Jiang Huai and Flender sat in the room for a long time, discussing the many students who had violated the academy's rules.
Jiang Huai also offered several good suggestions, and Flender nodded in agreement.
But Flender soon fell into a dilemma again. They needed people to enforce all these policies, but they didn't have enough staff. He was also worried that Shrek wasn't famous enough to attract teachers from outside.
Jiang Huai saw Flender's concern and proposed creating the Shrek Inspection Group and the Shrek Student Union.
Flender asked what purpose these two organizations would serve. Jiang Huai explained, "The Shrek Inspection Group will maintain order within a hundred meters of the academy and make sure students aren't bullied by outsiders.
"The Shrek Student Union will manage the students inside the academy and make sure they follow the rules. They'll need their own office building and will meet once a week to list the rule violations in each class. They'll also identify the students least deserving of staying at the academy and vote on whether to expel them."
Flender nodded, thinking Jiang Huai's suggestion was a good one. At that moment, he and Jiang Huai formally agreed to work together: Jiang Huai would manage the Inspection Group and Student Union, while Flender would draw up the rules and send them to Jiang Huai, who would arrange for them to be distributed and gradually put into effect.
The next morning...
Flender held an assembly for all the teachers and students and officially announced the establishment of the Shrek Inspection Group and the Shrek Student Union.
Jiang Huai became the first head of the Shrek Inspection Group and the first president of the Student Union.
He now held several positions at once: captain of the Shrek Academy Team, head of the Shrek Inspection Group, and president of the Shrek Student Union.
Jiang Huai took the stage and announced that Gu Yue would be the Student Union's vice president and Dai Mubai the Inspection Group's deputy head.
The other Shrek members joined one of the two organizations to help out. Tang San, Xiao Wu, Ma Hongjun, and Tai Long joined the Inspection Group, while Oscar, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Jiang Zhu, and Jing Ling joined the Student Union.
They were the first members of the Shrek Inspection Group and Student Union. Recruitment for the first new members would begin within the next two days, and the second round would take place five years later.
The Shrek Academy Team would sit out competitions for the next two days. Any matches scheduled for them during that time would be forfeited.
Jiang Huai intended to enforce the academy's rules with an iron hand. The Student Union and Inspection Group would share a single office building.
It would have three floors, each measuring more than two hundred square meters, with up to seven offices on each floor.
Jiang Huai, Gu Yue, and Dai Mubai would naturally manage the third floor. The other two floors would serve as the main offices for the Inspection Group and the Student Union.
Jiang Huai could also let Spirit Fox out to roam around on the third floor. At his command, Gu Yue and Dai Mubai set off at once.
Flender had someone bring over the revised rules. He had removed the clause "Accept only monsters, not ordinary people," since it would hinder enrollment, and decided to abolish it.
The new decree also stated: "The academy must ensure students' safety both on campus and within a hundred meters of its grounds." The Inspection Group was required to recruit thirty-five members within two days, while the Student Union had to recruit twenty.
Those requirements were easy enough to meet. Even so, Jiang Huai sent Flender a reply urging him to hurry up and finish the new office building. Each organization needed a separate, four-story building.
Flender gritted his teeth and agreed. He hired masons, carpenters, and other tradesmen, and bought two new plots of land for the buildings.
Gu Yue and Dai Mubai began recruiting new members. They brought out a table, and Shrek's students soon crowded around it.
Jiang Huai patted them both on the shoulder. Gu Yue nodded, stood up, and told the students to line up in an orderly fashion. The current members of the Student Union would keep the scene under control.
The recruitment day soon came to an end. Before long, the Shrek Nine Devils were examining the mountain of applications in front of them.
Tai Long, Jiang Zhu, and Jing Ling were called in to help. They kept reading and flipping through the forms until not a single person had slept all night.
They sat on the third floor, poring over applications. Jiang Huai tossed the forms of unqualified applicants into the trash.
The lights on the third floor stayed on all night. Gu Yue was the only one who managed to sleep, leaning against Jiang Huai's back.
Everyone else had a miserable night of reviewing applications. By morning, they still had hundreds left to go through.
They finally finished reviewing the applications at noon. They had piled up a huge stack of rejected forms, while two thick stacks of applications that had passed the initial screening sat on the table.
Jiang Huai was the most exhausted of them all. Whenever Dai Mubai and the others had questions, they asked for his opinion. Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun even grabbed the same application and started arguing loudly over it.
The noise left Jiang Huai feeling frazzled. The good news was that they'd selected the first batch of members. For the first round, they skipped all the complicated procedures and made their decisions based on Jiang Huai's firsthand assessment.
The Student Union gained fifty-five new members, and the Inspection Group gained seventy-five.
The Inspection Group needed more members because they patrolled outside the academy. With more people, no one would dare challenge them to a one-on-one fight. The Student Union had fewer members because it managed things inside the academy, which was easier. Its duties were limited to handling student fights, keeping the campus clean, and grading the different classes.
It was Sunday afternoon, the last day before a new week began. They were about to hold their first meeting.
Flender and Liu Erlong were the academy's most senior and highest-ranking members, so they would attend the first meeting as well.
Jiang Huai sat between Liu Erlong and Flender. Gu Yue and Dai Mubai entered with their respective teams and took their seats.
Once everyone was seated, Gu Yue sat beside Liu Erlong, and Dai Mubai sat beside Flender. Jiang Huai straightened his notebook at the head of a long table.
"Give us a summary of the day's work."
Dai Mubai replied, "Boss, these past few days I've had Tang San and the others patrol the area. They spotted someone extremely suspicious."
Dai Mubai handed a photograph to Flender. Flender took one look and his expression changed. "Residual Dream, Shi Nian!"
Jiang Huai took the photograph and studied it. "What makes him suspicious? Tell us what you think."
Dai Mubai turned to Tang San, who had spotted Shi Nian, and let him explain. Tang San stood up, cleared his throat, and said, "Everyone, I've been following Shi Nian for a while. He's a strange man. Outside our academy, he kept looking around as if he were planning something, and he wore a sly smile."
Jiang Huai tapped the photograph lightly with his finger. "Where did he go?"
Tang San replied, "Shi Nian went to a spot about a hundred and twenty meters from the back hill behind our academy. He watched the area for an hour before leaving. Brother Huai, Dean Flender, Vice Dean Liu Erlong, I suspect Shi Nian means us harm."
Jiang Huai thought it over. "What exactly is this Shi Nian planning?"
Flender frowned gravely. "Residual Dream Shi Nian's Martial Soul is something extremely insidious called Residual Dream. It traps people in terrifying nightmares and kills them. It seems we'll need to strengthen the academy's defenses."
Jiang Huai nodded, then gave an order. "Groups three and five of the Student Union, have your group leaders send your members to infiltrate Canghui Academy and secretly keep an eye on Shi Nian."
Zhu Zhuqing and Jing Ling stood up. "Understood!"
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