Chapter 103 Group Assignment: I Hate Lazy Group Members
You're huddled in a corner of your dorm room, rubbing your temples while staring blankly at the densely packed Rosean documents on the screen.
This course, called "Intercultural Communication and Observation," is notoriously easy. I checked the alumni reviews of the teacher, and they all said she was a very nice person and exceptionally tolerant of international students.
If you were a true student, this course and assignments should theoretically be quite easy. Unfortunately, now…
You are covered in sweat.
We still need to investigate this carefully.
You recall the course code and enter the student academic affairs system.
The recurring blizzards made the network very unstable, and you were refreshing the webpage while thinking about what topics you should write.
You've considered writing a vague account of your "shopping experience at a convenience store in Los Angeles"—something you've actually experienced firsthand. You don't need to interview anyone or go to an unfamiliar place and risk making a mistake. A thousand words would be more than enough.
—And presumably, teachers who can tolerate students not attending class can also accept assignments translated by machine.
The academic affairs system finally redirected.
When you click on the "Cultural Assignments" section, the screen clearly displays:
"Group Assignment: In groups of three, choose one phenomenon in the cultural life of the country of Los Angeles, conduct on-site interviews, and submit observation records and analyses. Please check the assigned members of your group and complete the joint submission."
Your heart skipped a beat. You zoomed in on the screen: three people?
Open the "My Groups" section.
Two names popped up on the screen:
Xiao Li, Xiao Zhou.
Goodness, how come I didn't see these messages before?
But... what if they've already made one?
You start to fantasize.
Let's find them first.
You've never heard of these two names, and there's no record of them on your phone.
Just two names aren't enough to make them easy to find. After searching various social media platforms and glancing at your computer screen, you finally spot a mysterious icon in the upper right corner of the school's official teaching software.
It really is about [contacting group members].
You click on it.
Enter the sentence: "Hello everyone, I'm also from group ×. We have a group assignment to complete for this cultural course."
I waited for a long time but no one replied.
You close the page, open it again, and send a friend request to the phone number provided on the academic affairs system—they even left a number from the United States.
After waiting quite a while, Xiao Zhou finally accepted your friend request and immediately sent a message: "Huh? There's homework again???"
You: "Yes...it's the final assignment. It needs to be done by three people together."
She: "What? So we really have to play the role of Ruko? We have to do homework too?"
…You reply: “Yes. And although this is a group assignment, it’s best if everyone writes it.”
"Is that so? Then team leader, should you contact that person again? Weren't there supposed to be three people?"
Who said you were the team leader?
You: "I'm not the team leader. I'm trying to add Xiao Li."
Xiao Zhou didn't reply to you again, so you silently added Xiao Li again.
Soon, Li Tongtong also passed the test.
You sent the exact same message.
She replied, "Really?! I had no idea there was a group."
You: "Now that we know, we need to get started quickly. We have less than two weeks left."
She sent a facepalm emoji and then asked, "So what should I write?"
You felt that these two group members were not very reliable, so you created a group chat and then broke down the task into simple steps: "We just need to find a local cultural phenomenon in the country of Los, such as family structure, festival activities, religious participation, municipal activities, shop service style, etc. ... Interview one or two people and write an observation report. We can each write 500 words and submit them together."
You're afraid that if you make the task too complicated, they won't do it.
This time, both sides of the dialog box fell silent.
You can see them typing in your private chat window—the chat bubbles are flashing, but they just don't send the messages.
Xiao Zhou finally sent a voice message: "Team leader, I think you wrote it quite clearly, why don't you and Xiao Li help me write it in too?"
"I don't speak Rose language, and this is my first instance, I really don't know anything."
You raised an eyebrow and typed: "I'm not the team leader... You mean I and Xiao Li did the interview, and then the two of us wrote at least 1000 words and said it was a collaboration between the three of us?"
The other party did not reply.
