GAMMT - Chapter 49
Chapter 49: Bloodshed
The storm triggered by theoretical exam was a minor affair among the student body; no matter how suspicious they were, there was nothing they could do. But the families behind them were a different story. They launched a two-pronged investigation.
One prong went to the Education Ministry, questioning the shady business of this "cheating" proctoring. Those who took this route were generally officials from various levels of Jingyang City's government. They, too, had children participating in this high school entrance exam, and these children tended to have outstanding grades. They had received the highest level of educational resources, and because their family systems were filled with highly educated individuals, they had absorbed knowledge through osmosis and inherited good genes, resulting in a high percentage of top students.
But this time, they had all suffered a major blow.
This was especially true for the Vice Minister of Jingyang City's Economic Department. He had only one son, who had always been his pride and joy, consistently ranking first in Jingyang City for years. To suddenly fall so far down the list—who could stand something like that? So, the moment he saw it was time to get off work at noon, he impatiently grabbed his coat to leave, just as a subordinate came up to report on work.
"Hey, you're leaving too? Are you free?"
"I am. What's wrong?" Zhou Linlang glanced at the high school entrance exam news playing on the office screen and had already guessed her superior's purpose, but she replied anyway.
"Come, come, come with me somewhere. Help me fly my airship, can you?"
"Sure, but my skills aren't that great. Are you in a hurry?"
"Quite a hurry."
"Alright then."
The Vice Minister had been ill recently and wasn't fit to fly an airship. Since it was after work hours, he was unwilling to use a public vehicle to run to the Education Ministry for his son's sake, mainly because he feared it would create a bad impression, especially during this sensitive time. So he roped in this subordinate. Although she seemed to have a powerful background and treated people with a certain distance, she was actually quite a good person.
It's just… her skills really weren't that great.
After getting out of the vehicle, the Vice Minister leaned against the door for a couple of steps, then squatted by the roadside and threw up.
Normally, making one's superior sick like this would be cause for panic, but Zhou Linlang wasn't afraid of these kinds of bosses. On the contrary, they were afraid of her.
She had driven so fast, one, because he was genuinely in a hurry, and two…
"Vice Minister, when it comes to the exam, parents likely won't have a say. I heard that before the Education Ministry's reform, these two were among the few who didn't cause problems."
Leaning against the airship's cabin door, she unwrapped a piece of candy. As she spoke these words casually, the vomiting Vice Minister seemed to grasp something. He turned to look at her, only to see her calm expression.
Before coming, the Vice Minister had been extremely anxious and angry. After getting airsick and vomiting, those emotions vanished, leaving only a sense of calm.
What kind of place was Jingyang City? The education reform was a nationwide affair. Even the top figures in the Jingyang City Education Ministry were just following orders from above. If he came to question them now, he wouldn't get any results and would likely offend people instead.
Especially the Education Ministry. In the context of the Arcane world, it was the most powerful department second only to the core political department. Coupled with its network of "teacher-student connections," it was not an entity to be trifled with.
The Vice Minister sobered up instantly. He then thought about how the Minister's child was also taking the college entrance exam, where the reforms were even more drastic. He wondered if something had happened there, yet the Minister had shown no reaction at all today, still busy with his work as usual.
In comparison, he was indeed too inexperienced.
And Zhou Linlang, with her high-level background in Beluke Province, must know something.
"Look at me, I'm dizzy from all the vomiting. Since we happen to be passing the Education Ministry, and I have a former teacher inside, I'll just go pay a visit. If you have something to do, you can leave first."
"No rush. We're here anyway."
Zhou Linlang had just finished dealing with the grain price issue in Jingyang City, and by collaborating with the Agriculture Departments of neighboring cities, she had stabilized the situation. Her work was now on solid ground, so she was indeed free.
Zhou Linlang recalled flying past the Education Center's plaza earlier and seeing a crowd of students below. She had initially thought there was a disturbance, but a glance back revealed that young man acting arrogant and domineering at the entrance.
Utterly lawless.
After Zhou Linlang and the Vice Minister entered the Education Center's administrative building, Vice Minister Zhang Ruo, an old lady, was reading a newspaper over her glasses. When the two arrived, her first glance fell on Zhou Linlang.
This woman in her twenties had caused quite a stir in the official system since arriving in Jingyang City, even though she was only handling the matter of grain prices.
This was because the Beluke Economic Department had a branch responsible for auditing the economic issues of administrative personnel in various departments across the province.
