Jing Mingqiu flicked his sword twice casually, tapped the ground lightly, and the miniature controllable nuclear fusion device in his abdomen accelerated, transmitting powerful thrust to the tip of his toe.
Thus, in full view of the entire school faculty and students, Jing Mingqiu leaped over ten zhang, soaring into the sky.
Before the crowd below could exclaim, Jing Mingqiu drew his sword.
A cold light flashed as his long sword performed a series of intricate aerial maneuvers, twisting and turning like a silver dragon.
Finally, Jing Mingqiu sheathed his sword and descended gracefully, appearing as if an immortal swordsman had descended to earth.
The crowd was stunned by his actions, and the bustling athletic field suddenly fell into silence.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Jing Mingqiu snapped out of his trance and noticed the somber expressions of the other teachers.
He then realized that he might have gone a bit too far and quickly composed himself, raising the microphone.
"Today's speech concludes here. Thank you, everyone."
With that, Jing Mingqiu tried to slip away, but the students, having regained their senses, were not about to let him off. Thunderous applause swept across the field once more.
Among them were many beautiful girls.
Mo Ruixue noticed this scene and felt immense pressure. She instinctively glanced at Jing Rou, who happened to be looking at her as well.
Their eyes met, and they tacitly formed a temporary alliance.
First, they would deal with the other attention-seeking rivals, and then they would contend for the position of the principal wife.
"Jing Shen! One more!"
"One more!"
Many among the audience, who loved to stir up trouble, shouted for Jing Mingqiu to perform again.
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the host broke out in a sweat. At this crucial moment, Feng Weiguo stepped forward.
He strode purposefully onto the stage, took the microphone from the host, and took a deep breath.
"Classmate Jing Mingqiu's speech was very passionate. Young people should embody a new spirit. However, please also be mindful of the occasion. You've created such a fervent atmosphere, and the students performing next will feel immense pressure."
As soon as Feng Weiguo finished speaking, many people chuckled.
With those few simple sentences, he steered the atmosphere back, and the principal returned the microphone to the evening's host, pulling Jing Mingqiu off the stage with him.
"Natural disasters are cruel, but people are kind. During this fire, it wasn't only classmate Jing Mingqiu who bravely charged into the blaze to rescue people, but many other students also contributed their share..."
Amidst the host's eloquent and impassioned narration, Jing Mingqiu, who had arrived backstage, quickly glanced at Feng Weiguo. Seeing his stern expression, he immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry, Principal. I got too carried away."
Feng Weiguo waved his hand. "It's fine. This is actually good; it will help with the next phase of the plan."
"Huh?" Jing Mingqiu was stunned. Just as he was about to ask for clarification, Feng Weiguo opened a door.
"Mingqiu, come to the principal's office with me. I have something else to discuss with you."
After crossing nearly half the campus, Jing Mingqiu followed Feng Weiguo to the specially reinforced principal's office.
Feng Weiguo carefully locked the soundproof and anti-theft door, then took out a document and a portable hard drive, handing them both to Jing Mingqiu.
"This is your appointment letter as a specially appointed professor. From now on, you can recruit graduate students for your research group. The hard drive contains the design schematics for a new type of firefighting mecha."
"Huh!" Jing Mingqiu was taken aback. "Didn't you say earlier that my laboratory needed strict confidentiality and couldn't admit outsiders?"
Feng Weiguo quickly explained, "Under normal circumstances, most research nowadays requires collaboration among many people. If your laboratory were never assigned assistants, it would actually arouse suspicion from other factions."
"Mingqiu, are you worried about not being able to manage those proud graduate students?"
"No," Jing Mingqiu shook his head slightly. "I'm just worried their standards won't meet my requirements. After all, the lowest-level personnel who worked under me before were all PhDs."
Feng Weiguo recalled Jing Mingqiu's brilliant achievements at the Nuclear Physics Research Institute and the Chip Research Institute, and his mouth twitched involuntarily.
"Mingqiu, this design for the firefighting mecha was secretly developed by several other experts. Not many people know about it, but other factions could find out if they investigated. This was a deliberate design..."
"Stop, stop, stop," Seeing Feng Weiguo about to explain the underlying strategy, Jing Mingqiu quickly interrupted. "Principal, you don't need to tell me all this. I know you're all doing this for my own good. Just tell me what you need me to do."
Watching Jing Mingqiu appear to give up on thinking, Feng Weiguo's mouth twitched even more severely. With a sigh, he reorganized his thoughts.
"Simply put, some people still doubt your identity. To solidify the perception that you are just a genius we've carefully packaged, but who doesn't actually have much ability, we plan to assign you a fake project. You'll need to cooperate with our performance."
"Performance, that's my specialty," Jing Mingqiu patted his chest with great confidence. "The stage play I performed with Xue'er and the others a few days ago received high praise from many people!"
"Well, you don't need to perform that intensely; just speak normally," Feng Weiguo advised, then took out a list from his drawer and handed it to Jing Mingqiu. "First, you need to select a few people from this list to join your laboratory..."
Jing Mingqiu took the list, scanned it quickly, and casually circled a few names that looked pleasing. He then handed the list back to Feng Weiguo. "These five will do. What's the next step?"
Feng Weiguo took the list, counted them briefly, and shook his head slightly. "Only five. That's too few. To hold an exam, you need at least twenty people. How about this: you create a set of exam questions, and I'll arrange the written test."
Create exam questions?
Hearing this request, Jing Mingqiu's eyes lit up instantly. Having been a student for so many years and always taking tests created by others, this was his first time creating questions for others.
"No problem, Principal. Leave it all to me!"
Looking at Jing Mingqiu with shining eyes, Feng Weiguo suddenly felt a pang of unease. He quickly added, "Mingqiu, they are only graduate students, and their level is limited. Be a little lenient when you create the questions."
"I understand, Principal. I'll go back and create the exam questions now!"
With that, Jing Mingqiu abruptly pulled open the principal's office soundproof and anti-theft door and activated his mecha, shooting out.
Back in his dormitory, Jing Mingqiu turned on his computer and began to ponder.
"What kind of questions should I create? First, I should include some easy ones so they don't perform too poorly..."
With that thought, Jing Mingqiu typed out the first question.
What is a mecha? (60 points)
"This way, even if they can't answer the remaining questions, they'll at least get a passing score of 60. Everyone will pass, and their scores won't look too bad. I'm such a genius!"
Praising himself softly, Jing Mingqiu was immensely satisfied. With a thought, he opened the system and began creating the remaining forty difficult questions!
"Done!"
Jing Mingqiu stretched, a satisfied smile on his face.
"However," Jing Mingqiu quickly counted and looked at the sixteen full pages of the exam, his gaze flickering. "The volume of questions seems a bit too large! Two hours might not be enough. Should I delete some."
Before Jing Mingqiu could make a decision, Mo Ruixue suddenly called.
"Xue'er, what's wrong?"
Jing Mingqiu had barely spoken a word when he was abruptly interrupted by Mo Ruixue, her voice filled with urgency. "Aqiu! Hurry to the school hospital. Rou Rou is injured!"