Translated by: Taffy
Edited by: Frosty
Quiz 45: Declaring War
No one was around, just the walls and the school buildings. School hadn’t let out yet, so if they left through the entrance, they’d definitely be seized by the guard. Zhou Lun Yu unconfidently told everyone that there was possibly a back door, so they furtively slipped to the back of the school.
Rather than a back door, the place they’d arrived might as well be the area behind a mountain. The further in they went, the wider the area was, and there were many trees. The muddy ground gradually became buried by sandy soil.
“That’s right! There’s indeed a path at the back of the school that leads to Mt. Qing Xiu. This is the forest square, where students occasionally hold activities…” Zhou Lun Yu said with more certainty after looking around.
That meant they should be able to leave, right?
They were full of hope, but just as they were planning to walk towards the mountain, they suddenly sensed a dangerous gaze from the square pointed towards them!
When they turned around, they saw a student wearing the Qing Xin uniform standing behind them!
Sean?!
Wasn’t he in class just now, how…!
All of them were frozen, and they exchanged glances. None of them wanted to speak first.
The silence lasted for a long time. For some reason, traces of cold air seemed to be emitted between them. Eventually, Meng Ming’s fluent English finally broke the impasse.
“Ah, Sean, why are you here?” Although this dialogue wasn’t very appropriate, it was best to force some etiquette in after having met once before.
“Of course. We just got a break between classes to rest,” Sean replied. He was, instead, using the accurate Mandarin he’d spoken in class! “I should be asking you guys, why are you here?”
Just as Meng Ming was about to speak, Zhou Lun Yu stepped forward to hold him back. After staring at Sean for a while, he opened his mouth to say, “We just walked into the wrong class.”
“Stop beating around the bush.” The break between classes was short, so Sean didn’t want to waste time by idly chatting with them. “Are you guys…spies from other schools sent to scout out information? Which school?!”
They were unable to answer yet another question. Or it could be said that they had no clue how to respond.
“…Okay, let’s first put aside the question of what school you guys are from. First, I’d like to tell you all that even if you continue scouting around, it will be useless. Everyone here knows that the single spot in the Provincial University of Medicine will definitely be mine.”
“Hmph, you….” Having heard such arrogant lines, Zhou Lun Yu interjected, “Do you think you’re the best person in Qing Xin? I know someone even better than you.” Meng Ming and Huang Qiao Yi knew what Zhou Lun Yu was trying to get at. He was clearly talking about Qiao Shun Zhi, whose chemistry grades were even better than Sean’s.
“Oh? Is he from your school? Go ahead and tell me his name,” Sean asked. He seemed to have wanted to know this from the beginning, so he’d specifically come looking for them.
“I have no reason to tell you.” Zhou Lun Yu stopped talking, and called out for the others, about to turn around to continue walking into the mountains.
“Wait a minute!” Sean shouted at them. “Hurry up and tell me who that person is. Otherwise….” When they looked back, they saw that Sean had raised his hand to show the camera on his phone. “I’ve already taken pictures of your faces and the fact that you’re wearing the uniform. As long as I press send, you’ll be charged and reported for infiltrating another school to spy.”
The three of them immediately stopped in their tracks.
They hadn’t imagined that Sean would’ve prepared this!
Zhuge Meng Ming, are you ready? [Zhou Lun Yu]
Yea, destroy that cellphone before he presses send! [Meng Ming]
“Also, you’d better not think about using force. I’ve already sent these pictures to my brother.” Sean added, “If anything happens, I’m sure you guys know what the consequences would be.”
There was another moment of silence.
Who knew that the reason he’d saved us was…
He wanted to know who’d sent us. He believes that someone other than Qiao Shun Zhi is contesting for that position.
“How about it? It’s just an exchange of information. There’s no need to say that this person is the one who sent you to gather information.” Sean seemed pretty practiced in this kind of matter. “I’ve never thought anyone here could beat me in chemistry, but after hearing what you’ve said, I think that I’ve been careless. As long as you tell me who this person is, I’ll clear you of your crimes.”
Zhou Lun Yu couldn’t possibly say Qiao Shun Zhi’s name. He was already down with illness; if he was brought up, Sean would know their true reason for coming!
