Chapter 40 Grave Numbers Supreme 2 Sixth Middle School
Having entered so many dungeons, this was the first time Wu Wangwang had encountered a referee with such a bad attitude, and she was stunned for a moment.
Then Wu looked at the other players, then at himself and Ling Yuanshan, and realized something was wrong.
Although everyone's school uniforms were blue and white, the other players were dressed much better. They wore shirts on top, suit pants for boys, and pleated skirts for girls. Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan wore classic white-on-top and blue-on-bottom tracksuit-style school uniforms, with polo collar short-sleeved T-shirts on their upper bodies, making them stand out from the other players.
Ling Yuanshan also noticed the problem. He looked back and saw that the eight students were slowly following, but they still seemed unconvinced, so they didn't get too close. Their school uniforms were unchanged, and there was blood on their bodies.
It seems that the students at their school were dragged in by the props, which prevented their school uniforms from changing to match those of the actual players.
Remembering the special circumstances of the previous instance, Wu Wangwang said directly, "We were dragged in by items, so we're not official players. According to the rules, shouldn't we be sent back?"
The referee from Fengju Village said that the extra people could be sent away.
To everyone's surprise, the referee's expression darkened even further: "Are all of them like this?"
Something seemed amiss, and Wu Wangwang nodded hesitantly.
The referee took a deep breath: "You can't leave. The props that were sent to you are called Wish Watercolors. The colors have meanings. Different colors represent different mortality rates. Red is 80%. There are exactly ten of you. If eight of you die, that's still 80%. Then I can send the remaining two away directly."
Calculating mortality rates in such a simplistic and crude way is just too hellish.
Wu Wangwang looked back at the students with clear eyes and said, "Let's not leave then. If we're lucky, we might all survive. It's better than eight of us dying first."
But those eight classmates are all newcomers and quite young; it's uncertain whether they can make it through.
Moreover, they still don't seem to believe it, standing around the playground looking at it, without any intention of coming over to ask.
Aside from them, a total of eighteen players gradually arrived on the playground, each with a different expression. The players who appeared calm were probably those who had completed the game many times, while the nervous players were those who hadn't gotten used to it yet.
The referee counted and said, "Everyone's here. Including you ten, there are twenty-eight players in total. There are eight of you over there. Come over here quickly. This is your only chance to pass the level."
Young people are all familiar with infinite flow or level-based games. Even if they haven't read the novels, they know about those level-based games where you can win a refrigerator. They came over with skeptical looks.
One of the boys asked, "What's going on with you guys? Hey, you two, I know you, aren't you Ling Yuanshan from the senior year? Your family is very rich, are you messing with us?"
Ling Yuanshan coldly turned around and glanced at him: "My family is rich, but we won't waste our money on this kind of thing. Besides, my family's wealth is due to the hard work of our ancestors. Why should we be targeted?"
Perhaps because he wasn't arrogant enough at school, and because Ling Yuanshan always went his own way and didn't let his family accompany him, many people ridiculed his background, and some even suspected that he wasn't liked by his family and must be an illegitimate child.
No one dared to openly bully him, nor did they dare to actually lay a hand on the eldest son of the Ling family. But if he were an illegitimate child who was not respectable and disliked by his family, there would be many ways to cause trouble for him.
The boy retorted, "Your family's money also comes from exploiting the people. If it weren't for reform and opening up, capitalists like you would still be hanging from streetlights."
Ling Yuanshan glared at him coldly for a while, then turned away and ignored him.
The boy laughed: "See? You got anxious. You broke down when I touched on your sore spot. You're such a fragile young master."
The other students remained silent. The scene was strange; apart from them, the entire campus seemed deserted. Someone had to step forward, and no matter the reason, having someone else stand in front of them made them feel a little more at ease.
Wu Wangwang glanced at him a couple more times and suddenly said, "You don't hate Ling Yuanshan, you just hate that he didn't give you money. You saw him buy me snacks today."
The supermarkets in the city have all kinds of things to buy. Usually, boarding students only look at cheap daily necessities. Those expensive snacks are actually only bought by rich kids who attend classes during the day. Ling Yuanshan has a lot of pocket money, and knowing that Wu Wangwang doesn't understand anything, he buys her some food from time to time.
