Rebirth of the Godly Prodigal

Hong Dali did not take it seriously at all, but all the reporters went into a frenzy immediately…

Outstanding teachers, fully equipped facilities, and lush surroundings were important parts of a school. These were regularly used to advertise a school, but damn! Who had ever seen a school with teachers that were so outstanding as this one?

In other schools, each teacher would take perhaps one or two classes. If each teacher took only one class, it would be considered over-staffing. People would say that the school had a surplus of teachers. Hong Dali’s New Lanxiang had a teacher-student ratio of one to one. One to one! There were even substitute teachers. The situation was completely incomparable!

Compared with this impossible team of teachers, the thirty million worth of equipment suddenly appeared extremely insignificant…

At that moment, none of the reporters present doubted the authenticity of Hong Dali’s claim. As far as they were concerned, this super prodigal who purchased two aircraft carriers with a wave of his hand indeed had the ability to squander money in such a completely ostentatious way—two hundred and forty million a year was really peanuts to him.

“Young Master Dali,” asked the reporter, John, who had stuffed his microphone into Hong Dali’s mouth. “Have you really decided to do that? My god, a one-to-one teaching model. This is something we dare not even consider! It seems too… wasteful?”

“One look and I know you are narrow-minded.” Hong Dali’s expression was filled with contempt. “A one-to-one teaching model is the way to go—how else would I squander money? Che, you’re narrow-minded, you’re really narrow-minded!”

All the reporters at the back scrambled to take notes. “Young Master Dali really has a lot of foresight when it comes to squandering money. We are all in awe! Such an ostentatious way of squandering! If there were a chart for the top ten prodigals in the world, Young Master Dali would definitely be at the top!”

The reporters had all become savvier this time. Many of them had recorded everything. When they got to the part where Young Master Dali said John was narrow-minded, all of them clutched their cameras like it was a treasure. Such a scene did not happen often.

Just then, Tang Muxin asked the Bureau Chief in a small voice, “Uncle Chief, what Dali just said, is it workable?”

“This brat. We will just do whatever he says.” The Bureau Chief covered his face in vexation. “He is beyond my control…”

Just then, the young man who had asked Hong Dali for a seat in front ran over with a pretty girl. He asked, “Young Master Dali, this is my girlfriend. She says she likes you lot and would like to take a picture with you. Is it okay?”

This… was not too appropriate…

Hong Dali immediately stood beside the girl and smilingly said, “Why stand on ceremony with me? It’s just a picture…”

Tang Muxin muttered softly, “This little brat, you were never so nice to me…” It was obvious the little lass was jealous…

At that moment, the reporters started taking a flurry of photos. While they were doing that, someone asked curiously, “Why do I feel that this girl seems familiar? I seem to have seen her somewhere before…”

His words reminded everyone else around him, and it was not long before one of the Heavenly State reporters slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “Isn’t this the genius who programmed the digital lightning system for high rise buildings? I think her name is Zhuang Mengze. Is she studying here too?”

Once the crowd heard the reporter call out the girl’s name, they started asking about her. “Zhuang Mengze? Is she famous? How come you seem to think she’s impressive? High rise digital lighting control system? It doesn’t sound very impressive?””Yes, yes, it doesn’t seem too difficult to create such a system?”

“What do you know!” The reporter carefully kept the picture of Hong Dali and Zhuang Mengze before continuing, “It is not hard to create such a system. The thing is, when Zhuang Mengze created the system, she was only nine! Nine! We were still playing marbles at nine…”

She created a digital control system when she was nine years old?!

Everyone looked at Zhuang Mengze, awestruck. The girl was a little shy and said, embarrassed, “It’s not that impressive, I was just doing it for fun…”

Hong Dali smiled widely and said, “Wow, she’s a prodigy! Yes, we must not ill-treat her. Award her with a five hundred thousand scholarship every year, with additional bonuses to be given if there are any new inventions.”

“Thank you, Young Master Dali.” Zhuang Mengze’s face flushed red. “Everyone says that the big prodigal Hong is a philanthropist. I finally see it in action today!”

The Philanthropic big prodigal Hong! That had to be recorded down for prosperity.

The scholarship amount for just one student was five hundred thousand. Everyone finally had a chance to witness Hong Dali’s profligacy with their own eyes today.

Hong Dali asked, “By the way, are you working on anything now?”

“Research…” Zhuang Mengze almost answered when she saw the Bureau Chief shake his head surreptitiously at her. She quickly corrected herself. “I’m just doing some minor research. I just want to learn more now and further my studies in the theory, so all I am doing now is collecting data. I heard that the environment is good here, and the teachings avant-garde. That’s why I am here.”

