Chapter 110: The Five Stripes of Justice

This ACCA Class 2 is really uncooperative. By the end of morning reading, only eight people showed up, and all of them just came to submit documents. When I asked about the absentee list, each one played dumb, clearly treating me like a pushover.

“Junior brother, calm down. If you can’t get the list now, you can always follow up later. First, you need to correct your attitude. Don’t rush things.”

“How am I rushing? I’m just frustrated checking attendance. They don’t come to morning reading and act like they’re entitled—arrogant to the extreme.”

...

Chen Fan spent five minutes skimming through the chat history. Although there wasn’t a single swear word, the entire conversation was filled with biting hostility.

After locking his phone, Chen Fan sighed, “Auditing students really do have fiery tempers. I’ll have to be careful dealing with them from now on.”

The one venting all the negativity in the group was Wang You. Chen Fan had only briefly met him at the freshmen orientation, and even with two senior sisters trying to console him, it was no use. This guy was determined not to rest until the problem was resolved.

“Oh no, I got so absorbed I’m almost late.” Chen Fan glanced at the time, panicked, flipped forward with a slide, grabbed his backpack, and dashed out.

Because he arrived late, Chen Fan had to sit in the front row, right where the teacher’s gaze focused. Sitting below the stage, he pretended to be a model student.

Finally, class ended. Chen Fan pulled out his phone, only to find over 99 unread messages.

“Huh? What are these guys up to now?” Chen Fan felt a bit annoyed but mostly curious, using his data to load all the messages.

The next moment, he regretted it.

“What the... all pictures, and huge ones at that... They’re having an emoji battle.”

“Beep~ Beep~ Beep.”

A new message popped up, from 10086.

“Dear customer, your remaining data package for this month is less than 50MB...”

Before Chen Fan could recover from this shock, his phone started buzzing incessantly.

“Beep~ Beep~ Beep.”

“Savages, all savages...” Chen Fan stared at the freshly arrived 28 unread messages and trembled as he tapped to load them.

“Is there anyone checking ACCA? Anyone facing difficulties?”

“@Chen Fan, is the attendance work going smoothly?”

Chen Fan wiped his sweat. At least there were no big pictures this time. He replied, “It’s going well. I’ve got the absentee lists.”

“You’re awesome.jpg”

“I really want to give you a big smooch.gif”

Chen Fan: “...”

“Starting out is always tough. We went through the same thing. No secret, just practice.”

“The upper grades in ACCA are all veterans. Handling them isn’t easy. You guys should share experiences.”

“Beep~ Beep~ Beep.”

Chen Fan now dreaded hearing WeChat’s notification sound, always expecting a flood of emoji battles.

“Justice Five Stripes requests to add you as a friend.”

“Who’s this?”

Chen Fan hesitated, then saw the note indicating it was Wang You from the same department. He accepted.

“Hello [smile].”

“Oh dear, Wang You’s blank stare makes me uneasy.” Chen Fan replied, “Hello, what’s up? [Breaking my usual style with a smile].”

“Is the ACCA Class 1 you checked full attendance? How did you get the absentee list?”

“Oh, so you want to learn from a success story. You scared me.”

Seeing Wang You’s heavy hostility in the chat, Chen Fan spoke cautiously. Now he finally relaxed.

He detailed the steps he took, earning Wang You’s praise.

“Yeah, you’re resourceful. Thanks. I’ll try your method. Justice may be late, but it never misses.”

With the problem solved, Chen Fan didn’t want to say more and casually ended the chat.

Wang You reminded Chen Fan of his younger self. Maybe the guy recently watched some cop dramas, brimming with justice, or just new to society and clueless about the rules, full of youthful arrogance.

The Elder teased, “You call that your younger self? Old man, I’ve had more soy sauce than you’ve drunk water.”

“That just proves you have a strange taste—liking soy sauce with rice,” Chen Fan retorted.

“Don’t you feel anything?”

Chen Fan frowned, “Feel what?”

The Elder’s card floated in front of Chen Fan. Covering his fluttering chest, he glared, “Of course, a pounding heart.”

Chen Fan rolled his eyes, instinctively stepping back two paces, clutching his shirt tightly, warily saying, “I didn’t expect you to be this kind of system, into that… You don’t secretly do… every night while I’m asleep…”

“Get outta here! What I mean is magical resonance, magic resonance! Do you know what that is? Not that weirdly flamboyant stuff you’re thinking of,” the Elder interrupted.

“Hmm? Magical resonance? With whom?”

Chen Fan clutched his chest, checked his resting heartbeat, then slowly spun around 360 degrees on the spot. Aside from a slightly stronger reaction when passing a pretty girl, there was no pounding heart as the Elder described.

“That cool young lady has magic attached?” Chen Fan honestly reported his test results.

The Elder frowned. “Could it be the Crescent Moon incident is already taking effect? I sense a card nearby. If I’m not mistaken, it’s a Knight card.”

“A Knight? That would mean…” Chen Fan suddenly understood. He opened his contacts and pointed to Wang You’s name. “Is it him? If I’m right, the card and host choose each other mutually. The card attaches to a suitable host based on its nature, and the host is strengthened in the related aspect.”

“Wow, Chen Fan, I want to praise you, but your sober moments don’t last more than three minutes, so never mind,” the Elder smiled, relaxing and agreeing with Chen Fan’s idea.

“Actually, it’s not certain. From this morning’s magic surge, it could be anyone in your department. The card’s influence varies per person. What if it’s not a Knight card, and Wang You is just a brat with delusions of grandeur? Then we’d be chasing the wrong target.”

Hearing the Elder’s concerns, Chen Fan analyzed further. “Hmm, you’re surprisingly reliable this time. Maybe hanging out with me has had some positive effect on you. How about this: to confirm if Wang You is possessed by the Knight card, we conduct some surveillance. That should give us an answer.”

“It’s you, not us. The truth will come out naturally. Then you’ll feel that pounding heart sensation,” the Elder chuckled.