Chapter 1: The World of Scholars
This is a world of scholars.
People take pride in reading, gleaning wisdom and understanding from the world’s affairs, nurturing their essence, energy, and spirit. Scholars are held in the highest esteem, and great intellectuals are revered. Those powerful literati and poets can command the forces of nature, kill with a breath, and soar through the air on their swords.
In various regions, those who become stronger through study are called magicians, witches, spirit cultivators, and sages.
But that was five thousand years ago—now, they are all called Mentalists.
A fine rain drizzled down.
Rehe No. 13 Elite High School.
Tap, tap, tap!
The rubber track echoed with the staccato sound of sulfurous yellow rainwater.
The beautiful homeroom teacher of Class Three, Senior Year, Anhe Si, led the morning run:
“We’ll begin now. Eight hundred meters in the rain. If you can’t take it, use an umbrella…”
Her voice rang out, clear and powerful even in the downpour.
“Children born in the slums must learn to struggle in acid rain. I succeeded, so I must tear away your umbrellas!”
“As I always say: living in Rehe City is our fortune! The medicated waste gases discharged into the atmosphere from Rehe Heavy Industries stimulate our bodies! They promote our intellectual development and foster the growth of our mental powers.”
“This is a blessing other poor students elsewhere would beg for!”
“Others have to order our city’s rainwater by mail just to bathe in it, but you can soak in it as you please! Don’t take your fortune for granted!”
“To be admitted to Rehe No. 13, each of you is the best of the best—don't let this city down!”
…
The energetic young teacher led her students on their run.
We sang of youth and passion in the rain!
We relished the city’s free radioactive benefits!
We gulped down the heavy-metal acid rain like a wild storm!
Liu Jun, running among the crowd, was short of breath, his vision blurred by rain seeping into his eyes.
“Are we really the city’s talents, or just human sponges for radiation?”
Bitter.
Schooling here was too bitter!
How did I, Liu Jun, end up in a world like this?
The classmates around him all looked prematurely mature from the medicated hormones in the rain.
Some barely seventeen or eighteen already had grey hair at the temples, some even balding.
It was said that, seven centuries ago, the citizens protested and demonstrated against the city’s industrial pollution.
But then a clever scientist proposed the concept of dual industries, and Rehe Heavy Industries launched a bio-pharmaceutical division.
They mixed the waste from mental power growth agents with heavy metal exhaust, pumping it into the air, giving hope to countless poor students who couldn’t afford the medicine.
Heavy industry exhaust?
Harmful!
But heavy industry exhaust mixed with medicinal waste?
Strengthens the body!
Once derided for polluting rivers, Rehe Heavy Industries was crowned that year’s top benevolent enterprise and philanthropist.
Centuries later, Rehe Heavy Industries stands among the world’s top ten mega-corporations.
Naturally, Rehe, birthplace of this giant, became a legendary metropolis, drawing children from poor families to study and inhale the free industrial fumes, perfectly realizing a “win-win” between tycoons and commoners.
The more Liu Jun thought, the gloomier he felt.
Over the years, life had ground him down so much he could no longer even cry out!
Just as his legs wobbled and he was about to give in, a student at the rear of the running group fell.
“Teacher, Xu Changsheng fell.”
“He’s fainted.”
“Sigh, hurry, get him to the nurse.”
“I heard the school beauty broke off their engagement.”
“Seriously?”
“He’s just a brain-dead case.”
…
Liu Jun immediately stopped, raised his hand high, and called out, “Teacher, I’ll take Xu Changsheng to the nurse’s office.”
Anhe Si nodded, “Go.”
Zou Anmeng and Li Feng also raised their hands, “Teacher, we’ll help carry him.”
The three of them lugged Xu Changsheng to the medical office, too exhausted to speak, sprawling on chairs like drenched stray dogs, gasping for breath.
“This world, huh…”
After a while, Liu Jun exhaled deeply.
Li Feng glanced at Xu Changsheng on the hospital bed, eyes full of pity: “This guy will never break through to the third rank. He’ll be lucky to live into his thirties.”
At those words, Zou Anmeng fell silent too.
Weren’t they all the same?
The high schools in Rehe City pushed their students with ruthless, potential-draining drills, keeping pace with the training speed of the rich students in major cities.
But their lifespan was barely over thirty.
If you didn’t want to die young, it was simple—just pay for a cloning operation to get a new, young, healthy body.
But if you couldn’t reach the third rank, where would you get tens of millions for a body replacement?
Even so, the high schools were packed.
In this world, Mentalists were divided into four realms: Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning.
Third-rank Thunder-level Mentalists were fierce—top talents in any big city at just thirty-something.
The competition here among students was far more cutthroat than in any wealthy city.
They were literally betting their lives on education!
Over ten minutes later.
Xu Changsheng came to, groggy and dazed.
Liu Jun didn’t dare delay, and with Li Feng and Zou Anmeng, helped the invalid to the showers before morning reading.
When they returned to the classroom, the students of Class Three had already washed off, gathered in small groups chatting around their desks.
With entrance exams looming, their only topic was the scores of the recently returned tests.
Xu Changsheng was soon targeted again.
“Xu Changsheng, you can’t even memorize biology by rote—are you brain-damaged?”
“Seriously, the teacher already gave us the scope—this test was basically open-book! Only had to memorize thirty-seven million words, that’s all. It’s so easy! Is your brain broken?”
