Chapter 2

"Xin...!" Old Xu immediately recognized who was speaking and who was contradicting him, so he glared and roared.

Wang Xin was not afraid of him and instead turned his head, looking defiant.

"Old Zhuo, today you give him a special training session to let him know just how sharp your blade is," Old Xu said to Zhuo Chuan. He didn’t want to compete with him personally because Wang Xin was indeed a genius in the class, very strong, but not very enthusiastic about physical training like combat, spending most of his time on academic studies.

But even so, Old Xu couldn’t easily win in formal combat training. Each time, he had to put in some effort, so Wang Xin wasn’t very afraid of him. Moreover, as a teacher, he couldn’t go all out to educate a student, using all his strength; that would be too undignified.

However, in the past month of physical education classes, Zhuo Chuan had already used his physical strength to easily educate those who mocked him, making them fear combat training. Now, he had become a good weapon in Old Xu’s hands to intimidate these guys.

"Don’t worry, Old Xu. As long as you let me eat at your place for the next month, I’ll make this kid change his mind today," Zhuo Chuan said, grabbing Wang Xin’s small head and slowly turning it back.

"Don’t worry, eat as much as you want. Just make sure to give this kid a good workout," Old Xu said generously.

"Let go of my head!!" Amid the conversation between the two adults, a miserable cry from a little kid was heard.

...

In the silver-painted sports training hall, the decoration was simple, circular, and open-air, like an ancient arena, but much smaller.

In the not-so-large central area, two white figures were rapidly colliding, sometimes entangled, sometimes separated, each collision producing a deafening sound. Despite the small space, their movements were unaffected, transitioning from extreme movement to stillness.

On the high stands, a group of students, all around sixteen or seventeen years old and wearing the same blue school uniforms, watched tensely.

One of the white figures seemed more at ease, barely moving its feet with each collision, reacting much faster than the opponent, and mostly blocking the attacks.

The other figure, in contrast, was much more awkward, being thrown far away with each collision. Fortunately, its technique was proficient, allowing it to use skillful maneuvers to spin back and launch another attack. However, as time passed, its responses became increasingly difficult.

After about ten minutes, the increasingly struggling white figure was suddenly thrown out, hurtling towards the high stands.

"Ah!"

"Oh no!"

Just as the students screamed, a cloud of mist spewed from behind the white figure, quickly slowing it down, and it stopped less than a meter from the railing.

The white figure revealed itself to be a person in a white training suit, covering the entire body, with a hood connected to the suit, seamless.

After the figure stabilized, the hood split open, revealing a face—it was Old Xu, the students' physical education teacher.

He pressed a button on his training suit and slowly descended to the ground.

"Truly worthy of being a third-level citizen. Your physical strength and reaction speed are indeed optimized to the extreme. Even with a new soul controlling the body, the instinct for combat remains, and I am no match," Old Xu said, looking at the other white figure that had revealed itself.

"Amazing, Uncle is still Uncle."

"Trouble, Uncle is going to train with me next," Wang Xin sighed.

"Are citizens really that strong? Even a brainless Uncle can defeat Teacher Xu."

"Teacher Xu has thirteen years of combat experience and has entered the third round of the underground all-citizen combat competition twice."

The students on the stands were discussing, all wide-eyed. They knew Uncle was a muscular man and very strong, but this was the first time they saw him formally fight against Teacher Xu, and they were surprised to see him completely dominate.

Although the students were young, they were all highly intelligent and could see that Uncle had held back a lot, using only about one-tenth of his strength.

"Of course, for you underground people, it’s all about instinct, not brains. The physical strength of citizens is not something you can match," a deep voice echoed from a distance, silencing everyone.

The students and Old Xu turned to look at the source of the voice.

It turned out that a group of people had already gathered at the entrance of the sports training hall, most wearing black uniforms and sunglasses. The leader, dressed in white, stood out.

This man had sharp eyes, a furrowed brow, and stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Zhuo Chuan in the center of the field.

