The admissions officer was not nearly as excited as the students on the stage.
A total academic score of 596, plus the Guixu score, brought the total to over 600. It was an above-average result, enough to get into a good academy.
Once the students had finished their tests, it would be time to consult the various academies. Long lines formed in front of all four major academies, while Dawnlight, affected by the Guixu incident and its unchanging rules, had few applicants.
Now was the perfect time to scoop up overlooked talent.
"Can I join Dawnlight Academy?" Fan Daoyi stepped forward and asked.
The admissions officer's creeping drowsiness vanished in an instant. He looked up, saw Fan Daoyi, and said slowly, "At our academy, you must enter Guixu several times each semester for examinations. That won't change because of the changes in Guixu. Are you sure?"
In previous years, access to Guixu had been Dawnlight Academy's signature resource. Now it had become an obstacle to recruitment.
"Yes, of course. I need Guixu." Fan Daoyi wasn't lying about that.
The admissions officer met his gaze and said gravely, "You need Guixu because you want to make a wish, right? Don't be too greedy. You never know whether a surprise or a misfortune will come first."
"Aren't you an admissions officer? Why are you driving students away?"
The officer was helpless too. "Haven't you heard the saying going around this year? Persuade someone to pick Dawnlight, get flayed and struck by lightning. I heard the person who said it was a curse speaker, and the curse can actually take effect."
As they talked, they heard He Piaojian turning someone down in the distance.
"Coming through. Looking for someone. Not interested."
He Piaojian weaved around the bustling crowd. His gaze suddenly caught a familiar figure, and his face lit up with joy. He immediately picked up speed, shouting anxiously as he ran, "Dao Yi, quick, get me out of here!"
A group of admissions officers was hot on his heels, enthusiastically describing the various benefits their academies offered. It was quite a lively sight.
Fan Daoyi grabbed the tuft of hair on top of He Piaojian's head with one hand and vanished before everyone's eyes, teleporting to an open space.
With the admissions officers no longer chasing him, He Piaojian hurriedly straightened his rumpled clothes and let out a long breath. "Those admissions people are way too crazy."
"With your talent, why didn't you pick a school you liked beforehand?" Fan Daoyi was puzzled by his predicament.
He Piaojian answered, "I wasn't even planning to take the college entrance exam. I already have an official post, after all, so why would I be thinking about university?"
"Then why did you come?"
He Piaojian grinned. "Boss told me to stick with you. Whatever university you apply to, I'll apply to the same one."
"What was your total academic score?"
"Does the school you want to attend care about scores?" He Piaojian thought for a moment, then reported with a perfectly straight face, "Just a little short of 700."
Fan Daoyi was a little surprised. He hadn't expected He Piaojian's academic score to be unexpectedly good.
Then He Piaojian added, "My total was 206."
"..." Fan Daoyi fell silent. Was the difference between 200 and 700 just a little?
Well, he was thick-skinned, which was in keeping with his character.
"I want to go to Dawnlight," Fan Daoyi said, naming his preferred academy.
At the mention of Dawnlight, He Piaojian immediately made the connection. "Is it because of the Guixu slots?"
"Yes."
"Mm-hmm, then I'll apply there." Without hesitation, He Piaojian settled on the academy he had spent so long agonizing over.
The moment he agreed, the clouds overhead rapidly darkened and gathered.
Fan Daoyi sensed a trace of Origin Source energy coming toward him. He recalled the admissions officer's words: persuade someone to pick Dawnlight, get flayed and struck by lightning.
His actions counted as persuading He Piaojian to apply to Dawnlight, and the curse had taken effect.
That counts too? He couldn't help wondering whether someone was deliberately targeting Dawnlight Academy's recruitment.
He reversed the curse, sending it down upon the curse speaker himself. The dark mass of clouds instantly dispersed.
At that moment, in the president's office at Dawnlight University.
The president was in his office, diligently handling arrangements and precautions for the start of the semester, when a sudden gust of wind rattled the windows with a clatter.
The president looked up in puzzlement and walked to the window to look at the dark sky. As soon as he opened it, a pile of daggers came flying down at him from the sky.
"What the heck? A rain of knives?" The president was dumbfounded and dodged again and again.
That wasn't all. Thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning struck at him alongside the knives.
The president finally realized that this phenomenon was his own curse, but why had it fallen on his head? He had stopped people from casually persuading others to apply to Dawnlight for the students' own good. Which bastard had reversed the curse?!
Because of this scene, a story about the president often circulated around the school afterward.
Hey, have you heard? The president's a curse speaker, and he swore a vicious oath to heaven. Heaven struck him with five bolts of lightning. He was charred pitch-black. It was a sorry sight.
Meanwhile, the culprit was having afternoon tea at [Eight Trigrams].
This one's good, and that one's tasty. Well, the food in the present world is surprisingly decent.
"Looks like I was right. You ended up choosing Dawnlight." Qian Heaven nodded repeatedly after hearing about their afternoon. "Now you just need to wait for your acceptance notices."
He Piaojian spread his hands. "Boss, you didn't call us back just to hear that, did you?"
Qian Heaven's expression grew serious. He straightened his back and stared directly at Fan Daoyi. After weighing his words for a moment, he asked, "Tai Chi, how good is your acting?"
Fan Daoyi's hand paused with its fork in the cake. He raised his eyes, looking bewildered, and pretended not to understand. "What?"
"Through the Wang Family remnants, Kun Earth and I investigated the matter and discovered that the Four Fiends Cult has also planted seeds at a hospital.
"The number of people who can be resurrected in Guixu is limited, and ordinary people rarely get the chance. They have no money for treatment and will eventually die, so they can only seek out that tiny chance.
"That hospital uses medical treatment as a cover to trick people into going there, then conducts human experiments on them. They're doing much the same thing as the Wang Family, and they also seem to be stitching Guixu creatures together."
Fan Daoyi fell silent for a moment, then seemed to understand something. "So you want me to pose as a patient and infiltrate that hospital?"
Qian Heaven nodded solemnly. "Yes. As before, we'll leave the decision to you. If you don't want to, you can refuse."
"Okay, I understand. Where is it?"
He followed the directions to the hospital. Before he could even use the words Qian Heaven and the others had carefully prepared, the security guard stationed outside knew that Fan Daoyi had come for treatment.
The guard led Fan Daoyi through the somewhat deserted corridors to a waiting area and told him to sit down.
As he waited outside and watched the consultations inside, the medical staff were almost excessively enthusiastic. No wonder ordinary people with nowhere else to turn were willing to come to this hospital.
During consultations, the doctor first frowned, then sighed, then shook his head and leafed through a book before offering a few words of comfort. He performed the whole sequence with practiced ease.
When the patients anxiously asked what was wrong, the doctor told them not to worry, saying there was a wonder drug that could cure them. The way he guided the conversation and their emotions was just like a pyramid scheme.