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Hong Tao slouched in the back row. Glancing at Zuo Tingyi, who sat ramrod straight beside him, he asked in surprise, "Say, when did you start liking card films?"
"Liking them?" Zuo Tingyi shook his head. "I don't."
"But you look pretty engrossed to me." Hong Tao wore a puzzled expression.
Sitting perfectly upright, Zuo Tingyi said evenly, "You can't accomplish anything with mere window dressing. But if you can't even get the window dressing right, chances are you won't get the job right either."
"Hypocrite!" Hong Tao said scornfully, then yawned. "Well, I'm bored. Why drag me out to watch some card film for no reason? If you like them, just buy one yourself. Why come here and join the crowd?"
"When examining an issue, we must look beyond the surface..."
Hong Tao hurriedly cut him off, impatient. "The point. Get to the point."
"I came for her." Zuo Tingyi remained perfectly composed.
"Her? Who's her?" Hong Tao looked baffled.
Zuo Tingyi glanced toward a corner of the classroom. "Man Siying."
Hong Tao looked as though he had turned to stone. A full half minute passed before he recovered, reacting as though he had just heard explosive news. "Man Siying? My God! When did you hook up with her? Come on, Tingyi, that's not right. You really kept me in the dark-not even a whisper! But when did a stone man like you finally wake up to romance?..."
Zuo Tingyi ignored Hong Tao and continued, "I heard Alagon has been setting his sights on her lately."
That single sentence choked off Hong Tao's chatter. Only after a long pause did he stammer, "How do you know?"
Hong Tao suddenly noticed that Zuo Tingyi was looking at him as though he were an idiot, and realized just how stupid his question had been. Zuo Tingyi was one of only two students in the academy's Discipline Office. He wielded real authority and was exceptionally well informed. Apart from Zeng Qiyi, supreme leader of the gossip brigade, his eyes and ears were probably the sharpest in the entire academy.
"What does that have to do with you?" Hong Tao stared at his friend incredulously, looking him up and down. "No matter how I look at you, you don't seem like the sort to draw your sword when you see injustice on the road."
Snap! Still sitting bolt upright, Zuo Tingyi closed the brick-thick copy of Overview of Card Theory in his hands and declared with murderous resolve, "Under the academy's latest decision, no incidents disrupting harmony on campus will be tolerated as we prepare to welcome the delegation from Star Academy. As someone privileged to hold an important position in East Guard Academy's Discipline Office, I certainly cannot stand idly by."
As Hong Tao stared in astonishment, Zuo Tingyi added, "The main point is that the academy dumped responsibility for this on me." He looked somewhat resigned, but quickly regained his usual composure. "Given Alagon's unusually high level of activity lately, I have decided to monitor and handle this matter personally."
"So that's what all this was about." Hong Tao lost interest. "Why drag me along for something this boring?"
Zuo Tingyi gave Hong Tao an indifferent glance and uttered one word: "Muscle."
East Guard Academy had a liberal atmosphere, and ordinarily imposed almost no restrictions on its students. Its students were either wealthy or influential, and the administration could not afford to offend them. It therefore kept one eye open and the other shut toward most disputes, leaving the students to settle things themselves. Even if something happened, the students would not blame the academy. As a result, campus security was a serious problem.
Zuo Tingyi's admission to the Discipline Office was partly due to his popularity with the teachers, but it was also directly connected to his powerful family background. The Discipline Office was a place where offending people came with the territory, and Zuo Tingyi was merely a Card Master, with combat strength infinitely close to zero.
But he was ruthless as well. He went home and personally asked his father for five exceptionally formidable Card Adepts. Surprisingly, his normally mild-mannered father gave him his full support. Leading those five high-level Card Adepts, Zuo Tingyi stormed back into the academy and launched a sweeping reform of campus conduct, enforcing discipline with iron and blood. Almost every disobedient tough on campus at the time suffered a severe crackdown. There were plenty of pampered young masters among them, but their families were less powerful than his, and none of their subordinates could stand against the five Card Adepts under Zuo Tingyi's command.
For a time, the atmosphere at East Guard Academy was swept clean. The administration was delighted and gave Zuo Tingyi its full support.
It was this legendary episode that established Zuo Tingyi's fearsome reputation at East Guard Academy. From then on, those spoiled rich brats reacted to him like mice encountering a cat. Even the teachers in the Discipline Office were quite wary of him. Zuo Tingyi no longer needed to rely on the intimidating presence of the five high-level Card Adepts.
The other student in the Discipline Office was Zeng Xinyi, but she had no interest whatsoever in its work. Gossip, on the other hand, was her consuming passion.
Alagon was a notorious spoiled rich brat on campus, and his behavior was thoroughly unruly. But his family's wealth dominated the region, so few could stand against him. He was also shrewd enough to behave himself when necessary; as a rule, he never picked on the academy's hard cases. There were two kinds of people he could not touch: those whose backing was stronger than his, and those with outstanding strength of their own, such as Hong Tao.
He specialized in bullying students from ordinary, comfortably-off families with no significant backing, such as Man Siying. Around him gathered a crowd of wealthy youths much like himself, every last one a textbook spoiled rich brat.
At such a sensitive time, the administration wanted no negative news whatsoever. Zuo Tingyi had therefore acted the moment he received word. As luck would have it, they were sitting directly behind Chen Mu and Lei Zi.
A girl's scream suddenly came from the front of the classroom. "What are you doing? You creeps!"
A chorus of teasing laughter followed.
"Hey now, beautiful, you can't just say whatever you like. Creeps? What exactly have we done to you?"
A shameless, slick voice chimed in, accompanied by a burst of unrestrained laughter from those around him. The speaker was Alagon. With his round head, round face, round belly, and short, thick legs, he looked like a human figure assembled from balls of different sizes. His tiny eyes looked sleazy from every angle.
"You..." The girl's face flushed bright red with anger, and she could not find the words.
The disturbance shattered the classroom's quiet. Upon seeing who was making trouble, many students wisely left at once.
Chen Mu, however, froze.
That voice...
(End of chapter)