Chapter 25 "College Students" What a handsome senior! He's so handsome! ...
A player meet-up is about to take place.
Everyone saw Jane Diedda.
At the end of summer, it was unbearably hot.
The wind was chilly, and the scent of grass and trees filled the air.
The boy wearing the mask had black hair that reached past his ears.
He was thin and aloof, with darkness behind him. He had striking features, and his emotionless pupils carried a chilling aura that the withered trees beside the campus could not suppress.
The five players silently prayed: Wow, he's a handsome guy, even if it's just a teammate, more teammates mean more hope.
However, the system had already instructed Jian Dieda in advance that the host could not share any spoilers with the players without permission, as this would affect the immersive experience of a live-action murder mystery game.
To obtain the pass to this world, players must feel as if they have lived in this world for over twenty years, understand its people and events, develop emotions, and empathize with it at any time.
This is Jane Dieda's personal experience of surviving his first mission.
"I don't understand what you're saying. Who are you?"
Jane Dieda pretended to be wary and tightened her grip on the nylon rope of her luggage.
Yang Xiaohong was slightly taken aback. She and Xie Xiaomei exchanged a glance, their eyes scanning Jian Dieda from head to toe.
Of course, the Jian Dieda Script Murder Mystery System could tell that the two girls suspected him.
The system replied: "Keep up the good work, deceiving the players, host."
It sounds simple, but the players aren't wolves that can be easily eliminated.
The system occasionally praised its host: "This system will also do its best to cover it up for you. We need to ensure that this murder mystery game can continue, has an ending, and doesn't have a bad ending. Moreover, if any of the main characters in the protagonist list are missing, the game cannot continue. It can only be done with your complete control."
After saying that, the dialog boxes above the heads of the six people started to enter input mode—this was the second privilege of the host of Jian Dieda, which allowed him to see the thoughts of five of his own players.
The system asked him to choose between English, dialect, or standard Mandarin.
He asked for Mandarin.
He then countered, "Can I manage as the host alone? What if one of them dies? Would my attempt also fail?"
The system told him, "'Individual' is for elite selection, while 'team' is for comprehensive assessment. So if someone dies in this newbie team, the system will send them out. Even if there are consequences for failure, it won't involve their lives. You also have two ways to recover: First, use this body to summon other players to play the original role. Second, you can create a new account and pretend to play both roles. The prerequisite is that you are capable of splitting your personality, because this requires immersing yourself in two roles at once, which is extremely difficult. But in the end, all the character points can be given to you."
Jian Dieda indicated that he understood. Before he could react, Yang Xiaohong and Xie Xiaomei reached an agreement through private chat on the 'channel'.
Yang Xiaohong really didn't realize that Jian Dieda was a non-NPC individual player, and she even convinced her friend Xie Xiaomei.
The evidence is that Yang Xiaohong felt that the character of 'Jian Zijin' was appropriate as a poor college student.
The bag at his feet contained all the belongings of a freshman. Only these players dared to run around empty-handed when they first entered the dungeon. This was because they had not put themselves in the role of a 'college student' and still thought of themselves as modern people.
So the question is, if Jian Dieda isn't a time traveler, then who is he?
The system beeped.
The general newbie tips broadcast is here.
[Ding! The current plot has reached 2%. The Chongli University 'Opening Ceremony' has been completed. The final protagonist of the six-person 'University Students' story—the dormitory head—has arrived.]
[The six-player murder mystery game has begun. Act One: A brief conversation among all participants.]
The host (dormitory head) will lead the students to find other faculty and staff NPCs within the school. After entering the next scene, the abandoned dormitory, the next main storyline will begin.
The prompt that rang in my mind made the atmosphere chilly.
Are they really going to live together in a suburban dormitory that looks like something out of a horror movie?
The next second.
Jian Dieda officially became Jian Zijin.
In an instant, he saw the panels of five players. This team, including the host, were indeed all sleep-deprived bald men. The three men were a security guard, a service worker who worked all night, and a night shift driver.
Two girls are studying nursing at a modern nursing school.
Upon closer inspection, beneath the young man's exterior lies the honest and loyal nature of a middle-aged man.
The elegant and refined female lead and the second female lead have some medical knowledge, which is very useful for the story.
