Chapter 25 : Chapter 25
Chapter 25
The ability assessment ended smoothly.
After the teachers and students of Class A left, Ji Qing clearly noticed the atmosphere within Class S relax, and even Li Xuehua quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
No one likes to be watched.
Ling You'er's reaction, however, was somewhat unexpected for Ji Qing. He had thought she would frantically urge Li Xuehua to drive all the Class A students away, but he didn't expect her to not say a word.
Is she more reluctant to be the one who stands out than to be watched by strangers?
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone." Li Xuehua clapped her hands, signaling the students present to look over. Her tone was apologetic. "I'm very sorry for this slip-up. I know none of you like having an audience, but..."
"I believe you all noticed that the teacher from Class A was having some trouble controlling the situation," Li Xuehua paused, her attitude sincere. "He and I are friends, so just consider it doing me a favor, okay?"
"I don't really mind," Zhou Que shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
He openly glanced in Ji Qing and Shao Huayu's direction and muttered, "Just hope it doesn't become a psychological trauma. Brother Huayu was a psychological trauma for many people back in Central City."
"Now we have to add Ji Qing to the list, tsk tsk tsk~"
A hint of schadenfreude crept into Zhou Que's tone.
"The performances of Student Ji Qing and Student Shao Huayu were indeed quite stunning," Li Xuehua did not hold back her praise. "It was more like an ability performance than a simple test."
Shao Huayu smiled. "Even if you praise us like that, Teacher, it doesn't change the fact that this whole thing was very sudden."
Li Xuehua's expression turned grave. "It was sudden for me too. If we hadn't happened to run into Class A, this wouldn't have happened."
"However..." Li Xuehua's tone shifted, and her usual warm smile returned. "After today's events, their class should be much more stable."
"How is Student Ling feeling?"
At the end of her sentence, Li Xuehua looked at Ling You'er in the corner with a worried expression.
Ling You'er's face was pale. "I'm okay, I guess. I hope it doesn't happen again in the future..."
She wasn't an unreasonable person. Having been taught by her family to uphold its honor, she naturally understood the importance of class honor. It was just all too sudden.
"Okay, okay," Li Xuehua quickly raised her hands in assurance. "If this happens again in the future, I will notify everyone in advance and get everyone's consent."
"However..."
"My abilities are limited, and some situations catch even me off guard," Li Xuehua couldn't help but sigh. "Today's events were also quite sudden for me."
You Xingluo couldn't help but laugh. "There was really no helping the situation just now."
Shao Huayu frowned. "I hope they'll be quieter from now on. I really didn't expect to run into an old acquaintance after coming so far for school..."
"Oh, right—" Zhou Que said, as if he had just realized something. "Why did he come to Yancheng too? Could it be that he followed Brother Huayu here?"
"I'm not that charming," Shao Huayu said, exasperated.
Shao Huayu knocked on Zhou Que's forehead with a bad temper. This mouth of his had caused him so much trouble in the past. Was he planning to cause him even more trouble now?
"Ouch, ouch, ouch—" Zhou Que quickly covered his forehead.
Watching the interaction between the two, Ji Qing couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The reactions of the other few present were no exception. Ling You'er's posture was noticeably more relaxed than when they first met. Perhaps in her heart, she had already changed her opinion of Zhou Que.
"Alright, students—" Li Xuehua clapped her hands again with a smile. "Let me finish the final announcements, and then we can dismiss for today."
"Yay~" "Finally, we can go back."
The moment Li Xuehua's words landed, Ji Qing's ears were filled with the relieved voices of several people.
Everyone wanted to go back to their dorms and rest.
Li Xuehua didn't delay and got straight to the point. "Your test data will be handed over to the school by me later, and then the school will conduct a rating. There is one thing I need to emphasize—"
"Those with overly powerful abilities and non-offensive support-type and special-type abilities are not required to participate in the individual competition."
Li Xuehua's gaze swept over the students. After everyone indicated they understood, she added gently, "And the reward for the top three in the individual competition is the ability to choose a suitable ability item from the school's collection."
"But I believe none of you here need the ability items provided by the school."
"Teacher?" Ji Qing suddenly said.
"Hmm?"
"What are ability items?" Ji Qing asked, feigning confusion.
"Ability items are objects that can produce the effects of your abilities," Li Xuehua explained gently. "However, powerful ability items often require a heavy price to use and are not as good as one's own ability."
"The ability items provided by the school for selection can only offer some insignificant help," Li Xuehua paused, a little dissatisfied. "To be honest, I feel like the school doesn't want to give out money and is just trying to brush you off."
You Xingluo facepalmed. "...You didn't have to say that."
"But the reward for the top three in the team competition is still a scholarship," Li Xuehua said with a smile, not annoyed at all. "Divided equally among each team member, it can completely cover three years of tuition~"
"Everyone, do your best~"
Zhou Que rolled his eyes. "Teacher, do you think we're short on money?"
Shao Huayu nodded in agreement. "In fact, the help it provides us is not even as good as that dispensable ability item."
"Ah... but I think it's pretty good..." Song Xiaoran, from a commoner family, blinked in confusion. But after recalling something, he quickly shut his mouth.
They, who were from noble families, really didn't need these things.
"I'm more curious about which ability items are available for selection," a playful smile touched Ji Qing's lips. "After all, I've never encountered them before, so I'm quite curious."
"It will be announced before the individual competition," Li Xuehua said.
After a moment of thought, she gave a helpless smile. "I understand your thoughts now. I'll go back and give feedback to the school to see if we can add ability items to the team competition prizes."
"But... that's a long shot."
After all, the top three in the individual competition only required providing three ability items, while the number of members in each team competition team was more than three. The school would definitely want a more stable solution.
