Returning From Level 900

Chapter 4: Adorable Student Times

The two of them walked into the large classroom. There were still a few minutes before class started.

Wang Wen took a seat in the classroom’s far corner. A figure appeared in front of their table just as he was about to ask the boy about the class’ progress.

The thin boy raised his head and looked at the person in confusion. 𝘧𝑟𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝙗nov𝘦𝗹.𝐜o𝓶

Wang Wen’s ears twitched slightly. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the person who came seemed to be a girl with a graceful figure. He did not raise his head but continued to flip through the boy’s textbook. In a short time, he was immersed in it.

He mumbled, “No, the speed of all the movement mechanisms on the 100th floor is exactly the same. It looks like they are speeding, but in reality, it’s just a different reference. That is the biggest difficulty of the 100th floor’s internal movement speed!

“Hmm, that is still alright. If I don’t have the strength to tackle the 100th floor, I’ll stop keeping the highest performance-to-price ratio once I reach the 98th floor. If I don’t break through the 100th floor, the 99th floor will be a complete waste of time!

“Nonsense! What does it mean that delicious food will be on the 250th floor? Out of the 737 times, there were at least 44 times where I did not see any food! This is nonsense! Why is such nonsense in textbooks? How many people will be misled, and how many will die of starvation?”

Wang Wen was reading the textbook with great interest. He clicked his tongue in admiration.

The girl was standing in front of the table, still waiting for him.

As time passed, more and more people were in the classroom, but Wang Wen buried his head in the book and read with increasing interest. The girl could not help herself any longer.

“Wang Wen!” The sharp voice roared.

The skinny boy was so scared that he shrank his neck.

Wang Wen put down the textbook and looked at the girl. He looked at her as if asking what she wanted with him.

“Stop pretending! I’ve never seen you work so hard! “The girl took out an azure-colored envelope and leaned over Wang Wen. She glared at him and said, “I’ve already said I don’t want to be distracted before graduation. Why are you still doing this? I’ll let you go this time and keep this to myself. The next time this happens, I will report you to the dean. Do you hear me?”

Wang Wen heard her mention that she would keep it to herself. He looked around and saw a large group of students staring at him. Among them, a group gathered nearby, whispering and laughing.

He took the envelope and looked at it. He nodded to the girl and said, “Thank you. There won’t be a next time.”

The girl expected him to refuse her statement or even get angry out of humiliation. She had not expected the other party to be so upbeat. That was not in keeping with the script she had imagined. It rendered her remaining lines ineffective.

She struggled for a while. It was time for class. There was nothing she could do. She snorted softly, raised her neck like a proud swan, and walked back to her seat. There were classmates sitting around her and whispering to each other.

Wang Wen took out a folded letter from the envelope and opened it. He found it funny and nostalgic.

He had been quite cute during that period too.

The skinny boy leaned over and said, “Why are you smiling when you were rejected? By the way, you did so well today! First, you walked away from Cheng Qiaoyi in the cafeteria, and now you’re confessing your love to Yu Zhi. I’ve never seen anyone so impressive before.”

Wang Wen’s gaze shifted from the letter to the boy’s face. He did not say a word, but his mind was full of wild thoughts.

Did girls have to behave like that wherever they went? What was that girl’s name? What paper?

The teacher began the lecture.

The main topic was about the various levels of knowledge contained in the World Tower.

In that era, technology had changed their lives.

Except for a few key jobs, such as working in the canteen, which still required humans to operate, automated machines replaced most of the labor force.

Ordinary people who wanted to make a living could do that in three main directions.

One was to strive for high-end jobs.

The other was to go to the slums where some cunning businessmen would not want to pay for the cheapest automation. They only wanted to use humans as cheap labor. They should be able to find jobs there.

Or they could challenge the World Tower weekly and earn materials and points with their life, perseverance, and luck. It was commonly known as tower climbing.

Of course, ordinary people relied on their life, perseverance, and luck to climb the tower.

The professionals in the academy were different.

The students relied on their knowledge.

