"Simply because I am stronger than you, I have no need to deceive you."
"This trial tests not only strength but also character. Only those who can earn the recognition of the Black Tortoise are the people I need."
He paused for a moment, his gaze shifting across the three of them.
"As for me... you can think of me as the head of a special department under the Great Wall."
"Specializing in handling internal issues."
Instructor Jing said, taking out an ID card and presenting it in front of Yin Chen. As for the little girl over there, he didn't bother showing it to her; she wouldn't understand it anyway.
There was even less need for Chen Guan to see it. This was his dearest, most loyal subordinate, after all. Why would he ever undermine the most understanding boss in the world?
The Great Wall.
As this name was spoken, Yin Chen's tense shoulders relaxed slightly. He looked closely; indeed, the unique steel seal was authentic.
The affiliated department section read "Special Operations Department."
That was the stabilizing force of Huaxia, the supreme guardian power that stood above all other organizations.
If the other party belonged to the Great Wall, then the absurdity of all this finally had a logical foundation.
Instructor Jing took a step forward, completely retracting his previously casual demeanor.
"I formally invite you to join my direct secret operations squad, codenamed the Crimson Squad."
"You will become a blade thrust into the heart of the academy, investigating in the shadows, and ultimately eliminating the traitors."
His voice echoed across the empty ice field, carrying the weight of an bestowed mission.
"Are you willing?"
Hong Yuan did not hesitate for a second.
Eliminating traitors and protecting honor had always been her life's creed.
She slammed her giant axe onto the ice and answered with absolute certainty.
"I'm in!"
This invitation was a responsibility heavy enough to crush anyone, and it stirred up massive waves in Yin Chen's heart.
The glory of his family, the precarious future of humanity, the innocent lives that might be sacrificed due to the betrayal of the higher-ups...
Countless thoughts clashed in his mind.
After a brief moment of weighing his options, he nodded solemnly, his silver hair tracing an arc in the wind.
"I am willing."
The gazes of the two simultaneously fell upon Chen Guan.
What choice would this man, who had been shrouded in mystery since his appearance, make?
Chen Guan did not answer immediately.
He lowered his eyes, rubbing the warm, antique Black Tortoise token in his palm with his thumb.
At this moment, Chen Guan's thoughts were incredibly clear.
The Crimson Squad.
Since White Tiger said it was under his command, perhaps it was also related to the Guiyuan Group? Chen Guan truly hadn't expected White Tiger to have this layer of identity.
Just as the bullet comments said, this villain didn't seem all that villainous. Who in the audience is suing this official?
Thinking up to this point, under the urgent gazes of Yin Chen and Hong Yuan, and witnessed by countless bullet comment viewers, Chen Guan raised his head.
He gave his answer.
"Alright."
The corners of Instructor Jing's mouth curled up into a smile that suggested the chess pieces were set and everything was under control.
He had managed to get his future subordinates on the government payroll.
Glancing at the token in Chen Guan's hand, Instructor Jing corrected his phrasing in his mind.
Current subordinates, rather.
"Very good."
He clapped his hands, his tone returning to its previous relaxed state, blowing away the heavy sense of mission from just a moment ago.
"Then, the first mission for the Crimson Squad..."
His gaze swept across the faces of the three one by one before finally looking into the distance.
"...is to root out the rats hidden among this year's freshmen who are making deals with the Demon Race."
White Tiger's figure dissipated, leaving no trace behind.
The ice field returned to a dead silence. After those earth-shattering words were spoken, even the wind and snow seemed to be silenced, quietly coming to a halt.
Yin Chen stood in place, frost gathering on his silver hair.
A mole in the upper echelons, colluding with the Demon Race.
These words repeatedly crashed through his mind.
For the first time, cracks appeared in the order within his heart.
Hong Yuan's chest heaved violently, her breath condensing into white mist in the cold air.
The giant axe in her hand rested against the ice surface, the blade still retaining some residual heat, but her convictions were cooling.
Who was the enemy?
The answer to this question had, for the first time, become so blurry.
The gazes of the two ultimately fell upon that person.
Chen Guan.
At this moment, Chen Guan's mind was racing.
This move by White Tiger seemed like a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it was actually an interlocking, flawless screening process.
He, Yin Chen, and Hong Yuan were chosen. The fact that they could be in the same squad was definitely not a coincidence; otherwise, White Tiger wouldn't have suddenly transformed into some Instructor Jing.
Aside from the three of them, were there other chosen students?
As for the Crimson Squad...
It sounded like high-risk, high-reward temp work. He couldn't shake the feeling that White Tiger was setting him up again.
"...Is this true?"
Hong Yuan finally couldn't help but speak, breaking the dead silence.
"Just based on a few words from him, we're supposed to doubt the academy's higher-ups?"
Yin Chen chimed in, "He mentioned the Great Wall. Besides, he is originally an instructor from the Great Wall. This First Sequence training camp is already different from the past. It's not entirely impossible for something like this to happen."
His analysis was calm, but it couldn't hide the confusion in his words.
He looked at Chen Guan: "What do you think?"
Chen Guan finally raised his head, putting away the Black Tortoise token.
His gaze swept over their faces, which were written all over with hesitation.
He didn't answer directly, but rather stated a fact.
"If everything he said is true, then we are now a blade hidden in the dark."
"If it's false, as of right now, the probability isn't high, and it doesn't do us any harm."
"But the problem is, we know absolutely nothing about the mole. Who they are, where they are, what they want to do—we don't know any of it."
These words choked up Yin Chen and Hong Yuan, who were still struggling with their faith.
Chen Guan had skipped all the emotional buildup and cut straight to the core.
This absolute pragmatism made them feel an inexplicable pressure.
Chen Guan ignored their astonishment and continued, "The best method isn't for us to go look for them, because we simply won't find them. Therefore, we can only let the mole expose themselves."
Hong Yuan frowned: "Expose themselves? That person wouldn't just blow their own cover for no reason."
Chen Guan agreed with Hong Yuan's words: "Exactly. So what we need to do right now is absolutely nothing."
Hong Yuan asked in confusion, "If we don't do anything, then what about the instructor's mission?"
Chen Guan threw his hands up. "Forget about it. He didn't give us any clues, so there's nothing we can do right now."
[TL;DR version: Slacking off.]
[Chen Guan: I don't give a damn about you.]
[Not only slacking off himself but also tricking Little Hong into slacking off with him hahaha. White Tiger recruiting Chen Guan is basically recruiting a wage thief. He isn't as easy to fool as a certain redhead.]
[Long Ao, don't look, it's a bad review.]
Seeing that the bullet comments were all condemning his slacking behavior, Chen Guan felt helpless in his heart.
It wasn't that he was passively sabotaging the work; it was just that White Tiger was playing the riddler way too much.
With a boss like this, what time would you even start working?
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