But then he went to the group chat and said, "Oh dear, I really don't understand these assignments. Xiao Li, would you mind doing some extra work for me?"
Xiao Li finally spoke up: "I'm not in a very good state right now... and I'm leaving here soon... do you know what I mean? Besides, I'm moving, and there aren't many people around to interview."
You sighed and rubbed your forehead in exasperation.
"This isn't about who wrote more or less. We agreed that the three of us would complete this assignment together. If all three of us didn't contribute, something really bad would definitely happen," you explained patiently.
Xiao Zhou hesitated a bit: "Oh, really? What should we do then?"
You typed on your phone for a while, deleting several versions of the "mild but serious" expression, and finally sent only two sentences: "No matter how much or how little you do, since it is a group assignment, everyone must do it, otherwise it will implicate everyone."
The atmosphere in the group chat cooled down again.
You take a deep breath, just about to put down your phone and make a cup of tea, when Xiao Zhou sends another message: "Team leader, how about I do whatever you ask me to do? I really don't know what to do, but if it's not difficult, I'll definitely try my best to do it well."
…Okay, you'll be the team leader then. It seems like only you can be the "leader" now.
Nodding slightly at the screen, you replied, "It's already very good that you can say that."
You initially wanted to let everyone choose a topic together, based on democratic thinking, but after thinking about it, you decided against it. Now that you're the "group leader," maybe being a little more authoritarian would improve efficiency.
You had originally thought of convenience stores, but now you didn't think too much about it and just said, "Then let's set our topic as 'Observing Small Shops in Los Angeles.' Xiao Zhou, could you check if there are any relevant cultural spaces near your place, like convenience stores, bookstores, or cafes, and do some research, then organize your findings?"
Fearing she might be hesitant, you quickly added, "You don't need to do anything else. Just go in, have a bite to eat and a drink, and wander around. We can just write down our own feelings; there's no need to communicate with them."
Xiao Zhou quickly replied: "Okay, I'll go check out the street across from the school tomorrow. There are lots of shops there."
You paused for a moment, feeling a bit of goodwill towards Xiao Zhou. She might not have done much, but at least she was willing to do it.
As for Xiao Li, there was still no response until just before you were about to put your phone down, when she finally sent a message:
"Okay, I'll see if I can shoot some footage in the next couple of days. Don't worry, team leader."
The tone was very light, even carrying a hint of "as long as you don't bother me."
You didn't say much.
After all, she did reply, and she even agreed to "shoot footage".
You are not someone who always wants to compete with others.
You don't feel much emotion towards behaviors like "just being lazy" or "being absent-minded".
You don't care if anyone appreciates your hard work, as long as this matter is completed well. Even if all the organization and writing work has to be done by you, Rose, who is illiterate in language, it doesn't matter.
Seeing that you've managed to motivate your team members, you feel much more at ease.
I opened the document and started writing according to the given format.
You typed:
The Neglected Everyday Scenery: Observations on Street Culture in Los Angeles
—You secretly laugh at yourself; you actually came up with a fairly decent name.
Then write the task assignment below:
Sampling - Xiao Zhou
Image source: Xiao Li
Content integration – yourself
Written by three people together
They were deliberately assigned tasks that were "just enough to do," with clear division of responsibilities. As long as each of them completed their assigned task, there would be no problem with the assignment.
You uploaded this arrangement to the group chat again, and also explained the final writing task: you would have both of them read it again after you finished writing everything, so that it would be considered that everyone had contributed.
Only after receiving double affirmation did you feel relieved.
In any case, the safest approach is to fill all the pits in advance, and then they just need to find a plank each to cover them up.
Unexpectedly, even in this situation, problems still arose.
the next day.
Xiao Zhou's sample was sent first. She had indeed just gone to the store, bought a few books, and ate some snacks. She told you her feelings via voice message.
You immediately responded with high praise.
As for Xiao Li, she made you wait all day before you finally got her "materials".
