Chapter 183: Planned Route
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Typically, pets were not allowed in the dormitories, at least not in the most populated undergraduate students’ dorms. For graduate students, some small and quiet pets were allowed. The school was nice about it. Many students felt sorry for the street pets, but they could not break the rules and take them back to their dormitory. Of course, a few especially cute and lucky ones would be adopted and go home with the students.
Old Time Tea smelled cat urine from the wind. There was more than one cat living here. The urine had to be marking their territory.
“Are universities places for study? In my era, there were few. I heard only the best students can continue higher education,” Old Time Tea said with longing.
Zhang Zian forced a smile and said indirectly, “Well… In this era, more and more universities are available. The quality of education is also varied. The best students are not the only ones welcome to a university. In fact, anyone can go if they want… College students are not as valuable as they used to be. Look, the two silly kids who work at our store go to school here. I seriously wonder how they got in. Maybe their parents paid extra money for them to go to college? I don’t know. If they are from wealthy families, why do they work in my store?”
Old Time Tea laughed.
Zhang Zian continued, “Of course, more universities are not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone should have the right to go to school, right? Some bad habits and superstitions are eliminated slowly because more people are educated. However, the quality of teaching and students — especially the quality of students — are not comparable to those in your era.”
Old Time Tea agreed because it was disappointed in this new era already. It was true that compared to where it used to live, the current era was way more advanced. People didn’t go to witch doctors anymore when they were sick. They would visit a real doctor instead. Even pets had their own doctor. All of this had happened because of education.
“Zian, are these women all students?” Old Time Tea asked confusedly.
Most of the young kids wandering around the school were students. The freshmen and sophomores still looked quite green, but the junior and senior students already looked no different than those who had already graduated. In Old Time Tea’s mind, a female student should wear a blue shirt, a black jacket and a scarf – exactly how female students dressed in the early 1900s.
Zhang Zian said, “Girls these days are… very different than they used to be.”
Old Time Tea remained silent.
Zhang Zian got used to it. Now, everyone seemed to be under a lot of pressure and freedom had become the most precious thing. People could do what they wanted. However, he knew Old Time Tea would not be able to accept these new thoughts.
Various street vendors were all over the outside gate of the university. You could find anything you ever imagined: clothes, snacks, necessities, or cell phone cases. It had become a night market. Street vendors yelled to attract customers. People’s bargaining conversations made it very noisy yet lively. Of course, students were the street vendors’ target customers. Copying and courier services were there because of this university. Binhai City was not a first-tier city, so the street vendor management was not as strict as in Beijing and Shanghai.
At first, Zhang Zian was worried that the road was too crowded for Old Time Tea and it might get hurt. However, soon he found himself overthinking. Old Time Tea could perfectly dodge the pedestrians every time.
Soon, they arrived at the gate of the university.
Zhang Zian zoomed into the electronic map in the game. The flashing circle representing the location of the Elfin as inside the university. He decided to go in.
“Zian, can we walk in like this?” Old Time Tea was confused.
A girl walking by was curious. “I thought I heard a cat…”
After she walked away, Zhang Zian said, “Yes. As long as a person doesn’t look too suspicious, he can walk through the university as he wishes.”
Binhai University was a good school. The gate was nice. The long electric gate was open and people walked in and out. Sitting inside the security room, the security guy was watching the pretty young girls go by as he drank tea.
There was a huge map of the university not far from the gate.
Zhang Zian stopped in front of the map and compared it to the electronic map on his cell phone.
“Girls dormitories… Oh no, I am not here for the girls!”
The electronic map was zoomed in to the maximum. After careful comparison, he found that the flashing circle covered the front part of the university, which was the classrooms and offices. The dormitories in the back were not covered.
That was a huge area to look through for an Elfin.
The circle covered seven academic buildings and one office building. Each building was at least four-stories high and the center academic building was at least 20 stories.
Wang Qian and Li Kun were probably in class… or staying in their dormitory, wasting time. Zhang Zian didn’t want them to help though, because those kids would only bring trouble.
Zhang Zian waited at the gate for a bit and sometimes turned around to look behind.
“Zian, are you waiting for someone?” Old Time Tea turned around to look behind just like him.
Zhang Zian was hoping he was lucky like last time, Snowy or someone he knew would pass him from behind and tell him about a new teahouse or store… That might save him a lot of time.
However, today was not his lucky day. He didn’t come across an acquaintance.
He sighed, “Nope. I was trying to figure out where to begin.”
He came up with a strategy as he waited. It was good that the Elfin wasn’t in the girl’s dormitory. If it was in the academic buildings, he should be able to get in without a problem. He should be able to get in the office building as well. All in all, the mission might be time consuming, but it was highly likely to succeed.
He had to do one thing before he started searching.
“Navigation Elf, if the Elfin is successfully captured, it won’t appear on other player’s radar, correct?”
[Navigation Elf]:Yes. Once the Elfin is captured, it will disappear from the radar.
That was great!
He took a picture of the map with his cellphone.
Good preparations sped up the process. Zhang Zian played a game that required him to connect several dots with lines without going to one spot more than once. This was exactly what he needed to do. He considered the seven academic buildings and the office building as eight dots. This way, he planned the perfect route that was the shortest and didn’t hit the same building twice.
