Magic: Reincarnate from high-voltage electricity at the start, level up independently.

"The Desolate Emperor is absolutely the pinnacle of combat power. He alone has dominated countless ages and illuminated all the heavens. No one can refute the claim that he is the highest mountain in the world of combat power, right?"

"Heh, Ultraman can explode into a planet at birth, and he's never lost. Aren't Zero's time reversal and King Ultra's cosmic repair ten thousand times stronger than your 'Reflecting the Heavens'? No matter how strong you are, can you be stronger than the 'Heart-Bound' Shining Gale from the TV series finale? Can you be stronger than Ginga?"

"No, Pangu was the strongest, creating heaven and earth, omnipotent! Do you understand the true value of the primordial world?!"

"A bunch of useless trash, not even worth a single Marvel."

"In terms of setup, all of you combined couldn't beat Doraemon; his gadgets are unbeatable."

In the afternoon, the boys gathered around their desks, arguing heatedly about the power rankings of various anime and novels, their faces flushed and no one willing to concede.

Chu Ge sat in his seat, resting his chin on his hand, quietly watching the clouds drift by outside the window.

Sunlight shone on her white hair, giving it a faint silver sheen. She seemed oblivious to the noise around her, her face languid.

"Class, please be quiet."

Wang Jian walked into the classroom carrying a delicate little red box, followed by several school leaders. The once noisy classroom instantly fell silent.

He began, his voice gentle: "The awards for the top ten in the monthly exam have been distributed. They were all carefully prepared by the school. Now I will call out the names in order, and those who hear them can come up and collect them."

"First place: Xu Wan."

Upon hearing this, Xu Wan's eyes lit up, and she immediately stood up, striding confidently onto the stage with an air of elegance.

Second place: Tang Xiaoran.

……

"Seventh place, Li Muzi."

"Eighth place, Chen Xun."

"Ninth place, Wang Qiang."

Xu Wan stood beside the podium, watching the boy walk up. The boy had an ordinary appearance and dark skin.

Xu Wan silently thought to herself: "Crooked-mouthed Dragon King Qiang, I'll remember you."

"Tenth place, Chu Ge."

Chu Ge slowly stood up, walked to the podium, and accepted his reward.

A pure white crystal core.

She didn't even look at it before stuffing it into her mouth.

Seeing this, Wang Jian's lips twitched violently. He quickly stepped forward, his tone a mixture of surprise and helplessness:

"Chu Ge, what are you doing...? You're going to take a photo with the school leaders later, holding the crystal core."

The school leader standing next to him frowned slightly, a hint of displeasure flashing across his face.

This student doesn't understand any rules at all. The leader hadn't even left yet, and he already ate the reward. It's really outrageous.

If I had known this would happen, I would have insisted on making her compensate for the stadium's losses last time.

Chu Ge frowned. What a nuisance. They'd already finished eating. She turned to look at Xu Wan beside her.

"Class monitor, can I borrow one?"

Wang Jian: "..."

He held his forehead, took a deep breath, and felt his temples throbbing.

But... at least it ended successfully.

Before school ended in the afternoon, Xu Wan gathered the top ten students in the class from the monthly exam together and said with a smile:

"Let's all have dinner together tonight; it's a case of 'no fight, no friendship'."

"I came in first place, so this meal is on me."

Chen Xun, with a gentle smile on his lips, was the first to reply, "Sure, I'd like to get to know everyone properly."

Tang Xiaoran's eyes lit up, and she quickly chimed in, "I wholeheartedly agree!"

Li Muzi: "You guys go ahead."

Chu Ge wanted to refuse, but going out for dinner would inevitably interfere with her cultivation, which would be a loss for her.

But then he thought again, these people all possessed a considerable number of crystal cores; acquiring them would greatly benefit his cultivation. So he said softly:

"Can."

"it is good."

Xu Wan smiled smugly and turned to look at Wang Qiang, the most inconspicuous person in the crowd.

"Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King Qiang, are you going or not?"

Wang Qiang frowned: "My name is Wang Qiang, not some crooked-mouthed dragon Wang Qiang."

"Don't worry about these little things. I'm asking you, are you going or not?"

