Chapter 63: High Merit Academy (Twenty-Eight)

Chapter 63: High Merit Academy (Twenty-Eight)

This is too arrogant!

Not to mention Yue Haiyang looking on with admiration, even Liu Hui showed a change in expression.

Meanwhile, Xie Fangcheng called out to the former principal over the loudspeaker, then switched off the mic.

He turned around.

Inside the principal's office, it wasn't just Zhong Daoan present but also the vice-principal, Director Wei, and several unknown staff members, probably other department heads. At this moment, these NPCs were crouching in the corners, holding their heads.

The screams heard in the background just now were emitted by the vice-principal – this guy really had guts.

Xie Fangcheng remarked, "Daring to attempt a sneak attack, huh?"

As Xie Fangcheng bent down to adjust the microphone, the vice-principal suddenly pulled out a gun from his jacket.

Bullets grazed closely past Xie Fangcheng's cheek as he turned back. The vice-principal, oblivious to his impending doom, continued firing... only to have all his bullets dodged.

Dodging wasn't really necessary, but Xie Fangcheng didn't mind. The clothes he was wearing were dungeon-produced, and it would be a shame if they got ruined.

Now, the vice-principal was also crouching in the corner, his face marred with bruises, tears and snot streaming down together.

Hearing what Xie Fangcheng said, the vice-principal still had some backbone, “How could you become the principal?”

“Why not?” Xie Fangcheng reasoned patiently as he squatted in front of him, adopting a gentle persuasion tactic, "Look, your principal hasn't appeared until now. A school cannot be without a leader for a day, so what's wrong with me taking over? Why are you being so petty? Besides, what can your principal do even if he returns? I'll just beat him to death... Oh!"

A realization dawned on Xie Fangcheng, "Are you thinking that if your principal is dead, you, the vice-principal, would ascend to the position? You're thinking too much, young man. The position of the principal won't fall to you. Even if it does, I'll just beat you to death too!"

The vice-principal shut his mouth.

Xie Fangcheng nodded in approval, "Quite clever indeed."

After saying this, he finally stood up and walked over to Zhang Dao'an.

"How is the investigation going?"

Zhang Dao'an rose to his feet, "Let's discuss it outside."

The two of them stepped onto the corridor, where Zhang Dao'an handed over a stack of documents he was holding.

"This school was quite normal seven years ago, but everything suddenly changed to its current state after the appointment of the new principal. The changes in teachers, students, and staff happened extremely fast, which is highly unusual," he explained.

Having worked in the corporate world for many years, Xie Fangcheng immediately grasped his meaning.

It's akin to having a new leader parachuted into the department, huh!

But even if a new leader arrives suddenly, a complete change in the department's culture wouldn't occur so abruptly; after all, most people have been working there for many years. Change the current state with just the arrival of a new leader? It would at least take a year or two, wouldn't it?

Zhang Dao'an firmly concluded, "The game developers employed a very crude approach. They merely borrowed a background setting and then initiated the instance. Moreover, the instance can only reboot and won't progress forward. The system won't auto-correct during the instance operation; if it could, these student NPCs wouldn't be so easily incited... The person who developed this game is technically quite backward."

"Oh, I see," Xie Fangcheng scratched his head, "Figuring this out... erm, what use is it?"

"It is useful," Zhang Dao'an explained, "Understanding the creation method and operational mechanisms of this game instance first... makes it easier to introduce a 'virus' into the game."

Xie Fangcheng didn't fully understand, but he was very supportive, "Impressive, impressive. So, what should we do next?"

"Clear this instance."

"Oh, how do we clear it?"

Zhang Dao'an simply smiled, "Just wait."

.

Not long after the new school rules and disciplines were announced, the third major examination approached.

The grade that experienced the most significant shift this time was the first year.

The first-year students, who haven't been disciplined for long in this school, were the quickest group to adapt to the new school rules and culture. The majority of letters in the complaint box came from them, especially after Xie Fangcheng publicly dealt with a certain teacher... not by execution, as initially presumed by Tong Xinxin. She thought Xie Fangcheng's "handling" meant directly beheading the erring teacher NPC in front of other teachers and students, but Xie Fangcheng merely fired the teacher on the spot.

"How can one commit murder in front of minors?" was what Xie Fangcheng had said.

This dismissal evidently boosted morale, as letters in the complaint box started pouring in like snowflakes, leading to the firing of a large wave of first-year teachers, and the penalization of several students who took advantage of the chaos to create troubles - the punishment for students resembled more of a conventional school now: writing a reflection essay of three thousand words.

This strategy to deal with the students proved quite effective, as the students quickly became ostensibly obedient once more, as meek as quails.

The fervent reforms in the first year were quite successful, resulting in a six-point increase in the average score across the entire grade during the third major examination.

It might not seem much, but it appeared to be a promising start.

The scores in the second year didn't change much, primarily due to the presence of a few exceptionally brilliant teachers.

The performance of the two classes taught by Jie Fangcheng is quite remarkable.

Average class score in Chinese language: 147 points.

Top of the entire school.

However, the price paid for this achievement is even more prominent.

Class average score: 402 points.

Free from the repercussions of humiliation and the distress of grade rankings, the students finally followed their hearts, generously assigning scores to their favorite teachers.

Compared to the NPC teachers who bullied them regularly, the players like Jie Fangcheng were naturally more popular among the students. The omnipresent Teacher Jie even became a heartthrob.

The school's second highest score in Chinese language was held by Xu Xiuxiu, with a score of 139.

Other players also saw a significant surge in their scores. If the condition to clear the level was a score above 120 in a single subject, everyone would be able to clear it now.

"What should we do now?" Xu Xiuxiu was both worried and joyous.

