The man froze for a second, then shot Chi Zhuo a strange look. “Why do I feel like something’s… off about you?”
“Your imagination.” Chi Zhuo’s voice was cold and flat.
“Oh? Is that so?” The man’s smile turned more wicked, clearly not buying it, but he didn’t push further.
Sure, Chi Zhuo acting weird was interesting—but to him, nothing beat messing with those clueless new freshmen.
“Come, come. I’ve got a few ideas. Tell me which one sounds more fun. If you’ve got a better one, I’m all ears. I take advice, you know.”
The two tyrants who had taken over the underground maze quickly worked out a whole scheme to trap people. The recording drones used during the trial didn’t catch this scene in time. If they had, both academies would’ve stepped in for sure.
Training freshmen and showing them the gap—that was just one way the schools pushed them to grow. They invited outstanding graduates back so the newbies wouldn’t get cocky, so they’d see there’s always someone stronger out there. Not so the seniors could bully them without mercy.
Unfortunately, the recording drone had already been crushed ahead of time. The higher-ups had no clue what was going on.
Over on Ji Chenxi’s side, he had loved hunting people down and snatching their points at first. But later on, he stopped doing it so much.
The gap had become obvious. People either had tons of points—or none at all. The ones with a lot were strong freshmen or seniors, and they had already headed to the West District. The ones left behind were mostly weaker students. As for points? They either had zero or barely any. Those once-proud geniuses who’d been robbed over and over were close to losing all confidence.
For once, Ji Chenxi showed a bit of mercy and stopped robbing people one by one.
As they drew closer to the West District, Lu Jianhan’s worry grew heavier. “The West District has probably already been taken over.”
“That’s a given,” Ji Chenxi replied calmly.
“If it’s already under someone’s control, nine times out of ten it’s the seniors. If we head there now, we won’t gain anything. We might even lose the points we’ve already got.”
“And your point is?”
“We avoid them for now. They can’t stay in the West District forever. We protect the points we have. After that, the rest will be easier.”
There had already been confrontation. What came next would naturally be cooperation.
And this cooperation was clearly designed for the freshmen. The seniors had complicated ties. Many of them held important positions outside school, and some were tangled in political and business conflicts with each other. Freshmen were different. No matter who they were outside, here they were just new students from two academies. They could work together without baggage.
Ji Chenxi glanced at Lu Jianhan again. “Not a bad idea. That would’ve worked—if we hadn’t found that map. But since we did, of course we’re heading to the West District. Why do you think this trial includes a hidden mission? It’s not just some side quest. It’s there to lure us to the West District. The underground maze in the West District—that’s the real battlefield the school set up for us.”
“Oh, and one more thing,” Ji Chenxi added with a faint smile. “Do you think at the very end the school will release a points ranking? After all, only a small number of people are carrying high scores. Most of them are basically sitting at zero.”
Lu Jianhan went oddly quiet for a moment. Then he almost swore out loud. So this was what “cooperation” meant? The ones with zero points team up to rob the ones with high scores?
“Doesn’t that give the seniors a clear edge?” he asked, brows pulling tight.
“Not exactly,” Ji Chenxi said lightly. “Sure, they’ve got more experience. But none of the seniors who came are Double S rank. You’re S+. That means you can still fight them. So relax.”
“And what about Bai Anran? He’s S rank too…”
Lu Jianhan tried to put it gently, but Bai Anran’s performance against Su Yu really hadn’t looked great. If Ji Chenxi hadn’t shown up in time, that map might’ve already been taken.
“Oh, that? Totally normal. Su Yu’s spirit form is a white wolf. It suppresses Bai Anran,” Ji Chenxi replied casually.
Lu Jianhan didn’t press further about what Bai Anran’s spirit form was. Since they’d decided to keep heading toward the West District, he shifted his focus back to the surroundings, gathering intel in advance. His scouting skills were solid. Before they even fully reached the West District, he had already figured out who was running it now.
