Chapter 78 Grave Numbers Above All 40 Sixth Middle School
Cheng Hai glanced at the suddenly silent Man B, then looked at Wu Wangwang, whom they had always ignored and never paid any serious attention to: "I don't believe you, Gao Hu, you tell me."
Ling Yuanshan glanced at him: "Look, you never believe what we say, you all look down on girls, but the backbone of our group is actually Ge Nan. She came up with all the solutions for us, and we've survived until now thanks to her. Yet you choose to talk to me, a useless person. If you're sick, go get treatment. Don't interfere with our thinking of follow-up strategies."
Cheng Hai was actually angry after being turned down like this several times. He didn't believe that the somewhat naive Ge Nan was the backbone of the group. He thought that Ling Yuanshan still didn't want to cooperate with the players and was using Ge Nan as a shield.
But now that the dungeon is nearing its end, if things continue like this, they might all really perish here.
Cheng Hai took several deep breaths, forced a smile, and looked at Wu Wangwang beside him: "Okay, I believe you. Ge Nan, I'm really sorry about earlier. So, may I ask, what's your solution?"
“It’s very simple. This school doesn’t allow fighting, but covert bullying won’t be considered violence by the school. And this kind of covert bullying can’t even be resolved by school rules or reporting to teachers. Just like those eight, we originally thought that if we were bullied, we would bully back, but now the NPCs will cooperate, and they can’t beat them.” Wu Wangwang explained the solution she had come up with in the previous stage.
This method is useless for students whose difficulty level has increased, but it's sufficient for players. The difficulty level is different from the start, and if some players stir up trouble, the pressure on Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan will be greatly reduced. It's like they're using each other.
Cheng Hai was surprised to hear this: "But didn't you say that the rules aren't necessarily true?"
Wu Wangwang looked at him speechlessly: "Rules interpreted from firsthand information may not be true, but school rules are what the referees say, so they are true. The Night of Returning Souls is all about playing word games. Have you never been to this kind of word-picking instance before?"
After Wu Wangwang said that, Cheng Hai's tired mind cleared up a bit. He patted his head. He had been living a terrible high school life every day recently, and his brain was becoming more and more sluggish. It was as if he could no longer think like a normal adult, except for going to school by muscle memory.
The students were able to stay calm thanks to Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan, who were able to observe the instance from two different perspectives. Even Ling Yuanshan was struggling to keep up. If it weren't for Wu Wangwang's stable divine status, the original owner of this body would probably have perished here.
Cheng Hai and his group left. Now that they had a solution, they had to try it out and find a balance between fighting and bullying. This group of people had been secretly bullying all the female players, so they should be particularly good at this.
After they went to eat, Wu Wangwang lowered her voice and said, "Stop talking about it. I'll explain tonight. Eat first, then go back and rest carefully at noon. Proceed with everything as planned. Destroy their spare stationery as well. Since they're not using the tools, then don't use them anymore."
Although the students didn't understand why, among them, Wu Wangwang was indeed the most skilled in strategy, so listening to her was the right thing to do.
After lunch break, the students had some bruises on their bodies, but they had indeed completed their task, because the student NPCs had to go to bed on time, which was the default setting, unless there were other plot developments.
For example, today they were planning to kill the roommates of male A. They secretly stayed awake halfway through, intending to pretend to be asleep and wait for male A to fall into a deep sleep before making their move. However, male A didn't fall asleep either, and after they got into bed, he pried open the closet and destroyed their pens.
Schools don't allow fights, so following Ling Yuanshan's instructions, Male A always said, "Excuse me, can I borrow this for a moment?" This kind of friendly interaction with NPCs who are learning together couldn't be refused. As a result, after a whole noon, all the stationery of those who had laid a hand on them was destroyed, and even the pencils were all sharpened one by one with pencil sharpeners.
However, they went too far, and when the alarm rang, they were beaten up again. It was Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan who came to their rescue.
With Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan, two creatures of unknown strength, keeping the NPCs in check, they didn't fare well.
After finally getting through the afternoon, Wu Wangwang took them to the old campus early to avoid other people and prevent anyone from eavesdropping. She explained what she had done at noon.
“That’s how it is. With these veteran players stirring things up in the open, at least people from other dorms won’t bother us. But that’s not enough. They can borrow other people’s pens in the classroom, but they don’t need to bring them back to the dorm. That way, they don’t lack stationery either, so they won’t know what to fear,” Wu Wangwang said coldly.
“But destroying all the stationery in the whole grade would be too much, there’s not enough time,” Ling Yuanshan said, shaking his head.
Wu Wangwang smiled: "So we'll go back now and destroy all the stationery in the classes of the people who bullied you in your dorm. Observe them carefully tonight to see if they have any other sources of stationery."
In a dungeon where an exam is mandatory, stationery is the most crucial item; without it, everyone will die.
This is the biggest rule of the "Grade-First" game: everyone is equal under the guise of grades.
Everyone was already holding their breath today, and after hearing what Wu Wangwang said, they immediately rubbed their hands together in anticipation, and even their wounds seemed to stop hurting.
They were all students, young and impulsive, and their personalities hadn't been tempered by this kind of school. In reality, they attended the best middle schools, their families weren't poor, and they were all considered young masters and misses. They had never suffered such grievances before.
They sneaked back and, relying on Ling Yuanshan's powerful information search ability, quickly found the corresponding classes. Some of these NPCs were in the same class, so they found a total of six classes. They walked around the classrooms without taking anything, but accidentally knocked over everyone's pens.
