Area F belonged to the lowest-grade dormitory district. It was indeed adjacent to Dormitory Area A of the Central Campus, but the artificial woodland between them could not be crossed. An isolation net stood in the middle of the trees, though it was visible only from within about five meters. Of course, none of this had anything to do with Qi Jun. He had no intention of wandering over to the Central Campus. Powerful beastmen and the like did not interest him. At the moment, the only thing he cared about was how to survive.
Building Thirteen was ten stories tall, with three dormitory units on each floor. Qi Jun looked over the first floor and decided on the middle unit on the top floor. For one thing, top-floor units were the cheapest, yet there was a little attic of about five square meters above it, along with a tiny open terrace. For another, the middle unit, whose living room and bedroom both faced south, was also synonymous with cheapness here. Summers in the beast world were extremely hot, and without cross-ventilation, the days could be miserable. Air-temperature regulators consumed a great deal of electricity, and the government even imposed limits on how long they could be used.
It was summer now. Qi Jun stood in the room for a while. The sunlight was extremely strong, and the room really was hot, but he did not react nearly as dramatically as the senior beside him, who was practically streaming with sweat.
“You can’t seriously be that worried about five hundred points, can you? If you open the windows in either of the neighboring rooms, they’re much better than this one!” The young woman genuinely thought this room would be terrifying to live in during summer.
Qi Jun shook his head. “It is a little hot, but I don’t find it unbearable. Besides, I’ll only come back at night every day. During the daytime I’ll be elsewhere, so I won’t feel it. Don’t worry, Senior. I naturally run cold.”
“If you’ve decided, then the key is yours. I’ll go back and process the dormitory paperwork. In a little while, go downstairs to the sign outside the school finance office and scan your chip to make the payment. Oh, right, give me your phone number. I’ll send you the school’s electronic map. Then whenever you want to find somewhere, you can just search for it. Of course, if there’s anything you don’t understand or you need help with something, you can call me. For such a cute junior, your senior is very happy to help~!”
Qi Jun laughed. “Then I’ll thank Senior in advance!”
They exchanged phone numbers. Before leaving, the young woman smiled brightly at him. “My name is Qiu Bao, and I’m from the Ancient Medicine Research and Development Department! Remember, if anything comes up, you absolutely have to come find me. I’m going to go help process your paperwork now!”
Watching the door close behind Qiu Bao, Qi Jun felt a stir in his heart.
Ancient Medicine Research and Development Department… what kind of department was that? It did not seem to exist anywhere in the original Qi Jun’s memories. And when Qi Jun had looked through information on Imperial Capital University earlier, he had not seen any department by that name either. But… judging from the name, could it have something to do with traditional Chinese medicine? If so… perhaps he could try changing departments.
The dormitory already contained all the basic furniture and daily necessities. Small personal items such as pots, bowls, basins, towels, and toothbrushes were not provided. The only major item missing was a computer. Those were all considered private belongings, so students had to purchase and bring their own.
Qi Jun had packed the towels, toothbrush, and even toothpaste from the bathroom he had used at the Qi family home. Computers were no longer divided into desktops and laptops. The entire machine was contained behind a single screen. One could use the touchscreen directly or connect a keyboard and mouse, and the whole thing was light enough to carry, so he had brought his. In other words, what he needed to buy now were pots, bowls, and other kitchenware. Those were still quite necessary for him. First, however, he wanted to investigate whether eating at the school cafeteria or buying raw ingredients and cooking for himself would be cheaper. Since everything already tasted this terrible, he refused to spend even one extra point unnecessarily.
He had just stuffed his clothes into the wardrobe and placed his toiletries in the bathroom. Before he even had time to set the computer on the desk in the bedroom, his phone rang.
Qi Jun still was not completely familiar with this kind of phone, despite its similarity to the devices he had used in his previous life. He tapped the wrong button on the screen and accidentally turned an ordinary call into a video call. “Senior Qiu? You’re finished already?”
Qiu Bao had not expected Qi Jun to turn on video. Seeing the fair-skinned junior appear on her screen with a startled expression, inspiration struck. She immediately tapped the screenshot button. “How long did you think it would take? I’ve sent you the electronic map. If you have any questions, ask me! Ah, another call is coming in. I’m hanging up first. Remember—if you have any questions at all, you have to ask your senior~!”
The figure on the screen vanished. Qi Jun smiled. This girl really was warmhearted. Like Qi Tian, she was a cat-eared girl. He wondered whether cat-eared girls were especially popular in this era. With this senior’s looks and figure… she probably had plenty of admirers. Unfortunately, Qi Jun was a pure human and therefore had no right to marry a female in this world. But that did not matter. His face was scarred now anyway, and in an age of excellent genetics, probably no one would take an interest in him. As long as he worked hard and mastered a useful skill so that he would never lack food or drink in the future, that would be enough. Apparently, the elder-care system here was quite good.
Following the electronic map, Qi Jun quickly found the finance office in the school administration building. Since it was currently vacation, only a few teachers were on duty. The system was automated anyway. He raised his hand and scanned his chip, and confirmation and cancellation buttons appeared on the electronic panel. It also displayed one semester’s dormitory fee—five months in total. Two thousand five hundred points altogether. That really was quite reasonable.
After leaving the administration building, the West Campus supermarket was only two hundred meters away. The moment Qi Jun walked inside, he felt slightly overwhelmed. This place truly was enormous! A sign by the entrance listed the layout: food on the first floor, clothing on the second, daily necessities on the third, electronics and machinery on the fourth. The fifth floor was even more surprising—it was actually a consignment area for self-made goods. This university really knew how to accommodate people. Students could even make things themselves and sell them there?
