Volume 4: Days of Making Mischief at School
Stranded Players
Aiding the Tiger
…What has begun?
Shen Maomao stared at Lou Jingmo with a blank face, allowing Lou Jingmo’s hand to mess with her head.
Seeing her lack of response for quite a while, Lou Jingmo thought she was frightened and added: “Whether you want to or not, we now have to stand on the side of the ghosts and monsters.”
Shen Maomao belatedly realized: was Lou Jingmo worried she would be too soft-hearted?
She laughed softly and said to her: “Sister Lou, what are you thinking? Although I often show untimely compassion, I won’t give up my chance to survive just because of sympathy.”
Such words might be cruel, but her little bit of soft-heartedness was nothing compared to her life.
So-called games were nothing but strings of data, and she neither needed to nor had the martyr complex to sacrifice her life for this data, especially when this data represented bratty kids.
Lou Jingmo felt somewhat gratified, as if seeing her own child finally growing up: “It’s for the best that you can think this way.”
Shen Maomao pursed her lips, her hands itching to act.
Lou Jingmo probably didn’t realize how gap moe [反差萌 | fan cha meng | cuteness from contradiction] it was when she spoke adult words with such a tiny cute face and baby voice. Shen Maomao had always liked obedient and cute children, not to mention someone like Sister Lou who was delicate as carved jade.
Growing bold, she reached out quick as lightning to pinch Lou Jingmo’s tender little cheeks, then flashed behind Golden Retriever, using him as cover to prevent Sister Lou from hitting her.
Lou Jingmo hadn’t expected her to be so daring, taking a while to react. She touched her cheek where Shen Maomao had pinched it, throwing a sinister glance toward the two younger ones.
Shen Maomao hadn’t used much force, and she felt no pain at all – her face probably wouldn’t even show a red mark.
But as the team leader, her dignity was inviolable. Shen Maomao’s action was no different from pulling a tiger’s whiskers, completely asking for trouble.
However, now wasn’t the right time to discipline children.
Lou Jingmo withdrew her gaze, turned toward the teaching building, thinking there would be plenty of chances later to teach a certain rabbit a lesson.
Golden Retriever and Shen Maomao, who had been trembling together, finally stopped shaking. Golden Retriever shakily gave Shen Maomao a thumbs up: “Sister Rabbit… you’re really brave…”
Shen Maomao hadn’t relaxed at all, instead becoming more scared: “Why do I feel… like she’s thinking of ways to get back at me?”
Golden Retriever patted her shoulder consolingly: “Don’t worry, if Sister Xiaolou wanted to finish you off, she wouldn’t need to do it behind your back – she could destroy you face to face.”
Hearing this, Shen Maomao grew bold in her anger, and when Golden Retriever wasn’t paying attention, reached out to pinch his smooth tender cheek.
This time she wasn’t as gentle as she had been with Lou Jingmo. Golden Retriever let out a strange cry and began flailing and struggling.
The two became a chaotic mess, quite the lively scene.
“What are you doing?”
Hearing this voice, both of them froze in their movements, collectively looking straight ahead.
Lou Jingmo, who had clearly walked away earlier, had somehow returned, her distinct black and white eyes fixedly staring at Shen Maomao’s hand pinching Golden Retriever’s cheek, her expression inscrutable.
Under such a gaze, Shen Maomao immediately released her grip and stood properly, like a primary school student accepting teacher’s punishment, lowering her head and admitting fault: “I promise, I won’t bully Golden Retriever anymore.”
Golden Retriever covered his bright red right cheek, pitifully complaining to Lou Jingmo: “Sister Xiaolou is still the best!”
Lou Jingmo glanced at his face, quickly withdrawing her gaze, and said: “Hurry up, let’s go help.”
She left without waiting for them to turn around, and the two hastily followed.
Just as they were about to reach the teaching building, Shen Maomao suddenly remembered the two boys still lying on the grass, and quickly mentioned it, asking at the end: “Is it okay to just leave them there?”
Lou Jingmo: “It’s fine, they’re players.”
Shen Maomao: “Oh oh oh… eh?” They were actually players?!
“You can tell from his words – he knows our goal is to leave the instance, and he has some understanding of the rules inside…”
“If I’m not mistaken—” though she said it this way, in her heart she was already certain of her guess, “he is a stranded player, and has already been assimilated by the ghosts and monsters.”
This touched upon Shen Maomao’s knowledge blind spot.
The group stood at the main entrance of the teaching building, where Lou Jingmo explained in detail what “stranded players” meant.
Stranded players only appear in repeatable instances.
Due to the special nature of repeatable instances, the instance never truly closes. This type of instance opens for seven days each time, closes after the ghosts and monsters’ revelry on the seventh day, independently fixes loopholes and repairs bugs inside, then waits for the next batch of players to enter.
In other words, if a player can survive the ghost attacks and wait until the instance’s next opening, they might be able to escape the instance and continue the game.
Moreover, even if they stayed in the instance for two years or ten years, when they leave the instance, only one second would have passed in real time.
“However, stranded players are rare. The game places heavy restrictions on them, and most players, even if they successfully survive the first day, will die in the instance due to various accidents,” Lou Jingmo said, “And the longer they stay in the instance, the easier it is to be assimilated by it…”
As for assimilation…
The player they had just threatened was a product of instance assimilation—he had transformed from human into a puppet, neither human nor ghost, controlled by the instance.