In order to go home, Jian Dieda had to imitate the NPC again and revealed his character's name in the second instance: Jian Zijin.
This makes the difference between the host and the player even clearer.
Their names are all borrowed from the "Passerby A" style, like Xiao Hong, Xiao Jun, and Xiao Ming. Look at how different the officially appointed NPC hosts are! This Jian's character model is truly stunning; she looks like she could survive 200 episodes in a TV series.
Li Xiaojun was internally complaining, wondering who the male lead really was.
The second male lead, Wang Xiaoming, and the third male lead, Zhang Xiaojun, were even more direct. They felt that this NPC was a public enemy of men. Wang Xiaoming was so disgusted that he wanted to spit on the ground. Sending a man was not as good as finding a beautiful female host.
Looking at the three boys with such simple minds, Jian Dieda deliberately put pressure on them, saying, "Then it seems there really was a misunderstanding just now. I've encountered the same situation as you guys these past few days since I came here to report. If you're with your friends, you can definitely find a solution. I also brought a Nokia phone with me, which has the contact information for the main campus administration office."
cell phone?
Why don't they have any?
It seems we can't mess with this old man.
Hey dorm leader, you're so annoying! If you need anything, just come straight to me!
--------------
After the six of them talked at the school gate, they formed a team, and Yang Xiaohong and the others began to get into character.
Yang Xiaohong retrieved the pink hand-pulled suitcase she had left by the roadside and said, "Jian Zijing, is that right? Now that we all know each other, let's find our own way out."
Jane said to the female lead, "Do you need me to help you with one or two pieces of luggage?"
Yang Xiaohong smiled and said, "As expected of the dormitory head, you're so kind. Thank you!"
The female player glanced at the three men beside her and realized that this Jane was truly a character from anime and manga, completely unlike anyone in real life.
Six seemingly youthful figures walked down the night road.
Before long, apart from the "paper doll" Jian Dieda, they were all so sleepy that they wanted to close their eyes and take a nap.
Originally, the players were just a group of ordinary people with low combat strength. Due to poor lifestyle, they were all extremely weak. The youngest was twenty years old but looked eighty, and the two in their thirties were addicted to smoking and drinking.
Jian Dieda could almost hear the system mocking the bald team behind their backs: "You've failed, haven't you? You've gone mad, haven't you? Look who's still staying up all night playing on their phones and watching videos?"
The pressure was immense, physical strength was depleted, and morale was low. Continuing the usual practice for murder mystery games, some newly acquainted team members had arguments on the way.
Zhang Xiaojun wiped his sweat and asked, "Classmates, I have a question. If we find dorm rooms at school, for safety reasons, why don't we all share a room as a group of six?"
“No, men and men, women and women, does that mean we’ll be having mixed-gender dorms for the whole month? It’ll be very inconvenient if we have to shower or use the toilet. And the girls might have special needs,” Xie Xiaomei frowned.
Li Xiaojun didn't sense that the girl had any unspeakable difficulties. He said, "That's just being fussy. I could go a month without changing my underwear and still not die."
Wang Xiaoming grinned mischievously: "Yeah, it's so inconvenient for some genders to 'go to university.' Do men and women have to shower together? If there aren't enough beds, do they have to squeeze in with each other?"
Jane looked at the male lead and the second male lead.
Wang Xiaoming, a person with no self-awareness, said to the girls, "Don't glare at me, I'm not talking nonsense. We boys have strong yang energy, which can suppress ghosts."
Yang Xiaohong, with a cunning smile, blocked Xie Xiaomei's path and said, "Who are you talking about? Look at the plots in those campus ghost stories. There are female ghosts in the boys' dorms and female ghosts in the girls' dorms, but how come we've never seen a male ghost? It's clear that when you boys die, you're not even considered a big deal in the underworld."
Wang Xiaoming retorted, "That female ghost named Xiaohong from Chongli University, do you think you'll get crushed in an elevator? Or dragged into a lotus pond and drown?"
Jane looked up: "Are you serious?"
The second male lead, who had long been jealous of the NPC, shouted loudly, "Hey, dorm leader, you're quite the chivalrous protector! I just wanted to liven things up a bit."
