Chapter 2444 - 48 - 58

Chapter 48: Haggling

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

"Wouldn't it be inconvenient… considering that I am a male student?"

"As long as you keep your hands to yourself. It would be easier for the school to make the case if you accept the offer. Besides, the school would give you a reasonable amount of pay. Trust me; you don't want to move into the unfinished new dormitory, the noise of the construction alone will drive you crazy." A faint smile flashed across Samantha's face; she had gotten him.

Wang Tong knew that he had to take the job one way or another, "But there has to be a catch," he thought. Wang Tong pondered on it for a while, dragging out the silence and then asked, "You said that the School would pay me?"

Being born into wealth and privilege, Samantha was bemused by Wang Tong's question."Yes, of course. Our school doesn't run a sweatshop."

"It is my honor to serve our school! How much a month, if I may ask?"

Samantha was caught off guard and was irritated by Wang Tong's sublunary question. "What a money-grubbing worm!" Samantha cursed inside of her mind. Her finger felt the spin of a thick book on her desk, and she could barely resist the urge to smash the book into Wang Tong's face.

"Three thousand," she answered as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"That's very kind of you and all, but you know… it's an awkward situation to throw me in, I can already see my classmates' judgmental stares… I... I am... not sure..."

"Six thousand!" Wang Tong's terrible acting had started to churn her stomach. She didn't care much about the money and might as well end this haggling nonsense quickly.

"Deal!" Wang Tong was ecstatic, beaming from ear to ear.

"Excellent! That would be all for now." Samantha snickered in her mind as she watched Wang Tong set off for the classroom. "You little fool. It is just the beginning. I hope you don't choke on your money!"

Samantha understood well that Wang Tong's cooperation was vital in winning the tournament, and because of that, she just had found one more reason to lure him under her thumb. The shrewd principal had also recognized that none of her conventional methods would work on Wang Tong. Instead, the situation called for rather different measures in which patience and subtlety were of the essences.

"Any good news from the principal?" Hu Yangxuan asked Wang Tong as soon as the latter walked into the classroom. Ever since the weekend, the two of them seemed to get along much better, and they even started to consider each other as friends.

Wang Tong puffed out his chest, arms akimbo and then announced, "From now on, I am Caretaker Wang."

From the corner of Hu Yangxuan's eyes, he registered a hardly audible giggle surfaced on Ma Xiaoru's face; he immediately understood that Samantha's real intention in doing so was not entirely without questioning motives. Although he could not yet grasp the reason behind it, he decided to play along anyways.

"You might have your work cut out for you. Be careful, girls are not as easy going as you think."

Wang Tong shrugged and cracked a smile, "Worry not, Brother Hu. I happen to know a thing or two about girls."

"Really? Do you mind sharing it with us?" Ma Xiaoru slanted one of her eyebrows, carrying an edge in her voice.

"Maybe later..." Wang Tong shriveled as his eyes met Ma Xiaoru's.

Instinct had told Wang Tong that something was lurking behind Samantha's proposal. He could not yet tell exactly what it was, but he had always believed that he could accomplish anything as long as he put his mind into it. It was a belief that deeply-rooted itself in Wang Tong's mind thanks to Old Fart; whenever Old Fart could not afford Wang Tong's pocket money, he would reiterate those exact words to encourage his son to earn money on his own.

The results of the monthly test were out before the morning classes were over. With tears and joys in the first year students' eyes, they came to terms with the changes that were about to come. They said that competition was the mother of advancement; despite the pervasive opposition, this monthly test had indeed shaken things up in Ayrlarng.

Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan had scored the first and second places in the monthly test, leaving a huge gap behind them with the third place, and they entered the A-class as anticipated. It was part of Samantha's plan to show the other students their gap with the top students of the S-class Academy; she hoped that it would be a wake-up call to them. She had always believed in student's potentials, and with Bernabeu hot on her heels, she could find more than one reason to help the students unlock their hidden talent so that they could help her in the coming tournament. So far, the only hidden gem that she had discovered was Wang Tong. Thanks to his experience on Norton, he had excelled in the classes on virtually anything about Zergs, from directions to theories. Another one of his subjects that stood out was METAL combat; Wang Tong's score was even higher than Ma Xiaoru. After experiencing the event of the weekend, Samantha was not surprised at all.

However, the scores of Wang Tong's other classes were pathetic; as a matter of fact, they were so miserable that they had downgraded Wang Tong's average rating to be barely above the passing grade of F-class. Samantha heaved a sigh, she had hoped to transfer him into the A-class, but with this embarrassingly low rating, her hands were tied, at least for now.

"As long as he is still in Ayrlarng, I can make him improve, one way or another!" Samantha thought. She reckoned that Wang Tong had already fallen into her honey trap as his increasingly docile behavior had suggested.

Samantha straightened her eyeglasses as her mind drifted to the more pressing matters of the tournament. Her opponent's strategy was clear: they would let Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan fight their weaker players, and perhaps would let them win, and then, they would dump all they got in the remaining eight fights. Wang Tong should be able to win one round or even two, as long as he was willing to try his best, but winning three consecutive games was something even Wang Tong couldn't accomplish by a long chalk. Ayrlarng would need one more competent fighter to secure a total victory. Samantha yearned for that last piece of thread to weave his plan into reality. She understood that it would be a high stake gamble: the damage done from losing the game would be unrecoverable, but the prize in case of success was just as irresistible. Losing Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan to Bernabeu meant that she would lose everything. It was a price that she was not willing to pay, so she had to set boundaries as to how far she would go. She decided that in the case of failing to seek out one more candidate who would be able to win one round for certain, she would pull out of this dangerous game.

Chapter 49: Caretaker Wang

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Although the marks were posted, the students had to wait until tomorrow for the change of classes. Lots of Wang Tong's classmates were perplexed as to why Wang Tong didn't choose to major in the METAL Combat since his METAL combat scores would have easily leveled him up to the A-Class

However, unlike his classmates, Wang Tong didn't care about climbing the ladder, he was quite content with remaining in the F-Class.

After school was over, Wang Tong sauntered toward the dormitory number five, ready to start his first day as the caretaker. Upon approaching the entrance, he saw a poster with his picture on the front door of the caretaker's office; the news had spread fast.

Most girls in the dormitory number five had acquainted their neighbor since he was their only connection with Hu Yangxuan through letters, but they knew very little about Wang Tong himself, except for that he seldom came out of his room and spent most of his time burying himself in textbooks.

His appointment, needless to say, had stirred up strong resistance among the girls. The fact that Wang Tong was a boy was the focal point of their argument, it was treated as a blatant assault on girl's traditional territory. They had quickly gathered banners and planned a secret rebellion against their caretaker.

The caretaker's office was only a few paces away from Wang Tong's room, squarely set at the otherwise wide-open front entrance. The room had a window that faced the outside of the perimeter. Wang Tong sat by the window, resting his elbow on the windowsill and making sure that no male student had sneaked in. Principal Samantha had forbidden such act, and it became the caretaker's duty to enforce that policy.

The task had quickly become boring, so Wang Tong took out his textbook and started to study. Although he had passed the first monthly test, that was far from his last one, so he reminded himself to prepare ahead of time. Truth be told, this monthly test had made Wang Tong realize that the reason for his miserable grade wasn't because he was stupid, such as some people wanted him to believe, but rather because he had never spent enough time on study. Old Fart rarely brought home enough for both of them, so he had to spend most of his after-school time helping Old Fart to get by. Old fart had never liked the Academies neither. "Academies are useless, might as well call them daycares," as he put it.

A raucous noise of heavy boots thudding on the ground disturbed Wang Tong's train of thoughts; someone was approaching. He saw a girl walking toward the dormitory with a male student following her. Wang Tong pushed his books aside; time for Caretaker Wang to shine.

"Excuse me, no male students are allowed beyond this point. If you two would like to chat, feel free to do it here; if it is more intimate business, please do find a corner as far as possible," despite the edge in his voice, Wang Tong's wore a blank smile on his face that he had practiced in front of a mirror many times.

"It's none of your business, buzz off!" The male student was one of the fourth-year seniors. It was not his seniority that had given him the overconfidence to blatantly violate the school's policies, it was his dad's position on the school's board of directors. Many times he had come and went at will through this entrance, even Samantha had to be circumspect when dealing with him.

"I am afraid I can't, not without a good reason." Wang Tong shook his head.

Hearing the commotion, the residences of the girls' dormitory quickly gathered around, slyness glimmered in their eyes. They were not here to help Wang Tong, but to witness the unraveling of their coup. Wang Tong had expected as much from the girls, and he was aware that the leader of the girls was the one that brought the director's son here; her name was Zhou Sisi, the leader of the second floor.

"Stinky pig!" Zhou Sisi hissed in her mind as she leered at Wang Tong. The school's decision had initially sent her head reeling, and after her protest was ignored by the Principal, she had decided to take the matter into her own hands. Her plan was to coax one of her many admirers, Aysen, the director's son, into a confrontation with the new caretaker. Although she was and would never be interested in Aysen, his family background and seniority would make things much convenient for her.

"Aysen, give him a reason."