But those snacks were expensive. When she came out today, she noticed that the classmates around her were looking at her strangely, as if she had hooked up with some rich guy.
Outsiders would certainly not know that Wu Wangwang works for the Ling family. Considering that she seems to be a poor person, it would be hard not to have dirty thoughts about her getting so close to Ling Yuanshan.
Upon hearing Wu Wangwang's words, the boy's face instantly turned red, as if some secret thought of his had been exposed. He could only shout, "You're talking nonsense!"
When a person is on the verge of a breakdown, the words they can utter are so brief.
Wu Wangwang shrugged and didn't say anything more. Like Ling Yuanshan, he turned around and waited for the referee's announcement.
The referee then realized that all ten of them were from the same school, and he understood why they were there. Watercolors are something that only painters and art students use, so it seemed that the lucky person who got the prop was a student or a high school teacher.
Whether it was an accident or intentional, these ten people were brought in to die in their place.
"Stop fooling around, those eight, you all look like newbies. Generally, the referee doesn't need to explain anything to the players, even if it's their first time here. But you didn't actually die; you came in for others. So let me explain the situation to you briefly." The referee, like any ordinary teacher, had a grim expression but earnestly explained the Night of Return.
Actually, the game doesn't need to be understood entirely according to the infinite flow theory. After all, the name is "Night of Return of Souls." So the referee is using this as an example to illustrate the state that people enter when they are near death. If you die in Night of Return of Souls, you go directly to the underworld. If you don't die, you have successfully left Night of Return of Souls and can be resurrected.
Two of the eight students were liberal arts majors, one male and one female. They understood the situation more quickly. The female student raised her question: "But we were just walking around on campus, we didn't die at all."
The referee explained: "The Night of Return of the Souls has a reward mechanism. Those who survive will receive various rewards, including a category called items, such as weapons, magical artifacts, and divine artifacts, which are randomly distributed. Some players will also be lucky enough to obtain substitute items, which allow innocent people to take their place in the Night of Return of the Souls."
Upon hearing this, the liberal arts girl exclaimed, "I remember now! The girl upstairs tripped and fell, which caused the bucket to drop and splash water on us!"
The boy who had just mocked Ling Yuanshan already had a bad temper, and now he seemed to have found an outlet for his anger: "Damn it, I'm going to kill her when we get back! She got into trouble on her own, why should we be dragged into it?"
Another girl muttered, "We can't really blame her for falling, can we? If she used a prop, she was probably trying to drag someone else in, but she tripped and fell, dragging us down with her."
The students disagreed and divided into camps based on their own values, forming their own small groups of eight.
A short boy looked at Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang, who had calm expressions, and asked curiously, "Why... do you two know about these things? We were just downstairs when you said it was a game called 'The Night of Return of the Souls'."
Ling Yuanshan was about to say something when Wu Wangwang pulled him back and said, “We were pushed down the stairs before, so we’ve already been here once. Last time we came in in place of Wei Dong, who was expelled from school. Once is never enough, twice is enough.”
Speaking of the last time they cleared the dungeon, the referee sent them away like they were poor ghosts, giving them very ordinary rewards. Wu Wangwang got Mei Su's blue dress, which could block one death damage in the dungeon as long as she wore it, making it a low-end version of Mei Su. Ling Yuanshan got a hallucinogenic spray, which could also be used on ghosts.
This time, Ling Yuanshan still gave Wu Wangwang the props for self-defense. A pair of scissors is too limited. If there are weapons or props later, we still need to get Wu Wangwang a proper weapon.
After hearing this, the other students felt a little better. Everyone was unlucky, and two of them were especially unlucky, so they felt much better.
The referee patted the folder in his hand: "Alright, that's enough with the explanation. Now I'll announce the rules. This is the Sixth Middle School. Everything is about scores. Every exam, you must score higher than the last one, or you'll be punished. There will be a small test every day and a big test every week. Do you understand?"
Ling Yuanshan silently raised his hand: "If you get a perfect score, how can you improve next time?"
Just when everyone was assuming they wouldn't get a perfect score and worrying about how to improve, a traitor suddenly appeared!
The players and classmates all cast envious, jealous, and hateful glances at Ling Yuanshan.
