Volume 1: Breaking the Cage
Escape 05
Legal Hunting
Xin Lan had never really understood what kind of existence their headquarters actually was. At the beginning, when she was still a newcomer, she was curious, and later she wanted to know more about the core.
But she couldn’t get results; no one knew.
They didn’t even know why they had come here, or why they had been assigned to this department. Tasks were directly issued in the system.
If you asked the system how they were created, they would answer that they were just created this way.
Various personalities and appearances, after too many worlds, Xin Lan gave up on pursuing this question.
It was meaningless.
There were rewards for completing each task, and these rewards could be chosen in whatever form one preferred.
Some were for improving physical qualities, enhancing memory, money, etc., some were for how long a vacation one could take, and some were for returning to reality.
Xin Lan had a colleague who kept doing tasks just to be able to spend a little more time with family in reality.
It wasn’t just human souls that could come here; among Xin Lan’s colleagues were mountain spirits and demons, vampires, and others, each with their own quirks.
Xin Lan had only used a reward once, to return to her original interstellar world and see how the Empire’s final outcome turned out.
In that war, the Empire was severely wounded, but at the cost of her death, she had also heavily damaged the enemy’s main ship. The Empire had rooted out the traitors and was in a period of national recovery. Her name, Xin Lan, had been recorded in the Empire’s annals. Thus, it seemed there was no need to remain there any longer.
She used the rewards earned from various worlds to enhance her abilities, though after entering the mission worlds, she would be subject to some restrictions.
In terms of the real-world Xin Lan, her physical qualities could already be compared to those of a superhuman. Upon entering the first world, her strength was weakened. Using three-tenths of her power, she beat up a scumbag, and even then, he was only seriously injured.
If it had been three-tenths of her original state’s power, the scumbag would have long been pounded into the wall, impossible to dig out.
Ling Jiu: Host, you’re so amazing! But where are you going?
Xin Lan: During the legal hunting season, of course I’m going hunting.
Xin Lan’s figure faded into the night, disappearing at the end of the small path.
Ling Jiu smacked her lips, feeling endlessly rueful.
She recalled her previous two hosts, completely different from this one. Indeed, coming from a different department, her style was direct.
Xin Lan: What are you tsk-ing about?
In the dead of night, someone tsk-tsk-tsking ruefully in your own head feels a bit thrilling.
Ling Jiu: I was thinking about my previous hosts.
Xin Lan had already walked to the teaching building. The building was pitch black, with no lights on.
The school at night had a particularly eerie feeling. The wide-open door of the teaching building was like a gaping mouth, full of spine-chilling implications.
Xin Lan walked up, hugging the wall. Hearing Ling Jiu’s words, she let her chat away.
Ling Jiu: My first host was a delicate and gentle fox spirit. That one could seduce anyone with a single hook, slapping faces was a matter of minutes, and could latch onto better men to vent her anger at any time. But in the end, things went too far.
Xin Lan: How so?
Xin Lan was a bit interested. Task performers in the world weren’t omnipotent either; they were also subject to many restrictions. Did “going too far” mean accidentally destroying the world?
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This would be a major work error, and coming out would result in severe punishment. Not only would money be deducted and the next job be unpaid, but there would also be mandatory psychological counseling and other supervisory measures.
Xin Lan always remembered who she was and had never done such things. She had no interest in destroying worlds, but a colleague had done it before, letting Xin Lan know about the punishment regulations.
Ling Jiu: You know, fox spirits by nature are rather wild and unrestrained, hooking one and ditching another. She used all her rewards on her stunning beauty. In one mission world, she was tied up by several natives together. That thing could lock souls, and I couldn’t save her. She could only stay there.
Ling Jiu sounded a bit melancholic when saying this, but she couldn’t really understand why the host wanted to court death, acting as if she couldn’t live without men. This led to a misconception, making her find it strange when her second host didn’t go fishing for men. Eventually, the second host corrected this notion.
Ling Jiu: My second host was human. In human society terms, she had severe misandry. She relied entirely on her own toughness to slap faces, was very skilled at scheming and plotting, and ruthless in her actions.
Xin Lan: So how did you end up with me?
Ling Jiu: She fell in love and voluntarily stayed in that world. I became a system without a host, and just as you transferred over, I took over.
On the first day of taking over, I suffered a crushing defeat, refreshing the speed record for system failure, and was scared trembling by the host.
Xin Lan: Love? With a woman?
Ling Jiu: No, a man. She hated men, but for some reason, she didn’t hate that one. She said meeting someone who clicks isn’t easy, and she might never have the chance again, so she said goodbye to me.
She was also a straightforward person who could let things go.
After listening, Xin Lan sighed inwardly, having already reached the third floor.
Ling Jiu: Host, what are you doing here? There’s no one here.
Xin Lan gestured for her to be quiet and climbed in through the window.
The next day, everyone seemed quite timid, as no one came to the teaching building.
The reason Xin Lan came was to see what was in the classroom.
During the day, there were classes, and with many people around, she definitely couldn’t rummage through things freely.
