GAMMT - Chapter 46
Chapter 46: The Troublemaker
The Education Center was packed to the brim. In truth, few people recognized Fu Chuan. At most, they gave her a second glance as they passed, noting her somewhat disheveled and haggard appearance. Beyond that, there was nothing to distinguish her.
Her expression, her gaze—everything was ordinary, nothing special.
Only a few sharp-eyed individuals noticed the clan emblem on her chest, their expressions turning slightly odd.
Jingyang City was not a peaceful place. The nobles held significant power, and the three major families all had ties to local capital.
One family mourns a death while another throws a grand sixtieth birthday banquet. A child from a northern family plays with marbles in his courtyard while a girl from a southern family knits a sweater. Such is the tapestry of human life; joys and sorrows are not shared.
Even Fu Chuan herself felt that in a few days, she would forget the driver.
Neither heartless nor steadfast enough, she was well aware that she had always been the most common sort of person in this mundane world.
"Today is the Jingyang City academic assessment, the high school entrance exam. The first stage is theory test. First, you'll have your interview and verification, then you'll wait for the exam to begin. Remember to follow the rules. Any violation will have dire consequences…"
A teacher was on-site, using a megaphone to remind the students from their respective schools.
"Xie Keli, correct?"
"Yes, that's me."
Fu Chuan had waited in line for half an hour. The interviewer repeatedly compared her to the photo before confirming her identity, but he added casually, "You've lost a lot of weight, you barely look like your picture. It's mainly the dark circles under your eyes. Pay more attention to your image and quality of life in the future."
The original Xie Keli on X5 had been a rogue, but thanks to a decent quality of life and the means to cause trouble, he could have been described as a dapper little hooligan. Who would have thought that after being replaced by Fu Chuan, this body would know no peace? It was a constant cycle of murder, being targeted for murder, scheming, and being schemed against. On top of that, she had been preparing for the exam, spending long hours studying, leaving little time even for meditation.
She was short on time, and her physical health was paying the price.
So, the moment the interviewer saw her, he felt something was off. Coincidentally, the female interviewer in the next line was also examining a student's photo. After looking at it, she said, "You too, young man. You need to rest during the exam period. Don't just focus on studying."
That boy was skinny and taciturn, with a very scholarly air, but one could also see the mark of poverty on him. He nodded at her words and silently took his exam admission ticket.
Fu Chuan turned and said to her own interviewer, "I will. I'll try to read less and rest more. Thank you for your concern."
The interviewer glanced at her. "You don't look like you got this way from studying. Exam Area 4. Go inside and wait for the exam to start at 8:30. Next."
Fu Chuan took her admission ticket and went to the restroom. It was only when she happened to see herself in the mirror above the sink that she realized what the interviewer had meant by "quality of life."
Wait, did he think she looked like this wreck as a result of debauchery?
Fu Chuan felt indignant but silently tucked away her clan emblem.
This wretched Xie Clan had given her nothing but the Gene Pool. Even its emblem was a liability.
As Fu Chuan sighed, she suddenly sensed movement outside the stall. She immediately became alert but didn't activate her insight, fearing someone was testing her from the shadows, or that the Teng and Lan Clan were up to their old tricks again.
She feigned obliviousness. A moment later, she pressed herself against the wall and saw a small card being slipped under the stall door. Something was stuck to the bottom of it.
Then… Fu Chuan abruptly pushed the door open. There was no one outside.
It was like seeing a ghost.
Fu Chuan became thoughtful. She bent down and picked up the item. The card was white, with only text and numbers on it.
It was a business card.
It had a communicator number.
"Prosperity Fund Health & Wellness Company…"
Fu Chuan glanced down at the small pill taped to the back of the card, her expression speechless.
Seriously, who was this? How could they run this kind of business inside the Education Center? Weren't they afraid of being executed?
Who would even buy this?
After leaving the restroom, Fu Chuan found that the waiting area outside was already full. Students from dozens of middle schools from all the towns under Jingyang City's jurisdiction, as well as the urban district, were gathered here. She was indeed one of the older ones among them; a normal third-year middle school student should be fifteen or sixteen, while she was two or three years older.
But who did she see?
There were disciples from the Teng, Lan, and Xie Clan, and the younger ones happened to be in the same exam area as her.
