Bai Fuling raised the wooden stick and the red bar above the dark circled pixel character’s head increased.
Bai Fuling lowered the wooden stick and the red bar above the dark circled pixel character’s head decreased.
After repeating this back and forth several times, the red bar finally stopped dropping and stabilized at roughly one tenth full.
Bai Fuling nodded confidently.
Very good.
He had already seen through the truth behind the red bar floating above characters’ heads.
Through repeated experimentation and rigorously scientific observation, he had successfully proven the reaction patterns of the NPC named [Liao Zhiqiu] toward different items.
Wooden sticks were more useful than roses!
If he wanted further testing, then he would need more direct interaction, like tata kai. (Fight!!)
Unfortunately, his HP still hadn’t fully recovered yet, he lacked a proper weapon and he had no idea how strong this person’s combat abilities were.
So, in order to avoid GG, Bai Fuling could only regretfully lower the wooden stick and temporarily give up on testing this NPC further.
Seeing the black haired raincoat youth put the stick away, the faint furrow that had unconsciously formed between Liao Zhiqiu’s brows slowly relaxed once more.
Originally, he rarely felt emotional fluctuations because of other people yet the repeated antics from the person before him had genuinely irritated him a little.
But Liao Zhiqiu had always possessed a temperament as plain and quiet as still water, detached as a chrysanthemum in bloom.
When his gaze landed upon the other person’s harmless, small animal like eyes, the irritation churning inside him gradually calmed back down again.
Forget it. Why bother arguing with an idiot? There was no point.
He would just treat him like one of those stray cats or dogs he had encountered before, the kind that bared their teeth and hissed at people.
He had always possessed two hundred percent patience toward small animals. Even if a limping stray cat on the street hissed and scratched at him, he would still gently scoop it up and carry it to the hospital.
Bai Fuling watched helplessly as the red bar above Liao Zhiqiu’s head dropped back down,
Wait, he hadn’t finished testing yet! Why had all the progress disappeared?!
After working so hard only for everything to reset to zero, Bai Fuling couldn’t help feeling a little sulky. He twisted around, preparing to reward himself by digging through trash cans,
At that moment, Liao Zhiqiu called out to him.
“Come with me.”
What?
Bai Fuling stared at the dialogue window in slight surprise.
There was actually a follow up? Had he triggered a special quest?
Well, looking at it this way, the earlier interactions hadn’t been completely pointless after all.
Grinning happily, Bai Fuling turned around and walked toward the dark circled pixel man yet after waiting and waiting, he still didn’t see a yellow quest marker pop up above the other party’s head.
Liao Zhiqiu held the dried grass bird nest in one arm and walked toward another direction. After taking a few steps, he stopped again, waiting for Bai Fuling to follow.
…Maybe there was no quest prompt yet because they hadn’t reached the mission location? There wasn’t any textual guidance appearing on the side either. Sometimes game interfaces that were too freeform really were troublesome.
After thinking hard for a while, Bai Fuling still stepped forward and followed.
The school’s fixed trash cans could be looted anytime but random quests disappeared in an instant.
Worst case scenario, he could just come back in the middle of the night to dig through garbage anyway. As long as midnight hadn’t arrived, the loot wouldn’t refresh.
Bai Fuling closely followed behind the dark circled pixel character.
The other party skillfully passed through a narrow trail and, from an extremely hidden corner, used a wire to unlock an old iron gate before stepping outside.
Through the gate, past a cramped alleyway and suddenly the main road appeared before them,
They had actually left the school!
So that was it. This was the first day tutorial for learning escape routes from campus.
Bai Fuling’s eyes sparkled brightly.
No wonder there hadn’t been a quest prompt. This wasn’t a special quest at all, it was a map navigation guide!
According to common RPG location design, the next places to explore should include supermarkets, libraries, tech buildings, hospitals, churches and parks. Each location would have different functions and there would definitely be even more places waiting to be unlocked in the future.
Just as Bai Fuling was imagining this, three people suddenly appeared out of nowhere in his field of vision, blocking the road ahead.
“So we finally cornered you, brat… camping here for days wasn’t a waste after all.”
The leading NPC was tall and the three question marks where his name should have been were marked in hostile red.
A wild enemy encounter?!
Bai Fuling immediately looked toward Liao Zhiqiu beside him.
“…”
Liao Zhiqiu didn’t even furrow his brow. He calmly looked back at the people in front of him. Turning slightly sideways, he handed the dried bird nest in his arms to the person beside him.
“Hold this. Stand farther away.”
Without even a second of hesitation, Bai Fuling accepted it and then, with lightning fast speed, swept the three bird eggs from the nest straight into his inventory.
