Chapter 122 [Story in Progress] [VIP]

Players must follow clues 1 and 2 to the school. The two teenagers looked at each other, their faces showing that they were in big trouble.

"That's impossible..." Clue No. 2 lowered his voice and tried to dissuade him. "The school has a security guard. They won't let strangers in, especially elementary school students they don't know!"

Clue number one also nodded in agreement: "It will be very troublesome if we are discovered."

The player blinked his red eyes, looking like he was talking nonsense: "Why not just climb over the wall?"

She pointed to the not-too-high wall in the direction of the school, her tone as matter-of-fact as if she was saying she was going to a convenience store to buy a bottle of water.

Clues number one and two fell silent again, feeling that trying to explain common sense to this guy was like talking to a wall. Seeing how eager she was to try, the two reluctantly compromised.

"Okay... just be careful and don't get caught by the teacher or the security guard." Clue No. 1 sighed.

"Yeah." The player nodded and turned around to escape.

After taking two steps, she suddenly turned around, as if remembering something, and said to the two young men, their hair still disheveled in the wind, with a serious face, "Oh, by the way, I'm a human, not a monster. Not only am I not a monster, I'm actually quite famous, huh?"

Seeing their looks, the player, possessed by a sense of mischief, curled his lips slightly, "Maybe you've seen me on TV before."

After she finished speaking, she ignored the puzzled expressions of "???" on the two NPCs' faces and skipped away without hesitation. Her white hair swayed in the morning light, like a truly carefree (?) elementary school student.

Leaving clues No. 1 and No. 2 staring at each other.

Clue No. 1: "...What did she just say?"

Clue number two: "...seen it on TV? What does that mean?"

The two looked at each other and finally gave up thinking.

——

The player easily climbed over the wall and landed on the campus like a feather.

Ignoring the curious looks and whispers from the early arriving students ("Wow, white hair and red eyes!" "Is he a foreigner?" "COSPLAY?"), she walked straight to the second-grade building and accurately located the class of clue number one. The player appeared at the classroom door without any hesitation, locking her red eyes on the target.

"Hello, Clue Number One."

Natsume Takashi, who was packing his schoolbag, was startled by the familiar yet abrupt name. He looked up and saw the player's face, which had no expression but a strong presence.

The player walked up to him and poked him, "Clue number three?"

"...Calling others clue number one or number three is really..." He complained quietly, putting down his schoolbag resignedly, "Well, come with me."

He knew that if he didn't satisfy this eccentric person's demands, she would not give up.

The player follows clue number one to a less crowded corner at the end of the corridor, where clue number three has already been called out.

Number Three was a gentle-looking girl, who was looking at the player with white hair, red eyes and a strange aura in front of her with some curiosity and nervousness.

"This is..." Clue No. 1 was stuck. He didn't even know the player's name. "Well... Anyway, she wants to see you about something. You might have seen something she lost."

The player wasn't interested in small talk and got straight to the point: "You found a strange scroll a week ago. Where is it?"

Clue number three was taken aback by this blunt statement and answered instinctively, "Yes, yes. I found it about a week ago, during gym class, in the grass beside the playground. It was a beautiful blue scroll with a gold head and light blue cloud patterns. When I unfolded it, there was a painting inside. It had lots of... uh... various, somewhat scary-looking animal heads and ghosts."

She tried to recall, "Because I felt the aura on it was very special, somewhat similar to some of my family's heirlooms, I took it home. I wanted to research it, but I looked through many books and couldn't find the same record. Moreover, there was no movement on the scroll after I brought it back, so I put it away in a drawer in my study."

The player raised an eyebrow. It sounded like recycling would be easy, saving the trouble of running around everywhere. "Study? Exactly where?"

Clue number three reported the home address and the location of the study. The player nodded without even saying "thank you". He simply raised his hand and made a downward swiping motion with his index finger in the air.

The texture of space beneath her fingertips resembled folded paper, and a "door" with slightly twisted edges, wide enough for only one person, instantly appeared before her. The player stepped through, and along with the unscientific "door," they vanished before the stunned Clues One and Three.

Clue number three: “…disappeared?!”

Clue number one (already numb): "...you'll get used to it."

The player appears at the designated location in an instant.

Her eyes were instantly covered with a barely detectable stream of data. Her gaze swept across the bookshelf and the desktop, finally locking onto an inconspicuous drawer. She opened it and found a blue scroll that matched the description.

The player picked up the scroll, pulled out the golden shaft head neatly, and unfolded it.

——Empty.

The yellow scroll was now completely blank. Pristine, without even a speck of ink.

