Chapter 00027: Accept Your Fate (Thanks to the Supreme Leader of the Bai Di Zi Clan)
# Accept Your Fate (Thanks to the Supreme Leader of the Bai Di Zi Clan)
Chapter 27
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 27: Accept Your Fate (Thanks to the Supreme Leader of the Bai Di Zi Clan)
Date: August 29, Year 413 of the Catastrophe Calendar
Time: 7:20 AM
University Opening Day
Ji Jue slowly woke from his delicate sleep, opening his eyes to gaze at the morning sky.
A light rain had fallen earlier, and now with the sun rising, the sky was clear, and the streets sparkled fresh and bright.
A cool breeze wafted in through the open window.
Such a beautiful morning, with flowers blooming and birds singing… and yet, some unfortunate souls were about to fall into the depths of hell.
Take Ji Jue, for example.
Startled awake from a nightmare, he felt the pillow nearly soaked with tears.
For a long while, he had no courage to pick up his phone—especially not after discovering that his inbox contained nothing but spam, with no replies whatsoever.
It made him want to find a pretty little box to crawl into and burn himself!
This is it, he thought.
Completely done for!
Professor Ye still hadn’t replied to him.
Perhaps, maybe, he was really finished this time!
When he thought back on the past month, it felt like a lifetime ago.
So many chaotic things had happened; the summer break had been overwhelmingly full of ups and downs, that he had completely forgotten about the thesis he submitted...
What could he do? Even if he needed to submit it, he had to have the means to do so, right?! Most of his time had been spent lying in the hospital, resting in a state of almost complete helplessness.
His weak constitution meant he slept nearly eighteen hours a day, while severe depletion of his spiritual energy left him in a daze most of the time.
When asked what he had for lunch, he took ages to respond; his hands trembled as if he had Parkinson’s disease while trying to use chopsticks.
He felt like a dying tree louse.
Not only did he lack the ability to engage in academics, but he had lost his ability to do simple math.
He bought a bowl of rice rolls and, when trying to calculate change, nearly ended up with a result that suggested the vendor should hand him back six and a half yuan!
And then, when he finally felt somewhat better, he realized the start of term was looming just three days away!
Three days? Could he kill himself by then?
In desperation, Ji Jue had to venture out to find an internet café, biting down on a USB stick as he spent the night trying to throw together an embarrassingly poor excuse for a thesis, one so watery that even the Dragon King would bow his head in agony at its sight.
With a heart full of unease, he eventually mustered the courage to send it to the professor’s email.
Yet, even now, there was still no reply...
Thinking positively, perhaps Professor Ye was just too busy to look at it yet, right? Maybe she had forgotten all about it and didn’t care at all.
It was also possible that after reading it, she felt that his academic rubbish was beyond saving and had already decided to custom-make an incinerator for hazardous waste, just waiting for him to dare show his face.
Death loomed around him.
There was no way out!
But despite the fact that death seemed imminent, Ji Jue still sluggishly, wearily, and in a daze, got out of bed and went through the motions of washing up and changing clothes.
When he went downstairs, he found his peculiar little sheep lying in the living room, licking the ancient old television set that was older than itself, oil dripping everywhere… and that made him want to die even more!
It was said that before the Catastrophe Era, there was a saying that life was like a gorgeous robe infested with lice.
Yet Ji Jue felt that his life was merely a dazzling display of lice, devoid of any robe! And except for wearing that thing, he had no other clothes...
He couldn’t go around naked, could he?
Well, he thought, he’d just have to muddle through life as best he could.
After all, who didn’t live like this?
With tears in his eyes, he rode his moped slowly to the Continental Auto Repair Shop, where a crowd was already gathered—today was the first day of college for Second Young Miss Lu Ling, the only surviving academic heir of the Lu family, who had finally made it to the prestigious Tianmen University, where Ji Jue was also enrolled.
Lu Ma was eager to set off fireworks in celebration.
As an honorary older brother, Ji Jue had to make a trip to pick her up, along with scrounging for breakfast along the way.
"Ah, there’s no need to bring so much stuff. It’s just the first day to check in and meet the teachers and fellow students. Besides, Second Young Miss is local and is a day student, so she’ll be back home in the afternoon. Why bring so much?” Ji Jue couldn’t help but shake his head at the piles of goods Lu Ma had prepared, and after much persuasion, they managed to reduce it by more than half.
He only carried the necessary documents and, after picking up Second Young Miss, they set off on the little sheep.
On the back seat, Lu Ling bounced with excitement, enjoying the wind on her face, full of youthful exuberance and bright sunshine, a stark contrast to Ji Jue’s long face.
"Second Brother, you got a new scooter,” she finally noticed, causing Ji Jue to stiffen.
"No, no, it's still the same one. You remember the scar on the back from the knife that little one took to it, don’t you?"
"Ah, that's right.”
Feeling lost, Lu Ling patted the seat.
After all, Lu Feng had ridden this thing every day for three years to take her to high school, so how could she not recognize it? It was just that...
"Why does it feel so much bigger now?"
The little sheep, which originally had a displacement of only 110cc, now seemed to be close to a mid-sized motorcycle, bulging far more than before; it was hard to believe it was the same vehicle.
Ji Jue rolled his eyes and protested, "You’re allowed to go to college, but am I not allowed to grow during puberty?"
Lu Ling was speechless, while the little sheep beneath them seemed to sense they were discussing it, starting to wiggle restlessly.
Ji Jue irritatedly kicked the footrests twice, and it promptly settled down.
What was it like to have one’s little sheep suddenly turn into a dog?
It was a terrifying experience that made him long for death.