An opportunity right in front of him naturally had to be seized!
Anything handed into a player’s hands had no reason to be returned for free. Players existed to collect resources and fleece everything possible.
Bai Fuling happily admired the three additional bird eggs in his inventory. Nice.
Considering the inventory space limitations, he didn’t bother taking the seemingly useless bird nest itself.
Liao Zhiqiu, who had handed over the nest only to watch the eggs mysteriously vanish a second later: “……”
He slightly raised his eyes, seemingly wanting to ask something but the three uninvited guests in front of him gave him no opportunity to continue the conversation.
“You offended someone you shouldn’t have offended. Consider yourself unlucky. Boss already said we needed to teach you a lesson!”
Liao Zhiqiu tilted his head slightly. His expression didn’t change in the slightest; he remained as indifferent as ever.
With smooth, practiced motion, he drew a sharpened dagger from his waist, its handle wrapped in bandages. Cold light reflected off the blade.
Bai Fuling stood behind him watching the scene with great interest.
Understood. This was combat tutorial mode!
The first day’s guidance really was comprehensive. It covered both the map and gameplay systems.
Was it turn based combat? Card based combat? Or free combat mode?
Bai Fuling stared without blinking.
Oh oh, They started fighting!
Three against one. A chaotic melee. So it was free combat mode!
Bai Fuling watched with complete fascination.
The dark circled pixel character wielded the blade one handed, white knife in, red knife out, every strike precise and ruthless, utterly without hesitation.
Though the three opponents had plenty of momentum, they ultimately couldn’t withstand his ferocity. After only a few exchanges, they were steadily forced backward.
“Aren’t you afraid of going to prison for murder?!”
The leader touched his chest and came away with a palmful of blood, baring his teeth with a hiss.
Originally, they had thought they were only here to rough up some kid. Who would have expected this young looking guy to fight with full intent to kill?!
Liao Zhiqiu merely stared at him calmly.
Blood stained his cheek and one of his arms seemed partially dislocated from a blow, hanging limply at his side.
He said nothing. He simply stared.
His other intact hand still gripped the sharp blood dripping dagger. Blood soaked through the bandages wrapped around the handle and dripped downward one drop at a time.
Those men began to retreat mentally.
After all, they didn’t actually hold any personal grudge. They were only doing a job for money.
And besides, standing nearby was another raincoat freak completely covered in blood who still hadn’t even made a move yet… and he also looked like the sort of lunatic who didn’t care whether he lived or died.
The leader spat on the ground and threw out a final threat.
“Tch. We didn’t bring weapons this time… lucky bastard!”
Hearing that, Bai Fuling nodded.
Understood. This was combat tutorial guidance, meaning equipment was important.
Equipment, well, he wasn’t technically unarmed right now either. He still had a wooden stick.
Looting trash cans at the start really had been useful after all.
The red name NPCs cursed a few more times and began retreating backward, preparing to leave.
Watching them move away, Bai Fuling froze for a moment.
Wait, why weren’t they dropping equipment before leaving?
Normally after combat tutorials, there should be beginner reward loot for players to scavenge.
Could it be that after watching the combat tutorial, now it was his turn to personally practice?
In any case, he absolutely could not let these NPCs leave empty handed!
Without hesitation, Bai Fuling pulled out his wooden stick and charged forward swinging.
The leader had only just begun walking when he suddenly heard the sound of rushing wind behind him. A sharp pain exploded across the back of his head.
He whipped around violently and saw the raincoat freak, who had previously stood motionless like a wooden statue, now standing directly behind him.
“You!”
Rage surged upward as he threw a retaliatory punch.
An adult man’s fists carried tremendous force. He threw more than a dozen punches in succession.
The wound in his chest from the earlier stabbing split open again, hurting so badly he nearly blacked out but he was certain the other guy had to be in even more pain!
Yet the raincoat freak’s expression didn’t change even slightly.
The raincoat freak staggered backward a few steps, his footing somewhat unstable.
But before the man could feel pleased, the bizarre yellow raincoat freak suddenly bent down, grabbed a fistful of grass from the roadside and stuffed it straight into his mouth!
The leader: “…?”
What the hell was this guy doing??
While chewing on the grass, the raincoat freak lifted the wooden stick again and swung it downward with force!
The leader barely raised an arm in time to block. The impact made his entire arm go numb. His expression twisted as he cursed, “Are you fucking insane?!”
Behind him, the other two men also rushed forward to help yet the yellow raincoat youth completely ignored the punches landing on his body. He merely continued alternating between eating grass and swinging the stick, looking disturbingly focused.