This wasn't important. The three families had extensive branches. The Xie Clan alone had over a dozen exam-aged candidates from its side branches, so it was perfectly normal for one or two to be in Exam Area 3. The same went for the other two families.
Fu Chuan's gaze swept across the room, and she spotted Xie Lin and Lan Chenguang.
What a coincidence.
They each had their own social circles, likely from the same school or interest group, or perhaps connections from their mothers' sides of the family.
They saw Fu Chuan as well. Ever since suffering a major loss at Fu Chuan's hands, Lan Chenguang had been emo for days. Today, he had finally gotten the upper hand and made Fu Chuan suffer a great loss, so he was back to his arrogant self. He even raised his voice slightly, saying, "My second brother? He's not in this exam area, he's over in Area 1. He's so fast, he got here in a flash, whoosh! I didn't even see him."
"Which high school is he testing for? The same as your eldest brother, West Jin Academy? By the way, your eldest brother is also taking the college entrance exam today. Is he taking it back here in Jingyang or in Beluke City?"
"In Beluke City, of course. It's a direct provincial education ministry unified exam. My eldest brother has actually already been admitted early to Qinghai University, which is one of the ten Purple-tier academies in our Beluke Province. It's not surprising, really. He's from West Jin Academy, and students from West Jin are guaranteed a spot in at least a Blue-tier university. But the teachers at West Jin Academy all say my brother can aim for Beluke University. A while ago, he won a ranking in a competition dungeon and got a flying pet—it's that Blue-Tailed Dark-Feathered Eagle my second brother has. Cool, right? My eldest brother said that after I finish this exam, he'll give me a flying pet too."
His voice was so loud that many people heard him. Many of the plainly dressed students who were engrossed in their studies felt uncomfortable and couldn't help but look at the cluster of nobles and conglomerate scions.
Were they envious?
They were green with envy.
The money your entire family could earn in a lifetime wouldn't even be enough to buy a month's worth of food for the flying pet a brother gave to his younger brother.
The entire waiting room was thick with the scent of envy. Even the children of the conglomerates were jealous, because there were some resources they couldn't buy with money. For instance, not many in their families could be as successful as Lan Chenguang's eldest brother.
"Lan Xuanyu, hailed as the top scorer of the Jingyang City High School Entrance Exam three years ago. He was number one in his year, truly amazing. The Lan Clan was in the limelight that year, completely overshadowing the Xie Clan and Teng family. Although the Teng family and Xie Clan each produced a top scorer in the following two years, Teng Xu and Xie Qingyan, neither of their scores were as impressive as Lan Xuanyu's. He's a true chosen one, even has some fame in Beluke Province."
"So impressive."
"And his second brother, Lan Chenshuang, is also a shoo-in for one of the Big Four Academies."
"So you see, even though the Xie Clan's overall strength ranks first among the three families now, they always give face to the Lan Clan. It's mainly because of Lan Xuanyu. As long as he gets into Beluke University, his future is limitless. Actually, I heard Lan Xuanyu almost died back then…"
"What do you mean?"
"Heh heh, you can probably guess."
The topic suddenly died down. Fu Chuan leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, a thoughtful expression on her face.
This was the first she had heard of this. No wonder the Lan Clan was so arrogant, and that boy on the eagle had been so haughty.
Overall, the Lan Clan had the smallest bloodline among the three, but the most elites. Although Lan Chenguang was a bit of a letdown, on average, they could be considered a family of three heroes.
With such an eldest and second brother, it was inevitable for the youngest to be arrogant and domineering. How could he allow himself to bring shame to their family?
However, for Lan Xuanyu to have survived the assassination attempts by the Xie Clan and Teng family back then, the Lan Clan itself certainly didn't have the capital to protect him. After all, Xie An was such an insidious person; when it came to scheming, the other two family heads were no match for him. This was evident from how he shamelessly sold his son to get in with the Fu Clan and then swiftly seized the opportunity to take the land in the southern suburbs.
That meant he was protected by a more powerful force.
"West Jin Academy."
Fu Chuan knew that the prestige of the Big Four Academies was far greater than that of the three Green Blood families. In this world, genius was paramount.
