Chapter 13: Getting the Presidential Suite

The system must be peeking into my thoughts!

Zhou Wang reacted and instantly drew that conclusion.

He had just been pondering how to solve his accommodation issue when the system presented him with a solution.

The trigger of the second action round couldn't have been more timely. After reading the prior explanations from the system, Zhou Wang finally understood why the core reward mechanism was called the "golden house."

"Find a golden house in the books, right... Okay, okay!"

"A property blind box? How exciting!"

Upon seeing the system's further explanations, Zhou Wang immediately realized that this was similar to the first action round; the reward would still be determined by his final score.

In other words, theoretically, the more books he read in these two weeks, the bigger the house he'd get.

And as everyone knows, given the same location, a bigger house = a more expensive house.

The "round privilege" that the system bestowed at the end was a godsend; staying in any hotel without spending a penny was a no-brainer—he'd naturally go for a five-star hotel!

After calming his excited heart, Zhou Wang opened the reading list generated by the system with his thoughts.

Upon seeing the long list, Zhou Wang instantly knew there was no way he could finish all the books listed in two weeks.

At a glance, Zhou Wang confirmed he had not read a single book on the list, which included some widely known titles, yet all completely bypassed his existing knowledge.

The system had categorized the books, covering basically every genre Zhou Wang could think of.

There were financial books, such as the famous "Currency War" and "Wealth of Nations," and others he had never heard of, like one with a title that gave no hint of its connection to finance—the book was called "Black Swan."

There were social sciences and humanities, like "Global History" and "Psychology and Life," as well as scientific literature, such as "The Beauty of Mathematics" and "A Brief History of Time," and so on.

There were also science fiction novels like "Three Body," realistic literature such as "To Live," and purely classic texts, like the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "Jin Ping Mei"... Huh, seems like something strange has sneaked in.

Zhou Wang even spotted study guides related to the English CET-6 exam amidst the complex reading list.

No way he could finish reading. Absolutely no chance.

Zhou Wang had initially thought 14 days was too long, but only after seeing the reading list did he realize the system had been quite generous.

At least it wasn't expecting him to read through everything before rewarding him with the house.

Each book on the list was marked with varying amounts of points, and the system also provided the criteria for its scoring, considering factors such as reading duration, difficulty of understanding, and complexity of digesting the content.

The highest point value Zhou Wang had seen so far was "Zhou Yi" from Huaxia, the only part of "The Book of Changes" that wasn't lost to time—finishing it would net a straight 1000 points!

That amounted to receiving a house of a thousand square meters on the spot...

But Zhou Wang knew it wouldn't be that simple.

He searched on his phone and found that "Zhou Yi" had only about 5,000 characters in total; with Zhou Wang's speed of reading online novels, he could probably skim through it in utmost 10 minutes.

However, "skimming" and seriously "reading" were two completely different concepts. Zhou Wang guessed that even if the system didn't require him to fully digest the book after reading, he'd at least have to actually learn something, right?

From this perspective, despite the high points tagged to "Zhou Yi," it wasn't the best choice.

To truly understand "Zhou Yi," simply recognizing the words wasn't enough; one would also have to learn about the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, Yin Yang Eight Characters, and other related knowledge first. Zhou Wang knew this because he had once borrowed the book from the school library, but he'd quickly returned it.

By contrast, a book like "Jin Ping Mei," while also rich in ideas, was more accessible and, therefore, more suitable for Zhou Wang.

But it seemed the points assigned to "Jin Ping Mei" weren't low either—50 points, no less, equivalent to a 50-square-meter living space, a whole apartment.

Zhou Wang checked again and was stunned to find that "Jin Ping Mei" actually had close to a million words—a length surpassing many unfinished online novels; even as a vernacular novel, it wouldn't take a short time to finish reading.

Apart from these two distinctive books, most of the others on the list had scores ranging from a few dozen to several hundred, with the lowest being 10 points.

"With only two weeks' time, I really need to plan which books to read. But the immediate priority is to find a place to stay..."

Zhou Wang temporarily closed the system interface and glanced at his watch, noticing it was nearly 6 p.m. The Provincial Library was sure to be closed, so he planned to get settled in the hotel before taking his time to study.

After the system's prompt, the countdown for the second round had already begun, meaning starting this evening, he'd be able to claim reimbursement for his hotel stays—he couldn't wait to take advantage of this offer.

First, he checked the location of the Provincial Library, which was in the city center—good news, as this made things easier. With a radius search for five-star hotels; Zhou Wang then realized there were actually so many five-star hotels in Ming City, a good dozen or more.

He had always thought that even for a capital city, there wouldn't be too many five-star hotels!

He couldn't be blamed for being unaware; after all, this knowledge was not something ordinary people needed to know.

He'd even eaten seafood buffets through group-buying deals in two of those hotels, never imagining that they'd be five-star. Right, one of them also had a KTV renowned for being fun, something Zhou Wang remembered someone bragging about—the little... the place was very entertaining.

It was just unclear whether those kinds of expenses would be covered by the reimbursement.

Uh, no, I must focus on reading; how can I let myself be distracted by the vulgar temptations of wine, women, and wealth?

Thus, Zhou Wang ultimately chose the relatively well-known "Wanda Mandarin Hotel." Even though the hotel's former Young Master had complained about its poor service, it didn't stop Zhou Wang from wanting to experience it himself.

If the stay was uncomfortable, he could always switch to another hotel the next day.

However, when Zhou Wang checked "Some Group," he was puzzled to find that the most expensive room was just an executive suite for a little over 4,000 per night... Something was off. Where's the presidential suite?

Confused, Zhou Wang made a call to inquire, and that's when he learned that presidential suites in five-star hotels were not available for online booking. Fortunately, he had called the front desk and managed to book a vacant room smoothly.

After scheduling his arrival time, Zhou Wang sped up his packing process. Soon, with a large travel backpack, he left the empty dorm room.

Returning the keys to the dormitory manager, he paused for a moment to snap a photo as he left the school campus, then, without a hint of regret, he hopped into the waiting car.

Any sense of parting had already been spent during the graduation ceremony and class dinner; Zhou Wang was now solely intrigued by the future.

If life were a chess game, this time, Zhou Wang intended to play the winner... to be Zhao Gao!