Fang Zhenyu laid in his bed, staring at the class schedule on his phone. The breeze from his window did little to cool off his burning head.
"Ah, maybe I should change my major to biology," he muttered, "That way I can research a method to exterminate the flu viruses for good."
Da-ding!
A light-green notification popped onto his screen.
"What's this?" Fang Zhenyu pressed his finger against the cold glass.
[Greetings Freshmen,
Please take a look at the clubs this year:
Esports (link), Culinary Arts (link), Literature (link), …]
Fang Zhenyu thought back to his lonely days in highschool. He regretted not joining a club back then, so he decided to scroll through the list.
"Hmm, nothing looks interesting. Guess I'll just join the 'going home' club again."
He moved his finger to close the web-page, but it slipped.
"Wait... no. No, NO!"
DING!
A new notification appeared on the top of his screen.
[Your automatic application for the Medicine Club has been submitted.]
Fang Zhenyu stifled a wet cough into his bedsheets and cursed at himself for checking the little box in his student dashboard that allowed for automatic application submissions.
"Ah, this is so embarrassing. I'm not even a medical student."
Surely his application would be rejected. What even was a medicine club? He never heard of such a thing.
Furthermore, when his finger slipped, he'd scrolled all the way to the bottom of the popularity-sorted list before clicking on the application link.
DING!
Fang Zhenyu swallowed the back of his tongue and nervously pawed at the new message in his inbox.
"Please be rejected, please be rejected, please be—"
Green light from the message popped into view, as if to mock him:
[Welcome to the Medicine Club!
Details for the first meeting of the year are below:
(Click for more)…]
"FUCK!! Accepted so fast?!"
There was no going back now. To withdraw from the club, he would have to wait at least a month for the faculty to process his request.
Worse yet, not attending a club one signed up for was punished at this school. Meaning he would lose general credits if he didn't show up.
"Haah, I'll have to go to the first few meetings at least. Could be worse, I'll put in my request to withdraw tomorrow."
He decided to open the welcome message to see where the meeting would take place:
[Welcome to the Medicine Club!
Details for our first meeting of the year are below:
Applied sciences building D-2F on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 6:30 pm.
Newbies should bring an admission fee of at least 20 yuan.
Before arriving, please join our TeleApp Channel: (Link)]
"Tomorrow!?," Fang Zhenyu cried. No matter what, he had to attend, sick or not. If his grades went down any further, his parents would definitely kill him.
"Ah, my eyes are too heavy, I'll just deal with this in the morning.
A pounding headache throbbed in his head. He decided to take a nap after clicking on the link to join the medicine club's TeleApp channel.
Fang Zhenyu fell asleep instantly, oblivious to the cascade of message notifications which vibrated his phone:
[9:30 pm – Heavenly Donkey has joined, say hi!
Entombed Dragon Prince – ?
Wu Clan Patriarch – !!
Subtle Explosion Saber – XD
Entombed Dragon Prince – Did Lady Vital Flower invite fellow Daoist? We haven't had a new member in quite some time."
Wu Clan Patriarch – Hmm, I haven't heard this name before. Which Sect is fellow Daoist from? Which stage of cultivation is he at? I'm curious what temples he cultivates in as well."
Subtle Explosion Saber – Is fellow Daoist a woman? Send us a selfie if you are. ;P
Entombed Dragon Prince – Little Saber, you should really remove the 'subtle' from your title. It is unfitting for a man of your character.
Entombed Dragon Prince – Furthermore, what will you do if fellow Daoist Heavenly Donkey turns out to be a Venerable Senior? Must I remind you of the last time you made this mistake.
Subtle Explosion Saber – Senior, I'm begging you, please do not bring up that incident. This one still has trauma regarding it.
ε(´סּ︵סּ`)з
Entombed Dragon Prince – (✿◠‿◠)
Wu Clan Patriarch – (✿◠‿◠)
Protective Mask Fading Presence – (✿◠‿◠)
Sunset Destroying Maiden – (✿◠‿◠)
….]
When Fang Zhenyu woke up, his phone was still vibrating. His jaw dropped when he read the Medicine Clubs chat history.
"I must be hallucinating. Delusions at this level can't exist in University."
He set his phone down, then picked it back up. To his dismay, the chatting carried on in a similar fashion:
[6:15 am:
Protective Mask Fading Presence – Does anyone know where I can find some high grade Phoenix fire leaves? I need to refine some pills for my new disciple.
