“Is it that bad?” Even Anjou felt a headache coming on.
“His crimes are truly unforgivable!” Finger declared firmly.
“Can it be cleaned up?”
“It’s as difficult as trying to clean a lump of coal.”
Anjou massaged his forehead.
“The worst part is that his flamboyant style has led to many incidents being reported by local news media. Although these newspapers and TV shows did not mention his name, millions of newspapers worldwide have indirectly documented his ‘exceptional execution ability.’ These will all be presented as evidence to the jury by the investigation team,” Finger explained.
“Any good news?” Anjou sighed, beginning to doubt whether he was as competent an educator as the School Board claimed.
“That’s why we need Finger. Do you know who in this world would dig up your little secrets and make them public?” The vice principal said, “It’s not WikiLeaks—it’s the paparazzi. Paparazzi are the most dedicated journalists; their nose for gossip is exceptionally sharp, and they’re a group of skeptics who question everything. They are also everywhere and embody all the virtues of journalists. They will rummage through the garbage of female celebrities, looking at their newly bought lingerie packaging to infer whether they had plastic surgery.” The vice principal raised an eyebrow, speaking with a sense of pride, “But those who are best at discovering secrets are also the best at hiding them!”
“We’re professionals at cleaning coal!” Finger puffed out his chest.
“Alright, go on.” Anjou waved his hand in resignation.
“Norma and Chu Zihang himself are also evidence. Norma holds all the college’s data, but we can’t modify these records anymore—the School Board has definitely already accessed all of Norma’s records and archived them.” Finger continued, “More troublesome than Norma is Chu Zihang.”
“Oh?” Anjou frowned.
“His blood sample,” the vice principal said slowly. “‘Blood Burst’ was a technique first invented by your Lionheart Society; you should remember its side effects. It is a forbidden technique because, each time it’s used, the user’s genes become increasingly like those of the dragons. If the School Board gets hold of his blood sample, that’s irrefutable evidence.”
“How do we handle that evidence?”
“Murder, destruction of the body—let’s rush to the ward now! Kill Chu Zihang! Burn him to ashes!” Finger’s eyes flashed with vicious intent.
Anjou ignored the comic relief, covering his face as he thought for a moment, “Leave that to me—I have a way.”
“Then there’s only one more thing left: witnesses. Some students have seen Chu Zihang on the verge of losing control, and there are many rumors about him. Fortunately, the Lionheart Society is one of the largest student groups, and they will undoubtedly support their leader. The bad news is that the Student Union is his nemesis, and Caesar will undoubtedly work against him.” Finger said.
“That’s something we can’t deal with,” Anjou pondered for a long time. “In that case, what are our chances at the hearing, my dear lawyer?”
“Fifty-fifty. Without Frost remotely controlling, I could definitely knock Andrew out—err, I mean debate him down. But with Frost behind the scenes, I only have a fifty percent chance,” the vice principal sighed.
“We must win over the support of the tenured professors, and quickly. This is a critical moment. They have another purpose in initiating this impeachment against me.” Anjou drank the strong liquor in his glass in one gulp. “Every hybrid around the world knows that a prestigious dragon has awakened, possibly even a Dragon King. The families of the School Board, along with Henkel’s families, are searching everywhere for him. Killing a Dragon King has already been proven possible, and they all want to be the first to kill that dragon and claim his remains. Meanwhile, the School Board is trying to stall us here with a strange lawsuit.”
“The hearing will be held in three days in the Grand Hall of the Einherjar Sanctuary,” Finger said.
“Then our battle against the School Board begins tonight. They’re also staying up, preparing materials to bring us down,” the vice principal tossed a set of keys to Finger, “From now on, you have access to the central control room. Move your team in. All Execution Bureau activities around the world are suspended! Our first target is the School Board!”
At midnight, the investigation team’s secretary, Parsi, sat in the darkness, taking deep breaths. When he felt he was in the best state, he opened the laptop in front of him, and the faint light illuminated his face, reflecting rows of flashing, dark green characters off his glasses.
He took out a black envelope from a sturdy aluminum password box, emptying it of a silver metal card. It was pure metal, without exposed chips or magnetic strips. Parsi’s fingers brushed across the card’s surface, feeling the subtle texture.
A special card slot was already connected to the USB port of the laptop. Parsi carefully inserted the metal card. A few seconds later, the interface refreshed. It was a crude screen with simple color blocks and ragged text, devoid of artistic embellishments—a primitive engineer’s style. The backend of Cassell College’s network was crude, not because it lacked capability, but because there were very few people who could use it.
Those who could access this page didn’t care about aesthetics; they cared only about authority.
The highest authority.
“Mr. Gattuso, I’ve accessed Norma,” Parsi connected his phone, putting it on speaker. “Awaiting your instructions.”
“Good,” came Frost Gattuso’s stern voice. “You now have the highest authority over Norma—this is the power granted by the White Card. You can access every corner of Norma, and no one else can trace your access records. You must use this power prudently. I shouldn’t have handed you the White Card, but they shamelessly cut off the network, forcing me to have you log in internally from the college.”
“Understood, sir.”
That afternoon, Frost was unable to establish contact with Norma as he usually did from Europe. To be precise, all internet communication between North America and Europe had been disrupted. Reuters reported that an Atlantic undersea cable might have been bitten off by a sperm whale. But only Frost knew the cause and effect—just hours before the cable was cut, the investigation team announced the significant decision to hold a hearing. And when the cable was cut, the legendary tugboat “Moniakh,” known for its achievements during the “Bronze Plan” at the Three Gorges, happened to pass through that area… Frost had thought those two old men wouldn’t be so shameless.
“There’s a part of Norma’s core storage that we’ve never been able to decrypt. We back up this portion every month. They must have hidden something in those encrypted files. Once Anjou is removed as principal, we will take control of Norma. They’ll definitely try to delete those files ahead of time—they have the black cards for the principal and vice principal. But with the White Card, you have the highest authority! First, set the files to ‘read-only,’ then start the backup.”
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