Chapter 163 – Ace Academy (Part 3)

The entrance to the Hell Exam Hall was just as its name suggested—oppressive and gloomy. Even the mouse cursor turned into a grim reaper’s scythe when hovering over the “Enter” button.

[Academic Fail Squad Temporary YY]

Blood Bull: “Everyone ready?”

The Underachievers: “We’re ready as long as you are.”

Blood Bull: “…”

The system loading bar crawled at an unnaturally slow pace, as if deliberately building tension. The players’ hearts, too, turned ashen blue under the weight of anticipation, matching the desolate background.

Finally, the loading completed, and the list of online teams in the Hell Exam Hall slowly came into focus on the screens of the anxious underachievers—

Online Teams: 2

Seriously?! Only two people in the entire exam hall?! One-on-one exams are called private tutoring sessions, you hear me?!

Beckham: “So desolate…”

Weiming Lake: “To forget learning is the sorrow of all mankind.”

Today I Bomb the School: “Two is fine. We’ll just take turns beating them up—one after another.”

Clueless Girl: “One of those two teams is us, FYI.”

A bunch of underachievers charging straight at other players—who gave you all this courage?! Out of the ten players who dare to enter Ace Academy, aside from one who clicked the wrong button by accident and another who’s blindly overconfident like Sakuragi Hanamichi, the rest are all walking encyclopedias, okay?!

[System] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze has chosen to battle the system.

The Underachievers: “Oh right, we can fight the system too…”

She didn’t want to deal with these idiots anymore. Let them die. TAT

The frustration of having no one to vent to except her own inner monologue fueled Blood Bull’s combat power. Five straight matches, fifteen rounds, all 3-0 victories against the system. She cleared her own matches herself, and when the underachievers sent her screenshots of theirs, she helped them too—truly, one Blood Bull standing firm, ten thousand enemies helpless before her.

Ace Academy’s rules—where winning earns points and losing deducts them—were designed to prevent players from farming points off each other. After all, if one side rises while the other falls, no one wants to be the one perpetually falling. However, this also meant players could lose points quickly—or gain them just as fast. After five matches, every member of the Academic Fail Squad had reached 400 points.

The happiness came too suddenly; the masses couldn’t bear to look.

Blood Bull, however, was satisfied. After confirming no one needed a bathroom break, she clicked to request a sixth system battle.

The system responded quickly—

[System] Sorry, you have reached the daily limit of 5 Human vs. AI battles. You cannot continue.

The underachievers saw the notification too. The male underachievers wailed—only five times a day?! On good days, they could manage seven times in one night! The sole female underachiever had a one-phrase response: “Piss off.”

Blood Bull wasn’t as optimistic as the others. If the limit was truly daily, the system message should’ve said, “Sorry, you have reached today’s limit of 5 Human vs. AI battles. Please try again tomorrow.”

But this was just speculation, so she decided to wait until tomorrow to confirm: “Let’s call it a day. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Today I Bomb the School: “Huh? Just like that? And here I was just starting to enjoy doggy-paddling in the ocean of knowledge…”

Weiming Lake: “You’ve been wearing Sister Blood Bull’s life jacket the whole time, okay?”

Today I Bomb the School: “Wanna bet I can strip down and beat you to death in seconds?”

Clueless Girl: “Holy shit, that mental image is too beautiful—I can’t bear to look…”

Beckham: “Miss Clueless, weren’t you going for the ‘please adopt me, delicate lady’ vibe before? Can you not drop ‘holy shit’ every other sentence?”

Clueless Girl: “Sure thing, you motherf—”

Beckham: “…”

Blood Bull suspected their temporary YY had been accidentally broadcast in the Hell Exam Hall because—

Online Teams: 1

Even their only companion had fled. No longer could they be angels to one another. TAT

“If you really don’t want to log off, go to the Library,” Blood Bull kindly suggested—though it was a guaranteed loss, not a gain.

The underachievers had no other choice. They couldn’t just sit there waiting for opponents who might never come. Besides, World Chat had already gone quiet—perhaps the Ace Academy players had all exhausted their brainpower and were too tired. Either way, the place didn’t seem lively at all.

The five-member squad disbanded on the spot. Blood Bull entered the Library to read, joined by Clueless Girl and Weiming Lake. Beckham and Today I Bomb the School vanished without a trace.

