Chapter 13: Yao Xing Academy 13 Part 1

Preventing Lu Zhou from winning the championship was not difficult. Causing him injury was a vague concept—even a cut from a fingernail could count as an injury.

The most crucial part was the final phrase—causing his right ear to go deaf.

This must have been the key factor that caused the Protagonist Blackening Value to skyrocket. Being bullied by the school bully for a long time, and even ending up with a physical disability from the injury—who wouldn’t blacken under those circumstances?

Xun Ji naturally did not want to disable the guy; that already violated his bottom line as a good person. But the Key Plot Point Task, if not completed, meant facing erasure.

Xun Ji recalled the information he had heard about the Winter Sports Meet during the day and fell into deep thought.

Clearly, whether it was winning the championship or getting injured, it all happened at the Winter Sports Meet. The root of all the disaster and the breakthrough lay there.

“If only I had the original text,” Xun Ji sighed. In his current state of being completely in the dark, how was he supposed to come up with countermeasures?

【Host…】 The System spoke weakly. 【Actually, there is another way to view the original text.】

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Xun Ji perked up. “What method?”

【The System backend has a backup of the original text, but it requires Points to unlock.】

“How many Points to unlock it?”

【999 Points…】

It was a bit expensive, but for the sake of future tasks, it was worth it.

Xun Ji clapped his palms together. “Unlock it right now!”

【One chapter.】

“?”

【Host, it’s 999 Points to unlock the content of one chapter from the original text.】 The System said in a small voice.

“Why don’t you go rob a bank?” Xun Ji was utterly speechless.

To complete the 1000-Point Key Plot Point Task, he had to spend 999 Points first just to unlock one chapter. Even if that chapter’s content helped him complete the task perfectly, his net gain would only be 1 Point.

【So, does the Host still want to unlock it?】

“Unlock it, of course I want to unlock it!” Xun Ji said viciously. The System truly served the dark protagonist, rotten to the core.

The System pulled up the table of contents from the original text. 【The Host may select a chapter to unlock.】

“Can’t you just directly unlock the chapter where Lu Zhou gets injured and loses hearing in his ear for me?”

The System sounded neither justified nor confident. 【I don’t know the content of each chapter; I’m just an intelligent service entity.】

Xun Ji stared at the directory spanning hundreds of chapters and tried to find traces of the Winter Sports Meet in the two-character titles of each.

He skimmed past chapter titles brimming with dark vibes like “Chapter X: Humiliation,” “Chapter X: Hatred,” “Chapter X: Curse,” and finally located the Winter Sports Meet.

“Chapter X: Kickoff,” “Chapter X: Vying for First,” “Chapter X: Broken Wing,” “Chapter X: Deaf”… Found it!

“Unlock this… wait.” Xun Ji rubbed his chin. Drawing from his experience reading web novels in his previous life, the “Deaf” chapter was likely the aftermath of the event, while the process of it happening…

“Unlock the ‘Broken Wing’ chapter.” Xun Ji finally decided.

【This chapter’s content has been unlocked.】

A segment of text appeared, and Xun Ji skimmed through it rapidly.

The chapter’s general content described how, as Lu Zhou progressed in the race to the “Ice Waterfall Section,” the specially made Ice Claw Shoes on his feet suddenly malfunctioned, causing him to fall from the elevated track. A sharp ice spike pierced through his right ear, and a large amount of blood gushed out, staining the ice red. The school’s drone, live-streaming the event from above, captured it like a little bird with broken wings plummeting miserably, crashing into a puddle of dirty, filthy mud that no one cared about.

“Lu Zhou didn’t feel much pain; he only felt cold. So cold.

His ear boomed with noise, as if it were the loudest sound he had ever heard in his life, so loud that he fainted several times only to be jolted awake again. Something seemed to be constantly flowing out of his ear—sticky and disgusting.

Lu Zhou wanted to reach up and wipe it, but he couldn’t lift his arm.

He didn’t know if he would just die like this. Idly, he moved the only part of his body he could—the eyeballs—and glimpsed the shoe that had fallen nearby.

It was his Ice Claw Shoes. The Ice Claws had shattered into pieces, nothing like the sturdy and durable product advertised.

This was the sports brand sponsored by the Xun Conglomerate for the Winter Sports Meet. Xun Ji had personally handed him the shoes and instructed him to “use them well.”

So this was how to “use them well.” Lu Zhou laughed, laughing until his voice grew hoarse, but he couldn’t hear a single sound of his laughter from his ear.

Xun Ji, you’d better pray I die just like this. Otherwise, one day, I will personally pluck out your noble feathers one by one, drink all your blood, and eat your flesh raw.”

Xun Ji couldn’t help but shudder and wrapped himself tighter in the warm blanket.

How vicious Lu Zhou was, how evil Xun Ji was.

According to the original text, Lu Zhou’s injuries were far more severe than he had imagined. The so-called “injury leading to deafness” actually involved heavy injuries all over his body, though the others were gradually healed over time—only the ear left with permanent disability.

The root cause was the Ice Claw Shoes that Xun Ji had given him, and the Xun Conglomerate’s sponsorship of the Winter Sports Meet made Xun Ji’s actions seem reasonable, without arousing Lu Zhou’s suspicion.

Additionally, from the information about the Ice Claw Shoes, Xun Ji could basically confirm that Lu Zhou’s event was the Ice Marathon. This fit his isolated persona; he couldn’t compete for spots in popular events and could only join the unrestricted Ice Marathon.

Xun Ji got lucky; the chapter he picked covered most of the information he wanted to know. With the causes and effects sorted out, he had ideas in mind.

First, prevent the original plot from happening at its root—don’t let the Xun Conglomerate sponsor the Winter Sports Meet.

Second, find a way to make Lu Zhou go deaf.

Third, participate in the Ice Marathon with Lu Zhou to handle any unplanned situations on the fly.