The clandestine battle ended in Liu Guoyang's complete defeat after Wang Zhuo employed two paper wads and a bit of subtle manipulation.

Wang Zhuo's people's war achieved a decisive victory; he successfully painted the "sea turtle" as the antagonist to all examinees, stirring up a unified spirit of righteous indignation, and since no one could prove he was cheating, it solidified the charge of Liu Guoyang maliciously stirring up trouble.

Yet, Liu Guoyang was no pushover. Thanks to his efforts, an additional signal jamming vehicle appeared outside the examination hall that afternoon. However, such things were mere trifles to Wang Zhuo—completely ineffective and not worth mentioning.

In the subsequent exams, Wang Zhuo's cheating became even more polished. His targets even extended to the two examination rooms downstairs. He selected over a dozen high-scoring candidates from the three rooms, choosing his answers from among their responses. This method of pooling wisdom could sometimes lead him to select the wrong majority answer on particularly difficult problems, but more often than not, the majority answer was correct, which, combined with Wang Zhuo’s own judgment and analysis, formed his final submission.

The two days of testing quickly concluded, leaving the examinees immensely relieved, feeling a sense of emancipation.

During these two days, Fatty Long treated Wang Zhuo to a McDonald's meal, and Wang Zhuo reciprocated with a bowl of Muslim noodles. The fatso, while eating, kept ogling the Uyghur waitress with sly glances, deciding right then and there to stop eating at McDonald's and switch to Xinjiang noodles.

"Don't you love Western fast food the most?" Wang Zhuo asked.

"Western fast food tastes great, sure, but there are no foreign babes inside!" Fatty Long explained with utmost seriousness. "Look at the girl serving the noodles; she's even prettier than those foreign girls. The charm of the minority groups is truly something!"

Wang Zhuo nodded in agreement. In fact, he too found the Uyghur girl's shapely backside quite alluring, and the way her "rabbit breasts" jiggled under her thin bra as she walked suggested she might indeed be what Fatty Long called haijiao (spicy)!

"Speaking of which, that older sister who drove you to the exam center the other day was really beautiful. What's your relationship with her?" Fatty Long asked lecherously.

"A friend, a pretty good one," Wang Zhuo replied truthfully.

Fatty Long grinned wickedly, "It's such a waste not to have some kind of flirtatious entanglement with such a gorgeous sister!"

"Filthy," Wang Zhuo retorted, pointing a finger at him dismissively.

"What do you know," Fatty Long lectured him patiently. "Look at people like Nicholas Tse and Alec Peng—those are the guys who know how to live. Age-gap romances, something like that, are the best."

Wang Zhuo couldn't be bothered with him. Although Guan Yingying's aura was quite attractive, he already had Gan Lin as his undeclared girlfriend. He certainly didn't want to emulate Wang Zhengdao by straddling two boats; that could lead to capsizing!

"By the way, what's your online ID? Let's add each other to chat later!" Fatty Long pulled out his phone, ready to take notes.

Wang Zhuo shook his head. "Online ID? What's that?"

Fatty Long rolled his eyes. "So dense. Your QQ number, man!"

Wang Zhuo laughed self-deprecatingly. "Don't have one yet."

"Holy cow, what mountain village did you crawl out of, not even having that!" Fatty Long feigned exaggerated shock. "Come on, let's find an internet café for a bit, I'll get you one."

The two found the nearest internet café. Fatty Long hammered away at the keyboard, logged into a QQ account, and handed it over to Wang Zhuo, saying, "This is one I used before. I got a premium number later, so I don't use this one anymore. It has over level twenty in Farmville, and almost all the land plots are unlocked."

"Are these friends yours?" Wang Zhuo pointed to the row of avatars.

Fatty Long nodded. "Most I don't know. Added them just to steal crops. Feel free to manage them as you wish."

Returning the computer to Wang Zhuo, Fatty Long sat back down at his own station, opened his premium account, and started chatting.

Wang Zhuo occasionally frequented internet cafés himself, but only to listen to music or watch movies. He didn't have much spare cash for places like this. He knew basic computer operations, but using QQ was a first for him.

A video call request window suddenly popped up on the screen, then immediately closed. Fatty Long pointed from beside him and said, "That's my account."

Did God lie to me? What a weird name. Wang Zhuo looked again at the name of the QQ account he was assigned—it was called Shen Fu (Priest/Father)?

