By the time Qin Shi and Yu Weiwei returned to the State Guesthouse, dawn was breaking.
So much had happened that night.
Ying Lin, who had infiltrated Hengzhou on behalf of the Ying family, had been abandoned—and the blood debt owed to Nanhuang Dojo had been repaid.
It had brought a half-finished but satisfying end to the story of Second Senior Brother Shen Changyuan's death many years ago.
At the same time, the Great Expansion Movement, with all of Hengzhou mobilized, was getting underway in full swing.
At the commendation ceremony the next day, Governor Tai once again presided and delivered an important address.
He urged all the universities to answer the call and encourage their top-performing students to throw themselves into the crucible of the Great Expansion Movement, temper themselves, and grow into pillars of society.
For the final segment, Qin Shi was specifically called up to the stage.
The speech he had to read had been written overnight by Holwen, who had burned the midnight oil.
The heir to Nanhuang Dojo and the Top 100 Competition's champion stood before a dense swarm of drones. In front of countless Central City residents, he delivered the Genius Youth's "burning passion" in a spirited, emphatic voice.
"...I'm Qin Shi, from the Tai'an Metropolitan Area. Standing here today, my heart is surging with passion. Now that the baton of history has been passed to our generation, 'How will we use our youth to build the Dongxia of the future?' has become a question every young person must answer.
Here, I pledge to uphold 'three commitments.' Let us encourage one another..."
In the Tai'an Metropolitan Area, Chen Ruofu and Fang Putang sat in a large conference room, watching the broadcast on the screen before them.
They looked at Qin Shi in his crisp