After reading two books, Blood Bull logged off and went out shopping, returning with twelve new books in hand.

The bookstore was located in the busiest part of the Marketplace, right next to a high-end cosmetics boutique. As Blood Bull stepped out with her books, she caught sight of the boutique’s logo and felt an odd sense of familiarity. It took her a moment to realize—this was the answer she hadn’t known during that dungeon run, the one 2B Fighter Jet had correctly chosen: LANCÔME.

As if possessed, Blood Bull walked in. A salesgirl greeted her warmly and politely, naturally taking the bag from her hands to store it so the customer could browse more freely. Caught off guard, Blood Bull awkwardly handed it over—only for the girl’s arm to nearly dislocate from the sudden weight.

Customer, I know this is a unisex high-capacity casual bag, but did you stuff dumbbells in there?!

Distracted by the rows of bottles and jars, Blood Bull didn’t notice how close the salesgirl had come to a muscle strain. The salesgirl, ever professional, stored the bag and resumed her pitch with a flawless smile, especially since Blood Bull seemed so clueless—she went all out.

Blood Bull didn’t understand half the terms the salesgirl was throwing at her. From the moment she’d decided to enter the store until now, only one thing had been on her mind:

“Miracle…”

The salesgirl blinked. “Pardon?”

“Miracle perfume…” Blood Bull’s voice was hesitant.

But the salesgirl immediately understood, leading her straight to the perfume counter and pulling out the little pink bottle that had haunted Blood Bull for so long.

After that dungeon run, Blood Bull had looked up the perfume online. She knew its exorbitant price, its fragrance composition, even the meaning behind its name. Since then, the pink bottle had appeared in her dreams—sometimes as a pink diamond in a glass case, sometimes as a distant star. So beautiful, yet so out of reach.

And now, it was sprayed onto a tiny slip of paper, right in front of her.

Blood Bull took the paper and held it to her nose. She wanted to take a deep breath, to savor the scent fully, but the fragrance had already invaded her senses, shattering her illusions.

Countless online reviews raved about how dreamy, elegant, and intoxicating this perfume was—how it enchanted men and brought women happiness. But to Blood Bull, it was just pungent. No gentler than a chemical reagent. In fact, she thought some lab reagents smelled better.

The salesgirl read the disappointment on Blood Bull’s face but still smiled as she returned the bag. Blood Bull mumbled an apology and left in embarrassment.

It wasn’t until she was on the bus, hugging her bag of books, that Blood Bull felt her nerves finally relax.

Yet the air still seemed to carry traces of that fragrance—faint but persistent, lingering in her mind.

This was the scent 2B Fighter Jet liked—or rather, the scent thousands of men liked. Her inability to appreciate it only highlighted how out of place she was.

In some ways, 2B Fighter Jet and Wang Hao were alike, Blood Bull mused, resting her head against the bus window. Both seemed careless, easygoing, and indifferent, but in reality, they had everything calculated—clear ledgers, precise measurements, everything priced fairly. They might call everyone “bro,” but in their hearts, those bros were ranked. They’d go through fire for A, but only offer token support to B. They’d die for C, but for D, it was just a casual favor. And none of these ABCDs would ever know—unless a situation arose where the difference in treatment became undeniable.

Wang Hao wasn’t as clever as 2B, so that situation had come to pass, and Blood Bull had finally seen just how low her place was on his scale.

As for 2B’s cleverness—whether innate or honed—Blood Bull didn’t know. 2B never talked about his real life. The one time he’d sent her a keyboard, the sender’s name had still been “Fighter Jet.” So even as he called her “wifey” over and over, this wifey had very clear dimensional boundaries.

Sometimes, Blood Bull wondered—what if she were younger? Still in undergrad, never having met Wang Hao. Would she have cried and screamed, swearing to marry 2B and no one else?

The answer was—hell yes, she would have.

2B’s words, his whole persona—so sweet it made her look forward to his whispers the moment she logged in, so sweet she wanted to bully him, pinch him, tease him, so sweet that when she remembered it was all just a game… she could only laugh bitterly.

Sister Blood Bull’s foul mood didn’t lift until past nine at night, dissolved by the vast ocean of knowledge. She closed her book, went to bed, and slept soundly.

The next day, before nine, she booted up her computer and logged into YY—only to find the underachievers already assembled.