Aysen had been chasing after the first year beauty Zhou Sisi ever since the first day she entered Ayrlarng, and this was the closest he had gotten so far to his sweet prize. The girl's dormitory was right in front of him, and the only roadblock was a first-year fledging. He rolled up his sleeves, laughing in his mind for his extraordinary luck.

"Reasons ah?" Aysen slanted his eyebrows and pouted his lower lip. Contempt was written all over his face.

"That is reason number one. Number two, I am going to kick your a*s and shovel dirt in your trap if you don't move away." Aysen jabbed at Wang Tong again.

"Third, half of this school is mine, so I do whatever the f*ck I want, understand?" Aysen puffed out his chest and stood with his arms akimbo, trying to look as big as he could. A smug etched on his face as he looked down on his nose at Wang Tong. He chortled at Wang Tong's seemingly sheepish appearance and then turned his head around, seeking out the approving eyes of Zhou Sisi.

For the sake of her dignity and for the sake of the greater good, Zhou Sisi managed a contrived smile on her face, but deep down, she found it hard to erase the revulsion to Aysen's bully-like demeanor. If she could punch Aysen's face without spoiling her plan, she would wear a brass knuckle while she was at it. It turned out that Zhou Sisi wasn't alone, many other girls had furrowed their eyebrows, but when they thought about the greater evil, they thinned their lips and tried to endure the churnings of their stomachs.

"Why did they send Wang Tong?" one of the girls thought in her head, "We want Hu Yangxuan!"

"Well met, brother Aysen. It is such a pleasure to meet you!" Without notice, Wang Tong griped Aysen's hand in a handshake.

Aysen tried to pull his hand away, but Wang Tong's grip was iron. The smug had left the corner of his mouth as he realized what had happened, and then, they both tightened their grips. Aysen started to channel his GN force into his fingers. His face turned pale while trying to endure the ever increasing pain. Meanwhile, Wang Tong still held the blank smile that he was so proud of as if he hadn't yet use a fraction of his strength, and then he spoke, as slow as he could.

"Fellow brother, I had heard about your name and had been admiring you secretly for a while now. If I remembered it correctly, I started to admire you when I saw you got turned down by Zhou Sisi for the first time..." Wang Tong watched as pea sized sweat seeped out of Aysen's forehead; he was almost at his limit now, but Wang Tong hadn't finished yet. "Oh-no... excuse me, it was the second time... or was it the n-th time after that? Bah... I can't remember. Anyhow, she was so rude, and you were on your knees and begging her..."

"Led' ger'f.. me! You will pay'fur ... this's!" the pain had reduced Aysen's threats into unrecognizable gibberish.

"Oh…What's that? Are you begging Zhou Sisi again? Impressive!" Wang Tong's face suddenly changed, no more blank smiles; instead, sharp and cold edges etched into his face, and dark lights gleamed in his eyes as he locked them onto Aysen's.

Aysen gasped, the pain suddenly became unbearable and paralyzed him. Before Aysen could steady himself, Wang Tong had loosened his grip, and his face had returned to that blank smile again.

Aysen's body shivered, and he whimpered in a raspy voice. He looked like as if he would collapse at any moment.

It wasn't so much the pain that had terrified him; it was what he saw in that fleeting moment before Wang Tong released him: the burning eyes of a demon.

Chapter 50: I Shall Stay

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

Zhou Sisi had known that Aysen did not live up to his reputation, but she didn't expect him to be defeated by a meek first-year rookie. She bit down her lower lip and watched Aysen as he scurried away as if a demon was hot on his heels.

Wang Tong bowed gently to the onlookers, "Thank you for your moral support. My name is Wang Tong, and I am your new caretaker. Don't hesitate to stop by if you require any help. I will help as much as I can."

Wang Tong turned on his heels without caring to find out the expressions on the girls' faces, but he could register the cold and hostile stares that landed on the back of his neck. "So, it is on," Wang Tong thought quietly.

Zhou Sisi stomped into the meeting room of dormitory number five where her comrades had already gathered around and were waiting for her. The failure had taken the wind out her sail; her face turned pale, and her brows furrowed deeply.

One of the girls patted her shoulder gently and offered consoles. "Sisi, perhaps it was for the best, at least Aysen would never come back and bother you again."

"Hey, everyone! Take a look at this, it's Wang Tong's grades." One of the girls pulled out a piece of paper and waved it in the air.

"Gee, he got 100% on two subjects and failed the rest."

"He scored sixteen meters in METAL combat! That is better than Ma Xiaoru, probably the best score so far in our school!"

The girls started to realize that Wang Tong would be a harder nut to crack than they had thought.

"Ah… I remember him now. He is the dude that scored a 100% at the dissection class! I have heard of him from a friend who was attending the same class with him. According to my friend, Gansus went nuts about this first-year student and thought that he was a genius."

"Gansus? Now that's rare. He had never complimented anyone, and I have been here for three years."

"That's him, I am sure of it. I was wondering why Wang Tong's name sounded so familiar."

"Please, everyone! Our first and foremost task is to find out a way to drive him out of his office, not babbling about his grades!" Zhou Sisi slammed her hand on the desk in a fit of frustration. Group discussions were always easy to go off tangent, so she decided to rein in everyone's attention.

"That's easier said than done. You have seen his strength out there yourself."

A few of the girls nodded in agreement. Wang Tong defeated a fourth-year senior student and didn't even sweat.

"How about this: let's leave it at that for now, and everyone will think of a method of dealing with him tonight. If no one can come up with any good ways of handling the situation, I say we should just let sleeping dog lie. After all, some of us here still owe him gratitude for sending our letters to Hu Yangxuan," the speaker was Xue Wei, leader of the dormitory number five. Her suggestion resonated among the girls, and many of them nodded their heads. Truth be told, none of the girls had any issue with Wang Tong before he became the caretaker. Perhaps they were overreacting this time.

"Fine, since most of you agree with that, I will let it ride... for now," Zhou Sisi announced. The school was still looking for a full-time caretaker, and hopefully, that wouldn't take too long.

Meanwhile, in the caretaker's office, Wang Tong was mulling over the methods required to halt the pestering animosity toward him once for all. It had become a problem to him not because Wang Tong cared about what the girls thought about him, but because he could not afford to spend much time dealing with this nonsense.

After given the matter much thought, he decided to lure the girls in with something they really wanted, like a juicy bone hanging in front of a dog's nose. The combination of force and temptation were the easiest receipt for compliance, such as what he had learned from Old Fart. A light bulb moment came to Wang Tong as he pondered about his next step, and soon after that, a poster appeared outside of the caretaker's office.

"As of today, I, Wang Tong, will deliver letters to Hu Yangxuan every day for the residence of dormitory number five (To make sure the letter will be read by my best friend Hu Yangxuan, only one letter will be delivered per day). Once the residents of dormitory number five have chosen the letter to be delivered, please place it the mailbox outside of the caretaker's office."

Zhou Sisi was reflecting on her defeat when her train of thoughts was interrupted by one of her classmates. "Sisi, come look! Downstairs..."

Zhou Sisi gestured her to slow down, and then waited.

"Wang Tong posted a notice." Zhou Sisi's classmate went on to reel off the contents of Wang Tong's notice, and Zhou Sisi immediately resisted its implications. One letter a day would make Wang Tong's service even more highly sought after than before, and the fact that he was Hu Yangxuan's friend would add more credence to his words.

The news spread throughout the building like a wildfire, and the girls swarmed to the caretaker's office, quickly forming a lineup. In a matter of minutes, the end of the line had already extended into the dormitory, up through the stairs, all the way to the second floor close to Zhou Sisi's room. Zhou Sisi's head reeled; all hope were lost.

"Wang Tong, you sleazy pig!" she cursed as she was unable to do anything else.

Wang Tong swaggered toward his room. He had been through a lot with Old Fart, and today's act was nothing but a child-play to him. He wore a smug on his face as he thought to himself, "These teenage girls, ha ha, too young too simple, sometimes naive." Wang Tong had already forgotten about what his announcement would have meant for his best friend, Hu Yangxuan.

The chaotic scene outside of the dormitory number five didn't show any sign of winding down until the moon appeared brightly above the sky. After many heated discussions, the girls had at last unanimously agreed upon a method of choosing the letter: Each day, the floor leader would randomly select a letter; starting from the first floor, and the day after will be the second floor, and so on.

Although peace and quiet were finally restored, the more rebellious girls were forced to come to terms with Wang Tong's irrevocable position as the caretaker.

Despite the noise of girls arguing with each other, Wang Tong had a sweet dream that night. He woke up the day after with a mood as beautiful as the bright sunlight that kissed the green grass blades. He took out an overly-decorated envelope from the mailbox; the fruity fragrance that was carefully applied filled his nostrils. Wang Tong cracked a smile and wrote on the notice board: "Hu Yangxuan's favorite juice: sugar cane."

Chapter 51: Ahead of the Game

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

A huge change had occurred in F-Class — Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan were no longer there, and it seemed like another five of the classmates had also decided to pursue their idols and advanced to A-Class. With half of the class gone, F-Class was left with the rest half of the dejected long faces and crestfallen newcomers, except for Wang Tong, who was still able to maintain a good mood.