The gathered reporters started a flurry of note-taking again. “Girl prodigy wishes to further her studies at New Lanxiang. What kind of mysterious background does New Lanxiang have?”

Everyone gleefully embellished whatever information they had, but Tang Muxin, who was standing next to the Bureau Chief, saw that there was more to it. She asked in a low voice, “Uncle Chief, is Zhuang Mengze someone impressive? There must be some kind of conspiracy here, right?”

“Ahem.” The Bureau Chief made a face. “A member of the National Secret Technology Team. I cannot divulge any details.”

Hearing that, Tang Muxin understood and sighed. She said, “What a pity, the news would have given these reporters a shock!”

These were all secondary stories. After a while, when the reporters were done taking photos of the surroundings, Hong Dali snapped his fingers and said, “Let’s go. Let’s go take a look at the next teaching zone. Yes, by the way,” Hong Dali asked the principal who was standing to the side, “Principal Wang, what faculty is the next teaching area? Let’s go there and take a look?”

“Prodigal, prodigal…” Principal Wang felt weak all over. “The next faculty is Automobile Maintenance. Let’s go. Sigh, spend a little less, Young Master Dali. It’s not easy to earn money these days.”

“If I have the money, I should spend it. It’s not like it can reproduce itself if I keep it.” Hong Dali pouted. “Let’s go. Next stop, Automobile Maintenance!”

…

Tianjing City Center, inside a large Internet Cafe.

The Angel of Misfortune, Vincent Iverson, and the beautiful lady who was sponsoring him sat in the internet cafe, playing Dream Dota League.

Although the Angel of Misfortune possessed an IQ of over 180, it was obvious he was a nerd. Not just any nerd, a super nerd. He was a hacker, but to him, being able to games happily was more appealing. After all, there would be no beautiful female willing to sponsor a hacker and allow him to indulge in food and drink and relax. Occasionally, he could even do something he loved doing…

However, the Angel of Misfortune was annoyed today. Very annoyed, extremely annoyed!

He had met the most troubling team of botters in the game. He and his beautiful companion were having a good time originally. With his superior skills and his beauty’s cooperation, they were gaining the upper hand in the game. They were ten to four against their opponent right at the beginning of the game, which was a huge lead.

The problem was, one of the players in his team playing a core position froze twenty minutes into the game…

One must understand that Dream Dota League was a game that relied heavily on team play. Even if an individual had the best equipment and skills, it would be impossible for him to take on five enemies at the same time. That was why Vincent Iverson had to helplessly watch the ten to four lead his team had become twelve to eleven. The gap then steadily increased after that, and in the end, unable to turn the tide, it became twenty to thirty-four…

By then they were powerless to regain their lead. After desperately hanging on for forty minutes, the game ended…

It would have been okay if he had lost just one game. Winning and losing was commonplace in a game, and the Angel of Misfortune was not really upset about it.

Unfortunately, he met a team which was tagged “Grand League”…

The players in the team were not exceptional. They were strong but still within regular human limits. However, there was a female member called “Grand League—Zixuan” who completely trashed Vincent Iverson.

Vincent Iverson was a relatively strong player, but it was obvious that proficiency in hacking did not equate exceptional skills in gaming. He just enjoyed the game and was just good enough to win sometimes. The problem was, “Grand League—Zixuan’s” skills were at least two levels above his. If Vincent Iverson’s combat power was a ten, “Grand League—Zixuan” was at least a fifty. She was definitely a world-class player.

They went up against each other, and after Vincent Iverson lost the first game by a huge margin, he held a grudge against “Grand League—Zixuan.” He would have accepted it if he had lost to a world-class player, but how could it be that he couldn’t even handle a little girl?!

They exchanged contact details before calling in reinforcements. The battle was fierce and savage. And so it was that two hours later…

Vincent Iverson got trashed four rounds in a row. He was so incensed that he wanted to smash the keyboard. At that moment, his expression was not unlike that of a cat with its tail caught in a door.

“I quit! Wait till I find better teammates!” As he spoke, Vincent Iverson took out his smartphone and started a Weibo post. “It’s been a frustrating day. I lost five games in a row. I can’t live on! The skies are grey, my life has lost its meaning! My nuts are crushed, all I feel now is the hurt in my nuts! Oh, Chuyin, can you understand my pain? Let the fellow who took you away from me feel the same pain in their nuts!”

…

As Hong Dali and his posse walked through New Lanxiang Vocational School, they felt a cold wind. Tang Muxin gave a little shudder and whispered quietly to the Bureau Chief who was next to her, “Why do I feel such deep resentment? Uncle Chief, is there someone out to cause Dali harm? I keep feeling that something is wrong with everything recently.”

“I feel it too,” said the Bureau Chief in a low voice. “Wait while I go find out what is happening this time!”