Chapter 133 Players Occupy the High School Trio [VIP]
The player is like a diligent gardener, running around the entire neon stage, diligently clearing the various weeds on the system task list.
Occasionally, she'd run into someone with strange noises, odd bangs, or dead eyes at a mission location. If there were other NPCs around (especially those with evasive glances, clearly spies), the player would adopt a completely indifferent attitude, either ignoring them outright or refusing to engage in conversation, barely even exchanging glances as they passed by.
But as long as the player is sure that there are no annoying ears around, he will immediately switch modes.
Players would share the strange items they had just obtained, Noise Monster would show off his latest research on the reversal technique (although it sometimes worked and sometimes didn't), Strange Bangs would provide some information about curses or curses, and Dead Fish Eyes would be responsible for lazily complaining on the side, occasionally expressing an anatomical interest in the special samples collected by the players.
They will even secretly follow players to complete tasks, calling it "supervision", but in fact they are just watching the fun and helping out. Occasionally, when they are in the mood, they will compete with the players to see who can complete more tasks faster.
After a while of fighting, complaining, and sneaking around together to avoid being seen, Lin Chen felt that her relationship with these three NPCs had reached a level beyond "friendly." To her, they could be considered friends. Friends who were just as special as those on the farm and needed protection.
So, one day, after collaborating to destroy a curse den disguised as a children's playground, the player felt that the time was ripe as he watched the three people playing and throwing cursed spirit debris at each other in the sunset (mainly Noise Monster Wu was throwing, Monster Liu Hai was helpless to defend, and Dead Fish Eyes was watching the fun from the side).
She clapped her hands to attract their attention, then asked directly, using a natural tone, as if discussing what to eat for dinner: "Hey, you three, would you like to be my followers?"
The scene suddenly became quiet.
Even the noisiest Noisy Monster Wu stopped throwing away the trash. The three of them looked at the player in unison, with different expressions on their faces - surprise, confusion, and a hint of helplessness, "What's wrong with you again?"
"Followers?" Noise Monster Wu was the first to react. He pulled off his sunglasses, his blue eyes widening. "Just like what you did to those old oranges in the general management department? Turning them into obedient puppets?"
He made a gesture as if his brain was controlled, a little surprised.
Guai Liu Hai frowned slightly, and asked inquiringly: "Xiao Lin, what exactly do you mean by 'dependents'..."
Dead Fish Eyes bit a big fortune and raised his eyelids lazily: "Will there be a salary? Or the right to choose the experimental materials first?"
"No." The player immediately shook his head, his tone serious. "They were [subjugating], it was forced, and the connection between us wasn't close, more like an irresistible superior-subordinate relationship. You're different."
She paused, trying to explain her inhuman logic. "You're special. I don't want to come back from a mission one day and suddenly hear that one of you died or was seriously injured and couldn't be saved. That would be very troublesome for me, and... well, I'd probably be a little unhappy."
The player tilted his head, feeling that "unhappy" barely described the anticipated feeling of loss. "So, I'll make you my followers as a safeguard. This way, you won't die so easily."
She added, with a natural intensity, "Of course, it doesn't matter if you disagree."
Then, the player seemed to remember some rules of interpersonal communication and began to try to explain the benefits, trying to obtain formal consent - although she felt that this step was redundant.
"Becoming my dependent has many benefits," the player counted on her fingers, her expression incredibly serious, a performance worthy of an award-winning actor, for she spoke the truth. "You can stay young forever. If you die unexpectedly, I can resurrect you. We can communicate directly through our minds, which is more convenient than using a phone. I can also teleport you to me at any time, or take you anywhere. There are many other benefits as well."
She tilted her head at the three of them, "To me, that's what 'friend' means."
Friends? The three of them looked at each other, seeming to find this definition somewhat strange and complicated.
The three of them were silent for a few seconds, seemingly trying to digest this overly blunt and inhuman proposal.
"Followers..." Dead Fish Eyes repeated, his tone somewhat subtle. "Sounds like the setting of some evil organization. So, this is what it means to be... a friend to you?"
She looked at the player with a probing look in her eyes.
The player nodded affirmatively: "To me, this is what it means to be friends."
