Chapter 39: The Crown Prince of Great Qin

This meeting over drinks didn’t happen in the end. Halfway there, Ling Yi received a call from Gu Tong—

“Where are you?”

“In the car.”

“I’m in the Capital City. At…” After giving an address, Gu Tong stated directly, “Hurry over. I want you to meet someone.”

Ling Yi thought for a moment, but didn’t ask who it was. If it was someone he could mention, Gu Tong would have told him directly.

After hanging up, Ling Yi looked apologetically at Sister Zhao.

“Got something to handle? Then go deal with it quickly. Young people should be busy!” Sister Zhao didn’t hesitate, immediately telling the driver to head to the address Ling Yi provided.

The address wasn’t far. The driver got there quickly.

Seeing the guards standing outside, Sister Zhao smiled brightly. “My little brother is awesome, making such important friends! Hurry inside. We’ll catch up another day!”

Ling Yi nodded, thanking her again before getting out of the car and waving goodbye to the warm-hearted Sister Zhao.

After the guards announced him, a car came out and took Ling Yi inside.

The car wound through a picturesque garden landscape for quite a while, finally stopping in front of a quiet small building.

After getting out, Ling Yi saw Gu Tong standing at the entrance. Beside him stood a young man in his twenties.

The young man had clear, handsome features and a gentle smile as he walked towards Ling Yi alongside Gu Tong.

As soon as they met, Gu Tong greeted Ling Yi with a laugh and a hug.

He vigorously patted Ling Yi’s back twice. “Good job, kid! Amazing! In just two days, you made another huge splash. One dollar traded for billions… Awesome! Makes me want to try gambling on Spirit Stone ore myself!”

Ling Yi looked helpless. This guy was doing it on purpose!

So, he gave Gu Tong two hard pats right back. Take that for hitting me!

Gu Tong: “…”

After only a few days apart, this kid’s gotten so much stronger?

Then, Gu Tong said to Ling Yi, “This is…”

The young man grinned at Ling Yi. “Hello, Class Monitor…”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Gu Tong froze, then smacked his own forehead. “Oh right! I completely forgot you were classmates!”

Ling Yi looked at the young man. “Should I call you Chen Hao? Or Qin Hao?”

Qin Hao laughed heartily and stuck out his hand. “Should I call you Class Monitor? Ninth Brother? Or Teacher Ling?”

“You little rascal…” Ling Yi extended his hand and gave Qin Hao’s a firm shake.

“Been years! We have to catch up properly!” Qin Hao pulled Ling Yi into the small building behind them.

For most of the time that followed, Qin Hao spent recounting his very brief, half-semester university life.

Gu Tong took this chance to gain a deeper understanding of Ling Yi and the Champion Class.

The series of events surrounding Ling Yi lately had sparked much guesswork. What kind of spirit was it that drove Ling Yi’s classmates to ignore all kinds of pressure, stake their fortunes and futures, and step up without hesitation when Ling Yi was in trouble?

Normal people, thinking only of avoiding trouble, found it hard to comprehend.

Actually, the Champion Class’s unity didn’t come instantly.

Years back, under Old Principal Shen Xiaowu’s long-term nurturing, Zongwu Academy had already risen to be a top school in Great Qin.

It grew stronger and attracted better students.

By Ling Yi’s cohort, they finally reached a peak!

Then someone suggested to Shen Xiaowu to gather the most outstanding geniuses into a single class—the ultimate genius group!

With some time to blend, this group would definitely create amazing chemistry when together.

After all, being one of the “four strong bonds,” it was bound to hold up when needed.

Shen Xiaowu agreed.

So, a special class of only nineteen students formed.

Geniuses were all inherently proud, regardless of how humble they acted. This showed clearly at the class monitor election.

Other classes chose a leader quickly. But the Champion Class? Nope. Everyone did their own thing right from the start. No one deferred to anyone.

As for the lazy Ling Yi? He didn’t care one bit who became monitor.

Let anyone be it—just not him.

A month of chaos later, still no winner.

Finally, their teacher got fed up and suggested: Why not fight it out?

It was a martial arts program. Everyone thought they were the best anyway. So, the strongest takes the role.

Ling Yi truly didn’t care, since he didn’t want it at all.

Then the department head complained to the principal…

That day became Ling Yi’s first and only time stepping onto the school ring.

Forced onto the ring with no intention to win, Ling Yi planned to fake it and be done. Barehanded, he got on.

Then he got mocked by a then far more brash Qin Hao.

“You sure you can do this? Look at your stance—all sloppy. I’ll kick you off in two rounds. Why not just admit defeat? Fighting someone like you makes me tired.”

Lazy didn’t mean having no temper, so Ling Yi gave him a lesson.

With one move, he kicked Qin Hao off the ring.

And that ended any chance of keeping a low profile…

He had no choice but to fight all seventeen others in a row.

Only after battling them all did everyone suddenly realize: the quietest, laziest, somewhat germaphobic Ling Yi was actually the strongest.

