“Tsk, then you still say it!”

The topic of substitute exam takers passed quickly, but the female students kept talking about the dark web afterwards. From their words, it could be inferred that they were studying at Xiarong University of Technology, ranked only second to Xiarong University, and some of its majors were among the top in the country.

News about the dark web came from the graduate school. Even the female student who first mentioned the dark web had never actually contacted it, but the seniors in the graduate school seemed to have already obtained desired data and secrets from the dark web. The dark web was mysterious in their eyes. If not for the lack of access and money, they would also want to go up and broaden their horizons.

Ling Lie stood up, but Ji Chenjiao grabbed his wrist and shook his head. Ling Lie frowned and sat down again.

Before long, the female students rested enough, left the bookstore, and continued shopping.

Ling Lie said, “If the dark web is already rampant on university campuses, then it’s troublesome.”

Ji Chenjiao said, “Could it be ‘Floating Light’?”

“I also thought of ‘Floating Light’.” Ling Lie drew circles on the book with his index finger, “What does Bai Lingxue mean? Is he just targeting universities? Or is the university a small part of what he targets?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “I’ll talk to Captain Xie about the situation tomorrow.”

Ling Lie laughed, “Xiao Ji, you still owe me something.”

“Hmm?”

“Wedding dress.”

“…Now?”

Ling Lie shrugged, “Looks like you haven’t prepared. Forget it, buy me a pair of glasses first.”

The two left the bookstore with the paid fairy tale books. Ji Chenjiao asked, “What do you want glasses for?”

Ling Lie: “Pretend to be cultured. I almost lost the argument with the primary school student just now, tsk—”

Ji Chenjiao: “…”

Just like buying swimwear in Feng City last time, this time Ling Lie bought plain glasses and harvested a pile of flattery.

He pushed his glasses pretentiously, and couldn’t help pulling down the mirror above the passenger seat to look at himself after returning to the car.

Ji Chenjiao sneered, “Xia Xiaodou, I found you really like to hear flattery.”

Xia Xiaodou: “Why do you think I went to the store to buy swimwear and glasses? Why didn’t I buy online? Because I’m stupid and rich?”

“…” No, I’m the one who is stupid and rich.

Xia Xiaodou: “Of course it’s because I want to hear flattery!”

After returning home, Ling Lie nestled on the beanbag chair holding Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Whenever Ji Chenjiao passed by him, he would pretentiously push his glasses.

Ji Chenjiao mocked: “Seen people getting nearsighted from playing games, never seen people getting nearsighted from reading fairy tales.”

Ling Lie slid his glasses to the tip of his nose like an old lady, looking up at people, “That’s because you haven’t seen hardworking people.”

Ji Chenjiao: “No, it’s because some people haven’t found the right way to pretend.”

The next day, Ji Chenjiao told Xie Qing what he heard in the bookstore. Xie Qing was silent for a while, “This problem is very serious.”

Ji Chenjiao nodded, “Ling Lie and I just heard about it. It’s definitely not feasible to investigate with great fanfare now. I want to understand the situation secretly first.”

Xie Qing said, “You already planned in your heart, just came to tell me that Ling Lie is the candidate for this secret investigation?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “No one is more suitable than Ling Lie.”

Xie Qing smiled and nodded, “Plus Shen Qi. Since it’s related to the dark web, Xiao Shen will be useful.”

“Yes!”

The campus in winter was cold. Ling Lie wore the white down jacket picked by Ji Chenjiao. Compared with the college students tortured by final exams, he looked more like a college student.

The graduate school of Xiarong University of Technology was in the old campus. The corridors and walls where newsletters were posted in the past were not demolished. Now they were posted with various small advertisements for training, going abroad, and tutoring, hard to distinguish true from false.

Graduate students seemed busier than undergraduates. The entire graduate school was very quiet and didn’t seem very populated. Ling Lie stayed outside the lecture hall for a while. Someone was studying inside. Basically, no one took classes in the graduate school. Professional classes and experiments were conducted in their respective colleges.

Shen Qi carried a computer bag, breathing out white gas when speaking, “Brother, my Brother Team asked me to assist you.”

Ling Lie nodded, “Just right. Can you get into the library?”

Shen Qi: “Piece of cake.”

Ling Lie: “After you get in, use the campus internal network to find information on all students in the graduate school. Focus on those whose grades have improved significantly recently, and students who have made obvious breakthroughs in experiments and scientific research… No, teachers should also be noted.”

Shen Qi: “No problem. What about you?”

Ling Lie: “I’ll just wander around.”

During this time period, students were most concerned about final exams. Libraries and study rooms gathered many students, taking the right path. There were also those who wanted to take the wrong path, looking for substitute exam takers and the like.