What exactly happened on the fifth floor could wait until later. Right now, the first thing Qi Jun needed to explore was the food section on the first floor.
And that exploration was eye-opening.
All kinds of meat occupied two thirds of the entire floor. It was practically a gigantic meat warehouse. The refrigerated cabinets were covered with transparent panels, but the place still felt cold just looking at them.
The remaining third was divided into three sections. One contained nutritional foods of various brands and flavors, displayed like an encyclopedia of pouch jellies. Qi Jun checked the prices. The cheapest cost ten points per pouch, while the most expensive were more than two hundred. But the flavors written on them meant absolutely nothing to him. Broadleaf fruit flavor, Maqi fruit flavor, and so on… he had no concept whatsoever of what those things tasted like. Unfortunately, the original Qi Jun’s memories did not contain them either. What a pitiful child. He had not even been able to try more than a few flavors of nutritional food.
Another section contained cultivated foods. Qi Jun frowned at the bizarre-looking assortment of plants. What exactly were all these things…? He recognized only a few kinds of leafy greens he had eaten at the Qi family’s home, and their bitter, astringent taste had left him wanting to ask the heavens why they hated him. Judging from the prices, however, those varieties were only moderately expensive. By now, he understood very clearly that in this world, nutritional content determined a food’s price and grade. Nutritious food did not necessarily taste good. He therefore decided that in the future, he could begin experimenting with the cheapest “vegetables,” priced at twenty points per kilogram.
The third section was beverages. What astonished Qi Jun was that despite the beast world’s terrible food culture, there was an enormous variety of alcoholic drinks—and none of them were cheap. Even the least expensive bottle cost five hundred points. Without grains or fruit, how did they brew alcohol? Qi Jun could not understand it. Looking at the ingredient labels on the bottles only confused him further. But then again, if alcohol did not exist, how could Father Qi and the original Qi Jun’s birth mother ever have made that so-called one-night mistake…
After recording the prices of various foods, he went upstairs to the third floor and bought a frying pan and a set of tableware. He scanned the labels and then his chip at the self-checkout. Carrying two large boxes, Qi Jun paused at the supermarket entrance. In the end, he decided to visit the school cafeteria and check the prices before returning to the dormitory, saving himself an unnecessary trip later. Only then did he realize how foolish he had been. Since he knew he was coming to buy pots, bowls, and other kitchenware, he should have visited the cafeteria first and then come to the supermarket.
When he reached the cafeteria, Qi Jun was stunned.
Compared with the enormous supermarket, the West Campus student cafeteria was unbelievably small. To him, it was at most a little restaurant, not even as large as one of the cafeterias at his old school. There were pitifully few tables and chairs, and only four food windows. Each window had a category label: natural food, cultivated food, nutritional food, and beverages.
Qi Jun walked closer and carefully examined the electronic price boards beside each window. To his dismay, he discovered that aside from nutritional foods, which cost the same as at the supermarket, everything else was at least four times more expensive than the raw ingredients because it had been processed. Buying his own frying pan really had been the right decision! Still… he was not going to make another trip today. To celebrate moving into his new home, he would splurge a little and buy one pouch of nutritional food plus a serving of sliced green fern from the cultivated-food section. He remembered that although green fern had an especially strong earthy smell, at least it was not bitter…
The cafeteria prepared food only after someone ordered it. But the preparation speed was almost frightening. Less than thirty seconds passed between scanning his points and receiving an environmentally friendly meal box filled with sliced green fern. If Qi Jun had not personally watched the cafeteria worker place an entire green fern into the food-processing machine, he would have suspected that it had been prepared in advance and simply taken out to be sold cold.
And yes, this box of “vegetables” was cold!
What a waste of one hundred and ten points! At least at the Qi household, he had been able to eat hot food!
By the time he returned to the dormitory, Qi Jun was starving. That morning when he left the Qi family home, he had consumed only one portion of nutritional food Qi Tian had pressed into his hands. At noon he had been busy finding the university and arranging his dormitory. Now it was already after four in the afternoon. If he did not eat soon, he really would collapse from hunger.
To be fair, the cafeteria’s sliced green fern was not too terrible. Perhaps the food-processing machine was of a different grade, because the earthy smell was much weaker. It simply had no other flavor either. Qi Jun thought the texture was remarkably similar to celtuce. If he could cover the earthy taste with a strong savory sauce, it might actually be quite good. Unfortunately, in that enormous supermarket there had been only two seasonings: sugar and salt. It was tragic.
Only after eating his fill and finally relaxing did Qi Jun begin to feel exhausted. The moment he saw the soft bed, he collapsed onto it. He lay on his back staring at the ceiling, intending merely to stretch his waist for a moment before getting up to shower.
Instead, he fell asleep just like that.
Qi Jun dreamed of the little stone he had found in the library in his previous life. Blood stained its surface. He walked over and picked it up, only to find it so hot that it burned his hand. His fingers jerked as he tried to throw it away, but the stone suddenly flew into the air by itself and shot straight toward his forehead.
It struck the scar there with perfect accuracy.
The sensation of his head splitting apart dragged Qi Jun out of his dream. But the moment he opened his eyes, he froze.
Where was this?!!
Hadn’t he been in his university dormitory? How had he ended up somewhere completely unfamiliar again? He hurriedly sat up and discovered that he had actually been lying on a woven grass mat. Everything else in the room looked much the same as the mat—crude, shabby, and worn.
“This… where the hell is this place?!!”
Had he transmigrated again? That couldn’t possibly be happening, could it???!!!!