"How about it, nice name, right?" Fatty Long turned back, beaming with self-satisfaction.

Wang Zhuo merely grunted, opened Google Search, typed in Feicui (Jadeite), and hit Enter.

The top search results were three advertisements, followed by the first link: the Baidu Baike entry for Jadeite. Wang Zhuo clicked it open and found the page rich with information, much of which was new to him and worth reading.

As he was engrossed in reading, his phone rang; it was Gan Lin calling.

"Wang Zhuo, how did the exam go?" Gan Lin sounded cheerful.

Wang Zhuo chuckled, "Extremely smooth. I copied everything I could."

"Knew you wouldn't be serious," Gan Lin asked. "What are you doing?"

"At an internet café. Fatty Long just gave me a QQ number."

"Great! Add me as a friend, and we can chat online." Gan Lin quickly recited her QQ number, then asked, "What's your screen name?"

Wang Zhuo glanced at the screen. "Shen Fu."

After hanging up, Wang Zhuo patted Fatty Long. "How do I add friends?"

Fatty Long spared a moment from his busy typing to show Wang Zhuo, hand-in-hand, how to add contacts. Seeing him send a friend request to someone named Lin Lin, he casually asked, "Who are you adding?"

"Gan Lin." Wang Zhuo had already received the confirmation that the request was accepted.

Fatty Long made an "oh" sound and immediately returned to his own computer, sending a friend request to Gan Lin as well. It didn't matter that her heart belonged to someone else; chatting with her would be nice.

Wang Zhuo typed clumsily, barely managing to send the message "Hallow," when Gan Lin promptly sent a video request.

After hitting accept, both sides’ scenes appeared simultaneously on the screen. On Wang Zhuo’s end was the luxuriously decorated internet café; on Gan Lin’s side was a bedroom exuding feminine charm. She waved at the camera, smiling sweetly.

Fatty Long leaned over, exclaiming in admiration, "Wow, she's dressed so lightly!"

In stark contrast to her conservative appearance at school, Gan Lin in her bedroom was wearing only a thin camisole, revealing her smooth, rounded shoulders completely. Her full bust strained the front of the top, making it bulge alluringly!

"Oh, Fatty Long," seeing his sneaky face poking in, Gan Lin cried out softly and quickly closed the video.

"Go, go," Wang Zhuo shooed Fatty Long away irritably—the interfering pest!

Gan Lin sent a message: "Let's chat next time, I need to start cooking. Bye!"

"Wang Zhuo, I was wrong—" Fatty Long pleaded pitifully, hands clasped in apology.

Wang Zhuo ignored him and returned to reading about jadeite.

After finishing the Baidu Baike entry, Wang Zhuo looked up some news related to jadeite and was suddenly drawn to a video report.

Astounding Jadeite Appears in Northern City—The Owner is a Mysterious High School Youth!

Wang Zhuo blinked. That headline looked familiar. Could it be about him?!

He hastily clicked the video and found that the report was indeed about his Dragon Stone Imperial Green jadeite. After the host’s incessant narration, a short clip of less than twenty seconds, filmed on the day the stone was cut open, was played. The footage was slightly blurry, but it included a close-up shot of him, though his face was deliberately pixelated to obscure his identity.

After the footage, the host commented on the jadeite and then gave a brief primer on jadeite collecting, referencing the collecting craze of recent years.

Below this news item were several links to related articles, which, upon seeing them, made Wang Zhuo jump!

Real-Life 'Crazy Stone': Sky-High Priced Imperial Green Hailed as National Treasure Clicked 330,000 times.

The Glorious Finale of Old Pit Jadeite: Coin-Sized Expert Valuation at Least Tens of Millions Clicked 410,000 times.

Better Than Buying a Lottery Ticket: Top-Grade Jadeite Makes Mysterious Youth Rich Overnight Clicked 590,000 times.

Starting with Sky-High Jadeite—A Deep Dive into Dragon Stone Clicked 170,000 times.

When Will the Crazy Hype End? The Past and Present of Transparent and Ink Jadeite Clicked 290,000 times.

Expert Opinion: The Difference Between Tie Long Sheng and Dragon Stone Clicked 70,000 times.

...

There were many more related articles. Wang Zhuo read through them one by one and was startled to realize his jadeite had caused a huge uproar online. He felt a bit puzzled.