In other words, if she were still in her original position, or if she were to return to it in the future, she would have the authority to investigate every single official in Jingyang City.
Ah, youth.
The old lady put down her glasses, folded her newspaper, and shifted her gaze to her former student. Before he could ask, she said flatly, "Caught cheating, points deducted. Once the comprehensive coefficient is docked, the score naturally drops sharply."
The Vice Minister heard this and said, "But he was only scanned once. Deducting one comprehensive coefficient point shouldn't drop his score that much. He should at least still be in the top ten. How is it now…"
Zhou Linlang had thought the Vice Minister would be able to maintain his composure, but the moment his son's score was mentioned, he lost it and began questioning impatiently.
It seemed a father's natural instinct had overcome the cool-headedness of power.
Fortunately, the old lady didn't seem to mind much. She said lazily, "I can see you're truly anxious. As a parent, I understand. There are many others like you. Take a look at this."
She opened a screen, which displayed a conference hall filled with a large number of Jingyang City officials, as well as some tycoons and members of the nobility. They appeared to be inquiring about the situation, but in reality, they were questioning it.
They felt this assessment was unreasonable.
In the video, the Ministry official remained silent, but one of the proctoring teachers spoke up.
"Ahem, the light source equipment did catch one wave, and they all restrained themselves afterward and weren't caught again. But… before that, we teachers also caught them."
Everyone: "???"
Zhou Linlang wasn't paying much attention to their conversation, nor did she care about the questions from these colleagues within the system. She was looking at the exam results on a tablet. Having just arrived, she was very familiar with Jingyang City's various tycoons and bureaucratic system, as she had done her intelligence work before coming. However, she didn't know their children, so the names on the list didn't mean much to her.
But she was a bit puzzled, because she had expected to see a certain person's name among them.
She was curious because that person was exceptionally talented. If they were talented, they should naturally rank among the top.
But they weren't in the top ten, nor the top twenty.
She swiped her finger down the screen, revealing the rankings that followed.
Scrolling further down… her finger started to get tired.
She gave up.
Not even in the top five hundred. Was she playing the pig to eat the tiger to this extent?
But she had heard this person was quite high-profile within the Xie Clan. Could she be plotting something else?
Just then, the proctor on the screen said, "I was puzzled at first too, but then I noticed some slight movements from these candidates. They were very subtle, but I did discover something. I locked onto it and found that they were cheating. So, I naturally recorded it, and according to the rules, points had to be deducted. Some even had their comprehensive coefficient deducted into the negatives, which is why they'll find that their deserved scores have dropped even after factoring in the coefficient points."
Everyone was floored.
What did a negative comprehensive coefficient even mean? It would have been better not to take the exam at all. If they hadn't, they could have relied on the few comprehensive coefficient points from elementary and middle school for a baseline score, which might have been higher than what they had now.
Initially, those clever students hadn't paid any attention to these proctors, thinking they were just for show. And the result?
They had points deducted from both overt and covert means!
This was utterly insane!
"What slight movements? An Arcane element aura?" a man with a sharp gaze asked, thinking that if his daughter had made such a huge blunder, she wouldn't have come crying to him about problems with the exam.
Could she have lied?
The teacher shrugged and took out the equipment's recorder.
"I have evidence for every record I make here, and it must be submitted to a superior for review before points are deducted. I can't show it to you here, but rest assured, it has been reviewed."
"But to be fair, that little movement was their flaw, but it was a flaw they themselves didn't even notice."
"One can only say that everyone must pay the price for their own actions."
"And if some of those flaws weren't exposed by their own doing…"
The proctor, holding a thermos, gave the group of powerful figures a slight smile. "Then one can only say that someone else's methods were more brilliant. They faced this test early, but they failed. The strong rise to the top, ladies and gentlemen."
"It's just like in our generation. Who can say they've never lost?"
After all, this was an Arcane world. Everyone present had fought their way up to their high positions, and the high school entrance exam was merely the first hurdle in their lives.
The first wave of beatdowns had arrived.
First, manipulating the light source monitoring equipment, then deliberately guiding the proctors to catch the flaws. The students probably never imagined that they were not only being dragged into the water but also had stones tied to their feet…
These fathers, mothers, uncles, and aunts eventually accepted this explanation, as did the Vice Minister. He rubbed his face, calmed down, and asked one final question.
"Who did it? Don't worry, I won't do anything. I just want to know which junior is so formidable. Is it one of the top ten? That kid from the Lan Clan."
