However, Zhang Jing quickly dismissed this idea, which he considered foolish. After all, while six million yuan could certainly lift him out of poverty, it was nothing compared to the wealth of the world's top tycoons, nobles, and royalty.

Zhang Jing clearly remembered that whether it was the news reports he saw or the stock market information he browsed on financial websites, they all clearly told him that those listed companies, even the smaller ones, all had market values ​​of billions or tens of billions; and there were quite a few of the world's top billionaires with wealth exceeding 100 billion.

As for those ancient royal families, like the Zhao Dynasty royal family, although the outside world is not clear about their financial situation, it would not be surprising to say that they have accumulated wealth of hundreds of billions or even trillions. After all, taking the Zhao Dynasty royal family as an example, this was a family that once ruled that "all land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people within the borders are his subjects."

In comparison, even if Zhang Jing accumulated over six million in wealth, it would be incomparable to these behemoths. Moreover, this would completely deplete his currently precious wish points, and Zhang Jing hadn't yet found a way to replenish them. What if these wish points were one-time use only?

Furthermore, another point that alarmed Zhang Jing was that fulfilling his wishes wasn't always entirely smooth sailing. He recalled that when he wished for 100 yuan for the first time, he almost tripped over a small pebble; and when he wished for 1 million yuan for the second time, he encountered a sinkhole and his right leg was nearly pierced by a steel bar. Does this mean that fulfilling wishes isn't always absolutely safe?

After careful consideration, Zhang Jing decided to give it another try.

"I wish to gain 1,000 more wishing points in the wishing book." Zhang Jing tentatively made a wish.

However, this time, the characters displayed on the wishing book were in red:

Wish: I wish to increase the number of wishing points in the wishing book by one thousand.

The wish cannot be fulfilled; the wish book cannot be realized because it contains a logical paradox.

Zhang Jing sighed inwardly. It seemed that increasing wish points in this way was not a viable option. However, he had been prepared for this. After all, if wish points could be increased by relying on the wish book itself, then the wish book would become a perpetual motion machine, which was obviously unreasonable.

"I wish that from now on, after each wish is made, the events that will take place to fulfill the wish will be immediately shown in advance." Zhang Jing made another wish, wanting to try and see if he could reduce the uncertainty of the wish book.

However, the characters displayed on the wishing book this time were still in red:

Wish: I wish that from now on, after each wish is made, the events that will take place to fulfill the wish will be immediately shown in advance.

The wish cannot be fulfilled, as the wishing document itself is not within the scope of the wish.

"I wish to add a function to the wishing book that predicts how many points will be spent on the wish." Zhang Jing frowned and made another wish.

Wish: I wish to add a function to the wishing book that predicts how many points the wish will cost.

The wish cannot be fulfilled, as the wishing document itself is not within the scope of the wish.

........................

After that, he tried several more wishes, all of which were attempts to explore the wishes in the wishing book from various angles. However, the result was only to add a lot of red characters to the wishing book, and none of them could be fulfilled.

Although Zhang Jing sighed at this result, it was understandable. It's like how even the strongest person can't lift themselves, otherwise it would create a logical paradox.

"I wish that, if the rules allow, I can see the rules regarding the wishing document," Zhang Jing concluded with his wish. And this time, the characters displayed on the wishing document finally appeared correctly:

Wish: I wish that, if the rules allow, I can see the rules regarding the wish book.

A friendly reminder:

1. A wish book can grant any wish within the rules, provided that the user has enough wish points.

Second, please note that when a wish is fulfilled, side effects may sometimes occur, and when the gap between the wish and the user's current situation is too large, the side effects will change uncontrollably.

Third, the difficulty of determining a wish is directly related to the impact of that wish on the world's destiny line.

Fourth, the degree of ambiguity in the description of a wish will affect the assessment of the wish's difficulty.

Fifth, the difficulty of a wish will be directly related to the number of points required to fulfill it.

VI. The wish will not change the current state of the user's known world.

7. Users can increase their wish points through certain means.

8. There is still much you need to know about this wish book; never assume you fully understand it.

That wish has been fulfilled.

10000 wish points will be deducted.

Zhang Jing closed the wishing book and flipped it over. The number displayed on the back cover was 55613. This information seemed quite expensive, having used up another 10,000 wishing points, which made him feel a little pained. However, this also showed the importance of these rules, which could indeed help him avoid some detours.

