Hu Feng walked towards Qi Shaorong, heavily patted Qi Shaorong's shoulders, and said, "Disciple, well done!"
"Disciple?" Qi Shaorong said, feeling a little confused.
Li Hong saw Qi Shaorong's reaction and the corner of his mouth twitched. Before Qi Shaorong came out, Hu Feng kept on calling him his disciple. Li Hong thought that the master-disciple relationship between the Principal and Qi Shaorong was already nailed down. As it turns out, the master-disciple relationship between the Principal and Qi Shaorong hasn't even been established yet?
Hu Feng straightened up and said, "I've already given you guidance for so long, why can't I be your master?"
Qi Shaorong looked at Hu Feng and said: "You're right. Master over-praises me, my performance was just average."
Qi Shaorong lowered his eyes, and secretly thought: During this competition, he had offended too many people. Since Hu Feng wanted to be his master, he would naturally accept this backing to rely on. After all, Hu Feng is a level nine expert, and keeping up with this facade would be good enough.
Li Hong: "…" His performance was just average?
Li Hong secretly thought: Qi Shaorong is really too modest. That guy's actions angered so many people, and Li Hong didn't know just how many of those here wanted to kill off Qi Shaorong.
Hu Feng took the belt from Qi Shaorong's hands and said: "You seem to have been tricked by Zhuang Hao. This belt is not a space storage item but is an ordinary belt. The earring on his ear is the real storage item."
Qi Shaorong sharply narrowed his eyes, and his face was so gloomy that it was terrifying.
Qi Shaorong grinded his teeth and said: "I didn't expect that Zhuang Hao would actually lie. I really should have completely stripped him of everything."
Qian Mian came over to Qi Shaorong and said: "Don't worry, we still have a shot at winning. Didn't you swipe the level eight monster crystal nuclei from Zhuang Hao? That should be worth a lot of points.
Qi Shaorong snorted coldly, and his gaze was frosty.
"Students of all colleges, please line up and prepare your points to be counted." In the broadcast, the referee's voice was heard.
Hu Feng looked at Qi Shaorong, waved his hands and said: "Go."
Qi Shaorong nodded and walked towards the platforms where the students' harvests were being counted.
Most of the students from Tianlan College who had participated in the competition didn't meet Qi Shaorong and Qian Mian in the secret dimension. They didn't know what had happened. Several of the students had a strange look on their faces when they overheard the conversations about Qi Shaorong and Qian Mian.
Qi Shaorong crossed his arms, and stood at the very end of the line with Qian Mian.
From time to time, several of the students from Tianlan College looked back curiously at Qi Shaorong and Qian Mian.
Zhuang Hao was waiting in another line that was very close to Qi Shaorong. When the two people's eyes met, sparks flew everywhere.
"I had thought that Young Master Zhuang was such a fair and upright person, but it turned out to be nothing of the sorts."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong coldly and said, "For extraordinary people, you need to use extraordinary means. Does Young Master Qi not think that using drugs on me was too underhanded [1]?"
Qi Shaorong sneered, "What's so underhanded about it? It just means that I'm resourceful. You're the one who's easy to trick, how can you blame me?"
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said: "Then I also don't think that there's anything wrong with tricking people."
Qi Shaorong stared at Zhuang Hao and said, "Zhuang Hao, I have something to tell you."
"I would like to hear it." Zhuang Hao said.
"Your body is in terrible shape and you stink of perspiration. It's fuming me to death." Qi Shaorong said.
Zhuang Hao: "…"
Yi Fan: "…"
Zhuang Hao didn't bother talking to Qi Shaorong anymore, and said to Yi Fan, "I didn't expect that in addition to Qi Shaorong, Tianlan College also had a hidden expert like you."
Yi Fan smiled and said: "With only my measly ability level, of course I couldn't catch your attention."
Zhuang Hao smiled and said, "Classmate Qian Mian is too modest."
Yi Fan, Qi Shaorong, and Zhuang Hao were talking to the side, and the atmosphere between the three was very tense. The students who had lined up near them were all straining their ears to try and listen in on the conversation.
