Second Case 13: It’s Still A Frog

It's been 2 weeks since Liu Meifeng began attending the Xue Hu sect. As the only Zhongli student, her schedule is pretty tight, there was barely any leisure time for her. To other students, this kind of schedule is pretty crowded and possesses minimum freedom for its students. However, Liu Meifeng still remembered her experience living as Xu Haoran. Compared to this world's schedule, her schedule in her previous life is even more ruthless. As the son of the Xu family who owned the greatest business in China, Xu Haoran was expected to excel in many fields. All of them were chosen by her heartless parents in her previous life, she could barely make any friends. Huang Liangjin was the first person who she thought was a true friend, even after betraying her and getting her sentenced to death.

Liu Meifeng sighed while working on her current test, she looked at the window, her Turquoise eyes suddenly dimmed as she stared towards the willow tree.

"I can't believe I will miss that guy at this time…",

"Hmm? Is there something wrong student Xu?", Lu Shuchun the master of spells asked Liu Meifeng, she seemed to be smiling but her eyes stared at Liu Meifeng as if she wants to murder someone?

"N-no, nothing… ma'am.", among all the other teachers in this sect, Lu Shuchun is the scariest. She might be the master of all spells, but that doesn't mean she couldn't kill you. If that isn't enough to scare you, just so you know that black magic also existed in this world. Teacher Lu knew a spell to make someone have amnesia, fall in love, feel hatred, and others. It was called hypnotism back in her previous life, but this world hadn't known this word, so it was counted as a spell.

"Then, please focus on the test. I want to see if you really did memorize hundreds of my spells in such a short period of time.",

What Liu Meifeng dislikes about the academy in this world is that… apparently, their teacher could do as they please as long as they did their job and didn't kill the students.

"Yes, ma'am."

…

At the same time, Gu Yunxi and Zhu You were sparring during their combat lesson. It's been 2 weeks, however, they could hardly get along with other people. Zhu You might be sociable but it's not to an extent to call everyone his friends. Thus, the two of them ended up pairing together for a spar.

"Alright, that's enough. Everyone, please gather here.", Di Wu called the student of Jingong class to gather around. It's been 1 hour and 30 minutes since they began training by sparring with each other. All of the students who have been fighting enthusiastically stopped abruptly and gathered as asked.

"Listen up! Next week, there will be a joint operation with the students from other houses, and I assure you it will be perilous. The motive of the joint operation this time is to subjugate a frog beast's nest. The people in Zuguo kingdom apparently reported to the officials about their… strange behavior. The officials had commanded their troops to investigate the area, however, so far none has survived. Hence, it is up to us to deal with them.",

One of the Jingong raised his hand and said, "But, if a knight from the kingdom can't even come back alive, what about a freshman like us? Wouldn't it be better if a strong cultivator just deal with it?",

"Good question, I'll deduct your points by 10 for complaining.",

"What?! No way!",

Di Wu ignored the student who protested and explained, "As a student– soon-to-be a proud disciple of Xue Hu sect, is whining all you're capable of? I ask you one thing, what's your purpose for enrolling in this sect? You know damn well that it took most of you to get accepted in this sect. We don't care if you're an official, noble child, or an heir to the royal family. If you're already scared of dealing with some mutated frog, then it's best for you to quit this sect because things are going to get more and more dangerous.", Di Wu observed all the students around him, most of them showed a strong determination, while others still feeling anxious over their safety. In the end, Di Wu can only sigh and shook his head in distress. Is this the new generation of Xue Hu sect? One that will bring the former glory to this sect? You must be kidding me…

"Teacher Di.", Zhao Yu raised her hand and asked, "You said that this is a joint operation. Are we expected to form a group with the students from other houses or we can only be teamed up with a fellow student from the same house?",

"Ah, about that. It's already been decided.",

"What the teacher means?",

Di Wu took a scroll from the storage space and spread it in front of the students, "It's already been decided a few days ago. You cannot pick your own teammates, it's all decided by the headmaster. Those who complained will get 20 points deduction and have to attend the political extra class.",

"How heartless…",

"Truly a fiend…",

Di Wu pulled the scroll back and throw it into the space storage, "Call me what you want, in the end, this is for your own good.",

…

...

