51: Hou Wen

Li Changkong looked around and noticed an old man with old clothes sitting in a corner not far away.

He was holding a broken gourd and drinking wine from it.

However, what was most eye-catching was the old man's fiery red hair.

It looked very messy and disheveled because it hadn't been cleaned for a long time.

This made Li Changkong a bit curious; could Shenhua University also house beggars?

Without thinking too much, Li Changkong walked over.

He cupped his hands slightly towards the old man: "Excuse me, sir, do you know where the dormitory area is?"

The old man, who had been squinting, slowly opened his eyes at this moment.

He sized up Li Changkong: "Are you a new student?"

Li Changkong nodded: "It's my first time at the Fire Institute, so I'm not very familiar with many things."

"As for the dorms, just go straight, then turn right, and then turn left, and you'll be there."

Upon hearing this, Li Changkong thanked him and continued forward.

He soon arrived at a villa area, but most of the villas there looked abandoned.

There were dozens of these villas, but the entire institute only had a dozen or so people, so naturally, most of them were abandoned.

"Actually, this is good; no need to fight with others for a villa."

Xu Chuchu, who was beside him, also muttered.

"What do you mean 'fight for a villa'?"

Li Changkong was a bit surprised.

"These villas are naturally not for everyone; only the top one hundred students in each institute's Rank can live in a villa."

"It's the same in our school; that small villa of mine was hard-won by fighting for a Rank."

Xu Chuchu nodded and then said.

"I see, you can even Rank in the top one hundred in your institute?"

Hearing this, Li Changkong couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.

Xu Chuchu, however, rolled her eyes: "I'm a Priest, alright? In terms of Priests, my Holy Light Spell is very effective."

Upon hearing this, Li Changkong quite agreed.

If it weren't for Xu Chuchu's Holy Light Spell, he might have lost to that Lord of the Undead earlier.

To some extent, Xu Chuchu could even be considered his savior.

"Just saying."

Li Changkong chuckled softly.

After entering the villa, Li Changkong found that the villa was indeed very spacious.

"This villa should be for two people to live in together; it looks like your other roommate hasn't arrived yet."

After Xu Chuchu entered the villa, she also began to look around.

"Why?"

Li Changkong was a bit confused.

There were so many villas in their institute; it seemed too much for two people to live in.

"Two people can look after each other better, and anyway, the villa is so big, it's completely enough for two people."

Xu Chuchu then explained.

Hearing this, Li Changkong felt it made more sense.

Just as the two were talking, the originally tightly closed door was pushed open again.

A small chubby boy walked in from outside the door, and the first person he saw was Xu Chuchu.

"Excuse me, I came to the wrong place; I didn't realize this was the girls' dormitory."

The chubby boy was slightly stunned, then prepared to leave.

"Don't worry, he's not your roommate; your roommate should be me."

Seeing this, Li Changkong spoke up to remind him.

The chubby boy then reacted and re-entered the villa.

The chubby boy in front of him didn't look very old, seeming to be only fifteen or sixteen.

"My name is Hou Wen, you can call me Monkey, please guide me."

This chubby boy was quite a natural at making acquaintances; after coming in front of Li Changkong, he began to introduce himself.

"My name is Li Changkong."

Li Changkong nodded to the chubby boy.

"For what reason did you enter this Fire Institute? Could it be that you also bribed your way in?"

The chubby boy looked at Li Changkong and asked curiously.

"Bribe?"

Hearing this, Li Changkong's expression became interesting.

"Don't blame my old man for trying to bribe the examiner during the big exam just because he had money."

"He gave that examiner fifty million, but who knew that examiner would turn around and give those fifty million to the chief examiner."

"And because of that, I got negative points in terms of moral conduct."

When he said this, Hou Wen sighed helplessly.

Hearing that he ended up in the Fire Institute for such a bizarre reason, Li Changkong couldn't help but smile wryly.

"I also don't know why I entered the Fire Institute; my assessment Rank clearly reached SSS Rank."

Li Changkong scratched his head in confusion and said.

"SSS Rank? Then shouldn't you have been directly assigned to the Gold Institute? And even to the key class within the Gold Institute."

Hou Wen asked in surprise upon hearing this.

Li Changkong still shook his head; although that Vice Principal explained the reason, in Li Changkong's opinion, that reason was indeed untenable.

"By the way, what's your family background?"

As if he thought of something, Hou Wen spoke again.

"No family background; I'm an orphan with a younger sister, from Blue Sea City."

Li Changkong answered casually.

"If that's the case, then it fits perfectly; it's estimated that your spot was directly taken by someone else."

Hou Wen suddenly nodded as if realizing something.

"Replaced?"

Li Changkong was a bit dumbfounded.

"It's probably some relative of that Vice Principal; you, a person with no power or influence, came in, so who else would he mess with?"

"Fortunately, he was afraid of things getting big and didn't directly remove your student status; otherwise, you wouldn't even have a university to attend."

Hou Wen then said.

However, Li Changkong didn't completely believe Hou Wen's words; he was half-convinced.

Hou Wen seemed to sense Li Changkong's skepticism and spoke again: "I have a relative who entered the university through such a method."

"In this world, it's inherently survival of the fittest; there is no complete fairness."

Although Hou Wen didn't look old, he spoke with unusual maturity, as if he had seen through everything in this world.

Although he had doubts in his heart, Li Changkong still remembered this matter.

"Thank you."

Li Changkong cupped his hands to Hou Wen.

"It's nothing; it's getting late now, so you should go to bed early; tomorrow, there's still the New Student Competition."

Hou Wen yawned and then said.

"New Student Competition?"

Li Changkong was still completely unaware of this matter.

"If you have nothing to do, go browse the school forum more; a lot of news is released there."

Hou Wen was naturally very surprised to see that Li Changkong didn't even know about this.

After thanking him, Li Changkong still sent Xu Chuchu out of the school first.

After returning to the villa, he found that Hou Wen had already gone back to his room to sleep.

Li Changkong then opened his miniature optical computer and began to browse the school's forum.

On the first page of the forum, he indeed found news about the New Student Competition.