Ch. 271 - Son, Is the Alternate Dimension Okay

"Young Master Tang!"

Chen Shu cracked a grin and spoke up.

Hearing that familiar voice, Tang Lie's heart lurched. A stiff, forced smile squeezed its way onto his face.

"Young Master Chen, just... just call me Little Tang..."

Everyone wore expressions of silent mourning. It seemed Tang Lie would never escape this shadow for the rest of his life.

Chen Shu grinned widely. "How'd you do on the exam? Come to the Capital and I'll have your back!"

"Ha... ha..."

Tang Lie let out a dry laugh. If you'd just not look for trouble with me, I'd be thanking heaven and earth already.

"No need, Young Master Chen. I'm planning to apply to Magic City's Beast Taming University."[2]

"What a shame..."

Chen Shu shook his head, took his seat, then turned his gaze toward Du Long.

Du Long's body shuddered. He immediately said, "Young Master Chen, I'm planning to apply to the Northwest Spirit Suppression Military Academy. Won't be troubling you at all."

"Alright, everyone take your seats!"

Shen Wushuang sighed. He really couldn't keep Chen Shu in check anymore these days.

This guy was also Black Iron rank now. Even though there was a two-rank gap between them, taking Chen Shu down wasn't going to be easy anymore.

The charter bus pulled out of Xiaoyang Town and headed toward Nanjiang City.

The gaokao was now successfully concluded. Everyone just had to wait for their results to come in.

"Xiaoyu, how'd you guys do?"

Chen Shu turned toward Xu Xiaoyu and the other two, asking casually.

"Within normal range. I can apply to a prestigious university[3] in the Capital."

Xu Xiaoyu thought for a moment before answering.

She and Xia Bing were both Beast Taming Competition champions, so they'd get an extra ten points on the gaokao. But even so, Huaxia Academy was still out of reach.

"I'm planning to apply to a Capital university too. At least I can get into a key university."[3]

Xia Bing's Potential Rating was only B-rank, and her practical performance couldn't match Xu Xiaoyu or Wang Qinghan, but her eyes still held anticipation for the future.

"Same here."

Wang Qinghan said. She'd promised Fang Si she'd go to the Capital, after all.

Most importantly, even among universities of the same tier, the Capital's teaching resources and beast taming facilities were significantly better.

"Perfect. If anything comes up, you can find me at Huaxia Academy!"

Chen Shu nodded. "We're all friends here — I'll give you a 10% discount on labor fees!"

"..."

The group chatted and laughed, discussing their future universities, light shining in their eyes.

Shen Wushuang wore a smile as he listened to the students' conversations on the bus, a wave of emotion washing over him.

Their futures held infinite possibilities!

By evening, the charter bus returned to Nanjiang City.

The principal had been waiting anxiously, his gaze fixed on the road's end the entire time. Only when the bus appeared did a smile finally break across his face.

At the school gate, most of the parents had also been waiting for their children for quite some time.

The gaokao's casualty rate was extremely low — but what if it happened to be your own child?

Shen Wushuang smiled as he announced:

"Starting now, your senior year of high school is officially over! Off the bus! No more assemblies today!"

The charter bus pulled into Nanjiang Second High, and the Beast Taming students filed off one after another.

"Son, are you okay?"

"How'd the exam go? I heard there was an incident at your exam site?"

"Kiddo, you're not hurt, are you?"

The normally quiet campus instantly erupted into noise as parents flooded in with questions.

"Chen Pi!"

His father, Chen Ping, spotted his son at a glance and called out:

"Are your classmates okay? And the alternate dimension — is it okay?"

"??"

Chen Shu's mouth twitched. What kind of question was that?

By convention, shouldn't you be asking how your son's doing?

Worrying about his classmates was one thing, but worrying about the alternate dimension — what the hell was that about?

Everyone nearby turned to look, equally baffled by the sheer absurdity of it.

"Mom, Dad, let's go. Stop staring!"

The other students, the moment they saw it was Chen Shu, felt a jolt of alarm in their hearts and hurriedly left the school grounds.

Sure enough, no one knows a son like his father[1] — something really had gone down at Lieyang Hills!

Chen Shu was just about to leave the school with his father when something occurred to him.

"Xiao Xing!"

He called out, stopping Xu Xingxing, who was about to get into a car.

"What's up?"

Chen Shu opened his backpack and pulled out a urea bag.

In an instant, everyone in the vicinity instinctively backpedaled several steps, their expressions filled with terror.

Graduation's around the corner — you really have to squeeze in one last memory, don't you?!

"What're you all so scared of?"

Chen Shu shrugged. He wasn't planning to bag anyone.

He handed the urea bag to Xu Xingxing and said in a low voice:

"These are the gains from this trip. You handle them."

After that, he added, "Also, those White Lion treasures — I don't recognize them. Your family's in the beast taming business, so assess their value."

"Got it!"

Xu Xingxing took the treasures and turned to get into the car.

Chen Shu wasn't worried about Xu Xingxing pulling anything shady or lying about the value. The three of them joked around plenty, but when it came to serious matters, they always kept things straight.

