The moment Bai Fuling logged in, he saw the land completely cleared of weeds and an immense sense of satisfaction rose within him.
Seeing the clock displayed above reading 7:46, he wiped away sweat that did not actually exist and finally stopped his nonstop grass cutting actions.
Only then did Bai Fuling notice a new line of text appearing on the left side of the screen:
[It seems someone is watching you…]
Hm?
Bai Fuling controlled the pixel character to spin around, sliding his fingers up and down to adjust the camera angle. Then he caught sight of a familiar figure standing on the third floor balcony of the dormitory building in the distance,
It was the dark circled pixel character, Liao Zhiqiu.
Was he watching him?
Bai Fuling blinked. Just as he was about to put away the makeshift “farming tool” in his hand, realization suddenly dawned on him.
Oh!
This guy was probably looking at the dagger in his hand, right? After all, it used to belong to him.
Thinking this, Bai Fuling gave a thumbs up in Liao Zhiqiu’s direction, his meaning clear:
“Your stuff is really useful.”
After obtaining items from NPCs through various methods, it was always good practice to praise them a little more and compliment them often. Who knew? Maybe he would receive even more gifts in the future.
Although this dagger had not exactly been a gift but rather the result of a “take it for yourself” philosophy, it was close enough if you rounded up.
Surely an NPC’s built in programming would not care about such tiny details.
The distance between them was too great for any interaction symbol to appear above the dark circled pixel character’s head.
Bai Fuling did not continue looking either. He dismantled the combined “farming tool,” stuffed it back into his backpack and started walking forward.
Many NPCs with giant exclamation marks floating above their heads passed by around him. Bai Fuling controlled his little character to greet them all with warm smiles.
He knew those NPCs were definitely amazed by his incredible weed clearing efficiency.
Now that the weeds had all been removed, once he bought the other necessities for farming at the agricultural market later, he could officially begin planting.
However, Bai Fuling’s current destination was not the school gate,
It was the teaching building.
That’s right.
He planned to head to the classroom first and exploit the bug he needed to exploit.
Classes started at eight o’clock and according to school rules and regulations, students had to check in at the classroom before class began.
Thus, Bai Fuling entered at 7:58 sharp and interacted with the young teacher NPC standing at the podium.
“Good morning, teacher.”
The young teacher on the platform had already heard yesterday about the transfer student’s “great leap from the building.” Hearing the transfer student greet her so politely and properly actually made her freeze for a second.
“Mm, good morning.” The young teacher NPC smiled. “You’re the new transfer student Bai… Baicai Shuilingling, right? Your seat is in the far right position of the sixth row.”
Excellent!
Successfully checked in before class.
Bai Fuling mentally placed a checkmark beside the task and completely ignored the actual contents of the NPC’s dialogue.
He walked directly to the window, skillfully pushed it open, then took a rope out of his backpack and securely tied it there.
Watching his actions, the young teacher NPC looked surprised.
“…Baicai Shuilingling? What are you doing over there?”
Bai Fuling did not answer.
Instead, he demonstrated his intentions through action,
The instant the class bell rang, Bai Fuling climbed out of the window without the slightest hesitation!
Young teacher: !
Other students: ?
Why did the transfer student jump again the moment class started ahhhh!!
Bai Fuling: Enter through the classroom door to check in, then leave through the window. This was the perfect bug exploiting travel route that absolutely did not violate school rules and regulations!
As the saying went, experience came with repetition.
In order to avoid another situation like the first time, where jumping straight from the building caused his HP to plummet and gave him debuffs, he had specifically prepared for today by using the rope he had dug out of the trash can yesterday, choosing to slide down along it instead.
While everyone around him stared in stunned silence, Pang Chengyu, who sat nearby, appeared much calmer.
After what happened last night, his understanding of the transfer student had reached an entirely new level.
Now, even seeing the other party leap down from the fourth floor failed to stir any emotional waves in him.
