Could it be that this guy leaked this matter? Wouldn't he find it embarrassing?
Li Chonglou's heart suddenly became uneasy and anxious.
"Alright, that's all for today's class. Memorize the rulebook I gave you. You'll be tested on it tomorrow, so don't get eliminated here. I don't want to teach such foolish students."
Tai Yinglong chuckled, then turned and left.
Before leaving the classroom, he added, "That new student, Li Chonglou, right? Come to my office later."
And so, Li Chonglou's first class in who knows how many years came to an end.
It was quite liberating, unlike his previous schooling where classes had fixed times to end.
Just as Li Chonglou was about to get up and follow, two men blocked his path.
"Kid, don't think you're someone just because you made a splash. In our eyes, you're just an outsider!"
The speaker was a man in his early twenties, wearing a green robe, looking like a disciple from a prominent family. Behind him were two men, one seventeen or eighteen, and the other slightly older, likely around Li Chonglou's age.
"Are you from the Commoner's Guild?"
As mentioned earlier, apart from those who joined the recruitment as freelancers, there were also people from the three major factions here. The General Bureau was a prestigious entity, so it was normal for the other two major factions to send people to study.
And the one who had a conflict with him, in Li Chonglou's opinion, could only be from the Commoner's Guild.
However, the man's next words made his expression falter.
"Commoner's Guild? Heh, what, you look down on our War Guild?"
The man seemed to have come to deliver a warning. After delivering his message and leaving with his companions, he left a parting remark of "Take care of yourself." The contempt he displayed from beginning to end left Li Chonglou completely bewildered.
What the heck? When did I offend someone from the War Guild?
"You are Li Chonglou?"
Three more people approached.
This time, Li Chonglou finally recognized their attire; they were indeed from the Commoner's Guild.
Without a word, the leader of this group, also in his early twenties, looked at him with significantly more aggression than the previous man.
"I heard the final test is an external mission. Don't be like old Tai said and lose your life due to carelessness."
Li Chonglou ignored the taunt and sidestepped him, continuing in Tai Yinglong's direction.
The man did not make a move, but his gaze grew even more somber.
In another corner of the classroom, a man in his thirties, noticeably older, showed a conflicted expression. With a sudden grit of his teeth, he got up and walked towards Li Chonglou.
Outside the classroom was a desolate corridor. Unlike his previous school, it seemed there was only their class here, so Li Chonglou's footsteps echoed throughout the hallway.
With the delay caused by those two groups, Tai Yinglong was nowhere to be seen by the time he came out. Li Chonglou stood there, unsure of which way to go.
There were bifurcating paths at both ends of the corridor. It was his first day here, and he had no idea where Tai Yinglong's office was.
Just then, a man suddenly followed him out.
Hearing the movement, Li Chonglou turned, looking at the other man with some impatience.
"Who are you from?"
With people constantly coming to cause trouble, even the most patient person would get angry, let alone when in a bad mood!
"Brother, don't misunderstand, I'm not here to cause trouble."
The man quickly said.
"My name is Chen Pingfan. I used to be a freelancer and don't belong to any faction."
Li Chonglou reined in his emotions and asked, "Do you need something from me?"
Chen Pingfan glanced back at the classroom. Seeing that no one was following out for the moment and hearing the murmurs from inside, he leaned closer to Li Chonglou and said, "The person from the War Guild you spoke to is Wu Di, from the Wu family. Our class is divided into four factions, and he's the representative of one of them."
"There's also Liu Tixing from the Commoner's Guild. He's the most snobbish in our class. And there are also people from the General Bureau's families, led by Liu Tianzhi, who is considered the most low-key faction."
Li Chonglou's brow furrowed slightly. "Why are you telling me this?"
Chen Pingfan whispered, "Brother Li, the General Bureau is not as simple as you think. To survive here, finding your own group is the most important thing. Although you had the General Bureau's identity before, it must be difficult for you now, right?"
Li Chonglou didn't detect any sarcasm in the last sentence and understood Chen Pingfan's intention. He directly asked, "So, you want to recruit me to join your side?"
Chen Pingfan nodded generously. "It's not exactly recruitment. You probably can't get along with any of the three major factions right now. The only ones who can accept you are people like us who originally had no background. It's not really acceptance, but mutual support."
"There's no other intention, just that no one bullies us."
Isn't this just plain old factionalism?
Li Chonglou really didn't expect such a climate to exist within the General Bureau. Was it negligence, or was it intentional, to give these people a different kind of tempering?
Regardless of the reason, Li Chonglou was more interested, or rather, the question he most wanted to resolve, was another matter.
"Uh, I only seemed to have a conflict with the Commoner's Guild, so why do all three factions have a problem with me now?"
This doubt had arisen when the people from the War Guild approached him, and he still couldn't figure it out. Now, Chen Pingfan pointed out that even people from the General Bureau were displeased with him.
Aren't they all part of the same institution? Why would they pick a fight with him over the Commoner's Guild?
More confused than Li Chonglou was Chen Pingfan.
Seeing Li Chonglou's expression, the latter looked astonished. "You don't know what happened?"
This was very interesting. Chen Pingfan claimed to be a freelancer with no background, but even he knew about it, while Li Chonglou, the person involved, was completely clueless!
Seeing that Li Chonglou didn't seem to be acting, and in fact, there was no need for him to act, Chen Pingfan, although finding it strange, still explained, "After your incident, the General Bureau ordered to cut off all cooperation with the Commoner's Guild. If the Commoner's Guild hadn't reacted quickly enough to provide an explanation, the other two major factions might have actually started a fight!"
"Although it wasn't long ago, many cooperations were at critical junctures. Because of you, an order from the General Bureau ruined the efforts of many people, and some even suffered direct losses! Do you think those people would have a good impression of you?"
Li Chonglou was stunned. He really hadn't considered this and didn't realize the situation had been so serious at the time. He had thought the General Bureau had simply stepped forward to support him.
"But what does the War Guild have to do with this?"