Chapter 149: This Path Is Blocked, Because I Don’t Allow It!
"Then let's see!" Fang Xuefeng responded coldly.
Both lay down in their game pods, entering the virtual star space for battle.
"I'm different from you!" Fang Xuefeng, looking at the youth opposite him under the boundless starry sky, spoke in a low voice.
"You were born in the central city, able to get a lot of care, with various resources prioritized for you. The city I'm in is actually the best developed among surrounding cities. I'm in the best high school, the best class in the city, but even so, we don't even have complete facilities. To train, we can only find our own ways. You can't imagine how many people are already living at their limits, but no matter how hard and tiring it is, they still send their children to Divine Domain schools, just to pursue a vague hope. Even if they can't achieve great success, at least they can find a job to make a living in the future."
"But now even this hope has been deprived by you!" Xu Luo spoke coldly.
"Your pursuit, your ideals might be lofty, wanting to get more resources, give students better education. But no matter how much future people get, this generation has already been delayed. Their lives have been destroyed by your own hands!"
"What do you understand?" Fang Xuefeng became agitated.
"Do you know what kind of life we live? Do you know what it feels like to have to split a penny in two to spend? You don't understand anything. What right do you have to criticize me?"
"Indeed, I don't understand anything. I don't know what you've all been through, but I know how hard it is for people at the bottom to survive, and how difficult it is to support a child to attend a Divine Domain school."
Xu Luo smiled self-mockingly.
"Those children's parents might not be thinking about how outstanding their children will be in the future, how they'll rise above others. They just hope they can find a good job, have a stable home. But now all of this has been destroyed. Don't tell me your school doesn't have its own industries, that you've really reached the limit of poverty and need to reduce other students' shares to cultivate you. If you really need to do this, why isn't the first choice to use the school's own industry output for cultivation, instead of reducing others'? In the end, it's because the school's is their own, while the students' is the students'. Those higher-ups probably think those students won't amount to much anyway. So they feel justified in reducing their resources to cultivate a few geniuses, right?
Using the resources of useless people to cultivate geniuses, recycling waste, how noble! If they succeed, they're all great people, everyone will thank them in the future. If they don't, what does it matter? After all, they've already cultivated a few top geniuses, they've made achievements!"
At this point, Xu Luo's voice became low.
"But has anyone asked those students? Has anyone asked if they're willing?"
The images of the two on the big screen were synchronized in real-time, and the audience could hear their conversation.
Many people were still wondering why they hadn't started yet, but were instead saying some strange things.
Those who knew the inside story had already become serious.
Especially Fang Xinglong and others, when they heard the last sentence, their expressions changed drastically.
How could they possibly ask for the opinions of ordinary students when making decisions?
They were the ones in power, the allocation of resources was in their hands. As long as they agreed, what did it matter if ordinary students had objections?
"What do you understand?" Fang Xuefeng looked at him coldly.
"These are all necessary sacrifices. Only in this way can we get more."
"But no matter how you disguise yourselves, the fact is that you've harmed the interests of ordinary students. Whether you succeed this time or not, those students' development has already been affected. I'm afraid many people's Divine Domains have already been destroyed because they couldn't keep up with development, right?"
Xu Luo sneered.
He could imagine that due to slow power increase, various resources originally belonging to them being encroached upon, leading to those students' Divine Domains being destroyed, then losing their qualification to continue schooling, and finally having to leave Divine Domain high schools to attend ordinary high schools, carrying the shattered hopes of their families.
Hearing these words, Fang Xuefeng's face suddenly turned pale.
He thought of the bulletin board at the school gate at the end of each month, with the names of one transfer student after another.
In the past, although there were many, it wasn't as many as their grade.
So-called resources are not necessarily concrete things.
In schools, various facilities are very important resources.
This is also the easiest benefit for students to obtain.
The choice of other cities is to compress the number of times other students can use various facilities, to concentrate on prioritizing the geniuses they are focusing on cultivating.
There aren't many facilities to begin with, and many people need to take turns using them. Now that they're directly supplied to them, other people naturally don't have the opportunity to use them.
There are also basic resources allocated by the Education Department, which every student has. Children of wealthy families don't care, but for ordinary students, this is their most important source of funds in the early stages.
Without family help and unable to plunder on their own at first, if this is also reduced, one can imagine what their development will become.
Not everyone is like Xu Luo, whose Zerg don't need intensive cultivation.
"Principal Fang..." Seeing Fang Xinglong's unpleasant expression, the principal beside him quickly reminded him.
There were many media present now, and this matter was obviously not suitable to be discussed in such an occasion.
However, before he could go negotiate with Dongfang Cheng, No. 1 High School had already responded.
This matter could be dealt with privately, but it couldn't be brought up in public, so they directly randomly switched the battle scene, which was also a kind of warning.
"It seems we can't continue talking," Xu Luo smiled.
"I just had a pent-up anger that I needed to vent. You keep saying I don't understand, but do you understand what kind of life those people live? Do you understand what losing this opportunity means to them?"
Xu Luo recalled those numb people he had seen in the lower levels before. Once, they had also lived glamorously above the 50th floor, had decent jobs, and lived happily with their families.
In this era, compared to many people, he was fortunate. But in his original world, he was also just an ordinary child from a mountain area!
In that world where education could change fate, he worked hard, studied hard, got into a good school, and finally, although he worked 996, at least he had a job with a fairly generous salary, at least changing his life.
