Chapter 116
The Class Advisor on the other end of the line said in a low voice, "I inquired with my foolish nephew, and everyone assumes that since Qin Su did it without any objections, they naturally accept that it's acceptable."
The senior students who had been in school for several more years than the Class of 26, especially those like Halton who had only one semester left to graduate and were facing job assignments or free choice of employment, had more or less gained some insight into the truth behind the Purge of the Zerg.
Apart from the students who are just there for the "gilding" program and don't need to do anything practical in real-world situations (since other students will naturally provide them with the credit), most of the other students have a mindset that is somewhat different from those seasoned veterans who have been working in the "workplace" for years.
They not only did it, but they also filmed it and posted it on the school Forum and StarNet social media platform.
Unlike the freshmen who were all talk and no action, almost every new Prisoner came in suffered injuries or fatalities.
Although some parts of the video on the StarNet had been automatically censored, they were blocked and deleted by the Moderation Bot shortly after being sent, which aroused the backlash of netizens. Without the students running the task doing anything, netizens spontaneously saved the video and continued to spread it in various ways that could escape the review, including but not limited to mirroring and reversing the image, using coded messages, and emojis.
"..."
So they were just copying what they saw? Aiseboer was speechless.
Taking several deep breaths, Aiseboer's voice was filled with helplessness. "Did they even consider that it's because it's Qin Su? Who dares to say no? That would be tantamount to slapping Qin Su in the face!"
After their last attempt to limit Qin Su backfired, no one dared to criticize Qin Su's past actions, fearing he might launch another major Qin Su.
Because of Qin Su, countless people have lost many things that should have been in their pockets, and they cannot bear the consequences of doing it again.
After his outburst, the Class Advisor opposite him fell silent.
Aiseboer sighed; he understood perfectly why the other side was silent.
Those students were young, not stupid. Of course they could guess why Qin Su hadn't explicitly opposed his actions, but as long as it wasn't stated clearly, they could continue to play dumb.
If this continues, in the eyes of others, it won't just be the Class of 26 class that's wasted; the Fourth Military Academy will be considered 'useless'.
If it's explicitly forbidden, Qin Su might be unhappy and try to trick people again, so the only option is... to threaten him privately.
The school controls their graduation, job assignment, and re-employment; unless they choose to find their own employment after graduation or their families have already arranged their future path, they are not afraid of being threatened.
After a brief silence, Aiseboer said to the person on the other end, "Tell the other Class Advisor to manage their students properly."
With a single sentence, the other person understood Aiseboer's meaning. "I understand..."
Aiseboer suddenly interrupted the voice on the other end, "Who's leading this?"
"Halton," the person on the other end of the line told him truthfully without any concealment.
"..."
Aiseboer didn't say a word, and ended the communication with a dark expression.
Normally, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, but this nail that sticks out happens to be the one Qin Su specifically chose to teach He Muzhi.
Out of respect for Qin Su, no one will make things difficult for Halton.
Although the students who had 'rioted' eventually calmed down under the precise threats of their respective Class Advisor, the Purge mission proceeded as scheduled, and the matter of the Prisoners on the StarNet was quickly overshadowed by the 'Qin Su Alpha Pheromone Instant-Kill Zone' internet celebrity check-in spot.
Netizens affectionately call it the 'Death Triangle Zone' tourist attraction.
They dared not dream of taking a photo with Qin Su in this lifetime, but they looked forward to the day when the insects on Maikafukeclai Planet were wiped out, so that they could personally attend the event like the students and take a commemorative photo with Qin Su, who used Pheromones to exterminate the Zerg in a dangerous triangle.
The holiday had already begun, and Qin Su had left the Fourth Military Academy without anyone noticing, but Aiseboer saw that Qin Su was mentioned every single day on the StarNet.
Sitting on the Spaceship heading to the meeting, Aiseboer felt a pang of unease, hoping he wouldn't be ganged up on at the meeting.
Once the meeting began, Aiseboer quickly realized that what had happened at his school seemed insignificant compared to the major issue of 'the number and variety of Zerg being decreasing at an unprecedented rate'.
For the first time, Aiseboer was thankful that he was sitting in the middle or back row, and was not affected by the spittle spraying from the person in front of him who was losing control of his emotions.
Only...
Aiseboer's gaze fell on Greyliff and his group. In the past, when their own interests were threatened like this, Greyliff's faction would never have been so calm... No, that's not right.
Aiseboer stared at the faces of Greyliff and the group of people. Apart from Qiu Pang, the others were all pale to varying degrees, with dark circles under their eyes and huge eye bags that almost reached their noses.
'What is this? Either you erupt in madness from the silence, or you perish in the silence?'