She had always treated these student NPCs well, but previously, out of fear for other teachers, the students dared not give her high scores. This was the first time she felt a genuine fondness from the students.

Receiving rewards for her efforts was indeed a joyous occasion.

All eyes turned to Jie Fangcheng, who then turned to look at Zhang Dao'an.

Compared to the rapid increase in the players' scores, this person's scores were fairly stable: an average score of 128 in the previous major exam and 129 this time.

It was particularly noteworthy that this person was teaching the same class as Jie Fangcheng. Despite the students allocating a large proportion of their scores to Jie, they still managed to consider him, leaving everyone wondering how he managed to do it.

Zhang Dao'an seemed to have anticipated these results, his response remained the same.

"Just wait."

No one understood exactly what he was waiting for.

Until the day following the major exams, a change occurred in the school.

Initially, the school cafeteria offered an unlimited supply of food, featuring luxurious dishes daily for the high-achieving students. However, the chefs now wore distressed expressions.

"We're running low on premium ingredients."

Soon, the deputy principal found Jie Fangcheng, wearing a suspicious and somewhat smug expression.

"Teacher Jie, this school isn't something you can manipulate as you please," the deputy principal said, seemingly quite pleased with himself. "Look at the environment of Gaoji Academy, consider the living conditions of these students, and even your own salaries as teachers. Do you think these came out of thin air? All of these are due to investments, providing everyone with such superior conditions! And now? The wealthy shareholders send their children here precisely to stand out, to become someone significant. Without your cooperation, they obviously won't continue to invest!"

Jie Fangcheng remained silent, while Zhang Dao'an beside him wore a gentle and somewhat regretful expression, "We were not aware of this. What can be done now? Could the principal perhaps assist us in this?"

The deputy principal, observing his sincere demeanor, finally spoke contentedly, "Just wait and see."

In a short while, the vice principal finally walked in, flanked by an elderly man with a corpulent figure, bearing a resemblance to a certain insect.

Jie Fangcheng had seen this elderly man before; he was one of the staff in the kitchen.

"Is this the principal?" Jie Fangcheng asked.

On the other side, Jing Dao'an silently closed the door, with Tong Xin Xin and several other players guarding it.

The principal nodded, about to say something, when without a second word, Jie Fangcheng picked up his stick and struck him.

He had always held back a bit when hitting other NPCs.

These NPCs may have done wrong in this instance, but it wasn't the place for direct judgment.

But this principal was different. Even from a distance, Jie Fangcheng could detect a foul smell emanating from him.

A stench that wouldn't be present on a good person.

Previously, Jing Dao'an and he had discussed these NPCs.

"The game's creation is quite crude. With such a multitude of NPCs, the developer probably didn't have the time and energy to set detailed information for each one, which means most of them retain their personalities from when they were alive. In other words, if they appear to be bad in the instance, they were likely bad in real life too, right?"

Jie Fangcheng had known this fact from the start, but this Jing kid apparently had little knowledge about the underworld or the game before. Yet, he managed to infer this much just from the scant information, truly a quick thinker.

——Really suited to giving reports once everything is over.

As Jie Fangcheng thought this, his actions did not falter in the slightest.

With one strike, the principal let out a scream that was hardly human, and immediately tried to flee.

In front of Jing Dao'an, a strange net sprang forth with a "plop", firmly stopping the principal in his tracks.

The net on him was peculiar, seemingly frail yet tremendously flexible, resembling a spider's web. It appeared delicate but proved to be incredibly resilient during the capture.

Jie Fangcheng swiftly followed up, landing several blows with his stick, and in a matter of seconds, the greatest boss on stage fell under his strikes.

The vice principal looked at them with a face filled with shock and loathing, "Do you even realize what you're doing?!"

Jie Fangcheng retorted, "Do YOU realize what you're doing?"

"This school... is finished," the vice principal collapsed to the ground in despair, "without investments, without the children of the investors, without good students, the school is doomed..."

Tong Xin Xin interjected from the side, "It's better for such a school to perish."

The vice principal glared at them resentfully, "You teachers, if the students' grades don't improve, you're all finished too!!"

Jing Dao'an simply gave him a glance, "Without you, the students' performance would have improved a long time ago."

"Dream on!" scoffed the vice principal, "Without money, they will also leave! Self-righteous fools!"

Jie Fangcheng planted his stick firmly next to him with a thud.

"I don't appreciate those remarks, refrain from saying them next time."

The vice-principal finally shut his mouth.

But when they were leaving the principal's office, Tong XinXin couldn't help but ask, "What do we do if all the good students leave?"

In this school, the top-ranked students are all from wealthy families, and they are also the children of the investors.

"It's okay," Zhong DaoAn looked towards the teaching building, "there are better students waiting for us."

Tong XinXin didn't understand what he meant.

But everyone witnessed the changes in the school; soon, the top ten students in class one had disappeared.

According to Director Wei, they were taken away by their parents.

The food in the cafeteria became quite ordinary, as the chefs brought in by the school investors at a high price had also disappeared, now the meals were prepared by Director Wei and his team.

Even the exterior walls of the school seemed to have become somewhat aged and mottled.

The entire school was built upon academic performance, and the students' "academic achievements" were linked to their level of affluence.

At this moment, with the affluent students gone, the remaining students found it hard to amass a total score of 562 points, the players in the group didn't say anything - or only dared to discuss privately, after all seeing how easily Jie Fangcheng killed the BOSS, it wouldn't be hard for him to kill them.

Just when everyone was uneasy, not knowing how to gather enough points to clear the level, Zhong DaoAn called one of the students in the class to the office.

"He TianTian, right?" Zhong DaoAn placed her workbook in front of her, "You and some classmates have been helping the weaker students in the class avoid the teachers' humiliation, haven't you? Now the teacher has a favor to ask, can you help?"