-1-
"...Monsters, all monsters..."
In the classroom, Hong Shu stood up shakily.
The terrifying black shadow had left here and landed in another classroom on the broken floor.
...The monster went far away, as if all its attention was attracted by a new toy.
But Hong Shu's fingers still couldn't help trembling.
Horror...horror that no mortal could look upon...that girl...that monster.
After maxing out his strength and obtaining the "High Strength Type" specially marked by the game system next to his player ID, and successfully passing his sixth A-level copy... Hong Shu was so confident.
"With a strong fist, you can have everything", this was once Hong Shu's motto.
That's why he exploits weak low-level players, that's why he looks down on those who are merely smart idiots, that's why he can use indigenous NPCs with similar faces as props without any hesitation.
...But, confidence, strength, sense of security, everything Hong Shu had, was shattered by a few punches from that monster.
He took a few steps and fell back to the ground, half-kneeling, continuing to feel tears and snot flowing at the same time.
...Physiological reaction, or psychological reaction, he no longer had the extra intelligence to distinguish.
No one could stand in front of that girl without trembling and feeling afraid.
-2-
Suddenly, the dark shadow fell into a classroom on the other floor of the cracked teaching building. She moved, seemed to turn her head back, and slowly stared at him again.
Pitch-black eyes, dark shadows.
Hong Shu shuddered, as if he was facing death again.
-3-
In fact, Miss M in the distance just stood up and glanced at him briefly.
Mr. P coughed lightly and took her hand. "Who are you looking at? The player? Is there anything I should pay attention to?"
"...Nothing. Little P, you're such a weakling. I thought you might have a cold since you're coughing like that, so I wanted to find you a coat."
Miss M frowned and turned back: "But that one looks so dirty. That garbage is smeared with snot and tears all over it."
Mr. P: “…”
Mr. P: "Thank you for your concern. Actually, I'm fine. Just give me another hug."
"...You're the Holy Father, right? A weakling like you, unable to protect himself, yet you're trying to save a trash player's life... Even if you didn't distract me, I wouldn't kill him again. I don't want my sickle to get stained with trash snot. I'll leave everything else to you. You can handle this according to your so-called formal procedures. Don't worry."
"Well, I'm relieved. You don't like Scar."
"...What does this have to do with Scar? What exactly are you worried about?"
-4-
——In Hong Shu’s opinion, after the black shadow stared at him, it turned back and planned to find this place and completely wipe him out.
Adrenaline sensed the owner's fear and it was secreted rapidly, allowing him to briefly regain the ability to think.
Run!
Hurry, hurry——before that thing catches up, log out of the game completely——
Log out of the game. Yes, he had to seize the opportunity, complete the dungeon, and log out of the game... [Kill the female student], it definitely wouldn't be that monster. The game had never set up such a terrifying boss...
Hong Shu thought anxiously, fumbling to pull out the last item he could get - the location map he had hidden on his body, wrapped in a plastic bag, which he had used to solve the puzzle in the dungeon -
He hastily threw away the plastic bag, unfolded the map, and struggled to move his broken knees towards the classroom exit: "Female student... As expected, it's that... Over here in the female dormitory building, there's also a bright spot..."
Therefore, you need to kill the [Female Student] to complete the game.
Is it the so-called "ex-girlfriend" who was set in the NPC's character background from the beginning?
"Xiu. Think."
-5-
A hand suddenly grabbed his ankle.
Same as before.
Weak and powerless.
But the fragile and timid players who had been beaten so many times had lost the strength to resist.
Even if it was a hand that had only held a pen before, and even if it had just woken up from a coma caused by blood loss, this weak pull still caused the player to fall to the ground.
Hong Shu is no longer the domineering figure who can look down on and oppress others - because the domineering figure who can look down on him has already beaten him to pieces.
So, it's easy.
Hong Shu was dragged to the ground.
My head is buzzing.
“…Don’t even think about it.”
-6-
The student tightly grasped Hong Shu's ankle, took a breath, and then dragged him up little by little by his ankle.
They are all scarred, but unlike players who always want to "quit the game", students have the tenacity to protect others even at the cost of their own lives.
