Chapter 25.1

Chapter 25: (Split into two)

“Since we’ve made a deal, let’s destroy the piano.” Xing Ye handed Mr. Ding a hammer, “The more wrecked the better.”

Mr. Ding scratched his head: “Isn’t this going too far? In melee worlds, it’s not like only one camp can win. We just need to find a mission prop and give it to the designated NPC. If there’s seven props, one for each player, then wouldn’t everyone be able to win? Furthermore, the number of points you win wouldn’t change regardless of whether you get one or get seven props. Either way, we all get a hundred, so I don’t think we need to compete so ruthlessly, right? If you can guess the piano’s secret, others can too.”

His line of thinking was very innocent. Xing Ye wasn’t mad after hearing it and answered: “I’m very glad you’re such a kindhearted person. If everybody could be like you, us players could just sit down together, be honest with our identities, and work together to solve this. However, reality isn’t that simple. In melee worlds, we can attack each other for points and get bonus rewards for side quests hidden in the plot. We need to get critical information like this so at the very least, we can trade it for our own self defense.

“For example,” Xing Ye fished out the electric baton and waved it at Mr. Ding, “If I wanted to harm you, but you have critical information that I can’t get, you can trade that information with me to protect yourself. Understand?”

Mr. Ding suddenly understood and nodded: “So it’s actually like that. I understand now. Let’s destroy it then.”

Xing Ye and Mr. Ding moved the piano to block the door first to avoid anybody else from bursting in before working together to wreck the piano. After Mr. Ding smashed it one last time, a piece of paper fell slowly from the piano’s frame. The sheet was very well hidden. If they didn’t completely tear down the piano, it would’ve been difficult to find.

Mr. Ding picked up the sheet: “Huh? It’s a special QR code.”

Xing Ye’s face didn’t change as he walked to Mr. Ding’s side. He stared at the QR code, frantically trying to memorize it.

This was what Mr. Ding found. Since they were cooperating, Xing Ye didn’t want to tear into their partnership and steal it away.

“I’ll give it to you.” Mr. Ding pondered before handing Xing Ye the QR code, “Usually, the QR code’s ability will have something to do with where it’s found. I don't know anything about music so this kind of piano music QR code would have no use for me. You’re better than me at that, so it’s best for you to keep it.”

Xing Ye didn’t accept the QR code, instead asking: “How many special QR codes do you have?”

“Five,” Mr. Ding said, “I didn’t have any in the newbie world, but I drew one after winning. However, the next world was pretty good for me. I found four and after winning, drew another one. I used one in this world, so now I have five.”

The Following Fate players’ luck was really… even just now, when they were tearing down the piano, the one to find the QR code was Mr. Ding, not Xing Ye.

“I’ll trade you as another player,” Xing Ye didn’t want to rip him off. He took out his phone and showed Di Kuang’s picture to Mr. Ding, “His name is Di Kuang and he’s definitely one of our strongest enemies in this campus search game. I think his identity is worth a special QR code. You have to remember to pay attention to him.”

After saying that, he opened his phone’s QR Code scanner and scanned the sheet. The sheet disappeared and the QR code popped up in his phone with a simple introduction:

This QR code was found in the music room’s shabby piano. It may be related to music, or it may also be able to change into a piano to crush people to death. Who knows which one? Perhaps it might even be neither.

Mr. Ding peered at the QR Code’s introduction and sighed: “Good thing I didn’t take this. The introduction’s way too vague, and not even its actual function is clear. It’s obvious that it’s a scam card. I found a QR code in a flowerbed before, and the introduction directly said that its fragrant scent had the ability to intoxicate people. That way, I knew it probably had the power to make my enemies faint.”

Xing Ye: “...”

Forget it, just getting a special QR code was already great.

Mr. Ding’s naivety was worrying. If he hadn’t already seen people like Little Mirror from the Following Fate camp, Xing Ye wouldn’t have believed there’d actually be people as kind hearted as Mr. Ding in a world like this. Even in the real world, people like that were rare.