Facing Lan Chenguang's arrogant and hostile gaze, Fu Chuan looked away as if in submission and walked to the side to rest with her eyes closed.
Lan Chenguang let out a soft laugh, finally satisfied. But his words were deliberately aimed at provoking the Xie Clan disciples. Since Xie Qingyan and the others weren't here, and there were no outstanding talents in this generation of exam-takers, they couldn't withstand the combined pressure from the Lan and Teng Families, making them look particularly aggrieved.
Xie Lin and the others were naturally displeased. They shot a cold glance at Fu Chuan, feeling that she was the reason their family had lost face.
"Useless trash, only knows how to cause trouble."
They never considered that it was their long-standing feud with the other two families that led to Xie Keli being targeted by Lan Chenguang and his group shortly after returning to the Xie Clan, which in turn triggered the series of disasters.
Would they reflect on their own actions?
Of course not.
Many people were nervous. Many were still cramming before the exam. Many were chatting to ease their tension. At first glance, they seemed no different from students taking any exam in the real world.
It had been so many years since Fu Chuan graduated from her own college entrance exam, yet she couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness, which made her smile wryly.
She had never been nervous during her college entrance exam back then. After all, she was a top student who could get into a prestigious university with her eyes closed. But now?
Times had changed.
She rubbed her sore eyes and was about to put away her communicator and other belongings when she noticed a new message.
The investigator she had hired had sent the results.
Fu Chuan opened the file. It contained a detailed record of the Xie Clan's procurement orders during this period. There was no mining equipment.
Was her guess wrong?
No, so many fruits? But why would fruits require heavy cargo airships?
"They probably bought heavy mining machinery and disguised it as fruit on the books to deceive the Teng and Lan Clan."
Fu Chuan calculated the shipping fees and the number of heavy airships on the procurement list and immediately determined the weight of the goods. It was indeed equivalent to hundreds of heavy mining machines, and there were no other goods in the Xie Clan's agricultural and light industrial sectors that could match such a weight.
Fu Chuan was now almost certain of her guess. After a moment of thought, she took out her phone and sent a message.
In Exam Area 2 of the Education Center, a tall, slender girl with long black hair looked down at her communicator, her expression slightly surprised.
The contact name was: Captain Big Sis.
Back then, when they had asked the young lady who had single-handedly dominated the entire field for her communicator number (Groundhog had dragged her along to ask), Groundhog had insisted on that contact name. She still remembered that the other person had been wearing a mask, so her expression was unreadable, but after a moment's hesitation, she had given them her number, though not her name.
She had even thought that the other person would probably never contact them again. After all, they had just happened to meet and cooperate in a dungeon. They each had their own identities and futures. Who would stick with a fixed team?
But, she had actually contacted her.
Ah Qi felt a small thrill of joy, the corners of her eyes crinkling upwards. But as she read the message, she fell into deep thought.
Are you taking an exam? If you're not busy after, find Groundhog and ask him if he's willing to cooperate with me on some digging.
Ah Qi thought the message contained three implicit meanings.
1. Why not contact Groundhog directly? Because she wanted Ah Qi to be involved as well. But the key was still Groundhog, because of his ability to travel underground. So, was the target an underground dungeon? Or some kind of valuable treasure underground?
2. But why did she want Ah Qi involved? In terms of combat power, she probably didn't need another member like her. This matter must be highly secretive and couldn't be discovered by the powerful figures in Jingyang City, lest it bring disaster. Therefore, it required some brainpower and a technical approach.
3. She herself must be very busy, probably also taking an exam, and couldn't be in two places at once. Ah Qi just didn't know if it was the college entrance exam at the Education Ministry or the high school entrance exam here at the Education Center.
"In Jingyang City, aside from dungeons which are random and depend on luck, all profitable ventures are related to either the nobles and conglomerates or the government. But the latter can be ruled out, because the Economic Department is currently cracking down on grain prices, so there are no profitable ventures there… That leaves the former. And given this person's attention to and special relationship with the Xie Clan, this project must be related to those nobles."
Ah Qi's guess was pretty much spot on. But then her finger tapped the communicator screen. "Fu and Xie? Underground?"
She thought she knew what the project was.