Ji Qing suddenly asked, "Have the rewards for the school competition always been scholarships?"
Li Xuehua: "That's right."
Li Xuehua held her chin with a troubled look. "Because it's essentially just an internal competition within our school, I really don't understand why they changed it to ability items this year..."
...That is strange, Ji Qing thought.
After all, there was an undercover agent from an Infected organization here who was after the World Book.
Ji Qing had reason to suspect that there was a mole in the school's upper management, or that there was a person or object within the Dawn Society that could serve a prophetic function.
Considering the current situation of the Infected, Ji Qing felt that the latter was more likely.
Ji Qing rolled his eyes and continued to ask with interest, "Teacher, among the ability items collected by the school, there shouldn't only be those that can provide some insignificant help, right?"
"Student Ji Qing's mind works fast," Li Xuehua said with a smile. "There definitely are. But I'm not sure what they are specifically."
"When the time comes for selection, the school will definitely single them out."
Li Xuehua's gaze suddenly swept over Ji Qing, Shao Huayu, and Song Xiaoran. Even though the school's rating had not yet begun, she knew in her heart that these three would most likely be banned from the competition.
Ji Qing and Shao Huayu were purely because their strength was too great; Song Xiaoran was because his destructive power was too strong.
None of them were suitable for participating in a school competition whose main purpose was "sparring among students." The core goal of the school competition was to assign students to appropriate classes.
Since all three of them were already students of Class S, this meaning was naturally lost.
"You three definitely won't get to see them," Li Xuehua said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
She hadn't expected the Class S students to be more interested in ability items than scholarships. If she remembered correctly, the various noble families should have a considerable collection of ability items as well.
"Teacher, you don't understand," Zhou Que stroked his chin pretentiously, feigning maturity. "How can the ones from our own homes be as good as those from others? Besides, do you think our elders would let us touch these things?"
...That's definitely impossible.
Li Xuehua broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this. She cursed inwardly, Damn school, damn brainwave, now I'm being roasted over a fire.
"Um... students..." Li Xuehua forced a bitter smile. "Don't make things difficult for your teacher. I'm just working for the school."
You Xingluo couldn't help but smile at this.
Ling You'er took the opportunity to raise her left hand and ask timidly, "I have no objection to the prizes. Can... can I go back first?"
"Of course you can," Li Xuehua first affirmed, then added quickly, "The list of banned and exempted participants will be announced today or tomorrow."
"Students who are exempted and do not wish to participate, please submit your application form within this week."
"The individual competition is a lottery system, and the draw will begin next week. Participants, please remember to draw lots. If you don't, the school will make arrangements for you. That's all. You can go back and rest now."
After saying the last sentence, Li Xuehua began to clap for herself.
When Li Xuehua lowered her hands, ready to flee the scene, she caught sight of Zhou Que's resentful gaze. Zhou Que stubbornly held onto her. "Don't think you can fool me. Let's continue talking about ability items."
Li Xuehua's pleading gaze immediately fell on Shao Huayu.
Shao Huayu averted his gaze. "Sorry, Teacher. But you are the teacher."
Li Xuehua: "...Sob."
Looking at the backs of the three in a standoff, Ji Qing smiled helplessly. He had no intention of getting more information from Li Xuehua. After all, if his intentions were too obvious, it would only lead to his identity being exposed quickly.
But he hadn't expected Shao Huayu and Zhou Que to also be very interested in ability items.
This made his inquiry seem less abrupt.
It was noon.
The ability tests for the other classes in the same year were still ongoing, and even Class A still had the mental strength test left. But Class S, with its small number of students, had already finished for the day.
The moment Li Xuehua finished speaking, Ling You'er had eagerly fled.
Song Xiaoran pondered for a moment before turning and walking towards the botanical garden. It seemed he was now a permanent resident of the botanical garden.
Zhou Que was still in a standoff with the teacher.
Shao Huayu stood casually to the side, watching their interaction while occasionally looking at his terminal. Ji Qing secretly guessed, He's probably waiting for Liu Mu to come over.
Just then, You Xingluo tugged at the corner of Ji Qing's clothes. "Let's go too."
"Aren't you leaving with them?" Ji Qing asked in surprise.
You Xingluo glanced at the oblivious Zhou Que and whispered, "Huayu said he's waiting for Liu Mu to come over, and then he'll explain the stakes of today to Zhou Que."
"He doesn't think before he speaks sometimes."
At the end of his sentence, You Xingluo couldn't help but sigh lightly.
"Got it," Ji Qing understood immediately. But when he connected all the dots, he couldn't help but find it a little amusing. So, was it Zhou Que's comment targeting Song Xiaoran that alerted Shao Huayu?
When Zhou Que had confronted Xie Chang'an before, Shao Huayu hadn't seen a problem.
It seemed Song Xiaoran carried more weight.
One was an F-class student he would rarely see, and the other was an S-class classmate with whom he would have close interactions in the future. Shao Huayu naturally knew how to weigh the importance between the two.
Offending Xie Chang'an was fine, but not Song Xiaoran.
This bad habit had to be corrected as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, Ji Qing couldn't help but laugh inwardly. He had discovered early on that Shao Huayu was quite arrogant at his core. Shao Huayu himself had never taken Xie Chang'an seriously.
But since it was Shao Huayu speaking, Zhou Que should listen.
Zhou Que held Shao Huayu in high regard, and their relationship was very close, although Ji Qing didn't know why. Oh wait, wasn't there an insider right here?
Ji Qing looked at You Xingluo, a slight curve on his lips. "Then that's perfect. Let's walk together for a bit."
You Xingluo instantly became wary. "...Again?"
You Xingluo had seen the same smile at the beginning of the semester. Because this was the special smile Ji Qing showed only when his plan had succeeded.