Chapter 4: Wang Qiqi’s Bounty
Head Teacher Zhao1The teacher in charge of a class. There’s no exact English equivalent, but it could be similar to a Homeroom Teacher. was extremely strict. Her demeanor was as rigid and uninteresting as her appearance. She made Li Muyang stand outside for the entire morning reading class without a hint of sympathy.
The teachers that passed by fourth-grade class 6 seemed accustomed to seeing Li Muyang standing outside the door and didn’t dare to offer a helping hand.
Li Muyang was only allowed back into the classroom after the period.
Yan Jiyun didn’t intend to stay in Li Muyang’s backpack forever. Taking advantage of when no one was around, he poked his head out of the backpack.
Li Muyang found out that he was about to come out and pressed his head back in, whispering: “Sesame, don’t come out. Teacher, doesn’t allow us to bring small animals to school.2Li Muyang’s speech breaks up in the middle, so I’ll be following the comma insertion in the original.“
Yan Jiyun still tried to squeeze out. The head teacher had just left, so now was the best time for him to leave. The child wasn’t as strong as him so it wasn’t difficult to break free, but at this moment, the voices of other children came over.
From his perspective, he could perfectly see a boy who was fatter and stronger than the other kids, blocking in front of Li Muyang’s seat.
The little fatty domineeringly grabbed Li Muyang’s backpack: “Li Muyang, what are you hiding in your backpack? Let me see!”
Yan Jiyun’s fists clenched when he heard the little fatty speak. He hated this kind of bully the most when he was a child. See one beat one!
The instance actually had a segment of school bullying.
However, considering the game instance’s name, it was obvious that a primary school student like Li Muyang would most likely encounter bullying at school. Li Muyang had a health bar, which meant that he would face numerous challenges today. If his health bar was depleted, it would mean he would ultimately die. If he died, the instance would end, and it was unclear what would happen to the players inside. The system also didn’t explain.
Based on the events of the morning, it was evident that many incidents would occur to deplete his health bar.
Li Muyang reached out and grabbed his backpack back; Sesame was still inside.
He had never resisted when the little fatty bullied him, and when he snatched back his backpack this time, the little fatty couldn’t even react in time. He felt that his authority was challenged, so he fiercely grabbed the heavy schoolbag again and ordered his two followers–one thin and one short–to hold Li Muyang down.
“It seems there really is something in your backpack that you don’t want us to see.” The little fatty forcefully pulled the zipper open and turned it upside down, trying to dump out all of Li Muyang’s books.
But just when he thought he could get Li Muyang’s treasured thing, a black thing jumped out and fiercely clawed his hand holding the backpack. The black thing jumped up from the desk again and swung a heavy claw at the little fatty’s face, leaving a few bloody scratches.
Yan Jiyun’s head was clear. He simply wanted to teach this little fatty a lesson on behalf of Li Muyang.
The little fatty was beaten into confusion, “What is this?!”
One student shouted, “It’s a cat! A black cat!”
The little fatty was probably too fat, so the pain where he was scratched came slowly. By the time he reacted, Yan Jiyun had already run to the classroom door.
The little fatty screamed, “Ahh! It hurts so much! Quick, stop it. Catch it! Whoever catches that black cat, I will reward 500 yuan! Immediate transfer!”
He turned and yelled at Li Muyang, “Li Muyang, this grudge with the black cat will fall on you! You better not leave after school!”
The little fatty rushed out of the classroom with his followers, and the male classmates who were invigorated by the 500 yuan reward also ran out.
“Wang Qiqi, when we catch that cat later, you better keep your word!”
The little fatty Wang Qiqi covered his face as he said, “Of course .Remember to catch it alive. I’m going to die of anger!”
After Yan Jiyun ran out of the classroom, he weaved through a crowd of primary students going to the bathroom after class. He quickly passed through and entered the corridor.
It was now recess. The students playing noisily belatedly realized a black cat had come to their floor, and Wang Qiqi and his followers were chasing behind!
At the same time, the system that had been quiet from yesterday night to this morning suddenly released a task.
