Deducing Godhood from the Fetal Stage

Chapter 17 A New World, Yet Still Humanity

Just then, a middle school student noticed Ling Jiu standing quietly to the side. He paused, nudged his companion with his elbow, and whispered, "Hey, look at that girl... she's waiting for the bus too?"

"Shouldn't everyone living in this area drive a high-speed car or have a butler to pick them up and drop them off?"

"I don't know...maybe they're like us?"

The children cast curious yet restrained glances at them.

They thought that everyone living here, except for those few whose parents didn't want to take care of them, drove sports cars!

Lingjiu nodded to them.

The children seemed a little embarrassed and quickly looked away to continue their conversation, only lowering their voices.

Lingjiu gently stroked her lower abdomen and sighed.

In this era, the Lord of Marriage has been dead for ten thousand years, the Dao Fruit of "Mutual Branches" has been buried in the starry sky, and the Dao Position of Marriage has been obscure for many years. The marriage rate and birth rate in society have been declining year by year, and the voice of single people has become more and more frequent. If it weren't for the empire's birth subsidy and the priority of those who give birth, the situation would be much worse.

There are probably fewer and fewer natural people left.

These children who need to take public transportation to and from school are not from impoverished families, but rather because their parents never had the time or energy to care for them in the first place. They were simply born to "get ahead" and contribute to society.

Therefore, it's perfectly normal that they don't receive much love or care from their parents.

Yes, I can't let my baby be like that. I will love you very much.

Jiang Yun felt the warmth transmitted through the gentle caress. Although she couldn't know exactly what her mother was thinking at that moment, she gently touched the placenta in response.

……

The hoverbus silently glided into the station.

Ling Jiu boarded the bus with the students and found a window seat. Initially, the bus was mostly filled with students in school uniforms, but as the bus traveled towards the city center and made more and more stops, the people boarding the bus began to change.

In addition to these students, some new roles have started to emerge, such as "Worker to Apprentice" and "Student to College Student".

As the bus, which originated in the affluent area, stopped at the station in the city center where it would connect to the underground light rail, Ling Jiu got off the bus, and Jiang Yun was almost blinded by the dense array of entries.

A huge crowd of people disembarked from the streets on both sides and various buses, pouring into the light rail.

A casually dressed, bespectacled, and tired-looking boy walked into the platform chewing his breakfast. Above his head was the message: "[Engineer Second Job Advancement: Programmer] [Late Stage of Initial Understanding (Science First Stage)]". He then turned on his phone and started playing a game.

There was a woman in a women's suit who was on the phone apologizing to her boss, with the words "[White-collar worker second job: Operations] [Strong memory mid-stage (literary first stage)]" on her head, reporting on project progress and customer needs;

There was a young woman dressed in a neat and simple style, walking and looking at her phone, with the words "Artist Second Transformation: Graphic Designer" and "Early Stage of Understanding Artistic Conception (Second Stage of Artistic Path)" above her head, browsing social media.

Graphic designers, programmers, operations staff, purchasing agents, acquaintances, and so on...

This scene was so familiar that Jiang Yun felt he hadn't actually traveled to some kind of fantasy world, but rather had physically returned home...

He watched as Ling Jiu touched her belly to protect him, and followed the surging crowd through security and stations, finally stopping at the Line 5 station bound for the University Town.

People standing around them held portable computers or paper documents, some talking in hushed tones about project progress and client needs. The words and halos above their heads created a faintly shimmering background in the slightly crowded carriage.

Jiang Yun observed and compared silently.

He gradually discovered some patterns:

The people I met in the villa area, whether it was the young mistress, the entrepreneurial couple, or the retired soldier, were all at the third or even fourth level of their professions, and their cultivation levels were mostly at the third level.

Those children who were clearly primary or secondary school students all had the same profession: "Student Level 1," and their cultivation level was basically stuck at the first stage of their respective paths.

These office workers are mostly at the second stage of their careers, and their skill levels are mostly at the first or second stage.

So-called identity not only represents different jobs, but also divides one's social class through various job changes.

It seems that this is one of the effects of the "Five Paths and Five Followers"—completely dividing a society that originally prioritized martial arts into various industries, and perhaps even making those who practice martial arts a minority.

In addition to the wide variety of professions and levels of attainment, he also discovered a strange phenomenon.

Apart from that "lover," everyone else he met was at the same level as or one level below his status; there wasn't a single person whose level was higher than his status.

He seemed to have vaguely grasped something.

My great-grandmother and Wei Yun had previously said that she needed to go back to school and enter society in order to accumulate "merit".

Merit or achievement refers to contributions made to a particular industry that lead to an elevation in social status or rank.

He considered one possibility.

Perhaps it is precisely the mystery brought about by the status level that allows people who are not naturally talented to accumulate merits and improve their rank, thereby breaking through the bottleneck of their realm. This is why people generally break through their status level one step ahead of their realm stage.

……

No matter what world you're in, waiting for a bus is always a very boring thing.

Ling Jiu was looking down at her phone, talking to her counselor. Jiang Yun was bored in her stomach. This world was too similar to her previous life. It was amazing at first sight, but after looking at it again, it was too similar and didn't mean much.

He couldn't wait to see what universities in this world were like.

The announcement of the train's arrival at the station rang out.

Ling Jiu put away her phone, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and prepared to get on the bus. She glanced up at the platform screen doors that were opening—

Jiang Yun sensed that her gaze suddenly froze on a corner of the carriage.

He looked through Ling Jiu's eyes.

It was a young man in a black windbreaker, tall and straight, casually leaning against the handrail by the car door, scrolling through his phone. He had short, neat hair and sharp, defined features, seemingly out of place in the surging crowd.

Jiang Yun could clearly sense that his mother's heart was racing uncontrollably. It seemed to be her sweetheart, or even his own father.

As if sensing something, the boy turned his head at that moment.

Four eyes meet.

A very slight ripple flickered in those deep black eyes, before they seemed not to notice and returned to the phone in their hand.

At the same time, the entry displayed in front of Jiang Yun flickered violently for a moment, and he discovered the first exception to the pattern he had just summarized.

The phrase above the boy's head was clearly—

[Student's second transfer: Business student].

However, his cultivation level has already reached [Hidden Spirit Realm: Mid-stage Hidden Form (Third Realm of Literary Dao)]

This was the first person he had ever met whose realm had transcended his social status.

The passive ability of stealth perception has been activated again.

You and this person are connected by blood; you have an extremely close relationship.

Blood ties, is he my biological father?