In the copy, every day is a good weather day.
Walking in the morning sun, Teacher Zhang walked out of the faculty dormitory as lively as ever.
He greeted his colleagues who were also heading to the teaching building politely, and met with enthusiastic students along the way.
“Good morning, Teacher Zhang!”
“Good morning to you too!”
“Teacher Zhang, are we having a math test today?”
“Guess!”
Although some girls were less friendly towards him than usual due to the rumor circulating yesterday, most of the children remained the same, innocent and adorable.
Oh well, rumors will pass, let’s take it slow.
He briskly walked into the teaching building, noticing a crowd ahead with students squeezed together seemingly watching something lively.
Approaching them, Teacher Zhang parted the students craning their necks to see:
“Why are you all gathering here instead of attending morning self-study?”
However, the looks he received from the students he moved away were peculiar.
Continuing forward, Teacher Zhang saw a notice board gradually coming into view.
His gaze suddenly froze.
This was—
He forcefully pushed aside several students in the front row and saw on the notice board a distorted image of himself, soaked in something, the overwhelming ugliness.
Teacher Zhang’s breathing quickened. In that moment, his composed demeanor shattered. He waved his hand frantically to the students watching the scene:
“Go back to class! All of you, go back!”
The surrounding students whispered to each other but dared not raise their voices too much. They nudged each other towards the classrooms, occasionally glancing back at Teacher Zhang standing dazed in front of the notice board.
“…Wow, did Teacher Zhang offend someone?”
“Oh no, the idol’s image is ruined.”
“Did you see clearly just now? Did Teacher Zhang wet himself?”
“I saw it clearly! He really wet himself!”
“Tsk tsk tsk, suddenly I feel a bit sorry for Teacher Zhang.”
“I beg for a pair of eyes that haven’t seen this. I can’t concentrate on class today.”
As the students dispersed, Teacher Zhang, his face flushed, began tearing off the photos on the notice board.
The photos were printed on A4 paper, the colored ink had already soaked the paper, and the back was solidified with glue, layer upon layer stuck firmly on the notice board, impossible to simply clean off.
Teacher Zhang tore desperately, forcefully, using his nails to pick where he couldn’t tear, the friction on the plastic notice board creating a harsh sound.
“Teacher Zhang.” A shocked voice came from behind, “What’s going on?”
Teacher Zhang suddenly turned around, attempting to shield the unacceptable images with his body, forcing a smile, “Forgive me, Teacher Wang. It’s just a prank by the kids.”
Teacher Wang, usually upright, did not reprimand the students for such a despicable act. Instead, he frowned, “Teacher Zhang, I don’t know what you’ve been up to. You’re a teacher, an adult, why would you get into a major conflict with these children? They even went as far as to send those things — to the teacher’s inbox to complain!”
“You are teaching high school students, not kindergarten kids; their maturity is approaching adulthood, so you must watch your words and actions, and not let personal emotions interfere with their learning!”
Teacher Zhang still held the fragments of his own photo in his hand, looking bewildered, standing there in front of students coming and going, receiving a scolding from Teacher Wang.
What mailbox? What conflict? What words and actions?
How much happened on this night that he was unaware of?
His face flushed, standing there in a sorry state, not sure whether to leave or defend himself.
Right, it must be Rong Yi! She must have united with Anna after those six girls yesterday couldn’t make him lose his composure, so they planned to embarrass him severely!
He mentioned how Anna, who was always well-behaved, acted so unusually last night!
Trembling, he held onto the crumpled paper, unsure of how he bid farewell to Teacher Wang, mechanically continuing upstairs, hoping to quickly return to his office and shut out these noisy voices from his world.
But on every bulletin board on each floor, there were his photos, surrounded by students whispering with looks of confusion, mockery, and shock.
With trembling hands, Zhang Teacher tried to take out the six amnesia cards from his system backpack.
But there were only six cards.
Now, all the student NPCs knew of his disgrace—how could he make them all forget!
He could only rush into the students, tearing at those photos. Classmates started to move away from him, pointing and whispering, treating him like a little monster.
He was no longer the confident and elegant teacher who left the faculty dormitory. His face pale, sweat dripping from his temples, the collar of his white shirt damp, and his carefully styled hair falling loose, resembling a melting wax figure.
Finally, he reached for the doorknob of his office; he could hide in his tiny cubicle—
“Teacher Zhang.”
Principal Yu’s solemn voice sounded behind him, “Please come with me to the principal’s office.”
Rong Yi was at the classroom door handing over today’s breakfast to Senior A when she saw Teacher Zhang leaving with Principal Yu, looking defeated. She smiled broadly, blew Teacher Zhang a flying kiss disdainfully.
Principal Yu, unusually, didn’t reprimand her but gestured for her to quickly enter the classroom for morning self-study.
“Quiet.”
“Because there’s a physics pop quiz this afternoon, so we’re having a physics class now.”
Rong Yi smiled contentedly.
Is Teacher Zhang in a state of breakdown now, or is he repenting?
At the end of class, there was some activity on the informer team communication channel.
Raymond: He came to me.
Raymond: He asked me to help him escape.
Rong Yi: ?
“I can’t stay in this school anymore!” Teacher Zhang covered his face in pain, looking pitiful and helpless.
Dr. Lei brought him a cup of hot water, pretending not to know anything, and asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”
Turning the tables, Teacher Zhang twisted the truth, portraying his deeds as revenge from unruly students, causing his downfall.