Except for the 10th, 20th, 30th, 100th, and 200th floors, which required brute force to break through, many other levels differed. Some had a lot of knowledge that could be shared, for example, scientific decryption and mechanism techniques. 𝑓𝔯𝑒e𝘸e𝘣𝓷𝘰ѵe𝚕.c૦𝙢

Knowledge was power!

The first grade’s curriculum progress had already covered the first 100 levels, which was the highest level mentioned in that book.

The highest level had been discovered and made public.

It was the 499th floor.

In other words, the next 500 floors were still undiscovered.

However, Wang Wen knew that the actual number of levels humans had explored during that period should be around 659. That number had not changed for decades.

The extra part was added because the benefits were too great to ignore. Major organizations controlled the intelligence, which was not made public.

He was the elite that the First Consortium had trained. He had countless experiences and intelligence in his previous life.

If the wheel of history did not change, the team he led 20 years later would break through to the highest level.

That feeling was strange.

Wang Wen closed the textbook.

The morning passed quickly.

Wang Wen did not correct some of the misleading content in the textbook, and the lecturer explained more misleading information.

He had to explain and prove it.

He was also easily misunderstood, and things would get sensationalized.

Climbing the tower was risky. If there were people who blindly believed in the information, they would die.

It was not a good idea to overexpose one’s own situation. Far too many people in that world were willing to go to any length to learn more about the tower.

If the outside world knew he had returned from the 900th floor, the end game that awaited him would probably not be good.

The theory class at the academy took only half a day in the morning. They would usually have some kind of simulated training-style practical class in the afternoon. The instructors would not stay long, which amounted to free time for themselves.

After lunch.

The hardworking students would go to the library or the practice fields. The slackers would get together with a few good friends to go shopping, play, and bully other people.

The boy turned his head and asked Wang Wen, “Where are we going? There’s a game in the afternoon with those physical fitness freaks from another department. Do you want to go?”

Wang Wen looked at the gate and said, “You go. I want to go out.”

“Go out?” The boy widened his eyes curiously. “Go shopping?”

“I want to earn some money. I can’t let you treat me.” Wang Wen did not say anything more. He waved his hand, looked up at the sky, and quickly walked toward the gate.

The boy chased after him before he slowly stopped. He watched Wang Wen walk out of the gate and murmured, “Actually, I don’t mind treating you.”

It was a lively scene outside the academy. Students who could attend the academy would have some points to their name. As a result, the businesses around the academy were not bad. The shops were largely automated to avoid trade disputes. The robot who made the wrong ice cream would rather throw it away than serve it to the customer.

Many students liked to bully those automated machines; they enjoyed it too.

Wang Wen’s objective was clear. It was neither a business street nor a food street.

He walked straight to the dedicated World Tower teleportation area.

There was only one World Tower, but there were many teleportation portals worldwide. Through those portals, one could instantly appear in the main square outside the World Tower.

Their origins were as vague as the World Tower. People were still studying the teleportation mechanism. They had made some progress, but there was no official scientific research conference to prove it.

Humans were very adaptable. There were already so many unsolved mysteries in the world, so it was not surprising that there were a few more.

The world had also built many supporting facilities according to the regional planning of those portals.

There were many places like the academy.

Some areas even did stupid things like controlling traffic flow and charging for entry, but they gradually disappeared.

Wang Wen did not stop along the way. He removed a mask from his pocket, put it on, and walked straight into the teleportation portal.

That scene was seen by a few acquaintances who were shopping at the snack bar not far away.

“That person seems to be Wang Wen.” A girl held an ice cream in her hand and stared at the disappearing figure in the teleportation portal. Her mouth was agape.

Yu Zhi pursed her lips, frowned, and nodded.

“Only a few top students in the first grade are confident of coming back alive from the World Tower. The academy had already clarified that they were not prepared to recommend any first-grade students to enter the tower.” The girl turned her head and asked worriedly, “Maybe he was disheartened after being rejected by you and went to the World Tower to seek death?”

Yu Zhi furrowed her brows, and her gaze seemed complicated. After thinking for a while, she turned around and ran toward the academy.