9 Menggui High School (9)
The big shot was making unwanted advances towards his deskmate.
The students gradually left the classroom.
This scene looks increasingly no different from a real high school.
The only difference is that these children in school uniforms not only lack youthful vitality, but they are also all lifeless, adding an inescapable gloom to the school.
Instead of immediately following Qin Fu'an out, Nan Zhu and the others looked at him tacitly.
Qin Fu'an stuffed the densely packed test papers on the table into his desk, got up, and walked out.
As soon as he moved, the remaining players followed suit. This scene looked strangely like the arrogant school bullies in campus novels who always had their underlings following them around.
However, Qin Fu'an stopped at the door.
He turned around and found that his deskmate was still sitting in his seat.
Qin Fu'an walked out of the classroom and turned to walk towards the other end of the corridor. Nan Zhu and the others were wondering what was going on when they found Qin Fu'an leaning against that familiar windowsill, harassing his NPC deskmate.
Players: "..."
"See, I told you I wasn't mistaken," Bai Song couldn't help but defend himself. "I saw him touching his deskmate inappropriately during class!"
His tone was firm and resolute.
Qin Fu'an, who happened to have excellent hearing, paused in his bending over, and then, under the wary gaze of his little classmate, asked the most ordinary question.
"What will you do if you get hungry if you don't go to the cafeteria for lunch?"
The next second, he saw a flash of resistance and disdain in Xie Yunhuai's eyes.
Qin Fu'an naturally attributed this minor grievance to disliking the cafeteria food, and it was definitely not directed at him personally.
He raised his hand, and with a smile, he swept it over Xie Yunhuai's head, amidst his deskmate's glare that carried a hint of warning. He then tilted his hand to the side, and his long, slender fingers with distinct knuckles easily picked up his student ID card from the table.
As Xie Yunhuai silently breathed a sigh of relief, Qin Fu'an mischievously tapped his desk lightly with the corner of his student ID, making a soft tapping sound.
"Little student, being a picky eater can really lead to stunted growth. Are you sure you don't want to eat?"
Xie Yunhuai: "..."
He's so annoying.
Before Xie Yunhuai could utter any words of refusal or awkwardness, Qin Fu'an had already withdrawn his hand, straightened up, and walked straight towards the stairwell.
Just like that reminder was really just a reminder, and there was absolutely no other intention to intimidate or mock them.
Xie Yunhuai stared out the window as his figure disappeared, and the emotions he had been holding back gradually dissipated.
Of course he knew he would be hungry if he didn't eat, but... Xie Yunhuai couldn't stomach those disgusting foods that never changed, day after day. In those chaotic memories, in the endless cycle of struggling to break free, he had lost count of how many times he had eaten in a daze.
Later, he realized that he wouldn't die even if he didn't eat, and that he would have died long ago even if he lived.
So it makes no difference. Instead of going through all that trouble, it's better to stay in the classroom and wait peacefully for the day of the college entrance exam.
Once the college entrance exam is over, regardless of whether Qin Fu'an is alive or dead, Xie Yunhuai will finally be able to completely get rid of his existence.
Thinking of this, the pale-faced boy gently tugged at the corners of his lips, a smile that was neither a smile nor a cry.
In the stairwell of the teaching building, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the narrow space. Bai Song thought for a while and still couldn't help but ask, "B-Big Brother, is your deskmate some kind of special NPC? Can you get the dungeon storyline by talking to him?"
What he really wanted to say was: "Hey, did you get any key information from your deskmate?"
But he was too embarrassed to ask such a shameless question, so he decided to do it himself.
Upon hearing this, Qin Fu'an, who was walking ahead, turned around and glanced at him.
That particularly meaningful glance left Bai Song standing there in a daze for several seconds. After he came to his senses and caught up, he never asked the question again.
Whether it was intuition or not, Bai Song had a feeling that the truth might be different from what he imagined. Maybe he should wait and see...
Just as he was thinking this, he heard Nan Zhu analyze clearly: "It shouldn't be. The main quest of this beginner dungeon has already explained it very clearly. What we need to do is learn enough knowledge in these five days and get enough points to pass the final exam. This is not a puzzle dungeon that requires deduction based on the plot to pass."
Zhao Jiayue followed closely beside Nan Zhu and asked curiously, "Sister Zhu, are there many different kinds of dungeons?"
This is a question that everyone else is curious about, including Qin Fu'an. Nan Zhu is clearly the player who knows the most information about the game.
However, since Qin Fu'an was walking at the front, no one bothered to observe his expression or analyze what he was thinking.
Seeing this, Nan Zhu stopped hiding things as she had at the beginning of the game. Instead, on the way to the cafeteria, she shared as much information as she could. As for how much the other players could learn from this information, or whether they could survive until then, that was not something she could worry about.
