Chapter 5: As Lowly as Ants

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【However, your efforts were not entirely in vain. After over a month of struggling, you have gained a certain understanding of the world beneath your feet.】

【Especially when combined with the knowledge from your past life, you have clearly discerned the financial traps that permeate your surroundings.】

【Everything in this world is nothing more than "man-eating" wrapped in the guises of legality and order.】

【First, they use "Grace Loans" to lure the lower classes into debt, binding it to a soul mortgage. Combined with a compound interest model, they turn low-level professionals into expendable resources, ready for the final harvest.】

【Then, they use the Wisdom Network to restrict consumption, monopolize resources, and block the growth paths of the lower classes, effectively exploiting them at the level of transcendent power.】

【On the surface, the authorities declare Divine Gift Crystals to be strategic resources, prohibiting loan funds from flooding the relevant markets to prevent price volatility that could lead to social instability.】

【But the key question is: with this insane financial system in place, isn't society already unstable enough?】

【Whose interests are the policies set by the Loan Supervision Bureau actually protecting?】

【Add to that the brutal harvesting of the dungeon entry ticket system, and unless you are one of those heaven-sent geniuses whose awakened talent is above the Gold tier, who can ever climb the social ladder?】

【The money earned from working hard every day to gather materials isn't even enough to cover the cost of the entry tickets. How is one supposed to accumulate initial capital?】

【Without accumulation, how can you repay your debts?】

【Even if you don't repay, if you have no money, how can you afford equipment and skills? How can you purchase precious items to arm yourself?】

【You are essentially working for free for the Dungeon Hall, aren't you?】

【When you consider the comprehensive exploitation carried out by the Dragon Fang Squad through blood-letting and the Scavenger Alliance through "probationary periods," it is clear that everything serves a singular purpose.】

【That purpose is to push low-level professionals into default, allowing these lending institutions to complete a dual harvest—both physical and spiritual—of these individuals.】

【This forces everyone into a death spiral of debt, consumption, stagnant combat power, loan renewal, and, ultimately, absolute enslavement.】

【This world is terminally ill!】

【It needs to change!】

【But you are too weak; you are powerless.】

【That is how life is. When you cannot resist, you might as well lie back and get into a comfortable position.】

Lin Xia: "..."

That last sentence was truly profound.

Had he really grasped the underlying logic of this world in such a short time?

"True enough, in this transcendent world, everything is laid bare for all to see."

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Lin Xia shook his head slightly. "If the sales clerk at the Guangyun Chamber of Commerce can openly talk about taking a forty percent kickback, then other things must be just as obvious."

"They aren't even bothering to act anymore, so it's no surprise that I've figured this out."

"It's just that without strength, what's the point of seeing it?"

"Everything must prioritize self-improvement."

【You shake the chaotic thoughts from your mind. Before your strength reaches a sufficient level, overthinking will only become a burden.】

【Most importantly, in just over ten days, the Professional Entrance Exam will begin.】

【You are currently only level 2, and your talent is merely Black Iron tier, so you are self-aware enough to know that you have no chance of getting into a good professional university.】

【But just because you can't get in now doesn't mean your future self won't be able to.】

【The qualifications and channels provided by professional universities can save gifted individuals from poor backgrounds from taking many unnecessary detours.】

【If you keep experimenting and accumulating information and experience now, your future self will be able to rise through the ranks all the faster.】

【Even so, you do not stop your daily excursions into the Wild Wolf Forest.】

【After all, one must have ideals, but the life and drudgery in front of you must continue as well.】

【You once fantasized about killing monsters and having them drop a few primary Divine Gift Crystals, but the Wild Wolf Forest dungeon level is too low, and since all you kill are small fry, the probability is infinitely lowered.】

【June 19, 125th year of the Transcendent Calendar. On the day of the exam, you arrive early to wait, only to find the area already packed with countless professionals.】

【At a glance, the vast majority of these professionals are dressed just like you.】

【The Black Iron tier talent you awakened is a true reflection of the lower-class professional.】

【The Grace Loans, equipment loans, skill loans, dungeon loans, and medical loans you carry are the same for your peers.】

【Some even entered the Dungeon Hall for the first time, weren't cautious enough, were deceived by unscrupulous squads, and ended up saddled with debt without ever receiving any equipment or skills. They remain stuck at the initial level 1.】

【Others were honest folk who tried to earn money to pay off their loans, only to have their labor exploited for three months by the Scavenger Alliance, leaving them unable to absorb even a single Divine Gift Crystal fragment.】

【In short, you had thought your own situation was miserable enough.】

【But upon arriving at the exam center where your peers gathered, you realize you are actually quite lucky.】

【Thank goodness you are quick-witted enough to have only been scammed a dozen or so times.】

Lin Xia: "?"

Why did that last sentence sound a bit... fortunate?

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In three months, scammed a dozen times—is that considered a small number?

Even after being so cautious, he still got scammed over ten times?

Avoid all squads looking for recruits!

Ignore everything that sounds like a free lunch!

Don't talk to anyone who tries to strike up a conversation!

Even with all that, he still got scammed so many times?

Well... compared to those who were exploited for three months or those who were swindled until they didn't even have their underwear left, he could indeed be considered lucky.

It’s just that this expression of "luck" is a bit awkward.

"Isn't that too miserable?"

Lin Xia felt helpless. Seeing this, he suddenly understood why his simulated self had such a profound perception of this world.

Even with such caution, he was still scammed repeatedly.

While part of it was due to initial carelessness, it also had a lot to do with how subtle the fraudulent methods are in this transcendent world.

For example, the Dragon Fang Squad using the guise of recruitment to draw blood.

If not for having experienced it or having been warned by elders, who would know that such a professional-looking squad was actually out to scam people?

Lin Xia couldn't help but sigh: "When transcendent power is combined with financial scams, the force unleashed is enough to distort an entire world."

【As a student of Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, you soon join the queue to test your level.】

【Different levels yield different exam scores.】

【As the children of the Jiangcheng noble families make their appearance, you see a string of level 11, 12, and 13 results displayed.】

【Once a professional reaches level 10, they must complete a class advancement quest before they can continue to level up.】

【In just three months, these noble children have already completed their first advancement. The top-ranked student in the Jiangcheng region, Du Yuhan, has reached a staggering level 15.】

【You, right now, are the embodiment of all the lower-class professionals around you.】

【You stand below the stage, looking up at the noble children who radiate a dazzling brilliance, as insignificant as ants.】

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