Wang Qiang looked up at her, a mocking smile playing on his lips:

"Of course I'll go! You're treating, why shouldn't I go?"

"Today I'm going to eat you out of house and home! Order whatever's expensive, as compensation for your deliberate targeting of me in the arena!"

"Heh," Xu Wan sneered, her tone arrogant, "Order as much as you want, but if you can't finish it, I'll stuff it all into your mouth and show you what it means to be an unassailable Empress Xu Wan."

Wang Qiang scoffed, "Naive."

He silently labeled Xu Wan in his mind: a severe case of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), be careful not to catch it.

School gate.

While everyone was waiting for their ride-hailing car, they saw a black Rolls-Royce approaching from afar, eventually stopping in front of a figure.

The driver quickly got out of the car, respectfully opened the door, and kept a very humble posture.

"Young Miss".

"Okay, let's go."

Li Muzi responded softly, got into the car, and the luxury car drove away, quickly disappearing at the end of the street.

Watching the luxury car drive away, Wang Qiang was stunned for a moment, then clicked his tongue and couldn't help but speak:

"Is her family that rich? That Rolls-Royce must cost at least ten or eight million, right?"

Chen Xun adjusted his glasses and said slowly:

"Li's family is a core shareholder of Future Architecture, a Fortune 100 company, making her a true heiress."

"The smart helmets we used for this month's exam were sponsored by her company."

"You even know that?"

Wang Qiang looked Chen Xun up and down suspiciously, then leaned closer and asked with a grin:

"Hey bro, your family isn't a shareholder in that Future Structure thing, is it?"

"Are you looking for someone to work? Security guard, cleaner, kitchen helper, I can do anything, as long as the pay is good enough."

Chen Xun took a half step back without making a sound, and was about to speak when he was interrupted by Xu Wan's voice.

"What, you just got into the top ten, and you're already planning to drop out and get a job?"

Xu Wan frowned at Wang Qiang, her tone full of confusion: "Are you that short of money?"

Wang Qiang was a little annoyed with Xu Wan and immediately retorted:

"Nonsense, who would complain about having too much money? Even though Li's family is so wealthy, he's still working hard."

He added without any mercy:

"If you're not short of money, why don't you give me some?"

Xu Wan was speechless, silently turned her head, and just then saw the agreed-upon vehicle arrive. She quickly called everyone to get in the car.

It seems that young people have developed a preference for hot pot when dining out.

The group arrived at the private room of Hedilao. After ordering the dishes, everyone else got up to prepare the dipping sauce.

Only two people remained in the private room.

Wang Qiang was sitting there listlessly when a figure suddenly walked towards him, sat down next to him, and had white hair hanging down, carrying a faint fragrance of jasmine.

Are you short of money?

The unexpected question startled Wang Qiang for a moment. He then nodded, his tone revealing a mixture of embarrassment and stubbornness:

"It's scarce, very scarce."

He didn't intend to hide it, and said with a self-deprecating tone:

"I come from a rural area. I dropped out of school because I was poor and wandered around for three years. Without education or background, I could only do the hardest, most tiring, and lowest-paying jobs."

"I've lived under bridges, slept in parks, eaten leftovers from street food stalls, been pushed to the ground while handing out flyers, rolled in mud puddles for a hundred dollars, and called someone 'daddy' for ten dollars... I've done everything. My family didn't care about me; they treated me like I was dead."

"I was able to go back to school because the school waived my tuition and gave me a monthly living allowance, which was much more than I earned doing odd jobs outside."

"So I swear, I will make countless amounts of money, so much that I can't spend it all in this lifetime."

Chu Ge looked up at him, her eyes calm and unwavering: "You want everyone to respect you?"

"No."

Wang Qiang raised his eyes, a ruthless glint in them, and a nasty smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I want to make myself worthy of looking down on everyone."

He looked at Chu Ge, his tone tinged with a hint of mockery:

"What, are you asking these questions because you're planning to give me money, or are you trying to keep me as a sugar daddy?"

"I want to buy the crystal core you have."

"You mean this?"

Wang Qiang took two crystal cores out of his pocket, placed them on the table, and tentatively asked:

"How much are you willing to pay? This thing is probably going to sell for 60,000 yuan online right now."

"130,000, give me both of them."

"OK."

