“ice’s smile converged.
ice squatted down.
ice hugged himself.
ice remained silent.
Rong Yi patted his shoulder, ‘Is it possible that you saw it wrong?’
Passing by two girls who played with the Ouija board last night, their fragmented conversation drifted over:
‘…terrifying…never again…Ouija board…’
‘…stairs…lady in red…you saw it too, right…nightmares all night long…’
ice gently wiped away tears from the corner of his eye, ‘…yes, I must have seen it wrong.’
Rong Yi: …
Luo Huayue took a sharp breath, ‘Could it be? Could there really be ghosts in this instance? We agreed we were just pretending to be divine beings, didn’t we?’
‘Who agreed with you?’ Zhang Haiyang held his head, wailing, ‘The mission only said we were supposed to scare people, it didn’t say only we were supposed to do it!’
After some introspection, ice suddenly said, ‘Wait! When I saw the lady in red yesterday—’
Zhang Haiyang interrupted, ‘Don’t say that word!’
ice continued, ‘…when I saw the lady, I heard a system prompt. Isn’t it possible that the sound was not players losing sanity due to our scare, but actual ghosts causing a drop in sanity?’
‘Or is it that the drop in sanity from being scared by real ghosts counts against us? Can something so good happen to us?’
Nestled in the shadows of a few people, he found a secluded spot, opened the floating screen, not very adeptly scrolled through it, then suddenly exclaimed, ‘Ah!’
ice anxiously poked at the floating screen, ‘Oh no! So, we also have sanity points!’
‘I didn’t hear the sound of gaining sanity; I heard a sound indicating I lost sanity!’
Luo Huayue added, ‘…I just heard a similar sound, thinking it was the two classmates passing by still reminiscing about last night’s horrifying event and losing sanity again…could it be…’
Zhang Haiyang’s teeth chattered, ‘…me too…’
Rong Yi also heard the sound. Her thoughts aligned with Luo Huayue’s, assuming the success of their scare last night made the players ‘reminisce endlessly.’
With many people in the corridor, she decisively said, ‘Let’s all go to the bathroom!’
There were individual cubicles in the bathroom, the closest spot to check the floating screen.
Now they had to confirm quickly the sanity data of each member within the team and decide on the next course of action.
Rong Yi locked the cubicle door, opened the floating screen, followed the flashing red dot, and finally found her sanity bar in the deepest part of the mission section.
Oh, you little thing, you really know how to hide!
Sanity points: 7/10
Explanation:
1. When sanity is below 9, it will drop at a rate of -1 every 12 hours.
2. When sanity is below 4 points, the player will be in a state of mental disarray, experiencing terrifying hallucinations, leading to a complete mental breakdown, loss of self-personality, and consciousness. This state will continue in the real world.
3. Once sanity drops, it cannot recover on its own.
4. You can acquire other players’ sanity points and exchange them for your own. Exchange rate: 10 (other players’ sanity points) = 1 (your own sanity point)
Rong Yi muttered, ‘What a nightmare of an instance! This mechanism forces them to pretend to be ghosts and scare people every night to maintain their sanity points, right?’
But in the process of scaring, they may encounter real ghosts, causing another drop in sanity, leading to acquiring other players’ sanity points again…
A vicious, dreamy, loop.
Rong Yi opened the group communication channel with a headache.
Rong Yi: 7 points.
Luo Huayue: 6.
ice: 5.
As the person who directly witnessed the female ghost on-site, ice’s sanity points halved.
Zhang Haiyang: …5.”
This is just pure chicken-heartedness.
Rong Yi: Yesterday, we harvested a total of 49 points of SAN value, which can be converted into 4 points of SAN value for each of us. Plus one point for each person from Ice Zhang Haiyang. The remaining 2 points are kept just in case.
So, the lowest SAN value in the team is 6, which can support them for 24 hours, enough for them to earn SAN value tonight for redemption and replenishment.
No one objected. Rong Yi, as the captain, distributed the points and met with a few lost souls outside the bathroom.
The bell for class had already rung, and they had no time for more exchanges and could only return to the classroom first.
This class is math. The elegant and tall math teacher walked into the classroom with a large triangular board, smiling and greeting, “Good morning, students.”
In Rong Yi’s ears came the admiring remarks of the students, “God!” “Teacher Zhang is handsome as always,” and other infatuated exclamations.
Indeed, in the eyes of high school students, Teacher Zhang could be considered a campus god.
But in Rong Yi’s eyes, he was just an NPC with a decent appearance.
Her thoughts were all on a few classmates in the class.