【Player Yan Jiyun has triggered the hidden mission “Wang Qiqi’s Bounty”: Catch Yan Jiyun.】
【Mission Details: Players who catch Yan Jiyun within 10 minutes and send it to Wang Qiqi will receive a 500 point reward. Points will not be deducted if the mission fails, but prop cards will be disabled for one hour. Countdown starts.】
The other players had just flipped over the wall and entered the school or just disguised themselves as a school employee, and they were bewildered for a moment from this sudden task.
The young man in the hoodie had just put on the chef’s outfit of a cafeteria uncle, “Catch Yan Jiyun. This guy is a player, right? Why is there a mission like this?”
The short-haired girl put on the apron of the dishwashing auntie, even pretentiously holding a pair of plastic gloves in her hand.
She was very confused: “Yan Jiyun? Isn’t that the player who gained Li Muyang’s favorability? How do we catch him? None of us have seen what he looks like.”
Red-haired man: “Let’s go and see just what’s going on. 500 points is a lot. We’ve been to three instances but never encountered a hidden mission like this before!”
The young man in the hoodie rested his chin on one hand, “This person should be easy to recognize. On the way here, practically all the players came out to protect Li Muyang, yet there was no sign of him. He was also not among the players who climbed over the wall just now. He’s quite well hidden.”
Short-haired girl: “Did he enter the school early before morning class? That’s why we never saw him.”
The young man in the hoodie slapped his thigh, “That makes sense! He knew that the other players would definitely protect Li Muyang into the school, so he could come in early and pretend to be a worker. Not only would he be distanced from the other players, even the NPCs may ignore him.”
Red-haired man: “You’re right. Let’s go find Yan Jiyun. There’s only ten minutes. If he hides well, we wouldn’t be able to find him at all.”
Short-haired girl: “But we don’t know what the target looks like at all. It’s a bit difficult to catch him within 10 minutes.”
The young man in the hoodie suddenly became excited, “But it’s 500 points!”
Red-haired man: “Charge!”
Short-haired girl: “Yes, charge.”
Players who had the same thoughts as them were also ready to take action. It truly wasn’t easy to get 500 points from an NPC. They only did NPC-related tasks in the past, but now it was against a player, which might be easier in comparison?
Unlike other players, Yan Jiyun’s mission was twice as hard. He cursed in his heart: I really really thank the system’s whole family!
【You have triggered the hidden mission “Wang Qiqi’s Bounty”. Please hide yourself and ensure you are not caught by other players within the next 10 minutes. If you are caught by a player, the prop card will be disabled for one hour. Successful completion of the mission will result in a 500 point reward.】
Yan Jiyun now had NPCs in front, and players behind.
However, the system prompt reminded him this really was a dangerous game. There were actually prop cards too.
He managed to avoid the NPCs chasing after him, and after running to the first floor, he got under the flower bed under the teaching building. There was nowhere to hide, not even a garden.
As long as he could survive these long 10 minutes, he would be fine. First, he needed to find a place to hide.
He was hiding in the flower bed, and the NPCs also had brains. They also knew to check there. After squatting for a while, Yan Jiyun was discovered by a sharp-eyed child.
“It’s here!”
Yan Jiyun was currently being attacked on both sides. He must not let the NPCs catch him.
However, diverting Wang Qiqi’s attention today prevented him from hurting Li Muyang, but it was now rebounded onto him. He was now shouldering the burden for Li Muyang. It wasn’t safe in the grass. He needed to hurry and find a place to hide!
After calculating the route he would take next, he darted out of the flower bed and ran towards Qiuzhen Building that was opposite of Chongshi Building.
Yan Jiyun was extremely fast, disappearing from sight within three seconds.
He ran up to the third floor in one breath, then saw an open room out of the corner of his eye. Seeing that no one was here, he sneaked in and quickly got under a table. There were a few luxury brand bags that just happened to form a circle. He wouldn’t be spotted easily here.
Soon after he came in, someone else entered behind him. Listening to their conversation, it should be two male players.