Wang Qiang didn't expect Chu Ge to agree so readily without hesitation.

Then, he pushed the crystal core in front of her, took out his phone, opened the QR code, and looked at her:

"Sweep up the money."

Chu Ge picked up his phone, quickly completed the transfer, and then actually stuffed the two crystal cores into his mouth.

Wang Qiang was staring blankly at the balance that had been deposited into his phone when he caught sight of this scene, and a self-deprecating smile flashed across his eyes.

He murmured softly, his voice filled with bitterness: "You rich people have it so good. You can buy things worth hundreds of thousands of dollars whenever you want, and use them whenever you want. Unlike me, I can't even care about my reputation for this little bit of money..."

Before she could finish speaking, the door to the private room was pushed open, and Xu Wan and her group walked in after preparing the dipping sauce.

The hot pot broth bubbled and steamed, and everyone began to pick up their chopsticks.

Wang Qiang didn't care about his image at all. He kept eating with his chopsticks, grabbing whatever food he could and piling it into his bowl, wolfing it down while keeping his eyes fixed on the ingredients in the pot.

Even so, his mouth still spouts like a machine gun.

"This is good," "That's delicious," "Add some beef."

Seeing his expression, Xu Wan frowned and secretly regretted inviting him. She knew she shouldn't have called him; he had only brought her trouble.

She bluntly said, "Dude, are you a reincarnated starving ghost? Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Wang Qiang didn't even look up, his mouth full of food, and said indistinctly, "Just think of me as a starving ghost. I've never eaten anything this good before."

"Who knows if you'll treat us next time? This might be the last meal."

"Of course, if you want to kick me out now, I have no objection."

He swallowed the food in his mouth, looked up at Xu Wan, and added:

"By the way, could you add a few more servings of beef? I'm not quite full."

Xu Wan looked at him, too angry to speak, and could only roll her eyes.

Wang Qiang didn't care.

He worked his way up from the bottom and learned a lesson long ago.

Before a poor person can turn their life around, face is the most useless thing.

Take advantage of any opportunity; there's no need to pretend to be dignified.

As for friendship among classmates?

He considered it worthless.

He and they were not from the same social class to begin with. In a few years, they will all go their separate ways and no one will recognize anyone else.

It's better to leave a bad impression now than to be successful years later, when his phone rings and he finds a message from someone he's completely forgotten who sent it:

Are you there?

In this way, one may seem to lack manners and emotional intelligence, but this can actually save one a lot of trouble in the future.

As for Wang Qiang—except for Chu Ge, who remained calm, everyone else lost their appetite and pretended to scroll through their phones, creating an awkward atmosphere.

Xu Wan was in the worst mood.

Because she was the one who suggested the dinner and invited everyone, the current situation has left her feeling quite emotionally distraught.

Ten minutes later, Wang Qiang burped, patted his stomach, and left the private room without saying a word.

Everyone else left one after another, leaving only Xu Wan and Tang Xiaoran, who looked at each other in bewilderment.

Xu Wan turned and glared at Tang Xiaoran, gritting her teeth as she complained:

"It's all your fault! If you hadn't wanted to have dinner with Chu Ge but were too embarrassed to ask yourself, and insisted that I organize this gathering, I wouldn't have had to put up with that rudeness from the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King!"

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Even though she prided herself on her unwavering Daoist resolve, she couldn't help but clutch her head in frustration, muttering to herself:

"Ughhhhhh! So annoying! So annoying! So annoying!"

"Idiot idiot idiot idiot idiot!"

"Get out!"

Finally, Xu Wan slammed her fist heavily on the table, shattering the small condiment dish.

She said angrily to Tang Xiaoran:

"You'll have to reimburse me at least double the amount later. It's infuriating! I feel like I'm losing my lifespan, and my Dao heart is unstable."

"Okay, okay."

Tang Xiaoran's eyes darkened, and she sighed helplessly.

"You think I'm not angry? I spent money, didn't get to say a word, and didn't even get a proper meal. I'm more frustrated than you are."

"hehe."

Xu Wan snorted coldly:

"Get down, you simp don't deserve to complain."

"You, sit at the same table as Boiling Sheep, behind him in the south row."

Tang Xiaoran: "..."