Then she logged into the game, accepted a party invite, and was immediately handed the leader title. Only then did she see her squad’s progress from yesterday—

Clueless Girl: 460 points… Not bad, two books read.

Weiming Lake: 520 points… Very good, four books read.

Beckham: 335 points…

Today I Bomb the School: 250 points…

Did you two feed your points to a dog?!

As if sensing their leader’s inner turmoil, Beckham spoke first: “I just… wanted to test the waters…”

Only scammy infomercials use that kind of phrasing!

Today I Bomb the School bared his soul too: “I refused to believe in superstitions…”

People who say that always end up meeting ghosts, you know?!

Beckham & School: “Boss, we’re sorry! TAT”

Blood Bull: “…”

Now that she’d been placed on this pedestal, she couldn’t just chop her underlings for being idiots. With a sigh, Blood Bull let it go and led the team into the Hell Exam Hall.

Today’s exam hall was livelier, with eight teams total. Blood Bull tentatively clicked on the system again—same message as yesterday. The underachievers realized they could no longer bully the GM and mourned the loss.

“Players aren’t like the system,” Blood Bull warned before the match. “The system’s intelligence is set to average, but players vary—some high, some low. They might not play by logic.”

The Underachievers: “Got it!”

She clicked “Battle,” and the system auto-matched opponents. Soon, the matchup was announced—

[Return of the King] Tai Chi Grandmaster VS [Huaxia Summit] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze

[Return of the King] Red Lotus Cult Leader VS [Flame of the Gods] Today I Bomb the School

[Return of the King] Hacker VS [Illusory Peach Blossom Spring] Weiming Lake

[Return of the King] Love Fiercely VS [Frostbite Canyon] Beckham

[Return of the King] Princess Duoduo VS [Holy Light Sanctuary] Clueless Girl

Blood Bull tilted her head. The opposing lineup felt familiar.

Meanwhile, on the enemy YY—

Hacker: “What a small world…”

Tai Chi Grandmaster: “Even if it’s from Mirage Server to Huaxia Summit, I’d recognize ‘Blood Bulls Don’t Graze’ even if it were ashes!”

Red Lotus Cult Leader: “Just him? The rest of those guys didn’t come?”

Love Fiercely: “They’re all underachievers. Not like us—brave enough to choose Ace Academy together.”

Princess Duoduo: “Finally, revenge! So happy~”

At the same time, the battle content appeared. Despite the one-on-one lineup, this was a single-round team battle!

Blood Bull was stunned. The exam hall’s description said best-of-five—since when was there a sudden-death round? But then again, unpredictability was Huaxia Online’s signature style. Just think of Grandpa Wang and the endgame dungeon—more than just a pit, it was a bottomless abyss!

As the team battle question flashed on-screen, Blood Bull finally remembered who these opponents were—

[Local] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: Oh, Pig Gods!

The Red Lotus Cult Leader, their guild leader, nearly spat blood—

[Local] Red Lotus Cult Leader: “How many times do I have to say it—it’s THE GODS!!”

Blood Bull suddenly remembered what 438 often said—

[Local] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: “Don’t sweat the small stuff ^_^”

[Local] Red Lotus Cult Leader: “It’s two damn words and you got 50% wrong!”

[Local] Princess Duoduo: “Leader, stop wasting words. We’ll settle this in battle.”

As Princess Duoduo spoke, the question refreshed. Now, all ten players saw the same prompt—simple and clear: Write the idiom based on the clue.

The test had ten questions. Any teammate could answer. A correct answer would mark the question as complete and remove it. A wrong answer would clear the input, leaving the question for another attempt. The first team to answer all ten would win. If neither finished, the team with more correct answers would prevail.

Beckham: “I hate Chinese… TAT”

Today I Bomb the School: “Laozi is a science student.”

Weiming Lake: “With your knowledge base, your major is irrelevant.”

Clueless Girl: “Can we finish the test before launching into a comedy routine?!”

Before she finished speaking, the system announced the first correct answer—deleted instantly.

Blood Bull moved on to the second question—

Clean as the breeze. (Input a five-word idiom.)

This time, Weiming Lake was quick: “Sleeves flutter in the wind!”

Today I Bomb the School might be dumb, but his fingers were fast—he input it almost instantly. Ding! Second question deleted.