Although there might not necessarily be any clues, she had nothing else to do anyway, so she might as well treat it as a pre-hunting terrain exploration activity.
Xin Lan didn’t turn on the lights, using the moonlight from outside to look at the classroom layout.
An ordinary classroom, with pendant lights, fans, blackboard, whiteboard, slogans above the classroom…
Xin Lan’s gaze stopped on the slogan. During the day, the slogan should have been “Heaven rewards the diligent” (天道酬勤) and “Self-improvement never ceases” (自强不息), but now the other side was “Self-improvement never ceases” (自強不息), with one character changed. It wasn’t exactly changed, just simplified Chinese turned into traditional Chinese. [强 (simplified) vs 強 (traditional)]
After school, no one stayed in the classroom. This handiwork definitely wasn’t done by any of the 399 students here, but only by the so-called ‘rules’ or NPCs.
Ling Jiu: Host, I-I-I’m a bit scared.
Ling Jiu hugged her little yellow chick pillow tightly in the system space. Although she was a materialist, a slogan with a suddenly changed character in an empty classroom late at night was strange no matter how you looked at it.
Xin Lan was very calm, even moving a desk and chair to stand on them and reach that character. She slowly peeled off a corner from underneath.
Something fell into her palm. Xin Lan grasped it, stuck the character back, restored the desk and chair to their original positions, wiped away the footprints, sat down, and looked at the thing in her hand using the available light.
It was a hard paper card, with a texture similar to the game cards children play with.
There was a line of text printed on it.
[Clue Card]: Silently recite to use during the legal hunting period, can obtain one matching clue.
Xin Lan used it immediately. The card disappeared in her hand, replaced by a clue fragment.
Xin Lan took out her other two pieces, and sure enough, the pattern on this one matched with one of her original pieces.
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Xin Lan pieced them together but couldn’t make out anything.
It looked like a damaged map, but the paper quality was peculiar, at least it couldn’t be torn apart, and was very flexible.
Xin Lan tucked the three clues into her pocket and returned the way she came.
Today, she had only intended to see if there would be any situations, hoping to hunt some isolated prey, but everyone was cautiously sticking together. Still, there was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
This school must be hiding more than just this one surprise. If it weren’t for her habitual observation, she probably would have missed this one.
It’s unclear whether this is the ‘rules’ being merciful, or a deeper trap.
Xin Lan’s original plan was to look through all these places, but she didn’t expect to make an unexpected discovery.
She didn’t know if other classrooms would also have such things. Her intuition told her they would, but years of experience told her not to go.
Xin Lan wasn’t a greedy person either. She felt that if she collected several of these things at once today, she might drop dead tomorrow.
That ‘強’ character from which she had taken the clue had now returned to its original state.
Seeing this, she decided not to wait until midnight.
The hunting end time was midnight. Xin Lan had a feeling that after midnight ended, there should be some changes, but she had already obtained a clue, and the place hiding the clue had returned to its original state.
To be safe, Xin Lan decided to leave.
Xin Lan once again jumped down from the corridor to reach the ground, giving Ling Jiu the frightening feeling that the host was about to jump off a building.
Xin Lan returned to the dormitory and knocked on the door.
Xiao Chun opened the door, and upon seeing Xin Lan, she looked as if she’d seen a savior, almost bursting into tears of joy.
Xin Lan picked up the basin and placed it inside, seeing a girl sitting on a chair wiping blood from her head.
No wonder Xiao Chun had that expression; she must have been afraid this person would come to snatch things from her again.
The girl glanced at Xin Lan but didn’t dare to show any resentful looks. She kept her head down and eyes lowered, minding her own business.
Xin Lan arranged everything one by one, then took the basin and laundry detergent, preparing to go wash clothes.
Xiao Chun followed closely behind Xin Lan, holding the basin with trembling hands. Xin Lan didn’t mind, but as she closed the door, she said something to her.
“Are you that scared?”
Xiao Chun nodded, clutching the basin tightly.
“She’s already injured. You don’t need to be so afraid of her.”
“I’m afraid she’ll go crazy. She doesn’t have any clues left on her. I’m scared she might want to snatch mine.”
Xiao Chun said honestly.
“Aren’t you afraid I might snatch yours?”
“I…”
Xiao Chun hesitated for a moment but still didn’t distance herself from Xin Lan.
“I’d give them to anyone but her. If you want them, I can give them to you. Just don’t hit me.”
Xiao Chun said after thinking for a while, with the last sentence barely audible.
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Ling Jiu: Pfft.
Does her host really look that fierce and cruel?
“You keep them for now.”
Xin Lan concealed the darkness in her eyes and walked to the washroom.
First, deal with the vicious dogs among the crowd, then why worry about the remaining sheep not being obedient?
The author has something to say:
Ling Jiu’s changes when confronting others on the system network ↓↓
Initially: There are plenty of men crazy for my host, your hosts are just noobs!
Later: What’s so great about seducing men? My host is high-class and man-hating, totally different from your hosts!
Now: What’s there to be proud of men being infatuated with her? My host could beat ten of those men single-handedly, hah!
Other systems: ???
LP: Re-translated on October 30, 2024