Smile!

Crimson Rainbow Calendar 8916, March 1st.

Ziying Academy, cafeteria.

Zhao Hongzhou rushed into the cafeteria, covered in dust, and headed straight for a corner booth.

Pushing open the booth door, a young man sat in a chair, a smile on his face as he spoke.

"Long time no see!"

Zhao Hongzhou paused, a smile spreading across his face.

"Brother Shan, it's been ten years, and you haven't changed a bit!"

In ten years, he had passed thirty, and time had left its mark on his face, but Li Qingshan was still the same as he remembered, without any change.

"Only ten short years." Li Qingshan gently shook his head, looked Zhao Hongzhou up and down, and smiled:

"You've already achieved Rainbow Transformation. After you break through to the Aperture Opening Realm, you'll live for at least two or three hundred years. You won't get old so quickly."

"It's not that easy."

Zhao Hongzhou shook his head, but the smile on his face didn't diminish.

"Brother Shan, you don't know, when I first started working at the academy's World Gate, I had a terrible time. I could only huddle in the camp."

"I have to thank you for the points you left behind, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to break through so quickly. It's much better now..."

Zhao Hongzhou rambled on, recounting his experiences over the past decade.

Although Li Qingshan had left him 100,000 points when he left, Zhao Hongzhou didn't just sit around and do nothing. Instead, according to the original plan, he immediately entered the academy's second-tier World Gate to work after breaking through to the Qi Blood Realm, and he had been doing it for ten years.

Ten years was nothing compared to the tens of thousands of years of secluded cultivation in the Martial Dao Space.

But the thrilling and exciting stories Zhao Hongzhou told were far from comparable to boring secluded cultivation.

Li Qingshan listened quietly with a smile on his face.

After a moment, "I've been talking about myself." Zhao Hongzhou patted his forehead and said excitedly:

"Brother Shan, you don't know, Hong Qian got married five years ago, and he even had a daughter, but..."

"I know, their family of three moved to Crimson Yellow Star."

Li Qingshan waved his hand, interrupting with a smile.

"I've already contacted Hong Qian and Yu Lei."

In ten years, the old classmates had gone further and further on their respective life paths.

Hong Qian had devoted almost all his energy to the family business, and now he had achieved good results and could get involved in other nearby planets.

Like Zhao Hongzhou, Yu Lei was still focused on the Martial Dao, but with her older sister Yu Man around, her path was much easier.

"By the way, Brother Shan."

Zhao Hongzhou scratched his head and asked:

"Eight years ago, Teacher Wan took his last class and went to the Martial Dao Seven Stars. I've sent him messages several times, but I haven't received a reply."

"That's normal, it will take at least a few more years to come back."

Li Qingshan had received a message eight years ago, but he was in seclusion at the time.

Teacher Wan went to the Martial Dao Seven Stars to enter the Crimson Rainbow Continent and break through to the Inner World Realm.

Under normal circumstances, after the interaction between heaven and man, it takes a lot of time to construct the inner world. Eight years is not a long time.

Compared to these, Li Qingshan was more curious about another thing.

'I wonder if Teacher Wan and Uncle Dai have met?'

Thinking of this, a smile couldn't help but appear on Li Qingshan's face.

"Brother Shan?" Zhao Hongzhou asked inexplicably, "What are you smiling at?"

"It's nothing, I just thought of two tsundere elders..."

Buzz!

The communicator vibrated, interrupting the conversation.

[Gao Nianren]

Li Qingshan stared at his watch, his smile fading as he looked at Zhao Hongzhou.

"I have something to do. Let's stop here for today and get together again when we have the opportunity."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure suddenly disappeared.

When he reappeared, he was in an open space outside the academy.

With a tap of his finger, a projection screen popped up.

In the picture, Gao Nianren looked sad and said heavily:

"Li Warden, sorry to bother you, but there's something I think you should know..."

"Dean Wei is dead." Li Qingshan interrupted, stating calmly:

"Tell me the specifics!"

Gao Nianren was slightly taken aback, then nodded.

"This morning, I was originally supposed to accompany the Dean to the New Star for the Federation meeting, but before we left, the Dean specifically sent me away."

