outside the door for a full five seconds.

After confirming that no angry curses like "shameless" or "you dead scumbag" came from inside, Jiang You turned the doorknob with peace of mind, swaggered in, and began to wash up comfortably.

If the others who had their Taoist hearts shattered and spent the night sleepless because of him saw this mental state, they would probably be so angry they'd vomit three liters of blood on the spot.

Is this kind of psychological fortitude even possible for a human?

This mental state is simply a hundred years ahead of humanity!

...

Half an hour later.

After washing up and changing into casual clothes, Jiang You pushed open the door, feeling refreshed, and strolled toward the elevator at the end of the hallway, ready to go downstairs to meet in the lobby.

At this moment, in the lobby of the Qianlong Hotel, the group from Magic City Martial Arts University had gathered sparsely.

However, the atmosphere this morning felt extremely... eerie.

Gou Fugui, sporting two dark circles bigger than a panda's, was leaning against a pillar in a daze. Seeing someone pass by, he subconsciously dodged back half a step, as if he had developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder toward any stranger.

Xiang Batian was even more listless. This muscular hunk who worshipped biomechanics had, for the first time ever, not lifted weights, but was chewing on a protein bar with empty eyes, muttering obsessively: "Too crowded... It's really too crowded..."

In the corner.

Qiu Yunan and Senior Ji Youyou stood far apart, ignoring each other.

Whenever their gazes accidentally met, they would immediately look away as if electrocuted, both of their cheeks carrying an undisguisable hint of embarrassment and exhaustion.

As for Lu Xingye...

He was surprisingly quiet today.

He wasn't cleaning his blade, nor was he looking up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

He simply had the collar of his black trench coat turned up to the highest, huddled in the sofa like an autistic patient, his eyes full of the desolation of having "attained enlightenment."

As for Ye Li, Hao Yun, and Bai Zimo, the team members who had perfectly missed this "midnight battle royale" last night, their vibe formed a stark and tragic contrast to this group of "victims."