...

Shortly after, Chen Shu and his father Chen Ping arrived back home.

Since Zhang Dali and Fang Si weren't around, the three families didn't gather together.

His mother asked, "Son, how'd it go?"

Chen Shu grinned. "One word: locked in!"

"Locked into the factory?"[4]

His father Chen Ping set down his bag, turned his head, and replied.

Chen Shu was speechless. "What factory? Your son's gonna get into Huaxia Academy!"

The family of three sat down to a warm, happy dinner together.

His parents asked about the specifics of the gaokao.

Chen Shu skirted around the key points, only saying he'd been fighting beasts the whole time and that the whole process was completely uneventful.

After dinner, Chen Shu returned to his room.

He finally opened his long-neglected phone and saw multiple messages waiting for him.

Most of them were from Fang Si and Zhang Dali, asking how his gaokao had gone.

"Everything went smoothly!"

Chen Shu replied, then his eyes landed on one particularly notable message.

"Student Chen Shu, congratulations on your successful promotion to Black Iron Beast Tamer. You may now register an account on the Beast Tamer Association Website. Registration instructions are as follows..."

That efficient?

Chen Shu had only just become Black Iron rank not long ago. He hadn't expected the Association to send a message already — as expected of an official government-run website.

He followed the procedure, linked his national ID, scanned his face, and successfully registered an account on the Association Website.

The website was divided into three modules: Gold rank, Silver rank, and Black Iron rank.

Chen Shu didn't have sufficient access. He could only click into the Black Iron section, which contained various categories including Treasure Marketplace, Intelligence Exchange, Beast Taming Experience, and more.

The vast majority of medicinal materials sold in physical shops were intended for Beast Tamers below Black Iron rank.

Although Huaxia was brimming with powerful individuals, Foundation-level Beast Tamers still made up the largest population by far.

But Black Iron rank was different. At that level, you were someone who actually counted.

The various materials they needed were not only expensive but also rare, and were basically all sold through the Beast Tamer Association Website.

"Let's see what the prices are like."

Chen Shu clicked into the Treasure Marketplace, which included medicinal materials, Beast Taming True Pearls, Lord materials, and more.

The main ingredients for brewing Black Iron-grade potions started in the hundreds of thousands at minimum. Rare medicinal materials could even sell for over a million.

Scarcity drove the price — these materials had no fixed value.

"Damn, that's pricey."

Chen Shu rubbed his chin. Most Foundation-level Beast Tamers could afford the potions they needed.

But once you hit Black Iron, the gap was real.

Only wealthy families or bold adventurers who dared to risk everything could afford to use them.

The phenomenon of the strong getting stronger was gradually becoming more pronounced.

Although Chen Shu had over a hundred million in Huaxia currency, he didn't spend recklessly. He browsed for a while, then closed the website.

"I've still got one Custom Skill slot..."

Chen Shu rubbed his chin. His Slime didn't really need new skills at the moment. What he was waiting for was another contract spirit to appear.

[1] 知子莫若父 (zhī zǐ mò ruò fù): A classical saying from the Warring States text Guanzi (~4th century BCE): "No one knows a son like his father." Used here with devastating irony: while other parents ask if their children are hurt, Chen Ping asks if the alternate dimension is okay — because he knows exactly what kind of chaos his son creates wherever he goes. The dimension, not Chen Shu, was the one that needed checking on.

[2] 魔都 (Módū, "Magic City"): Shanghai's popular internet-era nickname, coined by Japanese author Muramatsu Shōfū in his 1924 novel depicting Shanghai's glittering surface and criminal depths. It forms a pair with 帝都 ("Imperial Capital" = Beijing). In the novel's world, Magic City Beast Taming University is a prestigious second-tier institution — well below Huaxia Academy but above regional schools.

[3] 名牌大学 / 重点大学 (míngpái dàxué / zhòngdiǎn dàxué): In China's higher education hierarchy, 名牌大学 ("brand-name/prestigious university") is a colloquial term for truly elite institutions, sitting above 重点大学 ("key university"), the official government designation for nationally prioritized schools. In the novel's world: Huaxia Academy sits at the absolute top, followed by brand-name Capital universities, then key universities, then regional schools — with "factory job" as the punchline for those who fail entirely. Xu Xiaoyu can reach brand-name tier; Xia Bing can manage key university tier.

[4] 稳定进厂 (wěndìng jìn chǎng): A callback to a running gag originating in Chapter 253, where "进厂打螺丝" ("tightening screws at the factory") represents the stereotypical fate of gaokao failure. When Chen Shu declares his results "稳" (locked in), his father twists it into "稳定进厂?" — "Locked into the factory?" — the dark-comedy parental version of "you got a guaranteed assembly-line job?"

The final line of this chapter contains a continuity error in the Chinese source: Chen Shu thinks about "第二只契约灵" (lit. "second contract spirit"), but he already possesses two spirits — the Golden Slime (acquired Chapter 1) and the Elemental Beast/Husky (acquired Chapter 256). The translation renders this as "another contract spirit" to avoid compounding the author's mistake.