Silent Crown

Chapter 184 Before the Trial 2

Next, the cruelest round would begin. All participating students had to find the graduating students. Before the trial, all students had sixty points. If they wanted to pass, they needed to get at least one hundred! Every wrong find deducted ten points. If they failed six times, they were out. Fifty points were awarded for one successful find. If a graduating student was caught five or more times consecutively, he would fail the trial and be out. If he was not caught by visual mimicry of objects, it was possible for their points to double.

The crowd instantly formed two groups…

It could be imagined that by the time the sun rose the next day, the familiar campus, the same environment, the warmth and peace would never be seen again. This would become a terrifying battlefield. A cruel war would begin. But…

"Isn’t it just hide and seek?" Ye Qingxuan finally reacted.

"I guess?" Richard rose and patted his shoulder. "Remember not to cheat. The executive office will be maintaining order the entire time. Thanks to the school board, you’re one of our top suspects."

Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt weak. Other concertmasters had the best times of their lives, but he became the top suspect? It was depressing. And what was wrong with this school anniversary? Tests in rumors had everyone face off each other until a winner of the school was created. Why did it turn into this here?

And to encourage the students to tear each other apart, the academy had also prepared all sorts of prizes and gifts. The first five students could go into the Cave of Sleep in the Jianlan Underground Palace for a weeklong meditation period. They could also use their credits in exchange for more time…

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan’s eyes grew red with desire. The Cave of Sleep was one of the Requiem enchantment’s cores. There, a vast magnetic vortex captured aether constantly, used up the massive amount of aether, and performed Benevolence, the overture of the Requiem.

If one meditated here, he could easily resonate deeply with the aether. Apparently, the meditation effect would shoot up incredibly fast once in there, like a wild dog off its leash. It was the best location for meditation.

If Ye Qingxuan could enter, he could fill in the foundation built with his rune stones. He also had a few handwritten drafts from saints that he had taken from the library. That was the most important!

Those were all classic scores from the School of Revelations. There were twenty-four in total and needed at least one year to learn at the regular speed. With the interpretation method, the time could be reduced to half a year, but if he had an environment like the Cave of Sleep, he could roughly understand it all within seven days.

After the most difficult obstacle, he would just need to keep practicing and woodshedding. No matter what, he had to work for this important chance.

-

Ye Qingxuan decided to look through information of past school anniversaries from the library for preparation. But at the very back of the auditorium, he saw a sighing and grieving crowd. They were probably the seniors who were not good at visual mimicry and were hopeless now. Ye Qingxuan recognized a few. They were all Charles’ comrades.

One of them was a girl. Ye Qingxuan remembered Charles crushing on her seriously before, but it ended without any results. After all, who would date a failure? Now, Charles stood beside her, comforting her softly.

According to him, he lacked experience in every field except for failing classes. After getting stuck in the Rhythm level years ago, he had never passed again. Now, all his friends were graduating. He was probably the saddest now, right?

Ye Qingxuan sighed and walked forward.

-

At the back of the auditorium, the gloomy girl hung her head, her eyes red. She probably did not have much confidence for this test.

"Don’t worry, Heather," Charles consoled her softly. "There’ll be a way out of every dead end. If you hurry and practice ‘visual mimicry,’ you can still make do. I have a lot of experience. If you…"

"I know. Stop yapping," Heather interrupted, her expression annoyed. "Whatever, I’m just like this and can’t learn anything. I’m not a ‘genius’ like you!"

"But it’s still good to be prepared." Charles’s voice had weakened and he hung his head. "I just wanted to say that I have some notebooks. If you hurry and look through them, your grade won’t be that bad."

"Don’t I have your department below me?" Heather glared at him. "No matter how bad I am, I won’t be as bad as you."

"…" Charles froze, his face growing red. "You—you can’t say that."

People around them laughed mockingly. Some people seemed to make comments. Charles stuttered, trying to reply, but in the end, he hung his head sadly and did not try to explain.

He had just wanted to say that he had some resources and notebooks that were written by himself. Heather would have no problem if she looked through them, but Heather was right too. He could not even help himself. Maybe he should not have come.

"Senior, let’s go."

Charles heard a voice beside him. The white-haired youth stood before him, blocking the mocking eyes from him with a neutral and cold expression.

