"Reruns and the Evolution of Ancient Television Shows in Huaxiu Nation" was not an easy topic to cover. Take the TV show Princess Pearl, for example; at first glance, it was an inspirational cultivation show about the triumph of the underdog. But it involved a lot of era-specific culture, as well as dates that needed to be properly memorized, and the students would definitely be tested on these in the next monthly history exam.
Although they didn't have many classes for history, it was a compulsory course. If they failed the history class more than twice, they would have difficulty even obtaining their graduation certificate.
For this reason, even elite students like Lotus Sun and Super Chen were working very hard outside class hours.
Wang Ling, however, was different. Born with a photographic memory, he knew almost everything about Huaxiu nation's five-thousand-year-old history. In spite of that, he was still very willing to pay attention in Old Antique's class, since listening to the occasional gossip could be good for the mind and body.
The contrived and melodramatic plots of ancient TV shows were so terrible that they defied all reason; in Old Antique's own words, even if he finished using all the vulgar words to be found in the dictionary, they still wouldn't be enough to convey his despair.
When he was talking about something that frustrated him, Old Antique turned into a complete chatterbox, as unstoppable as endless, torrential waters.
"Of course, it can't be denied that among these ancient TV shows, there are still some fairly outstanding works, such as the mega military show Yidali Cannon, and The Xiao Family Compound, which describes how a family clan develops and changes with the times…"
When Old Antique said this, a number of people below the dais gave knowing smiles; they knew that Old Antique's time for gossip was about to begin.
"… I heard that recently, two students in this class were ambushed by organization assassins when they visited the park?"
Speaking about the Xiao Family Compound, there was no one in these last two days who didn't know that Wang Ling and Lotus Sun had encountered Shadow Stream assassins when they had visited the park.
The fact that Lotus Sun, the Young Miss of Huaguo Water Curtain Group, had almost been kidnapped by Shadow Stream was naturally an issue of extreme concern for the higher-ups at No. 60 High School.
Almost the instant after Lotus Sun had encountered this assassination attempt, Headmaster Chen had called for an emergency meeting. Patrols on school grounds and in the corridors were increased, and teachers spontaneously teamed up in groups of two to three to prevent assassins dispatched by Shadow Stream from making another attempt on Lotus Sun.
Outside the school, Huaguo Water Curtain Group had also specially employed round-the-clock bodyguards, who removed any suspicious people that might be lurking outside the school gate.
Shadow Stream's first mission had failed, but since the assassins had already received orders from the top, their modus operandi was to try every means of achieving their aim.
To safeguard their students, the teachers of No. 60 High School had run themselves ragged these last two days.
As a master of gossip who had been at the forefront of teaching for years, Old Antique's ability to dig up gossip was inconceivable, and was something Master of Dopey could only hope to match.
"This Shadow Stream organization is very mysterious, and the assassins they send out are known internationally for their incredibly high levels of professionalism. Huaxiu nation has never been able to properly curb their movements…"
Old Antique smiled slightly; the time for gossip was about to start.
"But as far as I know, the person pulling the strings behind the scenes is in fact in our country. Our school's legendary graduate Odd Zhuo previously put forward a proposal to suppress Shadow Stream's strength at the year-end general assembly of the General Administration of 100 Schools. After it was approved, the General Administration sent out a call, and gathered more than a hundred powerful Golden Core cultivators…"
Everyone was entranced. Super Chen couldn't help asking, "In the end, what happened?"
"Of course, they failed." Old Antique sighed, and shook his head with some regret.
"Everyone at that time had the same objective — to catch bandits, catch their ringleader first. After Operation Decapitation was given the go-ahead, more than a hundred cultivators on all types of flying swords swiftly advanced from all directions, completely surrounding the apartment that the leader of Shadow Stream was in. It was a real shame that in the end, that person was still able to escape! It was truly not because the cultivators weren't valiant enough, but that the enemy was too cunning!"
The students were in uproar; they had never thought that the General Administration of 100 Schools would actually plan such a tremendous and heroic undertaking.
Old Antique was worthy of his name — he was a history teacher with a profound understanding of literature. After a simple explanation of the ins and outs of Operation Decapitation, he concentrated on the key points of the story. Along with a few simple illusions and superb storytelling skills, he painted a perfect picture of the operation. Like watching a well-produced film, the audience felt as if they were part of the scene.
Sometimes Old Antique would picture bloody scenes that made some of the female students scream with fear again and again.
At the end of the story, Old Antique let out another long sigh. "Though Operation Decapitation failed in the end, it hadn't been a completely meaningless operation. Huaxiu nation's Anti-Terrorism Division was at least finally able to determine the gender of Shadow Stream's leader."
Super Chen teased, "The gender of Shadow Stream's leader? Don't tell me it's a big brother with a chest full of fur?"
Feather Lin immediately retorted, "It's definitely a repressed, short-tempered gangster shou!"
Master of Dopey pushed up his glasses. "It's possible that the great assassin behind the scenes is a dog-lover."
In the end, it was Old Antique who personally revealed the answer. "At that time, a group of cultivators raided the apartment only to discover that the leader had fled. It was very likely that the person had escaped in disguise among the cultivators who had taken part in Operation Decapitation, since Shadow Stream's leader is very good at transfiguration."
"Then how did they figure out the real gender of Shadow Stream's leader?"
"Mm, the main thing was that at the apartment which Shadow Stream's leader had been staying in, they discovered a recently opened pack of makeup. On the bed there was also a pair of bikini bottoms as well as a 36D… cough cough! Male students, you can picture it for yourselves. We're supposed to be serious in class, so unrelated, two-bit topics are not allowed!"
Checking the time, Old Antique tidied up his things on the dais, shamelessly putting the extra latiao into his pocket. "Alright, we'll stop here for today. There's no homework for today, everyone go back and look over the chapter for the next lesson on Journey to the West. Finally, remember to be careful when you're outside. If you encounter any bad guys, you can give me a call, I can shoot them dead with a piece of chalk!"
As he ended the class, Old Antique waved and left to the sound of the students' warm cheers.
The gender of Shadow Stream's leader had initially always been a topic of controversy outside. But after hearing Old Antique's gossip, it spread like wildfire throughout No. 60 High School that very day. No. 60 High School's
In a few short hours, headlines such as Almighty Gossip and so on had gone viral on leading network platforms.
After that, completely unexpected trouble showed up…
That afternoon, No. 60 High School's guard room received a letter of challenge from Shadow Stream.