Ji Chenxi hadn’t really cared who was in charge. To him, it was simple—either it was Chi Zhuo, or it wasn’t. So when he heard the actual answer, he was genuinely surprised.
“What did you say? Mamba and Blue Spider?”
“Yeah. It’s normal if you haven’t heard of Mamba. His real name is Chi Zhuo. He’s quite a bit older than us. Around eight or nine years ago, he was pretty well-known at the Imperial Royal Academy. He kept a low profile, though. After graduating, the only big thing he did was take over the Chi family. After that, there wasn’t much news about him. So most people only really know Blue Spider.”
“Who’s Blue Spider?” Ji Chenxi asked.
Lu Jianhan didn’t even consider the possibility that Ji Chenxi knew Chi Zhuo but not Blue Spider. He simply assumed His Third Highness hadn’t bothered to look into the top graduates from the two elite schools.
So he eagerly explained, “Blue Spider was another big name from the same era as Mamba. His fame actually far surpassed Chi Zhuo’s. You could say he was the top figure at the Imperial Royal Academy in those years. During the inter-school exchange competitions, the First Military Academy was always pushed down a notch because of him.”
“Why would those two work together?”
Ji Chenxi didn’t need to hear more about Blue Spider’s past achievements. At this point, he already knew who it was.
Imperial Royal Academy. Spirit form most likely a blue spider. About the same age as Chi Zhuo. S rank or so. Put that all together, and the answer came fast—Lan family’s eldest son, Lan Mu.
Compared to listening to Lan Mu’s old glory stories, Ji Chenxi was more curious about something else. Chi Zhuo had once said he didn’t have friends. So why was he working with this guy?
“Well… they were probably close in private. Back then, Mamba was really low-key. You could even call him withdrawn. The few times he truly made a splash were mostly in trial tournaments he joined with Blue Spider. And Blue Spider was always publicly challenging him, saying he wanted to compete with Chi Zhuo. From that alone, you can tell Mamba’s real strength might’ve actually been a bit higher than Blue Spider’s.”
Behind them, the recording drone was capturing every move the freshmen made. Ji Chenxi wasn’t about to slip up in front of the academy. So after hearing that, he simply nodded.
“Got it.”
“If we run into those two, how are we supposed to fight them?”
“The hidden mission in the West District is his underground maze. They’ll definitely be waiting inside, just sitting there for prey. If we walk straight in, we’re at a disadvantage. So instead of going in… we make them come out.”
“And why would they come out?” Lu Jianhan didn’t believe for a second that the ones who set the trap would leave their ground on their own.
Ji Chenxi just smiled and said nothing. He walked over to Bai Anran. “Anran, let me see the map again.”
Without hesitation, Bai Anran handed it over. After thinking for a moment, he lowered his voice. “Right now, we don’t even know the full situation in the West District. Bringing us along will only drag you down. Your Highness… you might as well memorize the map and part ways with us.”
Ji Chenxi looked slightly surprised. “You’re giving me the map? Isn’t that… a bit much?”
“It’s not. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have kept it in the first place. Now we not only have the map, we’ve got points too. I’ve talked it over with everyone. No one objects. Keeping the map with us would just waste it. It’s better to give it to you.”
At the start, Ji Chenxi really had planned to leave. The strongest in this team was Bai Anran. The rest were three A-ranks and two B-ranks. And among those A-ranks, one was even an A-. To be honest, it looked like a solid team, but to Ji Chenxi, it was just average. If it weren’t for Bai Anran personally inviting him earlier, he wouldn’t have joined at all.
But now that he had agreed, there was no way he’d abandon them halfway.
So this time, he didn’t even hesitate. “Enough. Don’t say that. We move together.”
“Your Highness…” Bai Anran wanted to say more but stopped.
“It’s fine. I don’t really care whether I take first place or not,” Ji Chenxi said lightly.