So, the title of Class Monitor landed on him.

He never managed to get rid of it.

As monitor, Ling Yi never handled any business. Class affairs big or small were handled by Luo Xue.

There was one thing though: after that fight, all those unruly geniuses had been utterly beaten into submission by him. So, for years after, no one ever tried taking the position from Ling Yi like he hoped.

To Ling Yi’s great disappointment.

Because of Ling Yi’s overwhelming presence—like a BUG in the system—everyone closely rallied around him.

In the end, even Ling Yi himself didn’t know when he became his classmates’ spiritual leader.

Qin Hao offered his own take on this:

“Actually, I think it all started back during that exchange game against Great Chu…”

Gu Tong asked beside them, “Was that a few years ago?”

Qin Hao nodded. “Those Chu People acted insufferably arrogant. First, they challenged every single student in Jing University’s martial arts program. Poor Jing University—whether individuals or teams, they got completely wiped out…”

Gu Tong nodded. “I remember that. The media went crazy back then; the whole internet boiled over. I’d only just graduated a year earlier, and even I wanted to go back and teach those jerks a lesson. But… didn’t Ling Yi not fight back then?”

Qin Hao smiled. “Too lazy to fight? Well, yeah. But if Ninth Brother hadn’t given us those intensive remedial lessons, we probably wouldn’t have beaten them so easily either.”

Gu Tong looked surprised. “He did that?”

Qin Hao said, “You think calling him Teacher Ling was just for show?”

Ling Yi just gave a helpless smile beside them. Prince Qin Hao, rumored to be the heir apparent… was probably only this lively and youthful right here, in private.

After hearing about it from Luo Xue recently, Ling Yi had paid attention to news broadcasts. Sure enough, he saw Qin Hao’s young but stern face—completely different from the cheerful young man before him now.

Sitting there, Qin Hao got excited recalling the fight.

“After wiping out Jing University, those jerks swaggered into Zongwu Academy, acting utterly unstoppable. They boasted Zongwu Academy was no challenge, claimed we couldn’t fight…”

“A bunch of seniors—sophomores, juniors, seniors—stepped up to fight them, but they all lost.”

“You might not know, Brother Gu,” Qin Hao added, “We wanted to beat those arrogant Great Chu guys up badly, but even our seniors lost. If we fought, it wouldn’t end well either.”

“Back then, only Luo Xue had reached the Acupoint Opening Realm in our class. The rest of us hadn’t. Ninth Brother stepped up then,” Qin Hao continued, his tone turning serious. “He took two days to analyze every single member of the Great Chu team. Their weak points… Personal styles, team tactics… Every attack pattern, every strength and flaw—showing us everything clearly.”

Gu Tong looked at Ling Yi with renewed surprise. He’d already held this junior in high regard, but Ling Yi was even more incredible than he’d thought!

This guy has kept so much hidden!

If Qin Hao hadn’t mentioned it today, Ling Yi probably never would have shown this side to him.

“But that wasn’t the most impressive part,” Qin Hao added, looking at Gu Tong. “The most amazing thing? Ninth Brother simulated those top Great Chu Academy fighters himself! He fought each of us one by one, showing us exactly how to beat them in actual fights!”

“I remember back then, no one in our class except Luo Xue had reached the Acupoint Opening Realm. Yet, after those two intense days, in the fights that followed, we beat tougher opponents and taught those jerks a painful lesson!”

“You should’ve seen their faces when we beat them!” Qin Hao laughed heartily. “Ha! If it weren’t for Ninth Brother stopping us, we would’ve told those proud jerks we were just freshmen! Our strongest fighter wasn’t even bothered fighting them!”

He laughed freely. Though his university time lasted only half a semester, it remained the happiest and most important part of his life so far!

Despite missing the official rankings due to certain reasons, every Champion Class classmate held an irreplaceable place in his heart. Without Quin Hao planning and helping behind the scenes, no matter how much Luo Xue and others wanted to save Ling Yi, actually pulling it off would’ve been incredibly tough.

So, if Ling Yi was the secret top leader hiding behind the Champion Class, then this Crown Prince of Great Qin, Qin Hao, was really the one with the vast influence and connections who made things happen!

“Actually,” Qin Hao finally steered their chitchat onto main point after a while, “the reason I asked Brother Gu to invite Ninth Brother here today was really to talk properly about future plans.”

Ling Yi looked at him and smiled. “What? Want me to join the Military too?”

To his surprise, Qin Hao shook his head firmly. “No. I don’t suggest you join the Military.”

Beside him, Gu Tong instantly looked flustered. “Hey, Third Qin! That’s not fair! You didn’t call it like that earlier!”

Oops – got so flustered the nickname ‘Third Qin’ slipped out. But it showed just how close Gu Tong and Qin Hao were.

Called ‘Third Qin,’ Qin Hao stayed calm. He chuckled. “Brother Gu, hear me out. Given Ninth Brother’s current situation, joining the Military isn’t his best path.”