"Just now, news came back from the New Star that the Dean and Shi Tianhe had a major battle in the parliament building. Shi Tianhe was seriously injured, and the Dean, due to using the Self-Detonation Technique, was completely obliterated."

"These are the combat videos from the scene..."

As Gao Nianren spoke, he sent several videos.

The video angles varied, but the shots were all from the bottom up, obviously taken by ordinary citizens present.

In several scenes, the battle process was not complicated. It was simply an Outer World martial artist burning his entire being to fight a fifth-order mecha pilot.

The result was the same as Gao Nianren said.

"The specific situation is still uncertain. I'm on my way to the New Star..."

Gao Nianren paused slightly, his eyes reddening, and pleaded:

"Li Warden, I hope that after you return to the Star Academy, you can deliver the news..."

"I don't need you to tell me how to do things!"

Li Qingshan calmly shook his head, his gaze fixed on Gao Nianren's eyes.

"The internet is flooded with news, enough to confirm the facts. Dean Wei's body is also gone, no need for you to collect it."

"Are you going to the New Star to die?"

"I..." Gao Nianren's face flushed red, and his brows showed dejection.

Just then, Buzz! Buzz!

The communicator vibrated again, and a new email popped up in the lower right corner of the screen.

Sender: Wei Huaian!

Li Qingshan's eyes moved, and he turned his gaze to Gao Nianren, saying seriously:

"You should understand Dean Wei's purpose in specifically sending you away. Don't do pointless things anymore. Dean Wei won't have died in vain, and this matter can't be settled like this."

"Go back first, stabilize the situation at the academy, and wait patiently for the Star Academy's arrangements."

After speaking, without waiting for Gao Nianren to react, he directly hung up the call and opened the new email.

Inside, there was only one video.

The video opened, and Wei Huaian appeared on the screen with a kind smile.

"Li Warden, the email is set to be sent on a timer. By the time you see this video, I should already be dead."

"Dick Star has been riddled with problems for a long time. A serious illness requires drastic measures. I brought on this disease, so I naturally have to be the one to administer this 'drastic measure'."

"Dick Star involves five cross-domain companies, and there are other star regions behind them. Even the Star Academy can hardly intervene, but there is one exception..."

In the video, Wei Huaian paused slightly.

Outside the video, Li Qingshan's eyes lit up slightly.

"Evil God!"

The two words were uttered from the mouths of Li Qingshan and Wei Huaian at the same time.

"I've lived for almost a thousand years, I've lived long enough."

Wei Huaian said to the camera, self-satisfied:

"Special times call for special measures. This time, I'll use my life as the academy dean to frame someone, and the Star Academy will have enough reason to intervene."

"Just framing?"

Li Qingshan frowned, but unexpectedly, Wei Huaian's tone changed in the video.

"It's said to be framing, but it's not entirely true." Wei Huaian also frowned, hesitating:

"Li Warden, actually, the situation on Dick New Star is very special, even among all the planets operated by the Erosion Dream Group."

"The Erosion Dream Group's main business is the entertainment industry, but there are too many places where entertainment can make money, far more than just supplying NPCs to game worlds."

"And Shi Tianhe is too Buddhist on Dick New Star, providing all entertainment content completely free of charge, not caring about the resource development in the World Gate, and even not minding letting the other four companies take a share of the pie."

"Of course, I don't know much about this, I just feel that Shi Tianhe is very suspicious, so I set the framing target on him."

Speaking of this, Wei Huaian suddenly laughed.

"It doesn't matter, when the Star Academy comes down with great fanfare, regardless of whether Shi Tianhe has a problem or not, Dick Star will eventually return to normal."

Wei Huaian bowed slightly to the camera, apologizing:

"Li Warden, I'm sorry, I have to trouble you again."

"I've already sent a report to the Star Academy, but the content in this video isn't suitable for inclusion in the report itself. Please pass it on to the Star Academy's higher-ups."

"Oh, and if you see little Ranran again..."

Wei Huaian's eyes showed a hint of reminiscence, and he seemed lost in thought for a moment.

After a brief pause, he shook his head and gave a relieved smile to the camera.

"Tell her that Grandpa Wei hasn't seen her smile in a long time, and that Grandpa Wei loves to see her smile."

The image froze on the old man's final smile.