The referee smiled mysteriously: "Students who get full marks will receive individual guidance from the school to ensure they always get full marks. If their marks drop, they will be punished. I suggest that if you have the ability to get full marks, try to control your score and don't make it too difficult for yourself."
Seeing the referee's expression, the students shrank back in fear, and the players also frowned, only Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan remained calm.
"Next are the rules for passing the test," the referee said, his expression returning to normal. "You have one month left until the college entrance examination. The only standard for passing the test is your score. You must achieve a score higher than all the previous tests to pass. Remember, it must be a score higher than the highest score in the previous tests."
If a perfect score has been achieved before, it means that you can only achieve a perfect score on the day of the college entrance examination.
Among the players was a refined girl who had probably always had excellent grades. After thinking for a moment, she said, "It's alright. It's like taking a mock exam every week. That's how it is in the most competitive high schools in China. As long as you control your score enough to improve it five times, it's fine."
The others breathed a sigh of relief, but the referee suddenly shattered their illusions: "You think the biggest difficulty is the score? No, it's class placement."
"What do you mean?" The students didn't understand, while the players' faces had already turned ugly.
The referee opened his folder: "The class assignments you get next are the most important thing. If you're a sports student in reality but you're assigned to an arts class, you might as well surrender now."
The players and students' faces instantly turned ugly. They were all assigned to classes based on the college entrance examination, and each person was trained in only one direction from their teens. They were not all-around male and female protagonists in novels who could do everything. Making an art student who draws all day take the physical education exam is like forcing a duck to climb a shelf.
However, the dungeon settings are beyond question. The referee assigned them to teams according to the list in the folder, and they will be given campus cards later, which will have their names, classes and student numbers on them. You can't walk around the campus without a campus card.
Wu Wangwang was assigned to the sports class, while Ling Yuanshan was assigned to the bel canto class. Although there seemed to be many players, they actually seemed a bit few after being separated like this. For example, in Ling Yuanshan's bel canto class, there was only him and another female player. The female player looked to be in her thirties, and it was unclear whether she could sing bel canto. Anyway, she looked very worried.
After the referee distributed the cards to them, he produced campus cards from somewhere and slowly handed them out: "Remember, the campus card is your only credential for moving around in the game. After enrollment, if you do not have a campus card, you will be considered an outsider and will be driven away by security."
Wu Wangwang quickly received her campus card. She happened to be in the last line and whispered to the referee, "Referee, will those of us who were brought in by props have the same first-hand information as other players?"
In the previous round, Wu Wangwang also obtained Mei Su's list and phone, which were the most important pieces of information for passing the level. It was because she had the list in advance that she and Ling Yuanshan were able to stick to their original intentions and pass the level without being affected.
When they entered this instance, they seemed to have nothing, not even their pockets.
The referee pondered for a moment and said, "There will be, but it will be issued a little later. It doesn't matter if I tell you. You may encounter this again in the future. The way each item pulls people into the dungeon is different, so the situation will be different. Some will naturally have player slots after entering, while others, like you, will be extras. In that case, it will all depend on the referee to fill in the gaps."
In other words, if you're lucky, you'll get the information right away; if not, you'll have to wait for the referee to provide it.
The items that let them in were indeed 80% dead; they didn't even give them any firsthand information, showing no intention of letting the substitute leave the instance alive.
After handing out the campus cards, the referee went back and handed out a student handbook, saying that everyone would be living and studying on campus, and that each area had fixed, inviolable rules. Therefore, it was best to memorize the handbook on the first day of school. It wasn't much, and with a little effort, it was achievable.
Today, since they've just started school, there won't be a test, and they can freely explore the entire school. For the next month, all their activities must take place on this campus.
Everyone hesitated, afraid to go anywhere else. They all opened the student handbook to check it, worried that they might go somewhere that would violate the rules and lead to their death.
Wu Wangwang didn't move. She flipped through it briefly. The content mainly focused on the location and wasn't particularly strict.
For example, the dormitory is only open during school hours: 6:00 to 7:50 in the morning, 12:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 2:45 at noon, 5:00 to 6:50 in the afternoon, and 9:45 to 11:00 in the evening. If you miss these times, you cannot enter or leave the dormitory unless you have a dormitory leave slip.