"According to what I've heard from others, there are many types of dungeons, such as beginner dungeons, normal dungeons, hard dungeons, super dungeons, special dungeons, competitive dungeons, cooperative dungeons, time-limited dungeons, long-term dungeons, series dungeons, event dungeons, special invitation dungeons, dungeons with double points..."
"Besides these major categories of dungeons, the main types of dungeons are not so complicated. The most mainstream ones are survival dungeons, puzzle dungeons, and containment dungeons. However, as the dungeon level increases, the dangerous elements in many dungeons will also increase or even overlap."
At this point, Nan Zhu glanced at Qin Fu'an's back as he walked ahead, and said in a deep voice to the people listening attentively beside him, "However, compared to the types of dungeons, what we players actually need to understand more is the types of monsters."
"Strange things...types?" Zhao Jiayue, a complete novice, repeated blankly, then asked curiously, "Aren't they all strange things?"
“The truth is exactly the opposite of what we thought.” Ark took over the conversation, speaking in a light tone to avoid sounding too heavy: “In my first beginner dungeon, I didn’t encounter humanoid monsters, but a group of inanimate monsters that would chase and kill players.”
"The creatures I encountered weren't humanoid monsters from this instance either," Bai Song said with a bitter face.
The girl named Chen Qi didn't respond. She remained quiet throughout, but she didn't hold anyone back when danger struck.
After Nan Zhu and the others shared their experiences, they slowly revealed the information they had gleaned from other players.
"When I was in the second instance, I entered a legacy instance."
She briefly explained the meaning of "legacy instance": it means that the players who entered the instance last time haven't all died yet, and the instance hasn't been completely closed, so new players will occasionally be queued to enter.
"I saved a veteran player during a crisis, and she taught me all this knowledge."
"There are all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures, but players have summarized them into several main categories: humanoid creatures, animal creatures, plant creatures, inanimate objects, and individual organs."
"The humanoid monsters are roughly similar to the instance we are currently experiencing, but if we want to break them down, we can subdivide them into at least hundreds of different humanoid monsters, such as monsters disguised as humans, monsters in real human form, and illusory humanoid monsters that are like spirits that can be seen but not touched."
"The remaining animal and plant anomalies are also ever-changing. Sometimes it's an inconspicuous weed by the roadside, or a cat that suddenly jumps out... Every living thing we can see could be a powerful monster, so before entering a dungeon, we must carefully identify the dungeon type and the environment inside the dungeon to eliminate danger for ourselves as soon as possible."
"What I want to tell you specifically is that it is the lifeless monster. In the last dungeon I entered, I encountered this kind of monster, which is why those veteran players have been stuck in it and have not been able to clear the dungeon."
Nan Zhu frowned involuntarily as she thought of the strange creatures she encountered in the last dungeon. She said in a deep voice, "Inanimate strange creatures are probably the most difficult to deal with and the most annoying to encounter for veteran players. Communication with these strange creatures is basically ineffective, and they are also difficult to harm or even eliminate. In most cases, they can only be temporarily contained."
"I'm not entirely sure what the specific inanimate objects are, but in my last instance, I encountered a haunted house that would choose which players to join. If you couldn't keep winning, you'd pay with your life once your chips were depleted. That veteran player also told me about several similar instances she'd encountered, such as a computer that never stopped working, an incinerator that automatically burned living beings, and so on..."
Her narration caused the listeners to unconsciously furrow their brows.
They were just new players who had been linked to the live stream. They originally thought that as long as they could survive and complete the game, they could return to a stable life. But after listening to Nanzhu's description of these bizarre and unpredictable dungeons, the despair and unease in their hearts grew stronger.
Can they really survive in each game?
Are these bizarre and grotesque creatures... really not just a long nightmare?
"Then...can I still go back?" Zhao Jiayue's voice trembled, filled with tears, as she whispered, on the verge of collapse, "My mother is still waiting for me at home, and my dog is still at the vet. If I don't go to pick it up, will it become a stray? Does this game have to go on forever? Is there no way to quit?"
She had just entered the game and had no idea what the game was all about. From morning until now, she had been living in fear and anxiety. Even though she tried to stay calm, she was now almost unable to control her fear.
But coincidentally, the question she asked was exactly what Qin Fu'an wanted to know.
Once you're bound to this so-called livestream room, is there really no going back?
[Author's Note]
Anzai: (eavesdropping) I'm curious, but I won't say.
Yunzai: If you can't starve to death, then starve to death.
Waaaaaah, the last chapter got locked because of the wrong wording. I hope this chapter will be released smoothly.
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