Chapter 64 Old Campus [Warning! Your character resonance level is too low...]
Xue Chao kept his eyes open under the book, watching everything that happened in the classroom through Deng Dayun's camera, coldly observing Deng Dayun being bullied, using this as evidence of his inner thoughts... Sure enough, he discovered it.
The entire classroom is getting dark.
The classroom lights were already dim, like old light bulbs that had been used for over a decade. The light they cast sliced each mask into a patch of shadow and light. The cold, quiet moonlight seeped into the classroom, mixing with the old, warm light, like cold water hitting fire, creating a crackling, deathly atmosphere in the air.
But when the moonlight was blocked, the lights in the room dimmed as well. The classroom was dark not because any light was missing, but like a photograph whose brightness or clarity had been manually reduced by someone.
This is a precursor to "alienation".
Xue Chao put his coat back on: "Don't scare me like this... Even if it's really haunted, don't make a sound. I'm sleeping even if ghosts don't."
After saying that, she seemed to actually fall asleep.
Jiang Ming, always eager to kick someone when they're down, always eager to take advantage of others' misfortunes. He raised his hand with a grin and said, "Teacher, why did you stop teaching? What are you looking at? Is there something behind us?"
"..." The subtle pause in the crowd was like someone who had lifted a stone and hit themselves in the foot.
Under the strange and quiet gazes of everyone, Deng Dayun silently sat back down. He simply closed his eyes and completely shut himself in his own world to avoid losing points on his role-playing. With his other hand, he started drawing little devils on his English notebook. Black lines circled and circled, tangled together in a mess, slowly solidifying, just like his calming emotions.
Xue Chao, under his coat, heard his breathing stop trembling. In the camera's view, the barely perceptible, strange darkness slowly receded, the lights brightened a little, and moonlight emerged from the clouds.
Xue Chao has two guesses about the occurrence of "alienation". One is that the plot of the "memoir" will change and collapse when it reaches a certain point. The other is that if the so-called "memoir" is actually the beautiful time that the protagonist longs for the most, and once the protagonist wavers and begins to doubt the beauty, the entire campus will collapse.
The first unit is very similar to the plot point of "family change", where the instance begins to change, but Jiang Ming said that if he didn't pretend to be stupid, "the dreamy childhood" would have ended.
The shocking plot point that could be tested in the second unit is the death of Jiang Ming's parents, which has nothing to do with the protagonist of the second unit. Isn't that ridiculous?
So it's not the plot itself that's developing, but rather the protagonist that shakes the foundation of the story. When Pu Fengchun sees the family of three in the pool of blood, she is seeing herself. Her mind is in turmoil, and the world she imagines begins to crumble.
Similarly, the theme of the third unit is quite clear: Deng Dayun was caught up in the character's negative emotions, and a subtle change occurred on campus as a result.
The bell rang, and the eerie atmosphere in the classroom eased. Everyone's faces fell, and they left school one after another. The class monitor stayed behind to collect the homework and deliver it to the office later. Pu Fengchun packed her things and lagged behind the students, slowly making her way out. Rose crossed her legs and watched her leave with an air of nonchalance. Pu Fengchun didn't even glance at her, but bumped into a returning student and received some bad news—her mother was in the homeroom teacher's office, chatting with the teacher, and asked her to wait a while.
The classroom is out of the question, all the NPCs are gone, and all that's left are a few players and the host. Rose can take action directly, but it doesn't fit her character to just follow the students leaving school to the gate...
Just as the class monitor finished organizing the homework, Pu Fengchun volunteered to help her deliver it, and waited in the office for his mother and teacher to finish their conversation.
Rose hummed softly. Both locators were used up, and she could no longer kill remotely once out of sight. But she seemed in no hurry. She placed a white, translucent, multicolored glass bead on a petal and rolled it gently, like dewdrops adorning a red rose. She quietly watched Pu Fengchun leave.