"Student Qi's harvest is very good! Although there are only a few six-coloured and seven-coloured stones, the level-eight crystal nucleus alone is worth a thousand points."
Qi Shaorong smiled and said, "It's all because I relied on Zhuang Hao's good fortune. It's really such a shame, that no matter how prepared I was for this competition, I would never have been prepared for the fact that the Zhuang family's Young Master Zhuang, who is known as the glory of the emperor, would actually lie to me. If I had known that, then I would���ve completely stripped him bare earlier." [2]
Yi Fan looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "His space storage item is an earring. Even if you stripped him, it would be useless!"
"Well at least I could've vented my anger!" Qi Shaorong waved his hands dismissively.
Zhuang Hao stood on the side with a gloomy face, and the eyes of all the nearby competitors fell on Zhuang Hao. Zhuang Hao's face was dark, and his body posture gave off an unapproachable vibe.
After the scores from each school were calculated, Tianlan College ranked first with 4832 points, Shenghuang University ranked second with 4756 points, Mingya University ranked third with 1876 points. Tianlan College just narrowly beat Shenghuang University by a difference of less than 100 points.
Qi Shaorong looked at the scores, raised a corner of his mouth, and let out a breath of relief, "Fortunately, although there were some problems, the result of Tianlan College winning first place remained the same."
"Zhuang Hao is too strong. He pretty much took care of the entire level six monster area by himself, and almost all the colourful stones from that area ended up in his hands. Too bad, if you had managed to take Zhuang Hao's earrings, then Shenghuang University would have ranked in last place this time. The expression on Lu Ming that old guy's face would have been good to see." Hu Feng grinned.
Qi Shaorong smiled and didn't speak.
"If only the competition time could have lasted a little longer, then it would've been enough for you to find out the truth about the belt." Hu Feng said regretfully.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "If there had been more time, then the final outcome would've been unclear. The power of the medicinal powder that I used is limited, and Zhuang Hao probably could've recovered after waiting a little longer."
He Feng: "… Zhuang Hao, that guy, really is favoured by the heavens. You need not compare yourself to him."
Qi Shaorong: "…"
Li Hong came over, leaned in and said to Hu Feng: "Principal, Yi family's Yi Huo already came out, but Yi Bing hasn't come out yet."
Qi Shaorong's face remained unchanged, but there was a faint glimmer of light in his eyes. Yi Bing shouldn't have died in there, right? Qi Shaorong glanced at Yi Fan. Yi Fan just lazily stood there to the side, his face no different from the usual.
Every time during the Hundred Schools Competition, there'd always be some people who would be unable to come out of the secret dimension for various reasons. Some of them lost their teleporting talismans, some could have died in the mouths of monster beasts, and others could have just been killed… No matter what, those people's points would be counted as invalid.
"Yi Bing, like Chen Yuan, is just a knockoff product, it's no surprise that he can't get out." Hu Feng raised his chest high, appearing as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Speaking of it, in the light projection screen, we only saw that Yi Bing entered the level seven area, and there was no activity from him afterwards. Could he have been eaten by the monster beasts?" Li Hong said worriedly.
"This problem is something that Lu Ming, that guy, has to worry about, it has nothing to do with us." Hu Feng said.
"Of the ten contestants from Shenghuang University, only three made it to the end. Even if Zhuang Hao alone still managed to secure second place for Shenghuang University, it's still enough for us to laugh at." Hu Feng happily said.
There was a flash of light in Qi Shaorong's eyes. Could Yi Bing, that guy, still be alive?
Yi Ya, the principal of Mingya University, brought over a few female students and walked towards Qi Shaorong. "Student Qi, Student Qian, you two have done really well!"
Qi Shaorong and Qian Mian glanced at each other and said: "Principal Yi is flattering us."
Yi Ya smiled narrowly, and approached Qi Shaorong, saying: "Student Qi, how's Young Master Zhuang Hao's figure?"
Qi Shaorong smiled and said: "It's only so-so."
"Student Qi, if you have time, you can come to our university and take a look around. Zhuang Hao has eyes but can't even recognize something precious that's right in front of him [3], but the students at our university are definitely aware of the goods. As the saying goes, there's so much grass in the world, why love only a single blade of grass alone? We have many beauties at our university, and they're not any worse than Zhuang Hao." Yi Ya said.
