This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 197 Chen Shi'an's [buttocks]

The monthly exams just finished, and the school sports meet is tomorrow. Tonight's evening self-study session is practically like a holiday, except that I have to stay at school.

The class bell had already rung, and the classroom only quieted down symbolically for a moment before everyone returned to their seats and resumed their lively conversation.

As the class monitor, Lin Mengqiu was too lazy to care at the moment. After all, all she could see were the class officers leading the speeches. She herself didn't have any interest in studying and just wanted to relax.

But the girl was not talkative, so she took out an extracurricular book and quietly read it while lying on the table.

"What book is the class monitor reading?"

Chen Shi'an unscrewed the cup lid and blew on the tea to cool it down.

"The Devotion of Suspect X".

As Lin Mengqiu answered, she secretly observed Chen Shi'an's reaction while drinking tea, as if she was expecting something naughty to happen.

"...Hmm! Did the class monitor put in so much tea leaves? The tea is so strong."

"~~~"

Humph.

Seeing that the tea was too strong for him, the girl's lips curled into a mischievous smile, and she swung her legs, looking quite happy.

"I accidentally put in too much. You have to finish it. If you waste it, I won't bring you any next time."

"Okay, I also quite like strong tea."

"?"

"The Devotion of Suspect X? That title sounds strange. What's it about?"

"Mystery, suspense."

Seeing that Chen Shi'an was still tilting his head to look, Lin Mengqiu added: "It tells the story of a math genius who, in order to help a mother and daughter hide the crime of murdering their ex-husband, engages in a series of battles of wits with the police and creates the whole hoax."

"Now that you know who the murderer is, is it still interesting to watch?"

"The charm of this book lies in shifting the suspense from 'who did it' to 'how it was hidden'."

"Oh, I see."

Seeing that Chen Shi'an seemed very interested, he continued to tilt his head to look.

"...Do you want to watch it together?"

"Okay."

Lin Mengqiu thought for a moment, then moved the book in her hand slightly between the two of them, and read it with him.

She had already read some of it, but she still flipped back to the first page to show Chen Shi'an.

Chen Shi'an didn't say anything, but simply pulled his chair closer and read a book with her.

It's very satisfying to recommend something to someone and have them interested in it.

They sat close together, their eyes both fixed on the same book, and surprisingly, this academically gifted girl even felt a touch of ambiguity...

"Tell me when you're done reading, and I'll turn the page."

"finish watching."

Upon hearing this, Lin Mengqiu turned the page.

Then, not long after—

"finish watching."

"...?"

The girl paused in turning the page, her expression seemingly somewhat displeased.

"You need to look carefully!"

"...Huh? I looked at it carefully."

"You only glanced at it, didn't you?"

“If someone studies carefully, I can recite the beginning of the text for the class monitor.”

"Then you can carry it."

Then Chen Shi'an memorized it.

Hearing the exact words, Lin Mengqiu's eyes widened. She didn't want to say another word and obediently turned the page for him.

"finish watching."

"finish watching."

"finish watching."

……

Before long, Chen Shi'an caught up with her original reading progress.

"finish watching."

"...I haven't finished reading it yet!"

"Okay, then the class monitor can just turn the page after reading it."

"..."

The two read the book together, and Lin Mengqiu quickly became engrossed in the story, while Chen Shi'an also read with great interest.

The first two chapters of the story reveal who the culprit is, the details of the crime, and the method of the crime. The following content should be the contest between the police and the criminal, which is precisely the ingenious part of the author's overall structure, leading both the police and the readers into the 'cognitive trap' set by Ishigami.

However, what shocked Chen Shi'an the most was not the unconventional reasoning design, but the extreme and crazy emotional core.

"I never knew loving someone could go this far," Chen Shi'an exclaimed.

"..."

Lin Mengqiu, still immersed in the story, remained silent for a long time, only giving Chen Shi'an a sidelong glance.

That stinky Taoist priest is just like Fahai; what does he know about love?

Well, actually she didn't understand either. At an age when dating was considered against school rules, she was even ashamed to say that word out loud.

The first evening self-study session passed by together as we read. When the bell rang, Lin Mengqiu used a bookmark to close the book she hadn't finished reading, deciding to take a break and finish it in the next class.

Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan turned around.

"Chen Shi'an, squad leader, are you looking at the suspect?"

"Hmm, have you guys seen it?" Chen Shi'an took a sip of strong tea.

"Seen!"

"Chen Shi'an, would you like to play a deduction game with us?"

"what game?"

"Who is the undercover agent?!"

"Huh? How do you play this?"

"It's like several people all getting the same word, but the undercover agent gets a different word. Each person takes turns saying a sentence to describe their word. If you're the undercover agent, you can't let others know that your word is different from everyone else's. If you're a teammate, you have to work together to find the undercover agent!"

"Interesting, just the three of us playing?"

Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan looked at Lin Mengqiu. The class monitor was quiet and didn't show any interest on her face. They were thinking about how to ask her.

Chen Shi'an didn't mind and asked directly, "Class monitor, do you want to play together?"

"it is good."

Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan: "!!"

Just then, Qiu Yufu came over and saw the four of them playing a game of "Who's the Spy?", so she joined in as well.

"Okay! Let's play together as a group of five, taking turns being the judge! I'll go first—"

Zheng Yining then tore off four sticky notes, wrote four words on each, and folded them up.

Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu had already moved the books that were in front of them on both sides of their desks. Zheng Yining and Xie Mengxuan sat down on the other side, while Qiu Yufu stood by the aisle. Zheng Yining clasped her hands together, shook the four paper slips in her palms, and then placed them on the desk with a clatter.

"Alright, you four each choose one. If we still haven't caught the mole after two rounds of voting, then the mole wins!"