Ever since his face-to-face confrontation with Qin Su his effortless crushing defeat, Greyliff, whose mind was already highly sensitive, felt that even if Qin Su did not appear in front of him, there was always Qin Su in the shadows, in a higher dimension that he could not see, secretly watching his every move with those cold, black eyes. This made him even more sensitive.
Greyliff suddenly turned his head, his hawk-like eyes fixed on Aiseboer at the back of the conference table.
"..."
Meeting Greyliff's sinister gaze, Aiseboer chuckled and quickly looked away, forcibly focusing his attention on the person who was still 'ranting'.
'He looked like a ghost, so eerie and scary, he got a fright!'
"... It's been in effect for so long, what's wrong with it? We've been doing it this way for so many years, why isn't it working now? Those who say it's not working, think carefully about yourselves, look for the reasons within yourselves, haven't you worked hard enough these past few years? Have you been diligently doing your job...?"
Aiseboer chuckled inwardly.
It's not uncommon for streamers to eat Insect Meat in the past, especially new streamers eager to become famous and gain followers, who use eating Insect Meat, which is prohibited by the Federation, as a gimmick.
Every time, the streamer gets banned, loses everything, and in severe cases, faces one to three months of detention and re-education.
Of course, this only applies to streamers who might spread the idea that 'insects are edible and delicious,' and is not aimed at the local impoverished residents of each planet.
After all, they were arrested, which in their minds was a good thing—a guaranteed job with room and board.
It's a thousand times better than living outdoors, exposed to the elements, not knowing if you'll starve or die from the sun tomorrow, or freeze to death tonight, or be crunched to death by insects the next second.
Some who survived even committed crimes intentionally, hoping the local police would arrest them and put them in jail.
Therefore, each planet has issued specific rules to address this type of "free food and drink" behavior.
So, why didn't these people realize the situation before? It's because Qin Su wasn't around.
From anyone's perspective, Qin Su's actions were legal, compliant, and law-abiding, making him impossible to punish under the law, and someone you couldn't afford to offend, as doing so would bring you great trouble.
More importantly, Qin Su's personal charisma and appeal are so strong that they are irresistible.
Led by Qin Su, even though each planet is under the jurisdiction of the Federation, each planet has its own 'local emperor'. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. The Federation explicitly prohibits private hunting, and each planet has people who think that one more or one less of them will not make a difference, and that their private hunting behavior in violation of the law is insignificant to the overall situation.
Anyway, they're the ones who call the shots locally. Since they haven't made it public, nobody can do anything to them.
Their pursuit has always been to be different from others. Being difficult to hunt means requiring a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, which is equivalent to being expensive, in line with their pursuit and status.
It's not difficult; they wouldn't even bother eating it.
This is also why the number of large, dangerous insects that were difficult for the Military Academy students to Purge has been decreasing recently.
Moreover... Aiseboer sighed inwardly.
Many planetary inhabitants are barely surviving, so they don't care about anything else... The Federation's regulations don't seem to care about their lives. They secretly form groups to keep an eye on private insect-catching armies, waiting for them to leave so they can sneakily eat the bugs. For them, this is like having another way to survive. What kind of regulations are these?
Etc...
Aiseboer rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
'Did Qin Su choose the Fourth Military Academy because, among all the school Principals responsible for Purge the insects, he was still... somewhat conscientious?'
After thinking it over and over, Aiseboer couldn't think of a second advantage he had, and suddenly realized that his guess was right.
This Principal is quite shrewd.
[His thinking seemed to make sense; he would even pay people to collect corpses, and when he went to collect the bodies, he would deliberately 'scatter' the 'expired' nutrient solution around the different places where the bodies were found.]
But he's done plenty of bad things too; he's just one link in the chain of corruption.
Human nature is indeed complex. I'm too lazy to analyze it, but I just want to know why this Boss 1 chose the Fourth Military Academy. Is it what the Principal thinks?
Qin Su, who was cutting Glands for preservation and refrigeration. "?"
What was the Principal imagining?
Can the comments stop only telling half the story? Are you trying to kill his curiosity so you can inherit his increased Life Points of twenty-two years?
--
Summer vacation.
(Class 6 acquired Qin Su, all the students have become 'naturally fond of sharing', and outside of work hours, almost everyone surfs at a high intensity.
On their first day at the Funeral Home, Class 6) started their 'Funeral Home Diary'.
One of the rules of the Funeral Home is that no videos or pictures of the deceased can be taken. (Class 6) The students spontaneously recorded their daily work, what they saw and heard, and expressed their feelings.
The other 58 students from the same 1st Brigade as Class 6) were able to see through Class 6)' s short essays that left everyone speechless. Only later did they realize that He Muzhi had used his connections to pack all 499 People from Class 6) into the Funeral Home.
