Chapter 46: First Place

Ling Wu returned to the Academy apartment.

He opened his phone to log into the Dark Web app, tapped the message notification bar to enter the chat interface with Fool, and after the message "Everything is going smoothly," the other party replied with the two words "Received."

Ling Wu sent him a message:

-Magician: Are you there? Help me look into something.

Three minutes later.

Fool sent over a voice message; the tone was lazy, the voice very young, as if drifting out from the night, carrying a faint chill: "You actually have a time when you need to beg me? Speak, I'll get it done perfectly for you."

Ling Wu simply sent a voice message back to him: "More than twenty years ago, the Empire rebelled, the imperial power collapsed, and the Imperial Army withdrew from Beidu to bide their time. Help me find the current leader of the Imperial Army..."

In his mind, the words he had seen on the barrage appeared: "Huo Xi General."

Fool: "WTF!"

"Why are you looking for a general from the previous dynasty? My great Magician, you didn't really go to the Empire to seize power, did you?"

Ling Wu: "Don't worry about so much, help me check, I don't have time."

Fool's end was silent for a few minutes, then he sent another ten-second voice message: "I'm far away in the Federation, and you want me to reach out thousands of miles away to the Empire to check on a Huo Xi General who has been missing for over 20 years."

"Although it's a bit difficult, since you've asked, just wait for my news."

Ling Wu parted his lips: "Thanks."

Fool's voice carried a hint of probing: "Is it convenient to tell me what you are doing looking for this general?"

Ling Wu looked at the moonlight outside the window and said meaningfully: "Just found an ally that can be cooperated with."

There was a long silence on that side.

"Fine, fine, fine." Fool said again: "I hope you don't turn the Empire upside down. Also, let me give you a reminder: your senior brother has long known about you leaving the Federation. Although he didn't send anyone to catch you, he was quite angry, and everyone in the Federation is currently feeling insecure."

"I reckon it won't be long before your teacher finds out too. I'll help you cover for a bit first; no matter what you want to do, finish it quickly."

"Otherwise, they'll say it was me, this International Number One Wanted Criminal, who led you astray again."

Did Senior Brother already know?

Ling Wu lowered his eyes: "I know."

He clicked off his phone and looked at the calendar on the wall, July 22nd. His slender fingers turned the calendar page, and the date of August 9th was circled in red ink.

That day was Ling Tingwan's death anniversary.

The room was filled with silence.

The next day.

The total scores and rankings for yesterday's test had been released. The campus bulletin board was surrounded by people. Looking down the rankings, some were cheering, while others were disappointed and lowered their eyes.

"249th place, finally made it into the top 300. Now the latest supercar my dad promised me is mine."

"456th place? What is this? I already paid the teacher, how did it only get changed to this rank? Truly bad luck."

"What rank are you?"

"Who will be first this time?"

"Of course it's the excellent Jing Shao. Jing Shao always gets first place, and then that Special Student named Qi Yu gets second. But thinking about it, it makes sense; a lowly Special Student has no right to compete with Jing Shao for first."

"I heard Yin Shao didn't even do the chemistry paper and handed in a blank sheet, yet he still managed to get 205th place. Wow... he got almost full marks in the other two subjects."

"As expected of Yin Shao."

"Yu Shao and Jin Shao are also very amazing, top ten in the grade!"

"Who is first place?"

"Let me see."

"It must be Jing Shao."

Jing Du and Yin Huaiyu walked over side by side. The young man was tall with long legs, his appearance particularly outstanding, standing out clearly in the crowd. He had good eyesight and looked at the ranking list on the bulletin board.

The white paper and black ink clearly read: Jing Du, Math 100, Physics 100, Chemistry 99, Total 299, Rank 2.

The crowd obviously saw it too.

They became noisy:

"Jing Shao, the study god, has fallen; he actually only got 2nd place. What a pity."

"What?! Jing Shao is second? You must have seen it wrong. Everyone move aside, don't block me, let me see!"

"Then who is first?"

"First place, total score 300... Ling Wu?!"

"No way, Ling Wu? He's in my class, skips school, cuts class, and sleeps during lessons. He can score 300? It must be fake."

"Yeah, how could it be Ling Wu."

Jing Du's eyes were deep and pitch-black, his eyebrows slightly raised. His gaze locked onto the ranking list, where the first column also had white paper and black ink reading: Ling Wu, Math 100, Physics 100, Chemistry 100, Total 300, Rank 1.

Jing Du couldn't help but recall the young man's cold and aloof figure, his pitiful helplessness while at Jingwan, and the smear of bright red at the corners of his eyes when he was drunk in the private room, unintentionally revealing the fair and translucent skin of his waist, until these images overlapped one after another...

His thoughts returned to calm.

Ling Wu, how many more surprises do you have?

Yin Huaiyu raised his chin, deliberately teasing: "Shao Yu, look, your brother got first place in the test."

"What does that have to do with me?" Jin Shaoyu snorted, his tone vaguely carrying a bit of feigned arrogance: "It's just a test ranking, nothing special."

Ling Wu had been smart since he was a child.

What was there to be surprised about?

Yu Shixue didn't speak the whole time, looking deeply at the name in first place on the ranking list, his gaze tracing every stroke of those two characters.

There was an indescribable meaning.

After a few seconds, he lifted his feet and walked toward the teaching building.

Qi Yu had been driven out of the hospital by Grandma Liu on the grounds of "prioritizing studies." He went to the bulletin board to check the rankings as a matter of routine.

In truth, there is nothing worth looking at here; he can score 299 points or 300 points, but regardless of which it is, he can only ever rank second, for the one ranked ahead of him is always a noble student.

The first place of Sike Academy does not need a Special Student.

This would become a disgrace to the nobility.

Qi Yu brushed his eyes over the ranking list and saw his own rank had dropped to 3rd, Jing Du had dropped to 2nd, while 1st place was Ling Wu; he was not overly surprised, and after confirming the result, he turned and left.

Class A.

Qi Yu sat down beside Ling Wu; the cold and aloof youth was, for once, not lying on the desk sleeping.

His voice was clean and low as he said sincerely, "I just went to look at the ranking list; Ling Wu, you took 1st place in the Academy, that's very impressive."

Ling Wu was incredulous: "The rankings came out so quickly?"

Qi Yu's complexion was somewhat haggard, but he still managed to force a smile: "The Academy's efficiency has always been high."

While the two were talking, Ming Tan walked into the classroom and looked at Ling Wu with a gaze full of suspicion, confusion, and disbelief; he blinked his eyes: "The questions were so hard this time, yet you actually scored 300 points? Aren't you a good-for-nothing slacker?"

"Ling Wu, you sleep in class every day and never stop skipping lessons, on what basis did you score 300 points?"

"Don't tell me you cheated."

Ling Wu did not like being wrongly accused by others, especially by people he was not familiar with; his voice was indifferent, yet it carried an obvious, sharp chill: "If you think I did, please produce evidence, rather than making baseless accusations to slander my reputation."

Ming Tan was stunned by what was said.

Unable to squeeze out a single word, he had no evidence whatsoever.