Chapter 1020: Where There Is a Policy, There Is a Countermeasure
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
There were actually so many people nowadays who could be so righteous and confident about their experiences in copying homework, and Dopey Guo and Super Chen were prime examples.
Whether it was copying homework or lending it to others to copy, it was all bad behavior. Wang Ling had never copied off someone else, because there was no need to do so. Naturally, he wouldn’t lend his homework out either if he wasn’t close enough to the other party.
The main reason he lent his homework to Dopey Guo and Super Chen was that he didn’t want to damage their friendship. Besides, these two guys actually could study, and their grades had never dropped; they copied homework just to save time and effort.
It was impossible for Wang Ling to lend his homework to someone poor in their studies, since that would only hurt the other party.
“Then it’s settled: we’ll meet at Sunbucks tomorrow!” Super Chen sent a message in the group, followed by the location of the coffee shop they had agreed on.
This was part of a coffee shop chain, located in the bustling city center. Compared with the tail end of the summer break, there weren’t as many students in these coffee shops or fast food restaurants during this period; it was in the last few days of the holiday that you would see McDenald’s and KDC filled with students doing their homework…
Wang Ling felt that this could be considered a major spectacle of the summer break.
Scores of middle and high school students taking off on their spirit swords for fast food restaurants, and using all kinds of magic artifacts to openly copy and paste someone else’s homework – it was truly hard to imagine such a magnificent scene.
September 17th, twenty days to the end of the summer vacation.
Wang Ling took Loopy Toad with him as he left for the coffee shop that Super Chen and Dopey Guo had chosen. Ever since Loopy Toad and Wei Zhi started hanging out together, Loopy Toad would run over to Wei Zhi’s place whenever it could. Sometimes, Super Chen and the others asked for photos of Loopy Toad, which Wang Ling would be unable to instantly send to them.
Back then, Teacher Pan had merged Loopy Toad’s primordial spirit with another body to turn it into a dog, and it was born outright in Grade One, Class Three. Thus, Loopy Toad was the original number one class pet. More than half the summer break had passed, but some concerned classmates like Dopey Guo, Super Chen and a few others still really missed this round and squishy green-furred dog.
Wang Ling was cutting it close when he left the house. He didn’t choose to teleport directly, since the coffee shop was in a busy area, and his sudden appearance might scare people.
This was a rare summer break, so Wang Ling thought he should take it easy.
So in the end, he decided to take the spirit bus with Loopy Toad to the coffee shop.
Loopy Toad’s appearance drew a lot of attention on the bus. In the battle of soul pets during the previous inter-school competition, Loopy Toad and Wei Zhi had seized the crown, and this had made the news.
Hence, plenty of people felt that Loopy Toad looked familiar, and wondered if this was the spirit dog that had won previously. However, Wang Ling gave off such a cold air that no one actually dared say anything…
And the most important point was that many of them remembered that the champion dog’s pet trainer was Wei Zhi; when did its master change to such a cold person?
A little girl pointed at Loopy Toad. “Mom! That dog is so green! Just like dad!”
A woman hurriedly covered the girl’s mouth and gave her a fierce look. “What nonsense are you spouting?!”
“When Uncle Wang from next door came over to tussle with mom, that’s what he said!”
“…”
Right after she said that, dead silence filled the bus.
The awkward atmosphere lasted up until the woman got off the bus.
Wang Ling gazed out the window at the girl’s back as she walked away; although her words might have been said in all innocence, she probably wouldn’t be able to avoid a beating today after she got home.
Being pointed at and talked about for its green fur conversely made Loopy Toad unhappy. How many chapters had it been already… What was so strange about a green-furred dog?!
While they were on the road, Wang Ling felt his phone vibrate. Super Chen had sent a message in the group chat: “Have you all left?”
“Already on my way,” replied Little Peanut.
“Mm.” Wang Ling gave a one-word reply as well.
Little Peanut: “By the way, why did you specially choose this coffee shop in the city center?”
“Don’t rush me, I was just about to tell you.” Super Chen said, “Good kids like you naturally wouldn’t know about this place. I heard from the previous batch of seniors at school that in the last few years, teachers from different schools would deliberately check the fast food restaurants and coffee shops around their schools every summer break to especially catch students copying homework. An army for busting copying has already been formed online. Do you know why homework and test papers nowadays use jade paper?
“If someone takes a picture on their phone of their homework on jade paper and sends it to someone else, the picture becomes especially blurry and you can’t make out anything at all. The camera function can’t identify the texture of jade paper. Plus, this anti-homework copying function was only released in recent years, to put an end to students using remote camera devices to copy homework.”
“…” Wang Ling and Little Peanut were silent after hearing this.
To be frank, if Super Chen this slick customer hadn’t brought this up, they would never have known about this sort of thing.
“So, if you want to copy homework, you can only do it offline. Why not do it at home? It’s quite simple: if your parents catch you, they’ll definitely tell your teacher. The parent chat groups set up by the teachers-in-charge are just like spy networks now. It’s horrible. Plus, it’s mutual supervision.”
Saying this, Super Chen couldn’t help complaining bitterly, “For example, my dad visited his friend the other day, and reported a No. 59 High student in passing. That brother’s teacher-in-charge rushed over that very night and wiped clean all the homework he had done.”
“…”
“In short, when you come over later, just use my member number, AC12391 1, and the front desk will bring you to the private room.”
“Pri… private room?” The corners of Little Peanut’s mouth twitched.
“That’s right. For the sake of copying homework, Super and I specially signed up for a member’s card, so that the teachers won’t see us.”
Dopey Guo chimed in, “Last year, when teachers from various schools started carrying out large-scale operations to catch students copying homework in fast food restaurants, coffee shops came up with plans for private rooms practically all at the same time. The private rooms are set up with a ‘copy without worry’ service, and can also get someone to copy on your behalf, but for an additional service charge.”
“…”
“Apart from the all-you-can-drink service when copying homework, there’s a person in place outside the door to pass on information. Most importantly, the table in each private room has a mechanism which will automatically hide all the homework on the table when activated, and replace them with board games. Even if teachers actually do raid the private rooms, they’ll never know.” Dopey Guo smiled craftily as he typed.
“…”
Wang Ling was amazed at how far they would go to copy homework…
…
But reality proved that Super Chen and Dopey Guo’s preparations weren’t without reason.
Because when Wang Ling got off the bus, he saw a familiar, elegant figure strolling unhurriedly down the food street which the coffee shop was on, like a leopard on a hunt.
Wang Ling was sure he wasn’t mistaken –
That person was Teacher Pan…
