Chapter 205: A Close Call
The Life Resources Department.
After they finished their housing applications, the residential life teacher at the department handed each of them a dorm card.
Lin Yi and his friends took a look.
Unexpectedly, none of them were in the same residential zone.
Wei Nan frowned deeply and said, "I’m in Zone 6. What about you guys?"
"I’m in Zone 9!" Sun Tao answered.
Zhou Qi said, "I’m in Zone 5... What about you, Lin Yi?"
"Me? I’m in Zone 7!"
"What the hell? How did they split us all up? We’re not even in the same zone?" Wei Nan’s face fell.
He then turned back to the residential life teacher and said, "Ma’am, we all came together. Can you move us to the same zone? It’s fine even if we’re not in the same dorm building..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the residential life teacher looked up at Wei Nan.
A cool indifference flashed in her eyes as she said, "Do you think this university is your house? Or did you mistake it for a hotel?"
"You go to whatever zone you’re assigned. Since when do you get to be picky?"
"If you don’t want to live at the university, that’s fine too. You can apply for off-campus housing!"
Her tone was cold, leaving no room for negotiation.
Even Qin Zhaoxue couldn’t stand listening anymore. She hurried over and said, "Ma’am, could you please try to make a change for them..."
Before Qin Zhaoxue could finish, the teacher sitting inside glanced at her. "This is a university rule. Students are not allowed to choose their own residential zones!"
"You’re a student here too. Don’t tell me you’re not even aware of the university’s rules?"
Qin Zhaoxue was speechless.
After just a few words, even Qin Zhaoxue was out of options.
She couldn’t break the university’s rules either.
"Let’s just leave it for now. In the future, when there’s a chance, you can use academic credits to change zones," Qin Zhaoxue said softly.
Hearing this, Lin Yi and Wei Nan exchanged a look with the others.
It seemed this was the only way for now. The university had its rules.
And they were just students; it was perfectly reasonable for them to follow the university’s arrangements.
The fact that they could use academic credits to change dorms did give them some hope.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s earn some credits. I’m starting to get it now.
In this university, credits are everything, right, Sister Xue?" Wei Nan said, turning his head.
Qin Zhaoxue nodded. "Theoretically, yes. Almost anything at the university can be handled with academic credits, including meals, library access, and exchanging for Cultivation Techniques, martial skills, and even compound potions!"
"As long as you have enough credits, you can do a lot of things!"
"However, earning credits isn’t easy. You have to complete missions to receive the corresponding credits!"
"Let’s go for now. I’ll tell you more about missions and credits later!"
Qin Zhaoxue sighed softly and started to lead Lin Yi and the others out.
But at that exact moment, a middle-aged man rushed in.
"Hey, is that you, Xiaoli?"
After the man came in, he hurriedly called out to the teacher inside.
The moment the teacher sitting there saw the middle-aged man, she shot up from her chair in a panic and said respectfully, "Director Zhou? What brings you here?"
"I’m asking you, has a student named Lin Yi been here to apply for housing?"
"Who? Lin Yi?"
The residential life teacher was stunned for a moment, then quickly pointed at Lin Yi’s group, who were about to leave.
"That’s them... Director Zhou, what happened?" the residential life teacher was still asking.
But Director Zhou had already turned to look at Lin Yi and his friends.
His face instantly broke into a wide smile as he hurried over and asked, "Excuse me, which one of you is Student Lin Yi?"
Hearing this, Lin Yi grew even more puzzled.
"I am!"
"Good, good, good. I finally found you.
By the way, have you all finished your housing applications?"
Director Zhou asked with concern.
Lin Yi nodded. "We’ve finished."
"Let me see!"
Director Zhou took the room cards from Lin Yi, Wei Nan, and Zhou Qi.
When he saw how far apart their assigned residential zones were—each in their own zone, scattered across Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, and Zone 9—
Director Zhou’s expression immediately darkened.
He turned and glared at the residential life teacher. "Nonsense! What do you think you’re doing?"
"How could you assign Student Lin Yi to a zone so far back? What were you thinking?"
"This is outrageous! Change it! Change all of them...
By the way, Student Lin Yi, may I ask, are you all...?"
"Oh, they’re all my friends!" Lin Yi replied, completely baffled.
At this point, all of them were confused, unable to understand what was going on.
Director Zhou nodded. "Move them to Zone 1 immediately, into the same dorm!"
"Huh? Director Zhou, Zone 1 is for New District students..."
"What New District, Old District? Aren’t they all students of our Xingwu University?"
"This is preposterous! Move them right away, do it now!"
Seeing Director Zhou’s fury, the residential life teacher didn’t dare delay any longer.
She quickly took back the room cards and changed all of their residential zones to Zone 1.
Finally, she said, "D-Director Zhou, Dormitory Building 1 is full. They’ll have to go to Building 2. And they might have to... have to be split into two rooms... Is that okay?"
Hearing this, Director Zhou turned to look at Lin Yi and his friends.
It was as if he was seeking their opinion.
Lin Yi naturally had no problem, and Wei Nan quickly chimed in, "I’ll be in a room with Lin Yi, and Sun Tao can room with Zhou Qi!"
