Even if one doesn't know that the evaluation "a pathetic wretch who must rely on others' fear and disdain to maintain self-esteem" was what Le Yin previously said about Shi Wen in class, even the slow-reacting Kui Nianruo could see now that the relationship between Le Yin and Shi Wen was not good.

However, she wasn't very surprised inside.

Because Shi Wen didn't get along well with anyone, or rather, she had never seen Shi Wen talk to anyone calmly.

She hadn't seen Shi Wen many times; only when she was working as a part-time school worker at Baixiang would she encounter him, knowing he was the archive manager.

But even in these limited encounters, she saw Shi Wen get into several conflicts with others.

This was the quietest Baixiang Library, and Shi Wen was the most reclusive archive manager. Under these 'challenging' conditions, the fact that Shi Wen could still cause trouble fully proved his provocative nature.

But Kui Nianruo didn't think Shi Wen was a bad person. Some conflicts weren't purposely incited by Shi Wen; it's just that his reputation in the academy was always bad, and he spoke without considering face, like a walking powder keg, exploding wherever he went.

A student once jokingly referred on the notice board to the Imperial Academy's three major disasters: 'Tyrant' Cha Huan, 'Cruel Official' Zhu Yan, 'Mad Dog' Shi Wen. Of course, that student was soon dug out by Cha Huan and handed over to Zhu Yan for serious handling, which was like getting what he deserved by testing the law himself.

Although these words had a teasing tone, being placed alongside Cha Huan and Zhu Yan with Shi Wen showed his position in the eyes of ordinary students, like a pile of dog shit that anyone who stepped in was unlucky.

"Interesting."

Le Yin was not enraged by Shi Wen's repeated provocations but instead pulled out a chair and sat down, saying, "I thought the Eye of Omniscience exam was for current students only."

"Not at all, not at all," explained the Baixiang director Cha Shiyin: "All facilities and activities in the academy have no identity qualification restrictions, including the Eye of Omniscience exam—if you, Professor Qin, are willing, you can also take the Eye of Omniscience exam. It's just that if you break the game rules, the academy would probably assign a teacher to specifically watch over your exam."

"Shi Wen, although not a student, the biggest difference compared to official students is merely the absence of a credit evaluation system. He can attend any public course, participate in any activities, without needing to participate in any final assessments, but he cannot obtain any credits, and of course, can't graduate."

"Then why do you want to participate in the Eye of Omniscience exam?" Le Yin slightly furrowed his brow: "Besides the first place having a daily 100 coin cafeteria limit as a substantial reward, the biggest reward for other ranks is just credits, and you... Could it be that if you get ranked, the academy will give extra compensation? Something like one credit for one gold yuan?"

Cha Shiyin interjected: "No, Cha Huan and Zhu Yan aren't the type to compromise. The fact that he can't get credits is his own problem."

"Can't I just be doing it out of boredom?" Shi Wen sneered proudly, saying, "Qin Leyin, you seem to not understand yet that our positions have reversed; this is not your classroom, and the initiative is not in your hands."

Shi Wen's demeanor was as if he was saying, 'You have to attack me, this taunting minion first.' Le Yin almost instinctively wanted to sarcastically mock his arrogance, but suddenly remembered that in the classroom, Shi Wen had provoked Dan Chixia into losing her mind with language alone.

Shi Wen was a madman who gave no quarter when he had the upper hand—but the premise is he 'held the upper hand'—he clearly had no habit of disgracing himself, yet he was now acting arrogantly, as if hoping Le Yin would quickly stomp on him.

Excluding the possibility of him being a dominant force in the letter circle, the biggest possibility was—how much Le Yin hated trampling him, he could take revenge just as fiercely.

If Le Yin really scolded him, perhaps he would be slapped in the face, with situations reversing over time.

So he fell silent, opened the information in his hand, and quickly understood why Shi Wen was so arrogant.

Cheating in the Eye of Omniscience exam also had its subtleties, for instance, if you managed to steal the test questions, what's the fastest way to know all the answers?