——This is his life, this is his world. A student’s life is only about studying hard and spending every day diligently. There is absolutely no option of “quitting the game”.
so……
The hand that once held the pen, now stained with blood, gradually tightened its grip on Hong Shu's throat.
"Don't even think about it... Never..."
Go to hell.
Go to hell.
Calling them all just casual passersby playing the game... casually instigating him to attack the child... wanting to use the girl he cherished as a prop... disregarding human life, worse than pigs and dogs... this... villain... scum... scum...
The student breathed rapidly and the strength in his hands became stronger and stronger.
Go to hell.
In this world of weird stories, distorted reality—only if this kind of scumbag dies completely—can Squad Leader Qianqian be truly safe—can she be protected—
The face of the strange man under his command gradually turned purple, and his veins bulged fiercely.
Hong Shu, who was short of oxygen, began to kick and tear at the student who was on top of him, but the student tightly gripped his throat—using almost all the strength that could only be released on the verge of death, and refused to let go—die, die, die—
-7-
"Don't."
A hand gently patted the student's shoulder.
Someone behind him said gently, "You're a good boy who needs to study. Don't get your hands dirty."
The student was stunned.
——A circle of crimson light suddenly burst out from the body of Hong Shu who was being held down tightly—no, it was crimson light that tightly bound him like shackles, opened a pitch-black hole, and swallowed him directly into a prison somewhere outside the world.
"Please leave the follow-up to our maintenance department. Don't worry."
The student turned around and saw Mr. P standing behind him.
Just like the person we met before on bus No. 999, he was an extremely reliable adult with a calm look in his eyes.
"It's okay," he said slowly. "He won't hurt that girl again. He won't hurt anyone again. It's okay... relax your fingers... breathe easily... It's okay, Pan."
-8-
The student, Pan Qiqi, looked at him and began to tremble little by little.
He whimpered, "Sir...you're here...I...squad leader..."
Mr. P held his shoulder very firmly and recounted the story slowly, "She was in the girls' dormitory, in her own room. She was sleeping. I had put a lot of precautions in place when I left, so she was very safe."
Pan Qiqi: "Wuwuwu...wuwuwu...that...scumbag..."
Mr. P's tone remained calm, conveying a sense of security. "Yes. Our maintenance department will take care of it. Even in this strange and twisted world of the unreal, you must abide by the rules and be a good child, Xiao Pan. If you encounter scumbags when you return to reality, you must call the police immediately. Got it? Don't get yourself dirty."
"It's okay...it's over. I'll take you away with the other kids in five minutes."
Pan Qiqi sniffed.
Tears finally welled up in my eyes: "Wow wow wow wow!"
-9-
Miss M was standing behind her subordinate who was comforting the crowd. She was looking down and trying to find a usable windproof jacket. She rolled her eyes silently when she heard this.
What kind of Holy Father.
Even when they are half dead, they still have to comfort and save people, and care about the mental health of minors.
And she saved everyone. Not only did Hong Shu not let her kill anyone, but this slightly interesting student also stopped her - "Okay, if this goes on, he's really going to strangle that player to death, Miss M, that's just an innocent student, not suitable for you to drag him into the fun, let me go and stop him" -
whispering sound.
It's so boring that you don't allow this or that.
They are just undead responsible for terrorist maintenance, not public servants who maintain social order.
...However, even Miss M would not attack public servants during the maintenance process.
She has always classified people who are willing to devote themselves to such professions as "boring and unnecessary" and stays away from them.
No matter which world, the existence that maintains order and protects the law can play with her.
The thickest darkness will always subconsciously avoid the true light and take a detour.
-10-
...Miss M has seen too many lives, too many human beings.
All living beings.
There are some that are extremely trashy and disgusting, and some that are extremely kind and righteous.
There was once a monk who insisted on chanting sutras to her for seven hundred days, saying something like "Put down the butcher knife and you will become a Buddha instantly."
Miss M ignored it completely. She was not a ghost made up of resentment. The monks were unable to liberate her after chanting for 700 days.
But on the 701st day, Miss M suddenly appeared, raised her sickle, and directly chopped off the head of the abbot of the Buddhist temple.
They also slaughtered all the four thousand bandits who were led by the abbot who had enriched himself, and who burned, killed, and looted villages along the way, went up the mountain to destroy Buddha statues, tore up the scriptures, and raped nuns.
