Marked the Protagonist A (Translated)

Chapter 54: Is This the Cat You Want to Catch?

Chapter 54: Is This the Cat You Want to Catch?

The man paused for a moment, then glanced at Chi Zhuo with an odd expression. "Why do I feel like something's... off with you?"

"Just an illusion," Chi Zhuo replied indifferently.

"Oh, I see." The man's smile grew increasingly sinister, revealing his disbelief, but he no longer pressed the issue.

While Chi Zhuo's oddness was amusing, it paled in comparison to the fun of bullying those new students.

"Come, come, I have several ideas. Let's see which one's more interesting. If you have better suggestions, I'm all ears," he said.

The two bullies who had taken over the underground maze quickly devised a plan to deceive the newcomers. The recording device in the trial hadn't captured this scene, or the two academies would have definitely intervened.

Training the newcomers to see the gap in their abilities was merely a method of encouragement by the academy. They invited outstanding alumni to help prevent the new students from becoming overly arrogant by showing them that there were always others better than them. It wasn't meant for the upperclassmen to bully the freshers.

Unfortunately, the recording device had already been crushed in advance, leaving the school authorities unaware.

On Ji Chenxi's side, he initially enjoyed capturing people for points, but he gradually stopped doing so.

Now, a clear polarization had emerged: either students had countless points, or they had none at all. Those with points were either strong newcomers or upperclassmen, who had already gone to the West District. Most of those who hadn't gone were relatively weak; their points were either non-existent or pitifully low, causing the once proud elite to lose confidence after being robbed several times.

Ji Chenxi, unusually gentle, stopped robbing everyone.

As they drew closer to the West District, Lu Jianhan became increasingly worried. "The West District is likely already taken over."

"That was to be expected," Ji Chenxi affirmed.

"If the West District has indeed been taken over, then it's highly likely that the takers are upperclassmen. Going there now might not end well, and we could end up losing the points we already have."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's avoid confrontation for now. They can't stay in the West District forever. We can protect our existing points, and the rest will be easier to solve."

Conflict had already arisen, and cooperation was inevitable.

This cooperation was clearly tailored for the newcomers. The relationships among the upperclassmen were complex; many had considerable standing outside the academy and political or economic disputes with other upperclassmen. The newcomers were different—they could cooperate without any reservations.

Ji Chenxi looked at Lu Jianhan. "Your idea isn't bad, if we hadn't discovered that map. Since we have found it, we certainly need to head to the West District. Can you guess why this trial specifically includes a hidden mission? The hidden mission isn't a simple task; it's meant to lead us to the West District. The underground maze there is the main battleground set by the school for us."

"By the way, do you think the school will create a points leaderboard at the last moment? After all, those with high points are in the minority, while most people have almost zero points."

Lu Jianhan fell into a strange silence for a moment before nearly cursing. Was this really how cooperation worked? Taking points from those with high scores without any of his own.