Knowledge Championship Qualifiers (4)
Extra chapter!
"Cao, do you still want to stay here?" the headmaster of Sunshine High said softly. He got totally convinced by Guo Huai's performance on stage. After the first round ended, it was still totally possible for him to be cheating. However, the first half of the second round was unlikely to be scripted.
"Yes, I have to finish watching the qualifiers. I need to see just how many more cards Wucheng Subhigh can play. I didn't expect Li Xunyu to change a kid of five vices to this in such a short time. I'm really impressed. He is indeed a superior headmaster," Cao Xinglong said loudly.
The second half of the second round started after a three-minute rest time. Guo Huai's eyes were still dead shut—he probably fell asleep.
The second half was much more intense than the first now. All nineteen people managed to get an opportunity to answer. The other students felt really hopeless because the difficulty of the questions in the second round were out of their expectations.
Cao Xinglong noticed the expressions of his students. We have worked so hard for one year. Is the hard work going down the drain just like this? No, there must be a way to defeat Wucheng Subhigh, he thought.
"Congratulations to Murong Weiwei for getting the 199th question right. Although the ten candidates that will proceed to the next round are certain already, I still hope everyone to fight until the last question," the host said, smiling. The participant with the tenth and eleventh most marks were six marks apart. It did not matter who would get the last question right anymore as the top ten contestants were finalized.
"Here comes the last question. List out the names of Twenty-Eight Mansions and their respective elements," the host said. The moment he finished speaking, everyone on stage quieted down. Nobody was confident enough to even list out all the Twenty-Eight Mansions, let alone their elements.
[TL note: Twenty-Eight Mansion: the Chinese constellations system. They can be considered as the equivalent to the zodiacal constellations in Western astronomy.]
"Damn! Isn't this question a bit too difficult? Wucheng Subhigh is crazy. A question with this difficulty wouldn't even make it into the official competition," the crowd in the hall started discussing.
"Does nobody want to answer this question? It's fine if you get it wrong. It's okay to try," the host said with a smile while looking at the contestants in front of him. He originally wanted to only make the students to list out one name from each element, however, Li Xunyu insisted on making the question more difficult since he did not want the participants to be overly proud.
"If no one wants to answer this question, I guess it'll be forfeited," the host said and was going to end the second round of the qualifiers. At this moment, Guo Huai opened his eyes and slowly stood up.
"Is this kid going to attempt the question? Or does he just want to list out a few to save the school from embarrassment?" Li Ao muttered to himself under the stage.
"Azure Dragon of the East: Wooden Horn, Golden Neck, Earth Root, Sun Room, Moon Heart, Fire Tail and Water Winnowing Basket. Vermilion Bird of the South: Wooden Well, Golden Ghost, Earth Willow, Sun Star, Moon Extended Net, Fire Wings, Water Chariot. White Tiger of the West: Wooden Legs, Golden Bond, Earth Stomach, Sun Hairy Head, Moon Net, Fire Turtle Beak, Water Three Stars. Black Tortoise of the North: Wooden Dipper, Golden Ox, Earth Girl, Sun Emptiness, Moon Rooftop, Fire Encampment, Water Wall," Guo Huai said confidently. Every time he mentioned a name, his heart would ache a little. These twenty-eight immortals were his wine buddies in heaven. Half a month ago, they even sent him away when he got banished into this world. Naturally, he would remember each and every one of their names.
"Did he get the question right?!" someone in the crowd exclaimed. Guo Huai listed the names out too quickly that the host needed some time to check his answer.
Pfff! Is the superpower of Naughty Boy see-through vision? He must've read the answer out from the host's answer list, Nangong Lingmo thought while staring at the punchable face of Guo Huai.
"Brother Huai got all of them right," Murong Weiwei muttered. She could answer this question as well, however, she would not have said it as smoothly.
"What did Li Xunyu do to this kid? I would never expect a prodigal kid like him to change this drastically. Is it possible that I'm inferior to Li Xunyu?" Cao Xinglong muttered to himself. A few months ago, this prodigal kid was still a student of his school. Guo Huai almost never went for class. He would tease female students, whack teachers and students, light up fire and mix with gangsters near the school… A kid of five vices changed his ways after going into Wucheng Subhigh!
Jia Yuan got shocked after listening to Guo Huai's answers. He could only get around two or three of the Twenty-Eight Mansions right. It would be interesting to see his brother wreck the top scholars of Wucheng Subhigh. "Host, did he get it right? Did my Fourth Brother get the question right?"
"Congratulations, Guo Huai, Your answer is perfect," the host said loudly. "The third round will begin in ten minutes."
"Hahah, can you all see this? He's one of the so-called Wucheng Vile Tetrad. He's a man of five vices as you guys described: eating, drinking, prostituting, gambling and smoking, Guo Huai. All of you assholes don't have the rights to talk shit about him!" Jia Yuan shouted at everyone in the hall.
The legendary Wucheng Vile Tetrad: the King of Soldiers Li Yao, genius businessman Jia Yuan, government servant Wang Shen, and a man of five vices Guo Huai. The more they got rumored in Wucheng County, the more they got hated on, all because of one reason—lust. Since the grandpa was a hero while the grandson Guo Huai was such a jerk, the four of them got titled the poisonous tumors of this place, thus the name Wucheng Vile Tetrad. Although Li Yao, Jia Yuan and Wang Shen had not complained for once, they had always felt quite hopeless for their Fourth Brother, however, it was all history until this moment.
The people who had heard of the infamous Guo Huai exclaimed, "What?! Is this Guo Huai really the one in Wucheng Vile Tetrad?"
Brother Huai… Just how much have you suffered all this time? It must've been really tough for you… Murong Weiwei thought as teardrops dripped from her eyes.
Guo Huai, so this is who you really are. Back then, all you did in school was teasing me and Youyou, Lin Xiao thought, looking at Guo Huai who was on stage.
On the highest floor of Wucheng Paradise, the mysterious woman shouted on phone, "Contact Anthony family from America now! Have them send the best killer on their side. This kid can't continue living like this. I want him dead immediately!"
In one of the corners of the hall, a man wearing a baseball cap stopped recording and kept his phone into his pocket. He then looked on stage at Guo Huai before leaving the hall.
"No, I can't let this kid proceed into the third round, let alone the finals! If that really happened, the four of our families would all go bankrupt with a huge ass debt," Qin Yulong muttered to himself.
"Qin Yulong, you were the one who created the gambling plate. The three of us aren't related in any way. You'll have to fork out the money yourself. Each of us will only have to pay you 100 million for breaking the contract," Jia Benben said loudly. The other two guys who had stayed silent lightly nodded their heads.
"Aren't we brothers?! We're brothers, right?! He hasn't even passed the second round yet. Why are you guys doing this to me? Do you guys remember what you said while there's a chance to earn money? I think I really am blind!" Qin Yulong said desperately. He was deeply disappointed by his sworn brothers. He had decided to commit suicide to pay his debts if Guo Huai really got into the finals in the worst case scenario.