When Ultraman appears in reality, however:

Two streets away from Xu Kun's ordinary residential area, Lin Qiuzhu's high-end residential area looked particularly deserted in the rainstorm. The marble-paved road surface of the residential area was washed shiny by the rain, and the precious shrubs in the green belt trembled in the strong wind.

The window of Lin Qiuzhu's room faces the artificial river. At this moment, the surface of the lake is hit by raindrops and there are countless dents, just like his fragmented mood at the moment.

"Dinner...isn't it ready yet?"

At the desk, Lin Qiuzhu's voice was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the sound of rain. His fingers unconsciously stroked the documents he had already flipped through, and the pale light from the desk lamp shone on his dark eye bags.

The clock on the wall showed 18:45, but he remembered that he had been sitting here since eight in the morning.

“Have you completed today’s study assignment?!”

From the living room came my mother's sharp questions, accompanied by the rustling sound of flipping financial forms.

Lin Qiuzhu looked through the half-open door and saw her mother's profile, which was covered in gold-rimmed glasses and looked bluish under the blue light of the laptop computer. Her fingers with exquisite nail polish were typing strings of numbers on the keyboard.

"Mom, I'm an adult too..."

Lin Qiuzhu rubbed his sore temples and said, "I've studied for ten hours today. It's time to take a break. Besides, such a big thing happened in school. In this situation, my studies are really..."

"Your father and I have raised you for so long, are we going to give up just because you say so?"

The mother suddenly took off her glasses, and the legs of her glasses made a crisp sound when they hit the solid wood desk. On her well-maintained face, there appeared the familiar expression of Lin Qiuzhu, the one when she was calculating the return on investment.

"You didn't get into a 985 university in the college entrance examination, but now you have the opportunity to take the postgraduate entrance examination to turn things around. If you don't seize the opportunity, who will you blame when the time comes?"

The rain outside the window suddenly intensified, and the bean-sized raindrops hit the French window like countless tiny bullets. Lin Qiuzhu looked up at the gray sky.

"Mom, instead of this, why don't we stock up on some canned food or something?"

"Don't worry about the money. It has nothing to do with you. Studying is more important than this. When you said you wanted to get a doctorate, we have planned a direction for you. You just need to do it."

"But, I also wanted to learn a little bit before..."

"What are you studying? Can your paintings feed you? Why don't you take a look at yourself? Look at the world now, is there anything that can feed you except a stable job? All your dreams are daydreams, just like that giant outside, pure daydreams!"

Now, his mother is still using real postgraduate entrance examination questions to build an illusory safe zone, as if as long as she memorizes 5,000 English words, she can withstand the shock waves caused by Ultraman fighting monsters.

But what she said does make sense. At this stage, the government does need more manpower, and if we take this opportunity to try to enter the system, everything will be much better.

Lin Qiuzhu suddenly wanted to laugh. In this world where monsters could destroy the city at any time, his mother still stubbornly believed in the fairy tale that "knowledge changes destiny", which was as ridiculous as believing that a well-tended potted plant could survive this never-ending rainstorm.

Rain trickled down the window glass, distorting the neon lights outside the window into blurred blocks of color. Lin Qiuzhu looked down at her slightly trembling hands—these hands could solve the most difficult calculus, but couldn't cook a decent meal.

With your body so damaged, you will be the slowest one to run away from danger.

Ignoring his mother, Lin Qiuzhu closed the door. Under the gray sky outside, he fell on his back on the bed. The soft mattress sank slightly, wrapping his tired body.

Outside the window, the gray sky was very low, and raindrops were winding and twisting on the glass. Lin Qiuzhu stared at the ceiling and suddenly felt a strange peace.

In such weather, not thinking about anything and just lying there made him feel the long-lost comfort.

The phone screen lit up, and a message from the government popped up. Lin Qiuzhu stared at the message, his finger hovering above the screen, but he didn't click it.

An inexplicable premonition spread in his heart - some kind of change was coming, and it would come much faster and more violently than he had imagined.

Lin Qiuzhu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

No matter what choice he makes, the outcome may not be perfect. It is not easy to take everything into consideration. He immediately opened his mobile phone, but received a message required by the government to be filled out.

Some kind of change is coming...

Lin Qiuzhu's heart tightened, and he no longer had the mind to study. After fixing his gaze on the distant sky, he realized something.

Bigger changes than five years ago are about to happen. Something big is going to happen in at least one person’s lifetime, and it will drastically change the existing environment.

It was like the fall of a dynasty, with people displaced and famine spreading everywhere.

In this modern society that is always unchanging, perhaps a huge change is about to happen.

Lin Qiuzhu has a high IQ and he quickly guessed part of the future. Although his mother's approach was brutal and unreasonable, it did have some effect.

But compared to taking exams, perhaps taking the back door is a more efficient option. What is lacking now are the entry standards for various industries and what positions one is qualified for.

In this world that is about to be turned upside down, is it really useful to study and take exams step by step? When the social order is reorganized, those so-called academic qualifications, credits, and GPAs may not be as real as a bag of food.

Those theories that were just empty talk, those courses that were out of touch with reality, and those credits set up to cope with assessments. The entire education system was like a huge ship that was about to sink, and his mother was still urging him on how to arrange the chairs on the deck more neatly.

What really matters is how to gain an advantageous position in the chaos - either by mastering resources or having skills or information that others do not have.

Lin Qiuzhu doesn't want to be an ordinary person, an ordinary person who is at the mercy of the world. That way, nothing can be changed. The only thing she can do is to master resources, have a voice, climb up little by little, or get something that others don't have.

He has the leverage...

However, the knowledge learned for the postgraduate entrance examination seems to have no effect on the current situation.

The teaching theories in schools seem to have lost their meaning long ago. Teachers who have never started a business are now teaching entrepreneurship guidance, and the entire class is emphasizing the so-called credits and homework.

The significance of these water classes is just to give the teachers an excuse to feed themselves.

Many policies are superficial and have little actual effect.

If countries continue to be perfunctory, then humanity...

Lin Qiuzhu pursed her lips and laughed at herself unconsciously.

"Really...what's the point of me worrying about humans?"

In this new world that is about to come, morality and rules will be redefined. And he must at least make sure that he is not the one being defined.