It's a compressed file containing only images, along with a lazy note:
"This should be enough, right? Oh dear, I've been shooting all day, so there's bound to be some content you can use. You can choose whatever you want; I trust you!"
When you clicked on it, you immediately frowned.
These pictures were not taken by me at all.
She wouldn't even bother to subscribe to a membership to download high-resolution images; instead, she would take screenshots, and not even capture the entire white border of the image.
Most images are easily found with a simple search; several identical pictures with overlapping watermarks can be found directly in the image library provided by the search engine.
Looking through these pictures, you feel utterly speechless.
How could such a simple matter turn out like this? And then you remember her saying she was leaving, which only fuels your anger.
Frowning, you try to calm yourself down, scrolling the mouse up and down, unsure whether this kind of thing should be included in the assignment.
Maybe we should just go and reshoot it ourselves tomorrow. After all, she did do something…
Wait, what is this picture?
Your hand pauses—it's a close-up of a red-hatted puppet, the background blurred into various color blocks, the puppet's head slightly lowered, but its mouth is stretched into an exaggerated smile, its eyes are illuminated, emitting a cold light.
It makes you feel very uncomfortable.
You were startled, and your fingertips quickly unlocked your phone. As always, you changed your phone's screen saver to the standard one.
“13. Puppet shows are common on the streets of Los Angeles.”
But remember, Tamara said more than just that when she verbally explained the rules to you.
You've been staring at that photo for over ten seconds.
Remember what she mentioned again?
The street in the photo is covered in gray snow, and the red brick walls are peeling and crumbling. On the far left of the image, a small stain looks more and more like a street performer in a gray coat, kneeling in a corner of an alley.
But she didn't seem to have any puppets in her hands.
A street performer, but no puppet? The puppet is on the side closest to the camera?
"Hey, reply to me quickly, it's an emergency! What were the precautions you mentioned about the street performers and puppets... I forgot." You still sent a voice message to Tamara.
Fearing she might not know where she was having fun and hadn't had time to check the message, you had no choice but to call her again.
She answered the phone very quickly.
First, he made a few sarcastic remarks, like, "Oh, you still need me, don't you?" Then, noticing that your voice was a little unsteady, he slowly told you.
"If you see the puppet's eyes moving, but the performer's expression doesn't change, walk away immediately."
"Hahaha, what's wrong? Did you run into a puppet? Then you'd better run, hahahaha—"
You hang up the call.
Looking at the image again, that bright spot, whether due to overexposure or something else, flickered slightly as the mouse scrolled up and down.
It looks like—blinking.
Artists in only a few small groups, naturally, remain "unchanged".
You suddenly realize: you're looking at it—you should "walk away"!
But you're not physically present; you're looking at photos on your computer. So how do you "walk away"? Does that also trigger the rules?
And you're in your own room, right? Logically, as long as you don't leave the room…
You quickly closed the image and cleared the cache.
But as soon as your finger leaves the touchpad, you hear a slight "click" sound.
It sounded like the cracking sound of plastic joints rubbing together.
Your scalp is tingling.
The sound is coming from behind your bedroom door.
You tiptoe over and peek through the crack in the door. There, you see a small red wooden puppet sitting on the doormat, nodding its head.
It had no whites in its eyes, just two empty, black button eyes, staring blankly ahead.
Then, the button slid a centimeter away, and the inorganic eyeballs seemed to meet your gaze.
Your heart skipped a beat, and you quickly stood up, your body stiffening.
Is it okay to just stay in the room...?
You hear a gurgling sound; that's your radiator heating up rapidly. The room temperature is rising a bit too fast. Even though the rules say that radiators are for "warning" and protection, you still feel stuffy and can't breathe.
No, that's not right!
In this instance, you have a "roommate" from the very beginning; and many of the rules take place indoors.
From the very beginning, the rules have been implying that this safe house is not a completely safe house!
If you break a general rule indoors, you're still doomed!
