Chapter 170: New Discovery
“We saw her…” Milk Tea Seven Parts Sugar bravely spoke up. “She jumped because her parents were getting divorced and nobody cared about her. It was out of pure sorrow and despair that she…”
Lin Huai immediately picked up the thread. “That failing score was just the final trigger for her emotional breakdown, not the real reason! She said it herself—her death had nothing to do with your strict grading. She chose to jump because she desperately wanted someone to notice her…”
Lin Huai looked straight into the teacher’s eyes. “Teacher Gao, when she failed, why didn’t you ask her what happened? Did you… not care about her either?”
Teacher Gao froze in disbelief. “She… she was my most outstanding student. How could I not care about her?”
She looked around the room, taking in the exhausted faces of Dragon Emerging from the Sea and the others, then turned toward Lin Huai at the door. The blood-red malice in her gaze faded away, replaced by deep sadness and weariness.
With a gentle wave of her hand, the spiritual energy binding Dragon Emerging from the Sea’s wrist dissolved into thin air.
“So… I was mistaken all along…” Teacher Gao’s voice was hoarse and quiet. “The person I trapped wasn’t you. It was myself… and her.”
She walked over to the window and stared out at the dreary, gray sky, as if she could see the young girl standing there.
After a long silence, she turned around. The dark resentment had completely vanished from her face. Although she was still pale, she now possessed the gentle warmth of a living human.
“You… pass. All of you, leave,” she said softly to the four trapped members. Then she looked at Lin Huai. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Sister Cai, Dragon Emerging from the Sea, Shunfeng, and Blue Knight felt as if a death sentence had just been lifted. They practically stumbled away from their desks, hurrying over to reunite with their squad at the doorway.
Teacher Gao pulled an aged, yellowed sheet of paper from her desk drawer, quickly wrote several lines, and handed it to Lin Huai. “Take this to the Academic Dean’s office.”
It was an official letter of recommendation, politely phrased, stating that Lin Huai and her companions were exceptional students with passing marks who qualified for formal admission.
Right on cue, Desolate’s stiff, robotic voice chimed in their ears:
[Ding! First task completed. Please keep up the good work!]
[Hidden Task ‘The Truth Behind the Failing Grade’ completed. Acquired quest item: ‘Teacher Gao’s Letter of Recommendation.’ All rewards will be calculated together at the conclusion of the instance.]
Holding the light yet precious letter, the group could hardly contain their joy.
Sister Cai threw her arms around Milk Tea, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, Sweetie, going to school is so exhausting!”
Hungry Spirit Blue Knight shook his head with a heavy sigh. “I’ve never felt this drained, even when hacking through monsters.”
Dragon Emerging from the Sea rubbed his tired face and nodded. “Same here…”
Fastest Hand at SF Express wiped cold sweat from his forehead. “Thank goodness you guys came to our rescue. I was honestly about to lose my mind. I barely finished primary school back in the real world—how was I supposed to solve high school problems? It was pure torture!”
Lin Huai chuckled softly, carefully slipping the recommendation into her inventory. “Alright, let’s go. Time to see the Academic Dean.”
Guided by the letter, the squad had no trouble finding the Dean’s office.
The Academic Dean was a middle-aged male ghost with a receding hairline and a stern, unsmiling face.
He pushed his thick eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose, scrutinizing the letter before looking over the twelve survivors as if measuring their academic worth.
The atmosphere in the room was suffocatingly quiet.
He looked down his nose at Lin Huai and the others, his voice dripping with arrogance. “Only the most exceptional scholars deserve a seat in our academy.”
Saying this, he placed a sheet of paper covered in complex mathematical formulas on the desk.
Milk Tea glanced at it, and her confident stride ground to an instant halt. Without hesitation, Old Wang stepped forward, carrying the hopes of the entire squad.
Steeling himself, Old Wang took a closer look at the page. A look of relief immediately spread across his face. “Hmph, it’s just standard advanced mathematics. You had me worried—I thought it was going to be actually difficult.”
He picked up a pen and jotted down the formulas in smooth, fluid strokes. Within a couple of minutes, he slid the finished proof back across the desk. “All done. Simple enough.”
The Dean looked at him with clear suspicion and examined the calculations. As he traced each step of the solution, the disdain faded from his eyes, replaced by pure excitement. “This is advanced university calculus, yet a first-year high school student solved it so effortlessly!”
“Magnificent! Our school has finally admitted a true prodigy!”
The Dean pulled open his drawer, scooped out twelve polished badges, and handed them over. “Very well, your admission is granted. Report to the sports field for your physical education assessment.”
[Ding! Second task completed. Formal admission granted.]
[Hidden Task ‘The Prodigy Student’ completed. Acquired quest item: ‘School Badge.’ Rewards will be calculated at the conclusion of the instance.]
The remaining two assignments were scheduled at the sports field and the library.
The physical education test required the squad to complete an athletic assessment, including an 800-meter run, the high jump, and the long jump. The overall party pass rate had to exceed 80%.
Lin Huai reviewed the guidelines. Seeing no rule forbidding the use of personal inventory items, she had everyone slap wind-walking talismans onto their legs. During the long jump, they rode the updrafts, easily clearing the distance requirements.
Physical feats were the greatest strengths of Dragon Emerging from the Sea and Sister Cai. The two veterans crushed every athletic record, pulling the team’s average score up to the absolute cap.
Lin Huai was naturally fit and passed with high marks as well.
The squad’s weakest members were the Young Miss and Milk Tea. Even so, surviving the brutal highway had toughened their endurance, allowing them to cross the line and secure passing grades.
With a 100% completion rate, the physical education instructor smiled warmly and stamped their cards, marking the third task complete.
[Ding! Third task completed. Please proceed to the library for your next assignment.]
The library task turned out to be the most straightforward yet: finding twelve specific books hidden among the rows of shelves.
With one title assigned per person, they simply split up to search through the catalog.
Lin Huai was tasked with locating Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, an established classic. She headed straight to the literature section, checking the spine codes alphabetically.
It was rare to have a quiet moment around books, so she took her time, occasionally pulling down a volume to flip through the pages.
Tucked into the back of each book was an old paper checkout slip, recording the names of every student who had borrowed it over the decades.
As Lin Huai opened one of the covers, a worn yellow slip slipped free and fluttered to the floor. She knelt to pick it up, glanced at the ink, and froze in her tracks.
“Everyone, come over here quickly!” she called out in a low, urgent voice. “Look at this—I found something!”
The squad hurried over between the tall wooden bookshelves.
Lin Huai turned the card around, pointing her finger toward the very bottom line. “Look at the borrowing record. The last name signed on this card… is Ding Ran!”