After all, cats, or perhaps monkeys, simply liked traveling from high places.
Right?
That was perfectly reasonable.
“Why did Student Baicai jump the moment the bell rang?!” The young teacher on the podium was probably witnessing such a thing for the first time in her life.
Although she had mentally prepared herself beforehand, she still looked as though her sanity was crumbling a little as she hurried toward the window.
“Teacher, it’s fine,” Pang Chengyu said.
“Student Bai is actually being quite friendly today.”
Young teacher: In what way is this friendly?!!
Pang Chengyu replied seriously, “He clearly could’ve jumped directly like yesterday but for the sake of your emotional acceptance level, he chose to go through the extra effort of using a rope to slide down instead.”
Young teacher: ?
The young teacher hesitated for a moment. Comparing yesterday’s rumors with today’s situation…
…it strangely did seem to be true.
For a brief instant, a subtle sense of emotion actually rose in her heart.
After pausing, Pang Chengyu added:
“And besides, he didn’t violate any school rules or regulations.”
The young teacher froze.
After carefully thinking it over, she realized that the transfer student really had not violated any school rules or regulations…
Although something still felt deeply wrong somehow, according to the school’s standards, the transfer student truly counted as a law abiding “good student”!
=
Bai Fuling gripped the rope and slid smoothly down to the ground, successfully achieving the fastest method of descending without using the stairs or elevator.
He still remembered the hidden path Liao Zhiqiu had shown him yesterday for leaving the campus. Following his previous memories while opening the map, Bai Fuling successfully exited the school from a concealed corner.
Just like his original plan, Bai Fuling intended to take the cheapest, most convenient and most commonly used transportation option,
The bus.
But this time, there were no NPCs at the bus stop!
This was bad.
A bug had appeared.
Bai Fuling immediately became serious.
Without quest NPCs, how was he supposed to line up and summon the bus?
A game’s bugs should naturally be fixed by the player themselves.
Without hesitation, Bai Fuling decided to randomly grab a few passing NPCs to make up the numbers.
He raised his head and swept his gaze around like a predator.
Perhaps because it was both a workday and working hours, there were almost no pedestrians on the street. The only passerby happened to be someone riding a bicycle.
Forget it.
He would drag the person over first.
Bai Fuling controlled the pixel character to rush forward, grab the back seat of the bicycle and forcibly stop the rider,
He almost dragged the poor person straight into the roadside ditch.
“Hey, wait!?” The bicycle riding NPC slammed on the brakes, planting both feet firmly on the ground to steady himself before twisting around to look back.
Only then did Bai Fuling realize that this NPC’s character model looked somewhat familiar.
Light blue work shirt.
Cloth shoes.
A bespectacled young man.
The dialogue portrait showed someone with a gentle scholarly aura, his bangs slightly long and a little curly.
Oh,
It was one of the NPCs from yesterday’s bus stop!
And not just any NPC either, it was the helpful one who had given him hints and helped him line up at the end.
Recognizing him, Bai Fuling immediately became delighted.
An NPC who had previously provided guidance appearing once again, what did that mean?
It meant the game’s newbie protection benefits had arrived again!
So what was the benefit this time?
Bai Fuling’s gaze landed on the pixel bicycle beneath the other party. After thinking for a second or two, he smoothly arrived at his conclusion.
Why were there no NPCs at the bus stop today?
The answer was simple.
It was not that the game had bugged out.
Rather, the newbie benefit was here to deliver him a transportation tool,
Namely, a bicycle.
However, this game pursued a realistic gameplay experience and would not directly place the bicycle into his inventory.
Therefore, he needed to discover it himself.
Fight for it himself.
That’s right.
Exactly like that.
Bai Fuling nodded, skillfully deducing the answer within his mind.
He stepped forward two paces and directly reached out, intending to continue carrying out his philosophy of “appropriation” by accepting the bicycle from the glasses wearing NPC.