For a moment, none of them knew how to respond. “Hmph,” Zhou Lun Yu said to scare him. “He’s very amazing, so there’s absolutely no need to make us come gather information about you.”
“So it was like that. Then, as long as you can prove he’s stronger than me, there’s no motive for you guys to infiltrate the school. These pictures wouldn’t count as incriminating evidence either.” Sean still pressed, “So you should first tell me who this person is.”
“Tomorrow,” Zhou Lun Yu said. “I’ll bring him tomorrow.”
Tomorrow? [Huang Qiao Yi]
You’re joking…can we make it?! [Meng Ming]
Zhou Lun Yu thought that as long as they were able to get the Yilan root from the mountain top today, Qiao Shun Zhi would be able to start moving tomorrow!
“Tomorrow…is when the second years have supplementary lessons.” Sean thought a bit before responding, “Then it’s decided. I’ll have a duel against him tomorrow! Right here.” He pointed at the ground, indicating that he meant this forest square!
Duel?!
Competing in chemistry experiments?!
It was another terrifying proposal!
“Of course it’s a duel. How else would I confirm that he’s stronger than me?” Sean asked.
There was indeed no better method. But it was so sudden, would Qiao Shun Zhi take up the challenge when he awoke tomorrow? Based on the understanding they’d gained the past two days, as well as what the chemistry teacher had said just now, nobody could beat Sean aside from Qiao Shun Zhi!
He said he wanted to duel….
Zhou Lun Yu said, “You want to have a duel with him? Hmph, you’ll definitely lose.”
Sean wasn’t afraid of such measly words. Zhou Lun Yu believed that he should be able to make it and get Qiao Shun Zhi to come and go against Sean, so he even explicitly asked Sean about the rules.
Sean said, “Just like the rules we’re used to, you can bring one assistant. The subject of the chemistry experiment will be decided by the teacher alone. After we’ve met up here tomorrow, we can announce it then.” He said all this quite smoothly, and it looked like he had a lot of experience. Sean continued, “I’ll tell the teacher and any interested students. Tomorrow at 10am sharp, we’ll perform our experiments here!”
“Fine.” Zhou Lun Yu immediately agreed after seeing Sean’s arrogant appearance. “I’ll pass on the message. Then…”
Sean knew what Zhou Lun Yu wanted to say. He forcefully said, “I’ll keep the phone’s contents. You’d better not joke around with me. If he wins, I won’t continue pursuing your identities, but I’ll at least ask him his name. However, if I win, I’ll be merciless with reporting your information-stealing crimes.”
“He definitely won’t lose to you,” Zhou Lun Yu replied, before turning around to indicate his agreement.
Tomorrow morning at 10? They were pressed for time, so they didn’t want to waste any bit of it, thus they left quickly.
“Infiltrating the school ended up being such a huge mistake…”
During their short interaction, they’d managed to dodge Sean’s questions. However, this only served to drag it out a bit longer. They all knew that this matter basically hadn’t been resolved at all! They’d already lost a large majority of the afternoon….
Tomorrow at 10am….
With no explanation needed, Zhou Lun Yu had to go and retrieve the medicinal plants from Scarlet Dragon Pool. He once again went around asking to borrow a boat. At this moment, Meng Ming suddenly received a text from Duan He. She said that she still had a matter she wanted to know about, so she would meet Meng Ming that night at Scarlet Dragon Pool’s wharf.
The matter had begun to become more urgent. Could both the riddle of Scarlet Dragon Pool and Sean’s duel be resolved in one go?!
“I already said, I can’t!” This middle aged person’s face was taut as he said, “Zhou Lun Yu, do you know of the results of going to that pool? I don’t want to end up dead after reaching the opposite shore!”
“Just give me the boat, I can go myself. Isn’t that ok?”
“No!”
Naturally, Zhou Lun Yu was rejected again and again by the speedboat owner. He walked out of the house with an indescribable expression. A duel tomorrow? As if. He couldn’t even borrow a boat. After such a long time, even if they managed to get the Yilan root, being able to bring it back in time to decoct the herb into medicine to cure Qiao Shun Zhi would basically only happen in fantasy!
