"I'm sorry," said Xing Yuanzhi.
Seeing Cheng Jinyang in a daze, Xing Yuanzhi added, "There's no emotional foundation between us. The marriage was purely a political consideration by our elders. Now that your father has passed away, this marriage naturally needs to be reconsidered. However, the Xing family doesn't want to pressure the son of an old friend. That's why I came to discuss privately with you first, to see if we can resolve this matter amicably."
Then, she noticed a hint of mockery in Cheng Jinyang's eyes.
"You don't want to pressure the son of an old friend?" He chuckled softly, his tone tinged with sarcasm, causing Xing Yuanzhi to furrow her brow slightly.
If there was really any sense of friendship, how could they have let his father be dismissed and not maintained any contact over the years?
Before my transmigration, the original owner's parents had already passed away, their family fallen on hard times, and the original owner suffering from severe heart disease.
You, as old friends, how could you just ignore all that? It's just that you're worried about being bothered by the original owner, huh.
Now that you see my mental state has improved, you're eager to come and talk about cancelling the marriage! But then again, after all, the once promising Cheng Qinghe has already passed away. Now he's just an orphan without parents, so it's normal to cancel the marriage.
I can't believe the hypocrisy, pretending to care about the suffering of an old acquaintance even after cutting ties. Damn Xing Yuanzhi, just crawl away! Even if I die, die out there, jumping from here, even...
"After the breakup, I'll arrange for the Xing family members on campus to take care of you," Xing Yuanzhi said.
Seeing his silence, she sighed inwardly and continued, "Also, before you graduate, there will be a monthly compensation of 10,000 yuan on the 20th of each month, privately paid from me to your account."
"Family arrangements. So we are both helpless, sorry."
Cheng Jinyang: ???
10,000 yuan per month is not a small amount, it can even cover his monthly expenses and have surplus.
Considering how casually she mentioned the price, he felt an instinctive jealousy and resentment, but thinking about that 10,000 yuan, the anger disappeared. After all, what she offered was...
"Alright," Cheng Jinyang stood up indifferently, saying, "I'll go home tonight and find the marriage contract my father left behind, and bring it to you tomorrow."
"It's almost time for class, I'll leave first."
He picked up his backpack and left the shop without looking back. The maid behind the counter quickly called out, "Young Master Cheng, your milk tea..."
The response was the sound of the shop door closing on its own.
"Miss?" Two maids carried the prepared milk tea and came to Xing Yuanzhi's side with a sense of grievance, afraid that Miss would blame them for being too slow.
"It's fine." Xing Yuanzhi glanced lightly at the door, losing interest in drinking the milk tea for a moment, and said coldly, "Just pour it out."
.....
Calculating carefully: parents deceased, impoverished, and now the fiancée has called off the engagement. The three elements of "suffering, adversity, and rebound" seem to have all come together. Is it time for the plot twist?
When will the "golden finger" come to my mind? Of course, Cheng Jinyang hasn't reached the point of asking "System, are you there?" in his mind yet. He's just bored, resting his chin on his hand, staring at the teacher's writing on the blackboard, lost in thought once again.
Now, the human world is divided into four: noble families, aristocrats, commoners, and peasants, with the commoners being perhaps the most miserable class. They possess extraordinary abilities in their bloodlines, and many even come from noble families originally, but due to various reasons, they have fallen into poverty, lacking the corresponding ability algorithms, and are almost no different from peasants.
While peasants give up on becoming supernaturals early on because they lack the bloodline, seeking breakthroughs in other directions (although there are opportunities for success), commoners are the most ambivalent group. Taking one step forward could make them the supernatural they've always dreamed of being, yet barely anyone can take that step. Taking one step back, they become lifelong peasants without access to the supernatural. Who could accept that willingly?
Gradually, Cheng Jinyang feels the residual negative emotions lingering in his body, seemingly beginning to boil up again. Oh no, another hallucination is appearing! He tries to call for help, but his body refuses to cooperate, unable to make any sound.
Before his death, his father's resentment, his mother's sorrow, the rejection from his classmates, and the indifference and disdain from Xing Yuanzhi all overlapped in front of his eyes.
As well as... a face that seemed both angry and happy.
Su Lili.
Having grown up with the original owner since childhood, their bond was extremely deep, but she unexpectedly died two years ago in a demon attack. That lovely face seemed within arm's reach, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a face covered in blood.
