Chapter 59: Night and Dawn (Part 2)

More often than not.

During our student years, there is always a campus idol, a god or goddess.

They have good grades, they are good-looking, and they are cheerful…

People like that easily become the object of everyone’s longing during those innocent years.

And Zhang Yang, during his high school days, was likely that kind of person.

“What? It’s really him?”

At Fudan University¹, Bai Shushu received a phone call in her dormitory.

After taking the call.

She froze.

Memories surged out like a floodgate being opened.

That year…

In autumn, she had tested into the county’s key high school².

She entered high school filled with longing and excitement, but a month later, she fell into a state of deep anxiety.

Her grades had just barely cleared the cutoff for the key high school. While she had been considered quite good in middle school, at this school, she appeared utterly mediocre, even struggling to keep up with the pace of the class.

Everyone was so strong, so smart!

The harder she tried to catch up, the more exhausted she felt. The more exhausted she felt, the more anxious she became. The more anxious she became, the less she could calm her mind, leading her to start doubting if there was something wrong with her intelligence.

In this vicious cycle, she actually ended up at the bottom of the rankings during the midterm exams!

She collapsed right then and there!

From childhood to adulthood, she had never been at the bottom like that!

She even felt that the way her classmates looked at her was exactly how people looked at those who held the group back.

In the following exams, her state grew worse and worse. She even began to drift off during class, having no idea what the teacher was saying…

She felt she was finished!

“Hey, do you need some tutoring?”

“I’m in the top five of our grade. I think I can help you…”

After one instance of crying until her eyes were red, she heard a voice.

She looked up.

Then she saw a test paper and an expression that looked a bit nervous and restrained.

She was stunned.

Then…

As if possessed, she nodded.

At that time, she could never have dreamed that the trajectory of her life would change because of this…

“Senior… he became a deadbeat?”

“This… I don’t believe it. How could someone like Senior be a deadbeat?”

“…”

Hanging up the phone.

She immediately opened her computer and saw the news on the internet.

Her eyes turned red instantly.

Then…

She took a deep breath.

And began to tap on the keyboard.

………………………………

Public opinion online was still surging.

Slanderous material about Zhang Yang was still flying everywhere.

There were even many false reports about tax evasion.

It was already impossible to tell which rumors were true and which were fake.

But…

Every piece of dirt seemed aimed directly at Zhang Yang’s vitals, intended to destroy him.

Countless paid internet trolls had even overrun the Tieba forums.

It was far too easy for capital to deal with a newly established company.

Zhang Yang seemed powerless to resist.

Chen Weiwei browsed through the various smears with a complicated expression.

She was furious. She knew this was the work of Lianzhong Computer. Having lost Zhou Yang’s endorsement, Lianzhong couldn’t touch Zhou Yang or the capital behind him for the time being, nor could they touch Bluebird. Thus, they could only take their knives to Zhang Yang.

“For certain reasons, I can’t get a loan.”

She still remembered what Zhang Yang had told her. When he said those words, Zhang Yang had been smiling, showing no signs of pressure at all.

At the time, she hadn’t paid it much mind, thinking it was perhaps because Zhang Yang was too young and lacked collateral.

But now…

After reading the things about Zhang Yang that had been dug up on the Tieba forums, she finally understood.

Zhang Yang…

Was on the list of dishonest persons³!

Chen Weiwei logged onto the Universe Technology official website.

She saw that the two games, Beat the Grass Mud Horse and Desert Bicycle, had already been taken down, with a notice stating they were unavailable for download.

This was likely the darkest, most difficult time for Universe Technology…

Just as she was feeling emotional over Zhang Yang’s plight, she suddenly saw several newly refreshed posts on Tieba.

She blinked in surprise.

“I am Zhang Lin, and I am Zhang Yang’s junior. My name is Bai Shushu… I am currently a sophomore at Fudan University. This is my student ID…”

“I am a junior who was once tutored by Senior Zhang Yang. My name is Zhang Meng, and I am a student at Tsinghua University. This is my student ID…”

“My name is Song Qingqing, a student at the Yanjing University School of Law. This is my student ID…”

“My name is Chen Long. I’m different from them; I’m not at a top-tier university, I’m a student at a standard first-tier university⁴…”

“…”

“My name is Xu Hongbin, and I am a teacher at Nanmin Key High School…”

Chen Weiwei saw several students posting their student IDs on Tieba.

And then…

They began to speak of many past events regarding Zhang Yang.

Furthermore, Zhang Yang’s former high school homeroom teacher posted several of Zhang Yang’s old report cards…

The report cards showed him prominently at the top of the rankings…

As she read through these scenes from the past, Chen Weiwei suddenly felt a heavy, stifling sensation in her chest.

She felt particularly oppressed when Zhang Yang’s former teacher, Xu Hongbin, spoke about Zhang Yang’s final days in his second year of high school.

“During those last few days, he seemed distracted. When I asked him questions, he would give evasive answers…”

“He seemed very exhausted during those days. Every day he came to school wearing tattered clothes. When I asked him what was wrong, he wouldn’t say…”

“I tried to conduct a home visit, but he always refused, saying no one was home… His mother had passed away, his father was working away from home, and he was the only one there…”

“Later, I received news of his withdrawal. I heard from the third-year homeroom teachers that on the day of registration for the third year, he arrived very early. After completing the withdrawal procedures, his father took him and a pile of luggage and left the school…”

“After that, I never heard from him again. I only heard they moved and sold the house. I didn’t know where they went…”

“Now, after seeing the things online, I finally understand. It turns out his father had gambled and owed a massive amount of high-interest debt… and even used his ID card to do a series of mess of things…”

“What a good kid he was, and now he’s ended up a deadbeat…”

“Sigh…”

“…”

As Chen Weiwei read this, her throat felt tight and dry.