"What’s the point of talking with these failures?" Ye Qingxuan said lightly. "It’s a waste of time. Let them fend for themselves." His voice was gentle, but each clearly enunciated word made the gleeful and mocking expressions turn uglier.

"Failure? What are you talking about?" The eyes of Ryan, Heather’s boyfriend, darkened. "At any rate, we’re your seniors. Do you not know what ‘manners’ are?"

"I was just telling the truth." Ye Qingxuan looked down and toyed with the concertmaster badge on his chest. Looking up, he asked, "What, you don’t agree? If you don’t, get a concertmaster badge and show me."

"You Eastern b*stard…don’t go too far."

"Eastern b*stard? Do you still remember the ninth line of the second chapter of the school rules?" Ye Qingxuan chuckled. "What do you call me when you see me, no matter the situation?"

There was a long silence. The people stared at each other. In the end, Ryan squeezed out the words with a dark expression, "Concertmaster Ye."

Someone beside them forced a smile and tried to soften the tension. "Sorry, Heather didn’t mean it that way. She just feels stressed."

"It’s okay. I’m not the one you were annoying." Ye Qingxuan scanned the group. "Go back and study well. I know you’re all good kids, so be good and obedient."

"You!" Ryan clenched his fists as his breathing grew heavier.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m a bit stressed too." Ye Qingxuan slowly straightened his collars and bent down to look at Ryan, then whispered in his ear, "If you’re upset, you can hit me…coward."

-

Unrest happened just as Ye Qingxuan had predicted. In actuality, it ended pretty quickly. After all, the executive office people were still wandering around, and Richard had not gone far. Even though the school did not forbid fighting, it was not allowed to get too out of hand in the auditorium.

Just as Ryan was about to move, Ye Qingxuan punched him in the eye and pummeled him, not giving him the chance to fight back.

The unrest ended quickly. They were pulled apart by members from the executive office and kicked out of the auditorium after being scolded.

Ye Qingxuan was totally unharmed, but Charles had helped him block some kicks while trying to stop them. Now, he sat beside the fountain pathetically like a defeated dog.

"Senior, don’t be sad. You were just wrong about some people, right?" Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. "Look, I already helped you vent. Why are you still sad?"

"I just think it’s a pity." Charles lowered his head and rubbed his nose. "I just wanted to help them. After all, they were still willing to talk to me. I thought they were my friends, but sadly…"

Ye Qingxuan fell silent. He patted Charles’s shoulders, not knowing what to say. After a long while, he suddenly asked quietly, "Senior, are you free tonight?"

"Huh?" Charles glanced at him in confusion.

Ye Qingxuan chuckled. Throwing an arm over his shoulder as Charles used to do, he said quietly, "How about we work hard this time and help you graduate first?"

-

It was a night without words.

Early morning the next day, a crowd gathered soundlessly in the campus square. Bai Xi yawned and swayed amongst the crowd. Her eyes were still dazed, not yet understanding what had happened.

After staying up until midnight the last night, she was dragged out by Ye Qingxuan in the morning. It felt like she had brushed her teeth and eaten breakfast while sleepwalking, but she was still not awake. Her hair was a mess. Some parts were sticking up like a bird nest. Her short hair had gotten long at some point and she finally looked like a little girl. But sadly, she was still the sloppiest type of girl.

"Even if you don’t put on makeup, girls should at least brush their hair in the morning." Ye Qingxuan sighed and pulled her over. He turned her around so her back was to him and held down her head so she could not move. Then he pulled a comb from his pocket—don’t ask where he had gotten this from. He felt more and more like a single mother now.

Bai Xi sleepily let Ye Qingxuan do whatever. Quickly, her messy hair became neat. Then Ye Qingxuan pulled a hair tie from her pocket and collected her hair into a bun with experience. Good, now she was clean and simple.

"Done?" Bai Xi leaned against the youth lazily. She yawned and forced her eyes open to a slit. "Cousin."

"Yeah?" Ye Qingxuan looked down at her.

"You feel like a sister…" Bai Xi looked up at him. "Can you be my sister?"

Whack. Ye Qingxuan flicked her forehead, forcing her awake. "No."

The crowd rustled. The long-awaited principal finally appeared at the front.