Qi Shaorong cupped his hands and said: "Principal Yi is too kind."
Yi Ya looked at Qian Mian and said: "The relationship between Student Qian and Student Yi seems to be pretty good! Mingya University also welcomes you!"
Yi Fan nodded slightly towards Yi Ya.
Hu Feng frowned, secretly thinking: It's not easy for Tianlan College to produce two good seedlings [4]. Now Yi Ya, this woman, couldn't wait to snatch their prized students. [5]
Qi Shaorong asked Yi Fan jokingly: "That Huang Feixue who's standing beside Yiya seems to have been staring at you this entire time! Have you offended her?"
"Inside the secret dimension, she met me while I was pretending to be "Chen Yuan". She thought that it's too unfair for someone like "Chen Yuan" to occupy a position as one of the Seven Imperial Talents while she didn't have a spot, and insisted on fighting me." Yi Fan said.
"Well then, did you steal her stuff?" Qi Shaorong asked.
Yi Fan nodded and said: "Yes."
"Good thinking! Fortunately you robbed her, otherwise the first place winner would have been unclear." Qi Shaorong said with shining eyes.
Yi Fan: "…"
Hu Feng: "…"
Li Hong looked at Yi Fan and Qi Shaorong and asked, "Are you two students familiar with each other?"
"We've known each other for some years," said Qi Shaorong.
Li Hong nodded and said: "No wonder."
"Student Qian Mian usually seems to act very lowkey at the college! If it weren't for the Hundred Schools Competition, I wouldn't have known that the college was hiding an expert like you." Li Hong said.
"Someone once told me that the one who stands out is the first to die, so I kept a low profile.�� Yi Fan said coldly.
Li Hong was stunned by Yi Fan's straightforward words, "Student Qian Mian really seems to love keeping a low profile, yet this time you still competed for our college. This Vice Principal is very pleased."
"I didn't do it for the college, it's because Shaorong told me that if I helped, he'd give me 20% of the earnings made from the bets. That's why I worked so hard." Yi Fan said.
Li Hong: "…"
Hu Feng: "…"
Yi Fan looked at Hu Feng and Li Hong and said seriously: "20% is a lot of money."
Hu Feng swallowed his saliva and thought to himself: Most of the major gambling houses thought set the odds of Tianlan College winning first place as 1 to 20 or 1 to 30. If Qi Shaorong bet a million gold on Tianlan College, then he could win at least 20 million.
Hu Feng secretly thought: I've gotten too old, my courage really can't be compared to that of young people these days! He had also placed a little bet on Tianlan College winning, but he only dared to bet that Tianlan College would win a place in the top five, and he only bet 300 000. The odds of this bet were 1 to 1.5, so he'd only make a profit of 150 000. [6]
Footnotes:
Drugs: Could also be translated as medicine, but "drugs" sounds more shady lol.
No matter how prepared I was…: It makes more sense in Chinese, the original was something like "Regardless if I had made 1000 or 10000 calculations/plans, I never would have calculated/planned for the fact that Zhuang Hao would lie to me…"
Something precious: Originally translated as "jade inlaid with gold"… Or is it "gold inlaid with jade"? I'm not actually too sure, but yeah, it's meaning is "something precious."
Seedlings: Means student, pupil, someone you can instruct and raise up, kind of like a parent with their kids or a teacher with their students.
Snatch their prized students: Literally translates as "digging at the foot of the wall", the original meaning is that when you dig at the base of a wall, the wall will collapse. Nowadays, it means digging out the relevant personnel or technology of your competitors to maximize your own benefits.
Profit of 150 000: If the odds are 1 to 1.5 and Hu Feng bet 300 000, then on top of the original 300 000, he'd make a profit of 150 000 (300 000 x 1.5 = 450 000). (When I first read this, I was very confused because I thought the original text was saying that Hu Feng bet 300 000 but only gained back 150 000, so he lost the other 150 000, and I was just like, ok, that doesn't really make sense? Lol I guess I'm worse at math, and also reading Chinese, than I thought I was.)