To outsiders, the scene was absurd beyond belief.
A blood covered weirdo in a fluorescent yellow raincoat stood in the alley, expressionlessly gnawing on grass while brawling three grown men with a wooden stick.
And the terrifying part was,
He actually seemed to be winning.
=
Bai Fuling stared at the combat interface with bright eyes.
Sure enough! Grass restored health points during battle too!
Although every mouthful only recovered a tiny bit of HP, he had already secretly stocked a whole pile of grass while following Liao Zhiqiu earlier. As long as he kept eating while fighting, he could continuously replenish his health bar.
This was practically beginner stage immortality!
He instantly understood the strategy.
Trade HP for damage. Endure the hits while attacking recklessly. As long as the enemy’s HP emptied before his own, victory would be his.
Classic RPG logic.
Bai Fuling happily controlled his pixel character to continue attacking.
The wooden stick in his hand slammed against the enemy with loud bang bang sounds. Every strike produced little red damage numbers above the enemies’ heads.
Though his own HP bar also dropped from the punches, every time it dipped dangerously low, he immediately crouched down to yank up more grass and stuff it into his mouth.
Green recovery effects continuously floated above his head:
[+1]
[+1]
[+1]
The three thugs gradually went from furious to horrified.
“Fuck, why isn’t he going down?!”
“He’s eating grass while fighting, what kind of monster is this?!”
“Boss, this guy’s definitely crazy!”
The leader was sweating profusely now. The wound on his chest kept bleeding and the earlier knife injury from Liao Zhiqiu had already weakened him badly. Meanwhile, the raincoat lunatic before him looked like he felt no pain at all.
No matter how many punches landed, the other party simply staggered, stuffed more grass into his mouth, then resumed swinging the stick.
Like some undead creature.
The leader’s scalp turned numb.
He suddenly realized something,
Compared to the cold, knife wielding black eyed youth earlier, this smiling lunatic covered in blood was far more terrifying.
“Retreat!!”
He finally shouted in panic.
The three men no longer dared linger. Supporting each other, they turned and fled the alley in utter disgrace.
Bai Fuling paused.
…Huh?
Why were they running already?
He had only just gotten used to the combat system.
And still no loot dropped!
Bai Fuling immediately chased after them unwillingly, wooden stick raised high. “Wait! Don’t go!”
The three fleeing men heard the shout behind them and nearly lost their souls.
“HE’S STILL CHASING US?!”
“RUN FASTER!!”
The scene instantly transformed into a chaotic pursuit.
One side ran desperately for their lives.
The other side chased enthusiastically with a wooden stick.
Liao Zhiqiu: “…”
He stood silently in place, blood still dripping from the dagger in his hand, watching the increasingly outrageous scene unfold before him.
For the first time in a long while, he felt genuine confusion.
…What exactly had he encountered?
A madman?
A fool?
Or something even stranger?
His gaze slowly shifted downward toward the bird nest in his hands.
More precisely,
Toward the empty spaces where the bird eggs used to be.
Liao Zhiqiu: “……”
Only now did he finally remember.
His eggs were gone.
=
Bai Fuling ultimately failed to catch the fleeing red name enemies.
Mainly because the [Fracture] debuff still affected his movement speed. After chasing halfway down the street, the enemies disappeared around a corner.
He stopped reluctantly.
What a pity.
No experience, no dropped items, no equipment.
Could it be that combat rewards only appeared after fully defeating enemies?
Bai Fuling thoughtfully rubbed his chin.
Looks like next time, he needed to hit harder.
He controlled his character back toward the alley entrance.
Liao Zhiqiu was still standing there waiting.
The black eyed pixel youth’s clothes were stained with blood, one arm hanging slightly unnaturally at his side from apparent dislocation yet his expression remained as calm and indifferent as ever.
Above his head floated an ellipsis bubble.
Bai Fuling perked up instantly.
Dialogue trigger!
He happily walked over.
Liao Zhiqiu lowered his eyes and looked at the grass bits still stuck at the corner of Bai Fuling’s mouth. After several seconds of silence, he finally spoke.
“…Why were you eating grass?”
Bai Fuling blinked.
Because it restores HP, obviously.
But before he could input a response, another dialogue bubble popped up from Liao Zhiqiu.
“And why,” he paused subtly, “were you chasing them afterward?”
Bai Fuling immediately understood.
Ah, right. This was probably one of those post battle summary conversations common in RPGs. Usually the correct answer affected favorability points or future quest branches.
So he gave it serious thought.
Why had he chased them?