"What? A joint operation?", Liu Meifeng blinked her eyes twice in confusion, she looked at Gu Yunxi and asked, "Is that true?",

Gu Yunxi nodded and took a bite of her meat bun, "Apparently, we can't decide on the member of our team, all are purely chosen by the headmaster.",

Feng Mingxu took a sip of his tea and said, "My class has been informed about this as well. To be honest, it's kind of vexing considering we didn't exactly get along with other students.",

"Let's just hope we won't be in the same group as those bullies.", Zhu You leaned on the table, looking terribly exhausted.

"Speaking of, why haven't you heard about this? All of the students were informed about this joint operation.", Feng Mingxu turned to Liu Meifeng, poured another tea, and took another sip.

"Well, the truth is…",

Liu Meifeng told her friends about her dispute with the Spells teacher. She was expecting to be laughed at, but to her surprise, her friends looked at her in a pitiful way.

"You know… I thought brother Zhu will be the first student to ever be disliked by the teacher. Of all people, I didn't expect it to be brother Xu.",

Zhu You felt annoyed and shouted, "Hey!",

"I heard teacher Lu is very vengeful towards the people whom she disliked. But I don't know if those rumors are true…", Gu Yunxi looked at Liu Meifeng and said, "You must be careful.",

Gu Yunxi stared at Liu Meifeng in a meaningful way, Liu Meifeng turned silent and comprehended her meaning.

Feng Mingxu felt there is something wrong between Liu Meifeng and Gu Yunxi. He patted their shoulder at the same time as if trying to reassure them, "Do-don't worry, I'm sure the teachers in Xue Hu sect will know their limits. They won't… cause any harm to their students, won't they?",

Liu Meifeng relaxed a little bit and poured tea into her cup, "Well, that's true…", Liu Meifeng looked at the center of the cafeteria and spotted Zhao Yu and her friends eating together. Among them, there is the 3rd princess of the Zuguo kingdom royal family, Li Shuyan. It is clear that she stood up more than the other girls in the group. Even so, Liu Meifeng couldn't avert her eyes off of Zhao Yu who had been silent this whole time.

The moment Zhao Yu took the teapot their eyes met and caused both of them to be surprised.

Liu Meifeng didn't expect Zhao Yu would be looking in her direction, and when she returned to her senses, she already spilled the tea.

Feng Mingxu who sits next to Liu Meifeng stood up immediately to avoid getting his robe stained, "Brother Xu, are you alright?"

"How could you spill your tea?! Here, take this." Zhu You handed a piece of rag to Liu Meifeng and helped her clean the table.

Liu Meifeng smiled embarrassingly while whipping the table while the other students who were watching them thought she got into a fight with Zhu You.

"Uh-oh, is that student from Zhongli class getting bullied by the Jingong class?"

"Oh, well… it is going to be his loss! Time has changed and even the Fangshou class had gotten stronger."

While the other students murmured to each other and spread false rumors. Li Shuyan covered half of her face with the hem of her robe. She seemed to be thinking something as she averted her gaze toward Zhao Yu.

At first, she thought her childhood friend, Zhao Yu who apparently was obsessed with this beautiful man called Xu Haoran, will take charge right away and shut their filthy mouth. Yet, there she is sipping a Longjing tea calmly as if the commotion didn't bother her a single bit.

"Yu, aren't you worried about him?",

"No, I believe Hao– student Xu won't beat him too hard.",

"No! What I mean is Xu Haoran will be alright? No matter how you look at it, Zhu You is far stronger than him.",

Zhao Yu placed her cup calmly and looked at Li Shuyan seriously, "Do you forget that Xu Haoran is a student from Zhongli house? The strongest class in Xue Hu sect?",

"Well… yes. But, he looked so fragile and I've never seen him fighting with his strength! He's only using his wits to win the match. Didn't you pay attention to his match with Feng Mingxu?",

"Yes, I did. But I am also one of his friends who trained together with him before he enrolled in this sect. I assure you… he's quite a fighter himself. He just didn't want to show it and keep things modestly.",

Li Shuyan was surprised a bit, she looked at Liu Meifeng and then at Zhao Yu, "You… seem to know a lot about him.",

"Perhaps… you might be right.", Zhao Yu continued to sip her tea as she closes her eyes. No one knows that she used to be Liu Meifeng's best friend in their previous lives. It's exactly because she knew a lot about her, and that's why she was able to betray her and put an end to her life.

