Chapter 30: An Acquaintance of the Original Owner

Chapter 30: Acquaintances of the Original Owner

"Exchange students from abroad are coming? At a time like this?" Qin Zhe asked, startled, having caught onto something significant.

When it came to intuition, he was quite sharp. Having knocked about in society, he understood what he needed to, and even a few things he probably shouldn't have.

"Tsk! Why are you overthinking things like a student? Just do as the Dean says. Go up there, spar with the exchange students, and win the reward—that's all you need to worry about." Yao Jing pouted, raising a finger to her lips to signal him to stop talking.

Clearly, although Yao Jing, as a senior member of the student council, hadn't been involved in certain events just like Liu Qingzhi, she had seen the giants with her own eyes in the secret realm and had gathered a considerable amount of information.

Seeing Yao Jing so avoidant, Qin Zhe naturally didn't press the matter. The current situation was indeed sensitive, but it didn't have much to do with him. Thinking about how Dean Wang Chongguo had his eye on him, he realized that a sparring match was likely unavoidable.

"I understand. Since it's the Dean's arrangement, I'll go through the motions when the time comes, but I can't guarantee a win."

"Oh, are you playing coy with me?" Yao Jing raised an eyebrow, tilting her head with a meaningful smile. "If the Dean hadn't told me himself, I never would have known you were at the fourth stage of the Martial Path. You’ve hidden your strength well. No wonder Liu Qingzhi felt safe keeping you by her side in the secret realm, and ended up having you save her life."

Leaning in with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she gossiped, "So, how is it? Any developments between you and Liu Qingzhi after playing the hero? I heard she was unconscious for a while. Did you seize the opportunity?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Qin Zhe shook his head, firmly playing the fool.

Facing this troublemaking demoness, he didn't want to utter a single extra word, especially anything concerning Liu Qingzhi. This woman was the head of the news department, whose job was to stir up major headlines. In the secret realm, she had tried every possible way to provoke Liu Qingzhi; if he were careless and said the wrong thing, he might end up on the front page tomorrow!

Adopting the mindset that if you can't afford to provoke them, you should just hide, Qin Zhe said, "If there's nothing else, I’ll be going. I need to head into town."

Seeing that he was clearly on guard against her, Yao Jing lost interest and waved him off. "Fine, fine. Looking at your cowardly self, I doubt you’d dare to do anything to Liu Qingzhi anyway. I’ll come find you again when the exchange students arrive tomorrow."

Qin Zhe was slightly surprised she let him off so easily. It seemed this demoness wasn't as hard to deal with as he thought.

***

Not long after parting with Yao Jing, Qin Zhe left the Martial Arts department building and soon walked off campus. Since waking up after his transmigration, he had stayed holed up in his dormitory, only leaving the academy once to visit the secret realm, so this was his first time walking the streets.

However, the endless flow of traffic on the streets felt very familiar to him. Walking along, he even had the feeling that he hadn't transmigrated at all, but had simply returned to his college days.

Back then, there were no shared bikes; people mostly traveled on their own bicycles or e-bikes, with motorcycles occasionally passing by. Because the road in front of the academy was a side street within the school zone, he only saw non-motorized vehicles. As he walked further, he didn't see any four-wheeled vehicles for a while.

But just seeing the scene before him filled him with an indescribable sense of nostalgia. Setting aside the fact that he had transmigrated into a parallel world, everything Qin Zhe saw revealed a retro style from a decade ago. That decade had been the period of China's most rapid development. He wondered if the Dragon Kingdom—the equivalent of China in this world—would also see such rapid progress.

Thinking this, he walked and stopped, soon arriving at a pedestrian street near the academy. Looking at the bustling crowd, Qin Zhe couldn't help but marvel at the strict management of the Dragon Kingdom. Since Haicheng University had finished its classes for the day, there were many figures in academy uniforms on the street.

The students walked in groups of three or five, just like ordinary people. There were no cultivators flying through the air, no demonic practitioners showing off their aura, and no martial artists using their movement techniques. The street was crowded, but it appeared orderly. If it weren't for the official constraints of the Dragon Kingdom, what Qin Zhe was seeing would likely be a completely different scene. Even if it weren't complete chaos, the ordinary people—who made up the largest share of the population—would certainly have been affected.

Quietly collecting his thoughts, Qin Zhe stepped into the pedestrian street and, without much effort, found a decent-looking mobile phone shop. The level of technology in this world was such that smartphones hadn't been out for long, so he didn't need to be picky about specifications, as long as it wasn't too bad.

He picked a generic phone and took the opportunity to pull out the last medium-grade spirit stone he had left. Spirit stones weren't commonly used in daily life, but as long as the merchant didn't mind, they could still be used as large-denomination currency. After all, exchanging spirit stones for Dragon Coins was easy; one just had to make a trip to the bank. Since mobile payments hadn't appeared yet, for the sake of convenience, spirit stones were often used in large transactions.

However, Qin Zhe mainly took out the stone to get change. He didn't have many Dragon Coins left, having spent most of them eating at the academy cafeteria over the past few days. If he didn't get some cash, his life in the coming days would be very difficult.

A medium-grade spirit stone was valued at 10,000 Dragon Coins. This was the recognized standard within the Dragon Kingdom, fair and honest, so there was no need to worry about being cheated. Buying the phone for just over 2,000 Dragon Coins, Qin Zhe received nearly 8,000 in change, and his pockets suddenly felt full.

He had to admit, money was a good thing. Not having money had made him feel insecure, but now he felt at ease.

Patting his bulging pockets, Qin Zhe grabbed his phone and prepared to leave. Just then, two girls in academy uniforms walked past the shop. One of them glanced into the store inadvertently, and her eyes lit up when she saw Qin Zhe.

"Hey! Isn't that Qin Zhe!"

She pulled the other girl to a stop and, ignoring the latter's embarrassed expression, rushed over excitedly. "Qin Zhe, what a coincidence running into you here. Are you buying a phone?"

"Uh... yes." Qin Zhe responded blankly, looking at the two of them, feeling a bit stiff. Both girls were quite pretty, especially the one being dragged, who had a very delicate appearance; just looking at her made one want to look again. But he didn't recognize either of them and was certain they weren't in his class.

"Since it’s such a coincidence, could you keep Xiaoyou company for me? She ran into some trouble today and is in a bad mood. I have to go to dance class in a bit and really can't spare the time."

The girl spoke with such familiarity, rattling off a string of excuses that stunned Qin Zhe on the spot. What? Keep her company because she's in a bad mood? Are we even that close?

Qin Zhe's mouth twitched. He wanted to refuse but had to be careful. He didn't know them, but they acted so warmly toward him, which meant they were likely people the original owner knew; he couldn't afford to be careless.

The talkative girl didn't care about that. She pulled the girl called Xiaoyou over and shoved her right into Qin Zhe's arms. Before the two of them, who had collided, could react, the girl ran out of the shop with a beaming smile, not forgetting to call back over her shoulder:

"Xiaoyou, I'm off! I'm relieved knowing Qin Zhe is keeping you company! Don't be too picky—after all, he did confess his feelings to you a while back, so he wouldn't dare bully you!"