Yet when Bai Fuling extended his arm, the NPC in front of him surprisingly did not consciously let go.
Instead, he continued gripping the handlebars tightly.
Bai Fuling looked at the bespectacled NPC in the collared shirt.
The bespectacled NPC looked back at him.
The two stared at each other in silence.
Three seconds later, the glasses wearing NPC spoke.
“You…” He paused, then let out a quiet sigh. “Let go first. Wherever you’re going, I’ll take you there.”
Ohhh.
So not only was he giving him transportation, he even came with a driver included!
Although the bicycle looked a little shabby, Bai Fuling did not dislike it at all.
For players, usefulness was king.
Whether it was a bicycle, a bus, or a car, any vehicle capable of taking the player to their destination was a good vehicle.
“I’m going to the agricultural market,” Bai Fuling said.
He controlled his little pixel character to hop onto the back seat of the other party’s bicycle. Before settling down, he casually scooped up a newspaper from the basket attached to the glasses wearing NPC’s bike.
There was no deeper meaning behind it. His hands were just itchy.
Whenever he passed by something interactive, he simply could not resist clicking it.
The bespectacled NPC: “……”
A string of ellipses popped up above his head but in the end, he said nothing.
The bicycle let out faint creaking noises as it began moving forward.
Sitting on the back seat with nothing else to do, Bai Fuling clicked open the newspaper in his hands and started reading.
An enlarged version of the newspaper immediately filled the screen. It could be rotated, flipped page by page and zoomed in for closer reading.
Honestly speaking, this game really was crafted with impressive detail. Even a tiny newspaper looked extraordinarily realistic.
There were even all sorts of advertisements crammed into the margins, along with recruitment notices and phone numbers.
Bai Fuling first circled and marked all the agricultural and livestock related contact information hidden in the gaps and supplementary pages, fertilizer suppliers, pig feed companies, chicken farms and the like.
Only after that did he begin reading the rest of the content with the casual mindset of someone looking for entertainment to pass the time.
When he flipped to the front page, the bold, enlarged headline immediately caught his eye:
[#Police Warning: Crescent Sickle Murder Case Appears Again! Number of Victims Has Risen to 3#]
Bai Fuling’s gaze swept past the headline.
A moment later, it returned.
Wait.
Newspaper content inside games was usually connected to the main storyline or important side quests,
So didn’t that mean the first article was probably a quest hint?!
It had appeared at last!
A proper mission beyond farming, fishing and idly slacking off!
And naturally, that also meant there would definitely be far more serious and luxurious quest rewards involved.
Filled with enthusiasm, Bai Fuling tapped the headline on the screen, ready to trigger the mission.
But after clicking several times, nothing happened.
“How strange. Is it lagging again?” Bai Fuling muttered. “Normally it should display something like ‘Quest Accepted Successfully’ along with a reward description by now.”
Refusing to believe it, he continued repeatedly tapping the headline.
He tried refreshing the interface by constantly opening and closing the newspaper before clicking again.
Under his relentless persistence, the game program finally seemed to start functioning properly again. The lag disappeared and new prompt text surfaced on the left side of the screen.
[[Have a Good Dream]: Find the true culprit. Or become one of the sleepers and remain forever.
Time Limit: None.
Quest Reward: You’ll find out when you complete it.]
Bai Fuling: ?
Wasn’t this quest reward description way too perfunctory?!
It felt exactly like the developers couldn’t come up with anything meaningful and deliberately tried to sound mysterious instead.
After falling silent for a moment, he still glanced through the mission details.
Mm.
Understood.
So from now on, he needed to farm while solving a murder case at the same time, huh?
Clearing wasteland and digging graves among the fields, investigating clues at slaughterhouses while conveniently buying breeding pigs,
He was a detective farmer of the new era!
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
You have reached the donation ambush. There is no escape. (ง •̀_•́)ง
☕ 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