Luo Huayue was a top student. When studying, she was very meticulous, immediately raising objections, “Senior, you mean, set the target value of x for this requirement, right?”
Rong Yi was slightly surprised.
She knew exactly what Senior A wanted to say. It’s just that the combination of “x” and “target” inadvertently reminded her of another meaning.
Her boyfriend, whose WeChat name had always been “x” and avatar in all black, completely contrasting with his warm and cute personality, seemed like a dark past from his adolescent phase.
After coming out of the ogre dungeon, her boyfriend had promised a video call in two weeks. Calculating, it was exactly the time they came out of the school dungeon.
With that in mind, life had something to look forward to once again.
Senior A might have noticed her wandering thoughts and lightly tapped the table, interrupting her.
“Ah! I’m sorry.” Rong Yi quickly regained her focus. “Please continue.”
She wrote down formulas on the draft paper, sketching out the question like a neatly printed image, as if she had a set of tools in her hands.
With each step she wrote, Senior A glanced at Rong Yi. If she nodded understanding, he continued writing; if she had doubts, he patiently explained the thought process through writing.
Just as meticulous as when he guided her.
Rong Yi had a background in finance, sensitive to numbers, excelled in science over humanities due to a severe leg disability during her school days. She had forgotten the problem-solving methods from high school after so many years.
But with a solid foundation, Senior A’s slight nudge was enough for her to quickly connect the dots. After solving a few problems, she felt completely at ease.
Luo Huayue was a well-rounded top student, excelling in both arts and science, finding it all very easy.
Except for Zhang Haiyang.
“Well…” he couldn’t help but interrupt the quiet tutoring session. “I didn’t understand how to substitute the formula in the previous questions.”
He looked pleadingly at Senior A.
Senior A stopped writing the solution steps, took another piece of paper, and wrote, “You don’t need to understand. The questions I gave, just memorize all the answers from the previous few questions.”
Zhang Haiyang: “Well… I’m not a real high school student. As long as I can score above average, it’s okay!”
He began to memorize mechanically. When he saw Senior A patiently explaining questions to Rong Yi, he suddenly felt something was amiss.
“…But Miss Rong is not a high school student either. It’s enough to pass the test. Instead of spending this time…”
Senior A lifted his head, his pale face with dark eyes looking frightening. A sudden fear crawled all over Zhang Haiyang, making the air around him cold and suffocating, almost gasping for breath!
He immediately stuttered, “I-I-If you want, then it’s okay?”
Senior A lowered his head and continued writing the solution steps. Zhang Haiyang felt the pressure on him suddenly lifted, and he began to breathe heavily.
That was too scary…Thank goodness they are on the same team; otherwise, wouldn’t my “san” value plummet? Zhang Haiyang thought with lingering fear, “Is this Senior A an NPC? Could he be a hidden boss in a secret dungeon?”
But then he thought, if that were true, Miss Rong must be quite formidable to have a dungeon boss give her math problems. Which player would have that privilege?
Rong Yi didn’t mind whether the answers were memorized or understood. However, remembering her stubborn nature during school, she really enjoyed digging deep into the problems. For her, even if she could arrive at the correct answer to a question, but the process was unclear and filled with guesswork, she would feel uneasy, preferring not to have that score.
Therefore, Senior A’s clear and thorough explanation allowed her strange “compulsive behavior” to be utmostly satisfied. Each question was logically clear, forming perfect sequences in her mind like blossoming flowers.
The next session was PE class, and the PE teacher presumed that their class had been taken over by the math class, so didn’t come to urge them.
It wasn’t until 20 minutes into the class that students began returning to the classroom one by one, opening textbooks and laying out draft paper for a frenzy of writing.
Most of them had bruises on their faces, their school uniforms dusty, as if they had been rolling on the ground. It seemed they were all striving desperately for learning and had secured spots for remedial classes, considered the chosen ones for education.
In the midst of it all, Ice’s clean and delicate face, along with spotless school uniform, stood out prominently.
“It’s me!” He walked to the front of the group, proudly pointing at himself, extending a root finger: “First place!”
Rong Yi applauded, “Awesome!”
Luo Huayue asked, “What did that teacher say to you?”
Ice replied, “ddcdaabc! Hyperbolas, parabolas… Focus coordinates f(1,0)… ‘Complete Interpretation of Textbook’ page 58? No, 85, what…”
He furrowed his brow in distress, “I forgot.”
Rong Yi remarked, “… Alright then. Although apart from the multiple-choice questions, I didn’t remember anything, at least I secured a spot that an average player could have taken, so it’s not a wasted effort.”
