Chapter 376: Substitution

Qiao Sang was stunned for a moment. What incredible thing had she just heard?

So, her match against Ruan Yunwen was specially arranged by someone?!

Qiao Sang lightened her breathing and gave a look to the little Treasure Hunting Fairy.

The little Treasure Hunting Fairy understood instantly, immediately covering its mouth with its paw and nodding.

Another voice, clearly from a younger man, said indifferently, “It’s your own inaccurate information, and you were the one who suggested arranging the two of them together. I’m only responsible for the arrangements; I don’t care about anything else.”

The middle-aged man who had spoken earlier fell silent for a moment, his tone softening:

“This is my mistake. I hope you can arrange Qiao Sang to be with Liang Yuan from Jiangyang No. 1 Middle School tomorrow.”

Liang Yuan from Jiangyang No. 1 Middle School?

Qiao Sang pondered for a moment and quickly recalled this person.

Sun Teacher had introduced him before coming to Kai Nan City. His battle style was quite ordinary, nothing special, but his two Pets were a Ghost Empty Branch, which possessed the Shadow Step characteristic that could counter the little Treasure Hunting Fairy’s instant movement, and the other Pet, a Purple Tile Rat, as an Electric-type Pet, could perfectly counter Lu Bao in terms of attribute.

“Liang Yuan?” the young man asked.

The middle-aged man hummed, “To a certain extent, his Pet just happens to counter Qiao Sang’s Pet.”

The young man sneered, “Counter? How does it counter? By attribute? Even Ruan Yunwen lost, and you expect a student with a simple attribute counter to win?”

“Even if they can’t win, it’s good to force out more trump cards,” the middle-aged man said in a deep voice:

“Like today, although the result wasn’t what I expected, wasn’t that Treasure Hunting Fairy’s Substitute and Space Movement skills tested out?”

The sound of a chair moving rang out, followed by the sound of a computer turning on.

Qiao Sang dared not move, fearing any sound.

Someone who could manipulate the National Campus Pet Beast League behind the scenes, regardless of their specific position, was at least confirmed to be a Yu Beast Master.

Most likely, they were also a Yu Beast Master who had received feedback.

She didn’t know how others were after receiving feedback, but ever since she was fed back, her hearing could almost be called superhuman.

A few seconds later, the young man’s voice, accompanied by the sound of keyboard typing, rang out:

“You came to find me, does Principal Huang know about this?”

Principal Huang? Qiao Sang’s spirits lifted, and she pricked up her ears.

“Him?” The middle-aged man sneered, “He’s still hoping that Ding Yanjing will directly reveal Guwei Sunflower during his match against Qiao Sang to win the Potential Award.”

“He’s so naive at his age. One is a student who cultivated a High-level Pet in the first half of their third year of high school. Such students are rare, but there are some every year nationwide. The other is a student who developed three pages of the yu beast codex in the first half of their first year of high school and contracted three Pets that can all be said to be extremely rare.”

“Not to mention our Zhehai Province, no such talented student has ever appeared nationwide. Any clear-headed person knows who the Potential Award should go to.”

“It’s better to do as I say and directly stop Qiao Sang from reaching the top three.”

So, it was someone from Li Tan Royal Pet High School, but they were only after the Potential Award? Didn’t the principal say the prize for that award was just a bottle of A-grade Potential Enhancer? Is it really worth it… Qiao Sang was puzzled.

The young man said indifferently, “It seems he doesn’t know.”

Silence fell outside again.

After a while, the middle-aged man spoke, “It doesn’t matter whether he knows or not. If you want the recommendation for this election, I can help you.”

The sound of keyboard typing stopped, and the young man slowly said,

“I still think highly of this student, Qiao Sang. I will only help you with this matter in this session of the National Campus Pet Beast League.” At this point, he changed the subject:

“Tomorrow’s match has already been arranged. I hope you can send me the news as soon as possible.”

Already arranged? So fast? The sound suggested it was done on the computer just now… Qiao Sang thought calmly.

She had heard about match-fixing, especially in large, highly anticipated competitions. To win, many people resort to unscrupulous methods.

