Chapter 92: Pink

Moon Fox swept a hand through the air. "All right, all right! Stop crowding! I know you've waited a whole week, and it hasn't been easy. All eligible students, gather in the cafeteria!"

"Yes, Instructor!"

"Wonderful! Hurry, tell the others, tell them Chen Mo is awake!"

"Chen Mo! I love you to death!" a girl cried, batting her eyes.

Oh no. Chen Mo suddenly panicked. Could it be that his glorious feat of bravely battling the great demon Wu Chen had spread through the entire school, and now all his classmates adored him?

That was far too fast. Chen Mo was not used to being liked by so many people.

Ah, how troublesome. Well, never mind. Let them like him. Sooner or later, he would become the center of the world anyway; he might as well get used to the spotlight now. He had to keep a cool, aloof pose.

Chen Mo lifted his chin a little, gazed up at the starry sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and revealed his air of melancholy.

Ning Xuan could not bear to watch any longer. "Brother! What are you doing?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. Can't you see how many classmates are admiring me? I have to act a little colder so they won't fall for me and cling to me forever. When that happens, little sister, don't you get jealous!"

"Bah! Like I’d be jealous of you! You narcissistic idiot. You think everyone’s admiring you? They’re all dying to rush up and beat you!"

Chen Mo blinked in bewilderment. "Why?"

Ning Xuan covered her mouth and laughed. "Brother, you still don't know? On the third day you were unconscious, the high-order evolution spheres descended on the Middle Kingdom region. One of them happened to slam into First Cafeteria, and poor First Cafeteria, the one I love most, was left with a giant hole in it."

Chen Mo's expression turned instantly solemn. "Instructor Moon Fox, Ning Xuan isn't lying to me, is she? The high-order evolution spheres really descended?"

Moon Fox nodded. "Ning Xuan isn't lying. In fact, on the very first day you were unconscious, the novice dungeon in the Japan region reached a ten percent clear rate. Countless meteors fell into the Japan region, and those meteors were naturally the high-order evolution spheres. Less than ten hours later, the North America region's dungeon clear rate also reached ten percent, and the second batch of high-order evolution spheres descended upon North America. The third was Europe, the fourth was Korea, and our Middle Kingdom region was the fifth."

Chen Mo gave a bitter smile. He had not expected that one brief collapse would make him miss such a major event. Had he not already fallen nearly a week behind the entire world?

"Wait a second!" Chen Mo suddenly realized something. "Then what does this have to do with my classmates waiting for me?"

Instructor Moon Fox did not answer, but instead gave a knowing smile.

Ning Xuan, however, was very eager to explain. "Isn't it because Instructor Moon Fox dotes on you! She said they had to wait until you woke up before opening this high-order evolution sphere!"

Ah.

For a fleeting instant, Chen Mo nearly burst into tears.

This, this was too good. This was simply the finest instructor in the world!

She had actually made all the classmates wait for him alone. No wonder they had been so agitated just now, happier than New Year's. So that was it: if he did not wake up, they would not be able to enter the high-order evolution sphere.

What kind of favor was this? Chen Mo even felt a little embarrassed.

"Instructor Moon Fox, I, I, I don't even know what to say. I've delayed everyone's progress because of me, and I really don't know how to face that..."

On the surface, Chen Mo pretended to feel awkward, but inside he was already turning with delight. This meant that he held a very important place in Moon Fox's heart.

Moon Fox smiled. "Chen Mo, you don't need to carry that burden. I don't have such great authority. The decision over the use of a high-order evolution sphere came because the Dark Legion's supreme commander, Lei Dongtian, personally asked me to wait for you to wake up before opening it."

Lei Dongtian?!

Chen Mo's expression froze. That Lei Dongtian from the television news, the Lei Dongtian ranked in the global top five, the first public figure in the Middle Kingdom! He was actually paying so much attention to him. Chen Mo did not feel joy. He felt pressure.

It seemed Lei Dongtian was deliberately trying to win him over, hoping he would join the Shadow Legion after graduation.

Chen Mo said politely, "Then I am truly grateful. If I get the chance, I will certainly express my thanks to the supreme commander! But there is one thing I don't understand: why must everyone wait for me? Wouldn't that waste everyone's opportunity?"

Moon Fox shook her head. "You'll know why once you get to the cafeteria."

Chen Mo and Ning Xuan followed Instructor Moon Fox to the cafeteria entrance, where a crowd was already packed shoulder to shoulder. There had to be at least a thousand people there, and most startling of all, every single pair of eyes was shining as they stared fixedly at Chen Mo.

Only then did Chen Mo finally understand. These people did not love him at all. They wanted nothing more than to rush over and beat him to death, because he had delayed the entire school's progress by himself. If it were him, he would probably resent the culprit too.

"Brother Mo! W-w-wah, you finally woke up! Waaaaah!" Ding Yan rushed over and flung himself dramatically into Chen Mo's arms.

"Get lost! Do you have to be this exaggerated?" Chen Mo shoved him away.

Ding Yan grinned with a sly, crooked smile. "Heh heh heh, I knew you’d wake up, Brother Mo. If you had died, I would have stormed hell itself to bring you back!"

Though it was all Ding Yan's nonsense, Chen Mo was still deeply moved.

Their old monitor, Ye Zhiyan, had tears glistening in her eyes. She pressed her lips tightly together and looked at Chen Mo with tenderness.

Chen Mo feared she might burst into tears, so he hurried over to comfort her. "Old Monitor, don't cry! Please don't cry! I'm perfectly fine!"

"Uuuhhh..."

Though she struggled to hold it back, when she truly heard Chen Mo's voice, Ye Zhiyan still could not suppress a sob and began to cry.

Not long ago she had lost the older brother who doted on her most. If she lost the person she liked most as well, she was afraid she really would not be able to endure it.

"Instructor! Open it already! We can't wait any longer!"

"Exactly! This biased instructor dragged us along for so long just for Chen Mo alone. We've already fallen out of step with the world!"

Outside the cafeteria, the noise swelled in waves—some voices excited, others dissatisfied.

Still, after the battle in the class ranking tournament, no one dared provoke Chen Mo again. He had replaced Wu Chen's position, becoming fifth in the school and one of the five great geniuses.

Moon Fox raised a hand high and said in a ringing voice, "Students, please be quiet!"

Whoosh—

The entire crowd fell silent at once. Since Zheng Wei had left, Moon Fox had become the acting chief instructor of Pingli Middle School, and the students were still very afraid of her.

Moon Fox nodded with satisfaction and continued, "According to the ranking system, the top one thousand students will have the chance to enter this high-order dungeon. The remaining thousand must continue to work hard. If any student ranked below one thousand later tries to slip in under the radar and force their way into the advanced dungeon, then I am sorry—you will be expelled on the spot and permanently forbidden from entering the evolution sphere!"

Sigh...

A wave of sighs rose outside the cafeteria, all from those ranked below one thousand.

Chen Mo seemed to understand. High-order evolution spheres should be different from novice evolution spheres, for example in that they had a limit on the number of entrants, with only one thousand people able to enter at a time.

Moon Fox said sharply, "All right! Now, students within the top one thousand, follow me into the cafeteria. I will check the names one by one!"