The next morning.
Classroom of First-Year Class One.
The room was eerily quiet. Every student sat silently in their seat, waiting for Zhou Yi's special training to begin.
Over the past week, every one of them had endured hellish physical training.
But the scariest part wasn't the exhausting, body-breaking drills — it was the constant threat of expulsion.
In just one week, their "beloved" homeroom teacher Zhou Yi had already expelled thirty students.
And her reasons for expelling them? There were none!
Zhou Yi would dismiss several students each day purely on a whim — sometimes the ones who finished last in training, sometimes those who were late, sometimes those who daydreamed in class.
The expelled students might cry, plead, or even drop to their knees in desperation, but this old witch's cold, expressionless face never showed pity.
Now, whenever Class One's students saw the cheerful chatter of the other classes, they couldn't help but feel an aching envy in their chests.
Yet they didn't dare look for too long — just yesterday, a student had glanced toward another class and murmured that it would be great to be in Class Two or Three instead.
Zhou Yi had dragged him out, mocked him viciously in front of everyone, and then expelled him.
They had all watched as their former classmate, tears streaming down his face, carried his luggage out of Shrek Academy's gates.
"When will this hell end?"
That was the silent thought in most hearts.
Clack, clack, clack!
The sound of high heels approached.
Everyone instantly tensed.
Their backs straightened.
Zhou Yi stepped up to the podium, her sharp gaze sweeping the room, satisfaction glinting in her eyes.
First years were easy to control — unlike the more rebellious third years and above.
She glanced back at Neuvillette, who walked in behind her, and her eyes flickered with a trace of disdain.
Got a problem? Keep it to yourself!
Those few sentences from Neuvillette a few days ago had rattled her slightly, but with her temper, how long could she tolerate it?
Instead of holding back, she had doubled down — raising her daily expulsions from one student to four!
And Neuvillette?
Since that day, he had simply watched silently as she expelled student after student, without saying a word.
This made Zhou Yi relax… and even feel a little smug.
Assistants should know their place!
I am the teacher here!
"Everyone, stand! Gather at the plaza!"
Zhou Yi shot them a glance before striding out of the classroom.
No one dared to slack off. The students hurried out after her, following all the way to Shrek Academy's plaza.
Zhou Yi took her place at the front.
Her gaze swept the group arrogantly.
Her voice was cold as she spoke:
"Today, we continue the elimination system."
"I've said it before — for the honor of Shrek Academy, we do not need trash. Training is the process of filtering out the trash!"
"Last week was just for you to adapt, so I expelled only three people a day."
"So, today, we'll do things a little differently."
At those words, many students secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Friends exchanged glances, and they could read the joy in each other's eyes.
The hardest part was over. A thirty-percent elimination rate in one class wasn't so bad after all.
Who says Zhou Yi is that strict?
Only Neuvillette shook his head slightly, almost amused.
Did they not know this old witch's true nature?
In the original timeline, her class's elimination rate had been nearly seventy percent — there was no way she was suddenly going soft.
Before he could dwell on it, Zhou Yi's hoarse voice rang out again:
"Today, thirty people will be eliminated."
Her words dropped like a stone into still water. Class One fell into dead silence.
Everyone stared at her in shock, eyes wide in disbelief.
Thirty people... in one day?!!
Even Neuvillette twitched at the corner of his mouth, casting a puzzled look at Zhou Yi.
Has she gone completely mad?
In the hush that followed, Zhou Yi scanned the group, the corners of her lips curling upward.
She loved this — the feeling of controlling another's fate, of standing above them all. It was something she could never have achieved as a student herself.
The truth was, a Soul Emperor at her age wasn't rare in Shrek Academy. There were plenty just like her, and many were far more talented. Yet most of them were still assistants, or had quietly left the Academy.
But she had stayed. She had become a homeroom teacher whom everyone envied.
Why?
Because of her husband, the current Vice Dean of the Soul Tool Department.
Perhaps as a favor to Fan Yu's contributions, she'd gotten her wish and stayed as an outer court teacher.
Power is addictive.
Seeing the tears of noble children as they begged her not to expel them… that rush was intoxicating.
And today's mass elimination? That was personal.
Her gaze landed on Huo Yutong, whose small lips were pressed together and whose pretty face had gone pale.
She'd once had high hopes for this girl.
But then she'd had the audacity to change Soul Tool instructors without permission!
If Fan Yu hadn't told her, she'd still be in the dark.
Don't give me a face? Fine.
Then you can get out of Shrek Academy.
She hadn't found an excuse to target the girl earlier — Huo Yutong hadn't ranked last in training, so there'd been no grounds for expulsion.
But Zhou Yi had calculated it:
With Huo Yutong's stamina, she would be somewhere around 40th or 50th place in the class.
No matter how hard she pushed herself, she wouldn't escape being in today's bottom thirty.
"Everyone, listen up!"
Zhou Yi's voice was icy.
She pointed to a suit of armor made of thick iron chains in front of her. "You will run wearing this, starting now, until class ends. The thirty students with the fewest laps will be expelled."
"Begin!"
In an instant —
Even if they cursed Zhou Yi's ancestors eighteen generations back, every student rushed forward, grabbed a set of iron chain armor, strapped it on, and joined the run.
Neuvillette glanced at the smug satisfaction on Zhou Yi's face and smiled faintly.
He cast a glance toward the grove beyond the training field.
A lone figure was standing there, silently watching.
"Huff… huff…"
Ten minutes later —
On the track, the students of Class One were pale-faced, their legs trembling as they jogged.
The armor weighed nearly seventy jin — more than twice as heavy as they'd worn in previous days!
Many were already drenched in sweat, shoes squelching with every step, leaving deep wet prints behind them.
In the crowd —
Huo Yutong's eyes were firm.
She was holding steady around thirtieth place — the result of giving it her all — but she could be overtaken at any moment. Several students were clearly conserving their energy, waiting for a final sprint at the end…
The girl wiped the sweat from her forehead with her pale hand.
She couldn't let it get into her eyes and blur her vision.
(End of Chapter)