“Vice Principal said I should be suspended for a while… I heard they might assign me to do janitorial work… I’m a math teacher, how can I do janitorial work?”
With tears in his eyes, Teacher Zhang sobbed, “Only you can help me… help me escape!”
Raymond followed Teacher Zhang to the entrance of the gymnasium locker room, taking the opportunity to message the team members along the way.
Escape? What does the NPC mean by escape?
He was extremely interested.
Teacher Zhang stood at the locker room door, took a deep breath.
In a non-mission state, he was well aware that Dr. Lei was a player, but under the strict rule in the instance not to break character, he couldn’t say it to Dr. Lei’s face.
He could only be vague and use her feelings towards him – he believed she would understand his intentions!
This method had once been just a daring idea of his own. After all, in this instance, no NPC could establish a lifelong connection with players like he could!
This was his unique advantage!
Now, this advantage finally came in handy.
“You—do you still like me, right?” He looked affectionately at Dr. Lei.
Although Dr. Lei’s words yesterday had severely hit his confidence, looking at her gentle attitude today as usual, the never-been-defeated Teacher Zhang couldn’t help but think—
She must still like me!
Dr. Lei smiled gently, “Of course.”
Indeed, no woman could resist me. Teacher Zhang sighed in relief, “Then, what’s about to happen, don’t be surprised.”
“Of course, you won’t be surprised. After all, you— are not like us.” He spoke vaguely, but as long as one was a player, they understood his meaning.
Players and NPCs, of course, were different.
Raymond pretended to look surprised, “How—”
Internally, he sneered. To escape, Teacher Zhang dared to reveal his identity in front of a player and cross the line in the instance.
“Hush!” Teacher Zhang covered her mouth, “Knowing is enough, don’t say it, be good.”
“Here, this is one of the doors for you to go home.” He pointed to the locker room door and glanced at his watch, “At a special time, entering this door from a special angle will—turn us back into our original selves.”
“Please take me with you, I will always follow you, traveling with you in the vast world, okay?”
Not good. Raymond felt disgusted at the thought of having such an electronic pet in his system.
Outwardly, she smiled softly, “Of course, that’s good.”
Teacher Zhang hugged her tightly. He was too excited to notice Raymond breaking out in goosebumps all over his body.
He waited until exactly eleven o’clock in the morning, following the sunlight that streamed down from the skylight as he made his way into the changing room.
However, as his body was engulfed in shadow, starting from his fingertips, gradually, his arms, shoulders—
He felt as if he was being disintegrated, turning into particles that were sucked into the closest suspended screen—Raymond’s system.
Raymond was extremely curious, and as he flipped through his system interface, he discovered an original folder without any icons:
【npc-283746】
“How amazing!” Raymond regretted that other players couldn’t peer into his suspended screen, and the system lacked a screenshot function, so he could only repeatedly describe to them the marvelous sight of the NPC entering his system and the bug event of the extra folder in his system.
“Have you ever thought that this Mr. Zhang will always follow you, as long as you cannot escape the game, you cannot escape him?” Zhang Haiyang leaned on his chin, looking at him listlessly.
Raymond’s striking appearance as the school doctor during the day attracted too much attention for him to directly approach them. They only had time to sneak off to the medical room to meet him after school in the afternoon.
Upon hearing this, Raymond was stunned.
He shivered violently, as if acting like a fool, and jumped up, causing the suspended screen to bounce up and down with him, attempting to shake Mr. Zhang out using this method. “Damn it! Get the hell out!”
Rong Yi, seemingly in thought, tapped the table with her fingers, suddenly saying, “I know someone who might be able to help you with this trouble.”
She hadn’t mentioned who it was yet, but a senior student who had been quietly following them, seemingly like an invisible presence behind them even more than Anna, suddenly stepped forward and raised his hand.
They had already noticed that while other NPCs adhered to the rule of not revealing player identities in front of players, this senior student ignored this rule entirely. Not only did he look away when they accidentally caught him looking at their suspended screen, but he also seemed entirely unconcerned with the increasingly bold conversations revealing their player identities.
It was as if he and the NPCs were two different species.
And this time, his behavior was even more astonishing.
He actually managed to directly turn Raymond’s suspended screen towards himself!
Everyone:…!!!!
The suspended screen was the personal domain of each player and NPC, similar to a holographic projection, with no physical presence. Others could see it but not the content displayed within, let alone alter its direction!
Raymond saw the senior student’s pale, slender fingers reach into the holographic suspended screen, picking up the NPC folder like a tiny ant and casually throwing it on the ground.
As the folder met the air of the replica, it immediately disintegrated into particles, piecing together Mr. Zhang’s appearance in the air.
Mr. Zhang was clearly perplexed, “…Already in the new replica? You guys—”
Raymond: “Damn it! Put it back quickly!”
The senior student then grabbed Mr. Zhang’s collar, tossing his unstable figure back onto the suspended screen. Before he could even shout, he was thrown back in and turned back into a folder!
Everyone:…??!!!
What kind of extraordinary ability was this?!
They looked at the senior student in astonishment.
Only Rong Yi, after her initial surprise, touched her lips thoughtfully.
The senior student could effortlessly transform an NPC between code and reality…
She suddenly felt that her fish pond plan had some new elements to explore.
Author’s Note: My apologies for not being able to finish today. I promise to do so tomorrow!
I’m late tonight. I’m sorry. According to our agreement, please make sure to scold me through the internet cable!