The higher the assimilation value, the smaller the possibility for stranded players to escape the instance, until finally they completely merge with the instance, never to be separated again.
Shen Maomao broke out in a cold sweat: “That’s terrifying? If I were trapped by the instance, I’d rather find a rock to smash myself with—that’s better than being controlled in such a half-dead state!”
Lou Jingmo showed a surprised expression: “What are you thinking about? Do you really think you could survive the seventh day?”
Shen Maomao: “…” No, too real, brutally real…
Teacher Zhao had run off somewhere unknown, leaving behind traces of blood on the ground in front of the building, and a black umbrella lying in a pool of blood.
Lou Jingmo ordered Golden Retriever: “Go, pick up the umbrella.”
Golden Retriever’s mood had changed from “why is it always me” to calm as still water, because he had accepted his position, and besides, he couldn’t let girls do dirty work like handling trash.
Squinting his eyes, trying his best not to look at the glaring red, he half-squatted and carefully pinched one corner of the umbrella, lifting up the still-dripping umbrella: “Sister Xiaolou, Sister Rabbit, for you?”
Shen Maomao didn’t want to take it at all. Besides the barely visible blood, there were white spots all over the umbrella that looked like shattered tofu from a distance, making it absolutely nauseating. She felt she might never want to eat tofu again.
Lou Jingmo refused: “Since it’s given to you, keep it. This black umbrella is a token, taking it means you’ll help Teacher Zhao get revenge.”
Golden Retriever: “???” The originally small black umbrella suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand jin. Golden Retriever stood frozen holding the black umbrella, unable to either take it properly or put it down.
Lou-style comfort method came out to assert its presence again: “Don’t worry, from the moment you picked it up, it automatically bound to you.”
With this kind of comfort, Golden Retriever predictably wanted to cry even more.
“I didn’t tell you in detail before, but I spoke with the female ghost – she’s the one who sent me back to the surface world. She wants revenge, but needs a human to help deliver the umbrella to her enemy’s hands, otherwise she can’t harm non-player NPCs.”
Golden Retriever trembled: “Then… she won’t see me holding the black umbrella and think I’m her enemy, right??”
Lou Jingmo: “You’re thinking too much.”
Only then did Golden Retriever breathe a sigh of relief, uneasily lifting the umbrella, and asked Lou Jingmo: “So what do we do next?”
Lou Jingmo glanced at Class 2-1’s window, and uttered four characters: “Precise targets.”
What the players needed to do was simple – Teacher Zhao had already carved all her enemies’ names on the wall, and Lou Jingmo memorized them all with just one look.
The three acted according to the list, with Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo responsible for matching names to people, then luring out the confirmed targets, after which Golden Retriever would forcefully deliver the umbrella.
Teacher Zhao arrived as promised, her large umbrella enveloping the little boy within it, and in no time, the boy fell silent.
The closed black umbrella returned to its smooth state, but the little boy’s shadow was nowhere to be seen.
Shen Maomao couldn’t control her trembling body. Only after the female ghost disappeared from their sight did she weakly lean against Lou Jingmo, mumbling: “I feel like we’re helping evil do evil…”
She had been too naive. Witnessing someone indirectly die because of her felt worse than she had imagined, even constantly telling herself they were just NPCs and data couldn’t make her feel any better.
She leaned against Lou Jingmo’s shoulder, like leaning against a solid wall.
“They aren’t human, they’re not even people from the game world. Now they’re just ghosts…” Lou Jingmo, showing rare tenderness, said softly to her: “Go back to the classroom, Golden Retriever and I will handle the rest.”
Golden Retriever: “QWQ Sister Xiaolou, I also want to…”
Lou Jingmo didn’t even give him a glance: “No, you don’t.”
Shen Maomao’s heart felt slightly less heavy.
Moreover, she couldn’t let her friends do such bad deeds while she waited to enjoy the results, so she immediately said: “I’m fine, I won’t go back. I know this is to escape the game…”
After leaving the game, they might be able to properly investigate if this instance had a prototype in reality, trying to get justice for Teacher Zhao…
Having figured this out, she no longer dwelled on these matters. They stopped attending classes and continued acting according to the plan with Lou Jingmo.
During this time, some monsters and ghosts came to stop them, but were all dealt with by Lou Jingmo. By the time the last afternoon class was about to begin, only two little boys remained unsettled.
Shen Maomao felt inexplicably uneasy.
Could their actions have been going too smoothly??
She looked toward Lou Jingmo, seeing her seemingly deep in thought, and couldn’t help asking: “What’s wrong, Sister Lou? Did you notice any problems?”
At the same time, the class bell rang, reminding them that if they didn’t act now, they’d have to wait until school ended.
After school, all children would be picked up, making it very difficult to find anyone again.
The author has something to say:
I was a bit hesitant, but decided to write it this way. Maomao has a bit of kindness, but also has a controlled and calm side. Personally, I think it’s foolish to protect a bunch of bratty NPC kids while in an unsafe state.
Moreover, these bratty kids have already transformed into monsters, and Maomao has no emotional attachment to them. Mother Shen is also data – if it were Mother Shen they had to kill, Maomao would immediately rebel and find ways to kill Teacher Zhao.
Maomao is a flesh-and-blood person, so she’s naturally afraid of death _(:з」∠)_
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