The young man: “Brother Qiang, you sure we can find Yan Jiyun through the surveillance room?”
Brother Qiang: “Why not? Since monitoring exists, it means it’s reasonable. Even though it’s a game, which function isn’t realistic?”
Young Man: “You’re right, but how do we find him? There’re so many screens, and we don’t even know which one is Yan Jiyun.”
Brother Qiang: “He didn’t protect Li Muyang on the way to school with the rest of us. That means he must’ve arrived earlier than us, and he also didn’t enter openly.”
Young Man: “From his name, they could be either man or woman.”
Brother Qiang: “Let’s look at the surveillance of the wall first. Then, we’ll check who’s acting the most suspicious on campus. There’s only ten minutes–time is tight.”
They looked at the surveillance and heard a group of students run up to this floor.
The young man was a bit nervous, “What are they running to this building for? They don’t look like 1st or 2nd grade students.
Brother Qiang: “They’re probably looking for something.”
Young Man: “Could it be related to the Yan Jiyun mission?”
Brother Qiang: “I’ll pretend to be a school leader and ask.”
Young Man: “Brother Qiang, don’t be discovered by a security guard.”
A short while later, Brother Qiang came back.
Brother Qiang: “It doesn’t have to do with Yan Jiyun. They’re looking for a black cat.”
At this time, Yan Jiyun who was hiding under the table continued to stay motionlessly. They never even thought that Yan Jiyun was the black cat, but it wouldn’t be good if he was discovered by them either.
If they thought about the relationship to Wang Qiqi, some players may have a sudden whim that the black cat was related to Yan Jiyun.
The best method currently was to hide. He glanced at the remaining time on the screen in the upper right corner.
There were still 7 minutes 18 seconds.
Yan Jiyun had only rested for two minutes and hadn’t relaxed yet when a sound came from outside the surveillance room. The security guard head muttered outside that the door was obviously unlocked, but now it was. He jingled for the key. The two players also heard and hurriedly found a place to hide.
Young Man: “Isn’t it time for him to train the security guards? Why did he run back now?!”
Brother Qiang: “I don’t know! Let’s hide first and talk later.”
Being relatively burly, Brother Qiang hid behind the electrical cabinet while the young man crawled under the table where Yan Jiyun was. He moved the paper bags under the table to be able to shrink more when he was suddenly caught off guard and found himself staring into a pair of pale green eyes.
The young man was so frightened he hurriedly covered his mouth: “…” G-G-G-G-God! What the hell was this?!
At this time, the door clicked open and the security guard head came in from outside.
Yan Jiyun had an idea, pushing the bag in front of him and crawled out.
The young man didn’t have time to catch him.
The security guard head was startled by the black cat that jumped out from under the table, and then he saw the young man hiding underneath.
“Who are you? What are you doing here!”
“F*ck!” After being discovered, the young man came out, feeling that he might’ve been played by the black cat.
The security guard head directly jumped past the black cat and stared at the young male player in front of him.
[Livestream]
“Phew, the meowy escaped. So thrilling! So exciting!”
“Laughing to death. The little kitty is a big genius. Now everyone would focus on the players and forget the matter of catching cats.”
“Who would have thought that a cat could also be a player? I bet 100 destiny coins that they can’t catch the kitty.”
“The target was right under their nose and they didn’t notice. This is the funniest livestream I’ve ever seen. The other rooms are too routine.”
“The little kitty is too smart. Much love! I hope the kitty can pass a few more instances. Reward!”
“Can’t these players put in some more effort? Catch it quickly!”
“I’ve seen this instance so many times, and it’s the first time I discovered there are hidden missions.”
“Huh? Why is the kitty’s vision not heading upstairs anymore?”
Of course, Yan Jiyun couldn’t choose to continue climbing the stairs, because while he was hiding, the system suddenly prompted.
【Li Muyang’s health has dropped to 88%.】
【Li Muyang’s health has dropped to 86%.】
【Li Muyang’s health has dropped to 84%.】
For some reason, Li Muyang’s health continued to drop.