The moody atmosphere of the class suddenly vanished the moment Ma Xiaoru stepped foot into the classroom. Everyone was surprised by her unexpected appearance in F-Class. It was definitely an unbelievable moment.

"Hello everyone, I will still be in F-Class for the rest of the month since my performance in a couple of subjects are not up to my expectations, so I've decided to stay and work harder with everyone!" Ma Xiaoru said with a smile upon noticing the unusual atmosphere in the class.

Ma Xiaoru was able to achieve 1st place in almost every subject, all except METAL Combat Class and Anatomy which she got 2nd and 3rd place respectively. But her score was not the concern, it was her decision to stay that has uplifted the atmosphere and sent the whole class cheering — this meant that all of them were granted a second chance! Everyone felt like they were in heaven again!

"Another sly move from Samantha, bravo." Laughed Wang Tong when Ma Xiaoru sat beside him again.

"Hey Wang Tong, how dare you address the Principal by her name." Ma Xiaoru grinned, "And I'm not going anywhere from now on, NOT before defeating you with my bare hands!"

Wang Tong shrugged his shoulder in ignorance. He wasn't going to address Samantha as the Principal anyway, calling her by her name is what Wang Tong preferred, Samantha sounded more comfortable.

"Where's Hu Yangxuan?"

"Oh him? 'Emotionally' attended A-Class I presume?" Ma Xiaoru spat her tongue and made a cute expression. Poor Hu Yangxuan definitely got fooled by Ma Xiaoru again. "Why? Not happy with the fact that I'm stuck in the same class with you?"

"Nah, why would I? In fact, I was actually wondering if you could tutor me after class since the lessons are getting more complicated, and it was pure luck for me to pass my previous exams," said Wang Tong.

Since the last weekend, Wang Tong had got quite familiar with Ma Xiaoru, even the way they addressed each other had become much more natural and comfortable, but for some reason, Wang Tong was not as comfortable as he used to be in front of Samantha.

"No problem, so how are you gonna thank me in return?" Ma Xiaoru asked in a happy tone.

"In return, whenever and wherever you need me, heaven or hell, I'll definitely be there for you!" answered Wang Tong as he confidently pounded his chest.

"Aw shut up!" Ma Xiaoru chuckled.

Then the lessons began and ended when the bell rung. Yet everyone was upset with the teacher for not extending their classes because the whole class would do whatever it took to be in the same room with Ma Xiaoru for a little longer. The teacher, however, assuming that the students were attracted and amazed by his "excellent" lectures, had decided to repay their sincerity by finishing his classes right on time in the future.

During lunchtime, Wang Tong was seen hanging around Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan. It used to be normal to see Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan having lunch together, but somehow the view became funny ever since Wang Tong joined the two of them. However, fans of both Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan seemed to have accepted the presence of Wang Tong amongst the duo. Hurray!

"That's not fair!" Hu Yangxuan whined when he was queuing up for lunch with Wang Tong. The young man just had a bad day after being fooled by Ma Xiaoru and attended lessons with a horde of crazy girls in A-Class.

As he was grumbling, Wang Tong handed over a love letter and said, "Hey, this is for you. Please give it a good read as this is a life and death matter to me."

Everything became clear to Hu Yangxuan as Wang Tong explained what on earth was going on, and then, he cleverly replied, "Alright, I'll keep this, and I'm willing to cooperate with you on this matter; however, you have to promise me one thing — never take advantage during lessons to approach her!"

"Deal!" The two men high-fived as they happily reached an agreement.

Years later, Hu Yangxuan became a famous warrior. Whenever he was asked to summarize the friendship between him and Wang Tong, he'd say: "DO NOT trust any words from this man", and people would get what he meant as they looked into his desolated eyes, the poor man was obviously fooled by Wang Tong often.

Of course, that would be in the distant future. As for now, Wang Tong still saw himself as an honest man.

Meanwhile, as the two of them were queuing up, the girls from Dorm No.5 who were observing at the back finally got what they've asked for. Wang Tong really did keep his promise, and they were more than happy to see Hu Yangxuan gently folding the letter and keeping it with care. They were delighted to see him treat the letter as a valuable item.

"So boys, what are the two of you up to?" asked Ma Xiaoru.

"Nothing much, we were just making some man-to-man promises," Hu Yangxuan answered honestly.

"Yea, I was jealous of Hu Yangxuan's charisma, so I asked him to teach me a few stuff," said Wang Tong.

"Yup!"

"Relax guys, it's not like I'm gonna eat the two of you for not telling me anything!" joked Ma Xiaoru.

"Speaking of eating, gosh I'm starving!"

"Yea man, the food looks and smells fantastic today! So the cafeteria finally has improved huh."

Ma Xiaoru then began to enjoy her meal, leaving the boys to carry on with their nonsense.

That night, as Wang Tong returned to his position as the Caretaker for Dorm No.5, he realized that the look of disgusts from the girls of Dorm No.5 had changed completely to the look of respects.

Bingo!

His plan was successful. Not only did the girls kept him away from troubles, but even the lobby was cleaned thoroughly by the girls! Finally, he was able to sit back and relax. All he needed to do was to hand Hu Yangxuan a letter every morning, no sweat!

However, Zhou Sisi was not happy with the current situation. Actually, what had occurred was not a big deal, but now everyone seemed to be standing on Wang Tong's side and treating him with respect and care like a valuable giant panda. The girls even stopped bringing up the idea of chasing him out of the dorm, and some even mentioned about promoting him to the "deputy" position. It made her look stupid.

Yet, Sisi still insisted that there was something wrong with Wang Tong, and she was keen to wait patiently for her chance to catch him red-handed.

"Calm down Sisi, let it go. He's now the most treasured precious amongst the girls. Besides, he was really telling the truth about Hu Yangxuan enjoying sugar cane juice, and the secret was only known by his friends! Today one of the girls in A-Class brought him a cup of sugar cane juice, and he really drank it happily! Gosh, if only— "

"If only you were able to spike his sugar cane juice... is that what you were trying to say?"

"Hehe, if only it were me who had brought him the cup of sugar cane juice…" her roommate's love-struck mind went to la-la-land again. "Hey Sisi, you know what, since you're also one of the beauties in the academy, and even prettier than Ma Xiaoru, why don't you give it a shot? I'm sure he will fall for you!"

"Please, you know he's not my type!" said Zhou Sisi as she glared at Wang Tong, and at the same time, Wang Tong looked back a smile, seeing that made her even more furious about him.

Unwilling to accept her "defeat" against Wang Tong, Zhou Sisi stomped up the flight of stairs gloomily. As for Wang Tong, that just made his day. No wonder Old Fart always said that one's happiness was another's sadness, which ironically also concluded his "miserable" childhood.

Chapter 52: Hyper Lock-on

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Caretakers were allowed to send and receive emails via internet.

Wang Tong opened his inbox and saw someone sent him an email, which he did not expect. Obviously, because the people he knew were not that many, and none of them would've sent him an email anyway. This single email in his inbox was definitely eye-catchy.

It was a letter from Wang Ben!

Wang Tong smiled joyfully and grabbed his fist as he read the letter. Since the last time he had met Wang Ben, Wang Tong already knew he was good, but never thought that Wang Ben was actually stronger than his expectation.

Wang Ben's second Mind Opening Operation was a success. The second Mind Opening Operation would usually end up in two ways: one would either failed and died tragically due to mental breakdown, or successfully performed a Burst Opening, which happened when a person channeled and focused the force from the first failed attempt and unleashed it on the second attempt.

Wang Ben nailed it!

The mail was simple yet filled with passion, Wang Ben never mentioned 'thank you' in his email, but deep down, Wang Tong was able to feel his gratitude in his words. He asked Wang Tong to set a time, date, and venue; whenever and wherever Wang Tong preferred, and would be there as promised.

That made Wang Tong laugh, it really wasn't some "life and death duel" promise, and it wasn't the moment yet for him to show off, but nevertheless, he would love to have a casual fight with Wang Ben anytime at the TPA.

Wang Tong suddenly remembered Samantha, who was having a hard time regarding new admission to Ayrlarng. Since there were no reports regarding Wang Ben's success, meaning that the news has yet to be made official, and Wang Tong was the first to know it, it would be great if the principal of Ayrlarng could send Wang Ben an invitation of recruitment right before the media released his story of success.

Some time ago, Wang Ben was approached by two famous S-ranked academies, but everything died down right after learning that Wang Ben had failed his first Mind Opening Operation, and he was pretty overwhelmed because of that. Hence, an invitation from Samantha might be able to cheer him up. Still, Wang Tong wasn't sure if all of this would work, but in the other hand, he wouldn't want to see Samantha stressed out on her own, if Wang Ben agreed to enroll upon receiving the invitation, then it might be able to lighten Samantha's burden.

Wang Tong was impetuous on this matter, without much hesitation, he registered a new account using Samantha's identity and decided to send Wang Ben a letter of invitation under her name; fake or not, it didn't really matter.