After thinking for two seconds, he answered honestly:
“Because they didn’t drop loot.”
Liao Zhiqiu: “…?”
For the first time since meeting this strange raincoat youth, genuine bewilderment appeared on Liao Zhiqiu’s perpetually listless face.
He slowly repeated, “…Drop loot?”
Bai Fuling nodded confidently.
“Yes. Equipment. Money. Materials. Hidden rewards. Anything is fine.”
Liao Zhiqiu fell silent again.
The alley became extremely quiet.
A breeze swept through, carrying faint traces of blood and the scent of grass.
The fluorescent yellow raincoat fluttered lightly in the wind.
And standing there amidst the bloodstains and chaos, the black haired youth looked utterly sincere while discussing “loot drops” from beating people with a wooden stick.
Liao Zhiqiu stared at him for a long while.
Finally, he came to a conclusion.
…This person’s brain really might be broken.
Yet after somehow pulling out a bird egg from who knew where and stuffing it straight into his mouth, the raincoat freak suddenly sprang back to life at full health and charged forward again.
The leading thug: “???”
The blood covered, expressionless raincoat monster looked especially terrifying inside the cramped alley.
Particularly because he had such a beautiful face smeared with blood. Those pitch black eyes looked even more eerie because of it.
Even though his attacks had absolutely no technique or rhythm to them, no normal person could withstand someone wildly swinging nonstop like this,
No, seriously, why did this guy fight like a machine timer that never needed to breathe?!
The leader finally cracked under the pressure.
One reckless lunatic had already been bad enough earlier. Now there was another even weirder one!
The two lackeys beside him had long since realized the situation was bad and slipped away first. The leader himself shouted a few bluffs while trying to retreat too but the raincoat freak lunged forward and brought the wooden stick down again without hesitation!
Pain, blood loss and mounting terror rolled together. The leader’s eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot.
…
Bau Fuling looked at the NPC finally collapsed before him and felt satisfied.
Just now, he had been furiously mashing the attack button the whole time. Whenever his HP got low, he would pull out another bird egg from his backpack and eat it while taking advantage of the red name enemy’s weakened state to keep attacking nonstop. At long last, he had defeated him!
Each bird egg restored fifty HP. To him at this stage of the game, they were practically miracle medicine.
Bai Fuling lowered the wooden stick and happily went over to collect the loot.
The items didn’t explode directly onto the ground…
Well, alright. Looks like the game wanted more realism, so players had to search the bodies manually.
Bai Fuling cheerfully pulled the thug’s clothes aside to search him while small prompts appeared nearby:
Obtained [Money ×200]
Obtained [Lighter ×1]
Obtained [Cigarette Pack (3 remaining) ×1]
Obtained [Stained Map ×1]
After finishing the search, Bai Fuling stood up with satisfaction.
Not far away, Liao Zhiqiu had already reset his dislocated arm back into place. He slowly and carefully wiped the blood from the blade of his dagger using the inner hem of his clothes before removing the bandage wrapped around the hilt to tie around his own arm and stop the bleeding.
He raised his head and from afar saw the raincoat youth hopping around while relentlessly chasing and beating the leader. After knocking him unconscious, the other party then immediately started pawing all over the man’s clothes and body.
Liao Zhiqiu: “…”
After a moment of silence, he finally said faintly, “…They came after me. You didn’t need to step in and draw aggro.”
“What?” Bai Fuling was busy looting equipment and barely heard the distant background dialogue. Standing up, he immediately tossed out the next topic, ready to continue map exploration. “Where are we going next?”
“The clinic,” Liao Zhiqiu answered.
The clinic?
A clinic?!
Bai Fuling instantly became alert.
Don’t tell me entering it would trigger forced medical treatment again?!
But most of his injuries had already healed by now.
After chewing grass all the way and eating several bird eggs, his HP had recovered by half. The [Fracture] debuff had already disappeared…
So it probably wouldn’t become another forced hospitalization chase scene like earlier, right?
“Let’s go,” Liao Zhiqiu said calmly. “Just around the corner.” He started walking ahead first.
Bai Fuling remained standing in place, wooden stick still in hand, hesitating over whether or not to follow.
Looking at the back of the dark circled eye pixel NPC, a sudden spark flashed through his mind.
Wait a second.
At this exact moment, combat mode had ended yet the dark circled NPC’s HP bar still hadn’t automatically regenerated. That meant there should still be additional interaction available.
Getting items from enemies required defeating them for loot drops.
Getting items from ally NPCs required raising progress and receiving gifts.
And while Bai Fuling had been looting equipment earlier, the other party had remained silently staring at him the whole time. Clearly, that had been some kind of hint!
