Chapter 1148: Human Devil

　　Wang Ling felt that there was something wrong with Xia Ming. His King’s Eye swept over Xia Ming, and he immediately sensed that the latter was enveloped in an evil shadow. Furthermore, only Wang Ling could see this shadow.

　　He was well aware that this was a curse.

　　It wasn’t impossible to undo the curse, but everyone was going through the security check now. With so many people around, it wasn’t easy for Wang Ling to make a move, and he could only bide his time and look for another chance to undo the curse. Although Xia Ming had acted rudely toward him before, Wang Ling had never wanted to do anything bad to him. After all, they were from the same school, and had both come to win honor for their school; there was no conflict that couldn’t be resolved.

　　Besides, undoing the curse was just a snap for Wang Ling.

　　If he had to give a reason, it was that Wang Ling felt the curse on Xia Ming was too malicious. This curse would implicate and punish the people whom the cursed was associated with. Once Xia Ming acted in violation of the contract, the curse would immediately take effect. Generally speaking, in addition to the person who agreed to the contract, the person’s blood kin would also be implicated.

　　Thus, Wang Ling felt that Xia Ming had most likely been threatened into it.

　　Then herein lay the problem: Who on earth formed a contract containing such a malicious curse with Xia Ming? This was yet another question to ponder.

　　When the last person of No. 60 High passed the security check, the students of Balance Flame Middle School were all stopped at security gate No. 2. A teacher in red from the resident special forces stepped forward and had them stand to one side for a manual inspection.

　　The students of Balance Flame Middle School were puzzled. “Why do we have to undergo a manual inspection?”

　　“You’ve been reported, so behave yourself.”

　　The teacher in red spoke firmly, and then began to carry out a careful body search.

　　In the end, it turned out that there really was a problem…

　　He actually found a deeply hidden space in between layers inside the pocket of the school uniform of one of the students from Balance Flame Middle School. Moreover, after doing an anti-device sweep, the space was opened to reveal all the items that had been banned from the competition this time.

　　“Student, you have the right to remain silent now. Whether you knew of this or not, rules are rules; you have now been disqualified.” This teacher in red was impartial, and took the boy from Balance Flame Middle School away on the spot. The boy had a dumb look on his face, with no idea what was going on.

　　Everything turned out just as Headmaster Chen had foreseen.

　　Balance Flame Middle School’s students were a bunch of bookworms who wouldn’t do shady things, but their headmaster, Zuo Qingqiu, had sneakily tried to get the students to bring in some survival supplies, and was found out…

　　“It was definitely our headmaster who did it, right?” The people from No. 60 High whispered among themselves.

　　Headmaster Chen’s original plan was for the No. 60 High participants to publicly blow the whistle on Balance Flame Middle School during the inspection round so that they would be the first team to lose members. However, he then thought that a public denouncement would easily draw the ire of other schools, so the plan changed to Headmaster Chen himself secretly penning a letter to President Qi…

　　Thus, Balance Flame Middle School was reported at the beginning.

　　In the command center, Zuo Qingqiu, headmaster of Balance Flame Middle School, looked at the other headmasters, but couldn’t figure out who had written the report letter.

　　“All of you… who reported it?! I’ll definitely find out who did it!” He believed his arrangements had been perfect, so someone must have reported it.

　　The other side was too… too shameless!

　　“Old Zuo, your nickname in those days was Renegade. Sure enough, after so many years, you still can’t fix this shortcoming. You’ve dug a pit for your obedient students this time.” Li Qingxi, headmaster of No. 1 Devil-Subduing High School, gloated on the side.

　　From his understanding, he could roughly guess who had written the report letter.

　　He stole a glance at Headmaster Chen next to him. The man’s face was as calm as usual as he sighed a little. “It’s the Year 9102[1], but there’s still someone who would actually use such an underhanded trick like whistleblowing. How shameless! I strongly condemn and protest this on Old Zuo’s behalf!”

　　Li Qingxi was dumbstruck. “…”

　　He felt that it had absolutely been the right decision to especially bring up No. 60 High and discuss battle tactics against them during the meeting at the beginning.

　　As the current headmaster of No. 60 High, Chen Tianxiang was indeed a tough figure… Not only was he very difficult to deal with, he was also a little shameless…

　　…

　　On the other side, Hero Guo and the others were marveling at Headmaster Chen’s move.

　　“All’s fair in war. Headmaster Chen was the star support player back then, and he ran circles around a lot of headmasters before. He’s all too familiar with how they think.” Super Chen sighed.

　　The group of “copy ninjas” from Balance Flame Middle School was the target that everyone had initially been prepared to act against; now that they had lost one member, this was definitely a huge blow to them.

　　After they passed the security check, the eight-day battle for survival officially began.

　　Each school formed one unit, and Wang Ling followed everyone into an array, which would directly send each school’s students to random locations on Nine Dragon Mountain.

　　The competition had officially begun!

　　General Bai stood on a mountain peak, the mahjong trio behind him. The four of them were all wearing pitch black cloaks and mahjong face makeup to hide their identities: General Bai was Nine Circles, the Old Devil was Three Circles, and the Master of Immortal Mansion was Two Circles. Since Evil Sword God was the last to join them, his makeup was One Bamboo.

　　Early in the morning, a rainbow-colored mist covered Nine Dragon Mountain. This was Nine Dragon Mountain’s unique purifying mist, which was used to maintain the balance of the ecosystem and purify the impurities in the air and water for the benefit of the spirit plants and animals here.

　　This rainbow-colored mist was harmless to animals, but harmful to humans. Absorbing too much of it would decrease a person’s spirit qi, like a person who became thirstier after drinking salt water.

　　General Bai and the others were tasked with hunting down the resurrected Dark Network members who would attempt to wreck the situation this time.

　　President Qi and the others had determined that the mastermind behind this mess would make a move today.

　　Standing on the mountain peak at that moment, which overlooked Nine Dragon Mountain’s terrain, they searched every area with their spiritual senses for the slightest trace of evil.

　　Just then, the Old Devil suddenly sensed a familiar aura. “An old acquaintance has appeared…”

　　“Someone you know?”

　　“We fought before, and my venerable self wounded him grievously.” The Old Devil, who wore the Three Circles mask, said, “Human Devil has also been resurrected.”

　　“Human Devil? Hannibal?” The Master of Immortal Mansion Cheng Yu was blank.

　　“Not that man-eating human devil.”

　　The Old Devil frowned slightly. “But this guy indeed is a little difficult to deal with. He fell into a trap back then, and I took that small chance to injure him. Now that he’s been resurrected, I’m afraid that he won’t repeat the same mistake again.”

　　[1] Refers to something that happened a very long time ago or to something that is too outdated.