289: Ask the teacher

Qin Zhan's body remained stiff.

He didn't look at Zhong Huai, nor at the communicator.

In the training room, the light of the virtual tactical board was still flickering, but the dense data streams on it couldn't enter his mind at all right now.

Should he call?

Ask his most respected teacher a question that was almost an interrogation, filled with distrust?

This went against all the education he had received for over twenty years and his principles as a person.

But if he didn't... Zhong Huai's logically rigorous "Scam Theory" was like a poisonous thorn, deeply embedded in his cognition.

If it really was a scam, it would be too damn embarrassing... but if it wasn't, and their guess was correct, the truth would be too shocking.

Just call.

Being played like a monkey while thinking they were participating in some "Dialogue Across Space."

This kind of humiliation was ten thousand times worse than being defeated by an enemy on the battlefield.

Qin Zhan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the hesitation had vanished.

He raised his hand.

The movement was slow but incredibly firm.

His fingertip swiped across the virtual screen of the communicator, pulling up that long-unused number.

Teacher Gao Zhengguo.

Zhong Huai held his breath, staring intently at Qin Zhan's movements.

Qin Zhan pressed the dial button.

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The monotonous dial tone echoed in the empty training room.

Every sound struck Zhong Huai's heart.

He felt his heartbeat was louder than the dial tone.

"Hello, this is the General Affairs Office of the College Entrance Examination Question Setting Group. May I ask who is calling?" a formal female voice came through.

The call was being transferred.

Qin Zhan wasn't surprised. He said in a deep voice, "Military, Fangs, Qin Zhan. I'm looking for Professor Gao Zhengguo."

"Fangs?"

The female voice on the other end paused noticeably, followed by a low but still clearly audible commotion in the background.

"It's a call from Fangs!"

"Patch it through! Quick!"

A few seconds later, the line was switched, and an old, weary voice sounded.

"Xiao Qin?"

It was Teacher Gao Zhengguo.

"Teacher, it's me," Qin Zhan's response was brief.

"Why are you... calling at this time?" Teacher Gao Zhengguo's voice carried a hint of surprise and an unmaskable trace of busyness.

Qin Zhan could hear various noisy arguments in the background of the call, as if a heated meeting was taking place.

"Sorry, Teacher, for disturbing your work."

Qin Zhan paused; he knew there was no time to beat around the bush.

He had to face the most embarrassing question directly.

"Teacher, about that candidate named Lin Yu..."

He organized his words, each one exceptionally difficult to say.

"Is this final assessment... a pre-arranged setup?"

Zhong Huai's heart instantly leaped into his throat.

Here it comes!

The captain actually asked!

"Is his background very special? Is this assessment just... to give him a resume?"

Holy crap!

Captain, I told you to ask bluntly... but I didn't mean this bluntly!

Ah... this... it's over. This line belongs to the public office; he'd have to clean up the mess later.

Deleting chat logs, well, whatever, that's for later.

Now the most important thing was... the answer!

Qin Zhan finished his words in one breath, and the entire training room fell into a dead silence.

He could even imagine how his respected teacher on the other end would look—shocked, perhaps even furious.

However, the expected scolding didn't come.

There was a long silence on the other end.

A silence even longer and more suffocating than when the call was being transferred earlier.

Just as Qin Zhan thought the signal had cut out, Teacher Gao Zhengguo spoke again.

His voice carried a kind of... bewilderment that Qin Zhan had never heard before.

"Pre-arranged? Resume?"

Teacher Gao Zhengguo was stunned, subconsciously repeating those two words.

Then, he realized.

A long sigh, full of bitterness and helplessness, came from the receiver.

"Sigh..."

"Xiao Qin, where did your mind go?"

"What big shot, what padding the resume... if I had those kinds of connections, would I still be worrying myself gray over this?"

Qin Zhan and Zhong Huai were both stunned at the same time.

This reaction... wasn't right!

"Teacher, you mean..."

"I mean, our question setting group has been driven to our wits' end by this kid!" Teacher Gao Zhengguo gave a bitter laugh, simply laying it out.

"288-star, do you know what that concept means? We turned the Ministry of Education's resource library upside down and still couldn't put together a venue for him to take the exam!"

"The rules are there, and we can't reject them. These past few days, the whole group has been going crazy, losing hair by the handful."

"I called you because there really was no other way. I had to swallow my pride and beg my own student."

Teacher Gao Zhengguo's voice was full of exhaustion and sincerity.

"If you find it inconvenient or think the risk is too high, just tell me directly. Don't feel any psychological burden; we'll find another way. We can't have you and your soldiers take unnecessary risks."

"Xiao Qin, your teacher has caused you trouble this time."

Through the communicator, Teacher Gao Zhengguo's incredibly frank words felt like a series of loud slaps across the faces of Qin Zhan and Zhong Huai.

It stung fiercely.

Qin Zhan fell silent.

Zhong Huai also fell silent.

The entire training room was so quiet that one could hear the sound of dust hitting the floor.

Teacher Gao Zhengguo on the other end seemed to notice the abnormality.

"Xiao Qin? Are you still listening? Why aren't you speaking?"

"Is there some difficulty?"

Qin Zhan suddenly snapped out of it. He cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound a bit more normal.

"Teacher, it's nothing."

"On our side... we had a doubt just now, but now... it's gone."

He emphasized the words "it's gone."

"You don't need to worry about this anymore. Leave it to me; I guarantee it will be handled properly."

Qin Zhan's promise was resolute.

He hung up the communication.

Click.

The slight sound in the deathly silent training room was like a clap of thunder.

The two core members of the Fangs Special Operations Team, one standing and one sitting, remained speechless for a long time.

Awkwardness.

Unparalleled awkwardness.

So awkward that the air turned into thick glue, making their every move incredibly difficult.

The Scam Theory.

The Gilding Theory.

The big shot with heaven-reaching background.

And that term they had smugly thought of as the creative masterpiece of the year—Dialogue Across Space.

Everything was smashed to pieces by that phone call just now.

Smashed so thoroughly that not even dregs remained.

The point was, no one else could be blamed for this.

Blame Teacher Gao? An old professor nearly at retirement, forced to his wits' end, swallowing his pride to ask his student for help.

Blame Lin Yu? He hadn't said or done anything from beginning to end.

They could only blame themselves.

It was purely the two of them, especially Zhong Huai, having too much internal drama, imagining a shocking play spanning the Blue Star and the Abyss Domain, involving unknown entities.