Chapter 53

Chapter 53

The class bell rang early the next morning.

Li Que entered the classroom carrying his lesson plan. Every student was already seated. Meng Mo, who usually preferred the back row, had voluntarily taken a seat in the front beside Lin Xiaoyu.

Li Que smiled. The boy’s enthusiasm for learning had improved dramatically.

“Mm. I looked over what you wrote from memory last night. Not bad. Keep it up.”

Meng Mo sat even straighter at the praise.

“We won’t be covering the usual material today,” Li Que said. “Instead, let’s talk about the future.”

“Think about the kind of person you want to become and the careers that interest you. Write your thoughts down, then share them with the class.”

He distributed blank sheets of A4 paper.

This was one of the ideas he had developed while making his plan the day before.

The most important part of educating students was respecting their interests and ideas.

At ordinary schools, teachers often asked children what they wanted to become. Many students answered that they wanted to be doctors or teachers.

The exercise might seem boring, but it was extremely useful for inspiring students to imagine their futures.

At Mingjiang No. 7 Special School, no one had ever asked the students such a question.

Perhaps everyone had already assumed that these students could not possibly have futures. As long as they did not become burdens, it was already something to thank the heavens for.

Li Que disagreed. The changes in Lin Xiaoyu and Meng Mo were enough to prove that everyone could have dreams.

The students lowered their heads and began writing and drawing.

Before long, Meng Mo was the first to stand.

“Sir, I’m finished!”

Li Que smiled. “All right. Tell everyone what you want to do in the future.”

“I want to help other people dream,” Meng Mo said.

“And the poems you taught me are really beautiful. I want to learn to write poetry too and become a ghost who writes poetry.”

Li Que looked slightly surprised, then sighed in admiration. What an ambitious child.

“Very good. Poetry is the pinnacle of creative expression, and in a sense, every creator helps other people dream.”

Li Que continued approvingly, “The phrase ‘a ghost who writes poetry’ is quite interesting. History even has a poet known as the Ghost of Poetry. I’ll give you a collection of his work later.”

Meng Mo nodded happily.

“What about you, Xiaoyu? Have you decided?”

Li Que noticed that Lin Xiaoyu had finished as well. She looked up and answered earnestly,

“At Five Dragons Mountain, Sir said he hoped the wind and rain would remain favorable every year. Xiaoyu wants that too.”

Her sheet showed five winding rivers beside a peaceful village.

“So Xiaoyu wants to make all the rivers in the world peaceful.”

Li Que grew even happier.

Every child truly was an uncut gem. The mischievous Meng Mo could express the poetic desire to help others dream, while the timid Lin Xiaoyu could possess such a magnificent ambition.

Perhaps they would forget today’s aspirations one day. Childhood dreams did not always come true.

But their hopes at this moment still had meaning. A child’s expectations for the future still contained power!

“Excellent!” he praised. “I’ll prepare some books on geography and water-resources engineering for you.”

His students had finally shown interest, so Li Que naturally intended to build upon it.

Then he looked toward Nian Youyu.

“Sir, I want to be a gourmet!”

Nian Youyu’s paper was covered with drawings of bread, chicken legs, duck legs, and all kinds of other food.

“My greatest dream is to have endless delicious food!”

Li Que was briefly stunned. What a simple and sincere wish!

“Sir, am I useless?” Nian Youyu asked nervously.

Compared with the ambitions of Lin Xiaoyu and Meng Mo, his dream seemed terribly unsophisticated.

“No. It’s a wonderful dream.”

Li Que smiled.

“Becoming a gourmet isn’t easy. It requires profound knowledge of food, and the difficulty is no less than becoming a water-resources engineer or poet.”

“I’ll find you some books about food later.”

Nian Youyu was overjoyed.

“Thank you, Sir!”

Finally, Li Que turned to Bai Lu.

Her paper held only a blurry mirror with an indistinct figure inside it.

“If I must choose a career, I’ll become a mortician,” Bai Lu said. “Helping people leave this world beautifully would give death a proper sense of ceremony.”
Li Que was mildly surprised. This career choice… was certainly creative.

Still, it suited Bai Lu perfectly. Aloof and cool.

“Not bad.”

Li Que offered his praise as well.

Before long, the bell rang.

“Take a break, everyone.”

Li Que left the classroom and returned to his office.