Player: “…”

She stuffed the scroll into her system backpack expressionlessly. The item's information immediately appeared:

The present tense of the story (incomplete): The monsters, remnants of the strange ink, await a certain artist to awaken them, give them names, and awaken them. When the time comes, he will release the "illusory" entities into reality and inflict the most horrific revenge on the betrayers. Now, the legends in the scrolls are only the occasional dream of an artist overwhelmed by work, who will occasionally create similar monster revenge comedies.

Status: Activated (the monster entity has been released).

Escaped", I felt a surge of anger rising up.

After all this time, I found the item, but all the "contents" inside are gone? This game is wrong! Shouldn't the monsters be quietly waiting for the player to use them? How could they be awakened by other NPCs so casually? Bad review!

She shook her hands irritably, and teleported again, directly locating herself in the mountains and forests near Clue No. 3's home.

The player began a carpet search, his red eyes scanning every bush and every rock sharply, and his [insight] and [scanning] diligently did not miss any fallen leaves.

However, apart from crushing a few low-level monsters that were blind and rushed towards her with malicious intent (in the physical sense, without even causing screams) to vent her anger, she gained nothing.

The monsters that ran away from the scroll seemed to have evaporated into thin air.

The player stood in a clearing in the woods, watching the setting sun stretch his shadow very long, and felt very unhappy.

When school was over in the afternoon, the player showed up at Duoguitou's house, looking unhappy. Sure enough, Clues One, Two, and Three were all gathered there, with the fat, obviously lazy cat monster lying nearby.

The player suddenly appeared without warning using [Teleport], startling the three people and the cat who were concentrating on the discussion.

"The monster is gone." The player said concisely, and at the same time, with a flip of her wrist, the blank scroll unfolded in her hand with a "rustle" sound and was displayed in front of everyone.

"Huh?!" Clue number three exclaimed in surprise, leaning in to take a closer look in disbelief. "How could it be...it's clearly painted all over..."

Number One and Number Two also came over, looked at the blank scroll, and looked at each other in confusion.

The player ignored their surprise and stared at Clue No. 3 with red eyes: "You, drew eyes on them?"

Clue number three was taken aback by the question, then, as if remembering something, a troubled and uncertain expression crossed his face. "Drawing eyes?... Ah! Come to think of it, there was a time like that. It was only two days after I found the scroll. I had a very strange dream that night..."

She tried to recall. "In my dream, I seemed to hear... um... a lot of idle, bored beings talking to me, saying things like 'I'm so bored' and 'I want to go out and take a look.' They seemed to be asking me to give them eyes? To make them move? The dream was so vague... I seemed... to have really... dazedly... given them eyes in my dream?"

Her tone was filled with uncertainty. Was this a bizarre dream? Or was it a reality bewitched by a demon?

After listening to this, the player looked at Clue Number Three, who looked bewildered and innocent, and then looked at the blank scroll that seemed to be silently mocking her. Only one thought remained in her mind:

After all this time, the NPCs were just being careless in their dreams and letting the players' Pokémon out?! Could this game mechanic get any more rigged?!

"Oh." The player nodded, put away the empty scroll, and said in a tone that left no room for negotiation, "Come with me to find the monsters."

"Huh?!" The fat cat monster was the first to get angry. "Why should we go looking for those troublesome things? It was clearly you who lost it in the first place!"

The player ignored the angry cat and glanced at the three human NPCs who looked troubled. He spoke slowly, his tone as calm as if he were reading an instruction manual:

"Those monsters have been awakened. Their goal is 'revenge'. They will seek revenge no matter who asks them to."

"There are so many of them. If they wander around without seeking revenge, they'll probably cause panic, right?"

"Most importantly," the player paused, his red eyes sweeping across the three people's faces, dropping bombs with pinpoint accuracy, "unlike ordinary monsters, they can be seen by ordinary people even in their normal state, and can directly attack ordinary people. I mean—physical attacks."

The player looked at the three people's faces that suddenly became solemn, and his heart remained calm. He even wanted to give a thumbs up to Bai Yi for his cleverness.

To deal with NPCs from the good camp, moral kidnapping and responsibility cards are always the most effective, hehe.

Sure enough, Number One, Number Two, and Number Three looked at each other and saw the worry in each other's eyes. Number Three even clenched his hands nervously because it was Bai Yi who caused this.

"...We really can't just leave it alone." Number One sighed.

Number Two nodded: "Well, if it's really as she said..."

Number Three also said firmly: "After all, it was me...even if it was in a dream...but it was me who brought them back to life. I have a responsibility!"

The fat cat monster looked at the three idiots who had been turned against him in an instant, his beard shaking with anger: "You idiots! You are being led by her by the nose!"

The player looked at the search team with satisfaction as they reached a consensus.

Very good, free labor +1+1+1.

As for that noisy cat? Just ignore it. Just ignore it.

She waved her hand and pointed to the distant mountains and forests: "Let's go."