Zhang Haiyang, sympathizing, watched him and beckoned, “Come on, brother, let’s memorize the answers together.”
The classroom was buzzing with a fervent learning atmosphere, which pleased Teacher Wang greatly. But she still clapped her hands at the door, “Students, studying is important, but so is your health. You still need to go out to the playground for PE class. Let’s all head downstairs!”
Zhang Haiyang, clutching unfinished math problems, wailed, “I don’t want PE class! I want to study math! Studying math makes me happy!”
It seemed like the instance was intentionally squeezing their time for math revision. Teacher Wang hurriedly ushered them out of the classroom like driving ducks, as this half of the PE class had to be attended even if they didn’t want to.
As Rong Yi went out of the classroom with her classmates, she looked back to see Senior A sitting alone in the empty classroom.
This exceptional student who was directly admitted didn’t seem in a hurry to return to his own class. He just sat in Rong Yi’s seat, idly tearing up used draft paper into strips and playing with them.
Suddenly, she felt a sense of familiarity in this scene, yet couldn’t pinpoint where she had seen it before.
“Rong Jie!” Luo Huayue called her from the stairway, and she caught up with her.
Turning back again, she found the classroom empty.
After the PE class, Rong Yi discovered a bunch of star-shaped paper folds in the desk drawer.
The stars were pristine white, with sharp five-pointed tips, looking adorable and full.
The following time was no different from a regular high school day. They studied languages, math, physics, chemistry, biology, politics, history, and geography, rotating through the nine subjects until the last class before dinner – test time.
All the questions covered by Senior A were a perfect match with the test paper, to the extent that even the numbers in the question stems remained unchanged. The insider group wrote with divine aid, and unsurprisingly, all of them passed above average, receiving rewards from the instance.
They still had dinner in the small garden, exchanging the hints they received individually.
Luo Huayue said, “The hint says that they will play the door ghost game in the sports hall storage room at 9 p.m. tonight.”
Ice added, “There will be 10 people going, and all the girls are players.”
Zhang Haiyang swallowed hard, “… Tonight, the female ghost will appear.”
Rong Yi remarked, “The female ghost is afraid of mirrors.”
She asked Luo Huayue, “Do you have a mirror?”
In this instance, the player’s items and clothing were equipped according to their character design. Rong Yi’s character was styled as a tough girl and didn’t randomly pull out a mirror to check her appearance.
Luo Huayue’s character is the sidekick of a big sister, an ordinary high school girl who, after much thought, is the only one who could possibly carry a small mirror for daily beauty needs.
“I have one,” Ice replied, not Luo Huayue.
He took out a palm-sized round mirror from his pocket, the back adorned with a fancy and pink Cardcaptor Sakura design.
“I heard them say that the more girls in the door ghost game, the heavier the atmosphere, and it only works well when more girls play, that’s why they didn’t invite me.” He adjusted his hair in the mirror, “Perfect, since Ocean’s courage is so small, the female ghost will definitely appear tonight. How about this, you endure for one night, and I’ll take over.”
Zhang Haiyang hesitated for a while, then made up his mind, “No.”
“I know I’m very cowardly, but I can’t always be a drag on you!” He straightened his not-so-strong chest, “We are a team, and I can’t be the weak link! I have to grow up!”
Luo Huayue clapped her hands and smiled, “Alright, then you go for it. But as soon as you lose even one sanity point, you immediately endure it.”
Zhang Haiyang nodded resolutely. Luo Huayue looked at the other two, “You guys too, if you drop even a bit, endure it immediately. This is not a test of strength, I guarantee none of you drop below a sanity value of 5!”
The two agreed.
“How do you play the door ghost game?” Luo Huayue stirred the tomato scrambled eggs, “What’s the deal with that?”
“They say it’s about knocking on doors and changing people,” Ice, now infiltrated into the enemy’s camp, explained clearly.
“Everyone enters a room and is numbered. Number one goes out first, closes the door, counts silently to ten, knocks on the door, number two opens from inside, number one goes in, and number two goes out.”
“And so on, number two switches with number three, number three with number four.”
“It is said that after a certain number, when the person inside the door opens it, they will see something behind the person outside!”
Zhang Haiyang jumped up with a loud “Ah” and tremblingly pointed behind Ice, “You, behind you—”
The three of them sat together on a bench in the garden pavilion, Zhang Haiyang sat across from them. Luo Huayue laughed, “Not bad, making progress, trying to scare us all now?”