He picked up the sheets his students had written on, looked them over, then opened the system interface.

The Good Teacher System offered far more than just Good Teacher Points. Its catalog was full of all kinds of strange and unusual things. Li Que searched through it for a while.

“I knew it.”

Li Que smiled. As befitted the Good Teacher System, the catalog naturally contained books on every subject imaginable.

There were even plenty of miscellaneous titles like *Thirty-Six Dishes That Will Make You a Gourmet*, *A Five-Star Chef’s Private Recipes*, *The Way to the Heart Is Through the Stomach*, and *The Art of Mortuary Makeup*.

More than enough.

Without hesitation, Li Que exchanged for every book they needed.

Thank goodness for the system. Otherwise, finding enough books to match every student’s interests would have taken visits to who knew how many libraries!

When the bell rang again, he carried the books back to the classroom and handed them out.

“Whoa!”

“This is amazing!”

Meng Mo, Nian Youyu, and the others were beside themselves with delight.

Li Que could not help smiling. Who would have imagined that students dismissed as troubled youths, or even as disabled, could show such passion for books?

At the same time, he found himself grateful that this was a special school. If Meng Mo and the others had been ordinary children, they never could have followed their interests so freely. They would have had to face the relentless pressure of schoolwork, exams, and competition.

They might be treated as outsiders, but that also left them freer to be themselves, without so much anxiety and depression.

Compared with students considered “normal,” yet forced into an endless grind of competition… who could really say which group was happier?

The students all buried themselves in their books. Li Que decided there was no need to teach another lesson and simply let them study on their own.

After he left the classroom, Lin Xiaoyu stared at the book in her hands.

“This book is incredible. So that’s how water works…”

The pages suddenly transformed into living water serpents. They writhed with a mysterious, uncanny rhythm before burrowing into the space between her brows.

A faint light appeared on her forehead. Then both her irises turned completely golden!

“SS-class?”

Meng Mo glanced at Lin Xiaoyu and immediately grew anxious. He lowered his head, opened a collection by Li He, the Ghost of Poetry, and began to recite:

“On autumn graves, ghosts sing the Bao family’s verse; hated blood, a thousand years, lies emerald beneath the earth…”

He wished he could master the Dreamcatcher that very instant!

Even Nian Youyu looked at Lin Xiaoyu with open envy.

“You improve so fast once you have divine authority…”

Then he sighed. “These books are great, but I still don’t have anything to practice cooking with.”

Beside him, Bai Lu said coolly,

“Soon.”

“You should have… a feast before long.”

Nian Youyu’s eyes instantly lit up.

…

Meanwhile, inside a commercial tower in Mingjiang City.

The top-floor banquet hall had been reserved today by the most prominent families in the Jiangdong Chamber of Commerce.

Li family chairman Li Dao, Cao family patriarch Cao Yi, Zuo Yuanshan of the Zuo family, Madam Yin Rumei of the Wang family… all of them were present.

Every eye turned toward Sun Xingsheng when he entered.

“Young Master Sun, you’ve finally arrived.”

Li Dao rose with a faint smile.

“Mingjiang City’s braised Mingjiang River carp is a truly first-rate dish. Without you here, it just wouldn’t taste the same.”

Sun Xingsheng calmly took his seat. After sweeping his gaze across the table, he asked,

“The fish may be good, but it seems to have quite a few bones. Have you all decided how we’re going to eat it?”

“Offending the Dragon King could end badly, wouldn’t you agree?”

Everyone understood his meaning.

The powerful outsider from the capital was still here, and her presence suppressed every faction in the city.

“I just received some news.”

Cao family patriarch Cao Yi suddenly smiled.

“That dragon from the Xu family… has already left.”

Every gaze at the table snapped toward him.

“Is that true, Old Master?” Zuo Yuanshan asked.

“What would I gain by lying to you?” Cao Yi replied. “The Cao family has an extremely reliable informant inside the Provincial Anomaly Suppression Department. The latest message says the Xu family left an hour ago.”

Li Dao frowned. “Why would they leave so suddenly? Could this… be some kind of scheme?”

“I heard Shi Xuan turned against them and reported everything happening here to the Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance,” Cao Yi said. “The Xu family still cares about appearances, so they summoned Miss Xu back.”
After he finished, Yin Rumei spoke as well.

