Mason Fu's face darkened as he nodded.
After the meeting broke up, Mason Fu stopped Grace Lawrence and sneered, "Grace, it's one thing to hog the spotlight, but did you have to drag me into it?"
Grace didn’t bother with him and just turned to leave.
So full of herself! Mason Fu lost his temper, grabbed a teacup, and with a loud "bang!", flung it at Grace's feet.
Tea splashed everywhere, soaking the hem of Grace’s skirt.
"Are you nuts?" Rona Yin dashed forward and landed a punch square on Mason Fu’s face.
With her sixth-level Spirit Master skills, Rona Yin barely had any rivals in the Eastern Alliance.
Mason Fu was knocked to the floor, sneering, "Grace Lawrence, can you honestly say you’re not just showing off? You think you can pass level thirteen?"
He’d tried for level ten several times and failed, so he knew how tough it was.
How old is Grace Lawrence anyway? And she dares to go for level thirteen?
"I can pass," Grace said.
"Oh, really? I'll be watching!" Mason Fu sneered. "If you actually pass level thirteen, fine. But if you don’t, you’ll have to apologize to me in front of everyone for getting me chewed out by the Department Head today!"
"Watch my ass!" Rona Yin snapped. "Believe it or not, I’ll make sure you don’t see tomorrow’s sunrise!"
"Rona, why bother with him?" Grace called out. "Let’s go!"
Rona Yin let go of Mason Fu, clapped her hands, and walked off with Grace.
The fight was so entertaining that Kevin Yang, a minor servant by Ms. Rachel Zhang, was so stunned he accidentally walked right into Grace.
Grace reached out to block him.
Kevin Yang quickly apologized and hurried away.
Grace didn’t take it to heart.
The next morning, Grace got up early and put on the same clothes as yesterday.
The robe was the 'Lucky Exam Robe' Claire made for Grace, covered in all sorts of lucky, auspicious patterns.
Grace decided to wear it to the exam—she couldn’t let Claire down.
But then she noticed the sleeve had been snagged somehow, a little frayed with some gold thread missing.
Luckily, the damage was on the underside of the sleeve, so no one else would notice.
Grace wore it anyway and headed out for her exam bright and early.
Each level had its own exam room.
Grace was the only one taking the level thirteen exam.
After waiting a bit, the door opened and Grace walked in.
But just then, a bunch of enforcement officers stormed over and blocked Grace’s way.
They grabbed her and marched her straight to the Enforcement Hall.
Only after arriving did Grace learn that Mason Fu was dead.
The body was found in a grove not far from Grace's Alchemist's Pill Room.
He’d been strangled and buried behind some bushes.
The body was discovered by Mason Fu's personal servant.
According to the servant, last night Kevin Yang, a minor servant from Ms. Rachel Zhang’s side, came to deliver a message to Mason Fu, saying Ms. Rachel Zhang needed to discuss something with them.
Mason Fu never came back after that.
There were lots of things Mason Fu needed to handle that morning, so his personal servant went looking for him everywhere.
The shortcut was through the grove, so he went that way.
He found signs of a struggle in there.
Following the clues, he spotted some disturbed earth behind the bushes.
Maybe it was too dark, but the killer missed a piece of Mason Fu’s robe sticking out.
The servant realized something was wrong, grabbed a tool, dug up the spot, and found Mason Fu’s body.
Then he immediately reported it to the Enforcement Team.