Since it concerned Qin Su's approval, they naturally couldn't lose, so they all used their "unique abilities" and relied on their intricate networks of connections to get into the Funeral Home where they could bring their classmates along.
The students of Unit 2 were already feeling regretful for not being in the same team as Qin Su, so they quickly followed the example of 1st Brigade.
The senior students of the Fourth Military Academy who were on vacation one after another, as well as the students of other military schools who Purge insects, saw this scene and unanimously thought that Class 6) must have been instructed by Qin Su to do so.
Even if they don't understand why Qin Su let the people from Class 6 go to the Funeral Home, there is no doubt that Qin Su has never done anything meaningless from the beginning until now.
If they wanted to glean any information about Qin Su's thoughts, following Class 6) was the right thing to do.
'Let them go in and see what's going on!'
When the Principals of various universities and the Federation officials specifically tasked with monitoring Qin Su realized what was happening, they were suddenly shocked to discover that on different planets, regardless of whether they were catering only to the powerful and wealthy or were private Funeral Homes, they were all equally occupied by students from different Zerg military schools.
The funeral industry, which used to be looked down upon by everyone, has become unprecedentedly popular during this holiday thanks to Qin Su.
The numerous short essays about Funeral Homes published StarNet from various perspectives and viewpoints have brought ordinary people who had never paid attention to Funeral Homes before to great interest during this holiday.
This incident was dubbed the 'Funeral Home Incident' by netizens on StarNet.
A small number of students either disdained or didn't have time to participate in this 'Funeral Home' incident, either envying or dismissing it.
Is it now fashionable in StarCraft that a student who can't eradicate bugs isn't a good funeral volunteer?
I just want to know, are there ghosts? Can paranormal events happen?
[As mentioned at the beginning, because Interstellar People have such long lifespans, there are no ghosts in the interstellar setting.]
[There are so many differences after a person dies; I was so naive before. Not to mention the funerary items that are taken into the coffin, even the value of the box that holds the ashes is more than I could earn in my entire life.]
I never imagined there were so many shady dealings at the Funeral Home.
[I don't know if it's just my perception, but from the lines of everyone's essays, they seem much more mature and composed than before they entered the Funeral Home?]
[Perhaps it's because of differences in human perspectives, identities, and living conditions that lead to different forms of death, which has had a profound impact on their minds.]
[Where's Brother Su? He hasn't shown up since the holiday. Waaaaah, a day without him feels like three years! I miss him!]
What exactly is Qin Su up to? So many students volunteered at the Funeral Home to try and find out what Qin Su was thinking, have they figured it out yet? Share this with us!
[Boss 1 should have gone home, since we could tell from what happened last time that he has a good relationship with his family. But it's been so long since we've seen him, I'm really worried that Qin Su will transfer schools next semester.]
"..."
Qin Su also wanted to know what the Interstellar People were up to, following trends so recklessly that even Funeral Homes were doing it, which left him completely dumbfounded.
But...
The topic of 'Funeral Home work logs' that became popular starting with Class 6) shows that countless students spontaneously shared what they saw and heard after entering the Funeral Home. Perhaps this is not a bad thing.
Depending on the different service recipients, different levels of Funeral Homes can also allow some students to see situations that, if they hadn't appeared, they might never have encountered in their lives, following their original life trajectories.
How can you not consider this adding another layer of experience to their lives?
Go home?
Looking at the warehouse full of removed Glands, Qin Su knew he really needed to go home.
However, it wasn't for his family, but to transport the Glands back home. His family was just as busy as he was, and they could only see each other once every ten days or so.
In order to keep the indigenous people and the Viewers in suspense and create a sense of 'the unattainable is always the most desirable,' he always made sure that he was not discovered by any of the indigenous people when he hunted insects to extract their Glands.
Anyway, with the 'Funeral Home Incident' that everyone sees as being caused by him, his popularity will remain stable even if he doesn't show up.
--
The days of immersive busyness always seem to pass by exceptionally quickly; in the blink of an eye, a month has gone by.
"A-Mu, there's still about a month until school starts, and we can't find any trace of the Class Monitor about this holiday on either our school Forum or the StarNet. Could it be that the Class Monitor left, as some netizens are speculating?" Samuel didn't have any friends with Qin Su, so he could only express his thoughts to He Muzhi. "Why don't you ask Qin Su?"
The four of them were used to sticking together, and later, through different means, they joined the Funeral Home where He Muzhi.
Since Qin Su has not appeared for a long time, netizens from various planets who are following the Funeral Home Incident on the StarNet have spontaneously posted the hashtags # Qin Su # and #No# every day, checking in under these two hashtags while speculating about Qin Su's whereabouts.
As Qin Su's disappearance continued for longer, netizens' speculations gradually turned negative.
