Chapter 224: Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkey, Knocking the Mountain to Shake the Tiger (Third update, owed to the author)

As soon as he pushed open the door to the inn, Li Zhangsheng saw that all his team members were sitting in the lobby. Their expressions were grave, they were not smiling, and he had no idea what had happened.

"Captain, why did you come back so late?"

"Captain, you've finally returned!"

"I wandered around for a while longer; I have to say, this little town is quite charming! By the way, why are you all here instead of going upstairs to sleep?"

Li Zhangsheng casually found an excuse; after all, buying daily necessities shouldn't have taken such a long time.

While speaking, he seemingly glanced casually at Instructor Qian Yuanfei, who was sitting upright in a chair, holding a book and reading with great interest.

Soon, Li Zhangsheng understood the reason they were gathered in the lobby.

"What, two Elite Students from Xu Xiangzhi's team died!"

Upon hearing this news, Li Zhangsheng was visibly stunned. He never expected that Xu Xiangzhi's team would lose two members on their very first mission.

"Did Instructor Lu Qian not intervene?"

Instructor Lu Qian was the instructor for Xu Xiangzhi's team. It stood to reason that if they encountered an irresistible force, Instructor Lu Qian would have to intervene.

At this moment, Instructor Qian Yuanfei put down the book in his hand and said calmly, "Everyone has moments of slackness. By the time Instructor Lu Qian intervened, it was already too late! However, if he hadn't intervened, given the situation at the time, Xu Xiangzhi's team would likely have been wiped out!"

"Which Third-rank mission did Xu Xiangzhi accept?"

A Third-rank mission is what is known as a difficult-level mission. For instance, the mission Li Zhangsheng's team had to clear out the Demonized Fairy on Black Wind Mountain belonged to the ordinary difficulty level.

"Their target was a wanted Third-rank Royal Beast Master!"

Instructor Qian Yuanfei paused and continued, "However, this wanted criminal was very cunning. He first set up a diversion to lure Instructor Lu Qian away, then adopted a tactic of defeating them one by one, scattering Xu Xiangzhi's team. By the time Instructor Lu Qian arrived, two First-tier Students in Xu Xiangzhi's team had already been killed, one Second-rank student was unable to fight further, and only Xu Xiangzhi and Luo Jie remained. Furthermore, they had already fallen into a disadvantageous position at that time!"

Someone had died, and two of them!

In the inn lobby, the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

Everyone felt a chill; the three First-tier Students felt their necks go cold and their scalps tingle. The death of two First-tier Students made them feel as if it had happened to them, because they were also First-tier Students.

In the First-Year Elite Class, First-tier Students were undoubtedly at the bottom and the most prone to encountering danger.

"Did Instructor Lu Qian really arrive late? Or was it intentional?" Unlike them, Li Zhangsheng thought of more. Of course, he could only think this in his heart.

Before participating in the Elite Class trials, Li Zhangsheng had learned about the Elite Class's off-campus training missions. Every year, there were always people who fell, and most of them were usually first-year students.

Before executing the mission, Li Zhangsheng had already anticipated that such things would happen. Unless a total annihilation crisis occurred, instructors would often be delayed for a period of time due to various 'factors' and be unable to intervene to save them temporarily.

Xu Xiangzhi's team was assigned to Instructor Lu Qian, a dignified Fifth-rank Royal Beast Master, and an Instructor Lu Qian who was about to advance to the Sixth Rank—could he not protect first-year students?

The mission target for Xu Xiangzhi's team this time was merely a Third-rank Royal Beast Master. To think he could use a diversion to successfully lure away Instructor Lu Qian—one must know that with Instructor Lu Qian's Mental Power projection range, he could at least cover a radius of several miles.

Simply put, as long as the mission target appeared within Instructor Lu Qian's Mental Power sensing range, unless he possessed a treasure that could shield Mental Power, his every move would be perfectly clear in Instructor Lu Qian's eyes.

A treasure that could shield a Fifth-rank Royal Beast Master's Mental Power is not something an ordinary person could possess. Moreover, Instructor Qian Yuanfei had not mentioned this point, which meant the mission target likely did not have such a treasure.

Li Zhangsheng thought of a possibility: the reason Instructor Lu Qian arrived a step late, despite being assigned to the team with the strongest surface strength, Xu Xiangzhi's team, was very likely to achieve the goal of killing the chicken to warn the monkey, and knocking the mountain to shake the tiger.