For example, some time ago, there were reports online that Zhu Yongchang, the sixth-place winner of the previous Lianpo Regional Competition, in order to win, found his opponent’s accommodation before the match and arranged a series of events like fireworks, a drunkard knocking on the wrong door, and a couple fighting in the next room, preventing the opponent from sleeping well all night. This led to the opponent being in poor condition during the match the next day, and he won the match through dirty means.

Qiao Sang didn’t expect to encounter such a situation in her student days.

However, it’s just arranging specific opponents… Qiao Sang was not flustered at all.

Having heard what she wanted to hear, she did not immediately let the little Treasure Hunting Fairy take her away. Instead, she patiently waited until the sounds of walking and closing doors outside ceased.

After repeatedly confirming that there was no one else in the entire house except her, Qiao Sang opened the door and walked into the outer room.

At the entrance was a spacious outer hall, with high-end guest sofas and a coffee table in the center. By the window, there was also a large desk, and on the desk, a computer.

Qiao Sang sat down at the desk, looking at the computer that was already shut down, and pressed the power button.

“What is the thing I want to do most?”

As expected, it needed a boot password… Qiao Sang formed a hand seal and summoned Ya Bao.

“Ya!”

Ya Bao cried out as soon as it appeared, indicating that it wanted to train now and evolve quickly!

“Training can wait for now,” Qiao Sang said. “First, use your Touch Sense to perceive how the person just now operated on the computer.”

“Ya…”

Ya Bao obediently placed its paw on the computer.

Under the skill of Touch Sense, which could be called a divine tool for solving cases, Qiao Sang quickly learned the password:

“Kill the leader, become the leader.”

This person has quite an ambition… Qiao Sang thought to herself.

The computer operations were complex, and Ya Bao had never used one, so it could only sense one step at a time. It took Qiao Sang most of the day to open the system that could manipulate the player match list behind the scenes.

How insidious! How could they do such a depraved thing, even designating opponents for battles? What happened to fairness and justice? Thankfully, I was the one who got arranged; if it were someone else, they might have actually succeeded… Qiao Sang complained while changing Liang Yuan’s name to Ding Yanjing on the computer.

As for reporting them, she didn’t know the specific people, nor did she have direct evidence. It wasn’t impossible to investigate, but it would inevitably waste a lot of time, and Qiao Sang didn’t have that energy.

The simplest and most direct way to retaliate was to change the person.

…

The next day.

Kai Nan Pet Beast Battle Arena.

Qiao Sang sat down in her seat under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

She looked towards the leadership area, wanting to see who matched the image of the two people from yesterday.

“What are you looking at?” Xu Yixuan asked curiously, following her gaze.

“Looking to see whose face looks more sinister,” Qiao Sang replied.

“Why look at that?” Xu Yixuan asked, puzzled.

Before Qiao Sang could speak, she leaned closer and whispered, “Oh, right, there was news circulating online yesterday that the Yan Ling Dog evolved. Was your Liao Xing Hound seen by someone?”

Qiao Sang hummed, “It’s fine if it’s exposed.”

Anyway, after today, she wouldn’t hide it anymore.

“It is fine.” Xu Yixuan seemed to have thought of something and suddenly laughed, “You didn’t even read the comments, not a single person believed it.”

At this moment, He Datao turned his head and said, “Look at you laughing. You didn’t believe it back then either.”

Xu Yixuan: “…”

Five minutes later, a man with a Stout Flying Mouse perched on his shoulder entered the arena. He spoke a simple sentence.

Soon, the huge virtual screens on all four sides displayed the match list.

Because the number of participants had been halved after yesterday’s matches, the screens did not need to scroll to display all the match lists.

[Shitou No. 9 Middle School, Xue Miao VS Xiangshi Yu Beast High School, Tang Xiangyu]

[Fufang International Yu Beast High School, Xu Xing VS Kai Nan No. 1 Middle School, Yu Yang]

[Jiangyang No. 1 Middle School, Liang Yuan VS Suchong Yu Beast High School, Zhang Yifan]

…

[Li Tan Royal Pet High School, Ding Yanjing VS Saint Water Middle School, Qiao Sang]