"What are the punishments for losing?" Chen Shi'an asked with a smile.

“Um… if you lose, you have to meow like a cat!” Zheng Yining said.

"can."

The other three spoke, and then all looked at Lin Mengqiu.

“…Okay,” Lin Mengqiu said.

The game then began.

Chen Shi'an casually picked one out of the four slips of paper, Lin Mengqiu picked the one next to him, and Xie Mengxuan and Qiu Yufu each chose one from the remaining two.

Chen Shi'an furtively opened the note, glanced at the words on it, chuckled, and then looked at the reactions of Lin Mengqiu, Qiu Yufu, and Xie Mengxuan.

They all seem quite good at putting on an act.

"Chen Shi'an, you're a boy, so you'll describe yourself first!"

"Cough cough."

Chen Shi'an thought for a moment, looked at the words in his hand, and gave a rather general description.

"It is part of the human body."

Wow! How cunning!

"It's your turn. Who's next?"

To Chen Shi'an's left was Lin Mengqiu, and to his right was Qiu Yufu. The person who revealed the most information first was undoubtedly at a disadvantage. The vice-class monitor took the lead and spoke first:
"I'll come, I'll come."

"Then come, Yu Fu!"

"It's so painful that I can't sit still!"

"Hmm~"

Several people glanced at Qiu Yufu with teasing eyes and couldn't help but chuckle. It was unclear whether they did it on purpose, but it made Qiu Yufu feel guilty.

"I use it every day!" Xie Mengxuan added from the side.

Finally, it was Lin Mengqiu's turn. Judging from the amount of information revealed by the previous three, it was practically nonexistent. She couldn't figure out which of the three was the undercover agent, and it was even possible that she herself was the undercover agent...

After thinking for a long time, the cunning class monitor also gave a cunning description:
"It...is available for both boys and girls."

Wow! The class monitor is even more cunning!

"What exactly are your words? Who's the undercover agent? Can't you be honest?" Xie Mengxuan shouted.

“The one shouting the loudest is probably the undercover agent,” Chen Shi’an nodded.

The group suddenly realized what was happening and all looked at Xie Mengxuan.

Xie Mengxuan's scalp tingled: "It wasn't me! It really wasn't me!"

"First round of voting begins—!"

Judge Zheng Yining called out.

She wrote both the undercover agent's and the civilian's statements, so she naturally knew what the two statements meant. However, after scrambling them, she didn't know who had taken the undercover agent's statement, and the four people's cunning descriptions didn't give anything away.

As soon as Zheng Yining finished speaking, Chen Shi'an, Lin Mengqiu, and Qiu Yufu all pointed their fingers at Xie Mengxuan.

"What the hell! You're framing innocent people like this?!"

Xie Mengxuan was anxious, her fingers waving left and right before pointing at Chen Shi'an.

"Believe me! It's definitely Chen Shi'an!"

"What did Chen Shi'an say again?"

He said it's part of the human body!

"Mengxuan, what about you?"

"I use it every day!"

"Um, I still feel that you're the bad guy, Mengxuan. Chen Shi'an seems pretty honest. Let's vote you out first. You're the one who's making the most noise."

"Hello--!"

The group laughed and joked, and without thinking twice, they made sure to get Xie Mengxuan out of there.

"You will regret it!"

After Xie Mengxuan finished speaking, she showed the words in her hand to Judge Zheng Yining.

"Uh... we accidentally killed civilians, but the mole is still alive, the game continues!"

"Look!"

There was no time to mourn Xie Mengxuan. Upon hearing that the undercover agent was still alive, the remaining three people on the field immediately became alert.

"Now, following Mengxuan, let the class monitor begin the description."

Lin Mengqiu tensed up. She opened the note again, glanced at the word "teeth," and then thought carefully about Chen Shi'an and Qiu Yufu's descriptions.

It is part of the human body.
[It makes me restless when it hurts]
Qiu Yufu's description clearly matches the [teeth] in her hand better, but Chen Shi'an, as the first to speak, could be considered to have given a general description...

In the second round of speeches, everyone's descriptions were much more precise.

Lin Mengqiu said first, "It needs to be cleaned every day."

Then Chen Shi'an said, "It's very white."

Finally, Qiu Yufu scratched her head, thought for a long time, and said, "It's very hard!"

Done!

The descriptions from all three people match!

What exactly is the undercover agent's name? Who among the three is the undercover agent?

Not only were the three players on the field confused, but even Xie Mengxuan, who had just been voted out, was confused.

"Then, let the voting begin!"

Chen Shi'an made the first move, pointing his finger directly at Qiu Yufu.

Seeing Chen Shi'an point at her, Qiu Yufu panicked and pointed back.

"Class monitor, hurry and throw it at Yu Fu! She hesitated just now!"

Makes sense!
Lin Mengqiu, who hadn't voted yet, saw Chen Shi'an point at Qiu Yufu, so she also pointed at Qiu Yufu.

"Two votes to one! Yu Fu, you're out!"

"Ahhh...it's not me! It's my teeth!"

Lin Mengqiu: "??"

When Lin Mengqiu heard Yu Fu crying about her teeth, she was stunned. But Chen Shi'an was right when he said "[it's very white]".

When I looked at Chen Shi'an again, the stinky Taoist priest was laughing heartily.

The girls immediately understood what was going on and quickly picked up Chen Shi'an's note, opened it, and glanced at it—

"Chen Shi'an's [buttocks]!"

"Damn! Chen Shi'an, you're so cunning! Did you guess our words?!"

"Where did I go wrong? I described everything truthfully, okay? Isn't your ass white?"

"Stinking rogue!"

"Haha, a bet's a bet."

Several girls blushed and meowed, making the Taoist priest laugh heartily.

(End of this chapter)