In the end, the letter was prepared and sent to Wang Ben within an hour, and hopefully, he would be able to receive it right on time. A joyful feeling emerged as Wang Tong imagined Samantha would be glad when she knew this.

As for his studies, Wang Tong's schedule was getting tighter, but somehow, he managed to receive tuition from Ma Xiaoru in between classes, as he had no time to spare at night due to his duty as caretaker. Lucky for him, the life in the military academy was very similar to universities — everything was about preparations and not the pace; hence he was still able to find time for self-studies and leisure.

Wang Tong was getting excited about the Astronautic course in the afternoon. No doubt, hand-to-hand combat with Zergs was fascinating, but as the family motto went: "Never give a damn when you have the chance", of course, he would never miss out the opportunity to pilot a Space Battlecraft. Even though Zergs were able to evolve and developed abilities to nullify certain energy weapons, they were still not immune to Battlecraft energy weapons, not to mention that the Battlecraft weapons were also customized and modified to counter Zergs Space Hives. Compared to the complicated theoretical lessons, today's lesson was simple, nothing but practical simulations, which the Command Force students favored a lot. Soon as the teacher left the classroom, the long awaited virtual dogfight finally began! Within minutes, the classroom was filled with "Gun-fires" and "explosions", everyone was enjoying the excitement.

Everyone except for Wang Tong, who was eagerly practicing every single operating command instead. As a matter of fact, the outer space wasn't a "safe" battlefield at all! Zergs were still able to surprise human beings with their superior ability to adapt and evolve from time to time, and even developed outer space weaponries that were capable of destroying Space Battlecrafts, which wasn't funny at all.

Since his childhood, Wang Tong was not a playful person, not to forget that he had also spent a rough year on Norton. He knew well that life was not a game, and this line of work had to be taken seriously. He had to master everything to pilot a Battlecraft if he really wished to join the troops. As a student of the Command Force, one had to be able to do so, regardless if you were interested in becoming a Crew Captain or not.

Wang Tong has had enough theories so he wouldn't waste any rare opportunities for practical simulations.

Soon, students began to leave as the bell rung. After all, virtual simulations were not as addictive if they were curricular-arranged; and Space Battle training wasn't like video games, it might be interesting during the class, but students definitely lose interest in it after class. Eventually, they would be submerging into the happiness of virtual games as soon as they reached home.

"Wang Tong, you are not going back?"

"It's okay, you can go first. I'm staying back for a little longer since it's a rare chance to practice more," Wang Tong replied without even looking back. He was busy implementing his theories into the simulator, ha was enjoying the moment, just like how he enjoyed the rush of adrenaline every time he defeated a new species of Zergs. Nevertheless, the blood in his body was the blood of a warrior.

Ma Xiaoru was mesmerized by Wang Tong's attentiveness. A strange feeling emerged as she looked at how focused he was, she never felt like this before. After that, she left the practice room in silence on her own, knowing that Wang Tong wouldn't want to be disturbed.

Ma Xiaoru actually was the type of person that would act like she didn't care when she saw the guy that got her attention, yet Wang Tong was the first guy to treat her like a normal person, and she appreciated this comfortableness very much. For the first time, she was happy to spend time with someone of an opposite gender.

On the other hand, Wang Tong's face was full of different expressions. He was busy applying his own thoughts onto the theories he had learned from the books, even though some things were set to be done according to the rules. Still, it wouldn't hurt to try out a few changes, and even if it were a failure, Wang Tong would put in every effort to find out why. Two hours had passed, and yet, Wang Tong had no intention to leave, he wasn't even hungry after skipping dinner, and of course, he had also forgotten his night shift as the Caretaker. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure entered the practice room without him noticing.

The monitor was showing a simulation which was preset to the toughest scenario: the army of mankind was surrounded by Zergs Space Hives, and Zergs' β - WH type Bio-Cannon was charged and locked on to the Space Battlecraft. The Battlecraft was stuck in a helpless situation, even if the Battlecraft were to open fire, it would only be able to destroy a few Hives.

Zhou Sisi came in to have a little practice on her own. Her operating skills needed to be improved, but she definitely had what it takes to be a tactician. It was a hopeless scenario. So, instead of wasting her time watching, she decided to proceed with her own practices.

But to her surprise, the "OVER" sign did not appear on the monitor. The Battlecraft fired every single Energy Ray Cannon at the same time in a flash; meanwhile, Sisi was able to hear the machinery roaring in the control room.

"BOOOMMM!"

Hundreds of cannons fully locked onto every target within seconds!

All of a sudden, the Space Hives were bombarded into a sea of flames. Zhou Sisi couldn't believe what she had witnessed. That... that was impossible!

Things like this required tens of men to achieve, but there was only one person in the control room, this was absurd!

"No way..." murmured Sisi as the word "PERFECT" appeared. What happened was flawless indeed.

Who on earth was sitting in the control room?

Chapter 53: Cloning Technique

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

"It is possible to achieve it by combining the Kaedeians' latest ace Battlecraft — the Starshine D-Type Space Battlecraft; together with manually programmed Hyper Cloning Technique. But in order to do so, that person must be one hell of a Kaedeian," the words came from another pleasant voice.

It was Ma Xiaoru.

Zhou Sisi was surprised by Ma Xiaoru's appearance at this hour, yet nothing fancy happened between the two pretty girls.

"Cloning Technique is the top level military technology of Kaedeians, and only executable by them with their Soul Energy and controlling force. But to duplicate hundreds of Battlecraft in a blink of an eye? That's impossible."

"Indeed. According to the Queen Kaedeian Academy, their highest record for this year was 178 fleets, and the simulation a while ago was showing approximately 130 fleets, which was able to rank as the 3rd best records of the Queen Kaedeian Academy," Ma Xiaoru calmly commented, although she wasn't feeling calm at all.

The girls were shocked when they saw Wang Tong stepping out of the control room. "What's up girls? Oh, Zhou Sisi, I'm so sorry. I'm heading back to Dorm No.5 right now." Wang Tong thought Zhou Sisi was here to urge him for his night shift.

"That was YOU?!" questioned Zhou Sisi as she still couldn't believe her eyes.

"Hey Xiaoru, I thought you went back just now?"

"AND you called her XIAORU?!" Zhou Sisi was shocked again. Her eyes were scanning back and forth at Wang Tong and Ma Xiaoru. Since when have they gotten so close? Unbelievable!

"What's so weird about it? Wang Tong is my classmate, and he's also my buddy," Ma Xiaoru said while looking at Zhou Sisi. No doubt, Zhou Sisi looked amazing, with her elegant figure and a touch of obstinacy in her veins.

"Are you out of your mind? I came here for my own practice, not to urge you back. But hey, how did you do that?!" Zhou Sisi asked Wang Tong as she pointed at the data shown on the monitor.

"Oh, that? It's not difficult you know since there's a glitch in the system, all you need to do is pause it and get ready by locking on to each target one by one, and then hit fire! Haha!" Wang Tong felt awkward as he explained.

"Huh, I see." Zhou Sisi then ignored Wang Tong and went off for her own practices. She realized what Wang Tong said was he cheated. Everything was just for fun, and nothing tactical about it.

Wang Tong didn't bother as he looked toward Ma Xiaoru, the pretty lady smiled and asked, "I'd like to seek for your advice regarding a few matters, shall we discuss over dinner?"

"Oh, speaking of dinner, I'm starving!" Wang Tong laughed.

Ma Xiaoru giggled as Wang Tong said that, the boy had just spent one whole afternoon grinding his body and soul on a complicated control system, of course, he would be starving! Furthermore, she didn't believe any single word in his explanation a moment ago. Ma Xiaoru knew that Wang Tong had always been a secretive person.

"Oh my god, what's wrong with your hand?" Ma Xiaoru was shocked as she noticed Wang Tong's left hand, his fingers were bleeding, and the wrist had swollen.

"It's okay, I just gave it a lesson for not cooperating with me." Wang Tong hid his arm pretending that it was not a big deal.

"You! Stop argue! Infirmary! Now!" Ma Xiaoru said in a serious tone, and Wang Tong had no chance to retort.

"It's really not a big deal, I'll be fine after a good rest, let's go get some food instead?"

"Hey, you really should take good care of yourself. Plus, don't you know that students can visit the infirmary for free?" Ma Xiaoru said that as she sensed the embarrassment from Wang Tong.

"Wow, why didn't you mention earlier? From now on, I'm living in there, haha!" Wang Tong joked, getting things for free was definitely music to his ears.

Ma Xiaoru was left speechless by his attitude, Wang Tong didn't care what people thought was important, yet when it was something that people neglected, he'd always... Suddenly, Ma Xiaoru felt bad for Wang Tong as she saw him laughing. Because she knew that no one was supposed to be born like this.

Still, she hid her feelings and said, "That's more like it, now let's go and get your wounds packed up. I will be buying dinner tonight, but in return, I need your help to solve a few things regarding structures of Zergs."