…

...

"So, what are you going to do with this?", Gu Yunxi asked Liu Meifeng while she brought a few thick books and tomes. Today, all of the classes are forfeited in order to let all the students prepare for the upcoming joint operation. Especially the freshmen who just enrolled a few months ago.

"Just put it on the table over there, I'm going to check something before we participate in the joint operation. Somehow, I had a bad feeling about this… mutant beast we're going to deal with."

"Why are you so sure about this?", Gu Yunxi placed the books and tomes on the table. To normal girls at her age, the books might be extremely heavy. However, Gu Yunxi is a descendant of the White Wolf tribe. The word 'heavy' has never crossed her mind, not even once.

"As usual, your strength still manages to amaze me." Liu Meifeng flipped another page on the book she was currently reading, "Well, just think about this. What're the requirements to become the official– No, to become the imperial soldiers?"

"Um, you've got to pass the knight exam which I heard was really hard. There were like only 32 out of 200 participants who managed to pass the test… barely I heard.",

"Yes, and what is our position right now?",

"Um… freshmen who barely learned anything in this sect?",

"Exactly. Why on earth would the headmaster let a newbie like us settle this matter? Not to mention, there were barely any fighting classes we had received for the past few months. Don't you think it's strange?"

Gu Yunxi gasped and said, "Oh, no! Is the headmaster trying to kill us?"

"No, Yunxi, no. If the headmaster trying to murder all of the freshmen this year, why did he even bother to select a few of us during the 3 masochistic ordeals that they called 'examination' for 5 days?"

"Right…" Gu Yunxi dragged a chair and sit next to Liu Meifeng, "Then, what are your guesses? You know that I'm not good with schemes and stuff.",

"No, it's not about schemes. Why would someone from the higher seat plan deadly schemes against innocent students like us? Anyway, all of your guesses and negative thoughts are absolutely incorrect.", Liu Meifeng closed the book and switched to another book, "What I mean is there must be some kind of… traits from this mutant beast that only the students of Xue Hu sect are capable of."

"Then, why won't they just let the upperclassmen take care of it?",

"Oh, believe me. They are.", Liu Meifeng took out a piece of paper and wrote some notes, "The upperclassmen are already tasked with the same mission. However, they seemed to be tasked with other stuff that was more complicated and difficult missions. Did you notice that you could barely encounter any other upperclassmen these past few days?"

Gu Yunxi nodded and took a peek at Liu Meifeng's note, "Why did you write a note about some poisonous toad? Does that have anything to do with the mission?"

Liu Meifeng nodded and explained, "Although, our target is a mutated beast that caused an unknown disease to the villagers. Even so, it IS still a frog. So, it is better for us to be well-prepared than charging right into the enemies. It's like a suicide mission if you do that."

"Let's see, there is… huh? A golden dart frog? Isn't this very rare? Like, I heard it's extremely rare."

"Yes, extremely rare and unlucky if someone encountered such species… much less a mutated one."

"Oh, dear ancestors. Are you saying that this frog is the mutated beast we're going to deal with?!"

"Well, there is a chance… but I sure do hope not. But, it won't hurt if we prepared something, right? Besides, the mutated beast's appearance was very vague since everyone who encountered it went straight to the afterlife. There were no living witnesses, and just like what a wise man once said… dead men tell no tales."

"Wait, I think I remembered something about this frog. Normally, golden dart frogs will only spread their poison through their skin or other physical touches. So, if the golden dart frog is indeed the one that has been mutated… aren't we screwed?"

"Yes, if we were not prepared. Right now, I'm trying to make an antidote in case someone got intoxicated by this thing."

"But, wasn't there no cure yet?",

"That's why I need all the medicine and poison books I can get. Perhaps there are some traits that can prevent the poison from spreading or make one's body immune to this certain poison."

"Alright, let me help you out."