With a broad view from the back row, she could see the entire class. Every participant in the séance game last night had come to class, even the last one who, as Ice said, was scared silly.
That boy was undoubtedly a player; his SAN value should have dropped to a critical level. So why did he seem only slightly haggard today but mentally stable, sitting properly in class?
Furthermore, they gained 49 points of SAN value last night. According to Rong Yi’s observation, excluding Ice’s 7 people, there should be 5 players, meaning each of them lost about 10 points of SAN value on average!
They should all be mentally broken and eliminated!
Thinking it over, there were only two possibilities:
1. The base SAN value of ordinary players is higher than that of the traitor team.
2. The SAN value of ordinary players can autonomously recover, unlike that of traitors.
Whichever possibility, SAN value, akin to health bars in dungeons, gave ordinary players an absolute advantage over the traitor faction!
No wonder her boyfriend said, as long as they weren’t with the traitor team, this dungeon was pretty simple.
Rong Yi then recollected what Zhang Haiyang said about the “balance of the game.” The disparity in SAN value attributes, with ordinary players needing 10 points to match the traitors’ 1 point, undoubtedly embodied game balance.
Because the ghosts ordinary players faced included the traitor team’s “deception” along with “true ghosts,” their probability of losing SAN value was much higher.
Consequently, the traitor team had a smaller base SAN value, making it harder for them to recover SAN value.
Lost in her thoughts, Rong Yi unknowingly heard the bell signaling the end of the class.
“Students, this afternoon we will have a math pop quiz,” Zhang, the math teacher, said gently, eliciting a chorus of low complaints in the classroom.
Rong Yi noticed some classmates looking at her strangely.
She immediately realized: Teacher Wang was the class teacher, strict in character, and being the big sister, she dared not confront her openly.
But since the math teacher, Zhang, had a gentle demeanor, the big sister would surely respond only to hard words!
“Bang!” Rong Yi put her hand in her pocket, kicked her desk, and complained loudly, “We just had a test yesterday, and now another one today, how annoying!”
The math teacher didn’t take offense; instead, he smiled and said to the students, “It’s all for your own good. If you have any questions before the test, you can come to my office.”
“I will do my best to answer the questions from the first 15 students.”
“Rong Yi, I will inform Teacher Wang of your performance today.”
With that, he walked out of the classroom with the triangular board.
A string suddenly tightened in Rong Yi’s mind!
Today’s math test, like yesterday’s Chinese test, was probably meant to provide important clues for the players.
The math teacher will give topics to 15 students—this is just like trying to raise the average score in a game!
As for whether these 15 people are players or NPCs, belong to the regular faction or the spy faction, that will depend on each individual’s ability.
Alright guys, let’s get started, let’s do this!
Other players obviously realized this too. Almost all students stood up almost simultaneously, their eyes burning with a thirst for knowledge. The sound of desks and chairs echoed as they rushed out of the door!
Looking at the enthusiastic scene of learning, Rong Yi, on the other hand, sat back down.
No.
It’s not about whether she can compete with energetic high school students; as an elder sister, fighting for a spot in cram schools is definitely out of character!
There must be other ways to catch up with this internal competition in learning… there must be!
Some students had already started fighting to be the first out of the classroom. Zhang Haiyang, feeling anxious, said, “Is this going to be an all-out brawl? Will the last 15 standing win the ultimate cram school spot?”
Ice flexed his muscles and with a flick of his orchid-like fingers, his wrists crackling, said, “I can handle this alone, but looking at how determined they are, it’s unlikely for me to take on three.”
Rong Yi made a quick decision, “Coach, you go. If possible, try to recap what Teacher Zhang said for us.”
Ice charged into the crowded students like a conquering hero and quickly dashed out of the classroom!
Judging by the screams coming from students closer to further away, Ice had already charged to the front of the cram school queue.
Compared to the noise in the hallway, the classroom was empty, with only Rong Yi, Luo Huayue, and Zhang Haiyang left.
Zhang Haiyang held his head, whimpering, “What do we do? My math is already bad, now I won’t get any hints… Without hints, the mission could fail at night…MY SAN value will drop on its own, by tomorrow I’ll go crazy… What if I see that—”
At this point, Zhang Haiyang suddenly raised his head, “I heard the hint sound.”
Luo Huayue, frustrated, said, “The more terrifying things you think about, the faster your SAN value drops! Stop thinking about it!”
Zhang Haiyang, eyes unfocused, trembled his lips, looking towards the back of the classroom, as if something monstrous had appeared out of thin air there!