"The exam will begin in ten minutes. Ticket inspection will now commence. All candidates, please prepare to enter the examination hall. Please enter now…"
Fu Chuan was about to put her communicator in the storage locker when she heard the announcement and paused. She glanced at some of the noble scions not far away, thought for a moment, then took her communicator back out and followed the crowd inside, finding her assigned classroom, Room 5.
"Find your seats according to the number on your admission ticket. Settle down quickly…"
The proctor was a portly man with a booming voice. Inside the bright and clean classroom, the exam papers were already laid out, and all the seats were identical.
Fu Chuan sat down and saw someone walking down the adjacent aisle.
He was unkempt, with unwashed hair, rough skin, and a short, black stubble.
To use a less-than-polite internet term, he was short, stout, and unkempt.
"Hello, teacher," Fu Chuan greeted politely. But the man just glanced at her and sat down in the seat next to her.
Fu Chuan and the surrounding candidates: "?"
The man seemed quite used to it. He said in a gruff voice, "What are you looking at? I'm 15 this year."
Fu Chuan and the others: "!!!"
Uncle, you don't look 15. More like 51!
No one truly believed him; they even exchanged glances.
Could this be a proctor in disguise?
"I think there was a year when a teacher went undercover to catch cheaters."
"No way, that's so devious."
As the students whispered among themselves, Fu Chuan's deskmate remained calm, unhurriedly taking out his stationery from his backpack.
Pens, an eraser, a compass, scratch paper, and even a paperweight to hold down the exam booklet.
Look at him, and then look at yourself.
Fu Chuan stared, thinking to herself: They say underachievers have the most stationery. Maybe this guy is actually a slacker.
After a while, everyone was seated. Fu Chuan saw Lan Chenguang and his group in the seats diagonally in front of her but paid them no mind, waiting quietly.
The proctor saw that everyone was present and checked the time.
"There are three minutes until the exam begins. I have a few things to say. First, the Education Ministry has implemented reforms this year, changing the format for all exams from the college entrance exam to the high school entrance exam. There have been some changes to this theory test. For example, all seven subjects have been combined into a single, twenty-page paper with seven sections. The exam duration is four hours. Another example is that for this exam, you are allowed to cheat."
What the hell?
A four-hour exam was one thing, but they were allowed to cheat?!
Everyone was stunned.
Seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of the boys and girls in the classroom, the proctor simply smiled and continued, "Copying, peeking, even using your communicator to look up answers—all of these are permitted. But the premise is that you cannot get caught."
Isn't that just stating the obvious!
How is that any different from before?
It was!
The proctor said, "Getting caught cheating this time will not result in criminal charges, will not go on your record, and will not affect future civil service exams. There is only one consequence: for each time you are caught cheating, your score for this exam will be reduced by one comprehensive coefficient point."
Huh? That's allowed?!
This rule was certainly novel. No one had expected it. The people waiting outside for the results were probably just as shocked.
Fu Chuan couldn't help but rub her fingers together. So her earlier premonition was correct. When the broadcast reminded them to enter for the exam, it hadn't mentioned turning in communicators and books.
Perhaps because she was a product of an exam-oriented education system, she was habitually attuned to parsing words. She had felt something was off then, and with the Education Ministry's reforms feeling strange at every turn, she had guessed there would be a change in the format.
In any case, her prospects for theory exam were bleak. She might as well take a gamble.
"And the admission method for this new format won't be based purely on a cutoff score. If we used the old cutoff scores, most people would suffer under this admission method. Some of the rejected candidates would surely protest the scores and the new exam format. Therefore, the final selection will be based on a fixed proportion of the total number of participants, rather than using a fixed score to eliminate a large number of people. So, if others become weaker, it's the same as you becoming stronger."
As this thought crossed Fu Chuan's mind, her gaze swept coolly over the three hundred-plus people in the classroom, as well as the proctor. Just as she was about to ask a question, she heard a student raise his hand. "Excuse me, what counts as being caught cheating? Will you be the one monitoring us, sir?"
Fu Chuan had some impression of this student. He was the skinny, studious one the interviewer had told to take it easy.
He looked like a poor but diligent student.
The proctor smiled. "Yes."
Could one person really watch over three hundred students in a single classroom?
So, this was the opportunity.
