Yu Bei told Ye Yang that his academic performance was excellent and he had met the standards to participate in the intensive training program. He hoped Ye Yang would attend the six-month training and then take the college entrance examination—the human college entrance examination.
“Take the college entrance exam?” Ye Yang was puzzled. Why would someone like him take the exam? Wasn’t he not supposed to have too much contact with humans?
Kong Jiamu and the others had already achieved a high degree of socialization and had dual safeguards and supervision from both their families and YCG. After they could stably transform, they were free to move about in human society. Yet even so, getting approval for them to attend a human university was very difficult.
For a completely wild demon like Ye Yang, with no clan restrictions, YCG had clear regulations.
Yu Bei naturally understood these regulations better than Ye Yang did. He said:
“Wild demons before you—one reason was safety concerns, and another was that none of them were as interested in human knowledge or learned it as well as you. Of course, there was no question of letting them attend university. They didn’t need it either.”
Yu Bei ruffled Ye Yang’s fluffy short hair. “But Ye Yang, you’re very different. You’re genuinely interested in human knowledge. I can feel it—you want to learn.”
“You want to learn, and you have this opportunity. Why shouldn’t you?”
“Besides, it’s just taking the college entrance exam, not actually going to university. You’re a good child. I believe you can get along well with humans for just three days.”
Ye Yang had never expected Yu Bei to say such things. And it was true—the more knowledge he acquired, the more he understood this world, the more he craved even deeper knowledge.
He truly loved learning. When he studied human knowledge, he had no utilitarian goals. He was simply filled with curiosity about humans. He wanted to know why humans were so creative. Despite their short lifespans and fragile bodies, they had created so many things that could only be called miracles.
Moreover, over this past year, he had increasingly realized that if he wanted to find his benefactor, he couldn’t stay here forever. He needed to go to more places. And learning more knowledge would definitely help him explore this world.
He felt both pleasantly surprised and deeply moved. He had never spoken about any of this, yet Teacher Yu had seen right through him. Not only did he care so much, but he had also helped him secure the opportunity to attend the training!
“Thank you, Teacher Yu! I will study hard!”
·
Six months later, Ye Yang, holding his brand-new ID card and admission ticket, accompanied by Yu Bei and Director Bai, arrived at a middle school in Dongzhou City. This would be his examination site for the next three days.
The training, though called a “training program,” turned out to have only him as the sole participant once classes started. It was practically VIP treatment. Only then did he realize how rare this opportunity was, and he cherished it all the more.
The schedule was extremely tight. He had to learn three years’ worth of human knowledge in just six months.
During those three years—wait, six months—Ye Yang did little besides study. He ate only once every several days and slept only once every several days, fully leveraging his advantages as a demon. Finally, he managed to review all the knowledge one more time before June 7th.
When the college entrance exam scores came out, Ye Yang was quite satisfied with his results. Top ten in Dongzhou City—that was pretty good, right?
But Ye Yang’s feelings stopped at satisfaction. He didn’t let himself think any further.
He was already content to have been able to learn so much knowledge without distractions. Next, he should follow the arrangements, leave headquarters, work hard to pay off his debts, and after repaying Director Tu and YCG for taking him in, he would be free to accomplish his original goal of leaving the sea.
But plans always seem to change.
…
Holding the letter of introduction from Director Bai, packing his luggage, and looking up the route to the YCG Qishan Branch—his future workplace—Ye Yang was ready to set off.
He turned back to look one last time at the dormitory he had lived in for nearly two years, a trace of reluctance flashing through his heart.
Just then, the dormitory door was pushed open with great force.
“Teacher Yu?”
Ye Yang was confused. Hadn’t they already said their goodbyes?
Yu Bei’s expression was complicated. He stuffed a thick red envelope into Ye Yang’s arms. “Don’t leave just yet. Go to the registration office and find Tu Manli. She needs to talk to you about going to university.”
“Going to university???” Ye Yang was shocked.
Ye Yang even thought he had misheard and asked again.
Yu Bei: “Yes, that’s right—going to university. Ask Director Tu for the details.” He didn’t want to say more. Just a few hours ago, a heated argument with Tu Manli had exhausted all his energy.
And frankly, he had no one to blame but himself for this.
As soon as Ye Yang’s college entrance exam results came out, Yu Bei was so overjoyed and proud that he went around showing off. But he never expected that Tu Manli, upon learning what an excellent score Ye Yang had achieved, would secretly fill out his college application for him—and successfully get him admitted.
It wasn’t until after the admission was finalized, his files had been transferred, and Tu Manli had already submitted the application and received Old Man Li’s personal approval, that she came to tell Yu Bei.
Yu Bei immediately went to confront Tu Manli. “It’s true that I had Ye Yang do the intensive training and take the exam, but I only wanted his abilities to be certified. I never actually intended for him to go to university!”