Of course, he still didn’t trust Mr. Ding very much. It was very much possible that he was just pretending to be simple and naive. It was still better to be on guard.

“How did you enter this game?” Xing Ye casually asked.

He had also once asked the mirror this question. Little Mirror said he also didn’t know how, but one day after falling asleep, he found himself inside a black and white room. At that time, he was so scared that he almost cried- but of course, even if he cried, he would still look very handsome crying.

Mr. Ding’s face turned a little dark, “One day, a friend of mine suddenly made me scan his phone. He said that his company released a new game and was looking everywhere for people to pre-register to increase their consumer count. After I scanned it and tapped enter, I was brought here.”

Xing Ye knew players could invite other players. He also scanned Xing Shuo’s QR code to enter the game.

“I’m the same.” Xing Ye replied simply, wanting to get even more information from Mr. Ding.

Mr. Ding’s face was filled with sympathy as he looked at Xing Ye: “You were probably also tricked here, right? I only found out in the third world that if I clicked to not enter, I would’ve died. I can’t believe he actually dragged me into such a dangerous game just for 2000 points and a special QR code.”

So it turns out it actually came with benefits. If it’s like that, wouldn’t it mean that players who kept dragging in others to join the game would become invincible? No, there had to be some restrictions. Maybe only special players could invite others to join, or the number of invitations they were allowed to send were limited. Otherwise, probably everybody would be in this game.

At the very least, Xing Ye’s never seen an ‘invite a friend to join the game’ button on his phone.

“Humans are just like that.” Xing Ye commented simply, “But since we’re already here, let’s just focus on completing the missions.”

Mr. Ding sighed, “I’m just a little hurt, he… sigh, nevermind, I’ll stop talking about it. Right now, I just want to pass every mission peacefully. One mission every seven days is still bearable. Furthermore, it’s not like I’ll die in real life if I die in game. I’ll just deal with it for now.”

“What about your friend?” Xing Ye asked.

“Well, he was a friend from abroad and left after eating a meal with me. I have family and a job, so it’s impossible for me to go risk it all to find him.” Mr. Ding lowered his head, appearing used to being mistreated like that.

“Have you tried telling others?” Xing Ye never tried such a nonsensical thing, but he was very curious about what would happen if he did try.

“I wanted to tell my wife about it, but I couldn’t speak. It’s like something was blocking my throat from making any sound. I also tried reporting it to the police, writing it down, and texting, but none of them worked. Have you tried before?” Mr. Ding asked.

“I usually don’t try useless things.”

Xing Ye collected all the information he wanted and added Mr. Ding as a friend on Wechat before the two pulled the piano back to its original spot. Then, Mr. Ding suppressed Xing Ye and brought him to find the Headmaster.

When the gym teacher saw a student destroy school property, even if it was already a discarded good, he still couldn’t just let him be.

Xing Ye arrogantly threw his bag of money on the Headmaster's table: “Wasn’t it just a broken piano? So what if it’s destroyed, I’ll just pay for the damages.”

The Headmaster’s expression was complicated as he looked at the bag of money: “This isn’t a problem of money. Why did you have to destroy that piano?”

Xing Ye replied: “I thought it was ugly.”

“I think we need to call your parents to the school.”

Of course that wouldn’t be a problem. Xing Ye also really wanted to know if this world was developed enough to really call his family over.

The Headmaster used Xing Ye’s phone to call his father. Although he couldn’t hear what the other side was saying, around ten minutes later, the Headmaster returned the phone to Xing Ye: “Since it’s just your first offense and you know how to admit your wrongs, I won’t expel you. Next week at the Flag Raising Ceremony, you will be publicly scolded and given a warning on the broadcast.”

Xing Ye took back his phone with an attitude of ‘I knew it’d just be something like that’.

The Headmaster looked at him for a while before saying: “That piano... in fact, the school has long wanted to destroy it, but… sigh, forget it, just be careful in the evening. If something happens, just go to the political education prep room. There’s usually always a teacher on shift there.”