Zhuo Chuan had also taken off his training suit, which was uncomfortable to wear, though it provided good protection. He didn’t know who these people were, so he looked at Old Xu for an answer.

Old Xu made a gesture behind his back, signaling the students on the stands to remain absolutely quiet, then walked over to Zhuo Chuan.

"They are probably from a company called Netherfire, which comes to various underground schools every year to select potential future citizens and personally train them. The leader, I met once three years ago, is an E-level citizen and a big figure in their company. He is strict and cruel, looking down on us potential citizens, believing that most of us are just wasting living space and advocating the use of the harshest methods for selection," Old Xu whispered, clearly dissatisfied with the man.

"He calls us underground people, not potential citizens. Is he provoking us?" Zhuo Chuan asked in a low voice, recalling what Feng Lan had said about some citizen families that had lived on the surface for generations starting to discriminate against the many potential citizens who could only live underground, believing they were not ambitious and planning to take some measures.

"He is provoking us, but what can we do? Our school is actually one of the lower-ranked ones. In the past ten years, he has come twice and hasn’t found any promising candidates," Old Xu said, his voice filled with frustration.

As they were talking, the Netherfire people approached, with the man in white leading the way.

He stopped two steps away from Zhuo Chuan and introduced himself, "Jie Cheng, citizen number E3488432."

Zhuo Chuan was a bit puzzled; this was the first time he had met a citizen in this world, and he didn’t know why they were looking for him.

"B47995, hello," the man continued, "Do you understand?"

"Huh? Me?" Zhuo Chuan was taken aback, then remembered that the man was addressing him. His citizen number was B47995, but few people called him by it, usually using his new name, which was his original name from his previous world.

This was the only proof of his former status left, except for one small thing.

"Of course, you. A third-tier citizen, a great person, who has consumed so many human resources to be raised. To have your soul fall, what kind of cruel experience did you go through? What great sacrifice did you make? Truly admirable and respectable!" Jie Cheng said, his voice filled with unrestrained pity and admiration.

"Heh, I’m not sure myself," Zhuo Chuan laughed, scratching the back of his head, thinking the man was there to pay respects to his predecessor.

Jie Cheng stared at Zhuo Chuan for a while, then his expression suddenly changed, his eyes like two daggers piercing Zhuo Chuan, his tone becoming harsh.

"Still smiling, do you think I was praising you just now?" He sneered, "Not even understanding this, what’s the difference from an idiot?"

"Look at you now, a rat in the underground, barely surviving with these trash, yet still content, living a carefree life. Shameful!"

"What are you saying?" Zhuo Chuan was stunned. How could this man’s mood change so quickly? He didn’t remember this person, who was both praising and scolding him. Was he crazy?

"Feeling innocent?" Jie Cheng narrowed his eyes, the man in white not hiding his malice towards Zhuo Chuan, "Thinking you can enjoy the legacy and glory of your predecessor, the flattery of others, and be proud of a little achievement?"

"I don’t understand what you’re saying," Zhuo Chuan was bewildered. Where did this fly come from?

"Since your predecessor’s soul fell, I have been watching. When his body awoke a month ago, with a new soul, you, I was very excited, thinking you would quickly inherit the resources left by your predecessor, regain soul power, and return to the citizen class, becoming an indispensable pillar of the citizens," Jie Cheng’s voice lowered, slowly explaining.

"But you," he extended a finger, almost touching Zhuo Chuan’s forehead, his voice suddenly rising.

"What have you been doing this month?"

"Can’t even solve a middle school math problem like 9887423 * 9843243 = 97324307232789, and after reading the thousand-page 'Legal Reference' six times, you can’t even remember a hundred pages. That’s you!"

"In such a long month, your new soul has only grown to this level. Your predecessor’s body, which can easily defeat others by instinct, is the closest to the citizen class. But the brain you need to drive, a lowly soul, is even less intelligent than a middle school student. What face do you have to wear the noble citizen number B49775?!"