"Hahaha, run!" Tamara's demonic laughter seemed to echo in my ears.
You immediately grab your phone and wallet, put on your coat, and open the window—don't go through the door!
You climbed out the window, your shoes sinking into the snow with a soft thud. The night was bitterly cold, but you didn't dare stop for a moment, leaving the apartment building without looking back.
As you know, according to the copy logic, as long as you don't violate the instructions and follow the rules, even if it chases you from behind, it may not be able to catch up.
Haha, you can't catch up, can you?
You kept your head down and ran for several blocks until you arrived at a square.
Just then, you hear someone playing the accordion—you turn your head and see a real street performer putting on a show.
She was manipulating a small wooden puppet, which was "dancing" with another small wooden puppet.
You hurried over and stood at the edge of the crowd.
The puppets danced to the music, the performer's expression gentle and natural, his movements precise and flawless. You secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
This is what a real "normal street performer" is like.
You stood there for a while, then silently opened your phone—luckily, your phone and computer had cloud-connected photo albums and various apps, so you quickly deleted that photo completely.
Then, you gave the performer a tip, ostensibly to invite her to perform for the dorm supervisor.
The artist readily accepted and followed you back to your dormitory.
But that blood-red puppet is no longer there.
You showered the artist with exaggerated praise, gave her a tip, and moved her so much that she performed a flute-playing act for you with her puppet.
Just as you were about to leave, the artist suddenly looked up at you.
She said in perfect Ying language, "Some people see the world with the wrong eyes, and the world will see her with the wrong body."
You paused for a moment.
The performer simply smiled, and with a click, the puppet in his hand bowed gently before being put away.
You watch as she carefully wraps the three puppets in a cloth bag, walks out of the apartment, and disappears into the snow.
You stood there, pondering her words, when suddenly you realized—
Where did she get the third puppet?
A chill ran down your spine; you could almost picture what would have happened if you hadn't thought of bringing a street performer back.
You wiped the cold sweat from your palms and slowly walked home.
I never want to see any puppets again.
But you're seething with anger.
You open the chat page, click on Xiao Li's profile picture, and after holding back for half a minute, you coldly send a message: "Did you take the photos you took today yourself?"
The reply came quickly: "It's the material I compiled..."
You were genuinely amused and exasperated: "So you filmed it yourself?"
Xiao Li confidently sent a collapsed emoji: "Yes, that's right. Ugh, some of the pictures are indeed downloaded by me. I saw that other people took better pictures. This... hey, aren't you being too serious? Everyone finds pictures online, okay? I even found pictures for you, and you're still not satisfied?"
"Besides, you're the team leader, so you can decide. If you think it's not suitable, then don't use it. What did I do wrong???" Xiao Li sent several sweating soybean emojis, wishing he could blame you to the heavens.
You stare at the screen, not replying to a single word.
She had already prepared her "rationalization" arguments in advance.
If you point out any problem, she can always refute it as you "nitpicking" or "creating incompetence."
You're too lazy to waste any more words.
You can simply close the group chat and return to your own document.
I spent the whole night writing my paper while holding my breath, and the next day I took some photos myself and sent them back to the group chat for the two of them to review. Then I machine-translated the document, adjusted the format, and sent it to them in a private chat.
You tell Xiao Li, "This is our final version of the assignment."
At the same time, you say to Xiao Zhou, "Thank you for your willingness to participate seriously. Although it is a group project, I did not see a submission channel for the team, so just to be on the safe side, you can also submit it on your own homepage."
You sent the link and detailed instructions on how to do it.
She will reply to you soon.
Xiao Zhou: "Wow, you're amazing! You're so strong! I... I didn't really do anything special. Thanks for leading the way, team leader. Let's meet up sometime and I'll treat you to a meal!"
As you look at the screen, you suddenly feel a sense of peace in your heart.
After politely declining Xiao Zhou's thanks, you threw yourself back onto the bed.