Yang Xiaohong's expression darkened: "Speaking rudely under these circumstances is not what you call livening up the atmosphere."
Jane Dieda: "And the ghost stories you told weren't scary at all, they were really lowbrow."
Wang Xiaoming's face fell: "Dormitory leader, why don't you say something that isn't so low-class?"
Jian Dieda got excited when he heard this: "I can tell you a hundred campus ghost stories related to 'Wang Xiaoming' right now. Each one can scare 100 college students to death."
Wang Xiaoming rolled his eyes, put his hands on his hips in a sarcastic tone, and said, "Oh ho! Why don't you tell me what happened?"
Xiao Ming was quickly amused by Jian Dieda's signature move: "grandson telling ghost stories to grandma."
Dormitory Head Jian said, "A long, long time ago, there was a student named Xiaoming. Tomorrow is the first day of his new school term." Jian Dieda said, "But Xiaoming found that he hadn't touched a single word of the ten summer homework assignments the teacher had given him."
Wang Xiaoming: "………………"
Everyone: Pfft.
A few seconds later, Wang Xiaoming looked at everyone angrily: "What the hell is this... a ghost story!"
"Isn't it scary?" Jian Dieda asked everyone expressionlessly, "Do you know a ghost story that only happens in September? It only has two words."
"What? Ghost Festival?" Zhang Xiaojun, the third male, asked timidly.
Jane Dieda: "No, school starts."
Li Xiaojun and Zhang Xiaojun admired the host's wildly unconventional thought process: "Indeed, cough."
Isn't the start of the school year the most terrifying ghost story for all students in China? This illiterate little brother Wang Xiaoming still doesn't understand that exam-oriented education is scarier than ghosts...
Jane continued to scare her little brother:
"Wang Xiaoming cannot afford the tuition for nine years of compulsory education."
"Wang Xiaoming failed 19 courses in four years and was advised to withdraw from the school."
"Wang Xiaoming's score was one point short of his ideal university."
"Wang Xiaoming did not fill out his college application."
"Wang Xiaoming failed the exam."
“Reread”.
"Then I failed the exam."
"Read it twice."
"Wang Xiaoming repeated this same thing his whole life."
Wang Xiaoming: "..."
Jane Dieda scanned his lower body: "Hey, are your pants okay?"
The conversation immediately took a turn for the worse.
Wang Xiaoming: "I'm fine!"
The others said, "Oh, let's keep going then..."
The dormitory head and her five roommates had no choice but to walk around the area in front of the school gate in this ridiculous atmosphere.
At this point, the problem of the lack of real information in the campus drama was exposed, and some unresolved doubts turned into everyone's anxiety about the strange environment.
Jian Dieda stared at the fog-shrouded gate. Yang Xiaohong asked worriedly from behind, "Dormitory Leader Jian, are we stuck in a maze? Why do I feel like we've been walking around in circles for ages?"
That's the reason.
But more importantly, they didn't trigger any relevant clues for the case. Without the correct physical evidence and witness testimonies, the system wouldn't switch to the next scene.
Jane Dieda turned around and said:
“Xiao Hong, I don’t know, but I heard that Chongli University has a branch campus academic affairs office, and three faculty members stay here year-round.”
Xie Xiaomei was skeptical: "Three staff members? But Xiaohong and I entered the school through the back gate the day before yesterday, and the first thing we saw was the burning of the faculty and staff building at the branch campus."
Jane Diedda: "You passed by there?"
Xie Xiaomei said, "Mm."
“If the three staff members were there, they would have run into us by now,” Yang Xiaohong said. “We really can’t say whether there’s a student union here to welcome new students right now…”
Jane Dieter: "We need to walk the whole map before we can draw any conclusions."
After taking out toilet paper and a pen, Xie Xiaomei added, "I can draw the location there on our simple map."
Working together to piece together memories and draw maps is more effective in gathering clues than a bunch of people making verbal deductions. Jian Dieda pondered for a moment: "Does anyone have any suspected physical evidence on them? Like those lists or receipts that you've carried with you since you enrolled."
After being reminded by their dorm leader, the three boys remembered something and took out three pieces of shredded paper.
Li Xiaojun is an advanced mathematics textbook, and the cover image is a round clock sculpture.
