Chapter 24: Yaoxing Academy 24 Part 2

With the Star Medal from the first stage in hand, Xun Ji’s team of five moved to the second stage, the history challenge called “Time Dial.”

Set in the School History Museum, participants had to scour the exhibit walls for 55 correct and useful fragments, then assemble them into a Time Dial depicting the trajectory of world history.

Yan Qian took the lead again, directing the others to collect useful fragments while he pieced them together. Of course, this “others” excluded Xun Ji.

Xun Ji had wanted to help with the legwork, but Yan Qian insisted otherwise, assigning him only to hand over fragments from the side.

Each time he passed one over, Yan Qian said “thank you,” and his face reddened a shade more. By the end, under Yu Fangbai’s urging, he reluctantly completed the dial—his face thoroughly flushed.

Because of Yan Qian’s deliberate delays, their team fell slightly behind, but Yu Fangbai shone in the next two stages.

The third was the music stage “Flower Sea Sound Seeking.” Students entered a glass greenhouse hung with scale wind chimes and had to strike 37 notes with tuning forks to form the correct melody. The setup was beautifully scenic, but the difficulty was high, requiring perfect pitch.

Fortunately, their team had just such a member. Yu Fangbai listened to the prompt once and led them to the right chimes, completing the challenge swiftly.

For the fourth stage, they reached the art classroom for the “Eye of Nas” visual test. The room held 100 famous paintings, only one an authentic original. The first team to identify it won.

This demanded vast art knowledge; even Yu Fangbai, from an art family, struggled to appraise so many quickly. He shared simple identification tricks with Xun Ji and the others to eliminate obvious fakes.

They lagged a bit here—not because other teams were better, but one impatient team, eyes swimming from staring, grabbed a painting at random. Mysteriously, they picked the genuine article.

Finally emerging from the art room after completing the challenge, Xun Ji sighed in relief and rubbed his aching eyes. He was about to suggest a break when he saw Yan Qian and the others beaming with excitement. Swallowing his words, he followed the team nonstop to the next stage.

The fifth was the chemistry stage, pompously named “Mystic Alchemy”—actually just mixing metal flame reagents to produce fireworks in various colors. Success with more than three colors meant victory.

The lab benches were set up on the open sports field, laden with tools and reagents. Luo Xunan looked around and noticed someone missing.

“Where’s Lu Zhou?”

“He’s not slacking again, is he?” Yu Fangbai grumbled.

“There,” Yan Qian pointed to an approaching figure. “What’s Junior Lu holding?”

Lu Zhou handed a steaming cup of strawberry milk to Xun Ji, then dragged the lab bench’s only chair over for him.

“You rest. I’ve got this stage.”

Xun Ji cradled the strawberry milk and leaned in with a playful smile. “You went out of your way to buy this for me?”

Lu Zhou turned his head slightly. “It was on the way.”

Luo Xunan eyed the hot drink longingly. “If it was on the way, why didn’t you grab one for me?”

Lu Zhou ignored him and donned protective gear at the bench.

Xun Ji sipped the warm, sweet strawberry milk, feeling his fatigue melt away. Seated, he blinked at Lu Zhou, mimicking Yan Qian’s address. “Over to you, Junior Lu.”

Lu Zhou’s hands paused. After a moment, he murmured a soft “Mm.”

Snatched the initiative by this second-year kid. Yan Qian inwardly fumed at his oversight and subconsciously shifted toward Xun Ji, only to be blocked by Lu Zhou.

“Still dawdling, Senior Yan? Come help.” Lu Zhou impassively handed him a tube of reagent.

Under Lu Zhou’s direction, the three worked methodically to mix reagents while Xun Ji lounged in the sun, sipping his drink. Team games were fun, rekindling some long-lost youthful vigor, but slacking off suited him best.

Lu Zhou worked efficiently, soon nailing the right formula. He lined up three tubes on the bench and summoned a patrolling judge.

Xun Ji leaned over, watching intently as Lu Zhou demonstrated. Lu Zhou took a jar of purple metal powder, carefully scooped some, and added it to the first tube. It reacted instantly with a mini-explosion, shooting a purple vapor trail that burst into a puff of flowery smoke in mid-air.

“Wow!” Nearby teams still struggling crowded over to watch and learn; some pulled out mobile phones to record.

Lu Zhou repeated the process with yellow powder, producing a yellow smoke flower.

The judge nodded approvingly at Lu Zhou. More onlookers gathered; some whooped and clapped. Xun Ji, seeing Lu Zhou’s stoic face, joined in the applause on purpose.

Lu Zhou’s gaze snapped to him. The golden-haired Little Young Master lounged against the bench, lips curved in a smile as he mouthed silently:

“Impressive.”

Lu Zhou averted his eyes as if burned, ears turning red uncontrollably.

Yan Qian caught the exchange, clenching his fist. He stepped up to Lu Zhou. “Can I try the last one?”

Lu Zhou’s expression cooled; he started to refuse but noticed Xun Ji watching. He paused, then handed over the metal powder. “Watch the dosage.”

Eager, Yan Qian donned a mask and placed the final tube near Xun Ji. “Young Master Xun, you’ll see better like this.”

All eyes focused on him. Yan Qian held the powder jar in his left hand, the scoop in his right, nervously leaning toward the tube. He tilted his wrist intently—

Click. A mobile phone flash went off in the crowd, right in Yan Qian’s face.

Yan Qian reflexively blinked, his concentration broken. His left wrist slackened unconsciously, and the silvery-white metal powder poured into the tube.

Far exceeding the dosage, the powder reacted violently on contact. Instead of a tidy mini-explosion and pretty smoke flower, the tube shattered with a boom. Silvery-white fog erupted, blanketing the entire bench area.

Screams rang out amid the chaos. Xun Ji felt a figure rush over and hug his head tightly, shielding him completely.

He sniffed. Mm, same laundry detergent scent as mine.

Pandemonium erupted at the bench. Onlookers scattered; Yan Qian and the others were dusted with powder and reagents, looking utterly disheveled.

Xun Ji patted the arms still around him. “Lu Zhou, I can’t breathe.”

Lu Zhou quickly released him, anxiously bending down. “Are you okay?”

Protected by Lu Zhou’s body, Xun Ji hadn’t been touched by the blast. He looked up to say so—but burst out laughing at the sight.

“Pfft.”

Lu Zhou had taken the full brunt: his black hair dusted with silvery-white powder, like starlit fine snow.

Xun Ji reached up to touch his cheek, thumbing away a streak of powder, eyes crinkling with amusement.

“White-Haired Little Dog.”