"Okie Dokie!" Wang Tong was looking cheerful despite that he was actually still quite tangled up by the fact that his left and right hands were not perfectly synchronized. There were no such things as left-handed and right-handed among Kaedeians; it was only for Earthlings. Even though Wang Tong had been paying more attention to it ever since being criticized by Einherjar Wannabe. His left hand needed more training; nevertheless, Wang Tong was able to achieve the final outcome.

Cloning Technique was all about absolute balancing. It was tough, even to Kaedeians, let alone Earthlings. Wang Tong's was having a problem with his left hand for not being able to keep up with the rhythm of his right hand, and the operation would fail if the rhythm was not fully synchronized. Hence, Wang Tong taught his left hand a "lesson" to remind himself about the rhythm.

"Still, why would you do that to your own hand? You know, complicated stuff like that couldn't be mastered in one day right?" Somehow Ma Xiaoru was angry about it.

"It's fine, this was nothing compared to what I've been through on Norton, haha! But honestly speaking, we Earthlings still has a lot more to learn from the Kaedeians!"

A man should act a bit more cruel to himself!

This wasn't said by Old Fart, but Einherjar Wannabe. Einherjar Wannabe would say this to Wang Tong in a cold manner each and every time he was injured. To him, if it wasn't fatal, then it was fine.

For the first time, Ma Xiaoru was staring at a guy, which she had no clue about his thoughts, and wondered how he could act like it was nothing for such matters. She might have received a series of tough training during her times in the House of Li, but she could only imagine how rough and brutal it would be to spend a year on Norton.

"What? Something on my face?" Wang Tong saw her looking at him.

"Just dust, here lemme help you," she lied by reflex and then reached into her pocket for her handkerchief but was surprised to find that it wasn't with her.

It was a commemorative item of hers and only had been used a few times.

"Ah my bad, I almost forgot that your handkerchief is with me, I'll return it to you later!" said Wang Tong as he scratched his head, his mind had been busy with tests and exams.

"Nah, it's fine. You can keep it, it's our token of friendship," Ma Xiaoru replied.

"Geez, thanks!" Wang Tong nodded; to be honest, he wasn't sure where he'd left the handkerchief.

Most people would care a lot about every little thing around them, that's because they had no idea what it was like to survive in a living hell. As for Wang Tong who had faced numerous life and death situations, it was still a long way to go for him learning to appreciate these "memorable" belongings.

Meanwhile, the girl who was previously "bullied" by Wang Tong was still sitting in the bustling practice room, staring at the monitor in rage. She had been practicing by mimicking Wang Tong's steps, but the best she could achieve was around forty hits, and system error would occur if it was more than that, let alone one hundred hits! That lying little rascal!

She was positive that Ma Xiaoru was fooled by his honest appearance, in fact, she believed that everyone was fooled by this man!

She was furious by the fact that her roommate was also on his side, and she was even more upset with herself for believing him like a fool, having her wasted an hour to experiment his claims. For a moment, she could image Wang Tong laughing in an evil manner.

Biting her lips, for the first time, Zhou Sisi felt interested in a man — interested in punching him right in the face.

Chapter 54: The Principal Got Hit By Pennies From the Sky

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

That night, the Earth Confederation was startled by a breaking news: Wang Ben, the son of General Hu Ben, had perfectly succeeded his second Mind Opening Operation and directly advanced as a Level 4 Fighter. The report even stated that his Soul Energy readings were almost at 200%, the news caused quite an uproar throughout the Confederation.

Wang Ben took part in the military evaluations as soon as he completed his second Mind Opening Operation, and even the troops from the Fourth-Class Special Forces were no match for him. Obviously, he was blessed with an enormous geyser of power after going through a long period of depression.

With Wang Ben succeeding the second Mind Opening Operation, results and improvements were clear to be seen from the number of harsh training he underwent. Ultimately speaking, another genius was born in the Earth Confederation, and the ginormous power he possessed was even able to shook the ground of successors from a few Houses.

But General Hu Ben was very calm about it, still, there was a long road ahead awaiting his son.

Surprisingly, Wang Ben did agree to be interviewed even though he wasn't very fond of the media, and all he said was something weird: "Hey Einherjar Wannabe, anytime, anywhere, I'll be there!"

Einherjar Wannabe? Was that a name? It sounded funny for sure. Everybody knew what an Einherjar was, but Einherjar Wannabe sounded more like a half-assed sobriquet.

Yet some reporters were clever enough to recall Wang Ben's previous match on PA and wondered if it could be that person.

A little push was all it took to create a genius. To normal people, it was nothing but another casual match, but to Wang Ben, it was a calling.

He was Wang Ben's ray of hope during his time of despair when his father had given up on him, and when he had shut himself into a deep depression. He was the only person who had thought that Wang Ben had what it takes to be the man.

Wang Ben was originally a strong-willed person. All thanks to the little "push", he was able to grab a hold of himself despite drowning in depression and made a breakthrough at the end of it.

As for now, all Wang Ben wished for was to keep the promise made between two men, because to Wang Ben, this promise that didn't seem like a big deal was everything that supported him throughout times of despair. He would rather die than breaking the promise.

Cowards shouldn't exist in the family of a soldier!

DREAM Corporation, on the other hand, couldn't hide their excitement upon learning that Wang Ben was calling out for a match. No doubt Wang Ben was now the ace amongst youngsters, the golden boy of the media; yet this powerful young man decided to challenge some nobody to a PA match, and that was definitely out of this world.

Not to mention, it was a well-known fact for military family members to dislike the media, yet Wang Ben accepted the interview. Clearly, this Einherjar Wannabe fella was an important person to Wang Ben.

DREAM Corporation sensed a storm of business opportunities on its way.

Who was this Einherjar Wannabe? Why was he so important to Wang Ben? Could he be the next legend?

Wang Ben's "reincarnation" jump started a game of snatch among academies around the globe, but ultimately, it was actually an infighting between two S-ranked academies.

Ayrlarng and Yalden had been going head to head against each other since the very beginning to seize the position as the superior academy of Earth Confederation. None of them wanted to give away the precious "upgraded" Wang Ben.

In other words, it was all up to Wang Ben to decide which of the two was better, and the reputation of the academy he chose to attend would receive a great boost for sure.

Wang Ben was not shaken despite the tremendous fame and attention on him. It could be his down times that has shaped him with such maturity and got him to comprehend the philosophy of life.

As for now, the question remained the same: "Which academy would he choose to attend?"

Samantha was anxious, Martyrus's challenge was giving her a headache, and she had to come up with a final decision by the end of today. If she chose to decline, Ayrlarng would lose the valuable opportunity to compete against Bernabeu, but if she accepted, Ayrlarng might not stand a chance. To be or not to be, both sounded pretty bad.

Samantha had a Ph.D. in Philosophy. Even though people often said that those who studied Philosophy were paranoids and lunatics, but there was one thing for sure — those who preferred Philosophy were able to analyze with a calm mind and would not give themselves into temptations. Samantha had been waiting patiently for a reason to accept the gamble, but as for the moment, it still wasn't enough even though she already had Wang Tong as her trump card.

In the end, she decided to decline Martyrus's challenge in the afternoon. She would rather suffer a small defeat than losing everything they had.

Unlike how she looked like when she first became the Principal of Ayrlarng, Samantha was quite worn-out recently. She was confident and full of passion back then, and even brought funding and two distinctive students into Ayrlarng; however, all of these were not enough at all, and she wouldn't even be needed if money was the solution to everything. She knew it would be a journey of hardships in the first place, especially with people against her and waiting for her failure, staring at the back. She had to stay strong. She's the almighty Samantha for god sake, of course, she could endure this, not to mention that it was only a small issue.

She took a deep breath and began to prepare the budget plannings and expenses reports of Ayrlarng, running an academy required a huge chunk of money that no one could have expected. If Xiaoru wasn't there for her, there was no way she could have pulled it out alone.

Ayrlarng had to achieve something great, not if they wanted to see everything fell apart.

One has to bear the cost of being the boss, lesson learned.

Suddenly, her deep thoughts were interrupted by a rapid knock on the door, the gorgeous-looking principal slightly frowned, "Enter please," Samantha said in a calm voice.

"Ma'am, ma'am, this letter..." Mr. Simon was gasping for air, the letter looked important.

"A recommendation letter again? So they really expect Ayrlarng to be a mall or something?" Samantha was furious, nevertheless, Ayrlarng was an A-ranked academy, and the semester had started a long time ago, but the Confederation has been ignoring her presence and sent over intake requests one after another.

If this happened in Capth or Yalden, the principal would've torn the letter apart without even laying eyes on it. But with only glorious history left to the academy, the Principal of Ayrlarng was not in the position to do so.

"No Ma'am, this is the admission application from Wang Ben!" Mr. Simon was very excited, so excited that he had run straight into the Principal's office the moment he received the letter.

"Wang Ben... THAT Wang Ben? The son of General Hu Ben?!"

"Yes Ma'am, I couldn't even believe my eyes when this came in! The boy who succeeded his second Mind Opening Operation decided to come to our academy! Oh god, yes!"

Samantha understood his excitement, Ayrlarng's reputation would definitely skyrocket with the help from Wang Ben's fame, and with Wang Ben joining Ayrlarng, he would also become one of the new aces, together with Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan, making Ayrlarng ahead of the game among A-ranked academies.

