CHAPTER 25: 025 OFFLINE COMPETITION_1

The surroundings fell into a sudden hush.

Everyone was left dumbstruck.

Wen Jiang departed with her head held high, unfazed by everyone’s gaze.

Just as she reached her car door, a figure furtively approached—it was none other than Meng Qi, Song Yingchen’s top lackey. Meng Qi also studied at the school, but his family had served the Song Family for generations; his father was even the Song Family’s old butler. Since Meng Qi was of a similar age to Song Yingchen, the Song Family had specifically tasked him with looking after Song Yingchen.

He could be considered Song Yingchen’s subordinate; whenever Song Yingchen wanted to meet Wen Jiang, Meng Qi usually arranged it.

As he drew near, he began, "Miss Wen, Young Master Song would like to..."

Wen Jiang cut him off. "Get lost."

Meng Qi nodded. "Okay!"

Then he could only watch as Wen Jiang arrogantly drove away.

Once most of the crowd had dispersed, Meng Qi slowly made his way back to Song Yingchen. Seeing the grim look in Song Yingchen’s eyes, Meng Qi said with a mix of helplessness and grievance, "She told me to get lost."

Song Yingchen said nothing. His fists clenched tightly. He suddenly stared in the direction Wen Jiang had left and uttered in an eerie tone, "She’s not Wen Jiang."

His Wen Jiang would never do such a thing.

Every move she made was completely unlike the Wen Jiang from before.

Meng Qi raised an eyebrow. Is this guy delusional? He inwardly scoffed but feigned curiosity. "If she’s not Wen Jiang, then who could she be?"

Song Yingchen didn’t speak.

His gaze slowly shifted to Qiao Yuxiao, who was also leaving.

Qiao Yuxiao, too, had been staring at the departing Wen Jiang, seemingly lost in thought. Without a word to Song Yingchen, she left.

Meng Qi watched Song Yingchen’s gaze shift and cursed inwardly. That bastard! Always eating from his bowl while eyeing what’s in the pot. I hope he ends up with nothing and no one!

Guan Xixi was dumbfounded by Wen Jiang’s tirade and stood rooted to the spot in a daze. Before Fan Jinan left, he actually had a rare pang of conscience and offered some consolation, "Don’t feel too bad. She laid into me pretty harshly too. She must be crazy; the school expelled her, you know."

What a pity about my future money, though!

Guan Xixi was speechless. Many students had gathered just to watch the spectacle. Noticing the stares around her, Guan Xixi belatedly realized something: Wen Jiang’s words seemed to imply she was connected to the bullies.

She was suddenly shocked and shivered. Impossible!

She had been so discreet. How could Wen Jiang possibly have found out?

"You’re a friend of Wen Jiang?"

A man’s low, gentle voice suddenly came from behind her. She turned in surprise and saw Song Yingchen. Her heart began to race.

As the school’s newly-minted campus prince, Song Yingchen had garnered much attention, both for his talent as an S-Rank Spirit Card Master and his status as the Song Family’s young master.

And it was because of this, after seeing Wen Jiang knew him, that she...

"Hello... Hello," Guan Xixi stammered, her voice tinged with excitement. She hurriedly wiped away her tears, perfectly timing a pitiable expression. "Yes, that’s right."

Guan Xixi had expected Song Yingchen to at least show some concern. Instead, he merely said, "Good. I want to know what exactly happened to Wen Jiang a week ago."

He knew Wen Jiang was being bullied. If he dealt with it publicly, their relationship would be exposed. He’d thought that as long as Wen Jiang endured it, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

But he hadn’t expected things to get so serious.

He had actually been dealing with those three secretly, trying to avoid alarming the Song Family and keep his actions hidden.

He also hadn’t expected Wen Jiang to cut off contact with him unilaterally afterward.

Guan Xixi’s heart suddenly turned cold.

She didn’t know that Song Yingchen was a pragmatic man. He had long been aware that she was merely a friend of Wen Jiang’s with an average background, not someone he needed to exchange pleasantries with, nor someone who could afford to offend him. That’s why he didn’t waste a single word comforting Guan Xixi. He just needed to know exactly what had happened that day.

「 」

"Hey, I originally thought you were going to have a showdown with those two and deal with those three bullies in the process," Zero Egg grumbled as they drove home. "How could their anger values drop just like that? Did your scolding actually knock some sense into them?"

"Deal with them?" Wen Jiang raised an eyebrow. "Of the three who bullied me, one is an A-Level Spirit Card Master, another is a B-Level Spirit Card Master, and the third is a lackey who trails after them, sucking up all day. How am I supposed to deal with them now? Did you manage to hack into the school system?"

Zero Egg exclaimed, "Hey, of course I hacked it successfully! Although I can’t control things too far away, this kind of task is still a piece of cake for me."

The problem with a System like Zero Egg was that while its technology was more advanced than this world’s, it couldn’t independently control remote networks without Wen Jiang. It wasn’t that it lacked the capability, but rather the authority.

It seemed like that kind of authority was never granted to the ’abused female protagonist’ type.

Just like how the original Wen Jiang was saddled with low-grade, useless cards, this System wasn’t much better...

Zero Egg added, "However, I didn’t detect any signals from another System. Its host probably isn’t in Imperial City."

Meanwhile, Wen Jiang had instructed Zero Egg to pay special attention to the possible existence of another System. Systems could sense each other and would immediately become aware if they came within range. However, this other System supposedly had higher authority than Zero Egg. According to Zero Egg, even if they encountered it, the other System would likely ignore Zero Egg, unless Wen Jiang became so prominent that the other System couldn’t ignore her.

It then sent the personal information of the three bullies to Wen Jiang.

Zero Egg continued, "Song Yingchen must have pulled some strings. Those three are temporarily confined to their homes for ’misconduct’ and haven’t been to school."

That’s why they weren’t present today.

As Wen Jiang scanned the information on the three, Zero Egg asked hesitantly, "So, do you think that grandson of yours actually has any feelings for you? If he didn’t care, would he have bothered to help you with this?"

"Just because a beast shows a flicker of conscience, does that stop it from being a beast?" A cold sneer touched Wen Jiang’s eyes. The original Wen Jiang is already dead. That alone is his greatest crime.

Zero Egg shuddered. "You really do hate him."

There must be a mistake in the data! Zero Egg fumed. The database it accessed before arriving clearly stated that Wen Jiang loved Song Yingchen to death. But look at the venom in her curses now! What on earth did the world data scan pick up? It’s definitely going to leave a bad review later!

After noting down the information on these three, Wen Jiang turned to her computer.

At this moment, Bunny Treasure was privately messaging Wen Jiang in the background.

Bunny Treasure: "The card deck is very powerful! We have a B-Level offline tournament in a week. Barring any surprises, we’ll be using this deck. I’m sending you a ticket. If you’re interested, you can come watch. (Address)"

Although they were both in Imperial City, Chen Runyu couldn’t be sure where this card deck maker, Wen Cangtian, was from. Giving away a ticket was a gesture of goodwill and also a way to see if the other party was interested in attending an offline event.

After all, each ticket had a special mark. If someone were to enter using it, their identity would immediately be known to the Mount Flower Association.