Zhou Linlang looked up and tapped her tablet again, a thoughtful expression on her face.
The one from the Lan Clan?
If they used such powerful, two-pronged methods and only managed to score 500 points, that wasn't particularly impressive.
But it was possible that the person with such methods had… extremely poor grades to begin with. And dragging everyone else down served only two purposes.
1. To elevate oneself. 2. To make someone else look good.
She calculated the time required for the elementary and middle school make-up exams. Even if that person spent the entire night doing problems and got every single one right, they could only complete a tenth of the questions. At most, the comprehensive coefficient they could earn would be just over one point, which was nothing compared to the five, six, or even seven or eight points others had.
In other words, even if that person's comprehensive coefficient was deducted, there wasn't much to deduct. Going into the negatives didn't matter, because their base score was also very low.
Overall, the worse you were, the less you had to fear deductions. Giving up was a winning strategy.
However, if it really was her, then her method of alerting the proctors had to be precise enough for them to notice but not trace the source, and for the candidates to remain unaware that an elemental aura had been attached to them.
Zhou Linlang thought of the spider silk and guessed that it must have been upgraded significantly, far exceeding the detection limits of these proctors.
How could a person become so much stronger in such a short amount of time?
If it were actual, effective combat power, there would be no need to be so secretive, unless it was a special ability granted by a pet or a gene talent.
The old lady put her glasses back on, resuming her image as a cold and wise figure of authority. She folded her hands, leaned back in her chair, and said lightly, "I, on the other hand, would like to know what you plan to do."
The Vice Minister's expression stiffened, and he fell silent.
The old lady pointed a finger toward the door, clearly dismissing them.
"It's lunchtime. I wonder if you two have eaten yet." Zhou Linlang went over and opened the door, giving the Vice Minister an easy way out. The Vice Minister rubbed his nose. "I'm going to have a meal with my son. Sorry to have disturbed you, teacher. Xiao Zhou, come on, you haven't eaten either. Let's go together."
The food in the Education Center's cafeteria wasn't particularly good. Jian Feilan and his two friends had always gotten along well. Although they were often competitors, they looked down on everyone else, so their relationship was relatively harmonious. They had thought Jian Feilan's father would be able to find something out, so the other two had come along for lunch. However, Jian Feilan's father, well-versed in the unspoken rules of the system, knew he couldn't say anything. Furthermore, the three boys became much more restrained the moment they saw Zhou Linlang was present.
The meal was quite peaceful.
Jian Feilan's father refused to talk about the exam. Jian Feilan, however, looked up with his own suspicions and deliberately brought up the matter of the Lan brothers.
But upon hearing about the incident at the restaurant, Zhou Linlang, who had been silent until then, took out her communicator and did a quick search. She soon found the news about the morning's airship crash and felt a sense of certainty.
The "someone else" being made to look good had to be Lan Chenshuang.
The plan was long and continuous, seemingly crude yet meticulously cautious. And to deliberately stir up animosity and conflict among the three noble families—was it all for this morning's crash and that dead pilot?
Her slender fingers closed the news article. She spoke, asking, "What's your exam this afternoon?"
Jian Feilan was somewhat reserved. "I think it's Meditation and Micro-control. The dungeon control is tomorrow. After that is the city ranking. Only after passing the ranking can we go to Beluke City for the re-selection exam for the Big Four Academies."
Their goal was, of course, the Big Four Academies. While their current scores might not necessarily drag down their overall ranking, they had definitely diminished their advantage. It was no wonder they were so anxious and upset.
Meditation and Micro-control?
Zhou Linlang thought to herself that if this person still couldn't improve their ranking in these two exams, they would have basically no chance with the Big Four Academies, and might not even get into a decent school in the city.
She was getting curious.
Beside them, Xu Yi looked at her, thinking that this person seemed quite interested in the high school entrance exam.
It was clearly not because of her superior's son, but rather as if there was another candidate who had piqued her interest.
While others were having lunch, the Lan Clan couldn't stomach a single bite.
Lan Chenguang was in custody. It would take some effort to get him out, but participating in the exam was now impossible. What police department would be so foolish as to give the public a reason to point their fingers and curse them?
So, the younger son was finished. The elder son had to be protected.
"It's been confirmed that Xie Keli was behind that video. The kid had anti-signal equipment on him from the start, deliberately using the pilot's death to smear our family's name."
Initially, none of them had thought of deliberately killing an insignificant pilot. Whether he lived or died wasn't important, but… the timing was just so perfect.
And he had actually managed to get a video.
One could only say that the second and youngest sons lacked sufficient cunning and means.
The Lan Clan Head had a fiery temper, but he knew that assigning blame now was pointless. After all, the most brainless one was already in the bureau's custody.
"The most crucial thing now is to solve your brother's trouble. The trouble in Beluke is not small. Many people want to pull your brother down and take his place."
Lan Chenshuang nodded. "What should I do? I think we can push the matter of that Xie Keli out into the open, put the Xie Clan in the spotlight to attract attention."
"That could work. For now, your brother's side says they can hold on. After all, the matter with you two brothers can't be entirely blamed on him. As long as we suppress the news and find a scapegoat, it'll be fine."
The Lan Clan Head was of the same opinion, but before they could finish planning how to drag Xie Keli into the mess…
"Clan Head, this is bad!"
"What is it, shouting and screaming like that!"
"Look at the news."
The Lan Clan Head and Lan Chenshuang exchanged a look and both started swiping through the news. In an instant, their minds were buzzing.
All of the Lan Clan's old, rotten secrets were being exposed, spreading like a flood across the world. Some of the shady dealings involved, even if not directly related to Lan Xuanyu—who was extremely protective of his reputation—were now being brought to light by the wave of attention that had already gathered, resulting in an exponential surge in online popularity.
It was an explosion!
Why?
Because the conflict between the nobility and the common people is eternal.
Because education itself is an unequal distribution of resources.
Because the college entrance exam is the result of that education, the result of that unequal distribution.
Do you think these common people truly care about the pilot's death? Do they care about the interests of the victims of the Lan Clan's affairs?
No. They are venting their inner sense of injustice, their cryptic resentment, their unspeakable jealousy and aggression.
And what is the source of these emotions?
The nobility's lack of restraint, their lack of discretion, their utter audacity, and their greed.
The Lan Clan Head looked at the news stories that they couldn't delete fast enough, with a constant stream of pushes boosting their popularity. He knew it was over. The Lan Clan couldn't handle this.
Because these things couldn't have been accomplished by the Xie Clan and Teng Family alone.
The entire privileged class of Jingyang City was making a move!
They were targeting the Lan Clan.
Damn it!
Timing is the result of the longest planning, and also the source of a fleeting, lightning-fast killing intent.
In the restroom, Fu Chuan was washing her hands. She looked up, meeting her own reflection in the mirror, her eyes deep and profound. Beside her, Short and Tight was still preoccupied with business matters. He said something rather interesting.
"Bro, I actually have a lot of money already, but I still feel like it's far from enough. Am I too greedy? But I can't control it."
Fu Chuan dried her hands and said flatly, "Can you control when you have to pee?"
Short and Tight replied, "Of course not."
Fu Chuan said, "There you have it. Just as long as you don't pee on other people."
Short and Tight hesitated. "Uh, what if other people bully us and pee on us?"
She turned around, and her words were like the flush of a toilet—not too loud, not too quiet.
"Then blow up their toilet."
At two in the afternoon, Fu Chuan and Short and Tight entered after finishing two bags of sunflower seeds. Everyone else had already arrived and was in place.
After the 1,500 candidates had been selected, they gathered in the grand hall. Being young, their faces were still inexperienced, but the atmosphere was electric.
However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the Xie Clan and Teng Family had been almost completely wiped out, with only Xie Keli remaining.
The disciples of the Lan Clan, on the other hand, were mostly present, with only Lan Chenguang missing.
Isn't that hilarious?
By now, the Lan Clan's affairs were all over the news. Countless students watched them with cold eyes, yet Lan Chenshuang still showed up, his expression naturally cold and indifferent, as if he were completely unaffected.
Wasn't he going to explain?
It was beyond explanation. The pot of shit had already been dumped on his head. Who else but him was the biggest beneficiary of the exam's sudden turn of events?
Perhaps it was just as the last family elder had said, "At the very least, you got first place. Hold onto it, and let those who want to pull you down know your strength."
If he had taken advantage of the situation in theoretical exam and didn't deserve first place, then he was absolutely confident in the assessments that were to follow.
Lan Chenshuang took out his communicator and saw a message on it. It was from Lan Xuanyu.
I'll handle my own affairs. You just focus on the exam. In Jingyang, no one can climb over our Lan Clan's head.
Recalling his brother's usually calm and cold face, Lan Chenshuang steadied his mind and swept a cold glance over at Xie Keli, who was not far away, legs crossed, chatting with Short and Tight.
Tomorrow's practical combat. Kill him!
This was the unanimous reminder from his family.
In the city next to Jingyang, at a similar education center, a young man also saw the news. He scrolled for a moment, saw the airship crash, and then the rankings for theoretical portion of the neighboring city's high school entrance exam. He raised an eyebrow slightly but quickly swiped away the news, uninterested. Instead, he typed in three other characters as a keyword.
Zhou Linlang.
"Hey, Ah Xu, what are you doing?"
Someone called out from ahead. The young man looked up, revealing a handsome, fair face, and walked over. In their team, every single person was a dazzling presence.
They were the brightest young talents of this city.
And he was one of them.
Inside the hall, the 1,500 candidates had taken out their exam IDs and were waiting for the assessment to begin. However, they didn't see any equipment for testing meditation aptitude. Instead, they heard an announcement over the broadcast.
"The second test is Meditation + Micro-control. The assessment method is to enter the wild training ground behind the center. The training ground has been modified, and 1,500 meditation devices are hidden inside. It is divided into three fan-shaped zones, each separated from the others by a barrier. Crossing a barrier requires paying a certain price. After finding a meditation device, candidates can enter the meditation test, or they can choose to find prey in the training ground to score points. The content of the assessment is to be explored on your own. The information that can be disclosed is as above."
"Now, scan your exam IDs to enter the assessment. The exam duration is a total of 4 hours. Also, a special warning: This is a test-type assessment, not a combat assessment. Killing is prohibited by national law. Anyone who kills another player will be sentenced to death."
This exam content was clearly different from previous years. A stir went through the people present, including some of the parents who hadn't left yet. Looking down at their children, they couldn't help but feel extremely worried, though some were also full of confidence.
If theoretical exam could be won with brains and was a chance for the grassroots academic prodigies to turn the tables, then the meditation test and micro-control assessment were truly the domain where these scions, who controlled vast resources, excelled.
Of course, such resources certainly did not include Fu Chuan, who had just returned to the Xie Clan.
She turned her head and saw the blatant, hostile gazes coming from the Lan Clan members.
Beep, beep, beep. The exam IDs were scanned one by one. As Fu Chuan walked over, the person next to her in line happened to be Lan Chenshuang.
As he scanned his exam ID, he suddenly spoke, saying three sentences.
"Xie Keli, a month ago on X5 Star, you were a level 0 piece of trash. Yet you went from surviving an assassination by a Xie Clan branch to wiping out a bandit group, and then being brought into the Xie Clan, all in less than a month. What level are you now? At least level 10, right? Otherwise, you couldn't possibly have remained completely unscathed in the crash."
"One dungeon and one farm, can that let you level up so much? It's enough to prove that you are the type who is best at picking up scraps and making a fortune from behind the scenes."
"Playing the pig to eat the tiger, the posture of the sparrow in waiting."
He smiled, then walked past.
Fu Chuan stood there, her expression unruffled. She looked up and saw the gazes from the other student groups directed at her.
How many fools were there in this world?
The Lan Clan had fought back. Lan Chenshuang had fought back. And the other students were no fools. The brilliance she had concealed was now reflected for others to see.
They were hostile towards Lan Chenshuang, but that didn't stop them from being wary of Xie Keli.
This was Lan Chenshuang's goal: to expose Xie Keli, to make him a target of vigilance and scrutiny, to suppress any opportunity he might have to cause trouble.
Lan Chenshuang had the ability to withstand the attacks of others. Did Xie Keli?
If not, he could only continue to act like a dog in this assessment.
If he could, that was even better. The more he had pretended to be weak before, the greater the contrast now. It would, in turn, make it seem like he was the one behind the shenanigans of theoretical exam, thus clearing his name.
"So much drama. But regardless of which of you was behind theoretical exam, you'll have to show your true colors in this assessment, won't you?"
"So strong, are you? If you have the guts, try to fool us all again."
"If you can't…"
Jian Feilan and his group beeped their exam IDs and walked past Fu Chuan.
"I dare say, before the dungeon assessment even starts, someone's going to bleed."
They all think they're the sparrow, so what does that make the rest of them?
They just couldn't swallow this insult.
Just wait to be beaten half to death!
Under countless subtle, hostile gazes, Fu Chuan smiled faintly, also scanned her ID, and walked in with her hands in her pockets.
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