A few students jeered at the boy sitting in the back by the window.
Xu Changsheng clenched his fists, face twisting, but said nothing.
Liu Jun, sitting at the back, watched silently, relieved he didn’t have a fiancée like the school beauty—otherwise, he might be the one being bullied.
“Look, Xu Changsheng’s angry! He’s losing control of his micro-expressions. Must be a primary intellectual disability now—see?”
While he was distracted, a boy grabbed Xu Changsheng’s phone and held it up for the class to see.
As expected, there was a message:
[Rehe Smart Loan reminder: Dear Xu Changsheng, as of March 16, 7791, your PC198 Sage Brain rental has expired. To avoid affecting your life, please renew in time.]
[You are now classified as primary intellectual disability, Level Four (mild), with mild cognitive impairment and accompanying mania, affecting your daily life and studies.]
[Due to lack of auxiliary intellect, your current brain capacity is only one percent of normal. Your brain cannot perform arithmetic with numbers in the billions.]
“It’s true!”
“He stopped his loan; now he’s brainless! No wonder his memory’s shot!”
“Must have defaulted on his brain loan.”
The derision stabbed at Xu Changsheng’s heart like needles.
Liu Jun watched this mad world in silence.
In this world of scholars, brains mattered above all.
Brain Loans, formally called Sage Brain Shared Debt Loans, were the best option for the poor.
People here generally had three brains: left, right, and intellect.
Many poor people would share the debt to rent an intellect brain, taking turns using it for work or study—often the first choice for impoverished families.
The world deeply despised those with low intelligence.
In this era, lacking an intellect brain was like missing a limb. You couldn’t even manage daily life or work.
So this truth was beyond question:
—The poor were all brainless.
A good brain could bankrupt three generations.
A brain passed from one loan to the next, generation after generation, with debts lingering for decades.
Many of the city’s middle-class families looked glamorous on the surface, but nearly all had been brainless debtors for years behind the scenes.
The jeers in the classroom grew louder.
“I’m not playing with an idiot.”
“Idiots really are a drag.”
“Come on, you forgot your brain—why even bother studying?”
“Left brain, right brain, intellect—missing one is just being a moron.”
Bang!
“Is this funny?”
The class monitor, Li Chengshan, stood up with a stern face, slamming his desk. “Moron? Brain-dead? Watch your mouths!”
The room fell silent.
The class monitor was not only the smartest in class, but also the top student.
His intellect brain was a limited edition autumn collectible from the luxury counter at Rehe Heavy Industries.
It cost three times more than the others, and the high intelligence made him a top Mentalist prodigy.
He spoke fairly:
“Is this funny? What right do you have to mock him? He works so hard! I see a melancholy ape yearning for knowledge in this classroom.”
“I see indomitable spirit in him!”
“But! Xu Changsheng, humans are not meant to be in the same class as apes. Prepare to be removed from the elite class.”
Xu Changsheng’s face turned crimson.
The flush of youth spoke louder than any words.
“He’s angry again. I heard primary intellectual disabilities like him suffer from mania.”
“He’s going to hit us! Someone get the teacher!”
“Please, just bring a brain to school next time. You’re no different from a wild animal now—who knows what you’ll do. The girls aren’t safe!”
“Have you watched too many dramas? The plot where a brainless man turns into a beast and attacks beauties because of cognitive decline? It’s all fake!”
…
At that moment, Xu Changsheng was suffering severe intellectual discrimination.
At the classroom door, Anhe Si, dressed in black formalwear, quietly poked her head through the back window.
Ding—
The teacher’s gaze.
The noisy students fell silent at once.
Anhe Si was a legendary top student who had graduated from this very school, and now the dream woman for many students.
In this world of scholars, people weren’t shallow.
Looks didn’t matter, nor height, nor even personality—least of all money. Most people were sapiosexuals.
They valued a person’s mind.
For instance, the top-student Li Chengshan was admired by many girls.
Anhe Si sighed, “Xu Changsheng, come to my office.”
“Yes,” Xu Changsheng murmured, head down, leaving through the back door.
“Hmph, probably made the biology teacher mad again,” a girl snorted.
Li Chengshan shook his head, steering the focus back, “Forget it, let’s not talk about him. Let’s do a brain-burner.”
“Huh?”
Seeing everyone’s confusion, Li Chengshan smiled slightly:
“My intellect brain, [Switch at Will], is about to expire. Let’s push it to the limit—overload it, blow it up, fire off some mental fireworks, run a supercomputing problem, then swap for a new one.”
“Really?”
“That’s awesome!”
“Tsk, some people can’t even afford a brain, but the top dog chooses to burn his out!”
Liu Jun silently joined the others, just to watch the show.
Watching someone burn out their brain was quite entertaining.
Boom!
Li Chengshan’s intellect brain flashed with sparks and thunder, filling the air with a smell of burning. A ripple of mental energy surged through the classroom, refreshing the students’ nerves.
Applause broke out.
As Liu Jun absorbed the gentle wave of mental energy, a line of text appeared in his mind.
[Welcome to Fungal Planet]
[Life is but a soupy blend of 70% water and a mishmash of cellular fungi. Your mission is to bring disaster, plague, and despair to this filthy world, and to stand against humanity.]
Liu Jun’s pupils contracted.
Wasn’t this the idle game he’d played before crossing into this world?
Did the class monitor just burn out a cheat code for me?