Fox and Cloud master – (˶‾᷄ ⁻̫ ‾᷅˵)
Entombed Dragon Prince – By the way, has the new fellow Daoist made any comments yet? I can't see any no matter how far up I scroll. I swear, you little juniors talk too much.
Wu Clan Patriarch – Venerable Dragon Prince, aren't you the most active here? Besides, I too am curious about fellow Daoist Heavenly Donkey. Has anyone heard of a master that goes by this title? It reminds me of a great senior I knew hundreds of years ago. He was from the Elusive Heavens Sect. Alas, that Senior's cultivation has surpassed this realm, so I am unable to ask him.
Entombed Dragon Prince – You must work hard on your cultivation! Then, you can meet your senior and ask him about fellow Daoist Heavenly Donkey!
Wu Clan Patriarch – |(--_–)|
Wu Clan Patriarch – In any case, it's been hundreds of years since I last received guidance from someone in the Elusive Heavens School. Thinking back, they were quite fun to fight. Not only were they witty, they also had unparalleled bodies and called out the names of their martial arts as they performed them! I'm hoping fellow Daoist Heavenly Donkey is willing to give me some guidance.
Subtle Explosion Saber – Senior, must you fight every new dao fellow you meet? I fear your network will remain narrow due to your temperament.
Wu Clan Patriarch – (˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)
Entombed Dragon Prince – Could he be another ancient venerable who hasn't bothered to learn modern communication software? (≧▽≦)
Wu Clan Patriarch – Ah, yes. I remember about two years ago, there was another senior who finally broke through after decades of closed-door cultivation. They were happy to simply observe our little TeleApp group because they thought it was useless to learn the art of typing.
Wu Clan Patriarch – Explosion Saber, didn't you start flirting with them as soon as you found out they were a woman, and motivated them to learn how to type, just so they could announce that they were coming to beat you up?
– Subtle Explosion Saber has gone offline. –
Wu Clan Patriarch – (✿◠‿◠)
Lady Vital Flower – (✿◠‿◠) ︻╦╤─
…]
Before Fang Zhenyu knew it, he became addicted to reading the ridiculous chat messages sent by members of the Medicine Club. He held his phone in front of his face, or leaned it against a supporting object while he brushed his teeth and made coffee..
[7:30 am:
Hidden Sky Princess – By the way seniors, I may have accidentally copied and pasted the link to our group chat when I was filling out the list of school clubs for my university. (_゜_゜_)
Entombed Dragon Prince – ?
Wu Clan Patriarch – !!
Protective Mask Fading Presence – Guys? Did anyone see my message? I'm still looking for some Phoenix fire leaves…
Entombed Dragon Prince – Princess, if I remember correctly, you told us you joined the medicine club at your school to study the alchemy of mortals.
Hidden Sky Princess – That is correct Senior, however, I've found myself in the position as club president somehow. (_゜_゜_)
Entomed Dragon Prince – Does that mean our new fellow Daoist is actually a mortal? We should remove him immediately. Maybe he hasn't read our messages, since he has yet to say anything!! (⌐■_■)︻╦╤─
Hidden Sky Princess – Wait, before you do that, I'd like to provide some more information!!
Hidden Sky Princess – My club is at the very bottom of the popularity list. The link was only available for half of a second. I immediately fixed my mistake. Furthermore, I remember our Wu Clan Patriarch's message about a new member joining yesterday. I believe it is merely a coincidence.
Entombed Dragon Prince – Hmm, It is true that a mortal would probably not choose 'Heavenly Donkey' as their username for TeleApp. Wu Clan Patriarch, are you able to vouch for this person?
Wu Clan Patriarch – I did pass along the link to our group chat. If I remember correctly, my brother's, friends, daughters, servants, lords, masters, second cousin wanted to join. However, I may be remembering that incorrectly.
Hidden Sky Princes – (= _ =)
Entombed Dragon Prince – Are you able to verify that person's username?
Wu Clan Patriarch – Unfortunately I'm not, my demon beast escaped again, and I'm currently looking for him.
Entombed Dragon Prince – Then we can only wait for the new fellow Daoist to say something.
…]
Fang Zhenyu squinted at the phone screen, awestruck by how active and friendly the club members were. His mouth puckered around a throat lozenge. Thankfully, the symptoms of his fever had subsided greatly over the night.
"They really want me to start role-playing with them… It's hard to believe folks like this still exist at my age. Not bad. I kind of like it."
Unbeknownst to Fang Zhenyu, an ordinary international student at Jiangnan University, he would have his life flipped upside down after that morning.