The Ultimate Borer

Chapter 198: The Hero Rankings Are Out, Dong Zhuo Reveals His True Motives

"Dear students, I am your great principal, Dong Zhuo. We have gathered you here today for one purpose: to benefit you all. Come on!"

Dong Zhuo clapped his hands, and Li Ru and Mei Niang struggled to lift a stone tablet onto the platform. When they let go, a cloud of dust erupted from the ground, clearly indicating its considerable weight. A bright red cloth covered the tablet, immediately catching the attention of many students.

"However, due to limited resources, I, the principal, cannot take care of every student, so I have established this Hero List. If you have real skills, you can come on stage to test your strength. The stronger your strength, the higher your ranking and the better the reward!"

Many students from the Eastern Han Academy gathered in the audience. Cao Cao and others stood in the front row. Looking at Dong Zhuo's impassioned speech on the stage, Zhang Fei couldn't help muttering in his heart.

"This Dong Zhuo is really boring. Besides us, are there any masters in the Eastern Han Academy who are stronger than us? What else do we need to test?"

"Third brother, don't underestimate Dong Zhuo. I believe he's doing this to pull some new trick!"

Compared with Zhang Fei's disdain, Guan Yu seemed much calmer, and his remarks made Cao Cao nod repeatedly.

"Yu is right. We must not be deceived by Dong Zhuo's words. We must not take it lightly!"

"That's right, Dong Zhuo has already broken off relations with us. Everyone, get ready. Ah Xiang, President, we'll act accordingly. If there's an emergency, we can go to war!"

Xiu said softly, and both Ah Xiang and Cao Cao nodded.

"However, considering the heavy workload, your great principal has already had the list prepared in advance. Li Ru, Mei Niang, unveil the list!"

"Yes, Principal!"

Li Ru and Mei Niang chuckled, then both grabbed a corner of the red cloth on the stone tablet with their hands.

"3, 2, 1!"

As the red cloth was removed by Li Ru and the other man, the contents engraved on the stone tablet appeared in front of everyone. Cao Cao scanned the contents on the stone tablet at a glance and couldn't help but admire Dong Zhuo in his heart.

"As expected of Dong Zhuo, he has only been in the Eastern Han Dynasty for a few short months, but he has already mastered the martial arts of most of the students in the Eastern Han Academy!"

Cao Cao looked at the ranking on the stone tablet. There were a total of one hundred people on the list. The ranking after the tenth place was almost the same as the information he had. Even if he saw it himself, he would not feel dissatisfied. It can be seen that Dong Zhuo put a lot of effort into the ranking.

"However, the ranking of the top ten..."

Cao Cao looked at the top ten names with an intriguing expression.

"I'll see, I'll see!"

Zhang Fei made a telescope with his hand and read the words on the stone tablet in front of his eyes.

"1st place Liu Bei, 2nd place Lu Bu, 3rd place Fang Mu, 4th place Guan Yu, 5th place Cao Cao, 6th place Zhao Yun, 8th place Zhang Fei, 9th place Ma Chao, 10th place Huang Zhong, th place Dian Wei!"

(Although Fang Mu and Lu Bu are not in school, their student status is still retained at the Donghan Academy, so they are eligible to participate in the ranking)

After reading the rankings, Zhang Fei excitedly grabbed Xiu's hand and shook it continuously.

"Brother, brother, did you see that? You're number one! You can pass three subjects without making up for them in the final exam. Your grades are so good. Can you ask the teacher for me if this award can be transferred to someone else?"

Compared to Zhang Fei's excitement, the others looked solemn.

"It seems Dong Zhuo thinks the same as I do. There is definitely more to Liu Bei than meets the eye. It seems he is also very wary of Liu Bei!"

Cao Cao touched his chin. To him, the strength displayed by Xiu was even more terrifying than Fang Mu. Although Feng Mu was good enough, Xiu was more mysterious. Whether it was his martial arts or his behavior, sometimes he would give him a very strange and weird feeling.

"President, I don't really want to be number four. If you want to be, I can give you the position!"

Seeing that Cao Cao didn't say anything, Guan Yu thought that Cao Cao was dissatisfied with his ranking on the list, so he spoke immediately.

