Missing

On the upper-level viewing platform.

A group of teachers watched the rankings from the trial, all of them surprised.

Even the grade director, Zhang Jianwu, shook his head and sighed. "Miss Chen's eye for talent really is extraordinary. It seems I was mistaken."

Earlier,

he had thought Jiang Ye had almost no chance of making the top three.

But what happened?

Jiang Ye had actually taken second place overall.

It was far beyond anything he'd expected.

Beside Zhang Jianwu, the cool, pretty woman in the white dress shook her head. "You're too kind, Director Zhang. Honestly, I didn't expect Jiang Ye to take second place either."

Though she said that, she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.

Jiang Ye's results this time had also reflected well on her.

Nearby, a teacher smiled. "Teacher Chen, you've worked hard. Bringing a student from the Ordinary Class up to this level can't have been easy."

"That's right. It's all thanks to Teacher Chen."

The teachers present nodded quietly, in full agreement.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zilu furrowed her brows and shook her head. "You've misunderstood. This wasn't all my doing."

"More than anything, Jiang Ye earned this himself."

She explained earnestly, "Jiang Ye trains incredibly hard."

"I once heard his parents say that every night, he trains until one or two in the morning. In his two years of high school, he hasn't missed a single day."

"He works this hard. How can you say it's all thanks to me?"

There was a trace of stubbornness and displeasure in Chen Zilu's eyes.

Jiang Ye was a student she'd devoted a great deal of time to teaching, and she felt a sense of fulfillment at his results.

But she wouldn't take all the credit for herself.

He'd earned this through hard work, yet people were saying it was because of his connections, because others had helped him? She found that sort of talk deeply offensive.

Seeing the girl's expression, the teacher realized he'd misspoken.

He immediately amended his words. "Teacher Chen is right. Hard work matters, too."

Zhang Jianwu added, "This student has only Primitive Talent. To achieve results like these, he must have worked far harder than most. We can't deny that."

Only then did Chen Zilu's expression ease a little.

She looked at Zhang Jianwu and suddenly asked,

"Director, I heard that the students who place in the top three in the first trial"

"all get one free chance at Starry Sky Refinement?"

Zhang Jianwu nodded. "They do, but they have to wait until their Cultivation Method is complete."

As he spoke,

his gaze grew distant.

"Jiang Ye looks pretty good so far. I just don't know how he'll perform during Starry Sky Refinement."

As grade director, Zhang Jianwu usually considered things from the school's perspective.

Every session of Starry Sky Refinement cost a great deal of money.

And the school was the one footing the bill.

Of course, not everyone could participate. Only the top three students in the trial got one free chance.

Even the top three in the final exams weren't eligible.

The trial carried far more weight than an ordinary assessment.

The school did this to cultivate genuine geniuses and raise the university admission rate for the Twenty-Five School Alliance.

In theory, as the second-place finisher in this trial, Jiang Ye had every right to participate in Starry Sky Refinement for free.

But—

"Primitive Talent." Zhang Jianwu shook his head slightly.

The efficiency with which Primitive Talent absorbed Starry Sky Energy might be less than 1%.

Nascent Talent, on the other hand, could reach more than 10%.

Dao Bone Talent exceeded 50%.

As for Transcendent Talent? It could be over 100%.

Ancheng Third Middle School had no students with Dao Bone Talent, but it had quite a few with Nascent Talent.

Such a precious opportunity as Starry Sky Refinement, wasted on someone with Primitive Talent? It was far too much of a waste.

Those with Primitive Talent couldn't achieve much through hard work alone, unless they received a great deal of support.

For the school, that support would bring far greater returns if spent on students with Nascent Talent rather than Primitive Talent.

That teacher's remark earlier—that Jiang Ye's results today were all thanks to Chen Zilu—hadn't been mere flattery.

"If I'm not mistaken, Miss Chen must have personally given Jiang Ye quite a bit of support before the trial,"

Zhang Jianwu thought to himself.

Without that, Jiang Ye couldn't possibly have made such rapid progress on his own.

"Ding-dong!"

Just as Zhang Jianwu was pondering this, a ringtone suddenly sounded.

He took out his phone and glanced at it. His expression abruptly turned grave.

"Xiao Chen."

He handed the phone to Chen Zilu and said in a low voice, "Take a look. Is this one of your students?"

Chen Zilu took the phone. Her pretty face quickly darkened as well.

Meanwhile,

after resorting to all sorts of underhanded tactics to interrogate Jiang Ye, Li Zhichao still hadn't found out what medicine Jiang Ye had taken.

He looked at Jiang Ye in the distance and gritted his teeth. "That guy—I even called him my adoptive father, and he still wouldn't tell me!"

"Could it be he really didn't take anything?"

At the thought, Li Zhichao's pupils shrank abruptly.

If Jiang Ye really hadn't taken anything, he'd feel even worse!

"Forget it. I don't need to compete with him. I just need to make myself stronger."

Li Zhichao took a deep breath, his gaze growing resolute.

In the distance, Jiang Ye looked at Li Zhichao and smiled. "Buddy, finally come to your senses?"

Li Zhichao waved a hand. "Don't worry. I'm not going to compare myself to you anymore."

"Oh?"

Jiang Ye smiled at once. "That's good, then."

Seeing that Li Zhichao had let it go, he felt relieved, too.

The next moment, Li Zhichao clenched his fist and said, "My goal now is to challenge the guy who sticks himself with a needle every day!"

His gaze was pure. There was no longer any desire to compete with his classmate, only a yearning for strength.

"."

Jiang Ye was speechless for a while, then shook his head helplessly. "This guy's really become obsessed!"

"Ding-dong!"

Just then, his Communication Watch vibrated.

Jiang Ye opened it. "It's Teacher Chen."

"Teacher Chen wants us to go to the office," he told Li Zhichao.

Li Zhichao nodded.

The two quickly made their way to the office.

Inside Chen Zilu's office,

when Jiang Ye and Li Zhichao arrived, Chen Zilu hadn't come back yet.

More than ten minutes later,

a cool, pretty woman in a plain white dress, with long, shapely legs, walked into the office.

"Congratulations. You both passed the trial."

Chen Zilu smiled at them and took out two bags of prize money.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Jiang Ye took one of the bags, unable to hide his delight.

This was the prize money for passing the trial—a full thirty thousand yuan!

Chen Zilu smiled, but soon her expression grew serious. "When you head back this time, be careful. The city hasn't been safe lately."

"The city isn't safe?"

Jiang Ye was startled. Chen Zilu had already told him about this.

Now that she'd brought it up again, had something happened?

Chen Zilu lowered her voice. "One of the students in our class has gone missing. You both know Xia Qing, right?"

"Xia Qing?"

Jiang Ye immediately thought of the girl who often brought him water.

"Xia Qing... is missing?" Jiang Ye's pupils shrank. He could hardly believe it.