The classrooms in the teaching building are open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. At other times, security guards will check the classrooms and lock them. Students can avoid the security guards and hide in the teaching building without returning to their dormitories, but the teaching building will be locked. If they want to get out, they can only jump off the building. The dormitory manager can deduct points from the students who do not return to their dormitories.
Points deducted for violating student rules will be deducted directly from a student's daily exam score. If the deducted points exceed the student's score improvement, the student will be considered to have regressed and will be subject to punishment.
The rest were just some scattered rules for each area. Wu Wangwang glanced at them once and put them away. Just then, Ling Yuanshan walked over and said in a low voice, "The referee didn't say what the punishment is."
From beginning to end, aside from assuming that failing the college entrance exam was equivalent to failing the test, the judges didn't mention any specific punishments.
Wu Wangwang hadn't had much schooling, so she rummaged through the original owner's memories: "Would you hit someone's palm?"
Ling Yuanshan shook his head slightly: "Judging from her expression, it doesn't seem like she'll be punished severely. It's best to be careful."
“Okay…” Wu Wangwang had just responded when the referee reappeared, this time with some small notes and ten NPCs with serious and indifferent expressions.
The referee distributed slips of paper to ten students by class: "Go to the places indicated on the slips of paper to change into your school uniforms and collect your school supplies. These places will provide you with firsthand clues. Whether you can identify them is up to you. To ensure fairness, the dormitory supervisor will accompany the girls, the security guard will accompany the boys, and the regular players will wait in place."
It seems that in order to simulate the situation where players enter a dungeon and are wary of each other, and only one person can know the first-hand information, everyone has to separate.
The students who came included Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan, making a total of six girls and four boys. Since there were too many people, Wu Wangwang recorded them in the order of A, B, C, and D.
Wu Wangwang was assigned to the sports class, Ling Yuanshan was assigned to the bel canto class, female A and male A went to the dance class, female B and male B went to the art class, female C and male C were ordinary candidates, and female D was unlucky and was assigned to the performance class. She was afraid of dying and used all her acting skills to do well in the exam.
The group was then separated. Wu Wangwang was led by a dormitory supervisor to the sports student changing room in the activity building, which was specially set up for sports students. The sports equipment room was next door.
The dormitory supervisor didn't come in, but she should know what was going on inside. Wu Wangwang found the corresponding locker according to her student number, and was stunned after opening it.
The inside of the cabinet was a mess, filled with trash, unknown liquids, and various insulting words drawn in red. What should have been Wu Wangwang's personal belongings were all damaged, and her school uniform had a bunch of strange cuts, making it practically revealing if she wore it.
Aside from her summer school uniform and training uniform, Wu Wangwang found a phone with a cracked screen in the trash. After turning on the screen, she discovered it still worked.
The student code of conduct states that cell phones are prohibited items and cannot be used anywhere; if a teacher finds one, it will be confiscated—this rule is automatically interpreted by everyone as meaning that as long as it is not discovered, it is useless.
Wu Wangwang opened her phone and checked it. She was now very skilled at this kind of thing and knew where to look to find the information she wanted most quickly.
The phone owner is the NPC that Wu Wangwang impersonated, named Ge Nan, a girl from a poor family. She trains in sports because she can run fast, but the school can only provide socks and other items. She can't even get new socks. When she has no other choice, she wears the ordinary running shoes and stiff socks that the school provides.
But one day, she developed a fear of running. She cried to her mother on her phone, asking if she could go back to being a regular student. She didn't want to be a sports student anymore; it wasn't hard work, but it was very painful.
When people are poor, their perception of pain is far lower than that of ordinary people. Therefore, Ge Nan's mother could not understand this at all. She was an uneducated woman and did not even dare to ask the teacher about the situation. Every time her daughter asked for help, she could only advise her to endure it and endure it again.
Ge Nan doesn't have many friends, and she doesn't like to communicate with her parents. Around this semester, something seems to have happened to her, and she suddenly doesn't want to be a sports student anymore, which is why she frequently complains to her parents.
Aside from that, there wasn't much else on the phone. Ge Nan must be a fairly obedient student; she wouldn't have violated the student rules by using her phone unless she had a breakdown.