“No! Really! Behind you guys—”
His tone of terror didn’t seem fake as Rong Yi turned to look, coming face-to-face with a pair of dark, close-set eyes!
“Ah!” She screamed and jumped off the bench!
A student sat behind her, picking something up innocently, standing up with a pale face.
He handed the paper stars in his hand to Rong Yi, taking a step back as if afraid of scaring her again.
This time Zhang Haiyang laughed heartily, “You say Senior A isn’t scary, but weren’t you also startled?”
Rong Yi patted her chest, still spooked.
The paper stars in her hand were the ones she kept in her pocket. Today, they hadn’t received any additional props, the only thing that could be considered a bonus from the scenario was the paper stars Senior A folded on her desk.
So she brought them along, intending to see if there was any mystery to them. The school uniform pockets were spacious, so she might have accidentally dropped some on the way.
“…Thank you.” Rong Yi delicately held the fragile paper stars, afraid of damaging them. She asked Senior A, “Can I unfold your paper stars and take a look?”
Senior A tilted his head, a hint of what seemed like a blush passing on his pale face, nodding gently.
Rong Yi knelt by the bench, spreading out the paper stars, dismantling them one by one.
Some of the paper stars had nothing inside, while others had scattered formulas written on them, obviously torn from scratch paper, with no useful information appearing.
Senior A sat across from her on the bench, facing Rong Yi as she knelt down. As she dismantled one, he folded another, his hands moving quickly.
Until Rong Yi dismantles the last star.
The snow-white note unfolded, with a line of elegant handwriting:
“I finally gave it to you, I’m so happy.”
Rong Yi: …?
She turned the note over and over, not figuring out what it meant.
But this sentence inside, clearly different from the previous fragmented formulas, was specially written by Senior A.
Finally gave it to her. Why finally? Why give it to her? Why does giving it to her make him happy?
Senior A is a whole riddle, leaving Rong Yi puzzled.
She scrutinized the note, feeling more and more that Senior A’s handwriting seemed familiar.
It should be not long ago… after stepping into the game…
Luo Huayue curiously leaned over and whispered, “Sister Rong, I was thinking earlier, his writing looks so familiar…”
Luo Huayue also found it familiar? Both she and Luo Huayue found the handwriting familiar—
“‘Unparalleled!’” Rong Yi blurted out.
Luo Huayue was surprised, “The painting in the ogre instance?”
“Yes!” Rong Yi smoothed out the note in her hand, “Under that painting was a handwritten exhibit information label that we both saw.”
“It’s this font!”
Luo Huayue puzzled, “So, he painted that painting? But isn’t he an NPC in this instance?” She looked at Senior A with a gaze full of doubt and unease:
“Can NPCs travel between different instances?”
“Impossible!” Zhang Haiyang denied on the spot:
“If we have to say, apart from players, the only one who can travel between different instances is that mysterious random boss!”
Rong Yi immediately remembered in the ogre instance, the handsome male puppet who crushed ‘t’s skull in front of her!
Luo Huayue shivered, “A, A-senior wouldn’t be—”
Zhang Haiyang interjected, “A random boss can go crazy and kill even the instance bosses. If he were, we would have all been dead by now!”
“Moreover, the spawn rate of the random boss is extremely low, our luck wouldn’t have been that bad, haha!”
“Even I, a cautious person, don’t worry about such super low probability events, why are you being so pessimistic?”
“Right…” Luo Huayue reassured herself, “We’ve encountered it once, there’s no reason we’d encounter it a second time…”
Zhang Haiyang was very interested in their encounter with the random boss, pestering Luo Huayue with questions.
Rong Yi handed the note with writing to Senior A, who efficiently folded it into stars in a rectangle on the bench, then placed it gently in Rong Yi’s palm.
No unexplained help, no unexplained team formation, no unexplained “finally”…
All of this made Rong Yi begin to speculate on another possibility:
“…Did my character owe some emotional debt?”
She looked at Senior A arranging the stars neatly and said, “The school tyrant big sister and her studious dog-like boyfriend?”
The studious dog-like boyfriend raised his head, and on his stiff face, he forced out a smile that looked more sinister than innocent.
Author’s note: The little boyfriend’s mask needs to be slowly peeled off layer by layer! Hehe! (Fly rubbing hands jpg)
Seeing some cuties asking if it’s a split
Emmmmm, in my understanding, it’s not like that~ There’s no splitting! Just the mask, slowly falling off~ There will be a day when it all falls off~
Omigoshhh it’s her boyfriend (right?), although only one party knows while the other doesn’t 😅