Ji Jue had previously worried that one day it might go berserk and bite off his head to play with it, but he soon found that this bizarre creature, born from absorbing most of the Dragon Blood and influenced by Ji Jue’s abilities and the diverse plant techniques he’d used, had a surprisingly stable personality that was very obedient, almost dog-like in its affection for him.
When he tried to communicate using his abilities, it was no different than speaking to a dog.
"Sit," and it would sit; "Roll," and it would roll, with its fenders shaking as if they were about to fly off.
Moreover, it was incredibly fuel-efficient; since its mutation, he didn’t even need to add gas, and its power was ridiculously excessive—he had no idea which racing car engine it had eaten, as it could accelerate from zero to a hundred in just two seconds, reaching a maximum speed that hit four hundred and seventy kilometers per hour.
Recently, rumors had begun spreading of hauntings on the highway near his home.
These were all advantages, but the one drawback was...
It had an insatiable appetite!
On average, it consumed half a chicken per hundred kilometers; it wouldn’t accept yellow rice chickens, and it wouldn’t even eat supermarket frozen chicken legs—it insisted on only the freshest, killed and cooked immediately...
As a result, Ji Jue, who had once been in dire poverty, was now on the verge of bankruptcy.
Of course, Ji Jue realized that this drawback lay with him, not the creature.
After all, what malice could a small dog have? It hadn’t intended to reincarnate as a sheep in his household! If it had been with a wealthy family, wouldn’t it have already achieved dietary freedom?
What could he do but keep it? After all, could he just abandon it?
Forbidding it from entering his room and forcing it to sleep in the living room had already been the extent of Ji Jue's patience.
Fortunately, when it disguised itself as an ordinary sheep, it was quiet most of the time; otherwise, Ji Jue wouldn’t even have the courage to take it outside.
By midday, Tiangmen University, which had been quiet for over a month, began to liven up.
The entrance was bustling with vehicles and excited candidates arriving from various districts and even other cities, all eager to peek around and take pictures with their phones.
The spirited Second Miss Lu Ling dragged Ji Jue around, checking in at several popular spots for social media updates, while Lu Ma, on the other end, skillfully dished out praises and likes.
This joyful mood continued until they reached the end of the new student check-in—payment time.
The bank staff waiting there sat smiling behind the counter, handing out loan contracts like vampires watching a line of blood bags approaching them.
Tianmen University has never been a charitable institution.
As one of the Federal Five, it held a well-known high value, had famously high thresholds, and naturally, tuition fees were infamously steep.
Of course, since she was accepted, there was no need to worry about paying tuition... there were always well-meaning and generous banks ready to help, inviting her to become their repayment slave for the next twenty years.
Even Ji Jue and Lu Feng had spent the first half of their summer running to various municipalities gathering documents for discounts, yet the annual interest rate was still as high as 4.1%.
Just a few minutes later, the young girl found herself burdened with over eight hundred thousand in student loans, nearly in tears holding onto her bag.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Being in Tianmen’s economics program means it's easy to find a job! If not, you’ve got big brother and second brother, right?” Ji Jue tousled her hair and reassured her. “Come on, let’s check out the teaching building, and later, big brother will take you to the cafeteria for some braised meat rice!”
“I don’t want braised meat rice.”
Lu Ling rubbed her eyes, looking even sadder. “Second Brother, you ended up in the hospital the year before last from eating that…”
Ji Jue’s smile stiffened for a moment.
This little brat, how could she still remember that? Besides, the cafeteria had lost a lot of money, okay? Had she forgotten how she got that little skirt? All thanks to Second Brother, eating one bowl after another in the emergency room!
Just as he was about to respond, his phone suddenly vibrated.
The instant the screen lit up, his stiff smile disappeared completely, and his heart sank.
Professor Ye: “Is the process completed? Come to my office.”
“…”
Ji Jue swallowed a lump in his throat, putting his phone away. “You go familiarise yourself with the campus with that senior for a bit; I have something to do, so I’ll head out first.”
“What’s happening?” Lu Ling asked, confused.
Ji Jue paused for a moment and forced out a smile that looked like a death photo.
“Accept your fate.”
As he jogged up the stairs, Ji Jue entered the fourth-floor corridor of the office building and immediately spotted a face nearly brimming with tears, rushing towards him.
It was Ye Chun!
“Waaah, Ji Jue, you’re so wonderful!”
The senior patted his shoulder vigorously as if she were getting to know him all over again, dramatically pulling out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.
"I’m so touched that you really didn’t pull out anymore! I’ll treat you to extra chicken legs at lunch! Just two!”
“Stop talking, I really want to die!”
Ji Jue was so exasperated he almost fell to the ground.
Heaven help him; who could possibly explain the pile of rubbish he had submitted to the professor? Surely he couldn’t claim to have been swept up in a terrorist attack, bravely battling alongside the security bureau big sister against Lawrence and scoring a 93!
“Come on, let’s go! A gallant man goes willingly to his death!”
Ye Chun said with a gleeful look, leading him to the office door, where she personally opened it and then gave him a kick to push him into the "trial stage."
The silence was deafening, the only sound left was the ticking of the clock.
In the morning sunlight, the person behind the desk seemed to have been waiting for a long while.
Instead of pretending to review documents, she casually held a somewhat old teacup, sipping rich, dark tea.
Without any deliberate makeup, Professor Ye Xian, over forty, had wrinkles on her face that seemed carved by a knife, only serving to emphasize her inherent severity and coldness.
Watching Ji Jue stumble in with a smile and fidgeting hands, she wasn’t angry but instead pointed to a pile of freshly printed papers.
“Let’s hear your self-assessment first.”
She said, “This… your ‘academic’ output.”
(End of Chapter)