Chapter 5: If anyone is found violating rule four, they may be reported to the academy at any time. Reports are anonymous, and participants themselves may also report. If verified, the reporter will receive one free course slot, with no restrictions on subject or timing. Malicious reports, however, will result in the reporter being blacklisted by the academy.】

……

In summary, these five rules really boil down to two key points:

First: Any spots freed up by voluntary or involuntary withdrawals (such as those caused by tardiness) will be made available for re-registration via lottery one hour before the class begins—ensuring absolute fairness.

Second: The rules clearly prohibit the buying and selling of course spots, and establish a reward-and-punishment system for proper and malicious reporting.

The first point makes a mockery of scalpers who thought that simply possessing a course token guaranteed them a spot in class.

Without this rule, scalpers could buy up course spots and monopolize them, forcing others who wanted to attend to purchase from them at inflated prices.

But with these new rules, that’s no longer a concern.

If a scalper doesn’t attend class, their spot is forfeited and put back into the lottery pool.

Although the odds of winning the lottery are slim, just knowing that scalpers can’t hoard spots and that none are wasted is enough to make everyone feel better.

However, in reality, if only the first rule existed, it wouldn’t be enough to completely curb scalpers. After all, there are always people with money everywhere.

Some people, even if they resent paying scalpers, still need the class and are willing to pay extra. That’s all scalpers care about—they don’t mind what the wealthy think, and the wealthy don’t mind spending more.

What truly deters scalpers is the second rule.

Being blacklisted by the academy means being permanently barred from attending, and possibly even being unable to live in this territory in the future. With such severe consequences, no one can afford to ignore the risk.

Especially interesting is the line in rule five: “Participants themselves may also report.”

In other words, whether you’re a scalper or a buyer, you can report your own transaction.

This effectively turns every transaction between scalper and buyer into a ticking time bomb—once the deal is done, both parties hold evidence that could be used to report the other at any time.

As a result, such transactions become nearly impossible, because no one can trust a stranger to keep a secret based solely on a monetary relationship.

If the other party uses this as leverage for blackmail, the deal could backfire disastrously!

As for why Su You still included the first rule when the second alone could have completely suppressed scalping—well, that’s just laying the groundwork.

If the rules only included the second point, they might be effective, but they’d come across as harsh and lacking in humanity.

But by adding the first point, which offers a gentler method of curbing scalping, and creating a gradual process, the existence of the second rule feels much more natural.

……

This newly issued set of rules proved highly effective. At the very least, many people—like the middle-aged man who had originally planned to pay extra to buy a course spot from a scalper—immediately gave up on the idea.

It wasn’t just about not wanting to spend more money; the main reason was fear of being reported.

Even though there’s no guarantee you’ll win a spot in the lottery for forfeited places, it’s still better than being reported and blacklisted from the academy for life.

“Sorry, I don’t need it anymore.” The middle-aged man read the rules, then turned to the young man beside him with a cold expression.

“How can you be like this! You just agreed—” The young man was clearly angry at the middle-aged man’s change of heart.

He started to protest, but was immediately cut off.

“What about me? What did I agree to? Don’t make things up! I have nothing to do with you!” With that, the middle-aged man walked away.

The young man could only watch his retreating figure, fuming but helpless.

He wasn’t the only scalper left with unsold course tokens. Some, like him, hadn’t found buyers yet.

Others had assumed the academy wouldn’t intervene, or wouldn’t be so ruthless, so they clung to their course tokens as if they were appreciating assets, waiting for the price to rise.

But now, with the new rules posted, all their dreams turned to dust.

Many were left beating their chests in regret, cursing themselves for not selling their tokens sooner. Some had already found buyers but, hoping for a higher price, delayed the transaction.

These people were first filled with regret, then desperately tried to track down their would-be buyers… but after reading the new rules, those buyers had already vanished without a trace.

Of course, some who had already completed their transactions breathed a sigh of relief, but even they worried that, with the new announcement, the buyers might come back demanding refunds.

In short, this single black-and-white notice threw the academy gates into chaos—a scene that vividly illustrated the “myriad faces of the masses.”

To prevent opportunists from stirring up further trouble, after watching for a while, Lyle and Lake led a patrol team to maintain order and drive away the troublemakers."