Library

Ren Tu went to sleep a little shocked from his experiences during his first day of reincarnation. The next day, however, he woke up feeling curious about the new world, putting aside his worries about not being able to cultivate.

Suddenly, a light vibration came from his pocket. Ren Tu found a rectangular object which he did not notice before sitting in his pocket. There was a label at the top indicating that it was a CitrusPhone 11 with a cracked screen. On the screen was a name of a person he did not recognize, however, he still pressed the accept button, his curiosity peaked.

"Hey, Ren Tu what's up?" An unfamiliar voice spoke. Ren Tu realized that his name was also Ren Tu in this world and a friend had probably used some form of a magic artifact to contact him.

"Hey friend, I'm okay, and you?" Ren Tu tried to find words he thought would not give him away.

"Hey don't treat me like that, my name is Tao Yang you know! Anyway, I heard that you got fired recently, how are you feeling? If you want we can go to that place you like to get wasted, my treat."

"I'm still a little sad about it and could use a drink, by the way, I forgot the name of the place, what was it called again?" Ren Tu wanted to gain some information from his friend so naturally, a meeting with him would be a good idea.

"Are you okay brother Ren? I'm starting to get concerned, we used to go to the Crystal Lantern all the time!"

"Yeah, it flew out of my head for some reason, okay what time is good for you?"

"I can do 7 pm is that good for you?"

"Sure, I'll meet you there!

"Bye!" Ren Tu breathed out a sigh of relief as the conversation ended, overall, he didn't embarrass himself too much. Ren Tu noticed that the phone displayed the time at the top and it was 1 PM now, so he had plenty of time to get ready.

"Today is the day I go outside and experience the dangers and wonders of this unique world!" Ren Tu was a little motivated so he hurriedly ate breakfast, cup noodles, due to not knowing anything about the fashion and style of this world, Ren Tu threw on some random clothes hoping he guessed correctly and walked outside.

The light hit his eyes as he saw took in the outside world, except it wasn't wonders or dangers he saw but a corridor leading left and right. Ren Tu obviously chose the left path and after taking some turns, he found himself in the lobby with a poster stapled to a wall saying "Qizhou Apartments." A man with a stained shirt sat behind an old table hurriedly writing something. After Ren Tu stepped inside, the old man noticed him and turned his head facing his way.

"Hey street rat, now that you have lost your job, are you already packed up? You paid me late every month and I can't imagine you have savings with your in-the-moment lifestyle. A week from now if you haven't paid your dues, then get ready to scamper out of here." The middle-aged man said in an annoyed and disdainful tone.

"Old geezer are you talking to me?" Ren Tu got a little furious, after all, he was previously one of the strongest beings in his world and was used to exceptional treatment by others.

"Stop calling me that! I knew you always spend your money drinking and gambling but buying drugs is new, of course I am talking to you dum**ss! If you dare scare away customers you will fly out of here faster than I dropped out of college!" The geezer yelled arrogantly while he stood up from his table, making his potbelly visible to Ren Tu who decided to not get into trouble the moment he stepped out of his door. This was a new world and he had no idea what the rules and expectations are, so avoiding trouble should be his most important goal.

"That geezer was about the same strength as me but compared to the standards of my world he could at most be considered to have the strength of a below-average human, yet he behaved as if he was a senior speaking to his junior. Could it be that strength does not measure social status in this world?" Ren Tu possessed quite a good intellect even before he started cultivation so he could already grasp at how the hierarchy worked here.

Ren Tu briskly left the apartments feeling uneased about the new world. He walked along a long street leaving the apartment complex behind. He saw some objects way faster than horses pass by, boasting various colors and styles, greatly confusing him. After walking for a bit, Ren Tu saw crowded streets with people and many shops on the sides of the road.

"This must be like the marketplace from my world. But why are people gathered at one shop, there must be something interesting there!" Ren Tu saw a Video Game and Tech store filled to the brim with people

"Get out of the way, I'm trying to get in line to get "Path of Ascension!"" A man brushed against his shoulder as he almost sprinted towards the store. Ren Tu had a disgusted expression as even with his current strength, utilizing his experience and techniques, he could put down this rude fellow in a heartbeat.

"Weird, what is happening here, should I check it out?" Ren Tu hesitated and decided to come back a bit later when the people left. Meanwhile, he scouted some other stores and noticed a tall building that attracted his attention.

"I guess I should head there." Ren Tu entered the tall building and immediately saw tens of shelves filled with books, but then he realized there was a second floor and most likely a third.

"I don't know if I can afford the books but if I could they would be a great source of knowledge to me to finally get an understanding of this world!" Ren Tu's mouth opened slightly as he gaped in awe. In his previous world books were not common and were only used to store techniques and on a rare occasion children's stories.

He walked alongside the shelves and found himself filled with amazement yet again, these were books containing all kinds of topics, but sadly none of them contained cultivation techniques.

"Maybe this world really has no Qi, demon beasts, or magical beings and I am really fated to live a simple life." Ren Tu was greatly disappointed for he did not want to give up his struggle to the top, but saw his resurrection as an opportunity to get a second chance to succeed. However, maybe it would be for the best for him to enjoy life for once than spending all his time on the struggle to reach the top.

He quickly picked out some books like "Mathematics for children," "World History," and "Modern Culture." Ren Tu made his way to a table with a "Check-Out" sign with about 6 books in his hands.

"Hello, would you like to check out these books?" The worker gave him a slightly weird look as most of these books had a "for children" on them.

"Yes, my son is growing older and getting more curious so I wanted to get him some books to surprise him." Ren Tu told explained to the worker with a speech he had prepared beforehand.

"Okay, do you have a library card?" The worker seemed like she understood, and asked him.

"No. it's my first time here." Ren Tu answered.

"Okay no problem, you can go to that computer to make one." She pointed to a row of computers. Ren Tu went to a random computer and sat down. He saw text asking him to indicate his email, full name, address, etc.

"Everything else is pretty self-explanatory but what are this email and phone number?" Ren Tu was too embarrassed to ask so he was stuck. Suddenly he remembered his trusty CitrusPhone that was still in his pocket so he got it out. Luckily, there was no password so he managed to open the phone to the home screen. There he saw an app titled "Email" so obviously, he clicked on it and after some confusion, he managed to find his email address in the settings. Next was the phone number which was more of a challenge as there was no convenient app for it. Eventually, he found it in the settings and sighed in relief.

The last hurdle was a charge of 200 RMB to get it set-up for which he needed a credit card. Ren Tu dug inside his pockets for a second time and fished out a wallet with some money and a debit card. As he took out the debit card he saw the balance and found it had 11000 RMB on it.

"Finally, I am registered!" Ren Tu went back to the worker and checked-out his books. He got another weird look as he realized it took him over 20 minutes to make a library card. Much to his relief, the worker did not question him further and he left the library with a grin on his face.

"I was never good with human interaction as I prefer to go solo so I should probably fix this problem since I am given a new life." Ren Tu went back to his apartment and sat down with another bowl of noodles ready to begin reading the books. He still had about four and a half hours so it gave him at least some time to prepare.