Fu Chuan had researched the identities of proctors from previous high school entrance exams. In the past, they were typically 40th-level agility and insight-type experts, handpicked by the government and the Education Ministry to completely eliminate cheating. But this year was different.
His level would be lower.
Why?
Because this year allowed students with the means and quick reactions to get ahead through "cheating." It would be impossible to send in the usual powerhouses to wipe out these students. If a student in the high school entrance exam could deceive one of those experts, they would be defying the heavens!
Therefore, Fu Chuan guessed that this proctor was just an ordinary one from within the Education Ministry system. He might be at the 40th level, but he wouldn't have the professional skills of an agility and insight specialist.
He was the baseline for cheating.
But… it included him, but wasn't limited to him.
When he had answered that student's question, his demeanor was relaxed, his small movements casual. He even had a thermos on his desk. Since entering, he had taken two sips—not too many, not too few, consistent with normal drinking habits.
Relaxed, at ease, without much pressure. With a sudden reform and the great responsibility of monitoring for cheating falling upon him, for a proctor who didn't hold a key position in the system to be this relaxed, it must be because he wasn't the main force for this proctoring duty, just the person on the surface.
So where were the other monitoring methods?
Fu Chuan's gaze swept discreetly across the entire classroom. She didn't find anything at the moment, so she shifted her focus and began to look over the exam paper. After reading it, she rested her forehead in her hand and sighed.
Her heart was filled with utter despair.
This world was truly unfriendly to an outsider like her who had just arrived.
But it probably wasn't very friendly to the other candidates either. The difficulty was off the charts, much harder than in previous years. No wonder they allowed cheating; it was practically necessary.
In that case… Fu Chuan raised her eyes and saw that the short, stout, 15-year-old boy next to her was already writing furiously.
Honestly, you could tell a person's confidence just by the way they put pen to paper.
Read ten thousand books, and the words will flow like a river.
You could tell at a glance if someone knew how to solve the problems.
Fu Chuan was inwardly shocked: So he's a true master. My luck is pretty good, drawing a master on the first try!
To copy or not to copy?
She had superior insight and could perfectly replicate and analyze his handwriting… and this was the safest way to cheat, as there was no physical evidence.
In contrast, using Arcane arts to peek or secretly check a communicator was much easier to get caught.
Fu Chuan wasn't in a hurry. She started by doing the questions she knew on her own. While working, she continued to observe.
She estimated that by now, everyone was probably starting to encounter difficult problems and would be tempted to cheat. Many people had turned in their communicators to the storage lockers, but some were clever. They had noticed the loophole in the broadcast and kept them, knowing that even if they were brought in, they could later hire a lawyer to appeal since the broadcast hadn't mentioned it, and they wouldn't be charged. So why not bring them?
Fu Chuan watched coldly as some people, including Lan Chenguang and his group, began to cheat.
Their nerve was far greater than that of ordinary students because the cost of trial and error was high, and they could afford lawyers.
So…
Fu Chuan suddenly noticed that in one classroom, there were eight windows, and each window had light from the morning sun shining through.
But the speed at which the light moved was wrong.
An hour had passed since the exam started, yet the light was moving much faster than normal sunlight. It had already swept across half the classroom.
And the length of the light refracted by the windows was also wrong.
To avoid external interference, these windows should have been made of soundproof, heat-insulating, and light-dampening material, yet the light they refracted was too long.
Both the speed and the length of the light were wrong, which could only mean it wasn't sunlight but light from another source outside.
The areas these light beams passed through were effectively being scanned, and they should be able to detect any Arcane or electronic devices in their path.
If you were caught by the scan while cheating, it would count as being caught once. So where was the information being recorded?
Fu Chuan's gaze lingered for a moment on the exam admission ticket placed on the top left corner of everyone's desk.
It had a QR code.
Fu Chuan lowered her head. After the light beam passed, she began to replicate the answers of the genius next to her. One hand pressed down on her exam paper, but the spider silk ring on her finger had already been activated.
It crawled out through a crack in the window, avoiding the areas the light had not yet reached… and quickly found the equipment installed outside.
This was Exam Area 3.
Did Fu Chuan make a move?
No.
She was considering.
There were a total of nine exam areas. What did she need to do to maximize her own benefit and achieve her goal?