"Jin Yang..." she said sorrowfully and painfully, her lower body already engulfed in the demon's devouring, her breath weakening, "You must live..."
"Live well... even if..."
"For me..."
Then she was swallowed by the demon.
The demon's split belly slowly closed, swallowing Su Lili directly. Its other hand firmly grasped Cheng Jinyang's neck, no matter how hard he struggled, dragged, or tore, it remained immovable as if cast from steel and cement.
"A weakling, indeed." The demon chuckled wickedly, "So, strive to live on."
"Just like ants, clinging to life in a corner of this world."
A slender tentacle flashed by in the corner of his eye, followed by an almost fatal pain in his temple!
...
Cheng Jinyang weakly opened his eyes, greeted by the ceiling of the school infirmary.
"Oh, you're awake?" Dr. Zhou's voice sounded beside him.
Zhou Xingzhi, the school doctor, hailed from the Ru Nan Zhou clan known for "memory retrieval," affiliated with the Wu clan of Wu County, known for "perception manipulation," forming an allied relationship.
Cheng Jinyang had a close relationship with Dr. Wu Quemei, and often went to her for recuperation, so he was also familiar with Dr. Zhou.
"Sister Zhou, what's wrong with me?" Cheng Jinyang asked slowly, startling himself with how hoarse his voice sounded.
"Well, I heard you suddenly fell ill during class and passed out." Dr. Zhou said with a smile, "Your teacher brought you here."
Cheng Jinyang: ...
Sigh, embarrassing again.
"But there's good news too." Dr. Zhou, noticing his dejected expression, was afraid he might relapse, so she quickly smiled and said, "Perhaps due to some stimulation, your bloodline concentration has increased compared to last month, and the surrounding spiritual field has also strengthened."
The grade of a supernatural being depends on the concentration of bloodline and the computational power of the brain domain. It is widely recognized by many supernatural families that computational power determines the lower limit of supernatural abilities, while bloodline concentration determines the upper limit.
For example, someone like Cheng Jinyang from a humble background who knows nothing about algorithms, even with a high concentration of bloodline, would have a significant lower limit due to the lack of algorithms, making it impossible to control his abilities. The result of forcibly activating supernatural abilities would most likely end up blowing himself up.
On the other hand, commoners without bloodlines have an upper limit of 0. Even if they have a supercomputer chip implanted in their bodies, they cannot possess supernatural abilities. However, their advantage lies in their clean background.
They can choose to pledge allegiance to the imperial merchant consortium, devote themselves to relatively fair competition in scientific research, and are more likely to achieve success compared to those from humble backgrounds.
"Find a way to learn algorithms, even if you don't have them now, eventually when the relationship with your family improves, you will be able to get them." Zhou Xingzhi patted his shoulder and smiled, "Besides, as long as you practice hard, computational power can always improve, but increasing bloodline concentration is something that's hard to come by."
"Thanks, sister Zhou, I'm fine." Cheng Jinyang didn't want to talk much, glanced at the sky outside, "It's getting late, I have to go."
"Are you going to work again?" Zhou Xingzhi asked in surprise, "Maybe your physical condition won't allow it."
"No, I'll take a day off today."
"Okay, help me bring this medicine to your sister Wu."
"Sure."
Leaving the school clinic, most of the students had already left the school.
Cheng Jinyang went to the convenience store where he worked and sincerely apologized to the store manager. Seeing him pale, the store manager also reminded him to take care of himself and gave him three days off directly.
Then he went to Wu Quemei's private clinic, gave her the medicine from sister Zhou, and incidentally did another perception adjustment. Feeling the throbbing headache in his head, he finally calmed down.
Back home, Cheng Jinyang searched through all the cabinets and finally found the engagement contract signed by his father and Xing Wenxing years ago. He carefully folded it and put it in his backpack.
Then he continued to practice swordsmanship. Compared to firearms, swords have no bullet capacity limitations and can even be replaced with long-handled objects such as crowbars or umbrellas. Even in nightmares, he used swords far more often than guns. Learning swordsmanship was very useful for him to protect himself in the nightmare world and suffer a little less from being massacred.
At midnight, he finally went to the bathroom to take a shower, then put on his clothes and went to bed to sleep. He was ready to enter the nightmare and fight to the death.