Wu Wangwang put the phone back and then saw a pile of trash and red writing in the cabinet. She felt like something was missing, so she looked through it again and finally remembered that she didn't have shoes or socks.
Ge Nan said the school would provide shoes and socks, so why aren't they in the locker?
If not, how will I take the exam tomorrow?
Wu Wangwang looked down at her white canvas shoes. They were very cheap; with an online discount and coupon, they were only 19.9 yuan. She didn't mind using them for running, but would the school allow it?
The student rules didn't cover this kind of detail, so Wu Wangwang thought for a moment, then walked to the door and asked the dormitory supervisor, "Auntie, can I go through other people's lockers?"
The dormitory supervisor, with her back to her, replied, "You can't come now. You need to change into your school uniforms and return to the playground to regain your freedom of movement before you can come here."
After hearing this request, Wu Wangwang sensed something strange about the school. After the student IDs were handed out, the referee said that they could move around freely today, but they had to read the student rules on the playground before they dared to wander around.
The referee returned just as they finished reading the student rules and continued to manage them on the playground, a situation that gave Wu Wangwang a sense of déjà vu.
After thinking for a while, she realized that this was a common practice among teachers at school. Every time the bell rang, they would say, "Finish your papers first, and then we'll let you go home." But by the time they finished, it was already the second period, and there was no time for a break.
Wu Wangwang has only been in school for less than a month, but she feels like she has already eaten all the pie in the sky that humans have painted.
Helpless, she could only change into her tattered school uniform. After looking herself over, she felt that she really couldn't wear it out. It wasn't a matter of being conservative or not, but at least she should dress more politely.
After thinking for a while, Wu Wangwang took out Mei Su's skirt and put it under her school uniform. The large shirt and pleated skirt covered the skirt perfectly.
Mei Su's dress was originally a single-piece sundress, which was rather thin without a petticoat. However, when covered by the pleated skirt, it looked fine from a distance, except that the pleated skirt puffed up.
With the navy blue base layer, the beggar-style school uniform didn't look so strange anymore, and Wu Wangwang went out satisfied.
The lockers in the changing room all use electronic locks, which can be opened with a campus card. It's very convenient and saves you from having to carry keys. Wu Wangwang came out and said to the dormitory supervisor, "I'm done changing. Let's go back."
The dormitory supervisor saw that she was dressed in tattered clothes but didn't say anything and led her to the playground.
When Wu Wangwang returned, she saw that others had also come back. She thought she was being abrupt, but when she saw the others, she felt much better. There were ten students, and none of them were wearing proper and complete school uniforms. They all had their own problems. One of the boys even had a very short shirt, and he kept tugging at his shirt, trying to lengthen it.
Ling Yuanshan was also unlucky; his shirt was stained with a large amount of something and had a strange smell, so people kept their distance from him.
Wu Wangwang walked over, about to tease him, when the referee called out to her: "Ge Nan, you have violated the rules. Considering this is your first offense, you are allowed to change your rules now."
Upon hearing this, Wu Wangwang looked over in confusion: "Where did I break the rules? I remember all the student rules, I didn't break any rules."
The referee pointed to her skirt: "Article 18 of the Student Code states that students are not allowed to wear outlandish clothing on campus, nor are they allowed to wear other pants or skirts under their school uniform pants or skirts. Two points will be deducted for any violation. Since you have violated the rule, you should correct it immediately."
Wu Wangwang said matter-of-factly, "This is an item. Why don't you ask the game if it's classified as clothing or an item? If items are considered clothing, does that mean this dungeon will ban all clothing items?"
"It's not that we're banning clothing props, it's banning outerwear props. Yours is a skirt, so it counts as an outerwear prop. Raincoats and similar props are not prohibited," the referee explained patiently.
"Oh, this isn't a skirt, it's underwear. What's wrong with girls liking longer skirts when buying underwear?" Wu Wangwang said without a hint of guilt.
Referee: "..." Do you want to hear what you're saying?
-----------------------
Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: Spaghetti strap, fitted, worn as an inner layer—the underwear is perfect! [Thumbs up]
Ling Yuanshan: That's right, my wife is absolutely right! [Thumbs up]
————————
Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the article.
————————
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