Next to Class Two was the east staircase. Pu Fengchun followed behind the class monitor, chatting with him every now and then. When the class monitor stepped over the threshold of the stairwell, he tripped and fell. Pu Fengchun caught him quickly, but the homework in his arms rolled down the stairs and fell all the way to the next step.
Pu Fengchun was also carrying her homework and was momentarily inconvenient. Fortunately, the class monitor was alright. After thanking her, she quickly ran down to pick up her homework. Pu Fengchun bent down to put down her homework and prepared to help, but instead picked up a crystal-clear glass bead. The white glass bead had a faint iridescent light, like it had been coated with glitter used by girls in makeup... Makeup?
Pu Fengchun suddenly grabbed the railing and looked down. The class monitor was gone. The pages of the book fluttered down and stopped on the 13th step, but the door on the first floor was still closed. She didn't hear the door open... The class monitor disappeared on the steps.
The sound of small leather shoes clicking on the marble slabs came from behind her. She quickly dodged, but the other person was faster. One hand grabbed her neck, and Pu Fengchun's waist slammed against the railing. Her upper body leaned back over the railing, and she grabbed the girl's hand tightly. The top of the book was flipped haphazardly, making a rustling sound as if it was about to snap. But every page was drawn with a pair of calm eyes, staring at the girl no matter how she turned the page. Pu Fengchun wondered, why didn't she just stab her to death?
"Stop looking, I've locked them in the classroom. I wasted two of my abilities dealing with someone like you. I really don't know what he's so afraid of..." the girl mocked maliciously.
Pu Fengchun tried to slow his breathing and ease the pain: "...Your master didn't want...to kill me...If I die...he will get nothing..."
The girl was instantly enraged, grabbing a stack of book pages from Pu Fengchun's head and slamming them against the railing: "You think your life is worth a lot? You think death is death? Pu Fengchun, don't you know how you got the secret from your teacher's corpse?"
"...I understand. With weapons like you, there must be other 'tools' for your use... As long as the player's belongings are returned to... the real world... we can trace... and possibly find useful memories..." Pu Fengchun's book was open, and red ink-like marks smudged from the pages, revealing a line of black text on the red paper, but without her voice accompanying it. "Members of large guilds and divine weapons are equipped with 'self-destruct programs' to prevent the corpses from having their memories traced... By getting involved in this mission, you will also be considered an 'insider.' Whether I die or not, you will die. You truly deserve to be called a 'weapon.'"
A flash of cold light appeared, and a short, broad knife inlaid with jewels emerged from the stamen of the red rose. It was transferred into the girl's hand, which she raised high. Pu Fengchun, who was suddenly released, slipped to the ground, but still calmly looked up, watching the knife fall. At that moment, the door on the first floor was kicked open, and a group of people squeezed in. The stone masked head split open, revealing a face full of human eyes, scrutinizing the girl's every move.
Students who had left school returned, and those who hadn't left crowded around the second-floor entrance. NPCs from the entire campus surrounded the small stairwell, with hundreds of eyes fixed on the girl, like law enforcement cameras monitoring criminals.
[Warning! Your character's resonance level is below 30. If it remains below 30 within 10 seconds, the main quest 1 "Role Playing" will be automatically considered a failure and will be repeated...]
Xue Chao pushed through the crowd and took out a camera hidden on the bookshelf at the end of the corridor. On the screen, the corridor was filled with people, but there was no one around him except for a group of broken sculptures with student ID cards on their heads standing next to him, peering out from all directions and staring intently at the outside of the camera.
Since they returned to the real campus, the camera's view has shifted to an alternate dimension. The camera mode cannot be turned off, and the sculpture is very resentful. At first, it deliberately climbed onto the camera and frantically slapped it, but after finding that Xue Chao was unmoved, the sculpture refused to give up and started following him wherever he went, constantly staring out of the camera and using its eyes to express its condemnation. If it accidentally scared someone to death, it would consider it extra money.