In particular, he now knows for certain that wish points can be increased. Although he had guessed this long ago, the confirmation has finally put a weight off his mind.

Furthermore, among these rules, the most subtle one, in Zhang Jing's view, is the fifth one: "It will not change the current state of the user's known world."

In Zhang Jing's previous experience with the Wish Book, he felt that it wouldn't immediately grant your wish by modifying the existing state of the real world. For example, it wouldn't immediately conjure a million banknotes from the sky without reason. Instead, it would guide fate to grant your wish in a way similar to the movie "Final Destination" in his previous life.

Now it seems there is a premise here: within the "known world". If the wish involves something outside the known world, will there be a more direct change?

So, what is the known world? Human technology in this world has achieved interstellar travel within our solar system. Although our exploration is still limited to the interior of our star systems, our understanding of the external world is far more profound than that of our previous Earth. As someone with higher education, I am naturally familiar with these concepts. So, does this known world encompass the areas that humanity has already explored or can understand?

Various thoughts raced through Zhang Jing's mind. He put away the wishing book, realizing that thinking about it now was pointless. He would gradually clarify these issues by gathering more information later.

..............................

P.S.: Some readers have offered suggestions regarding the historical background setting of this world, emphasizing its rigor.

As the author, I'm actually discussing a particular pattern of historical development. I believe historical development follows a logic, and everyone's rights and obligations within it, tracing their origins, stem from a specific historical event. The protagonist's world is one that hasn't experienced a complete New Democratic Revolution—not just in Da Zhao, but globally. This is somewhat like the world before World War I, where the crown hadn't yet fallen.

For some reason (which I will mention later), there was no world war, so naturally there was no subsequent communist revolution or the rise of a certain ideology (I admit that I set it up this way because I wanted this book to last a little longer). As you can see from the previous text, the polarization in this world is very serious, especially the labor rights of ordinary people are far worse than in our current world. Why?

If we look back at history, we can see that modern labor protections didn't come out of thin air. I believe there are at least two main reasons: First, after the World Wars, the power of the royal family and nobility was greatly weakened by the wars, so they were forced to relinquish some political rights to the common people, leading to the rise of the civil rights movement. Second, communist revolutions put pressure on the upper classes, especially the social system competition brought about by the Cold War. As we can see, since the collapse of a certain major power, the income of the American middle class has basically stagnated, which shows that rights do not arise out of thin air.

Therefore, in the protagonist's world, because they haven't experienced the aforementioned social events, social development will inevitably take a different turn. This is just my personal, albeit superficial, opinion when creating the world setting.

Although I know most readers won't consider these things, as a personal conviction, I still want to clarify that I didn't make these settings arbitrarily.

Chapter Nine: Debt-Free and Carefree, Resign!

That evening, after dinner, Zhang Jing logged into his student loan account via mobile internet. The tuition for Linzhou City College, where he was studying, was 5000 yuan per year. At that time, even if he pooled all of his parents' inheritance, he could only afford to pay for one year's tuition.

In the current Dazhao, university tuition is already so high. This is because Linzhou City College is a public community college with government funding and some public welfare attributes. If it were a top private university, the tuition would usually be between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan a year. In addition, admission would require a series of screenings, such as alumni recommendations. Given Zhang Jing's current situation, he doesn't even need to consider it.

Even so, Zhang Jing was still worried about the tuition fees. In the end, he managed to apply for a student loan, which prevented him from being forced to drop out of school because he could not pay the tuition fees.

Of course, this has also increased his monthly repayment burden by about 200 yuan, which was quite a burden given his previous financial situation.

Currently, there is still a loan amount of 9600 yuan in his loan account that has not been repaid. Zhang Jing chose to repay it in one lump sum. As the balance in his bank card became 992530 yuan, Zhang Jing officially entered a state of being debt-free.

Zhang Jingsheng let out a long sigh of relief and stretched. It felt really good to be rich.

He looked around the room. Because of the several days of rain, there was a faint musty smell, and visible mold spots could even be seen in some corners. The room contained only some mismatched, basic furniture, mostly provided as part of the rental agreement.

Thinking that he should improve his living conditions, Zhang Jing decided to prioritize moving to a new house in the next stage.

What should he wish for next? This was a question Zhang Jing had been pondering.