Pooling ideas was the dumbest approach. The Eye of Omniscience had been held for decades, and everyone soon found out that—although the scope of questions was unlimited, most of the question content came from the Baixiang Library's collection.

No one could read all the classics in Baixiang, but once you had the questions, finding targeted answers wasn't impossible.

In the previous few Eye of Omniscience cheating contests, the top-ranking students almost always used internal and external cooperation, allowing outside partners to quickly look up answers in Baixiang.

'Transmit test questions' → 'Go to Baixiang to search for answers' → 'Transmit back to the exam room,' these three steps were the optimal decision summarized by decades of cheating experience by students.

Shi Wen's confidence lay in his crucial influence in the second step of "going to Baixiang to search for answers."

Not to mention that he himself was the highest scoring student in the individual rankings of the last Eye of Omniscience—meaning he could quickly complete part of the test by himself. More importantly, Shi Wen had been soaking in Baixiang for years, knowing the location and general content of all the classics. Once he got the test questions, he could find the answers fastest.

It must be known that most of the library's collection had only one copy, which meant the first person to find it, after knowing the answer, could also hide the book—the destruction of books wasn't allowed, and once caught intentionally damaging the Baixiang collection, it could lead to expulsion, which is more serious than cheating.

But hiding a book for three hours would incur no punishment, and subsequent people would therefore not find the answers. As this decreased their score further, the scoring gap widened even more.

If Shi Wen could be drawn into one's own camp, it was equivalent to gaining a physical hack, enhancing oneself, while weakening one's competitors. On the other hand, if Shi Wen helped others, it meant being weakened oneself.

Thinking of this, Le Yin couldn't help but sigh inwardly: This kid is terrifyingly cunning, absolutely can't be left alone!

However, this is the Imperial Academy, with old principal Cha Huan watching you.

The Imperial Academy is not the same as Star Engraving County, nor is it like Xuanzhu County. It's not a place where Le Yin could just overturn the table as he pleased—or rather, after overturning the table previously, he could pretend nothing happened, but here it's not so simple. When Cha Huan gave him a thorough beating, he wouldn't spare any face.

Le Yin at this time also saw Shi Wen's malicious intent: although people didn't know the details, with the Radiant Celestial Maiden in the Imperial Academy, besides vying for the throne, there was no other possibility; it couldn't possibly be for studying.

He saw Le Yin purchase materials obviously meant for cheating, and it soon became clear that Le Yin was out to help Ming Shuiyun cheat, thereby deducing that the Eye of Omniscience exam might concern the struggle for the throne.

He knew the Eye of Omniscience's importance to Le Yin.

He also knew his own chips could sway the scales of victory in this exam.

So he deliberately acted in an annoying manner—perhaps not even deliberately; he was just naturally annoying—if Le Yin fell for it, acting like a normal person and mocked him thoroughly, then Le Yin would find himself in an awkward position.

The person he just stomped on is crucial to his plan.

He couldn't even let Shi Wen go, because if Shi Wen joined another camp, his side would surely lose.

Thus, Le Yin's only course was to swallow his pride and beg Shi Wen for help, equivalent to offering his face to be slapped, to be despised by Shi Wen's evil smile...

Damn it.

Even if Le Yin had lost all emotional modules like anger, just imagining that scene made him feel like his insides were burning with anger.

He never expected one day he would encounter this Long Aotian plotline where he gets humiliated and then gloriously fights back.

Moreover, he was the 'blind one' in this scenario, looking as if he was about to get severely slapped.

Fortunately, he didn't fall for it, didn't get taunted by Shi Wen's vile face.

Yet the current situation wasn't much better because when Le Yin was in class, he hadn't spared Shi Wen the slightest face—he was not one to pamper brats—Shi Wen wasn't a broad-hearted person, and had likely already jotted down Qin Leyin's name in his little black book.

Now, having grasped the opportunity for revenge, it would be strange if Shi Wen didn't exploit it.