The strong survive, the weak are eliminated!

This is reality!

"You all chat slowly, I'm going upstairs to rest!" After finishing, Instructor Qian Yuanfei left the lobby.

Once Instructor Qian Yuanfei's figure disappeared, several team members expressed their worries about the future and began to discuss it heatedly.

"Everyone must be careful. Two First-tier Students died this time; next time, it might be our turn!"

"Actually, the most important thing is strength! Look at the encounter of Xu Xiangzhi's team; the three Second-rank students were fine, but it was the two First-tier Students who died!"

"Since our Academy trains us this way, other academies might not necessarily be any better; they might even be more cruel than us!"

"Sigh, I feel like I can foresee the cruelty of the Academy Exchange Tournament!"

"That's assuming you get the chance to participate!"

Seeing that the three First-tier Students were showing signs of fear, Li Zhangsheng couldn't help but say in a deep voice: "Alright, everyone be quiet! You all know what the situation is now. No matter what danger we encounter, we must not pin our hopes on the instructors; we can only rely on ourselves. I believe that as long as we don't underestimate the enemy or act rashly, and don't be negligent, but adopt a steady and solid tactical policy, I believe our team will not suffer any casualties in a week! Alright, everyone get some good rest, and we will come to receive new missions tomorrow!"

After speaking, Li Zhangsheng ignored them and left the lobby, walking toward his room.

"Alright, everyone disperse!" Yuan Yongyan also stood up.

The remaining three looked at each other, and in the end, they were too lazy to discuss further and went upstairs to rest.

Yuanling Academy, Principal's office!

Besides Vice Principal Xu, there were several instructors who had rushed over overnight to report, including Instructor Lu Qian, Instructor Qian Yuanfei, and others.

With the speed of a Fifth-rank Instructor, even if they were gathered from over a thousand miles away, it would only take a few hours to arrive, let alone the fact that most of the missions this time were concentrated within a few hundred miles of Yuanling Academy.

Vice Principal Xu looked at Instructor Lu Qian and asked, "Two First-tier Students died in Xu Xiangzhi's team?"

"Yes!"

"This old man only has one grandson; aren't you afraid that I'll make things difficult for you?" When Vice Principal Xu said this, he stared straight at Instructor Lu Qian, his eyes containing majesty.

"If Xu Xiangzhi hadn't underestimated the enemy and acted rashly, greedy for merit, then with the strength of their team, how could they have stumbled? Xu Xiangzhi is too reckless; I don't think he is suitable to be a captain!"

Instructor Lu Qian lowered his head, his expression unreadable.

"What a headache!" Vice Principal Xu sighed softly and turned to ask the others: "What about the others?"

"Zhao Shuyi is a bit arrogant, but she is relatively steady. She accepted an ordinary-level mission and completed it very smoothly!"

"Zhang Yi's team also accepted an ordinary-level mission. He doesn't have much arrogance, and he handles his relationship with his teammates well and is willing to listen to their opinions. The only drawback is that he is a bit easily swayed!"

Instructor Qian Yuanfei said with a smile: "What about Li Zhangsheng? He performed very steadily and is a qualified candidate for captain! If you don't look at his appearance, someone who didn't know better would think he was thirty or forty years old!"

At this moment, Instructor Zhu Zhibin suggested: "Why not add some burden to him? Li Zhangsheng already has the strength to contend with a Third-rank Royal Beast Master, and he has four team members to assist him. I think it would be better to let him accept a difficult-level mission sooner so that he can grow up faster!"

"Based on my understanding of him, I don't think he will consider a difficult-level mission for the time being!"

"How about we secretly modify the mission difficulty to see his level of response to sudden situations?"

Unexpectedly, Vice Principal Xu's expression was serious, and he flatly chose to refuse: "Secretly modifying the mission difficulty—this precedent cannot be set. Do not let this old man hear of it again, otherwise, I will definitely punish it severely! Since Li Zhangsheng has his own ideas, let him follow his own rhythm! Alright, meeting adjourned!"

Once this precedent is set, some sordid things will definitely happen in the future.

PS: Recommending a friend's book, "Music Department Director," a somewhat alternative director-themed novel.

Three chapters in plain code, failure means turning into a pig, everyone is a witness!

(End of this chapter)