So he could better understand what it meant to change fate through Divine Domains in this world, and knew better what losing a Divine Domain represented.
It was precisely because he knew that he despised those people even more, who, just because of their own decisions, disregarded the future of so many families.
Perhaps they thought they were right, that if they succeeded, they could change the fate of many people, that necessary sacrifices were worth it.
But by what right?
It might benefit future generations, but those people's lives have already been changed. Can some economic compensation in the future make up for it?
"Your name is Fang Xuefeng. I don't know what relationship you have with Principal Fang Xinglong, but at least I know you're not from an ordinary family, so you can't empathize with those people."
Xu Luo sneered.
"You see your city, your school lacking many things. You want to change, I can understand, but I don't agree with this method! So, here today, I tell you, this path is blocked, because I don't allow it, because my thoughts don't align!"
Fang Xuefeng stared blankly at the person who had forcefully declared his disapproval, falling into silence.
Was he really wrong?
"Who does he think he is?" Outside, hearing that youth arrogantly declare that this path was blocked because he didn't allow it, because his thoughts didn't align, people's noses were almost crooked with anger!
"He doesn't allow it? What does he know! So what if Xuefeng is my grandson? I didn't show favoritism. Everyone was selected after discussion together!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" The principal beside him also joined in persuading.
"The decision was made by all of us together. Everyone can testify. Xuefeng was chosen because his talent was the best among all the students!"
But hearing the youth's words, they still felt a bit dazed, not regretting their decision.
Wanting to strive for more benefits was also for the school. They had no selfish intentions.
But was the price too high?
That youth was right!
In previous years, although there were students whose Divine Domains were destroyed, there weren't so many!
This year, after their dozen schools united, it had only been a few months since school started. How many of those students were left now?
They indeed cultivated a few powerful genius students, but who among those students would remember?
After losing their Divine Domains, they could only attend ordinary high schools, considering what university to attend in the future, what their future would be like, completely unpredictable now.
The price was too great.
Should they have used a gentler approach?
But no one could give them an answer to this question.
On the projection screen, the two youths had already engaged in fierce battle.
Fang Xuefeng's ability to become one of the chosen students with his identity as Fang Xinglong's grandson wasn't due to connections. In fact, because they needed to avoid favoritism, he received even more scrutiny. But his talent was strong enough, surpassing everyone, so he received the best cultivation.
He was indeed very promising, his strength very powerful.
If there was no Xu Luo in this grade, Qianqian might not be his match.
Tianhai's side cultivated students step by step after all, not seeking instant results, nor solely pursuing combat power.
Fang Xuefeng and his group were different. They were cultivated in the direction of warriors, just for battle, to win against Tianhai's students, to strive for a larger share of resources.
The Education Department's allocation was only so much each year, with 30% given to Tianhai, and the remaining 70% divided among the other 41 cities.
Each city also had so many towns underneath. How could it be enough?
Everyone wanted a bigger share.
It's just that their choice was a bit extreme.
To shatter their hopes, to tell them that this choice wouldn't work, that their approach was a mistake from the beginning.
Xu Luo displayed powerful combat strength from the start.
Although Fang Xuefeng was very strong, at the high school stage, Xu Luo could be said to have few opponents.
Even looking across the universe, there were only a few people who could compare with him at the same level. Although Fang Xuefeng was not bad, the gap between them was too large.
Especially after Xu Luo's battle with that Moloudo race, he seemed to have become even stronger.
So this battle was one-sided from the beginning.
Everyone just watched Xu Luo unilaterally dominate Fang Xuefeng.
Seeing this scene, Fang Xinglong painfully closed his eyes.
Not because his grandson was being dominated, but because this meant their strategy to suppress Tianhai's momentum and negotiate with the Education Department had failed.
If they had succeeded, some sacrifices would have been bearable, but now that they had failed, they also had to bear the consequences of failure.
So many students lost their Divine Domains because of their decision. As principals, they bore inescapable responsibility.
In fact, when Fang Xinglong first implemented this plan, he was already prepared.
He himself had nothing to lose, but thinking of those students having to fight for facilities, queuing up to wait, he felt very painful.
Even knowing that the Federation's finances were very difficult now, he still wanted to strive for a bit more benefits for his students.
In this matter, who was wrong?
Actually, their initial purpose was also for students to have enough facilities and various equipment to use in the future.
They also wanted their students to study in schools as magnificent as No. 1 High School.
Was Xu Luo wrong?
In this matter, from beginning to end, he just defeated Fang Xuefeng, shattering their hopes.
Apart from that, he didn't do anything.
It was just that their standpoints were different.
If we have to say where it went wrong.
Poverty!
This was the root cause.
The Human Federation was poor, financially struggling.
Poverty was the original sin of everything!
At least in this matter it was so. If they had enough finances, if every school could have corresponding basic facilities, with all kinds of venues complete, how could such a thing happen?
But now that this has happened, everyone must bear the corresponding consequences.
Fang Xinglong didn't regret making this decision, even if it meant being dismissed from his position.
Xu Luo also didn't regret what he did, because he couldn't stand people who let others bear the consequences of their decisions.
These were irresponsible people, cowards in his view.
There are many ways to change such an environment, not necessarily this one.
Negotiating with the Education Department, robbing alien races, there would always be a solution. But they chose a path that harmed the interests of most ordinary students, which was what Xu Luo couldn't tolerate.
Because he was once an ordinary student too.
He changed his fate through the college entrance examination.