“Smack!”
Suddenly a slap woke him up.
Rong Yi shook her hand, coldly saying, “Calm down.”
Zhang Haiyang covered his face, “But, but my brain, it’s out of control—”
Rong Yi quickly added the remaining two points to his already dropped SAN value of 4, then slapped him again, “Smack!”
“The more you try not to think about something, the more you end up thinking about it. What you need to do is use your brain on something else.”
As his SAN value returned to 6, Zhang Haiyang’s eyes cleared up, “Something else?”
Rong Yi pulled out a brand new “Complete Guide to High School Mathematics” from the desk, slamming it down.
“Mathematics, only mathematics, can instantly occupy all of your brain’s memory!”
She instructed Luo Huayue, “You have good grades and are more familiar with high school math content. You tutor him first, and reinforce your own understanding.”
Luo Huayue asked, “What about you, Rong Yi?”
Rong Yi looked towards the back door of the classroom, where Mr. Wang, the Chinese teacher, stood with a gloomy expression.
“…I will go verify the game’s balance.”
As soon as Zhang left, Mr. Wang whisked Rong Yi away to the tutoring office.
As for why it wasn’t the teachers’ office—
Rong Yi thought, it must be because the current office is the battleground for the cram school spots, and the unnecessary people should all clear out.
The sparsely-haired headmaster and teacher scolded each other, a mixed-gender argument that lasted a whole class period. The people being scolded were numb, not getting the expected “trial” meant specifically for the spy team.
Shouldn’t she be asked to handwrite 3000 words on the spot and get a reward for it?
What about the promised “balance of the game”? Did she guess wrong?
Just as she couldn’t help but doubt herself, someone knocked on the door.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The passionately scolding headmaster and teacher suddenly stopped.
They instantly changed their demeanor, respectfully coming to the door together.
The headmaster slightly bent, gently opened the door, the cautious welcoming gesture made Rong Yi feel like he wouldn’t be surprised if they laid a red carpet at the door right away.
The door opened.
The bright sunlight outside the corridor outlined a tall figure of a male student.
He stood at the door, his face obscured in darkness due to the strong light behind him. Silent.
“Student A!” with extra enthusiasm, the headmaster and teacher ushered him in, “Please come in! Is there something you need from us?”
Student A? Rong Yi peeked out from behind the headmaster.
Taking advantage, the teacher scolded Rong Yi, “Look at you, always fooling around!”
“Student A, just a year older than you, has already secured a guaranteed admission to University B, won the International Math Olympiad, and is now helping the senior teachers set exam papers even in his free time.”
“All students of the same school, but why is there such a big difference in how they carry themselves?!”
Rong Yi’s eyes lit up!
He’s setting exam papers?
Isn’t this the balance of the game they were talking about!
“Yes, teacher! I acknowledge my mistake!”
Rong Yi bowed, forgetting to use honorifics with the teacher, “Thank you for your wise teachings, making me aware of my shortcomings!”
“Your words seem to have opened a skylight for me in my polluted heart, allowing me to see a bright future!”
“From today, I will study hard and make progress every day. Please teachers and classmates, supervise me!”
In the shocked gazes of the teacher and headmaster, she briskly walked to Student A, lifted her head, revealing pure eyes of seeking knowledge:
“Senior, can you tutor me, please?”
Student A looked down at her, his gaze straight and unwavering.
But Rong Yi had gradually developed immunity to his inexplicable aura of fear.
Well, scary as he may be, isn’t he just my little brother?
Student A nodded, taking the lead out of the office. Rong Yi followed closely.
As the door gently closed behind the two, the headmaster and teacher looked at each other.
“…Is he the one who’s here to turn the prodigal back?”
“…This return seems a bit fierce, isn’t it risky?”
When Rong Yi brought Student A back to the classroom, she, Luo Huayue, and Zhang Haiyang surrounded him, ready for tutoring, only to discover a significant issue:
“…Can you not speak?”
Since their first meeting, Student A had been like a silent and pale statue, not uttering a word.
Now, he remained silent, a faint blush of embarrassment crossing his pale face.
Rong Yi handed him a piece of paper, “In that case, whether you don’t want to speak or can’t speak, can we communicate through writing?”
Student A looked at her and nodded. His hands, long and snowy white like a regular person’s, held the most ordinary pen with distinct joints, pleasing to the eye.
Flipping through a “Complete Analysis of High School Mathematics Textbook,” he pointed to a question, moving his pen on the paper, writing down elegant characters:
“Firstly.”
“Let x represent your variable.”
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