The Class Teacher came to talk to Zhou Ping again.
Saturday morning, Zhou Ping had already arrived at the school gate, but the Class Teacher sent him an email, and he had no choice but to turn around and go back.
There were few pedestrians on campus; the second and third-year students were all on holiday, as they would only come for classes in the evening. This was a rare day of rest, and also Zhou Ping's comfortable day for enjoyment.
Zhou Ping was very fond of his exclusive time for enjoyment. His own surname was Zhou, so when he was in his first year of junior high, he called Saturday and Sunday 'Zhou Ping' instead of 'weekend'. Now it was Saturday, which he called Zhou Ping.
Why? Because he felt that only in 'Zhou Ping' was he truly himself, with an independent personality, enjoying maximum freedom. There wasn't so much headache-inducing knowledge, like rocks stuffed into his brain, which was filled with cotton and sponges. There wouldn't be any life philosophies from elders to disgust him. In short, it was a time to relax and be unrestrained.
Now, the Class Teacher wanted to occupy his Zhou Ping's Zhou Ping.
Zhou Ping was very unhappy.
Besides being unhappy, he also felt quite guilty and nervous. The Class Teacher asked him if his neurasthenia was due to playing games, and he firmly said no.
The school was also strictly investigating students going to internet cafes. In the words of the teachers, it was the end of the century, yet these students were no different from those at the beginning of the century.
Zhou Ping didn't want to admit one thing: he didn't think he was addicted to games. In his opinion, the gaming experience in the simulation pod was a gap to escape reality. He felt he had learned a lot from games and understood many wonderful principles.
Studying couldn't give him a deep sense of identity. He knew very well that what sat in the classroom was just a shell of his body. The teacher was right, his body was at school, but his mind had already flown away. But he didn't want to use such crude words to describe his love for games.
He had a survival logic for dealing with school life. In front of teachers and classmates, he would act as a 'vulnerable group' eager to improve his grades but held back by illness. This didn't really improve his grades, but with the biased care of friends and teachers, his guilt about disliking school was somewhat alleviated.
You see, I'm sick, so it's normal to fall a little behind in my studies, isn't it?
Zhou Ping sat on the train heading to the teaching building. The empty carriage had only him. He knew that the entire train had only him. Invisible, ghost-like intelligence controlled the train's movement and monitored everything inside. This was a program, as the engineering teacher had also explained in class. The use of knowledge was to explain some things that perplexed Zhou Ping.
When people are born into a technologically advanced environment, it's hard to imagine the origins of machines. Zhou Ping only needed to know that this train actually used electricity and intelligent supervision of its operating status. He wouldn't continue to think about the train's manufacturing, program editing, and so on.
One question would lead to countless questions.
So after thinking, what Zhou Ping got was not the answer to the problem, but the despondency of giving up on getting to the bottom of it.
Getting off the train, he hurried to the office. The desks were quite far apart, like the reserved posture between each tree. The office felt like a tropical rainforest to Zhou Ping, although he had only experienced tropical scenery in virtual worlds, the suffocating feeling it gave him was exactly the same as a rainforest.
In today's rainforest, there was only one chimpanzee, and that was his Class Teacher. When Zhou Ping was being lectured, it was like being slapped by a chimpanzee. If there were no other people watching, it would make him feel a bit more relaxed, less painful.
As a frequent visitor to the office, many Class Teachers knew him. He even heard teachers discussing that if he were to be dropped, no matter which class he was assigned to, the Class Teacher would be a familiar face.
Such topics made him very uncomfortable.
Very uncomfortable.
He wasn't some unsold pork in a market, forced to downgrade from food to a protein consumable because of declining quality. He was a living person, with an independent personality. Was this not recognized at school?
The Class Teacher seemed to be in a good mood today, and spoke to him at length with earnest advice. Zhou Ping was deeply moved, feeling a warmth in his heart.
He felt that the teacher was right, he couldn't keep falling behind; he had to study hard.
His parents also had high hopes for him. Well, in every sense, Zhou Ping had to admit that his family background wasn't good. Of course, it wasn't that they couldn't afford food, but in this day and age, it was foreseeable that his parents were already trapped by their jobs, like stagnant water, with no room for advancement. Providing for the family was certainly not a problem, but every time they were compared to those successful relatives, it was very disheartening.
Moreover, they still had jobs now. In about ten years, with social development, it was hard to guarantee they wouldn't be laid off. Would they have to do welfare work?
Zhou Ping felt that society was truly real. Now, as he emerged from the office, the sunlight fell upon him, not harsh, but warm and comfortable. He was contemplating the commonalities in the operating systems of school and society.
After much thought, it seemed both were about survival of the fittest.
Those with poor grades would be sent to the regular class.
Those with poor abilities would be dismissed.
Welfare work was a position provided by the government for vulnerable citizens who had no room for progress, lacked scientific literacy, and market competitiveness. Zhou Ping now understood that independent personality, even outside of school, wouldn't exist. Those in the upper echelons and their intelligent programs, they constantly watched everyone, discussing the value of citizens. If you could no longer stand on the front lines, then step down, just like pork: if it's not fresh, do you still want to linger on the stall?
Everything had commonalities. Zhou Ping also realized at this moment that there was no difference between people and pork, except in their form of existence—people could fill many roles, while pork only had a few destinations.
Zhou Ping told himself to study hard, to become a person of status in the future, and enjoy high-level social welfare.
The sun was still very bright, and perhaps because it was nearing noon, it was a bit hot and unbearable. Zhou Ping's steps were light. He transferred three times and arrived at an internet cafe very close to Luoshan Center and Heping Trade Plaza. This place was quite a distance from the school, reducing the probability of teachers finding him.
Before entering the internet cafe, he looked towards the plaza. The music festival stage had already been dismantled, but Zhou Ping seemed to still hear a song being sung there: "So I, started to change! Becoming like a rolling, scorching firework!"
It was quite pleasant to listen to, Simon sang really well, and the lyrics were very powerful, subtly reigniting the passion in Zhou Ping's heart. So he quickened his steps and darted into the internet cafe.
The boss recognized him but still asked, "Teenager?"
"No."
Currently, five-year-old citizens could legally go online under the supervision of 'teenager mode,' but since he said he wasn't a teenager, he had to find a way to circumvent the teenager mode.
Zhou Ping arrived at Room 21 in Zone E, a private room with six simulation pods. When he arrived, three were already running. One near the door was open, and a man in his thirties with a scruffy beard lay inside, looking pale and staring at the ceiling, showing no reaction to changes in the outside world.
That's why one needs to go online scientifically.
Zhou Ping checked the time, 12:09. Two hours of gaming would be fine. After playing, he would go back to school to study.
He lay down in the simulation pod.
When he came out again, it was already half past four.
He was hungry, his stomach was empty, and his heart was empty too. Time to find something to eat.
As he left, he ran into the Chinese Language teacher.
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