-11-
On the 702nd day of the monk's chanting, he knelt deeply in front of her, holding his Buddhist beads.
His bald head hit the stone steps outside the temple. The sky was filled with the rosy sunset glow, and his forehead was covered with the blood of the bandits.
The monk didn't say thank you, he just kowtowed to her three times.
Then he trembled and cried.
"If you can't put down your butcher knife, the world will let you down."
Miss M swung her scythe, splashing dirty blood onto the silent mountain wall.
She still ignored the monk who was talking to himself. She had said before that she couldn't play with these people.
-12-
Doing good deeds and accumulating virtue has nothing to do with her. For her, wielding a sickle to wipe out a few bandits is just a matter of a flick of the finger.
It was just a reward for the monk chanting sutras for seven hundred days.
She doesn't want to get close to this kind of boring person, but she doesn't hate him either, that's all.
-13-
...But, Little P is very different.
He does exceptionally kind and righteous things, never rejects anyone who asks for help, and his eyes and smile are full of tolerance when he looks at others. In some ways, he is no different from the monk who stubbornly recites the 700-day sutra.
But he never restrained himself.
As long as he is interested, he will try everything. If he is targeted, he will retaliate in subtle ways. If she says no, then no, and if she says yes, then yes. He will frankly praise her for being cute every day, but he will also reiterate every day that he does not want to be in a relationship.
And, every time, when Xiao P decides to save someone...
[He is not suitable for you to drag him into the fun. Let me stop him.]
...It seems that it has something to do with her?
-14-
Miss M couldn't explain it clearly. She was driven by fun and rarely stopped to think.
But she knew without thinking—
Those who are just and kind will always stand against her.
But her subordinate, Xiao P, always stands with her.
Even if he helps someone, he won't take the other side.
He always stood beside her, with his face slightly turned, his eyes as if asking for his boss's opinion, and then he held her hand or hugged her directly to stop her.
"Please calm down," the words he used to stop her were neither too harsh nor too soft, but Miss M could inexplicably calm down and listen to his advice every time.
First of all, killing those things is not as fun as persecuting Little P.
Secondly, if she kills those things, her salary will be deducted.
...After being pulled and stopped, and hearing some gentle and soft words of persuasion, Miss M has gone crazy much less frequently recently than before.
-15-
Therefore, all colleagues are so grateful to and love Angel.
The 49 years before Angel joined the company and after Angel joined the company were simply the years of war and peace.
Angels are born... no, they die to save the world.
-16-
——However, even if there are some weird things, Little P is still very saintly, and there is no hope for such a saintly person.
Miss M rolled her eyes silently again as she heard Pan Qiqi's frightened cry.
Look how he coaxes the child.
I cried as if I had gone home to see my mother.
...to stabilize your emotions and do your psychological work, because he is going to erase your memory in five minutes, kid.
The calmer you recover, the faster the memory will be erased.
Why are you crying... Just cry, why are you hugging him... Hey, isn't there your squad leader's ex-girlfriend you're obsessed with? Why are you hugging a grown man and wiping your tears on him?
-17-
Mr. P: Hmm.
My boss is glaring at me.
Mr. P immediately raised his hand and let Pan Qiqi, who was crying more and more calmly, fall into a deep sleep, and then laid him flat on the ground.
"That's all. I'll input the memory-erasing instructions later... or wait a few minutes? Do you want to say goodbye to that female classmate who's taking a nap?"
Miss M snorted coldly: "Goodbye? Go straight into her dream and chase her and hack her, yelling 'Don't call me little meow' as you do it?"
“…Okay, I understand.”
Mr. P found a place and took out the energy belonging to the original boss that he had just absorbed.
A crimson light burst out from his fingertips again, but this time, in Miss M's eyes, the light only formed a very harmless, slow and weak shape - there was no way it could be sharp enough to pierce the heart of an evil spirit.
It's just pure data.
It fluctuates from time to time, as if it has lost energy, and is constantly maintaining a connection to the terrifying maintenance system.
...In theory, employees responsible for world travel can also complete tasks that can be done in the office outside the system world.
But, it's only in theory.