Ling Lie wandered for a while and found that some vigilant students appeared from time to time outside the study rooms, on the platforms of each floor, and in the fire escapes. They seemed to be communicating something and transferred money with their phones.

Ling Lie pretended to pass by and heard one person say “guaranteed pass”. Before long, a person came out of the fire escape and went downstairs with his head down. Ling Lie followed. That student seemed to sense someone following behind, looked back several times, then went around the teaching building to a path with few people. He said: “Why are you following me?”

Ling Lie smiled, “Classmate, don’t be nervous, asking about something.”

The boy looked very ordinary, but wore brand names. His aura was very weak. He was the type who was rich but cowardly and easy to be bullied.

“W-what is it?”

“You just looked for a substitute exam taker, right?”

The boy turned pale with fright.

Ling Lie said: “I also want to find one. If I don’t find one, I’ll have to drop out next semester. Is it convenient to share?”

The boy was suspicious and looked at Ling Lie for a long time, “Which college are you from?”

“Physics.”

“I’m Chemical Engineering. We are not, not in the same college. Go ask someone else.” After speaking, the boy wanted to leave.

Ling Lie caught up and blocked in front of him, “Don’t go, classmate. Not being in the same college is better. No competitive relationship, won’t report each other, right?”

The boy said in panic: “You want to report me?”

“How could I? I just want a contact information. I don’t want to fail either.”

The boy had to give the contact information of that person just now to Ling Lie, saying it was a senior who had graduated and had many resources on hand, guaranteeing a pass.

Ling Lie looked. It was just ordinary cheating and seemed to have nothing to do with the dark web. He hooked the boy’s shoulder and lowered his voice, “What if this kind gets caught?”

The boy said: “G-generally won’t.”

“I heard there is another way, just more expensive. Looking at your coat and shoes, you should be able to afford it, right?”

The boy suddenly trembled, “You mean the dark web?”

Ling Lie thought there was a chance and followed, “Have you tried?”

The boy shook his head hurriedly, “I’ve heard of it. I, I also inquired about it, but I don’t have an entrance.”

“Who did you inquire from? What entrance?”

The boy said he heard it from a senior in the fourth year. Important data could be modified and stolen. Someone in the school had already done this. Theoretically, cheating is a piece of cake. But although everyone privately rumored how powerful the dark web was, no one admitted using the dark web.

“After all, after all, this kind of thing definitely can’t be admitted.”

Ling Lie let the boy leave and found the person who promised a guaranteed pass. The other party was indeed just a substitute exam intermediary and had nothing to do with the dark web. But the boy revealed a very important issue—everyone was discussing the dark web.

No wonder he heard those three female students talking about the dark web in the bookstore that day. It turned out this had become a new “fashion” on campus.

Perhaps the so-called dark web has not yet truly launched actions on campus, or only extremely rare people have the opportunity to contact it, but its influence has spread like a virus?

When everyone is talking about it, it already exists in fact.

Influence…

Yes, isn’t influence what “Floating Light” pursues? “Pink Mask” used it, which was the most terrifying spread of its influence within the territory, even surpassing “Snow Child”. If the dark web this time is also “Floating Light”, it means “Floating Light’s claws have reached into the future—students, elites, the backbone of the future.

What purpose does “Floating Light” want to achieve by controlling them?

Shen Qi locked onto a second-year graduate student in the College of Polymer Science, Qin Lijie. This student’s grades had always been not ideal, but this year he published academic papers continuously and was selected into the core scientific research team of a well-known professor.

Most critically, he had searched for keywords like “Floating Light” and dark web on ordinary search engines.

“Senior Qin, a teacher from the college is looking for you.”

Qin Lijie looked up in surprise, “College? Which teacher?”

The student who came to call him shrugged, “Director Liu from the Student Affairs Office.”

Hearing the Student Affairs Office, Qin Lijie suddenly frowned, and the hand holding the experiment record book paused.

The laboratory building was very quiet, especially before the final exam. Qin Lijie was the only one in the corridor. He stopped several times, wanting to go back, but had to go forward.

What did Director Liu want with him? That old-fashioned and strict old man, nothing good ever happened when he looked for students. But he hadn’t done anything to be criticized recently, except for that matter…

Qin Lijie’s face turned pale, and he shook his head fiercely. Impossible, it won’t happen! That matter was carried out so secretly, how could an old thing like Director Liu discover it?

Could it be because he was too outstanding recently, so he was targeted by jealous people? Reported to the Student Affairs Office?

Qin Lijie restlessly recalled the people he had contacted and the main things he had done recently. There was no problem in dealing with people and things, and he didn’t tell anyone about that matter.

Then what exactly is it?

Qin Lijie finally came to the Student Affairs Office and saw a doctoral student counselor. Just as he was about to say hello, the other party frowned at him. He felt even more uncertain. The counselor came over and said: “Director Liu is inside, in a bad mood. Whatever he asks you, don’t lie.”

