Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 682: Competition Venue

Three Ministry of Education officials were also flipping through the documents in their hands. This competition was of great importance, so for safety's sake, they had brought all the notices and supplementary instructions related to the new regulations to cope with the current situation.

After searching through the documents, the oldest among the three officials spoke again, "This... the rule for the venue states it must be a suitable place within the school grounds."

"Does the back hill sound like a suitable place?" Luo Xiangshi was dissatisfied. "Shouldn't the competition be held on the playground?"

"In fact, that is our new playground," Ma Lu said. "It was just built last week at great expense."

"I think there's no need to go to the new playground. Competing on the old playground is fine," Luo Xiangshi said. "It's closer, so Governor Zheng, Chairman Li, and today's guests won't have to run back and forth."

"That would be a good suggestion, but it's no longer possible."

"Why?"

"Because after the new playground was built, the school plans to turn the old playground into a library, and the work has already started," Ma Lu explained with a shrug.

Luo Xiangshi didn't believe it and even ran to the place where Heroic Concealment and Hou De had previously competed, only to see that the tracks there were dug up and piles of bricks and cement were everywhere, indeed no longer suitable for use as a competition venue.

Therefore, everyone had no choice but to walk to the new playground with Teacher Cao, but when Luo Xiangshi arrived, he immediately frowned again.

"This is a playground?! What kind of playground is in a river?"

"In fact, that is a small stream, which we slightly modified by splitting the river into two, perfectly encompassing the playground," Ma Lu explained. "This way, while exercising, students can listen to the babbling stream and breathe in the fresh air from the woods, keeping their spirits high."

Luo Xiangshi was amused by Ma Lu's words, "I didn't expect Principal Ma to be so considerate of the students."

"Of course, otherwise how could Hou De rise from last place to the top hundred in just over a month, and now even face the fourth-ranked Hero."

"This is all because we have always adhered to a student-centered educational philosophy, always placing students' happiness first, which is how we bring out their potential..."

Luo Xiangshi knew that arguing with Ma Lu was useless. Despite his young age, Ma Lu's ability to spout nonsense was no less than those who had been in the officialdom for decades, smoothly delivering superficial remarks one after another.

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So he turned directly to the three officials and pressured them, "This is already cheating, right?"

The three officials hurriedly flipped through the documents again, but Ma Lu said, "Stop flipping, I checked before the construction, as long as there are no hidden mechanisms, traps, or undisclosed conditions within the field, it's not considered cheating."

It was a hard-won home-field advantage, and it would be a pity not to use it. Considering that all of Dragon Palace Nine Talismans were Water Series Talismans, Li Zhengwei suggested placing the competition field near water.

This would reduce the consumption of casting spells and enhance the power of the talismans.

He originally just wanted to choose near the stream, but Ma Lu decided to go a step further and let the stream directly surround the competition field.

This way, no matter where you were, you weren't too far from the stream.

In fact, if it weren't because competing in the water was definitely not allowed, Ma Lu would have chosen the small stream as the competition field directly.

Subsequently, the three officials from the Ministry of Education carefully inspected the playground surrounded by the stream and did not find anything unusual. After a discussion, they finally agreed to make it the venue for this competition.

Although Luo Xiangshi was displeased, he had to accept this result. Meanwhile, he comforted himself, thinking that Ma Lu resorting to these tricks indicated his lack of confidence in the battle, contrary to the confidence he had shown before.

Moreover, many students from Hero sent this time were proficient in Water Series Talismans, and their strength would also be enhanced in such a venue.

After the venue was decided, Security Department Head Gao Zhimin took out the iron box left by Ye Wangshu, and after Ma Lu confirmed there was nothing wrong, handed it to the referee.

Also submitted were Ye Meisheng, who followed Luo Xiangshi, and a 200,000 banknote.

Then, both parties submitted their competitor lists as per the rules.

Just then, Teacher Cao suddenly spoke up, "Hold on, I have a question."

"Please go ahead, Teacher Cao," the officials from the Ministry of Education were very polite, as they couldn't afford to offend either side today.

Teacher Cao looked towards Hero's side and pointed to three individuals in the lineup, "I know that before the match starts, according to the rules, we cannot know the students and the order of appearance, so I only ask one question—is Chen Guanquan, Zhou Hanmin, Liao Guangyao listed in your match roster?"

The Ministry of Education officials glanced at the list in their hands and nodded, "Indeed."

"But these three are clearly students from Hero," Teacher Cao countered. "Isn't this blatant cheating?"

"We haven't cheated," Luo Xiangshi said calmly. "Currently, their school registrations are with Hero, you can check this with the Ministry of Education if you don't believe me."

"Luo is quite skilled; he completed the transfer within a week, but I remember students can't switch schools arbitrarily during the school year."

"Ordinary schools work that way, but our organization has six schools, and the movement of students between these six schools is unrestricted. Those three students were indeed originally from Hero.

"But last week they made a mistake and were demoted to Hero for breaking school rules."

Onlookers had their eyes opened today, seeing Principal Ma set up a new playground surrounded by water on all sides, followed by President Luo brazenly pulling students from Hero to fight as students from Hero.

It could be said that both sides were equally shameless, hard to separate.

Teacher Cao also realized that it was difficult to find fault with Luo Xiangshi's actions under the rules and could not make the referee cancel the qualifications of Chen Guanquan, Zhou Hanmin, and Liao Guangyao for the competition.

But he still had to make a stance, at least to regain some ground in public opinion. After the match, Luo Xiangshi couldn't keep harping on the venue issue and be dishonest.

After several twists and turns, the competition finally began.

"First individual match, second-year Hou De student Tian Fengchun against fourth-year Hero student Zhou Hanmin."

At the announcement of this match-up, the crowd stirred again. Zhou Hanmin was very famous, a superstar nurtured by Hero, who had been in the top ten in grades since his sophomore year, never dropping out.

To capitalize on his commercial value, Hero even launched an individual brand for him, and by today, his fans had spread all over the region, which was also why Teacher Cao recognized him.

In contrast, his opponent Tian Fengchun from Hou De was virtually unknown to most people in the crowd, and crucially, he was just a sophomore.