Aside from Mr. P, Ms. M had never seen any employee truly escape the system world and directly access the circuit center of the myriad worlds—
If she had to make an analogy, uh, Xiao P's behavior was like drawing CG special effects directly on the ground with chalk, without using the computer?
-18-
She couldn't explain it.
Miss M had a hunch that there was something strange about Mr. P's manipulation of the data spots, but she was not a professional in this field and could not see it at all, so she could only put the strange feeling behind her.
——There’s no way. Miss M doesn’t have a deep understanding of these very sophisticated logistical tasks. After all, she is an existence that can cut through the world with one sword. It is difficult for her to understand those jobs that control the entire world dimension from the data level.
It's like watching Mr. P using dominoes to build the Forbidden City complex, watching him precisely and carefully arrange the positions, adjust the angles, and lay out the spectacular scenery bit by bit.
Then Miss M would kick it with a "bang" every time.
Then, with the background sound of dominoes "click, click, click", he looked at his subordinate who turned around.
-19-
Mr. P: “…”
Ms. M: "What are you looking at? Want to fight?"
Mr. P: “…”
Ms. M: "You're in the bedroom with your boss at 11pm, playing dominoes. Do you want to fight or die?"
Mr. P: “…”
Ms. M: "If you don't make supper for your boss or take him to bed, Little P, and you don't feed your boss, can your boss use you to feed his sickle? After that, he can use you to make a brand new set of dominoes?"
“…”
-20-
Subordinates... The subordinates may think they can't beat her, and they also think they don't want to die.
Every time, the end of their eye contact was that he silently turned his head away, stood up the dominoes again, and reassembled them piece by piece.
—And, before his boss could kick her again, he quickly carried her away.
Carry it into the kitchen for a midnight snack.
Or just carry them to bed.
-twenty one-
...It's not just dominoes, and it's not just limited to nighttime. Miss M has the same attitude towards her subordinates' sand castles, building blocks, matchstick bridges, playing card Eiffel Towers, and so on.
Because Mr. P seems to like using all kinds of small things to patiently build grand scenes.
So Miss M always likes to destroy the things he has built with so much patience.
-twenty two-
Besides, anyway, the subordinates won't be angry with her.
Little P is the kind of person who wasn't even angry at Domino even though she destroyed the Forbidden City.
——That’s why Miss M likes to torment him so much.
-twenty three-
Similarly, watching subordinates input data bit by bit, manipulate light spots, observe dimensions... is also a difficult task for Miss M.
Every time I watch my subordinates work, I feel like I am reading a book written in a foreign language.
If she looks at it for too long, she will get annoyed, and if she gets annoyed for too long, she will want to kick it and destroy it directly.
But that was a proper job, not a sand castle or a building block tower, and Miss M couldn't kick it.
So she settled for the next best thing and took action directly.
"Little P! Get to work! I'm so annoyed!"
Subordinate: "I know, I know, you are very annoying... but you are not annoying when you create all these tasks for me... Stop kicking me, stop kicking me, please stop kicking me..."
——Well, while shouting "I'm annoyed", he kicked his subordinates.
Kick him in the back, kick him in the arms, kick him in the shoulders, kick him in the head.
The boss would throw his shoes aside and half-lye on the sofa with his legs crossed. Every time he felt annoyed by his complicated work, he would hold a magazine and kick it with his sock-covered feet.
"If you're so annoyed, you can stop watching me work..."
"No. I just want to see Xiao P. Xiao P, I'm so annoyed——"
-twenty four-
This is one of the daily working scenes of the horror maintenance department.
-25-
...one of those everyday scenes that no one has ever seen, since no one dares to visit the terrifying maintenance department.
Therefore, colleagues who heard about this often expressed their sympathy and concern for Mr. P during casual conversations in the tea room.
"Angels are so pitiful. Not only do they have daily accidents, but they also get kicked out by their bosses even though they're doing a good job."
Mr. P, who was just passing by, said: What on earth is there to be pitied about?
-26-
...Poor Miss M, when I was kicked today, she wasn't wearing colorful striped socks, but plain white socks?
But plain white socks are also fine. Very fine.
Don't you understand? Simple cuteness?
——But Mr. P never argued. He believed that if he wanted to argue, he would have to show his colleagues the real footage of the daily kicking he suffered.
-27-
He didn't want to show it.