Qin Lijie sensed the matter was serious and had to bite the bullet and go in. A “Director Liu” was stuck in his throat, and his eyes fell on two strangers.

Director Liu said: “Here he is. You ask.”

Ling Lie stood up, looking at Qin Lijie with somewhat sharp eyes.

Qin Lijie said in panic: “Director Liu, w-what happened?”

Before Director Liu could speak, Ling Lie had stepped forward, showing his ID with his right hand, “Student Qin, good afternoon. I have a few questions for you.”

Seeing the ID clearly, Qin Lijie’s brain buzzed, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead instantly. Words popped out without thinking, “I, I know nothing!”

Ling Lie raised his eyebrows, “Oh? I haven’t said what it is, and you already know nothing?”

Qin Lijie’s back was wet with sweat, his hands rubbing together involuntarily, looking at Director Liu pleadingly, “I didn’t do anything illegal!”

“Don’t be nervous, sit.” Ling Lie led him to the sofa, “Didn’t say you broke the law, but when we were investigating a case, we accidentally discovered that you might have a key clue.”

Qin Lijie: “Case? What clue can I have?”

Ling Lie said unhurriedly: “I don’t have much culture and have always admired you graduate students, especially someone like you whose initial grades were average but didn’t give up catching up and suddenly made a counterattack. Can you tell me how you caught up with classmates and rushed into Professor Wu’s team?”

Qin Lijie’s eyes dodged, “How to say this… I didn’t do anything, just hard work, yes, hard work. I didn’t work part-time, didn’t do other things, put all my mind on learning…”

Ling Lie nodded, “Do you have a shortcut? Can you share it with me?”

Qin Lijie: “Where is there any shortcut? Just hard work.”

Ling Lie stopped for a few seconds, “Do you know a dark web called ‘Floating Light’?”

Qin Lijie stood up as if struck by a thunderbolt. The heating was on in the room, and his neck was all wet with sweat, “I, I…”

Ling Lie also stood up and smiled: “It seems you know ‘Floating Light’. I came today for ‘Floating Light’. So I didn’t do useless work and found the right person.”

Qin Lijie shook his head in fear, “What are you talking about? What ‘Floating Light’? I don’t know ‘Floating Light’? I haven’t used it!”

Director Liu couldn’t stand it anymore and held Qin Lijie down, “If you don’t know, just tell the police properly! Don’t embarrass our college!”

Ling Lie turned to Director Liu and said: “I heard Student Qin’s recent papers and research are quite excellent, but I am a layman and can’t understand. I want to ask the college for a favor, organize authoritative teachers, and ask Student Qin to personally explain how the data was obtained and what theory was used.”

Director Liu nodded, “We would have organized a defense anyway.”

Qin Lijie shook his head desperately, “No, why defend now? I haven’t prepared yet!”

Director Liu said: “You did the experiment yourself, you gave the data yourself, how long do you need to prepare?”

Qin Lijie fell to the ground, covered his face in panic and burst into tears.

Before long, several professors from the college arrived. Ling Lie checked the list and found that three professors who should have appeared were absent with excuses, one of whom was Qin Lijie’s mentor Wu Qing.

Facing the teachers’ questions that were not tricky, Qin Lijie stammered at first, then completely gave up on himself, unable to answer a single word. Director Liu looked at the professors worriedly. One of the professors shook his head and left his seat.

Ling Lie caught up. The professor said painfully: “Doing scholarship to this extent is simply a shame!”

Ling Lie said: “You mean, Qin Lijie cheated and falsified?”

The professor said: “If the data was his own and he followed the experiment personally, it’s impossible not to answer the most basic questions. I don’t need to listen to the rest. He definitely has problems, and others in their team might also have problems!”

Qin Lijie shrunk in the corner of the classroom. The others had left. Ling Lie waited for him for a while, “Where did you get those data?”

Qin Lijie cringed.

Ling Lie said: “I remind you, answering now counts as cooperating with the police investigation and providing clues. Continuing to consume time, the nature will change. You got into graduate school, so your IQ should be fine, right? Simple reasoning, I don’t need to explain, you should be able to figure it out yourself.”

A few minutes later, Qin Lijie stood up shakily, “I, I was obsessed. But I really had no way. After getting into graduate school, I thought everything would be smooth. But actually that was the beginning of suffering. No matter how I learned, I couldn’t catch up with my classmates. They seemed born for this major. I couldn’t do experiments, and the values never matched! Going on like this, let alone standing out, I couldn’t even get a graduation certificate!”

Ling Lie said: “How did you find ‘Floating Light’?”

Qin Lijie said: “It wasn’t me who found it, it was it that found me.”