Some say that Qin Su disappeared after the holiday because He Muzhi, or Class 6, or even the Fourth Military Academy disappointed him.
This guess made He Muzhi, a student in Class 6, Aiseboer, often wake up in the middle of the night to doubt whether the netizens were right.
"... I don't want to." Facing his childhood friend, He Muzhi had fewer reservations and refused without any embarrassment. "It's vacation time, not school. I don't want to disturb Qin Su's holiday."
I'd rather wait with curiosity and trepidation for the start of the second semester.
"Furthermore, I failed to satisfy Qin Su in the Third Practical Exercise. How could I possibly ask him 'Qin Su, are you there?' if he saw that, Qin Su would be speechless."
"That's true." Samuel nodded in agreement.
"So what do you think Qin Su is doing?" After finishing the morning's work of recording the corpses, Lin Yin finally shut down the gossip section on her Optical Brain.
"Let's go on vacation on some planet with the Qin Family members." Lailisi shrugged. "It's normal that no outsiders can enter our private area and we haven't been photographed or seen. So don't believe those scaremongering stories on the StarNet. Qin Su wouldn't just leave us without a word. We hold a little weight in Qin Su's heart."
Anthony overheard their conversation from behind and thought to himself, "Lailisi really dares to dream big."
Compared to the Qin Family members, they are nothing.
People on different planets hunted insects on an ever-expanding scale to satisfy their appetites. Several types of insects, which were once abundant, were eaten into scarcity and became valuable within a short holiday period.
Not wanting to miss any insects with Glands, Qin Su was busy until the day before school started after the Real World holiday, still putting freshly produced Glands into his space to bring back to the Real World for modification.
After a short rest, the next day they went straight to school for the first day of school, as is customary for the Class Advisor to meet with the students.
After nearly two weeks of classes in the Real World, school begins in the Comic World.
Back in his dormitory in the Comic World, Qin Su had the robot thoroughly clean the seemingly spotless room before taking a shower, changing into freshly dried pajamas, and lying down in his Hibernation Pod. He was preparing to face his classmates with full energy when school officially started the next day, taking one of the few breaks he had during his vacation.
This time, a large number of students from different years entered the Fourth Military Academy ahead of schedule. The first thing they did upon arriving at the school was to approach the students of Class 6).
(Class 6 were used to this situation and mechanically reminded him without any emotion, "Stop looking, we didn't even see Brother Su ourselves."
"Exactly, our Class Monitor probably only shows up when there are no formal classes."
"What classes do you have tomorrow?" someone immediately inquired. "Which classroom? What time?"
"Nine o'clock in the morning," said Raymond, who had been pestering the Class Advisor to see the class schedule in advance. "We will be conducting Mecha operation demonstration with the students of Class 6 of Class of 25, in CH-2902 Classroom."
"Thanks!" The group thanked Raymond with beaming smiles after receiving the answer.
Raymond: "No need to visit..."
"Tomorrow is the 1st," He Muzhi interrupted Raymond, reminding him to avoid others making a wasted trip and getting a beating from Raymond tomorrow, "Qin Su's Heat Period is from the 1st to the 7th, so Qin Su shouldn't appear tomorrow."
It's also his Heat Period, but he won't show up then either.
Upon hearing He Muzhi's words, those around him suddenly remembered the concept of the Heat Period and let out a chorus of disappointed and resentful sounds.
"Oh right! I almost forgot about it because I'm so lovesick for my Class Monitor!"
"Oh no! Does this mean I have to wait another seven days to see Qin Su?!"
"If we're lucky, Qin Su might get the inhibitors and be released early in four or five days, but the chances of that are very low. After all, we have no appeal to Qin Su. He didn't show his face to us at all during the entire vacation, so how could he possibly get inhibitors and be released early just for us?"
"You think you can hurt people with your little mouth? Shut up, I don't want to hear it!" The speaker pinched the other person's mouth shut.
"So here's the question," Raymond asked earnestly, "How exactly can we increase our appeal to Qin Su?"
These words plunged the previously noisy environment into a deathly silence in an instant.
They were all stumped by the question.
After a long pause, people finally spoke up one after another.
"It's too difficult."
"What kind of people and things hasn't Qin Su seen and possessed? We simply can't offer anything that would interest Qin Su."
There is no solution to this problem.
--
The next morning at seven o'clock, Qin Su was 'electrified' awakened by the time he had set.
After washing up and changing into new clothes, Qin Su styled his hair with a product that left no trace, creating a look that appeared natural but was actually carefully done. He took care of his basic image management, not forgetting that today was his "Heat Period".
To surprise the Viewers, Qin Su turned his face slightly to the mirror, raised his hand, and placed it on the back of his neck, on the spot belonging to the Interstellar People Glands.