A Flawless Plan!

Qin Yuan was not only the Imperial Fighting Team's leader; he was also in charge of the entire convoy.

His word carried enormous weight. Teacher Jiang knew that a mistake at work was no great problem—how it was handled depended entirely on what Qin Yuan said.

Now, he apologized while trying to get on Qin Yuan's good side.

Qin Yuan had no intention of blaming him. Instead, he asked, "Teacher Jiang, would you like me to examine you? As you get older, your body is bound to develop a few problems. Some illnesses are best caught early, before they take root."

"Look at me. I'm only in my thirties, but I can feel my strength slipping day by day. I don't have anything like the drive I had when I was young."

Teacher Jiang agreed and took the opportunity to let Qin Yuan examine him.

After all, Qin Yuan could purge the poison from Dugu Yan's body. Surely checking his symptoms would be a piece of cake?

Qin Yuan was well versed in poisons, and medicine and poison were two sides of the same coin. If poisoning was what had made Teacher Jiang drowsy, he would be able to detect it.

But after taking Teacher Jiang's pulse, he found nothing wrong with him apart from a slightly elevated heart rate.

Many things could make a heart beat faster, so he could not identify the cause outright. It certainly would not make someone drowsy, though.

He had noticed a powder on the late-night snacks that belonged to neither the food nor the seasonings. Someone had clearly drugged them.

Whether it was poison would take a test to determine.

There was nothing wrong with Teacher Jiang's body, so he had presumably lied. But he had worked at Heaven Dou Royal Academy for over twenty years and was unlikely to harm its students.

It was not poison, he could not identify it, and it had prompted Teacher Jiang to cover for someone. Whoever had drugged the food had planned this carefully.

After a pause, Qin Yuan smiled. "You seem to have plenty of energy, Teacher Jiang. If I remember right, Teacher Li is your wife, and she came along with the convoy. Heh. Take care of yourself."

His thoughts exposed, Teacher Jiang flushed and waved his hands. "No, no. We're both here for work."

Qin Yuan did not press him. After a few pleasantries, he let him leave.

"Teacher Qin, the late-night snacks are finally here." Lei Meng rubbed his stomach. He had been too hungry to sleep.

At the smell of food, the other team members ended their cultivation one by one and came over to replenish their energy.

Qin Yuan did not set the food down. He went to the window, drew the curtains, then said quietly, "Someone drugged it. Don't eat."

"What?" Dugu Yan covered her mouth in surprise and leaned toward the food to sniff it.

"I'm not sure what they used yet," Qin Yuan continued. "Whoever drugged it probably stayed nearby to make sure you ate it. I'll look for them. Don't touch the food. Pretend you're eating and buy me some time."

This was Spirit City. Poisoning contestants to death would certainly bring a thorough investigation by Spirit Hall.

Unless the person behind it had lost their mind, they would never do that.

Besides, deadly poisons had odors of their own. With the knowledge Qin Yuan had received as a system reward, he could identify them quickly.

He could not determine what the powder would do, but he doubted it was deadly. Eating it would not kill anyone. Whether they would be in good shape for tomorrow's match was another matter.

His first suspects were therefore tomorrow's opponents: the Gutang Academy Battle Team.

Their opponents had won two matches in the finals through luck. Naturally, they believed the Goddess of Fortune would keep smiling on them and hoped to win another.

But the gap in strength between the teams was far too wide. They could not win by conventional means, so crooked tricks became their first choice.

Qin Yuan could think of no other possibility.

After all, they had first used an aphrodisiac to get Teacher Jiang out of the way while ensuring he would be too embarrassed to speak up. They had gone to considerable trouble. They would not have done all that just to use some harmless, weak poison.

Besides, the Imperial Fighting Team had offended no one in Spirit City and had no direct conflict of interest with anyone. Who would go looking for trouble without a reason?

After giving his instructions, Qin Yuan slipped out of the room.

Lei Meng and the others sat awkwardly before the sofa, pretending to feast on the air.

Fortunately, no outsiders were there to see them. Anyone who did would probably think they were possessed.

The hotel where the Heaven Dou Empire contestants were staying stood on a relatively quiet street.

The street had plenty of hotels. People hoping to get close to the contestants had already rented rooms in the ordinary hotels across from it.

People who drugged someone usually waited until their target swallowed it before leaving. Otherwise, how would they know whether it had worked, or report back?

The budget hotel across the street was therefore the best place to watch the Imperial Fighting Team's comings and goings.

Qin Yuan left through the hotel's back door, ducked into a corner of an alley, and changed into dark clothes so he could move unseen at night.

Then, using his agile movements, he clung to the wall of the hotel opposite and listened to the rooms inside.

Before long, he found his way beneath the windowsill of an unlit room.

Though the lights were off, the room was occupied. Its occupants were crowded onto the balcony, watching the hotel across the street.

From their voices, he could tell there were two of them.

"Old Wang, do you think the organizing committee will find out? We're both teachers at Gutang Academy. If they catch us, we'll have a hard time explaining this."

Teacher Wang gave a cold laugh. "It's already done. What's the point of saying that now?"

"They didn't close the curtains all the way. Judging by their movements, they've eaten the snacks."

"Gutang Academy was lucky enough just to reach the finals. But now it looks as if even the heavens are helping us."

"We're only a small academy. If we make the top six in this tournament—or do even better—the empire is sure to invest in us. Then we can expand enrollment."

"Old Huang, you and I are pillars of the academy. When it grows into a giant, we'll get our share of the benefits. And we're the teachers leading this year's Battle Team. If we do well, there'll be a handsome reward waiting when we get back."

At first, the two of them had not intended to resort to crooked tricks.

In the first and second rounds of the finals, they had drawn favorable matches against the weakest teams at that stage.

But as their wins mounted, their opponents grew stronger. In particular, the Imperial Fighting Team had swept aside the Blue Tyrant Team that day like dry leaves before a gale, setting alarm bells ringing in their heads.

Who would not want to be a lucky soul favored by the heavens?

If their luck had run out, why not lend it a hand and keep it going?

The two were teachers, after all, and had read ancient texts on the history of Douluo Continent. In the end, they had devised what they thought was a flawless plan.

They had not used poison. Even if they were caught, they could deny everything to the bitter end. Neither the Heaven Dou Empire nor even Spirit Hall would be able to do anything to them.

Unfortunately for them, their opponent was Qin Yuan. He had lived two lives; when it came to experience, how many people on Douluo Continent could compare with him?

With a little trick like that, did they really think they had left no seams to pick apart?