The dungeons are really cunning.
Most people would think that group assignments only require one person to submit them, but the teaching software used by the school in this case is very "impractical," with its functions, icons, and indexes being very disorganized.
If Xiao Zhou hadn't asked you how to find her paper assignment, and you hadn't asked her to remotely project her screen to you so you could control her screen and find her assignment interface, you wouldn't have noticed that everyone's assignment interface had a submit button.
You're being too suspicious.
Of course, maybe it's just a coincidence; if so, then Xiao Li wouldn't have gotten into trouble. You don't really care about any of that.
If it's not a coincidence, then you don't know whether the version you sent to Xiao Li will be considered a qualified assignment.
You simply added the photos that Xiao Li found. Of course, you already removed the photos of the puppets.
...
Xiao Li was also sprawled on the bed, lazily looking at his phone.
The assignment document popped up; it was sent by that lousy group leader who takes his position too seriously.
Tsk, he'd completely forgotten he'd even added this person on his WeChat.
Yes, Xiao Li is "him". He pretended to be a girl because he was afraid that he would be harmed since the other two people in the group were girls.
However, girls are naturally prone to pretending; isn't that what they like to do—shirk responsibility?
Of course, that doesn't matter. Anyway, those two are pretty stupid.
I was annoyed by that person in the group who always acted like "I have to complete the task seriously." But now she sent over the file as if it were a favor, with detailed division of labor and a special note saying "You only need to do part of it."
That's really funny.
Xiao Li glanced at the document, flipped through two pages, and closed it, not even bothering to read the cover.
"He really is a rigid person."
She pouted, tossed her phone aside, and curled up again by the radiator.
He's leaving this instance in three days; he's already received the itinerary information for his next destination. What tourism management assignment? If anyone's going to die, it'll be them. As for him... goodbye!
But this assignment is just sitting right in front of me, it's really too much of an eyesore.
So Xiao Li casually clicked "submit" in the system, too lazy to change a single word.
I don't even remember what the file name is.
"Anyway, they've already written it, let's hope it doesn't actually affect my next dungeon run," he thought.
He then turned off his phone, lay down comfortably, and drifted off to sleep.
—In his dreams, there is only a pre-set script for his next life: an easy new copy, returning to a life where he doesn't need to think, a world where everything is the same as before.
Xiao Li was woken up by the cold early in the morning.
The heating in the house seems to be broken.
He opened his eyes, flinching, and found that the ceiling had changed color.
The original gray-white color turned into the yellowish old wall plaster, with densely packed characters faintly emerging.
I rubbed my eyes and looked up again—it wasn't words, it was a letter.
"What the hell? I can't understand this!" he muttered, but he knew something was wrong, so he shakily took out his phone and used the one-click translation function.
— "Notice of Withdrawal from School"
"What the hell??"
Xiao Li sat up abruptly, only to find that his suitcase had already been packed and sealed, with his passport neatly affixed to the top.
The words on the wall began to ooze out a black, ink-like liquid, flowing out line by line:
"You did not participate in the team project as required."
"You treat the rules like a joke and your companions as victims."
"This round of learning experience is invalid."
"Please move out of your current accommodation within three hours and report your 'incorrect status' to your country's border control authorities."
He was horrified and tried to open the suitcase, but it wouldn't budge, as if it were fused with the ground.
She opened the door, and outside wasn't a corridor, but a long, snow-white, deserted street. Her own photos were pasted all over the red brick walls at the street corner.
In the photo, he is glaring at someone else's submitted document, yawning with a cold smile.
Every photo repeats this scene.
He tried to shout, but no sound came out.
All the photos were lifted up by a gust of cold wind and gently floated towards him.
But as it approached him, it transformed into a sharp knife.
Xiao Li screamed in agony as he was sliced into pieces and turned into mincemeat.
After all, the edges of paper in winter can be sharper than a razor blade! ^ ^
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Author's note: Hehe
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