Study Monster Cultivation System
Chapter 258: As a man, one must always be fully prepared.

A few minutes later, a collective stare of disbelief occurred in a room on the 9th floor of the hotel.

"What? Li Zheng and Lin Yujing are here too!"

"You’re fucking kidding, right? The top two are willing to retake the exam?"

"Shit! That’s awesome!!"

"Sorry, sorry, I even suspected Lake Ying of cheating before... I’m an idiot."

"I remember now, the incident with the Chem Competitions was also something Li Zheng and Shi Yang worked on together."

"Isn’t this just like the friendship between Marx and Engels?"

"Enough nonsense, just stop, everyone stop!" Qi Yingnan hastily shut the door and scolded, "Didn’t we say, the key thing now is to find evidence, not to create chaos aimlessly! Blind anger and venting will not solve the problem, we need to find evidence and identify our target and solution."

"Wow, big brother, that’s the spirit," a buzz-cut student exclaimed admiringly, "worthy of being Li Zheng’s roommate."

"Yeah, Li Zheng went through the Chem Competition stuff, he must have a lot of experience."

"Why waste words, let’s all go to Li Zheng’s room to talk!"

"I said it’s not the time to chat."

Qi Yingnan blocked the door and raised his hand to speak.

"Let me make it clear, I just want everyone to know that Li Zheng is with us, but evidence comes first. Without evidence to back us up, we are nothing but a bunch of ineffectual, furious people."

"And let’s be real, with evidence, more examinees will stand with us."

"Right now, instead of discussing and insulting here, we’d better use this time to investigate properly, especially the students from Zhejiang, who must know a few people from Huihu."

"Time is of the essence, if we can’t find evidence by tomorrow afternoon, the official score report will be out for signatures."

"At that point, it’s all over, and any evidence found later would be too late."

Hearing this, someone furrowed their brows and asked, "So you mean, without evidence, Li Zheng won’t get involved?"

Qi Yingnan immediately nodded, "Yes, without evidence, I won’t get involved either. We can only choose to trust Huihu."

Suddenly, the room erupted into murmurs of discussion.

Li Zheng’s stance was indeed very reasonable.

The problem was, with the momentum built up, firmness in position was the first priority, often relegating the reasonableness of the action to secondary concern.

"What if there is evidence?" another person asked, "Will Li Zheng immediately come to sign it?"

"Not just to sign it," Qi Yingnan said gravely, looking around at everyone, "He and Lin Yujing will go to the organizing committee to negotiate, and if you trust him, he’s willing to personally submit a joint letter and take responsibility for all the consequences."

At this, Qi Yingnan scoffed and slightly lifted his glasses.

"To those of you blindly blathering and causing a fuss, please clarify your stance."

"The Lake Ying Duo is ready to lose their Olympiad results and recommendation privileges."

"!!!"

With those words, the room instantly erupted.

"Awesome!"

"God Zheng is amazing!!"

"It’s the Duo that’s amazing, okay!"

"Number one in the competition!"

"Enough, stop blabbering and listen to God Zheng, let’s find evidence."

"Everyone, look around for someone who knows students from Huihu."

Watching the room gradually become enthusiastic and then slowly return to rationality, Qi Yingnan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After giving a few more instructions, he walked alone into the hallway and took the elevator.

As the elevator began to descend, his knees buckled, and he suddenly clutched at the elevator door, gasping for air.

Was he scared?

Or was it something else...

Indeed, he could feel the fear inside him.

It wasn’t the fear of the alliance matters, the dread was hidden deeper within.

Although he was also exhilarated, when he put personal interests aside and searched his heart, he actually preferred to believe that Huihu was innocent and the competition was pure.

Oh my beloved physics.

Pure, please.

Please.

Pure, please.

...

At the penthouse suite of the hotel, around 9 o’clock.

Huang Lingqi sat in front of the desk, smiling at his phone.

He got what he wanted, and it was easier than he had imagined.

The information came from a student named Yang Shaokui, a competitor from Huihu Middle School, ranked 67th in the finals.

In fact, Huang Lingqi didn’t know this person at all, had never seen him, and did not care about him.

After the exam, this person didn’t even speak a word to others; he spent 90% of his time holed up in his room.

But that didn’t affect him from exposing the most critical information under broad daylight without any concealment.

Due to the extremely public nature of this information, Huang Lingqi felt that its discovery now was more accidental than anything.

And so, he was about to turn that accident into a certainty.

Yang Shaokui was a good student who had a good habit of checking in every day after studying.