He placed the camera behind the book beforehand, pointing the lens at the stairwell and capturing half of it in the frame—Red Rose thought there were no more NPCs, but in fact everything was under the gaze of the NPCs in the camera.
"Why is the attack animation so long?" Jiang Ming rubbed the sunflower petals, stroking his chin, and squeezed into the front row to watch the spectacle. "Why does the villain die from talking too much? Why didn't they just stab her to death right away?"
The girl drew her sword and pulled out a knife-shaped mirror. With her other hand, she took a lip gloss from Pu Fengchun's breast pocket and, oblivious to his presence, touched up her makeup in the mirror. The two bright red petals pressed together, making a "pop" sound. "Classmate, don't take other people's things so easily next time. Not everyone can become a red flower just by adding a little color... I hope you don't mind this little lesson?"
She doesn't need to act out her arrogance; she's born knowing how to use her beauty to hurt others.
"Because she wasn't truly reckless, she left herself room to maneuver... Sigh, it seems she won't underestimate her opponent again." Xue Chao then answered Jiang Ming's question.
Jiang Ming laughed: "Things don't happen more than three times."
[Resonance Level: 32]
The countdown has been cancelled.
[The "Ubiquitous" debuff has been triggered: Your actions, which deviate from your established persona, have aroused suspicion. The dungeon's inhabitants will increase their attention to you and constantly scrutinize your behavior. Please play your role conscientiously. Complete the main quest.]
The debuff will automatically disappear when the resonance level reaches 80.
The crisis was temporarily averted, and the crowd dispersed again. However, due to the debuff, the probability of NPCs appearing increased dramatically. The teacher called her out by name, telling her to pick up her homework and keep up, clearly indicating that she needed to be reprimanded.
The girl, not wanting to defy the wind, didn't even glance at Pu Fengchun and Xue Chao. She rolled up her sleeves to her elbows, loosened her hair, and made some small gestures to show her rebellion. Amidst the rising resonance, she stomped away in her little leather shoes.
But she already knew who it was, and the camera.
Xue Chao asked curiously, "Divine Weapons don't sound like something from a charity business, do they?"
Even when joining the crowd, Deng Dayun can pinpoint the most remote corner. Like an invisible door god specializing in hiding behind doors, he slowly "reveals his human form," and the shock of him emerging is comparable to that of a ghost.
After these few incidents, combined with the "1v1" tag, he guessed who the players were. After digesting it for a while, hearing "divine weapon" sent another shock through his brain: "What does that mean?"
Jiang Ming smoothly followed Xue Chao's train of thought: "You're right, they'll all be brainwashed. A weapon in hand doesn't need to have its own thoughts; its sole purpose is to complete the task of the wielder. It cannot be disobeyed, it is not afraid of being destroyed, and it must forge ahead without hesitation..."
He paused there, and Xue Chao continued, "Isn't death a pity?"
Jiang Ming chuckled and corrected, "It's just a worthless life."
If the girl's mission was to kill Pu Fengchun and Xue Chao, the two assassination attempts in the previous unit could be attributed to carelessness and failure. She could have simply killed Pu Fengchun just now. Why would the divine soldiers care about failing to complete the main mission? They live only for "their master's mission."
Pu Fengchun finally caught her breath, the suffocation subsided, and she struggled to get up. Xue Chao helped her up, examining the bruises on her neck and knees, as well as the dried red ink on her head: "Either the mission has other hidden reasons, or she has other ulterior motives—go to the infirmary first, I remember it's on the fourth floor."
"No need to bother anymore," Jiang Ming said in a strange tone.
The strong smell of disinfectant wafted into Xue Chao's nose first. He turned his head and saw a glaring white corridor, a white that looked cold and old. There were three blue waiting chairs side by side by the door. The nearest room had a sign that read "202". The wall was covered with the attending physician's introduction and a headless half-body photo. Iodine and cotton swabs were placed on the nurses' station opposite.
Xue Chao: "...The fifth strange tale is that the predecessor of the Ninth Middle School was an abandoned hospital."
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