This "accidental" tumble ruined all the ballpoint pens, shattered the mechanical pencil lead so it couldn't write, and snapped the wooden pencils that had to be sharpened by hand after Wu Wangwang knocked them to the ground, just in time to avoid being caught on camera.
It's normal for things to break when they fall on the ground.
After finishing their business, they even had time to go to the cafeteria for a meal, which was truly the most enjoyable meal they had had since entering the dungeon.
The players' efforts to combat bullying are beginning to show results; some NPCs are no longer just staring at Wu Wangwang and the others, but are instead drawing their attention to the players.
During evening self-study, the sound of teachers cursing could be heard from several classes; the school hadn't been this lively in a long time.
During a break between classes, Wu Wangwang pretended to go to the toilet and saw the teacher scolding the students on the podium for not being able to handle even this simple matter. The college entrance examination was only a few days away, and they didn't know the importance of weapons on the battlefield.
But in those classes, only the students who habitually carried backpacks still had their stationery.
Seeing that they still had stationery, Wu Wangwang smiled with pleasure. It would be best if they missed something. Whether it's a person, a ghost, or even an NPC, they all have a selfish streak. NPCs would only be glad that they left some stationery in their hands, and they would guard against the other students in the class, afraid that their stationery would be stolen.
When other students find that they can't buy other stationery at school and can no longer leave the school, disputes will arise among them.
The players who were bullied by everyone are now the only ones being retaliated against. Some people were able to take the college entrance exam without any problems. How can they accept this?
In any social environment, the problem is not scarcity but inequality; if resources cannot be distributed equally, cooperative alliances will crumble instantly.
This instance can't be solved with brute force, so we'll have to resort to some of Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Thirty-Six Stratagems.
Wu Wangwang returned to the classroom and calmly continued her review.
During break, students from all six classes who had been pranked rushed downstairs to the convenience store to buy stationery. Unfortunately, all those items had already been bought up by the wealthy young master Ling Yuanshan. So when they returned for class, they were scolded again. All of this was cleared up, but the real problem was what to do about the test tomorrow morning.
Not being able to complete the test paper means getting zero points, and getting zero points means being punished. Given the current severity of punishments in schools, they'll just have to lie down until the college entrance exam, which is much easier.
Using this method, a group of NPCs were sent to receive punishment, which made the old campus lively again, as if it had reopened. The students were very happy, and they quietly recuperated for a few days until their wounds scabbed over.
I thought I had made it all smoothly to the college entrance exam, but on Saturday morning, there was no morning reading session. All the first and second-year students left school, and the third-year students had to have a morning meeting for a final pep talk for the college entrance exam.
When Ling Yuanshan heard the notification, he rushed to find Wu Wangwang before the team assembled and said to her, "Oh no, I forgot about this. The dungeon is probably about to enter the competitive phase."
"What do you mean?" Wu Wangwang had never been to school and couldn't understand at all.
“Every year, college entrance exam takers have a liberation ceremony. In reality, on this day, they can throw books and celebrate their graduation. Usually, they tear up their books from their own floor and throw them down from the corridor or atrium, representing their upcoming freedom and success in the exam. This day is very chaotic and is specially permitted by the school,” Ling Yuanshan said nervously.
Wu Wangwang frowned as well: "Aren't we forbidden from fighting?"
Ling Yuanshan covered his face: "Normal reality is definitely not possible, but this is a dungeon, so it might be an exception. The first and second year students have all left. Next, if the referee comes out and confirms this, then we will have to enter the indiscriminate fighting mode."
The two of them were initially quite looking forward to it, and the players probably were too. But in the past month, they've almost been driven crazy by the school rules. What about the students? A bunch of people who can't even kill a chicken, are they expected to pick up a chair and fight the NPCs?
Besides, the NPCs have ghosts helping them.
Previously, due to punishment and Ling Yuanshan's continuous reports, at least six classes of people were purged, but most of the NPCs were still untouched. Those people were not originally targeted at them; they were simply dealt with by modifying the underlying code in the last two days.
With some doubts, Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang went downstairs to line up. They stood on the playground, where all the teachers and students had come. There were referees among them. The principal gave an encouraging speech, and the referees announced the rules.
The referee said, "Thank you for your hard work, students. The college entrance examination is in two days, and you will soon be welcoming your new students. In order to help you relax and enter the examination room with a normal mindset, there will be no restrictions from school rules for the next two days. You can move around freely on campus, do whatever you want, and enjoy your youth to the fullest!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: Oh? You're going to fight the world's number one track and field team? The last female track and field prodigy was Silent Hill's strictest Valkyrie mother [starry-eyed]
Ling Yuanshan: So, are your running results real or fake? [Laughing and crying while covering face]
——
The reference to the short skit comes from the game Silent Hill F, a new AAA puzzle-horror game with beautiful graphics and great music. The plot is subjective, but I think it's just barely passable, which might be due to the writer's writing habits.
However, the related memes are quite interesting. Those who like similar works can search for explanations before deciding whether to buy this game.
The scariest thing about this game is its price! [starry-eyed]
Also, I didn't know about this game when I set Ge Nan as a gold medalist on the track and field team. You can also see from the initial update date that it was about a month earlier than the domestic game commentary, so it was purely coincidental. I just happened to be writing this, so I'll play around with this little joke in the mini-drama.
After all, I quite like Valkyrie Deepwater Hinako.
————————
Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoyed the article.
————————
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