Other colleagues have not joined the Horror Maintenance Department, so why should they have the department-exclusive benefits of the Horror Maintenance Department? Even angels should have fair welfare benefits.
-28-
……cough.
The daily work scenes of the Horror Maintenance Department may not be easy for normal people to understand.
Now, it is an extremely complicated operation, with light spots flowing into lines and data streams gradually becoming strands.
Mr. P kept adjusting his instructions amidst the flashing data spots, while Ms. M stood behind him with her arms folded.
Perhaps because he was injured, or perhaps because he was out of the system world, he was very slow this time.
The data of all players were retrieved and sent back to their original worlds. All surviving indigenous people were retrieved, their memories were deleted, and they were sent back to the original world 198 one by one.
Pan Qiqi was the last one because Mr. P also helped him heal his wounds - the indigenous people who were directly injured by players from another dimension could not recover from their wounds after returning to reality.
Hong Shu's beating caused Pan Qiqi to be seriously injured, and the medical level of the 198 world itself could only keep the boy alive.
So he took action, slightly overstepping the boundaries and using a healing method that surpassed the medical level of this original human world.
It is not considered a violation. Mr. P still has the obligation to protect the client's body during the transaction.
-29-
The day when Pan Qiqi wins back his ex-girlfriend, the deal between him and Mr. P will be completely completed.
——Of course, after this incident, I believe he will be more determined to study hard and do well in the exam.
The day the transaction is completed... after this kid finishes the college entrance examination, he will come to the 198th world again, and it will probably be over.
Based on his observation of the girl.
-30-
Miss M watched him cast another layer of extra protection over the two students.
"You are surprisingly gentle to these two young students, Xiao P." It seems that it is not just a pretense.
"As an adult, it is our duty to protect children."
Mr. P turned his head, the cold data points making him look even paler. "As someone who's been working for a long time, it's my duty to protect students who are still studying."
"Little P speaks like he's very mature, but he's just a kid who died 49 years ago."
"Haha, of course. Compared to you, I'm a kid. I'm your kid."
"……boring."
"You are the same, Miss M. Zhang Qianqian is the only one who called you Little Meow and didn't die tragically."
……snort.
Miss M put her hands even tighter in her pockets, her face full of impatience.
"Do you still want to see her? That girl already considers you her best friend." Mr. P looked at Zhang Qianqian, who was slowly drifting back to her bedroom bed on the other end of the data stream. "Actually, I can more or less delete my memories of this horrible world and retain some of them..."
"Need not."
Miss M interrupted him: "That was a living young child. The dead should not be involved with the living, Xiao P. You reminded me of this before."
-31-
Yeah.
Mr. P raised his lip corners. "So, Zhang Qianqian, I haven't yet piqued your interest in making any special exceptions."
"...You're talking strangely today, Little P. Did you injure your brain when you got hurt?"
"I'm only pleased with myself, Miss M. I..."
M was too lazy to listen anymore. Seeing the data light spots used to transmit life gradually go out and the world began to reorganize and recover, she reached out and pulled Mr. P's arm.
-32-
"Hurry up, Little P."
She really spoke in a very nasty way, and her action of pulling his arm and shaking it was not polite at all.
"Since you're seriously injured today, I won't kick you. But hurry up, I don't want to have to keep watching these logistical tasks that give me a headache. Is it done? If it's done, let's go back. There's still some roast chicken in the office that I haven't finished."
……yes.
-33-
Different from them.
It's not a chance encounter, nor is it just one of the ordinary people.
I...now...
"Okay. Let's go, Miss M."
Now, I am standing by your side.
Standing beside you, as close to you as possible.
-34-
Mr. P held Miss M's hand with his backhand and took his boss, who was about to tear off his sleeves, out of the world.
The passage leading out of here is a pitch-black cave entrance. There seems to be no light, leading to deeper darkness.
But, he was shaking his boss's hand, and his boss was pulling his sleeve.
……very nice.
-35-
The subordinate seemed to be distracted again.
Miss M pulled his sleeve and started drawing circles, her voice loud: "Little P—I'm so annoying—Hurry up! If you dawdle again, I'm really going to kick you, okay?"
…It’s okay to go into darkness.
Because we are together.
"Okay. ...And please don't kick me."
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