We have to return to Lin Xin tomorrow night…I promised that I’d definitely get the Yilan root before this…!
The sky began to darken. Zhou Lun Yu still hadn’t gotten a boat.
If I really have to do this….Zhou Lun Yu had asked himself many times on his way back if he should adopt an unyielding attitude towards this. Time, duel, herb, Qiao Shun Zhi’s illness…
…I’ve decided.
Zhou Lun Yu walked towards Scarlet Dragon Pool. He had decided to carve his own boat to cross the water.
It was night.
While the sky was bathed in darkness, Meng Ming sat alone at the wharf next to the mountain top’s pool, quietly looking at the scarlet eyes amidst the mist.
The Zhuge Style Cheating Technique is really a strange and wonderful cheating technique. Those two red eyes were what Meng Ming had paid the most attention to since arriving. Why hasn’t Sister Duan He come yet….
Meng Ming suddenly heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and he turned around to look.
“Zhou Lun Yu?”
Zhou Lun Yu wasn’t surprised by the sight of Meng Ming, nor did he speak. He silently walked down to the wharf and walked past Meng Ming.
“What are you doing?” Meng Ming immediately asked after sensing that something wasn’t quite right. Zhou Lun Yu still didn’t pay him any mind, and directly walked down the wharf to grab the ropes tying the speedboat down. With two flicks of his fingers, he cut them all off.
“How could this kind of knot block me,” Zhou Lun Yu coldly stated.
“Oi, without a motor, how do you plan on crossing? It’s too dangerous.”
“I can propel it.” Zhou Lun Yu had a long rod in his hand. He looked at the two crimson dragon eyes flashing in the distant darkness without any trace of fear. He took a step into the light-colored boat and said, “That’s definitely a scam. I’ll go over and reveal the trick right now.”
“There’s no need,” Meng Ming said. “I’ve already figured it out.”
“Hm?”
This sentence finally made the constantly moving Zhou Lun Yu stop in his tracks. He turned around to stare at Meng Ming with doubt written all over his face.
Meng Ming continued, “Sister Duan He just messaged me about some important matters. She also told me to wait here for her.”
Zhou Lun Yu skeptically stood there on his boat. Meng Ming sat back down on the dock in absolutely no rush.
“Where is she, then?” Zhou Lun Yu asked.
“She still hasn’t gotten here, I guess. Let’s wait a bit more.”
Zhou Lun Yu could only step back onto the dock. “You said that you already figured it out?”
“Mhm.” Meng Ming confidently nodded.
“What use is that,” Zhou Lun Yu was starting to have second thoughts. “Qiao Shun Zhi has to be able to get out tomorrow for everything to work out. I need to go retrieve the Yilan root now.”
“It’s like that, huh…” Meng Ming lifted his head. “Do you really think you’ll make it if you go get the herb now?”
Meng Ming had hit the nail on the head, sending Zhou Lun Yu back into silence. He clearly knew that there wasn’t enough time, but, because Qiao Shun Zhi had been confined in bed for so long, Zhou Lun Yu wanted to try his best…!
“Just now, I carefully thought of a better idea. Tomorrow, we’ll just directly uncover their true faces.” Meng Ming pointed at the distant glows, “As long as we catch their secret and convince everyone that those two blurry things are actually just a cheap scam, everything will work out! That way, people will escort us across the pool, and we won’t have to go and duel against him either.
“You…!” Zhou Lun Yu finally realized that he’d been too impulsive. He calmed down as he repeated, “….Is that really possible?”
Thus, Meng Ming slowly and clearly stated his plans for tomorrow.
……
The night quickly passed by. At around 2am, the sky was still dark. A male figure secretly appeared once more in the forest around Scarlet Dragon Pool’s wharf without anyone else knowing. He was currently hiding in a very hard to find place, about to act. His movements were very quick, his actions agile. He had originally thought that nobody would find any traces of him, but, just then, he felt a hand lightly tap his shoulder from behind. He immediately turned around to look, and, in a split second, was pierced deeply by a penetrating gaze amidst the darkness.
“I’ve finally met you after having waited for so long. Please cooperate,” Duan He smiled tiredly.
~Taffy Translations~ 
Thnx
LikeLike