Wang Xiaoming is a takeout coupon for a snack shop.
The address is [No. 444, Tianxin Campus, near the east gate of Chongli University Town, close to "Yinmian"].
Zhang Xiaojun has an old cafeteria meal card.
The cafeteria... is actually called Yinmian No. 1 Cafeteria?
Yin crown?
Is this the terrifying sculpture group in the fog that they didn't dare to approach?
“I found online discussion threads about the branch campuses, and without exception, they all mentioned that there was a sculpture at the main entrance of the branch campus,” Jane Dieda added. “I suspect that the first hidden clue recorded in the school address is this sculpture.”
At this point, the thought process clicked for the first time, and the system notified the dormitory head:
[“Beep, current story progress is 5%.”]
[“Congratulations on the six-person dormitory on campus triggering the testimony of ‘Yin Mian’. In Feng Shui, there is a divine object called a sundial, which is an ancient clock that uses the shadow cast by the sun to determine the time. Legend has it that Chongli also has a sundial, but this object is special. It does not face the sun, but rather, in an eerie way, it faces away from the sun. This object is called Yin Gui (陰晷).”]
Jane and the others immediately headed to the clock sculpture.
They arrived, one footstep after another.
Li Xiaojun gasped in shock, exclaiming, "This monstrous thing can be put on a university campus! That's terrifying!"
An ancient clock sculpture appears on the cover of an earth-yellow textbook.
In the most open space of the entire school, a huge clock face that would kill anyone with trypophobia stands there. Its surface is wrapped with rotting limbs, hands and feet, but the skin of these things is covered with cement, giving it a disgusting, swollen, blister-like appearance.
There are twelve eyeballs as its markings. When the pointer on the human leg moves to a certain point, that eye will open.
Is the bizarre clock at the old campus of Chongli University monitoring six players?
Jane stepped forward and discovered that the second eye had appeared in the instance. He checked his phone; it was four o'clock.
Zhang Xiaojun wanted to cry but couldn't. "There are twenty-four hours in a day, right? Why are there only twelve people's eyes on the surface?!"
Xie Xiaomei replied, "A shichen (時辰) in ancient times is equivalent to two hours in modern Chinese."
That's right!
The first step of the deduction game is complete!
System Update:
["Congratulations on the new scene appearing in the six-person dormitory!"]
[“The sundial is a landmark building of Chong Li University and has high historical and cultural value for students. There is a saying among teachers and students that on the night of the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, the sundial can connect the two worlds of Yin and Yang. Some floors of some teaching buildings will disappear at midnight, while others will appear at midnight. Many unfamiliar faces will also walk in front of you claiming to be senior students…”]
The ghost story system had barely finished speaking.
Suddenly, a flashlight beam flashed ahead. Jian Dieda instinctively felt something was wrong. Yang Xiaohong and Xie Xiaomei also became more alert and kept their eyes on what was ahead.
The strange way the tall shadow slowly walked towards them confirmed that this was a campus ghost movie.
"Hello, everyone..."
There was a deathly silence.
Their terrified expressions, bordering on neurasthenia and on the verge of tears, were seen by the newcomer.
A ghostly laugh echoed.
The entire school is responding.
"Okay...okay..."
Then, amidst the lingering echoes, the gigantic senior student unfurled his black shirt and white pants, revealing a bottomless gaping mouth. His monstrous skull burst forth from his skin, and two large, black, all-eyed eyes gleamed with a playful, almost predatory smile, as if he were about to devour his juniors.
Everyone was moved to tears by his handsomeness.
The handsome senior said,
"Welcome to Chongli University, which officially opens on September 3rd."
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I am your senior."
"It seems you've found Yin Mian, so our room-checking game can officially begin tonight. The game is called 'Old Wolf, Old Wolf, What Time Is It?'"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Jianzi says: The scariest thing in the world isn't Ghost Festival, it's the start of school!
——
Wow, this senior is so handsome!
Where did Senior Xiangxiang go? Hahaha, I'll tell you in the next chapter!
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 13:57:02 on September 1, 2023 and 22:35:20 on September 3, 2023!
Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Tachikoma, Ajianjian, Qingxu (30 bottles); Baitian (20 bottles); Zizhi (5 bottles);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com