Li Lei and Shen Ming also felt terrible, as they were assigned to guard the school gate for the whole year.
The rest of the third squad tensed up, thankful they hadn't offended Su Mu too much at the start, or they'd surely be punished as well.
Some people were filled with regret; they remembered how not long ago Su Mu was trying to borrow money, but no one lent him any. In the end, only Zhou Lei did.
"What a missed opportunity, if I could do it over again, I'd definitely lend Captain Su the money."
"Sigh, Su Mu is now Counselor Su, everyone will have to call him Teacher Su later on."
"Why didn't I lend him the money back then!"
These people were full of remorse because they knew that from now on, Su Mu was no longer from the same world as them.
At night.
Su Mu called Zhou Lei over to his new dorm, "Zhou Lei, why don't you move here too? I live alone, and we can have a floor each?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lei felt touched; he had actually overheard some gossip in the afternoon and now realized he was just overthinking it.
"Captain Su, I won't move here. It wouldn't be good if word got out. If I want to move into the staff dormitory, I hope it's by my own ability. Captain Su, you're my role model now."
"Good brother, I believe in you."
Su Mu laughed and didn't bring up moving dorms again.
"Captain Su, I plan to work hard on my cultivation, striving to become a Third Level Martial Artist as soon as possible. I don't have duty tomorrow, so let's drink to our hearts' content tonight. I may not drink much in the future."
"Tonight, we won't go home until we're drunk."
"Oh, by the way, Captain Su, let me show you something interesting."
Right then, Zhou Lei showed Su Mu the video he secretly recorded at the meeting today. Su Mu saw Sun Jianren being dismissed and everyone in the third squad penalized for a month's performance.
Su Mu was taken aback; he hadn't intended to retaliate or expected the school to act so quickly.
"Professor Wang's identity is definitely not simple!"
Su Mu mused, knowing very well he didn't have such influence. The school must have acted not because of him, but because of Professor Wang.
It was simply a stroke of luck in his favor.
"You weren't there, but Sun Jianren's expression was even more spectacular than in the video. Satisfying, isn't it?"
"Yes, satisfying."
"There's one more thing, Captain Su, those Spirit Stones in the card..."
"Good brother, I promised to repay you double. My father always said, a person must keep their word, and what's promised must be done," Su Mu interrupted with a smile.
"Captain Su, then I won't be polite with you."
"Why be polite? If there's anything I can help with in the future, just come to me. But let me say this, don't call me Teacher Su; I don't like it. Just call me Captain Su or Old Su."
"Alright, Teacher Su."
They both smiled knowingly; Su Mu naturally knew Zhou Lei was joking.
That night, Su Mu didn't dissipate the alcohol. He and Zhou Lei ended up drunk on the floor, lying around in disarray.
The next morning.
Dong dong, dong dong.
Su Mu sat up from the floor, shook his head hard, then used Qi and Blood to dissipate the alcohol's effects.
"Who is it, so early in the morning?"
Curious, Su Mu opened the door and found Sun Jianren.
"Captain Su, no, Teacher Su, I... I'm here to apologize, please forgive me," Sun Jianren bowed deeply.
Su Mu looked at him silently and only spoke ten seconds later.
"Alright, I accept. Let's stay out of each other's way from now on."
"Teacher Su, you've forgiven me."
Sun Jianren was a little surprised that Su Mu agreed so easily.
"If there's nothing else, please leave, Captain Sun."
"Wait, I heard you were in urgent need of money before. There's ten thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones in this card, Teacher Su. You can use it, no need to return it; consider it a token of apology, also a congratulation on your new position."
Su Mu thought briefly; there were monitors in the hallway, so he didn't stand on ceremony and accepted the card.
"Captain Sun, you're too kind."
"It's nothing, it's my duty."
After Sun Jianren left, Su Mu turned with mixed feelings; this world was indeed realistic—power and influence really worked, and even despicable people came to apologize and try to suck up.
Just as he returned to his room and was about to make some breakfast, the doorbell rang again.
"More visitors? Could it be the others from the third squad?"
He opened the door, and indeed it was.
Li Lei and Shen Ming stood there, bowing, "Teacher Su, we're here to apologize."
Su Mu watched quietly as the two emotionally performed their apology. They quickly took out a card each, worth fifteen hundred Spirit Stones.
Afterwards, people from the third squad and other squads came in succession, even the Security Captain visited personally.
Facing former colleagues from other squads, Su Mu was much more composed, exchanged pleasantries, and accepted their gifts.
"Teacher Su, you are our pride; we all look up to you in the future!"
Seeing the situation, Su Mu felt even more contemplative. For five years, he longed to become a Captain but was always overlooked; now, the Captain was trying to cozy up to him—indeed, fortunes turn.
Ultimately, power is everything!
After his former colleagues, even two or three young counselors came to visit.
After a bustling morning, Zhou Lei woke up groggily, yawning, "I think I just had a very lively dream?"
"You woke up just in time, let's eat."
Breakfast turned into lunch, and after lunch, Zhou Lei quickly left.
In the afternoon, Su Mu didn't idle. He went to the Forging Academy to get familiar with the environment. The Forging Academy's teaching building wasn't small like the other academies, but it was deserted.
The vast teaching building was empty, with just one class in session, where students were napping in the back row. Su Mu mingled in to listen for a while; the class was on forging theory.
Listening, Su Mu fell asleep and was only woken by the class bell.
"Hey, are you from the class? I feel like I haven't seen you before,"
"I'm from the Elixir Medicine Academy."
"Oh."
Su Mu casually replied; after a nap, his plans to visit Professor Wang fell through.
The rest of the break, Su Mu spent cultivating. Currently, his Qi and Blood were severely mismatched with his realm, and every cultivation session brought noticeable improvements in his Qi and Blood.
This steady increase in strength felt incredibly secure.
That night, the school delivered the counselor's ID and three Mentor Robes from Shenjiang Martial Arts University.
On the third day, Su Mu donned a Mentor Robe and arrived early at the Forging Academy. Inside the office, Professor Wang glanced at him and commented, "Hmm, it fits well."
"Next, I'd like to conduct a little test for you. Su Mu, first hold this gemstone, then close your eyes and relax your mind; I'll guide you through the test,"
Professor Wang handed over a diamond-like, crystal-clear wedge-shaped gemstone.
Su Mu did as instructed; inside, Professor Wang felt some anticipation, having reviewed Su Mu's records, which mentioned Second Level Peak.
He had gone to the association yesterday to verify this. Su Mu's latest Martial Artist Association test records were from a few days ago and three months ago.
Three months ago, Su Mu was just at Second Level Peak, but now he was already Third Level Middle Stage. Such stunning progress on an ordinary person made Professor Wang suspect.
Su Mu might have awakened some talent post-acquisition.
Among Martial Artists, there's a special group called Talented Martial Artists, who awaken special abilities at birth, commonly power amplification, physical repair, speed enhancement, with rare talents in Spiritual Power.
For a regular person, becoming a Martial Artist is already a one in a thousand chance, while a Talented Martial Artist is one in ten thousand, born from tens of thousands of Martial Artists.
In contrast, there's another group, slightly more numerous, those who awaken talent during cultivation.
This can create a strange phenomenon where a Martial Artist stuck at a bottleneck for years suddenly makes drastic progress due to awakening talent.
Wang Shuheng had reasons to suspect Su Mu was a post-acquisition Talented Martial Artist.
"Hopefully, the awakening is in Spiritual Power."