After a moment, Fu Chuan chose to merge the invisible locust baby into her body and then release it along the transparent spider silk. The silk was transparent, and so was the locust.
As long as the silk remained transparent, so would the locust. Similarly, the silk could achieve a deeper level of elemental concealment through the locust baby's fusion ability with Fu Chuan.
Ordinary insight could no longer lock onto them.
Two hours into the exam, it was the halfway point. Many candidates were extremely nervous, sweating profusely, both because the questions were getting progressively harder and because they were cheating more and more frequently, yet they had no idea if they had been caught. It was clear that just as their cheating was covert, so was the method of catching them. It wouldn't even expose you on the spot.
Cheating, it turned out, was a professional skill that tested both technique and mental fortitude.
After the halfway point, Fu Chuan was also quite exhausted. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. As she bent down to write the answers for the fourth-to-last subject, her fingers twitched.
Let's begin.
At that moment, both the spider silk and the baby moved.
And with Fu Chuan merged with it, even the 13th Divine Temple Guard of the Arcane Palace couldn't see through the illusion, let alone the proctors here. Of course, there were surely powerful figures in charge of the high school entrance exam, but would they intervene?
At that moment, in an office in the Education Center, an old woman with white hair was drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. As she read, she sensed something and turned her head to look outside.
Her pupils were completely transparent, filled with countless points of converging light. In her vision, the office, the walls, and even all nine exam areas were completely transparent. She could see the situation in every classroom from all angles simultaneously.
What level of insight was this?
She was the 50th-level expert from the Jingyang City Education Ministry known as the Heavenly Eye Warlock, and also the Vice Minister of the City Education Ministry. This old lady enjoyed drinking coffee and eating cherry tomatoes. The Minister was in charge of the local college entrance exam, while she was in charge of the high school entrance exam, each with their own duties. An hour ago, she had already seen all the little tricks of the 2,700 candidates here, but she wasn't responsible for proctoring and passing judgment, because then there would be no one left to select.
Her responsibility was to prevent outsiders from interfering with the assessment.
During this time, she had also seen some candidates who had detected the light-based monitoring devices outside the classrooms.
The names of all these candidates were recorded in her notebook.
Out of 2,700 people, only 120 had noticed and were precisely avoiding the light beams, cheating like crazy. Was the name Xie Keli among those 120?
No.
Until now…
"Finally making a move, are you, my most covert little spider spirit? Are you going to start cheating like mad?"
The old lady was interested in this young candidate who had spread spider silk across many exam areas, but based on the principle of exam fairness, she hadn't used her insight on them. This was also a rule from above. Unless the other party made a move, she, with her authority as the chief supervisor, could use her insight to analyze their intentions and determine if they would disrupt the exam.
She sipped her coffee and watched, and then… Pfft!
She spat out her coffee.
Because in that instant, all 36 light-source devices distributed across the nine exam areas changed!
They changed in different ways.
Some changed in length, some in operational speed, and others in brightness.
But all of them had their original, fixed monitoring rhythm completely disrupted. In an instant… a massive number of cheating instances were scanned!
The old lady had not anticipated this turn of events at all, so she choked on her coffee.
Wait, was this little spider spirit trying to drag all the cheating candidates down with it and drown them?
The most terrifying part was that most of the cheaters probably had no idea! They were likely still cheating frantically…
Truly vicious.
"Where did this little monster come from?"
The old lady wiped her mouth and silently picked up her communicator to report the situation to the Minister.
"Should we pull them out for a talking-to?"
Someone with this kind of ability wasn't using it to cheat like crazy themselves but to drag down other cheaters. Was this a monster? How did it seem more like an angel… just with slightly black wings.
The Minister probably hadn't expected such a development either. After a moment, an aged voice came through.
"The principle from above is that external interference is forbidden, but internal influence has no lower limit."
Understood.
It meant that whoever crossed paths with such a monster was just unlucky. They couldn't blame anyone else. Wasn't that just how the world worked?
In what era was a general's success not built on the bones of ten thousand soldiers?
However, it seemed these nine exam halls had more than one troublemaking spider spirit.
The old lady saw other scenes in the monitoring room and couldn't help but roll her eyes. But she continued to drink her coffee and paid the matter no more mind.
What a chaotic dance of demons this was.
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