He understood now.
The time had finally come to continue testing the true function of the NPC’s red progress bar!
Actually, he just wanted an excuse to whack him a few more times and see whether gold coins would drop.
A player’s itchy hands simply could not be restrained. Since it was a game anyway, what was wrong with committing a little harmless gremlin behavior whenever possible? Orderly living certainly had its structure but chaotic nonsense was far more entertaining.
Bai Fuling gathered his thoughts and immediately seized the opportunity, enthusiastically controlling his pixel character to rush forward with the wooden stick raised high.
When the rushing wind arrived, Liao Zhiqiu hadn’t even reacted yet before sharp pain exploded against him!
Bang!
Something hard smashed into the back of his head without warning!
“?!” Liao Zhiqiu staggered, his vision instantly darkening. He forced himself to focus and turned around sharply.
Within the half blurred haze of his sight, the black haired raincoat youth stood there holding a bloodstained wooden stick, smiling brightly.
Those dark eyes still looked as pure and innocent as a small animal’s. Sunlight spilled from the alley entrance and struck the crooked angel halo ornament atop his head, scattering several beautiful rays of pale white light.
The raincoat youth opened his mouth, voice cheerful and clear:
“Hi, can you drop gold now?”
Liao Zhiqiu: “…??”
Bai Fuling watched the red bar above the other party’s head begin rising rapidly and nodded inwardly with satisfaction.
This progress bar was increasing really fast!
Whatever this thing actually represented, once it filled up completely, something should definitely happen and since something could explode out eventually, could it directly explode into gold coins?!
Author’s Note:
Bai Fuling: Where’s the gold? *bonk bonk*
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Congratulations. You survived the chapter. Now survive the coffee request. 😈
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Escape game freezesChapter 2 · Players aren’t allowed to use the main entranceChapter 3 · Players have created a medical miracle!Chapter 4 · If I hit the NPC more, will the NPC drop gold coins?Chapter 5 · Players earn the title of “bus weirdo”Chapter 6 · Players get a prison experienceChapter 7 · So the red bar isn’t for favorability, it’s for anger!Chapter 8 · The player is a nimble catChapter 9 · The player is a “law-abiding” good studentChapter 10 · Players have no morals and are fearlessChapter 11 · Player: What’s wrong? It’s called “Cai Cai Shui Ling LingChapter 12 · The player is the famous Farmer Detective!Chapter 13 · The player raised a new petChapter 14 · The player is a genius dog-riding boyChapter 15 · The player is a sticky, helpful, and kind comradeChapter 16 · It turns out that players aren’t considered human by NPCsChapter 17 · Players are like angels descending upon my side!Chapter 18 · Player: There’s only one truth!Chapter 19 · Why are players farming at the school?!Chapter 20 · Players came to the cafeteria to buy suppliesChapter 21 · Are NPCs model workers?Chapter 22 · If you’re a gay manChapter 23 · Player: Wheelchairs are a useful mode of transportation!Chapter 24 · So the player is actually part of Cat Returns (?)Chapter 25 · Liao Zhi Qiu, a large pet belonging to the playerChapter 26 · Player: Hello, I picked up this corpse.Chapter 27 · Bai Fuling: Players will never dieChapter 28 · Has the murderer been caught?Chapter 29 · Player: Visiting the mental hospital felt as familiar as coming homeChapter 30 · Players’ Adventure in the Mental Hospital: Round 1Chapter 31 · Player: Kid, fly!Chapter 32 · The player who does good deeds every day is truly a good personChapter 33 · The kitten brought back some local specialtiesChapter 34 · Let this adorable kitten stay forever?Chapter 35 · Players, don’t give up on being human!Chapter 36 · A kitten is just a kitten, isn’t it?Chapter 37 · Players want it, players get itChapter 38 · Angel Player and Unlucky Bear NPCChapter 39 · In short, players choose to throw at NPCsChapter 40 · The player just flew away!Chapter 41 · Player: You need to thoroughly understand the bookChapter 42 · Players love to tease honest NPCs.Chapter 43 · He said he was a little hungry.Chapter 44 · Even if cotton essence mutatesChapter 45 · Pure Love TentaclesChapter 46 · Choose to be a kitten?Chapter 47 · Players’ tears are weaponsChapter 48 · Players do not need to breatheChapter 49 · It’s on fire!Chapter 50 · The player is a top-tier rescue masterChapter 51 · How did the player manage to resurrect after killing themselves?!Chapter 52 · Call the player “Little Cat King”!Chapter 53 · What are the consequences of raising the cat-like alienation