408 Conflict

The staff member was in a difficult position. This was not in line with the rules, but since the master blacksmith had spoken, it did not seem like he could refuse.

Lin Xiangyun waved his hand. “Just take care of it. If anything happens, we’ll bear the responsibility together!”

“Very well! I’ll go now!”

Seeing that two master blacksmiths were vouching for him, the staff member immediately put down all his worries and turned to leave.

Soon, the staff arrived outside Wu Mo’s room and knocked on the door.

Wu Mo was studying in the system’s forging space, and he frowned when he heard the knock. Why would someone knock on the door at this time? Was it time to complete the blueprint design?

He checked and figured that it was about time.

After all, he could not rush to finish it, so he needed to have some extra time.

Thinking of this, his consciousness returned, and he opened his eyes.

He got out of bed and went to the door, but he did not open it immediately. “Who is it?” he asked.

“Is this Mr. Wu Mo? Earlier, the two master blacksmiths, Lin Xiangyun and Gu Shan, mentioned that you’ve finished your blueprint design. They saw it through the surveillance system. They’re hoping that you can submit the blueprint now so that they can review it in advance.”

Wu Mo was slightly taken aback. He raised his head a little to look at the surveillance camera above his head, and he was somewhat speechless.

Perhaps because he had been too focused, but he had actually forgotten about this.

“Alright then! Wait a moment!”

Wu Mo turned around and walked to the workbench. After examining the blueprint for a while, he rolled it up and stuffed it into a sleeve. Then, he sealed it with tape and left a mark on the joint before signing it.

It was his special precautionary measure to prevent the blueprints from being torn apart halfway, swapped, or destroyed.

He did this in front of the surveillance cameras, and the process was meticulous. If anything really happened, it would be the association’s problem and it would have nothing to do with him.

After he was done, he went to the door and opened it. He handed the roll in his hand to the staff and said, “Please send it over!”

Wu Mo watched as the staff left with the roll and closed the door. He continued reading his book. He was not curious about what kind of evaluation his blueprint would receive.

On the other side, Lin Xiangyun, Gu Shan, and the other three saw the blueprint that was brought back. They could not help but exchange looks when they saw the sleeve and signature on it.

They could see that the participant was no simpleton based on this small detail.

“Let’s open it and take a look! If the design doesn’t stand out, this whole thing will be a joke!” Zhang Chunyang said as he revealed a curious expression.

Lin Xiangyun was the first to open the sleeve. He took out the blueprint and observed it with great focus.

It was not that Wu Mo’s design was outstanding because he could not spot anything from a cursory glance.

However, it was obvious that his design was completely based on the knowledge of the transcendent system and did not involve any modern technology. This was unprecedented.

There was a huge difference between the technology system and the transcendent system. One could tell at a glance, so Lin Xiangyun’s eyes zoomed in first.

Next to him, Gu Shan’s expression also changed as he said, “Boy, you’re bold to do this!”

It was hard to tell if they were words of praise or sarcasm.

Zhang Chunyang had stood up and walked over at this point. There was a drastic change in his expression, and his eyes were filled with uncontrollable rage. “What a rebellious brat. Does he think that he’s better than everyone else in the world? This is simply preposterous! I suggest that this design be given a zero and not allowed to pass!”

“Bah! Old Zhang, this is the Blacksmith Association, not your academic conference where you can give zero marks whenever you like. If you still have any dignity, you should realize that we’re judging whether this design is acceptable and whether it meets the conditions that we’ve set in advance. We’re not asking you to come here to form factions. Hurry up and save your breath!”

“Liu Yu, you…” Zhang Chunyang was furious, but he really did not know how to retort.

After all, the association had set the questions in advance to prevent the judges from evaluating the blacksmiths based on their personal emotions. Otherwise, there would not have been a need to go through so much trouble. They could just give the blacksmiths the question on the day and let all of them forge together.

However, doing so would not encourage any exchange and reflect the blacksmiths’ skills. Hence, they had the idea of choosing the questions and topics in advance.

In addition, the association had indeed been in chaos recently. The sounds of people debating were endless, so they took some preventive measures.

Zhang Chunyang was so angry that he panted heavily. He glared at Liu Yu fiercely. If looks could kill, Liu Yu would have died several times by now.

However, Liu Yu was not afraid at all. He even had a faint sneer on his face.

“Old Zhang, don’t think that I have no idea what you people are planning! Are you foolish? Is he foolish? Neither of you are. You all know which path you should take, but you’re unwilling to admit it for your own self-interest.”

Liu Yu seemed to be letting it all out. When Lin Xiangyun and Gu Shan saw how bad things were, they quickly approached the two to separate them.

Gu Shan advised, “Sigh, what are you all arguing about?! It’s just a child’s choice. Why are the both of you arguing? It’s not worth it!”

Lin Xiangyun added, “Everyone is here to be a judge. Just follow the rules. If you have any opinions or thoughts, keep them to yourself. We can talk about it later when we go back! ”

He noticed that as the deadline approached, many blacksmiths had begun to push open their room doors and walk over.

When they saw the commotion, not only did the blacksmiths not walk away, but they also rushed over with excitement in their eyes. Once they were a certain distance away, they stopped as if they were watching a show.

How could he let this be? If this matter got out of hand here, it would really embarrass the association.

However, he could not chase the blacksmiths away. Lin Xiangyun could not do anything even if he wanted to settle the matter right then.

Zhang Chunyang seemed to be provoked as well. “Liu, you better tell me clearly what you mean by personal gain. I’ve been contributing to the country for so many years. Aside from the treatment that the country has given me, what personal gain have I ever enjoyed? If you don’t tell me why today, I’ll beat you to death!” he roared.

“You think I’m afraid of you?” Liu Yu laughed. I’ll tell you! Since there are so many people here, they can be my witness and see if I’m right!”

Lin Xiangyun was extremely anxious. “Liu Yu, do you realize where we are? When did you get so emotional? Is this something you should say here? Do you want to throw the entire association into chaos?” he said angrily.

When Liu Yu heard this, he hesitated slightly. He glanced at Zhang Chunyang’s look of defiance and sneered, “As long as Zhang Chunyang gives this design an impartial score, I’ll pretend that I didn’t say anything today!”