Sliding open the door to his classroom, Ian went in and navigated directly to his seat.
Although the noise took a brief pause, they soon rose up again albeit slightly lower than before. The students in this classroom seemed to not be as cautious of Ian as the students outside.
"Hey, hey! Did you hear about what happened to Bull and Lee?" An excited girl asked her friend eagerly with the spirit to gossip.
"Yeah, I did! Everyone did. It was such a huge matter after all. Lots of people were involved. I heard that some were even expelled!" Her friend replied back, just as gossipy as her friend.
"Urgh, they deserve it though. Who told them to take money forcefully from other students. Everyone knows that they're bullies but no one dared to out them, what with Bull's dad being a sponsor of the school." The girl who started this topic said with a snort as her friend nodded in agreement. Even some of the classmates listening in on their conversations nodded their heads unanimously.
"Bull and that Lee always stood at the forefront of making trouble and making other people's lives miserable. Their followers are just as bad though, they also aided in harassing others for no reason. Even if there were one, it's because they find the other person displeasing to their eye."
"But how did they get caught? There's no way anyone in their sane mind would expose all the wrongdoings they committed, unless they were a fool."
"Well, one of them was a fool, I tell you! I was there that day and watched the whole thing happen from beginning to end. Apparently, Bull stole some money from Lee and Lee found out, that's why Lee stormed into the classroom to confront Bull! But Bull wouldn't admit it, so Lee became more and more agitated and used his fists!
"Then the two of them started fighting and other classmates who tried to pull them apart were also pulled into the mix. Eventually the fight was split up by the teachers who came quite a while after the fight started because everyone watching was pulled into the fight and so no one had the time to call for a teacher. It wasn't until the noise and disturbance got so loud that the other classrooms heard it and went to get a teacher that some teachers came and pulled them all apart like pulling radish from the ground!"
"Even so, just a fight won't get them expelled. What happened after?"
"Of course not! You can get suspended for a fight but not expelled, except in the case where the fight's consequence is too serious. It was not the case with this fight so it wasn't the fight that expelled them. It was the aftereffect of the fight that caused them to be expelled!
"Because Lee was stirred up by the fight and the anger in his heart constantly churned since he thought Bull stole his money, he exploded when he saw the principal who came with some sponsors of the school. Apparently that day was the day the principal showed potential sponsors of the school a tour of the 'wonderful' school they should invest in.
"Lee idiotically spilled about all the bad deeds and bullying they did to their classmates just to prove a point, that since Bull had a prior record of stealing from others he could definitely steal from Lee as well. I seriously don't understand how his brain works, wasn't he picking up a rock and smashing himself in the foot with it? He would also get into trouble for what they did together.
"Anyways, after that… You can obviously tell what happened afterwards. The principal got furious from embarrassment. Could you imagine it? I can. After all, he had just been proudly bragging about how good his school was and the many reasons why the sponsors should invest in them, and then Lee came and slapped him in the face harshly. How could he not get mad? But getting mad wasn't important, it was that he had to recover his face and keep up the image of his school or their reputations would both be ruined.
"So the principal made the decision to expel both Bull and Lee from school for their wicked acts and unrepentant attitudes, declaring that they were unfit for this clean and pure school. Bull's father also couldn't stop this because to the principal one sponsor gone can be replaced by the new willing sponsors who were very generous after seeing the way he handled this matter."
"Yeah, I heard that the principal acted so mighty and like a bringer of justice when he suspended so many students at once for following Bull and Lee's lead in bullying their fellow classmates and extorting money from them."
"Uh-huh, he was being super pretentious but it's not like those sponsors would know. And the scene at that time, oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe it. It was like a party celebrating their liberation. All the students cheered like crazy after the principal announced their unified expulsion. Everyone was so happy. Not to deceive you, but I also screamed very loudly from happiness. They've been taking a lot of money from me lately and I can't keep coming up with excuses for my mom for the extra spending allowance."
"I agree with you."
"Oh! Plus, the principal also made them return all the money they took back to their owners."
"Really?! That's awesome!" The girl squealed in exhilaration with her friend at the news. She'll be getting her money back!
Listening to their conversation that wasn't exactly hushed, Ian smiled.
The bell rang. The classroom door slid open again to reveal the teacher coming in for the last lesson of the day.
"Good evening, students. Today we'll be learning…"
*****
The school bell rang to signal the period ending.
The teacher and students bid each other farewell, then the teacher walked out and the students started packing up to go home.
Ian's desk and bag were very neat, so it took him no time at all to finish packing before others and headed out.
Like before, the hall instantly turned into a graveyard when Ian appeared. Even a single sound was a luxury besides the sound of Ian's leather shoes tapping the wooden floorboard as he walked.
Exiting the school doors, it was when Ian had passed the school gates that a gust of wind blew by gently, brushing Ian's bangs against his eyes causing him to blink. When he opened them again, he saw Shade in front of him taking the school bag from his hands.
In front of the school gate a low-profile luxury car stopped. Shade stepped forward to open the car door as Ian smoothly sat into the car.
Shade closed the door and walked to the passenger seat, got in, and slammed the door shut.
The car took off.
"Shade," Ian called as he looked out at the passing scenery.
"Yes, master?" Shade answered quickly without a pause.
"Did you do what I ordered you to?"
"Yes," Shade answered affirmatively and handed a paper document file to Ian.
Ian took it and looked at the first page.
On the front page printed the words [Intel Gathered on Sling Bonds] and a sneak shot picture of Sling.
Flipping the page, Ian read through the entire thing.
Sling Bonds, known for his flawless frauds and scams and spotless records, was hailed as the invincible swindler among swindlers. Not only self-proclaimed but also acknowledged by everyone in his line of work.
In the previous life, Ian had first met Sling in an illegal gambling casino. Ian had been there to spy out an important subordinate of his enemy, and that's when he saw Sling cheat through every game in the casino, winning a ton of money before running when the casino people found out he cheated.
The first time he heard of Sling's name and the second time he saw him was on the national TV news broadcast. If it weren't for his wife and son crying out for him, even his real name wouldn't have been known to the world. That was how good he was at not getting caught and giving out his real information.
The reporter in the monitor had stated that he had been arrested for fraud, scams, and a lot of other charges for crimes of deceitful acts.
He would've gotten away with everything through his clever and perfectly organized schemes if it weren't for the betrayal of his colleague and partner in crime.
If it wasn't for his partner telling on him to the police, Sling could have blindfolded the world until he peacefully retired and laid to rest.
This Sling person possessed unimaginably high intellect and was street smart and smooth with his words and actions.
He could assume the identities of several people without others suspecting a thing.
He could sell a piece of rock for the worth of gold if he wanted to. Which he had indeed done in Ian's previous life, shocking countless people at how that's possible.
"Good. Good work, Shade."
Shade smiled. "This is nothing. Information gathering is one of my specialities."
Ian smiled as well. Yes, he already knew. It wasn't widely known, but the assassin Shadow Fang also worked as a talented information gatherer for the organization he previously belonged to. Although killing was his main job and information gathering was just a side job he occasionally did. Everytime he took a job for it, he would find the information somehow with perfect accuracy and detail. However, this fact was not known to the majority of people.
Now Ian was making good use of it.
Shade did not ask Ian how he knew about his talent in information gathering. He believed that there was more to Ian than what he showed to others. Shade held an unexplainable belief and trusting attitude towards Ian's every command and act.
Tapping the document in his hand, Ian masked his face outwardly with a polite smile constantly held to his lips while he smirked with cold calculations inwardly.
'My next target of subordination will be you… Sling Bonds.'