Tu Manli was just about to leave work. Stopped in her tracks, she had no choice but to explain to Yu Bei: “I’ve thought it over back and forth. He still needs to go to this university. Tell me, who gets admitted and doesn’t go? This is Dongzhou University—a top-tier institution!”
“It’s not like we can’t afford to support one college student. Besides, little Ye is already up to his neck in debt. What difference does a few more years make? He’ll definitely be able to pay it back!”
Yu Bei was speechless. “Did Ye Yang know that you unilaterally added to his debt?”
“Oh, a clever kid like little Ye will understand at a glance. How could he not know!” Director Tu was in a hurry to leave work, so much so that her native dialect slipped out.
Yu Bei still didn’t agree. “No. Ye Yang may not have an aggressive nature, but that doesn’t mean he lacks the capacity for aggression. He’s so strong that he might accidentally hurt someone. I need to go talk to Old Man Li. How could he have approved this? This is absurd!”
Tu Manli didn’t accept that reasoning. “He has excellent control now. Have you even looked at his report card?”
Yu Bei grew impatient too. “I taught him myself. What do you think? Listen to me—even if he goes to university, he’ll still end up at one of our external operations departments. What’s the point of going to university?”
Tu Manli was already fed up. She headed out the door as she spoke. “Can you really compare a high school graduate to a university graduate? There’s no harm in getting more education! And look at this school—have you forgotten who else is there?”
“Who else…! Right, how could I have forgotten!” Yu Bei suddenly stopped. Shen Ming was there. And not only that, Shen Ming was also Ye Yang’s designated mentor—it had all been arranged.
Shen Ming disliked trouble and loved peace and quiet. He rarely made appearances. But no one could question his strength or his reliability.
With that kind of safeguard, and with Old Man Li personally approving the application, surely he wouldn’t just leave things unchecked… right? …Right?
As he hesitated, the two of them had already walked outside YCG headquarters.
Yu Bei finally relented, but still added an uneasy reminder: “You absolutely must supervise him properly!”
“Oh, don’t I know that? Don’t worry yourself one bit!”
Tu Manli slung her shopping basket over her arm, hopped on her electric scooter, and took off. That old Kun kept wasting her time like this—she was in a hurry to get home and make dinner.
…
These conversations had happened just yesterday.
Ye Yang found Tu Manli, listened to her vivid retelling of events, then looked down at the admission letter from Dongzhou University that Yu Bei had just stuffed into his arms.
Before he could say anything, Tu Manli continued: “Dongzhou University is a really big deal. Countless people would give their right arm to get in but can’t. Little Ye, you really can’t waste this opportunity.”
“Education credentials are so important these days, especially your first degree. Even here at YCG, we’re not completely blind to credentials, no matter what those old fossils think.” The “old fossils” specifically referred to a certain Kunpeng.
“The funding will be allocated soon. Besides tuition, your living expenses will be deposited into your card on time every month.”
Seeing Ye Yang standing there with his head down, silent, Tu Manli suddenly slapped her forehead. “Oh, wait a minute. Little Ye… you’re not thinking of not going, are you?”
Ye Yang instinctively objected: “How could I? Of course I want to go!” As soon as he said it, he realized—what he was hesitating about wasn’t whether to go to university at all. Deep down, he really wanted to go. Having this opportunity made him happier than anyone.
His hesitation was simply fear of sudden change. He had never spent extended time around ordinary humans. He was genuinely afraid that Teacher Yu’s concerns might come true.
Tu Manli was immediately relieved. “Well, there you go. Don’t worry about anything else. We’ve got it all arranged. Just go to school with peace of mind.”
“Oh, and it’s about time you met your mentor.”
“Mentor?” Ye Yang muttered to himself. It took him a few seconds to dig up a certain YCG regulation from his memory: If a wild demon must enter human society, they must be assigned a one-on-one mentor of the same species. Any issues would be the joint responsibility of the demon and the mentor.
In recent years, due to ocean pollution, very few marine plants or animals had become spirits—in fact, none had since the founding of the nation. Ye Yang himself had been born several hundred years ago, and he had no kin of the same species. Currently, the only person in all of YCG who could mentor Ye Yang was Shen Ming, who was also a marine creature.
“You might not know Shen Ming. He’s always kept a low profile. But you should know about the Northern Dark Warrior—Xuanwu?”
Ye Yang: “???” What did that mean? His mentor was Xuanwu???
Hadn’t the celestial realm lost contact with the lower realms for several thousand years???
·
Shen Ming thought he must be seeing things. How else could he explain seeing a letter stuck in the crack of his front door… Oh wait, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t stuck—there was a tiny thing holding up the letter!
Huh?!
Hold on! A leaf sheep no bigger than a thumb was at his doorstep!
This leaf sheep’s two “ears” were holding a letter more than ten times larger than itself… What the heck?!
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