Since Ji Chenxi had put it that way, Bai Anran said nothing more.
When the group reached the West District, they headed straight for the underground maze. Along the way, they ran into quite a few people. Most just watched them from the side. A few came up to greet them, trying to get close and team up. Almost all of those were turned down by Ji Chenxi.
As for the seniors Ji Chenxi had robbed before, the way they looked at him was a lot more dangerous. One by one, their eyes were sharp as knives, like they wanted to snatch back every last point he’d taken. But the seniors had rules. First, there was a cap on how many people could team up—freshmen didn’t know the exact number, but if too many seniors surrounded freshmen at once, it counted as a violation. Second, if a senior had already fought a freshman, they couldn’t rob that same person twice.
Still, after arriving in the West District, Ji Chenxi eventually ran into Su Yu and his group.
The moment the two sides met, before a single word was exchanged, they attacked.
At the same time Ji Chenxi and Su Yu moved, so did their spirit forms. The powerful white wolf and the snow leopard lunged at each other with blinding speed, teeth flashing as they tore forward.
Ji Chenxi was already fast. Add in Lu Jianhan’s illusions, plus Ji Chenxi’s own deep understanding of Su Yu’s fighting style, and the outcome came quickly. After just over a hundred moves—barely a short clash to those who couldn’t follow the action—Ji Chenxi’s dagger was already pressed against Su Yu’s throat.
The others standing beside Su Yu didn’t even get the chance to step in. It was already over.
“Su Yu, you weren’t holding back, were you?” someone who knew both Su Yu and Ji Chenxi very well asked, clearly shocked at how fast he’d lost.
Su Yu rolled his eyes so hard they nearly flipped over. “Do I look like I was holding back? If you don’t believe it, try him yourself.”
The group of friends quickly waved their hands. They were just here for fun. Teasing a few freshmen was fine, but they were all from the same circle—who in their right mind would actually go pick a real fight with the Third Prince?
“How about you all come at me together? It’s fine. Otherwise I’d feel bad taking your points,” Ji Chenxi said with a grin.
“Ah, no need. We just got word—if any freshman’s points go higher than the top senior’s, then we seniors have to step out. After that, it’s your little game,” Su Yu said, casually pushing Ji Chenxi’s dagger away.
The white wolf, still pinned by the snow leopard’s bite at its neck, kicked at the snow leopard’s leg in protest. If it weren’t for the illusion cast by that phantom butterfly, it wouldn’t have been slower.
Seeing the spirit forms’ reaction, Ji Chenxi couldn’t help but laugh. “Looks like someone’s not convinced.”
“I’m convinced. It’s the wolf that’s not. But if we’re fighting, then fight—why drag that annoying little butterfly into it?”
“Annoying little butterfly? It worked pretty well, didn’t it? So what’s going on with the underground maze?”
“What else? Chi Zhuo and Lan Mu teamed up—thick as thieves. They’ve fully taken over the maze and set up tons of nasty traps. Whoever goes down there is in for a bad time. Plenty of people have already fallen for it. But since Chi Zhuo’s holding a gold coin worth ten thousand points, there are still a lot of people willing to take the risk.”
“Ten thousand points?” Ji Chenxi’s brows lifted slightly.
For a split second, he almost thought the thing he had his eye on had already been found by Chi Zhuo. But whether Chi Zhuo had found it or not, they still had to make a trip into the underground maze.
After parting ways with Su Yu and the others, Ji Chenxi led his group toward the maze.
He first signaled Lu Jianhan to set up his illusions, then quietly spread out his own spiritual power to sense what was inside.
Almost at once, he caught a familiar presence—along with another alpha aura, strong and heavy.
Deep inside the maze, countless tiny blue spiders were spinning webs. Among them, a man sitting at ease seemed to sense something. He slowly raised his eyes, interest flickering within them.
“Chi, someone else is here. Is it the cat you’ve been wanting to catch?”
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