It turned out that Zhang Yang, who always had a smile on his face in front of everyone, had such a painful past that people didn’t even dare to remember it.

A former favorite of heaven⁵…

Falling from grace so suddenly because of his family.

What an injustice!

…………………………………………

On the internet.

“Huh? This…”

“My god, after reading this, I feel terrible, truly terrible. So President Zhang was actually…”

“Sigh, that kind of father is just unbelievable. Not only did you throw your son into a fire pit, you even added a lock to the door!”

“The kind of plot you only see in novels actually exists in reality?”

“Reality is more painful than fiction…”

“I can’t imagine the feeling of falling from such a height, I really can’t…”

“I used to think Zhang Yang was just an opportunist, that his schemes were disgusting, but looking back now, he really had no choice!”

“Heaven dealt him a rotten hand!”

“It’s so unfair, it’s just too unfair! Argh, how can a father like this exist? Where’s my knife?”

“…”

In the dead of night.

Many netizens on Tieba felt their noses sting with tears after seeing this.

Especially when they saw Zhang Yang’s juniors starting to testify for him, recalling every little detail of his student days, they felt both furious and helpless.

Online, public opinion was still flooded with various rumors about Zhang Yang being a deadbeat debtor, and paid shills were still posting.

Though the posts were repetitive, they were filled with malice.

However, many netizens were no longer being swayed by the shills’ rhythm⁶. Instead, they began reporting these accounts.

“His grades were always excellent. In our class, he was either first or second; he never dropped out of the top five. I couldn’t understand why he dropped out back then…”

“Sigh, why didn’t you tell us back then? If you had, we could have organized a donation for you!”

“Zhang Lin… are you doing okay now? Why did you change your name to Zhang Yang?”

“…”

The “Beat the Grass Mud Horse” and “Desert Bicycle” Tieba forums were incredibly lively.

Many people suspected of being Zhang Yang’s former classmates entered the forums immediately.

Between the lines of their posts, the reasons for Zhang Yang becoming a “deadbeat” seemed to be confirmed.

By noon the next day.

Many former neighbors from Zhang Yang’s village filmed a video.

The video was published on Universe Technology’s platform.

“Regarding what was said online before, that’s not how we put it. Although we were affected sometimes, we mostly felt sympathy. We never spoke about Zhang Lin—I mean, Zhang Yang—like that…”

“Their house was always in turmoil. Every night, there were always people kicking at their door!”

“I remember it was during his second year of high school. Many people even took away everything valuable in his house, not even sparing some of the clothes…”

“When things were at their worst, I could hear arguments and the sounds of hitting and cursing from inside…”

“Perfectly good clothes were torn into shreds…”

“Sigh, such a good child! Just ruined like that!”

“The house wasn’t sold; it was actually mortgaged. It was Zhang Lin, that boy, who begged us, telling us not to say anything. I still remember the look on his face…”

“He was clearly in despair, yet he pretended to be so sensible…”

“…”

In the video.

As several women recalled the past, their eyes turned red.

Through these fragments of information…

The netizens could imagine those darkest of scenes.

The netizens who had previously followed the shills in cursing Zhang Yang were now filled with immense self-reproach and began to apologize one after another…

……………………….

Zhang Yang had a dream.

A dream filled with all sorts of hysterical scenes.

A degenerate gambler of a father who seemed to have lost his humanity, hiding and running every day as if he didn’t know what a conscience was.

Even his mother, lying on a hospital bed, finally passed away in depression because there was no money for treatment…

He never once came to visit.

In fact, in his memory, every time the man returned, it was to demand money!

Endless demands for money. When Zhang Yang was eighteen, the man even listened to the incitement of others and directly used his son’s ID to take out high-interest loans.

A total piece of human trash!

Zhang Yang opened his eyes…

He felt a few traces of tears on his face.

However, he looked out the window.

Outside was sunlight. The midday sun was very bright…

Sometimes darkness is cold.

It is suffocating, so oppressive that it makes it impossible to breathe!

But after enduring the darkness, one will eventually see the dawn.

Chewing a piece of gum, he climbed out of bed and glanced at the plan for his new game.

Then, he looked at a text message informing him that all loans had been repaid and that the restrictions on high-level consumption⁷ had been lifted…

He smiled brilliantly.

“Sometimes when I think about it, I get pretty angry!”

“Really pretty angry!”

“Why did I have to suffer so much after transmigrating?”

“What kind of rotten hand is this?”

“But…”

“Actually, sometimes I think it’s interesting…”

“If I didn’t ascend to godhood from the depths, how would I show off my ability to turn the world upside down?”

“…”

Zhang Yang narrowed his eyes.

…………………………

Days passed one by one.

In the blink of an eye, about half a month had gone by.

There were still many shills and insults directed at Zhang Yang online, but compared to before, they seemed to be slowly dissipating.

However!

Zhang Yang himself never responded to any questions again.

Occasionally, some reporters tried to come to the company for interviews, but they were all rejected by the staff.

On the morning of July 21st!

The official Universe Technology website suddenly announced a piece of news across all major Tieba forums!

A message without any warning!

“The game that makes children fall in love with learning! The student version of ‘God of Conquest’ will be officially released at 8:08 AM⁸ on August 1st!”

“…”

No one knew…

A Storm was sweeping in!

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes