Ch86 – My Favourite

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One after another, trainees at the quadrangle sharply inhaled cold air.

On the other hand, the bullet chat was dancing in joy and pounding celebratory drums. 

[The reinforcements have come! I can rest easy now, my heart is at ease.
His every appearance always plays on my heartstrings.

[No wonder No.
1 is roleplaying as an NPC.
So it turned out that the system is trying to lower the difficulty, I see.]

 

 

[This instance is a bit stressful.
I want to change to another channel.
Does anyone have other venues to recommend?]

[Next door, A-ranks on the luxury cruise ship are being eyed by sea monsters in the Arctic Ocean, Olympus has been upgraded to the God’s battlefield, and the deserted island instance has pulled out a HP bar—they’re all nibbling on tree trunks now.
This instance is actually the least visually shocking, but because there’s No.
1, it has the highest viewer ratings.] 

[Where are you going, sis, don’t go; watch this instance! From the past instances that he was involved in, this instance has a high probability of being destroyed kekeke.
I’m really looking forward to watching this scene live.]

 

[Looking forward to it +10086]

In contrast to everyone’s anticipation, Zong Jiu instead felt that the Devil had broken his brain.

Fine, he could roll with it if this guy wanted to save his nemesis, but now he was even pulling this move?

 

Zong Jiu dared to stand him up even when the Devil was posturing with his identity of an NPC teacher, and now was he still expecting him to honour this commitment? In his dreams.

Furthermore, even if No.
1 hadn’t stepped in, he could have perfectly resolved it himself.
He didn’t need this guy to stick his nose in at all.

But that was only as far as words went.
Since the Devil was willing to send this gift up to his doorstep, of course Zong Jiu would humbly accept it.

 

The teaching director’s pride and expression seemed to crumble.
“But about that… Mr.
Nan, although you’re a specially appointed teacher at our school, these students didn’t emulate good behaviour.
They have rotten moral characters and attempted to break the school rules and regulations.
We can’t let them off easily; there has to be some punitive measures taken.” 

No.
1 chuckled, ending with an upturned lilt that concealed a chilly undercurrent.
“Indeed.
But these are the school’s honour students.
In the event that they can’t endure it, the school’s university acceptance rates are bound to be affected, don’t you think?”

With a sentence, he hit the nail on the head.

The teaching director’s hands shook.
He wiped the sweat on his forehead.

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The person in front of him, however, continued to advise him, “Teaching director, should you record a major violation and something happened to these outstanding students, I expect that it would be hard for you to convey it to the school board.
Why don’t you change the method of punishment?” 

“Besides—”

The black-haired Devil’s eyes crinkled.
“The first student you named to be taken away is none other than my favourite, prized student that I spoil the most.”

He deliberately stressed the word ‘favourite’.

Zong Jiu, “…” 

Sure, favourite indeed.
So favoured that he would be the only one called on to answer questions in Biology class, and if he failed to answer, would be made to stand in punishment.

Under the brunt of this flashy play, Zong Jiu’s Biology grades advanced by leaps and bounds, actually scoring above ninety in the last quiz, solidly seating him at number one in the year, which was quite a feat in itself.

 

When the teaching director heard this, cold sweat broke out across his back.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

He hadn’t thought about it that much earlier.
Now that the Devil had woken him up, he then remembered that these people were good and honest, the top ten in the year.
It was still explainable if he caught the mastermind and punished him with a major violation, but if he punished the whole and they didn’t do well in the monthly exam in a few days, his higher-ups would surely hold him accountable. 

“Vb, ktja sbe’gf gfwlcvlcu lr… rlcmf atfrf raevfcar bo beg rmtbbi tjnf fzmfiifca ugjvfr, fnfc lo atfs vb kgbcu, tbk mjc atf fggr bo tfjnfc’r mtbrfc yf pevufv bc atf rjwf ifnfi jr qifyfljcr?”

Ktlr qba-yfiilfv afjmtlcu vlgfmabg jevjmlberis peralolfv qglnlifuf jr gluta, eaafgis ecmjglcu bo atf fzqgfrrlbcr bo ybaabw-gecu agjlcffr.

Ultimately, with such an intervention, this attempted exam boycott was like loud thunder amidst drizzle, lightly swept under the rug.

The teaching director’s only remaining requirement was that the class monitors had to maintain their position as top ten in the next exam, or they’d be given a demerit still. 

After this incident, everyone’s perception of First High’s favouritism towards honour students was refreshed.
With the knowledge that ‘good academic performance is equivalent to a death-exemption golden ticket’, students ever more strived to excel.

At the same time, the close of this incident also thoroughly trashed the agreement that trainees had tried to form with each other.

This implied that it was implausible for students to unite together in this instance.

After the alliance disintegrated, student rivalry conversely grew fiercer. 

Though Van Zhuo and Black Shaman didn’t say a thing, the trainees first to express their disgruntlement were also subtly ostracised.
The people in each class were playing safe and unwilling to have a run-in with misfortune.

The monthly was postponed for three days, during which every student studied like mad.

Also during this time, Van Zhuo suddenly sought out Zong Jiu, and the two of them engaged in a very long conversation.

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His voice was still as cold and hard as before, and his deep concern was masked by his tone, “Try to minimise your contact with No.
1.
His ability is problematic and formidable.” 

No.
2 was ruthless and iron-willed, yet even he evaluated No.
1 in this manner before him.
It was all too clear what kind of image the latter left in the minds of contenders across the infinite loop.

Zong Jiu guessed that Van Zhuo would especially seek him out to say this after seeing his and No.
1’s interaction at the quadrangle.

As was previously mentioned, though neither of them took their engagement seriously, on account of them being childhood friends, Van Zhuo made an all-out effort for him.
Just like a big brother taking care of a little brother, doing anything he could do to help as long as it didn’t infringe on his principles.

From this, it was a real pity that the novel’s ‘Zong Jiu’ hadn’t managed to last more than an instance, or he could have had a luxuriant coattail to ride on. 

At the thought of the cards that he had drawn for Zhuge An and the Devil, the white-haired young man turned his gaze, deciding to sound out the Night Clan leader for more information.

“Prophecy?”

 

It was obvious that Van Zhuo knew of the prophecy.

“There is indeed such a thing.” 

As the head of a prominent force, Van Zhuo would always have access to more information than most.

Gui Guzi was a legend whose deeds echoed across the infinite loop, passed by word of mouth amongst trainees, leaving clues and records in various guilds.

A decade ago, at the height of his power, Gui Guzi had set his mind on destroying this infinite loop from which there was no escape.

His followers were different from the Devil, whose might was feared by all.
The Devil, who people only dared to gaze upon his departing figure in worship, but not to approach.
Conversely, Gui Guzi was a competent leader.
He was resourceful and calculating, capable of ruthlessness and forbearance, whilst being ambitious and idealistic.
He had a gift for oration.
In the infinite loop universe, filled with darkness, few people weren’t shaken by his objective. 

Coupled with his ultimate goal being for the benefit of the masses, despite possessing the eccentricity and unreasonable characteristic of reclusive masters, it was undeniable that he used this grand dream to amass many like-minded comrades willing to follow him.

Unfortunately, the plan failed.

It was already far past, and by now the reason for failure was unknown.

But on the eve of failure, Gui Guzi had a misty vision of the future. 

Diviners didn’t divine themselves, especially when it came to affairs involving fate like this.

So, he chose to divine the infinite loop’s future.

This reading was divined in the S-rank instance, Investiture of the Gods, where spiritual power was in abundance and celestial mysteries had never before withered.

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With him were nearly a hundred high-ranking trainees from at least thirty parties who watched him prophesise. 

Hearsay went that Gui Guzi was holding the Taiji Eight Trigrams dial and blood was welling up in his eyes, the harsh price for peering into the future.
Yet, he still finished making this prophecy.

Van Zhuo recounted the contents of the report.
“The prophecy mentioned that someone would inherit his will in the future, and also mentioned antagonistic arch-enemies.
It even accurately predicted the existence of this Thriller Trainee competition.”

At first, not many people paid any mind to this prophecy.
It was only when the system suddenly announced the commencement of this Thriller Trainee competition that it was dug up again.

As it turned out, Gui Guzi had actually prophesied the existence of this competition a decade ago, further foretold that this would be the only opportunity to leave the infinite loop.
Once the news broke, it attracted high scrutiny from every major force. 

It was only at this time that Gui Guzi’s prophecy was taken seriously again.

However, even Night Clan’s intelligence network was unable to deduce who the Saviour and the Great Demon King referred to.

 

Or rather, there was some speculation on who the Great Demon King was, but it was slow-going determining who the Saviour was.
Their search bore no fruit.

“Is there anything wrong with this prophecy?” 

Zong Jiu waved his hand.
“No.
I was only a bit curious because I heard Zhuge An bring it up.”

His previous reading showed that it was very likely that Zhuge An was pulling a fast one over him, which piqued Zong Jiu’s curiosity.

Although he had never put much stock in Zhuge An’s words, he still wanted to make certain what type of medicine the other was selling in the gourd.
(t/n – 葫芦里卖的什么药)

The Tarot Deck had a cooldown time of twenty-four hours.
Even if it wasn’t for any particular purpose, Zong Jiu would still draw the cards once a day to keep from his cooldown time from reaching the cap of three draws, which would be a waste thereafter. 

And so for the past twenty days, Zong Jiu had tested the words that Zhuge An had informed him over and over again.

He wanted to find out exactly which line had Zhuge An lied to him about.

Therein lay the problem.

Zong Jiu had tested it several times over and found that Gui Guzi’s prophecy was true, and Zhuge An was not even swindling him with its contents.
Yet as long as he tested if Zhuge An was lying to him, the upright Moon would pop up. 

Half and half in belief and suspicion, he came over to ask Van Zhuo, and his doubts only grew deeper.

Bcause Zong Jiu couldn’t unravel where exactly Zhuge An had lied.

After all, the S-rank prop proclaimed Zhuge An’s words to be the truth.

But this inevitably made Zong Jiu consider another possibility. 

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Could it be that Zhuge An was harbouring sinister designs and was deliberately adding fuel to the fire?

After all, aside from deception, the upright Moon could also spell unrest and danger.

Therefore, Zong Jiu put Zhuge An’s words of ‘I will never stand against you’ to the test as well.

And the result was the Sun in an upright orientation. 

This represented that those words stood true and came from the heart, even more credible than solid gold.
It was absolutely impossible that Zhuge An intended to do harm against Zong Jiu.

Even Zong Jiu was stumped by this result.

 

Now this was truly getting ridiculous.
Was Zhuge An seriously volunteering to assist him and be his military advisor??

That was the esteemed No.
3, after all.
For him to be milked by a newcomer the whole way just because of a prophecy was too disgraceful. 

But Zhuge An wasn’t in this instance.
Since Zong Jiu was unable to figure out what the hell he was up to either, he could only shelf this question for now.

Zong Jiu had initially assumed that Zhuge An had an ulterior motive for getting him to ascend to B-rank as soon as possible.
Now it seemed that all the mysteries would have to wait until he returned to the trainee dormitories to receive an answer.

However, what he didn’t expect was for Van Zhuo’s furrowed brows to lock up tighter when hearing Zong Jiu mention Zhuge An.

The tall grey-haired man with a callous countenance standing exuded oppressiveness, and also had a complicated look in his eyes. 

He only spoke after a long silence.
“No.
3 is a crafty and cunning man.
It is similarly unwise to walk too close to him.”

Van Zhuo’s evaluation of Zhuge An was even lower than the Devil.

At least he and the Devil didn’t clash head-on.
It made not the least bit of difference to him no matter how crazy the other was.
On the other hand, Zhuge An was a shrewd tactician who had skilfully played three guilds during the Cursed Mask instance, the evil backstage manipulator and sole beneficiary in the end, fooling even Van Zhuo.

In the eyes of Night Clan’s sovereign, if Zong Jiu, the young and inexperienced Magician little brother, were to interact with Zhuge An, maybe No.
3 would play him so bad that not even ashes would remain. 

Possibly realising that he sounded too stiff and stern, Van Zhuo did his best to soften his tone.

It was just a pity that the long length of time that he had stood in a high position rendered this attempt useless.

“You’ve never ventured into the infinite loop.
Many people here might not be what they appear to be on the surface.
It wouldn’t do you any harm to be on guard against people.”

Zong Jiu, “…” 

He felt like he was being schooled.