"I was actually dominated by a kid, from start to finish." Zhang Song finally spoke, a good while after Chu Bamboo had left. As he recalled the previous events, he tugged at his hair, unable to accept it.
'A man in his forties, and I couldn't even manage to win over a young man who's not even twenty!'
"I, for one, think it's perfectly normal!" Li Quanyuan, seated in his chair, calmly took a sip of hot tea. He swished it around his mouth before spitting a few tea leaf fragments into the trash can. Sensing Zhang Song's gaze, he said, "That kid has a certain presence about him. If I'm not mistaken, he must be someone like a department's student council president, right?"
Though he phrased it as a question, his tone was one of absolute certainty.
The counselor's face twitched. He then realized Li Quanyuan was giving him a slight nod, a clear signal for him to explain. 'H-how am I supposed to explain this?'
In the end, the counselor could only try to hedge, saying, "Mr. Chu does have plans to run for student council president."
It was a very diplomatic answer, the implication being that Chu Bamboo wasn't president *yet*. In reality, as far as the counselor knew, Chu Bamboo hadn't even joined the student council. But how could he dare speak the truth and make the principal lose face?
"?" Li Quanyuan paused for a moment, but his tone was as certain as ever. "Then his family must own a company! And they must have had him involved in managing it from a young age. You don't develop that kind of presence without having actually managed people and gotten things done."
Presence was a nebulous concept, but it was, to a certain extent, very real. Someone who is managed, someone who manages others, someone in a trivial role, someone in charge... Different experiences forge entirely different kinds of presence in a person.
Li Quanyuan had met plenty of people with a presence similar to Chu Bamboo's, so he was certain. This was no ordinary, bright-eyed and naive college student. This was someone who had managed many people, accomplished many things, and navigated the real world. Only then could one develop such an easy, natural confidence!
"..." This time, the counselor remained silent, mainly because he truly didn't know the details.
"Now that you mention it, you're right. Talking with him earlier felt a bit like meeting my department head when I was just starting out!" Zhang Song nodded in complete agreement. But then, he shot a deep look at Li Quanyuan. He wasn't sure if Li Quanyuan had realized it... but the thing was, even talking with Principal Li Quanyuan wasn't as stressful as talking with Chu Bamboo had been.
"Alright, Teacher Zhang." Li Quanyuan casually placed his teacup on the desk. "Now that things have come to this, just go ahead and contact the people from the national sports bureau. And don't you go developing any negative feelings or doing anything rash just because Mr. Chu isn't your student."
Li Quanyuan's words were stern. If Chu Bamboo had agreed to become Zhang Song's apprentice earlier, he wouldn't have said a thing. After all, as the principal, all that mattered to him was that Chu Bamboo was a product of their university!
But for that very reason, he would not allow Zhang Song to place any obstacles on Chu Bamboo's path to becoming a champion just because the boy had refused to become his apprentice.
"...I understand." Zhang Song could only sigh. He still couldn't let it go. 'Why, of all times, did I have to run into someone so talented, yet so proud... or rather, someone who seemed to know what was really going on...'
'I've been hustling for two days, and now it was all for nothing! The priceless title of "Coach of a Track and Field Champion" has just slipped through my fingers...'
Besides, the principal had given the order, so he had no choice but to do it. To put it bluntly, the principal asking him to contact the national sports bureau was a gesture of respect. Otherwise, couldn't the principal have just contacted them himself?
...
Seeing Chu Bamboo casually return to his seat, the political theory teacher gave an impassive nod and continued the lecture as if nothing had happened.
Lin Xia, who was sitting next to Chu Bamboo, lowered his head and whispered, "Bamboo, you've really hit the big time. The principal himself came looking for you! What's that all about? Don't tell me he's personally appointing you as student council president?"
Lin Xia wasn't too familiar with the school's hierarchy, but after mulling it over, he figured you'd have to be at least the student council president to talk to the principal like that, right? Probably?
"It's about what happened at the track last time," Chu Bamboo said, his expression unchanging.
Lin Xia froze for a second, his eyes slowly widening. He didn't say another word until the end of class.
...
After class, no students crowded around to ask Chu Bamboo what had happened. At most, a few of his roommates came over to ask, but when they saw Chu Bamboo brush off the question, they didn't press the matter. After all, everyone had their own business to attend to.
"Bamboo! Brother Zhu!" Lin Xia pulled a small, red-covered notebook from his pocket, his expression grave.
"What are you doing!" Chu Bamboo gave him a weird look. "Let me get this out of the way first. Even if I become a champion, if I get an agent, it'll be a professional one! It's not like you're studying that sort of thing... At most, if I get famous, we can shoot some short videos together to help drive some traffic your way. After that, it's up to you to see if you have what it takes to become an influencer and sell merchandise or whatever."
"Where did your mind even go with that?" Lin Xia was baffled. It took his brain a few seconds to catch up, and then he just laughed in exasperation. "Besides, you're still thinking about becoming a champion? That's not what's important about your situation at all!"
"According to the novels I read, you should be planning to go abroad, carve out your own empire in the chaotic yet vibrant lands of the Black Continent! Then you pick up a Warhammer, unify the world, declare yourself the Divine Emperor, march into the Cosmos, and finally sit upon the Golden Throne..."
"Hey, are you trying to jinx me or what?" Chu Bamboo couldn't keep a straight face anymore. 'He was a firm believer in taking things one step at a time. He hadn't even gotten a Cultivation Technique from the Dream World yet, his path to power was still unclear, and this guy was already lost in fantasy?'
'And what a terrible example to use!'
'Become the Emperor? That's a Curse!'
'What an asshole. Lin Xia actually laid such a vicious Curse on him.'
"Ahem! No more joking." Lin Xia rubbed his face. "Of course I'm not planning to just freeload off you. I was just thinking about what I could do to help... and after giving it a lot of thought, the only thing I can do is come up with some plans, even if I don't know if they'll be useful."
"Oh? Then let's hear it," Chu Bamboo said, raising an eyebrow.
Lin Xia flipped open his little red notebook. "If it were an Otherworld, there'd be nothing to do! But if this is about the future, couldn't we look up some stocks? Find a couple of meme stocks and we'll be set, man! It's all the rage for college students to play the market now, right? Oh, and we could buy some lottery tickets..."
"...You actually believe in that stuff?" Chu Bamboo lost his composure for a second time. 'Still believing in the lottery in this day and age? You're really something else!'
"There's no law against trying!" Lin Xia said with a serious expression. "Besides, this isn't about making money... it's an experiment. To test whether that was your Superpower, or if you really are dreaming of the future! Whether we win or not, the result itself will be a valuable data point."
"Also, if we can make money from this, I'll put my entire life savings into it, but all the net profits... they'll be all yours! Don't refuse. Right now, not refusing and letting me contribute in my own small way is the biggest help you can give me!"
Lin Xia had read too many novels. He thought it over and over, and finally came to a realization: if that really was the future... then the chance to change it, in all likelihood, rested on Chu Bamboo's shoulders.
He couldn't change the future! But he could help the person who *could* change that desperate future. Even if he only contributed to Chu Bamboo's cause in the smallest way, if it could truly lead to rewriting the hopeless future of human civilization...
Then without a doubt, it would be the most glorious, crowning moment of his life.