Yet Samantha kept calm, which was crucial especially during times like this. "Thank you very much, Mr. Simon, I'll take it from here, and please keep this between us before it is made official."

"Oh yes, of course, Ma'am, no worries. I'll be awaiting the good tidings quietly then."

Mr. Simon was a crafty old party in the academy, he would choose his side depending on the situation, and would slip out of trouble when there was one. In the beginning, he wasn't convinced by the fact of a Missy from a wealthy family picking up the administrations of Ayrlarng. But now, he could see Ayrlarng rising up again.

Chapter 55: Gauntlets Were Thrown Down

Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn

Samantha's hands were trembling uncontrollably as Mr. Simon left her office. She was afraid that all of this might be some kind of a bad joke and prayed that this was true because Ayrlarng couldn't afford losing Wang Ben.

It was a neat application form, with Wang Ben's academic reports, scorecards, and medical reports attached to it. Everything was prepared nice and tidily, as expected from someone with the background of a military family.

To be honest, Samantha had no idea what was going on. She wondered why the famous Wang Ben would choose to apply for Ayrlarng instead of accepting the offers from other academies. Anyhow, Ayrlarng would welcome Wang Ben's admission with open arms.

But now she was troubled by another problem: just like Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan, Wang Ben would have to attend the F-Class upon admission. Samantha was afraid that her decision might upset Wang Ben.

She stood up and started pacing back and forth, to adhere her principles or not, she had to make a decision.

In the end, she decided to stick to her principles because she knew that her self-consciousness and Ayrlarng's future were way more important than Wang Ben's admission.

Still, it was a tough decision. Putting everything aside, Samantha began to draft her reply to Wang Ben, saying that Ayrlarng was pleased to receive such an honor, but unfortunately, according to the academy's rules, he had to attend the F-Class at the beginning and would be given the chance of advancing to the A-Class through academic performances. If he accepted her offer, she would be sending the letter of admission shortly.

The email was then sent to Wang Ben's Sky-net, and Samantha was feeling nervous; Wang Ben's decision was very important to Ayrlarng.

Samantha began to understand what it felt like to sit on pins and needles, it was now impossible for her to concentrate on the rest of her works.

"Knock knock!"

Wang Tong waited, but no one answered, so he decided to let himself into Samantha's office and was surprised to find her spacing out.

He intended to speak but was stunned as he looked at Samantha. Sunlight shined through the checkered glass window, her pearly white blouse ideally suited her matureness and wisdom, and the simplicity of her earrings cleverly highlighted the feminine side within. That moment, Wang Tong was all mesmerized by her sexiness.

"Oh, hello there." Samantha finally realized Wang Tong's presence.

"Ah, I suppose you didn't hear me knocked... Ma'am..."

"It's okay, you can call me Samantha when there's no one around. It's a little awkward to hear you calling me 'Ma'am'."

At the moment, Samantha was depressed by the fact that Wang Ben's reply was yet to be seen, and she couldn't help thinking if she had just ruined Ayrlarng's chance of restoring its glory days.

"Everything alright?" Wang Tong sensed something was bothering her.

Samantha shook her head and replied, "Nah, just feeling a little moody for the tough road ahead. So, what brings you here today?"

"Yes, I was wondering if I could get your permission to borrow the simulation room for my air combat practices?"

"Wow, look at you! The charming lady has got you fired up huh? Well, as you wish, permission granted. But please make sure there's improvement okay?" Samantha grinned, she thought that Wang Tong was all fired up to show off in front of Ma Xiaoru.

"I'll try my best," said Wang Tong.

At the same time, Samantha heard a familiar beep and quickly accessed her Sky-net, and then grabbed her fist in excitement upon reading the email. She had won the deal!

Obviously, Wang Ben was no coward, of course, he would agree to start from the very beginning, just like Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan. No matter who you are, new students of Ayrlarng must began at the F-Class — and no exception would be given!

Not on her watch!

"Good news I presume?" Wang Tong asked.

"Yup, great news in fact! You really are my lucky star, but please keep it between us for the time being." Samantha felt wonderful, even though she wasn't sure why would Wang Ben thanked her for her appreciation since they had never met each other before, still, this was definitely something worth to be celebrated.

Wang Tong nodded and was about to excuse himself when Samantha stopped him: "Please inform Hu Yangxuan that there will be a celebration at Xiaoru's place tonight. I'll break the good news to you lads later."

"Shouldn't we have it this weekend instead?" Wang Tong nodded again, somehow he could tell what was going on.

"Sounds good to me. Cheers!" the gorgeous-looking principal seemed to be having a pocketful of sunshine.

"Oh, by the way, everything alright regarding your Caretaker duty?" Somehow Samantha felt strange for not receiving any complaints of "perverted" activities at Dorm No.5, and there were no issues at all! The female students of Ayrlarng shouldn't be that easy to handle.

"So far so good, I always get the job done," Samantha didn't say much to his reply. She was still in a good mood, at the point that she had even forgotten her original intention to appoint Wang Tong as the Caretaker.

Apart from being excited, Samantha then realized that she hasn't contacted Martyrus yet. God bless Wang Ben for choosing Ayrlarng; finally, they were able to stand a chance against Bernabeu. Even so, she needed to act with cautious when facing the cunning old fox.

She looked at the time, thinking that the old dirt might be calling anytime soon to pressure her.

"Ring! Ring!"

"Haha, so Principal Samantha, may I hear your final decision?" Martyrus appeared on the screen, amiably beaming at Samantha like some normal old man.

"I'm sorry Principal Martyrus, but I still need to consider a little longer..." Samantha made it appear as if she was still struggling with it.

Martyrus smiled and replied, "I'm afraid that's not possible Principal Samantha, you must understand that your decision will affect the outcome of this event and also the future of Ayrlarng. As you can see, A-ranked academies don't always get such precious opportunity to compete against S-ranked academies. Just so you know, I received an invitation from Rousseau Academy just a while ago, anyhow, I decided to reserve the opportunity to you, for the sake of the good relationship between Ayrlarg and Bernabeu of more than a decade."

Martyrus wasn't being too hasty as he noticed Samantha's indecisive expression. She might have been an outstanding student, but definitely still a long way to go as the principal of an academy. Not to mention, Ayrlarng was nothing more than a decaying statue in his eyes, and it would crumble apart and be forgotten anyway in the end. Generally speaking, time was not keeping up with her ideology.

"Well, it's okay if you decided to give up anyway, sometimes youngsters like you need to learn to be more steady and not to get too impulsive," the words came from Martyrus intentionally.

"No, Principal Martyrus, we have decided to accept your challenge, even though Ayrlarng might not be as good as Bernabeu, yet I'm sure we will be able to win with our courage and fearlessness," Samantha replied sternly.

"Oh bravo! That's the spirit! So I'll be expecting you to convince Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan to participate then." Martyrus chuckled.

"Don't get too cocky, Principal Martyrus. It's still too soon to decide who will be the winner."

"Very well, I'll see you in the arena then."

"Certainly, see you in a month."

Chapter 56: Tutor the Beauty

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

The old and the young Principals had revealed their true color as soon as the challenge was formally accepted. Such as the battles on the battlefield, the tournament was a matter of life or death to both schools.

When the image on the screen faded away, the speakers at both ends of the connection were confident that they would be the winner of the game.

Wang Tong's life at Ayrlarng had slowly become routine ever since the monthly test was over. During the day, Wang Tong would receive help from Ma Xiaoru on subjects such as Math and Physics in addition to regular school classes; in the afternoon, he would try to hang out with his friends and classmates; in the evening, he would return to his post in the caretaker's office.

Whenever he was bored at work, he would take out his textbook to study or practice few rounds of the Tactics of the Blade. Cultivation typically required absolute concentration, so doing it while at work might not seem to be the best idea; however, thanks to the simplistic nature of the Tactics of the Blade that made practice feasible, Wang Tong found it rather convenient and time-saving.

Ever since he took on the job of delivering the mails, the girls of dormitory number five had become pleasantly cooperative. As long as he kept the mail service going, and occasionally revealed one or two insignificant details about Hu Yangxuan, the girls would be content enough to even remain quiet about his occasional absence at work.

Hu Yangxuan and Ma Xiaoru had remained the most popular students in Ayrlarng. Despite the fact that they were distractions to other students, Samantha did nothing to curtail their fame. She knew that idols with positive images would be more effective than any of her policies when it came down to improve student morale.

Despite their similar popularity, there was still a gap between Ma Xiaoru and Hu Yangxuan regarding their overall abilities. Ma Xiaoru's family background and the level of tactics she practiced had set her apart from Hu Yangxuan. Samantha had reckoned that Ma Xiaoru's future would not belong to Ayrlarng since she had been the cream of the crop ever since her birth. But unlike other students from the five major households, Ma Xiaoru was rather approachable, which made her even more popular among students. Many boys and girls quickly followed her lead and soon, their combined effort had breathed a new life into the school that had been mired in decadence. Samantha believed that a positive environment would nurture a sense of belonging and eventually, the students would study hard, not because of the threat of monthly tests, but because they cared for the name and reputation of their school.