Logically speaking, there were countless national treasures and jadeites worth far more. A mere piece of Imperial Green shouldn't attract this much attention. Where was the issue?

Wang Zhuo continued reading the news while searching for the cause and finally found the answer, inspired by one particular article.

This article analyzed the reasons for the sudden surge in attention given to this Imperial Green jadeite. Firstly, it occupied multiple eye-catching keywords: National Treasure, Riches Overnight, Crazy, Lottery, Hype—all titles that attract clicks from netizens. This Imperial Green piece happened to cover them all, instantly drawing significant attention and laying the foundation for this massive stir.

What followed was a three-way tug-of-war between merchants, speculators, and experts, with the biggest controversy revolving around what exactly Dragon Stone was and how high its true value lay.

Industry insiders held sharply divided opinions on Dragon Stone. Some claimed it was top-tier, the ultimate jadeite; others argued that the so-called Dragon Stone was merely a hype-generated scam, nothing more than ordinary rough with poor translucency. Still others asserted that they were all talking nonsense without even understanding what Dragon Stone was, suggesting they go back and learn first.

A war of words immediately erupted, gradually sucking in many authoritative figures, masters, and seasoned collectors. The conflict even spilled offline into print media and television.

This validated a certain truth: the more controversial something is, the more attention it garners! If that piece of jadeite had only been glass-type Imperial Green, even if it were the size of a human head, it probably wouldn't have attracted so many eyes—even the multi-hundred-million yuan champion stone at the annual Myanmar Public Auction wouldn't create such a sensation!

The media cared little for Dragon Stone or Imperial Green; they only cared about newspaper sales, website clicks, and TV ratings. Meanwhile, industry insiders were eager for this field to receive greater exposure, as it would bring them fame and profit. Thus, with the active cooperation of both sides, a nationwide discussion about jadeite roared to life.

As for whether Dragon Stone was truly top-grade jadeite or merely hyped-up mediocre material, it ultimately didn't matter. The value of jewelry is subjective. Why are diamonds as clear as glass so expensive? Aren't they also the result of hype? As long as someone is willing to pay, it is worth that price!

After analyzing the cause and effect of this situation, Wang Zhuo could only laugh wryly. It was like one person going berserk on the street, attracting only a few onlookers, but if two people started fighting, the crowd would instantly form three deep layers. The current situation was akin to a massive brawl with no police intervention, so the resulting phenomenon of "everyone emptying the streets" became understandable!

In the audience comments below the news, Wang Zhuo saw many messages questioning the value, arguing that jadeite was just a relatively pretty stone and not worth such exorbitant prices. Figures in the tens or hundreds of thousands were seen as artificial inflation, similar to the mania over Junzi Lan (Clivia miniata) years ago, which would eventually collapse.

Wang Zhuo tended to agree with this viewpoint, but others countered that Junzi Lan could be cultivated, whereas jadeite, once mined, was gone forever, making the two incomparable. Furthermore, jadeite’s value had been recognized by the world for hundreds of years and had never wavered, proving its status among gemstones. As Myanmar’s mineral reserves dwindled, the price of jadeite could only rise and would never collapse.

Though doubters were numerous, supporters were also plentiful. Jadeite had become a rapidly rising hot topic, exploding in popularity amidst controversy, much like a talent show star.

Wang Zhuo felt a surge of emotion. He couldn't believe such a major event had unfolded in the short span of a few days while he was busy preparing for the college entrance exams.

As he was musing over this, Fatty Long shuffled over with his big head: "Wang Zhuo, it's past eight. Should we head home?"

The two left the internet café, greeted by the warm night breeze, feeling relaxed.

"I'm going to the electronics market tomorrow to buy a computer. My dad agreed to allocate the funds—five thousand!" Fatty Long said excitedly.

Buy a computer? Wang Zhuo suddenly felt that he, too, should get one. When he was poor, he dared not hope for it, but now that money was not an issue, and he could actually use one, it was time to buy one!

"Let's go together. I need to buy one too."

"Great! Let's meet up tomorrow afternoon via phone!" Fatty Long said dreamily, intoxicated. "I've been waiting for this day! To be able to use my own laptop in the university dorm to download adult films, masturbate, play games all night, and have video chats with girls showing cleavage—this kind of life is simply wonderful! You think so too, right, Wang Zhuo!"