Chapter Two: Not an Ordinary Family

Yes.
The Yi family was far from ordinary.
Or rather, any student able to enter the Second Middle School of the Jingmen Safe Zone was no longer from a typical background.
Although the outbreak had reshuffled the world’s powers and caused countless changes, resources had always been limited. Naturally, this led to the emergence of different social classes.
For someone like Yi Shen, born ten years after the outbreak yet able to safely attend secondary school, his family background could not possibly be lacking.
Only families with solid foundations could raise their children smoothly in such times. Those at the very bottom had to exhaust themselves simply to survive.
Yi Shen’s father was a warrior of over level sixty in the Central War Zone, while his mother was a priest of over level forty.
They weren’t among the richest or most powerful, but even so, within his class, their standing ranked near the top.
Thus, Yi Shen was fairly content with his starting point.
At the very least, with such high-level parents, many things in his life would be arranged for him with care, sparing him needless worry.
Even if he failed to distinguish himself, his parents could pull some strings to secure him a comfortable position, allowing him to live out his days peacefully in these turbulent times.
Of course,
Now that he had crossed over into this world and gained the Heart of the Mage, Yi Shen’s life was destined to be anything but ordinary.
Even though he had never before participated in the combat sequence, he understood perfectly well the terrifying potential of abilities with no cooldown or consumption.
...
As the reserve exam had ended after his arrival, Yi Shen had little to do besides responding to confessions from girls.
All that remained was to wait a little over half a month for the exam results, which would determine which martial school he would attend.

These martial schools had been formed from the merger of various universities from his previous life. In addition to teaching the knowledge of human civilization, they offered a wealth of combat instruction.
This half-month was generally considered an extended break, a chance for students to relax before entering martial school and facing the true pressures of society, where they would have to meet strict evaluation criteria and gradually establish their future teams and status.
Before long,
Yi Shen left the school and returned home.
His villa covered more than four hundred square meters, with over half of that space dedicated to training grounds. His parents were still away hunting and leveling up with their team, and were expected to return in two days to give Yi Shen a thorough review.
Yi Shen turned on his computer and logged into the War Zone’s main forum.
Due to the invasions of mutant beasts and interference from various energies, the internet in this world was no longer for civilian use. It was restructured with postwar technology and served primarily for communication and public announcements.
Most users here posted under their real names, or at least under verifiable identities. As a result, the discussions were civil and harmonious, with little arguing or “keyboard warrior” antics.
After all, if you offended a powerful figure here, they could literally trace your address through the network. Under such a threat, the forum’s atmosphere in every section was overwhelmingly positive.
...
Jingmen War Zone Daily.
“Congratulations, the Jingmen War Zone level leaderboards have been updated. The highest-ranked Battlefish has broken through level 70! The Central War Zone welcomes another powerhouse.”
“Abnormal energy fluctuations have appeared at the Northern Gate of the Jingmen War Zone. Several major guilds have already moved in to maintain public safety.”
“The Anxi Guild will auction a piece of level-60 S-grade equipment at the end of this month—the first S-grade item to be auctioned this year. Experts estimate it will fetch over two hundred million contribution points.”
...
Huaxia Weekly:
“Ten guilds from the Southern War Zone have joined forces to develop Penglai Island. Suspected discovery of a higher-level dimensional gate!”
“Large-scale beast tides have reportedly appeared at the northern border. The Northern War Zone has established checkpoints to intercept and divert them.”
“The Ark Institute has released its latest report: the Ark Project will be launched by year’s end, aiming to build ten thousand small-scale Ark shelters throughout Huaxia to safeguard public property.”
...

Countless news items filled the forum, with lively discussion beneath each post.
Yet because he carried two different souls within him, Yi Shen now perceived these messages with a new depth.
For example, Jingmen was considered a critical war zone within the central region, but after thirty-four years since the outbreak, its highest level was only just over seventy. This indicated that leveling up became exponentially harder as one’s rank increased.
Yi Shen looked up global level rankings: rumor had it the world’s highest level was eighty-four, held by a little-known mage from Australia.
No wonder Huaxia had been encouraging everyone to push for higher ranks over the years—the pressure at the top was mounting.
There were also frequent reports of abnormal energy surges on the forum, which meant that even after all these years, humanity’s control over the dimensional gates was still incomplete.
Video records showed these gates were essentially portals to entirely new worlds.
Yi Shen remembered his parents mainly explored a gate in the southern part of Jingmen, codenamed “Chasing the Moon.” This recently discovered high-level gate posed significant risks even for them.
With this new understanding, Yi Shen felt a growing sense of crisis.
He wasn’t sure whether his crossing to this world had been mere chance,
But seeing the constant reports of battle from all directions, he was suddenly seized by a desire to grow stronger.
Once this thought took root, Yi Shen unconsciously began making preparations.
After today’s reserve exam, he was officially a high school graduate, eligible to leave the city’s protective barriers and join the wilds in combat.
The only drawback was the lack of a mentor for now, which made things a bit riskier.
But to Yi Shen, this was hardly a problem.
After all, in the Jingmen War Zone, not everything was bright and glamorous—there were plenty of people barely scraping by on the margins.
Many newborns from these circles had no resources for better schooling, or lacked parental support entirely, so they began drifting between city and wilderness from a young age, unaffiliated with any organization, forming new subcultures of their own.
If one had to use an old-world term, it would be “slums.”
Even people from the slums could survive tenaciously from nothing, with several having become renowned heroes in the Central War Zone. There was no reason why Yi Shen could not do the same.