Each night before leaving the classroom, he would take a photo of the classroom, post it on QQ Space with the time attached to show that he had studied hard until that moment.

His QQ Space was visible to everyone, and he seemed not to mind strangers praising his studious image.

Yang Shaokui never would have imagined that his good habit, which had gone unnoticed for over a year...

would become noteworthy because of an overlooked blackboard.

To be precise, the blackboard from June 10 and 11.

Although the photos were taken from a distance and the writing on the blackboard was a bit blurry, the force diagram of the small wheel immediately caught Huang Lingqi’s eye.

No help for it, it was the problem from the first question of the final exam, after all.

Upon opening the photo and enlarging the dense calculation process beside it,

ordinary people might find it difficult to reconstruct the specific equations.

But for those who participated in this year’s finals, those blurred numbers were all too clear.

No doubt about it, this was an extremely close version of the final exam questions!

One of the steps even had the answer that matched the real one exactly.

June 10th showed the first big question.

June 11th displayed the third and fourth major questions.

Some other days’ blackboards were erased, but these were already enough.

The female assistant watched Huang Lingqi manipulate his phone rapidly, "Peter, we’ve already taken screenshots and recorded it, you don’t have to do it again."

"Who says, I want to keep this entertaining material forever," Huang Lingqi fiddled with the phone some more before finally putting it down contentedly. He tapped the desk and leaned back in the chair to swing, "This is good, but not enough."

"I’m also of this opinion," the assistant nodded. "These photos although can prove a lot, but the officials are still unlikely to overturn the current results. To them, the impact of a retest would be far greater than the loss caused by these few blackboards. Moreover, although people are cursing harshly now, most candidates may not necessarily accept a retest."

"Especially the top 50," Huang Lingqi pursed his lips. "Each paper’s focus is different, and if you redo it, at least half of the top 50 will have to be swapped out."

"Yes, but these 50 people, happen to be the most influential 50, if we redo the competition they will certainly make a fuss, along with the school authorities and team leaders creating a greater impact than what we are dealing with now."

Huang Lingqi couldn’t help but smile, "I didn’t expect this before. Who knew that even academic competitions have their vested interest groups, hahaha."

"But on the other hand," the assistant muttered, "if it were you who dug up this evidence and led everyone to pursue justice, perhaps that would be the best news we were looking for, right?"

"Enough, my family thrived on injustice, and grandfather had always taught us, no matter how rich you get, never pick a fight with the officials," Huang Lingqi waved his hand. "You see, knowing the truth is just a personal quirk of mine, pushing it any further would do no good. Let’s just leave it at that."

While they were talking, the male assistant suddenly pushed the door open, "Urgent news, the candidates are organizing a joint letter to express their concerns, someone is asking if you want to participate."

"Making a fuss," Huang Lingqi immediately waved his hand, "Act as if we didn’t hear anything."

"I was planning to do the same... but just found out..." The male assistant swallowed, "They are endorsing Li Zheng as the leader for the joint letter, Lin Yujing and the third-place are also involved."

"???" Huang Lingqi sprang up, surprised, "The scholarly tyrants from the mainland really have a flair..."

...

At half-past ten, Li Zheng saw off two classmates from Hangzhou No. 2 Middle School.

He had asked them for a chat about Huihu for an hour and had them contact Huihu’s middle school classmates, yet he still didn’t get any useful information.

These two were relatively rational, but it was clear to see that as students from a traditional prestigious school, they couldn’t swallow this blow.

If they must say it, this feeling, the suffocation, was there from the moment when the playoff ended. As the only two representatives from Huang Er, they had intended to give Huihu a smack in the face during this final match.

Yet unexpectedly, one ranked 37th, the other 88th.

Speaking of which, the 37th place was enough for a direct admission, yet he still couldn’t swallow the blow.

After all, his seniors, at their worst year, also ranked within the top 20.

As for Li Zheng and Qi Yingnan, they had completely calmed down as well.

As for the current situation, it’s neither pessimistic nor optimistic.

In the end, they were only close to the truth, and far from being swayed by emotions.

Some of Huihu’s actions were inevitably thought-provoking.

"You know..." Qi Yingnan muttered while chewing on his toothbrush, "if Huihu’s conscience was clear, why would the whole team hole up in a room? Someone is watching, and they even have teachers delivering their meals. Doesn’t this seem like a guilty conscience?"

"...Makes sense," Li Zheng, after rinsing his mouth and directing water at his cup, said, "But the opposite is also possible, they fear their score is too eye-catching and going out might provoke conflicts."

