Hearing Zuo Lin'an's words, Ming Ruofeng didn't ask any further and simply replied with a single word.
“Okay.”
On the surface, Zuo Lin'an remained expressionless, but in reality, he was still somewhat puzzled—or rather, highly suspicious.
What on earth did this guy mean?
Surely he didn't actually plan to stay behind, did he?
Forget it.
He would find out this afternoon anyway. There was no point in agonizing over it now.
Before long, the English teacher appeared outside the door and walked in holding a stack of English exam papers.
“Everyone, return to your seats. We are starting the exam.”
Soon, the papers were distributed.
Zuo Lin'an held his pen and worked on the questions with extreme focus. His gaze and writing posture were meticulous, as if every stroke and every answer had been carefully thought out.
The other NPCs in the class adopted the same serious attitude.
This struck the players as somewhat strange.
It was the first time they had seen the native students take things so seriously.
After all, whether it was during class, evening self-study, or when doing homework assigned by the teachers, the natives had always behaved casually, even sloppily.
However, the players didn't suspect them.
They merely assumed the natives cared about their grades. Since their scores would affect their class placement, the marks were naturally highly important to them as well.
Confronted with the English exam, the players initially intended to answer the questions on their own.
But before long, their heads began to spin. What on earth were these squiggly lines that made them dizzier with every passing glance?
Soon enough, some players couldn't help but peek at the answers written by the NPCs.
They even smugly reasoned that the dungeon had distributed the natives evenly across each class precisely to provide them with a shortcut during the final exams.
They were convinced this was a hidden path of survival.
Once they reached this conclusion, almost every player in the class began copying from the natives next to them. Those in a position to do so even cross-referenced answers from two or three different natives to compare.
Zuo Lin'an, of course, was acting incredibly serious.
He wrote down correct answers for the exceptionally simple questions. However, for any that couldn't be solved quickly or had ambiguous choices, he deliberately wrote down incorrect ones.
He didn't know if Gu Hedao and Xuan Jingyuan, who sat on either side of him, were secretly peeking at his paper, but he felt his performance was highly convincing.
At ten-thirty, the English exam officially ended. Since the afternoon exams wouldn't start until one o'clock, they had a two-and-a-half-hour break.
Only after Zuo Lin'an watched the English teacher leave with the test papers did he stretch his arms.
Ming Ruofeng turned to look at him.
“Shall we go? Grab some lunch?”
Zuo Lin'an shook his head. “No rush. We have two and a half hours for lunch.”
Ming Ruofeng agreed, “True.”
After speaking, he glanced at Xuan Jingyuan, whose face was dark, and Gu Hedao, who looked cold and indifferent.
“Elder Gu, you seem to have been in a rather bad mood these past few days. What's wrong?”
Gu Hedao glanced at him, his tone calm yet icy.
“It is nothing. Furthermore, I am not close with you.”
Ming Ruofeng offered a sincere smile, seemingly blind to the cold shoulder. “Elder Gu, there's no need to be so distant. We are all in this school together, which is exactly when we should be supporting one another.
“If there is something bothering you, why not share it? Let everyone help carry the burden, rather than grieving all by yourself. Wouldn't that be better?”
Gu Hedao ignored him completely, standing up and leading Xuan Jingyuan out of the classroom.
With the two of them leaving, the other imperial court members naturally followed.
Suddenly, more than half of the classroom emptied out, leaving only a dozen or so players who had no ties to the imperial court.
Ming Ruofeng looked at Zuo Lin'an, his expression somewhat innocent. “Brother An, am I really that annoying?”
Zuo Lin'an blinked. “You're alright.”
This guy clearly knew what had happened during the third Scarlet Dream.
However, the principal's office had been filled entirely with Xuan Jingyuan's trusted confidants at the time. It was a mystery how Ming Ruofeng had caught wind of it.
And just now...
He clearly knew that Xuan Yi and Xuan Er, who were always by Xuan Jingyuan's side, were dead, and that the Emperor had even lost a son. Yet, he still observed them with such a gloating look.
While he appeared to be questioning Gu Hedao, he was actually targeting Xuan Jingyuan.
It was a textbook case of twisting the knife.
Zuo Lin'an sighed. “Your relationship with them is truly terrible.”
The corner of Ming Ruofeng's mouth curled up, revealing a meaningful smile.
“Indeed, it is very bad.”
Zuo Lin'an blinked. “Care to elaborate?
“Of course, if it's inconvenient, just pretend I didn't ask.”
Ming Ruofeng shook his head. “There's nothing that can't be said.
“Back before Xuan Jingyuan ascended the throne... I mean, before he inherited his family estate, when he was around fifteen or sixteen, he was just a young master.
“His family was incredibly wealthy and powerful, ruling over an entire region. Back then, he was a pure playboy—and an exceptionally twisted one at that. He fancied young, underage girls.
“He secretly abducted many innocent girls from decent families for his own amusement.”
At this point, he paused briefly before continuing.
“During those years, almost every single day, at least one young girl's corpse would be carried out of his manor... his home. They would be taken out of the city and casually dumped in a mass grave.”
Hearing this, Zuo Lin'an's first reaction was disbelief.
After all, he had met Xuan Jingyuan on the very first day of the dungeon and had interacted with him daily since. He had never imagined that His Majesty the Emperor could have been such a person in his youth.
“Is that really true? He doesn't look the part.”
But on second thought, it wasn't entirely impossible.
Ming Ruofeng wore an unfathomable smile.
“You may know a man's face but not his heart, just as you can paint a man's skin but not his bones.
“Brother An, how long have you actually known him? How can you be so sure he isn't that kind of person?”
Zuo Lin'an grew interested. “Looking at you, it seems you've been investigating this for a long time. Could it be that you knew one of the girls he killed?”
Xuan Jingyuan had to be at least forty or fifty years old. If this happened when he was fifteen or sixteen, that would be over thirty years ago.
He recalled seeing a thread about Ming Ruofeng on the forums, which listed his age as twenty-two.
Thirty-odd years ago, this guy hadn't even been born yet.
Ming Ruofeng didn't answer Zuo Lin'an's question, choosing instead to shift the topic.
“Do you know why my relationship with Xuan Jingyuan and his people is so terrible?”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “Why? Is it because you know his secret, and he's afraid you'll expose it and ruin the reputation he spent so much effort building?”
Ming Ruofeng smiled dismissively.
“Given his noble status, no one would believe me no matter how much I publicized it. Besides, so many years have passed. Even back then, the matter failed to cause any real stir, let alone now.
“Time moves on. Even the families of those girls have either grown old or passed away.”
Rate on N.U.