"Alright, no problem!"
The residential life teacher no longer had any of her previous coldness.
Her attitude was now one of complete compliance.
After everything was sorted out in just a few short minutes, she quickly stood up, bowed respectfully, and handed the five room cards back to Director Zhou.
One of them belonged to Shen Mengyi.
She had also benefited from the situation, getting moved to the girls’ section of Zone 1.
Since she was the only girl, there was no need to worry about which specific room she would get.
Director Zhou took the room cards and said with a small smile, "Student Lin Yi, are you satisfied with this arrangement?"
When Lin Yi and his friends got their room cards back, they smiled and nodded. To be honest, they had no idea what the difference was between Zone 1 and Zone 2.
They had only been dissatisfied before because they weren’t in the same zone.
Now that the four of them were all assigned to the same zone, and even sharing rooms with a friend,
they naturally had no more complaints.
Lin Yi smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Director Zhou. Thank you, Teacher Li!"
With that, they walked outside.
Only then did Teacher Li ask cautiously, "Director Zhou, who are they...?"
Old Zhou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glanced back at the residential life teacher.
"It’s not entirely your fault. Luckily I got here in time. If I had been one step later, it would have been too late!"
"That student named Lin Yi, you saw him, right?"
"Yes, I saw him. Isn’t he the Martial Arts Examination Champion Scholar from the Old District?" Teacher Li replied quickly.
"Whether he’s the Champion Scholar or not is unimportant. What’s important is... he’s Principal Tang’s nephew!"
"What? Principal Tang’s nephew? Th-then doesn’t that mean he’s also connected to the Yi Family...?"
"Exactly. Now you understand why I had you change his residential zone, right? If the original assignment had been finalized and Principal Tang’s nephew was sent to Zone 7, just think about the consequences."
"And I heard that Elder Yi has been staying in the Old District all this time just for this grandson!"
"Elder Yi is famous for being fiercely protective of his own. You can imagine the rest!"
After Director Zhou finished speaking, a chill ran down Teacher Li’s spine.
The Yi Family’s fame and status in the New District were both considerable.
Actually, Elder Yi wasn’t so bad. In his old age, he had become quite amiable.
He wasn’t as impetuous as he was in his youth.
But the younger generation of the Yi Family were each more domineering than the last.
Let’s not even talk about the others. Just Lin Yi’s cousin, Tang Qinru—Principal Tang’s precious daughter—is a department director at the New District’s Ancient Medicine Bureau and a Six-Star Alchemist.
Even without the backing of the Yi and Tang Families,
her status as a Six-Star Alchemist alone meant she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.
Besides her, there were the other members of the Yi Family.
None of them were pushovers. If those matriarchs and bigwigs of the Yi Family found out Lin Yi had been wronged at the university,
even with Tang Baichuan here, they could still raze Xingwu University to the ground.
Besides, above them all, there was still Elder Yi.
One of the elders of the Martial Arts Alliance, a man whose word was law.
However, beyond all that,
what they didn’t know was that behind Lin Yi stood the even more troublesome Town Martial Department.
If the people from the Town Martial Department were to find out that someone was hindering Lin Yi’s cultivation...
"Director Zhou, why didn’t you say so earlier?"
"I was this close to causing a huge disaster!"
Teacher Li’s face was sallow, and her breathing became uneven.
If she had really caused that disaster just now,
it wouldn’t be something that could be solved by simply losing her job.
Her entire family might have been dragged down with her.
Director Zhou looked like he wanted to cry but had no tears. "I only just found out myself! Principal Tang called me to his office!"
"Otherwise, how... how would I have known that this year’s batch of new students from the Old District included a young master from the Yi Family!"
...
"Sister Xue, is there some sort of system to these residential zone assignments?"
"What’s the difference between Zone 1 and the other zones?"
After leaving the Resources Department, Lin Yi asked curiously.
It wasn’t just him; Wei Nan, Zhou Qi, and Sun Tao were also curious about the division of residential zones.
Qin Zhaoxue smiled. "The difference is huge!"
"Let me put it this way: the cafeterias, Cultivation Fields, mission boards... they’re all categorized by residential zone!"
"I’ll give you a simple example, and you’ll understand."
"For example, all missions are rated on a standard of one to five stars."
"One-star missions are the lowest with the fewest rewards, while five-star missions are the highest with the best rewards!"
"The university has nine residential zones in total. In Zone 1, missions start at three stars. The food in the cafeteria is also the best on campus, the Cultivation Fields are the most comprehensive, and it has the most medical halls. It’s also equipped with a library that you can visit for free..."
"In Zone 9, missions are at a minimum of one star and a maximum of three stars. Four or five-star missions appear occasionally, but the probability is extremely low. Now do you understand the difference between the zones?"
After Qin Zhaoxue finished her simple explanation, it finally dawned on Lin Yi, Zhou Qi, and Wei Nan.
Wei Nan said, "Jeez, if that Director Zhou hadn’t shown up in time to switch our zones, we would’ve ended up in those crappy zones?"
"By the way, Lin Yi, that Director Zhou seemed to be looking specifically for you, right? Did you pull some strings or use your connections?"
Lin Yi was speechless.