"No need, Yu, I'm not unhappy, I'm just thinking about other things. Besides, your martial arts are better than mine, so it's only natural that you should be ranked above me!"

Cao Cao smiled, livening up the somewhat cold atmosphere between them.

"Okay, everyone, these are all the candidates on this list. Now it's time for our next step!"

Dong Zhuo looked at the people in the audience with an amused look on his face, then waved his hand. Li Ru and Mei Niang immediately came on stage and took out a blackboard from the siman.

"Because this ranking was created by me, your great principal, I'm usually busy with work and may not be particularly familiar with some students. Therefore, all students present here, if you have any objections to the rankings, please raise them immediately. As long as you receive more than half of the votes from the students present, the rankings can be changed!"

"Principal, I'd like to ask what happens if less than half of the votes are cast, and the opponent is indeed stronger than the one on the list?"

Cao Cao looked at Dong Zhuo on the stage, and Dong Zhuo seemed to have anticipated Cao Cao's question and immediately explained to everyone.

"I've also considered this, your great principal. If you truly disagree with the rankings, I've set up a special arena behind everyone. Wouldn't a fight reveal who's stronger?"

After hearing Dong Zhuo's words, everyone immediately looked behind them. Sure enough, at some point, more than 20 members of the guard team had already set up a ring behind them, quietly waiting for the challenger to arrive.

"Oh no! Is Dong Zhuo trying to get you to fight with your classmates?"

Ah Xiang seemed to have thought of something. Since rewards were set up, there would naturally be people who wanted the rewards, and the higher the ranking, the better the rewards. As the No. 1 Liu Bei (Xiu), who kept a low profile on weekdays, there would definitely be people who would be dissatisfied and would be challenged by others.

"Don't worry, sister-in-law. If you want to challenge my brother, you must first get past me, Zhang Fei!"

Zhang Fei patted his chest and spoke righteously.

"That's right, we will protect Big Brother!"

Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun and Guan Yu also spoke immediately.

"That's not what Xiang meant!"

Xiu sighed. Since Dong Zhuo had the courage to put this plan on the table, it meant that he had already considered this situation and his intentions were not here.

"I guess Dong Zhuo must have guessed that everyone would stand up for me, so this challenge isn't just for me, but for all of us! Whether we win or lose the next challenge, it won't benefit us!"

"Brother Liu is right. If we win the challenge, some of the defeated students will feel dissatisfied and become hostile to us. If we lose, not only will we become stepping stones for others, but we will also be looked down upon by the world!"

Cao Cao glanced at Dong Zhuo on the stage with resentment, only to see Dong Zhuo looking at him with a smug grin, as if he had anticipated this situation.

As everyone expected, many students immediately challenged Liu Bei, and some students also challenged Cao Cao. If they couldn't beat the Five Tiger Generals, how could they not beat these two people?

……

"Principal, you are wise. Congratulations! Now, no matter what the Five Tigers do, they will fall into your trap!"

Li Ru opened a bottle of champagne at halftime and congratulated Dong Zhuo.

"Your plan is ruthless enough this time. You are worthy of being my favorite son-in-law!"

"No matter how ruthless my son-in-law's scheme is, it's still not even one ten-thousandth as ruthless as my father-in-law's!"

The people on the stage kept grinning, while the Five Tiger Generals below the stage kept blocking the challenges from the students of the Eastern Han Academy for Cao Cao and Xiu. For a while, punches and kicks were flying on the ring.

……

"Oh my, how could you be so careless? Seeing you get hurt, as your great principal, I can't bear it!"

Dong Zhuo looked at the Five Tiger Generals who were panting in the audience. In the past three hours, they had fought off more than 400 challengers for Xiu and Cao Cao. Even if they had high martial arts skills, they would feel tired.

"But if that happens, many of our classmates, both on our hero list and on the call-up list, will be seriously injured and unable to fight!"

Mei Niang pretended to be surprised and Dong Zhuo immediately took over the conversation.

"It's indeed very troublesome, but fortunately, our Donghan Academy's hero list has been released, so the task of conquering Southern Xiongnu University and protecting Hedong University will be handed over to the top ten on this hero list!"