“Mm… Our people sent word back too. Shi Xuan and Guo Shoubo really have fallen out, and Shi Xuan even offended the young lady from the capital.”

“Guo Shoubo ran headfirst into an obstacle he couldn’t move, so he washed his hands of the whole situation. He took everyone from the Provincial Department with him. Shi Xuan is now the only S-class powerhouse left at the Anomaly Suppression Bureau.”

With the two reports corroborating each other, everyone else immediately relaxed.

“Excellent!”

Li Dao slapped the table. “Now that the outsider is gone, we’re the ones who call the shots here!”

Zuo Yuanshan offered a warning.

“The outsider may be gone, but Shi Xuan is still here. And then there’s the anomaly who obtained the Water God’s Authority, along with whoever stands behind her… This won’t be easy.”

“Which is why we still need to work together,” Cao Yi said. “The Jiangdong Chamber of Commerce only wants the Water God’s Authority. The Divine Seal Fragment can go to your Hall of Anomalies. What do you say?”

He looked at Sun Xingsheng.

With the outside threat gone, it was time for the local factions to divide the spoils.

Both the Eclipse Organization and the Hall of Anomalies were colossal forces. Precisely because they were so powerful, the two sides would prefer negotiation over meeting each other on the battlefield.

After a moment’s consideration, Sun Xingsheng nodded.

“Agreed.”

Then he probed,

“But have any of you discovered where that fish is hiding?”

Nightmare had been supposed to follow Qin Shiyu. That should have led him to Rain and the person who possessed the Divine Seal Fragment. But Nightmare had stopped responding, which made finding their hiding place considerably more troublesome.

“We haven’t found the exact location, but Mingjiang City is an isolated pond now,” Cao Yi said with a faint smile. “All we need to do is drag a net through the entire city!”

Sun Xingsheng’s expression shifted. “A large-scale operation? That will cause too much commotion. If word reaches the Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance…”

Cao Yi shook his head. “The Cao family has already seized control of every communications hub in the city. We can turn Mingjiang City into an island completely cut off from the outside world!”

His declaration made everyone at the table turn solemn.

“Impressive…” Li Dao said admiringly. Then he nodded. “But with things as they are, this is our only option.”

“We need to move quickly. Every family must play the cards in its hand and locate Rain as soon as possible!”

The others nodded. Cao Yi picked up his chopsticks and smiled.

“Then there will be enough of this fish for everyone.”

He was the first to reach in and take a tender piece of meat. The others followed cheerfully, dividing every part of the fish among themselves.

…

Elsewhere.

“Miss Guoguo, I’ve finished making the arrangements over there,” Guo Shoubo reported inside an office. “Cao Yi and I have worked together for years. With him handling things, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

“The Eclipse Organization and the Hall of Anomalies will make their move soon. And Abyss, who’s coming from Sun-Swallowing Gorge, should be almost here…”

His expression was filled with confidence.

“As long as everything is settled before the Special Anomaly Investigation Bureau arrives, no one will be able to say a thing!”

After a pause, he added, “The only price is that once Mingjiang City is wiped out, I… won’t be able to escape responsibility as department director.”

“Don’t worry,” Xu Guoguo said. “I’ll speak to my grandfather. At worst, they’ll give you a token punishment and remove you from office for a while, then promote you again later. That’s how the game works. No one will keep watching you.”

Guo Shoubo let out a long breath. With that assurance, he could finally stop worrying.

The three-eyed gray rat in Xu Guoguo’s hand began squeaking wildly. She stroked its head.

“Be patient. You’ll be able to eat your fill soon. When the time comes, I’ll carve up Shi Xuan, the Water God anomaly, and the person with the Divine Seal Fragment and feed every piece to you.”

She raised her head and looked at Guo Shoubo.

“I still need a thousand hearts before I can contain it. They must be taken fresh, while they’re still beating.”

She looked only seventeen or eighteen, yet the words from her mouth chilled the blood.

Even Guo Shoubo froze for a moment before nodding. “Very well.”

“I’ve already given the Cao family the locations of every communications facility in the city. They should move soon, sever all contact with the outside world, and begin the operation.”

“When that happens, our people can blend in and harvest some fresh hearts. That will be the safest approach.”

Since he had already decided to offer all of Mingjiang City as proof of his loyalty, a mere thousand hearts were nothing that would trouble his conscience.

…