Despite Wang Tong's impressive grades in a few particular classes, one could barely notice him on a typical day. Unlike some students who liked to hog the limelight, Wang Tong would rather avoid the attentions. He had seen at first hand the damages done to Hu Yangxuan's sanity due to unwanted attentions. Ever since Hu Yangxuan entered the A-Class, he was pestered by swarms of relentless admirers, some were beautiful, but most of them were not.

Wang Tong, on the other hand, lived a quieter and happier life. He was content with everything in his life except for the lack of money. That being said, Wang Tong still worried about Zhou Sisi's animosity during that run-in with her a few days ago. Although Zhou Sisi didn't stage another coup against him, Wang Tong had a nagging feeling that she was up to something again. Wang Tong scratched his head and thought, "Gee. Why does she hate me so much?"

"Wang Tong!" a sweet voice interrupted his cultivation. "Speaking of the devil," Wang Tong thought as he slowly pulled his consciousnesses back into reality but leaving only enough to maintain the ongoing cultivation inside of his body.

"Hi, Zhou Sisi, what's up?" Wang Tong managed to put on a friendly smile.

Zhou Sisi regarded Wang Tong in surprise, and then she asked, "Were you cultivating?"

"Ah, nope. I was just thinking about things."

Zhou Sisi's eyebrows furrowed, she did not believe Wang Tong's answer, but she didn't want to be nosy either, so she dropped her suspicion and moved on.

"I have tried the clone technique, but it didn't work. So..." Zhou Sisi gritted her teeth, feeling ashamed of asking for help, "Please, teach me how to do it."

"Teach you?" Her directness disheveled Wang Tong. In the moment of shock and disbelieve, Wang Tong noticed Zhou Sisi's supple red lips that formed a lovely pout, making her look impetuous but cute.

Seeing Wang Tong had hesitated, Zhou Sisi dug her heels in and announced, "Yes. I will help you too if you help me. If you need my assistance, I guarantee you that I will help you as much as I can."

Wang Tong's mind raced, weighing his options and risks. Teaching her the clone technique would be easy enough, but he was not sure if he could fit the training in his already-busy schedule. On the other hand, if he was able to pacify his only enemy in the dormitory number five, he would be absent at work every day, and no one would ever report him to the principal. He didn't do much at work, and nothing bad had ever happened before he took on the job anyways.

"It is my pleasure to help you," Wang Tong spoke with a seemingly open manner after making up his mind.

People may listen to you better if you let them owe you a favor - Quote by Old Fart.

Zhou Sisi was shocked at Wang Tong's generous gesture; she had thought that Wang Tong might leverage his secrets to make unreasonable demands.

"When can we start?"

"How about after my shift? It might be a bit late; I hope you are OK with it?" Wang Tong was planning to exercise after work, and he didn't mind taking Zhou Sisi with him.

"Forget about work, let's do it now."

"But..."

"Com'on, you know how much the girls in dormitory number five treasured your mail service, no one would tell on you, even if you were absent for the entire shift," Zhou Sisi said. Truth be told, she was the only person that might have reported him, but then even she needed his help.

Zhou Sisi watched Wang Tong in surprise as he unlocked the training room. "How did you get the key? One of Ma Xiaoru's privilege again?"

Wang Tong shook his head, without noticing the hint of Zhou Sisi's animosity toward Ma Xiaoru, "Nah, Principal Samantha gave it to me. I was chosen as one of the team members attending the tournament against Bernabeu; she gave it to me so that I can come here to train at any time. We have to make sure everything is cleaned and put away after we use it though."

"Ah right, the tournament! You said you had been chosen? I thought they were still in the process of screening candidates." Zhou Sisi did not seem to be surprised by the fact that Wang Tong, an F-Class student was chosen to be on the team. She had seen his grades and knew that Wang Tong would have entered A-Class if the school had only considered his METAL combat score and ignored the rest.

"Yes, I think the principal had picked a few more candidates and made a list based on overall grades, you were almost number three on the list I think," Wang Tong said as he scratched his head, trying to remember the list.

"Almost? I AM the number three! You think only the princess from FFC could have good grades don't you!" Zhou Sisi hissed.

"Nah, you are thinking too much." Wang Tong shrugged and wondered why girls were so much snappier than boys.

Chapter 57: Information Overload

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

A rush of adrenaline swept through Wang Tong's body as soon as he turned on the training terminal. While being busy with the monthly test, Wang Tong had almost forgotten just how much he had enjoyed the thrills of performing challenging techniques—an acquired taste that he had developed on Norton. As the crisis of the monthly test had been averted, Wang Tong's life started to become mundane, and the desire for more challenges resurfaced.

He gave himself a hard time during the last simulation and injured his fingers, but he thought that was simply the way it was: no pain, no gain. His injuries were minor anyways.

"You can watch me do it first. It was a Kaedeian's technique. Speaking of the Kaedeians, we could really learn a thing or two from them regarding space battles. I have been experimenting one of their methods, which I believe could be used by Earthlings after some modifications," Wang Tong's said with a serious tone; he was always serious when talking about battle techniques.

"I have gone through the theories, and I just need to see how it is done so that I can try to follow."

"Ok, watch me. Keep in mind that the system pre-set these targets so it would be more difficult in real-life since the enemies can pop up anywhere around us," Wang Tong said as he flexed his fingers. Although the technique looked simple, it was tough to pull it off correctly.

Wang Tong looked at the screen and marked sixty targets in his mind and then rested his wrist on the dashboard. He had only one second to respond to all sixty targets; it required not only superhuman reflexes but also endurance for the enormous strain placed on his body from the lightning speed movements.

Then the simulation started; a bright light flashed across the room and then came a deafening blare; all sixty targets were locked on at once. Success!

Wang Tong flexed his fingers again and heaved a sigh of relief. His balance had improved a great deal since last practice. "You can try it with sixty targets, let's keep it simple for now."

An awkward silence fell.

Zhou Sisi stared at Wang Tong in disbelieve, "You expect me to do the same thing?"

"Yea. That's the clone technique." Wang Tong was perplexed by Zhou Sisi's hesitation. He had executed the technique by the textbook, and it indeed worked.

"Are you a freak or a mutant? I have seen what you did there, and it definitely wasn't the clone technique, not even a Kaedeians could have repeated what you just did." Zhou Sisi threw a suspicious look at Wang Tong.

"Really? I thought that was how everyone did it." Wang Tong scratched his head and wondered why Zhou Sisi made a big deal out of such an ordinary technique.

Zhou Sisi pushed away her pride, mustered her courage and then asked, "Can you show me again? It was too fast." It went without saying that Wang Tong's method was different than Kaedeians since the later would never willingly gave away the crux of their military secret in any training guide they had published. Zhou Sisi had a gut feeling that Wang Tong's method was somehow even better than the Kaedeians.

"Yea, of course. Here, look!" Wang Tong repeated everything in slow motion.

The awkward silence fell again.

Zhou Sisi had always been very proud of her quick mind and swift movements, but then she felt devastatingly ashamed for her pride after seeing Wang Tong's speed.

After a while, Zhou Sisi asked hesitantly, "Can you please slow down your speed even more?"

"No problem." Wang Tong cracked a smile. He broke down his movements into different sections and demonstrated each section to Zhou Sisi. "Is it clear now? What I have shown you were set movements, it was meant for training the synchronization of your left and right hands. Everyone's synchronization is slightly different. Give it some time; you will get the gist of it."

Zhou Sisi didn't reply; she was too busy memorizing Wang Tong's movements. She then quickly realized that to complete the full set of actions under a mere second, she would need soul energy of at least a hundred sols which was almost impossible for a first-year student. Should her calculation be correct, Wang Tong should have been highly sought after by even the S-Class Academies, let along Ayrlarng.

"What made you come to Ayrlarng?" Zhou Sisi asked abruptly.

"It's close to home," Wang Tong answered casually and went on with his training. He had already grown accustomed to the question since many before her had asked the same thing. His answer wasn't far from the truth since he had planned to stay somewhere close to home to wait for Old Fart's return.

Zhou Sisi was speechless at his answer; she watched as he quickly engrossed himself in his training. She knew that he had lied to her again, and his too-cool-to-care kind of demeanor gave Zhou Sisi an urge to punch him in the face.

Personal feelings aside, she wouldn't help but marvel at how quickly Wang Tong had immersed himself in his training as if he had forgotten about her existence. She didn't bother herself to talk to him again; she had her own work to do. She went on with rehearsing what she had remembered while watching Wang Tong's demonstration. She always had a knack of memorizing things among many other things that she was naturally good at. Although her exposure to tactics came at a much later age than most S-Class students, which explained her gap with them, she firmly believed that through hard work, she would eventually catch up with, if not surpass, those who used to be better than her.