"Ah..." Qi Yingnan sighed. "Seems like most things are like that, in the end, there’s no real truth."

"Unless someone from Huihu is willing to step forward," Li Zheng said shaking his head. "It seems impossible, that person would have to be pretty naïve... It’s like offending the whole world."

"If it were me, I would do it," Qi Yingnan nodded solemnly, facing his reflection in the mirror. "Gaining achievements this way is an insult to my life."

Li Zheng reached out with a smile and gave Qi Yingnan a rub on the small of his back, "Does it hurt?"

"Why are you touching me so gently?"

"Just wanted to ask if it hurts to talk while standing."

"Bullshit! You just wanted to touch me! I’ve been suspecting that something’s off about you."

"Nonsense, your feel is nowhere near as good as Shi Yang’s."

"Motherfucker, you even had the nerve to lay hands on Shi Yang."

As they talked, a ringtone sounded in the room. It was Li Zheng’s phone.

The two glanced at each other, not bothering to wash away the foam around their mouths, they rushed to the bedside cabinet.

Li Zheng was the first to reach it and immediately his eyes bulged and he held the phone close to his chest.

"Answer it," urged Qi Yingnan. "At this time, there’s bound to be progress on the evidence."

"Not really," Li Zheng coughed, clutching the phone and entering the bathroom, locking the door behind him. "Suddenly felt like taking a dump."

"Wait, I haven’t finished brushing my teeth yet," Qi Yingnan said in a frantic voice, pounding on the door. "I don’t mind your smell, let me in."

He thought he would have to pound for a while, but to his surprise, Li Zheng opened the door in less than half a minute.

Qi Yingnan exclaimed, "What kind of sorcery is this... premature... premature leakage?"

"Get lost." Li Zheng went over to a chair, picked up his coat and quickly put it on, "I’m stepping out."

"Ah? All this just to answer a phone call?" It took Qi Yingnan a long time to finally glare, "Could it be... a trade of evidence?"

"No."

"Oh, cut it out, I want to come too." Qi Yingnan hurriedly washed his face.

"You’re not allowed to come!"

"I get it, the witness fears exposure, worries about a mole, so you’re the only one they contacted," Qi Yingnan said, peering out with his face still wet, "Do you still not trust me?"

"I told you it’s not that." Li Zheng had already put on his clothes, shoved Qi Yingnan aside, went into the bathroom and took out some hair gel from the cabinet, sprayed it twice in front of the mirror, and then carefully started arranging his hair, appearing to be in a state of readiness.

Qi Yingnan watched as Li Zheng used nearly half a bottle of mouthwash.

Finally, he realized something.

"You... you’re fucking kidding me..." Qi Yingnan stepped back tremulously until he hit the wall, "Could it be... Lin Yujing is calling you over?"

"Don’t overthink it, she’s calling me this late, I’m not sure what for," Li Zheng said, finishing his hair and sitting on the bed to change shoes, with an unusually serious expression, "But as a man, I should be fully prepared."

"What can you possibly do so late at night..." Qi Yingnan said miserably, grabbing Li Zheng’s arm, "You wouldn’t really leave me to spend such an agonizing night alone, would you?"

"It shouldn’t take that long, just some business to discuss. Move, stop pulling on me."

"I don’t care, you have to be back in half an hour, or I’ll lock the door from the inside."

"Suit yourself." Li Zheng callously brushed Qi Yingnan aside, "If I’m not back in half an hour, I probably won’t be coming back at all."

"Fuck!"

"Goodnight." Li Zheng closed the door cruelly, "Don’t call me."

808, a lucky room number.

Li Zheng stood in front of the door, taking three deep breaths.

Lin Yujing shared a room with a student from another province, and they had barely spoken in the past few days.

Maybe the out-of-province student had gone home?

Alone and scared?

Oh, that’s so childish.

Or was it a bowling accident earlier and now she needs help applying ointment?

Oh, then I can only offer help.

Or might it be the excitement from the events at Huihu that’s keeping her awake?

Oh, then let’s go for a midnight run together.

With a mix of emotions, Li Zheng pressed the doorbell.

After just one ring, the door opened.

"Hmm." Lin Yujing, wearing a baggy panda pajama set, peeked out warily, made sure no one followed, then waved Li Zheng in, quickly closed the door, locked it, and turned on the "Do Not Disturb" sign.

Seeing her rush around and that chubby panda tail.

Li Zheng’s eyes were half surprised, half mocking.

Why.

Why the panda pajamas.

A school uniform would have been more appropriate!