While the Academic Fail Squad blazed through, The Gods weren’t slacking either. Anyone daring to enter Ace Academy had to have more than just talk. If the Deputy Commander had a spectator’s view, he’d see both sides chipping away at the questions—to the uninitiated, it might look like a match of Candy Crush =_=

Both teams reached the final question at the same time—

Class break exercises. (Input a four-word idiom.)

As the saying goes, the finale is always the toughest—highest stakes, hardest challenge.

Weiming Lake: “Class break exercises? Dragon soars, phoenix dances?”

Today I Bomb the School: “Very very very boring?”

Clueless Girl: “Flowing clouds, running water?”

Beckham: “Zombie outbreak?”

The Squad: “What kind of school do you go to?!”

Blood Bull stayed silent, but truthfully, she hadn’t figured it out either. Still, she tried her teammates’ absurd suggestions—all wrong, of course =_=

While the Elite Squad struggled, The Gods weren’t faring any better—multiple attempts, zero success.

As time ticked away, was a draw inevitable?

The Gods wouldn’t accept it—and neither would Blood Bull!

Of course, there’s always that one person with zero situational awareness—when the house is on fire, they call to ask if you want to grab drinks.

Blood Bull snapped. She shot up from her chair so violently that her headphones yanked out of the computer. But she couldn’t care less, roaring:

[“Wang Hao, if you ever use someone else’s number to harass me again, I’ll print all your friends’ numbers on flyers and plaster them on every lamppost!!!”]

Wang Hao had expected anger—but not a volcanic eruption. What the hell is happening?!

Though the headphones were disconnected, the laptop’s built-in mic wasn’t. So the YY squad only heard Blood Bull’s roar amid static—they knew she was furious but couldn’t make out the words.

Weiming Lake: “Sister, what’s wrong? Don’t be mad. Losing isn’t a big deal—we’ll earn the points back next round.”

Clueless Girl: “Yeah, it’s just a game. No need to go nuclear~ Here, muah.”

With the headphones off, their voices now played through the laptop speakers.

Wang Hao seemed to understand. “You’re gaming? That explains it. My bad—go ahead.”

Blood Bull didn’t want to drag this out. She laid it all out:

[“Mr. Wang Hao, I don’t want to eat with you, drink with you, talk to you, or even remember I ever knew you. Is that clear enough?”]

The other end seemed to chuckle, but by the time he spoke, all traces of humor were gone, replaced by icy calm:

[“Crystal.” ]

This time, Wang Hao hung up first.

Thank heavens. Blood Bull almost wanted to give him thirty-two thumbs up. Why couldn’t you have been like this sooner?

Tossing her phone aside, Blood Bull hurried back to the computer and put her headphones back on: “I’m back.”

The underachievers rejoiced, wisely avoiding the topic. After all, they’d clearly heard that “I don’t want to [X] with you” litany. The boss’s love life was beyond their paygrade—studying was the true path =_=

The system showed The Gods still hadn’t cracked the question either. Blood Bull took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, rolled her neck, stretched her arms—like the calisthenics she’d done in school, as if shaking off Wang Hao’s bad luck…

Wait. What do class break exercises include? Stretching, jumping, side bends…

As Blood Bull finished typing, a ding echoed—the battle was over.

Both teams were ejected from the exam hall, unable to speak face-to-face. But The Gods refused to let it go, buying fifty Megaphones to spam World Chat—

[Megaphone] The Gods member 1: Class break exercise. (Input a four-word idiom.) WHAT’S THE ANSWER?! I CAN’T DIE IN PEACE!!!

[Megaphone] The Gods member 2: Class break exercise. (Input a four-word idiom.) WHAT’S THE ANSWER?! I CAN’T DIE IN PEACE!!!

Fifty Megaphones later, every Ace Academy player was dying to know—what the hell is the answer?!

Blood Bull hadn’t planned to respond, but as the entire server teetered on the brink of a “Spam for The Gods, Solve the Mystery” movement, she finally enlightened them—

[Ace Academy] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: Bend but not break.

……

For a long time after, Ace Academy circulated this wisdom:

The gap between you and a top student may seem as vast as heaven and earth—but in reality, it’s just one class break exercise away.

……

Being the origin of a legend felt great—but Blood Bull didn’t get to savor it. Because before her divine answer could spread and solidify into myth—specifically, the evening after the battle with The Gods—she was forced offline.

Wang Hao used the account’s initial registration details to recover and change the password.