Chapter 77: Chapter 74: The Unusual Person (Repaying Debt 1 Chapter)
The super counterstrike by Ke Da not only exceeded Xu Yun’s expectations but also astonished social media opinion.
After all, rumors had been flying around online, with endless speculation.
Some said Ke Da had dug up an emperor’s underground palace, others claimed it was a harbinger of disaster. Someone even photoshopped a student record to change a Japanese student’s surname to "Aburame," amusing a bunch of Naruto fans.
Of course.
There were also plenty of comments regarding Ke Da’s pest control actions.
In short, there’s truth mixed with falsehood, and vice versa.
But when it came to the main point, most people subconsciously leaned towards natural accidents, with few believing it was the result of human factors.
So, when Ke Da’s official Weibo announced the upcoming complete cockroach extermination on the East Campus, along with a full network livestream, various voices of doubt surged in.
One highly-upvoted comment was like this:
"Come on, isn’t it just an insect outbreak due to seasonal factors? In 2014, Zhejiang Agriculture also experienced a swarm of millions of termites. In essence, it’s just self-regulation of the regional ecosystem. Why drag in the new generation insecticides? It’s no different from those who pretend to be street-shot internet celebs and start endorsing products after a few days of fame."
The comment received 47,000 likes and over 1,200 related replies.
There were plenty of similar skeptical comments, even from verified bloggers.
Some skepticism was pure and derived from logical judgment, while others had certain personal biases.
For example, experts from other schools who had academic conflicts with a certain Ke Da professor or public figures who generalized the Ke Da incident to criticize the local education environment, turning the comment section into a faction gathering of sorts.
However, where there’s doubt, there’ll naturally be people trying to debunk the rumors, especially among the students of the East District of Ke Da.
Even if they weren’t present at last night’s incident, they’re still firsthand sources.
Among these students, the students of Applied Physics Class 2 were the main fighting force.
"Damn it!"
In the temporarily arranged dormitory, Chang Licheng slammed the desk in frustration:
"Block them if you can’t out-argue them. Is this level a Jiao Da master’s student?"
Fu Ming, next to him, leaned over to take a look:
"Come on, you know how Weibo is. There’s no need for degree verification, you can fill in Qingbei Jiaofu as you wish. You really think him writing Jiao Da is for real?
Degrees should be checked on Zhihu. Although there are lots of arguments, there’s at least a verification threshold. Unlike Weibo, where even middle schoolers can claim Peking University."
Chang Licheng sighed irritably and shook his head:
"It’s not about the authenticity of his degree, just that his criticism is too harsh. Look at this, accusing us of fame-mongering and money-grabbing. He talks as if he’s personally seen the board of directors meeting.
Keeps mentioning PhDs and Masters, yet can’t even tell the difference between academic and professional master’s programs. Isn’t he obviously a troll?"
Easily half a day ago, after being ’rescued’ from their dorm by the security team, the students of Building 14 had been urgently relocated to another empty dormitory building for settlement.
Different from other universities, Ke Da admits fewer than 2,000 undergraduates each year, so there are quite a few empty dorms on campus.
As direct witnesses of the cockroach incident, the minds of Chang Licheng and his peers hadn’t completely calmed down, although being guys, they were rather carefree.
Moreover, the school granted them a two-day leave. There’s even talk about getting credit or GPA compensation from the faculty, showing a very amiable attitude.
Thus, over time, the desire of these few hundred people to express this gradually overcame their inner fear, spontaneously turning them into a "Navy" online.
Chang Licheng’s thoughts were a bit more complicated. After all, the whole thing started with the antics he and Ye Guohong engaged in, so compared to other classmates, he was more active online.
"Dingdong——"
As Chang Licheng was about to regroup and take on another online debate, a message prompt sounded in his friend list.
Upon checking, he found it was a user with a "jojo" avatar, IDed as "gao处不胜含," with remarks as ’Wang Zhaomin.’
The message was very concise, just two words:
Hey Xiaochang, there?
"Wang Zhaomin..."
After a few seconds of recollection, Chang Licheng quickly remembered who it was—someone he met last year when he first entered university, an older student from another school, who has some part-time job resources around the campus, including tutoring, leaflets, mascot costumes, etc.
Back then, Chang Licheng and his roommates signed up for several of his jobs before finding out he was actually a broker, commonly known as a "snakehead."
A job with a 15-yuan hourly wage would see a 30% cut when handed over by him, leaving only ten yuan for the part-time students.
Newbies who didn’t know better were often easily roped in, and by the time they figured out and found jobs through other channels, a new batch of newbies would have arrived.
Such people undoubtedly have abilities, higher than quite a few, but their character varies.
At least after several interactions, Chang Licheng voluntarily cut off contact with him, saying nothing bad behind his back, yet keeping a respectful distance.
Even without contact, formal greetings remained, as shown in his quick reply:
"Yep, here, Brother Min. Long time no talk, still in Lu Prefecture these days?"
Soon, Wang Zhaomin replied:
"Moved to Yanjing to hang around, practically a drifter now."
Chang Licheng: "Yanjing, huh? That’s a nice place, but living costs seem pretty high, right?"
Wang Zhaomin quickly replied:
"Absolutely, finding an apartment through Ziroom costs over 5,000 a month. Anyway, never mind that. By the way, Xiaochang, I heard something happened in your department yesterday?"
"Yep, cockroach siege [facepalm]."
"I see. I saw on Ke Da’s official account that it was caused by insecticides. Is that true?"
Hearing the mention of insecticides, Chang Licheng instantly got interested, typing a few extra words:
"Of course it’s true! It was a new type of insecticide developed by one of our seniors, and yesterday I personally applied it."
After sending that message, the chatbox from Wang Zhaomin suddenly quieted down.
However, it was clear from the top of the chat box that Wang Zhaomin was still "typing a message," probably organizing his thoughts.
A while later, a new reply came from Wang Zhaomin:
"Xiaochang, to be honest, I’ve got a lot of cockroaches in my apartment lately, all those American cockroaches. My girlfriend is scared to death at night. Do you happen to have any leftover insecticide? Could you give me some?"
Surprised, Chang Licheng instinctively typed:
"I do have some, but... it’s not convenient. This insecticide hasn’t been made public. Maybe you could wait a bit longer, Brother Min?"
A few seconds later, another reply came and it made Chang Licheng raise an eyebrow:
"[Crying] Can’t wait... the cockroaches are overwhelming. Or how about this, you put some insecticide into a small vitamin C bottle for me, and I’ll transfer you 300 yuan, how about it?"
yuan is quite an enticing amount for a student.
Yet, Chang Licheng remained firm, rapidly typing:
"...Really can’t do it. Maybe I can ask the senior if he could sell some to you?"
Seeing how firm Chang Licheng was, Wang Zhaomin had to give it up:
"Forget it, I’m not familiar with your senior. I’ll look for other solutions. Maybe Wu Xiaoliang’s formula could work....."
Reading the reply from Wang Zhaomin, a weird feeling inexplicably rose in Chang Licheng’s heart.
He slowly scrolled up the chat log, focusing on two sentences at the end:
"Doesn’t seem right, would there be lots of cockroaches in Yanjing during this season? And also American cockroaches?"
....