Unlike Wang Tong, who always rushed into actions and made decisions on the spot, Zhou Sisi was much more calculating and cautious before attempting a move. She didn't jump right into training; instead, she pulled out a notebook and detailed every single movement that she had recorded in her brain. When she was done, not even a slightest detail of Wang Tong's demonstration was missed in the notes. Yet again, she had held off the training and rehearsed the entire set of movement in her mind, paying attentions to how movements were connected with one another and measuring the nuances of the simplest maneuvers.

Meanwhile, Wang Tong was engrossed in the sea of information stored within Ayrlarng's information bank, the equivalent of a library. It contained space battle technique of all races but only provided high-level summaries of many advanced techniques without getting into details. Nevertheless, the amount of information was impressive, a result of decade-long development and expansions. The information bank stood out as the only achievement of former principals before Samantha.

Despite the wealth of information, it was not properly categorized and was ill-maintained, most likely due to the lack of interests among students since many of the techniques were too hard to be understood by Ayrlarng's students.

Although the year spent on Norton had hardened Wang Tong's body and sharpened his mind, he had never learned any battle techniques directly from Mr. Wannabe. Instead, he only scraped bits and pieces of advice by himself after he slowly picked up experiences while fighting with the Zergs. Upon returning to Earth, he was immediately mesmerized by the plethora of techniques deployed by TPA fighters and craved that one day he would be able to learn them all. Therefore, as soon as he had discovered the information bank, he was quickly drawn to it, satisfied and filled with joy after he had mastered a new technique recorded within. The pleasure was comparable to that of slaughtering a new-found species of the Zergs, which Wang Tong would quickly disembowel upon ending its life, throw the carcass into the cauldron and then enjoy its flesh when it was cooked. Sometimes he worried if the new species of Zerg he had just eaten was poisonous, but so far, he hadn't gotten sick even once.

Chapter 58: What Have You Done to Me

Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Tehrn

The two students had lost track of time while being immersed in their own world. After a long while, Zhou Sisi was assailed by a sudden dizziness. Upon recovering her consciousness, she glanced at a clock and realized that she had been here with Wang Tong for over four hours.

She turned her head around to call out to Wang Tong, and then she registered something was off. Wang Tong sat motionless in a chair, images were projected in front of him from the information bank, and they were flashing quickly one after another. A bright light shined in Wang Tong's unblinking eyes, flickering in unison with the flashing of the images.

Even though Zhou Sisi had never learned any higher level tactics, she would still sense something extraordinary and potentially harmful was happening to Wang Tong.

"Could it be..." Zhou Sisi gasped as soon as she saw Wang Tong's face; its paleness had confirmed her speculation. He had linked his soul energy with the information bank, forming a "virtual bond". It was so dangerous even the word "virtual bond" was banned at the school.

"What a fool!" Zhou Sisi cursed.

Zhou Sisi had learned from the books that the best method to break a virtual bond was to interfere the bond with soul energy since physical disturbance would only startle the entrapped mind and exacerbate the situation. However, Zhou Sisi was also aware of the risks involved: if the rescuer's soul energy was too weak compared to the one that was trapped, the latter might engulf the former. Seeing Wang Tong's condition was worsening by the second, Zhou Sisi had no time to calculate her options and risks.

Zhou Sisi channeled her soul energy to her fingertip, and carefully, she approached Wang Tong. Thanks to her strenuous effort in practicing the tactics, Zhou Sisi's soul energy had reached a reading of thirty sols, a very impressive amount compared to other first-year students. However, as soon as the tip of her finger touched Wang Tong's body, her soul energy was sucked into a dark void, taking her consciousness with it. A giant wave of soul energy rushed into her dantian and swept across her body. The magnitude of Wang Tong's soul energy made her felt helpless. She felt as if her soul energy was a little puddle while compared to the sea of energy inside of Wang Tong.

Her attempt was not entirely fruitless. Zhou Sisi managed to send a trickle of warm current into Wang Tong's body and thawed his frozen mind. Wang Tong then finally realized the dire situation he was in.

Feeling impatient with the speed of learning new battle techniques, Wang Tong connected his soul energy with the information bank, an act that was banned by the school due to its dangerous nature. However, the thirst for new knowledge urged Wang Tong to ignore the warning. After the first contact, he was immediately consumed by the sea of information and gradually lost grip of reality, until he was awakened by the beckoning of Zhou Sisi's soft and warm energy.

Wang Tong started to taper the intensity of his tactics, reducing the number of GN nodes. When he finally reduced it down to sixteen nodes, Wang Tong had already fully recovered his consciousness. There and then, Wang Tong just demonstrated what had set the Tactics of the Blade apart from the other five major tactics, for, more advanced the other five might be, none of them would allow the cultivator to pull out of a virtual bond harmlessly like the Tactics of the Blade.

Zhou Sisi plopped to the ground as she lost the last bit of control of her mind and body. Wang Tong's soul energy was simply too much for her. Truth be told, Wang Tong would be able to wake up even without her help since he would have sensed the depletion of his soul energy. It might take him a few more days to recover from the dent on his soul reserve, but it wasn't anything life-threatening.

Wang Tong took a deep breath, as he turned off the remaining flickering images in his mind and then hurried to pick up Zhou Sisi. At first, he couldn't help but lament over Zhou Sisi's recklessness, and then he thought that it might have been his fault, for he shouldn't have used his tactics to bond with the information bank while other students were present. He was no longer on Norton, where his action had little to no implications for other humans; here on Earth, everything he did had consequences.

"I better keep a low profile," he reminded himself.

Wang Tong turned off the terminal and locked the door, cradling Zhou Sisi in the nook of his arms, he scurried toward his room. There was no one out about at this hour, which made things a bit more convenient for him.

After arrived at his room, he lowered Zhou Sisi onto his bed, and then he placed his left hand on her forehead, right hand on her belly. Wang Tong wasn't comfortable with having so much intimacy with a girl, but he knew that he had to act fast. He quickly channeled his soul energy into her dantian, and immediately, he could feel the violent swirls and turns of her unruly energy, thrusting about inside of her. Wang Tong took a deep breath and tapped further into the source of her energy. The reckless energy suddenly lost its momentum, and in a matter of seconds, Zhou Sisi's soul energy was moving in unison under Wang Tong's command. Wang Tong guided her energy around the body, untying nodes and ties that would have hindered the movement. Wang Tong let Zhou Sisi's soul energy encircled her body six times until it was moving like water, swift and sleek. The accident earlier ended up to be a blessing in disguise for Zhou Sisi: not only Wang Tong had saved her life, but he had also streamlined the passage of soul energies and therefore increased its power.

Wang Tong slowly and reluctantly removed his hand from Zhou Sisi's smooth belly. To save her life, He only needed to guide her energy around her body three times, but for some unspeakable reasons, he had kept his hand on her belly, enjoying every inch of her flesh while he was at it.

"Women are demons,

Women are vicious,

Women are the source of all evil."

-Quote from Old Fart

Those were the words Old Fart used to tell Wang Tong's ear since he was a child. After Wang Tong had grown up, he realized that those were simply grunts uttered by an old and bitter man. This was the first time Wang Tong touched a girl, and it gave him an irresistible impulse to getting in on the act.

Wang Tong knew he had to divert his attention quickly; otherwise, he might have done things that he would regret later. Among all the girls Wang Tong had met, Zhou Sisi would have ranked the third most attractive, closely following Samantha and Ma Xiaoru. She was more down to earth than "the Princess", Ma Xiaoru, and more approachable than "the Queen", Samantha. She was the closest to the definition of love's young dream, sweet and simple, like the girl next door that would smile at him every time she passed the window.

Wang Tong rushed into the bathroom and turned on the cold tap, letting the cold water dousing on his blazing desire. He stayed in the shower for another ten minutes until he calmed himself down. But as soon as Wang Tong walked out of the bathroom, he saw Zhou Sisi's smooth belly and the marble colored skin that was unmarred by any imperfection. Wang Tong's dantian exploded once again.

The insolent energy in Wang Tong thrust about, seeking release. As if pulled by an invisible force, Wang Tong inched toward Zhou Sisi's body. Suddenly, Wang Tong thought of Samantha, and the thought cooled him down quickly, giving him an opportunity to start the tactics to set his mind to where it belonged. He quickly covered Zhou Sisi's body with more clothing and laid a thick blanket on the floor as his bed.

However, it was hard to fall asleep with such a beauty right beside him.

"Sleep... Sleep... Sleep," Wang Tong kept on repeating to himself.

Racing thoughts of that smooth belly and what led further down south kept on returning to Wang Tong's mind, some of the thoughts came with vivid images, and some relied more on Wang Tong's imaginations.

Wang Tong gritted his teeth and pressed hard in between his groin as if it was a warning for its impudent behavior, it bounced back immediately, more impudent than ever. Frustrated and ashamed, Wang Tong raised his fist high up and was ready to deliver a coup de grace, but he faltered as he remembered how fragile it was.

This went on for a while, and Wang Tong endured the flame of desire for the most part of the night before he eventually dozed off.

However, he didn't get the chance to sleep for too long and was awakened by an angry yelp very early in the morning.

"What have you done to me, Wang Tong?" Wang Tong rubbed his eyes and saw Zhou Sisi sat angrily on the bed, staring at him as if she was ready to skin him alive.