In her understanding, being marked as such, being included in her protection, and sharing resources and capabilities are the highest forms of expressing her friendship and respect.
In order to increase the persuasiveness, the players thought hard and started to increase the stakes.
She recalled a strange mission they had completed together a few days ago. "Remember that [divination] incident we encountered a few days ago?"
It was a bizarre space, seemingly paved with stars. A veiled fortuneteller, using a deck of ancient tarot cards, revealed their fate. To the player, it was merely a limited-time dungeon to help her obtain more quest rewards and intelligence. But to the other three, the experience seemed incredibly real.
[The fortune teller wearing a veil cannot see her expression, only that.
"Peering into fate, if you are too greedy, the prophecy will collapse." "And what do you hope to see from it?"
Listening to their casual discussions, reading the predetermined Tao cards.
Then, they were pulled into an incredibly real dream and witnessed their final end.
Death, death, exhaustion. 】
The player was standing nearby at the time, his expression becoming solemn, surprised, and even flashing with a barely perceptible hint of fear or determination.
They must have seen something.
But he kept silent about it to the players.
"The future that fortuneteller showed you is definitely both real and bad." The player tried to bring the topic back, though his logic was a bit erratic. "So, becoming my follower will be safer."
She looked at them eagerly. Although there was no expression on her face, her eyes said, "Just agree quickly so I don't have to force you."
Perhaps it was because the benefits listed by the player were too real, perhaps it was because the word "friend" had some effect, perhaps it was because they really felt something about things like death and fate, or perhaps it was simply because they felt that resistance was futile - the three of them exchanged glances and finally nodded.
Noise Monster: "Wow, that's a scary thing, Mr. Kobayashi. But it sounds pretty good, right? Anyway, I can't beat you, so I just have to agree."
He said it was scary, but his face was full of curiosity as he was eager to try it.
Weird Liu Hai sighed and gave a somewhat helpless yet gentle smile. "Although the explanation is... unique, I'm not surprised if it's you. Okay, please teach me, Xiaolin."
Dead Fish Eyes yawned and said lazily, "Whatever. It sounds better than being managed by those idiots in the Directorate."
Seeing that they all agreed (the player automatically ignored the complaints in their tone), the player immediately operated through the system.
The player was satisfied. She immediately launched the system interface, selected the three friendly green units in front of her, and clicked the [Tame] option. Because they were friendly targets and had no resistance, the entire process was silent.
Just at the player's fingertips, a silver-white light burst out slightly, forming a fine, chain-like light, instantly connecting her with the three targets, and then flashed away.
The light eventually coalesced into an irregular circular mark on a specific part of each of their bodies (below Gojo Satoru's collarbone, on the inside of Geto Suguru's wrist, and behind Ieiri Shoko's ear). The mark had a solid silver-white dot at its center, surrounded by bold, forked lines of varying lengths. The edges featured irregular textures and surrounding fine lines, creating a striking, radiant sun symbol.
The light then faded, and the mark also quietly disappeared, only to appear when needed.
Because they were friendly targets and had no resistance at all, the whole process felt almost nothing special to them, just like their skin being gently touched by warm sunlight.
"Done." The player withdrew his hand with satisfaction, feeling that his collection of humanoid Pokémon had been enriched.
After that day, the old forces, believing that the time was ripe, began to cautiously try to contact the players like hyenas smelling blood.
Their methods vary: they send middlemen who seem neutral but have actually been bribed long ago to convey their intention to cooperate to the player, promise to meet her needs better than the official ones (more information about rare items, more freedom of activity rights), and write all kinds of blank checks.
He tried to reveal some carefully selected so-called secrets about the High School or the Gojo family in exchange for the trust and favor of the players.
They will even kindly send some sorcerers to assist players in carrying out official tasks, under the guise of providing support, but in fact they are monitoring her every move and collecting her ability data.
The player knew all of this very well, and her [Insight] skill could almost see through these people's underwear.
But on the surface, she maintained an ambiguous attitude: neither explicitly rejecting these olive branches (and sugar-coated proposals) nor fully accepting their proposals. Occasionally, she would inadvertently reveal a hint of dissatisfaction with the three members of the high school (especially the arrogant Gojo Satoru), complaining that they were too "willful and reckless" and "difficult to communicate with."