What does he really want? That's the most crucial question.

Is it money?

Of course, money is necessary; everyone wants a better life, and Zhang Jing, who had previously struggled in the slums, was certain of this. However, he also clearly understood that he wasn't a miserly person. Money was important to him, but if he had a choice, his first choice would definitely not be money.

In his previous life, he was a fan of martial arts and fantasy novels. In fact, he spent a considerable amount of his spare time practicing traditional martial arts and qigong, and he once dreamed of becoming a martial arts master.

However, in that world where there are no extraordinary beings, it ultimately only serves to improve physical fitness.

However, now he truly sees the possibility of his dream coming true!

If he could, he would prefer the power to be his own; he wanted...

See you forever!

To travel to the North Sea in the morning and to visit Cangwu in the evening... that kind of carefree life is his dream!

However, based on his memories from the previous 23 years, Zhang Jing concluded that the world he was in now did not seem to be fundamentally different from the world of his previous life.

There are all sorts of religions in this world, but in Zhang Jing's memory, there are no truly definitive cases of supernatural manifestations.

Therefore, Zhang Jing felt he needed to make some attempts to realize his ideas, but before that, he needed to make some preparations.

Zhang Jing first used the Endless Network to search for recommendations on outdoor equipment, knives, and other items. After comparing them, he opened the Treasure Network APP, which is currently the largest e-commerce platform in China. After searching on it, he ordered some outdoor equipment, including hiking boots, backpacks, lightweight outdoor clothing, windproof kerosene lighters, flashlights, climbing ropes, carabiners, belay devices, rock anchors, climbing belts, portable high-powered binoculars, multi-functional tactical knives, military rations, folding entrenching tools, compasses, military water bottles, waterproof electronic watches, and a whole series of other equipment. He chose relatively affordable brands with good reputations. Even so, this purchase cost him nearly 2000 yuan.

..............................

"Sister Lingzi, this is my resignation letter." The next morning, Zhang Jing walked up to the desk of team leader Li Ling and handed her a resignation letter. Seeing her surprised expression, Zhang Jing added, "I will finish the work I have on hand, but I will not take on any new work."

"Why did you suddenly decide to resign?" Li Ling glanced at Zhang Jing's resignation letter. It didn't contain any phrases like "The world is so big, I want to go see it," it was just a resignation letter with very standard and even wording.

"A friend of mine is starting a business and asked me to lend a hand," Zhang Jing casually lied, since he couldn't exactly explain to anyone that he had a wishing book and made a fortune...

Thinking about Zhang Jing taking leave yesterday, Li Ling felt she had seen through everything. She slowly shook her head: "Starting a business isn't that easy..."

To be fair, Li Ling didn't want Zhang Jing to leave at this time. After all, he was an experienced worker, and his departure would definitely delay the team's overall work. However, since things had come to this point, it wasn't convenient to say much, as saying more would only offend people. So she stared at Zhang Jing and asked, "Have you thought it through?"

"I've thought it through. After all, I'm still young, and I should give it a try."

"Alright then, I'll talk to HR later and try to get them to settle your salary by the end of this week." Li Ling didn't seem to mind. "Take these next two days to hand over your work. I'll arrange someone for you to take over later."

Since it was an internship and no employment contract was signed, there was no need to go through any resignation procedures. Li Ling was willing to help him settle his salary until the weekend, which could be considered as doing him a small favor.

"Thank you so much, Sister Lingzi," Zhang Jing said sincerely.

"I also wish you a bright future." Li Ling smiled, a rare occurrence: "May you soar to great heights."

"Thank you for your kind words, Sister Cheng Lingzi."

Back at his workstation, Sun Yunxing leaned over with a look of surprise and asked, "Are you resigning?"

Li Ling's seat wasn't far from their workstations, and since Zhang Jing didn't seem to be trying to hide it from others, he naturally overheard their conversation.

“Yes, I’m starting a business with my friends.” Zhang Jing nodded.

“You have to be careful when starting a business…” Sun Yunxing paused slightly, then spoke with a hint of sourness about some failed startups he had heard about. Seeing that Zhang Jing didn’t seem inclined to respond, and feeling a bit bored, he fell silent.

"Hongjian, if you make it big, don't forget your old colleagues." A short while later, Sun Yunxing approached again, this time with a more complex tone...

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