She played with these self-righteous old foxes like teasing mice in a glass box. It was really interesting to see them feel happy or anxious because of her slightly ambiguous attitudes.
At the same time, her [Ether Editing] and [Insight] were working at full capacity, frantically stealing, copying, and archiving the old forces' personnel lists, secret bases, and their shameful evidence of crimes.
The player felt nothing inside, and even felt like laughing. He just silently wrote in his notebook: These, these, and these, are all materials that will be taken away in one go in the future.
——
During these busy days, the technical college welcomed a group of new students.
Although it is said to be a group, there are actually only two people.
There is Kento Nanami, who has a serious face, meticulously combed blond hair, and exudes a forced business atmosphere; and there is Yu Haibara, who is the complete opposite, as sunny and cheerful as a little sun, full of curiosity and enthusiasm for everything.
They were very confused about the atmosphere in the technical high school: the seniors from the previous class in the school - Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko - seemed to have a tense relationship recently and often quarreled.
The entire campus is filled with a strange tension and depression, as if before a storm; there is also a super problematic character named Player who only exists in rumors, has defected to the official, is said to be terrifyingly powerful and unpredictable in behavior, and occasionally appears in the high school. Every time he appears, he almost always clashes with Gojo-senpai and others, and the fights are earth-shattering, and both sides leave with injuries.
Once, the player had just finished a fight with Noise Monster and the others (actually, they went to the beach for a barbecue and tested the effect of Dead Fish Eyes' spell reversal on seafood), and was teleported back to the back mountain of the high school, where they happened to run into two freshmen running on the mountain path.
The player completely ignored them and walked straight ahead as if she hadn't seen them. But after taking two steps, she turned back with a hint of curiosity, her red eyes scanning the two newcomers.
[Insight] Skill runs automatically.
Nanami Kento: Rigorous, self-disciplined, mature...
[Grayfield]: Enthusiastic, optimistic, and with a strong sense of justice...
"Oh," the player commented without emotion, "It's a standard hot-blooded manga template, with a cheerful male lead and a cold male second. "
Then he turned and walked away without any reluctance, as if he had only seen two special grasses on the side of the road.
Kento Nanami and Yuu Haihara were left standing there, looking at the direction where the little girl with white hair, red eyes and a strange aura disappeared, with confused looks on their faces, completely confused about the situation.
Gojo Satoru, standing nearby, wore a wicked smile. He deliberately approached the two junior students and threatened them in an exaggerated tone, "Be careful of that girl with white hair and red eyes! She's super scary! She has a terrible temper! She hits people at the slightest provocation! And she's a government official's lackey!"
Geto Xia Yu was a little gentler than him, but he reminded her in an equally serious tone: "If you meet Ms. Player, try not to attract her attention, and don't get into conflict with her."
Ieiri Naoko added calmly while chewing on a candy cane, "That girl's willful behavior is of the highest order. If she forces you to do something strange, it's best to go along with her first, as saving your own life is paramount."
The two were stunned when they heard this, and Huiyuan Xiong immediately responded with full energy: "Yes! I understand, seniors!"
Nanami Kento exhaled slowly, "...I understand."
Players continue to act as they please when operating within the confines of the high school.
She frequently used [Teleportation] to go in and out, sometimes even making quite a noise to try out new ideas.
These frequent, powerful operations that are completely inconsistent with the conventional energy system of this world finally attracted the faint attention of Tianyuan, an existence hidden deep in the underground Hongxing Palace and almost integrated with the barrier.
In that nearly omniscient and omnipotent barrier perception, the player is like a garbled code that suddenly appears and cannot be fully parsed, a huge [variable] whose behavior pattern has no logic at all.
Tian Yuan did not take any direct action because of this. His way of existence determined that he was more inclined to observe and maintain.
But there is no doubt that his ancient and silent consciousness has begun to silently and continuously pay attention to this white-haired, red-eyed [variable], observing what unpredictable impact her existence will bring to the barrier on this land and the entire world of spells.
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