Almost every child was pleading with Lin Chubai to help them find their families, except for one eleven or twelve-year-old boy who was holding the hand of the smallest little girl, slightly lowering his head as he timidly spoke: “Please take my sister away. I have 1000 points, and I can give all of them to you!” Upon finishing, his face turned completely crimson.
Lin Chubai raised an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes as he swept his gaze over the young boy in front of him: “You are giving all your points to us, what about you?”
“As long as you are willing to take care of my sister, I do not care anymore.” The boy’s free hand continuously twitched at the hem of his shirt.
Then, as if remembering something, he gripped his sister’s hand even tighter: “My skill can duplicate items. If you do not mind, please take me with you as well.”
Lin Chubai slowly straightened his body, shifting his gaze away from the young boy and onto the other children instead. Hope was shining in all of their eyes.
He let out an involuntary, helpless sigh in his heart, then turned to look at Ye Zhou.
“Up to you,” Ye Zhou said indifferently upon noticing his gaze.
“You are the only one here with an attack skill. If we bring them along, you will not be able to leave.”
“I am not leaving,” Ye Zhou replied.
For some reason, Lin Chubai could actually catch traces of amusement deep within Ye Zhou’s eyes, as if he had known beforehand that he would ask.
A breath of stale air was slowly exhaled from his mouth. After struggling for a long time, soft-heartedness ultimately occupied the high ground. Lin Chubai commanded: “Those who are leaving should go back first, and leave a note on your desk saying you went to Sanli Bridge.”
Hearing that Lin Chubai was willing to take them to find their families, the children scuttled back with short legs stepping eagerly.
Lin Chubai leaned against the glass of the security office, his fingers probing toward his trouser pockets. Failing to feel what he wanted, he retracted his hand dejectedly and slightly furrowed his brow.
“Why are you not leaving?” Once the people had completely dispersed, he stared fixedly into Ye Zhou’s pitch-black pupils, seemingly trying to dissect something from within them.
“Then why are you taking them?” Ye Zhou countered the question without answering.
“Have we met before?” Lin Chubai still voiced the strange feeling in his heart, but before he could wait for Ye Zhou’s reply, a young boy came running back excitedly, interrupting their silent standoff.
More and more children ran back. Lin Chubai counted the heads, and once everyone was accounted for, he led them outside, while the remaining children who had not dared to step forward gathered at the school gate, watching them leave with their own eyes.
Seven little kids, three girls and four boys, plus Nan Zhi and the other one, meant they were forcibly taking nine little kids away.
Lin Chubai thought to himself: It feels like I could open a kindergarten.
The afterglow of the setting sun stretched their shadows exceptionally long. Coming from afar, the shadow of that clustered group of children looked like a lump of slime.
Children’s mouths truly could not stay idle. Barely five minutes after setting off, they were lured by Song Siyun into talking.
That kid who had just claimed he could duplicate items was really lucky; he drew an S-grade skill right off the bat, giving Lin Chubai quite a heart attack.
He was the oldest among this group of children at 12 years old, Su Zhan, and the little girl he was holding happened to be the youngest in the group at 6 years old, his biological sister, Su Chun.
There was also a pair of twin sisters in the team, 9 years old. Because both their names contained the character for feather, for convenience, they were called Big Yu and Little Yu.
The round and chubby little boy, 9 years old, was originally named Li Yuxuan, but Song Siyun, who was old enough yet still loved teasing kids, gave him a nickname: Dung Beetle.
Hearing himself called that by others, Li Yuxuan’s steamed-bun face wrinkled up, which made the other little kids laugh out loud, their laughter echoing through the small alley leading to Sanli Bridge, completely masking the events of the previous game behind them.
The remaining two young boys were named Liu Yue and Xia Ming, both 10 years old. Because one looked timid and honest, while the other looked carefree and mindless, they were both given nicknames: Soft Persimmon and Superman Strong.
They had entered the game grouped by grade level, with each game content being different.
Nan Zhi’s grade played a game similar to Truth or Dare, and in the end, they had to vote for who they believed the sinner was.
Among the grade, there were only three truly guilty people. Those who voted incorrectly would receive a slash as punishment, but if they slashed someone else, the wound would be transferred over at a 2x multiplier, and players would die once the wounds on their bodies exceeded 16.
The lower the grade, the simpler it was. The fourth graders were thrown into three different living environments to see their on-the-spot reactions and be scored accordingly, with a total score of 30, and death for anything below 10.
The third graders were asked to plant vegetables and fruits, with death for anything that had not sprouted in 7 days.
The first graders could be said to be the simplest: a test of imagination, with death for those lacking imagination.
Overall, it was heavily centered on death supplemented by games, quite literally resembling a human depopulation project.
Yet these games were not completely useless; they at least granted them skills. Nan Zhi’s was an A-grade attack skill, “You Have Ice”, capable of releasing ice spikes.
Su Zhan’s was an S-grade skill, “Creator”, capable of duplicating all items within the game with a 100% success rate.
A C-grade every 3 days, a B-grade every 5 days, an A-grade every 7 days, and an S-grade every 15 days.
What the others acquired were passive skills, “Little Clever-Pants”, which boosted intelligence by 30% during emergency moments.
The three adults thought: This is a bit, cough, cough, you know.
The bridge arch shielded most of the dark curtain, with twinkling stars winding downwards, and moonlight spilling onto the roof beside the bridge arch.
A steady and plain respiration drifted from inside the room. In the corner of each room stood a large bucket filled with ice blocks summoned by Nan Zhi to beat the heat.
This house was purchased by them in the system mall, costing a full 5000 points. Still, it was quite good: it would not be destroyed by skills, featuring four bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom, complete with furniture. The only drawback was that aside from lights that could illuminate without electric wires, there were no other electrical appliances.
Moreover, those little brats were not just freeloaders either. Su Zhan and Nan Zhi both cleared with an A-grade and had 1000 points on hand, giving 500 each to buy the house.
Ruan Ling and Big Yu cleared with a B-grade, contributing 700 points each and giving 200 more. Added to Lin Chubai’s 1600, along with Ye Zhou’s and Song Siyun’s 1000, they finally managed to secure it.
Actually, they all wanted to give all their points to Lin Chubai, but he rejected every single one. You always have to leave something for the kids; whenever they enter games in the future, eating food requires points.
Thus, he left 500 points for each child. Looking at himself by contrast, he only kept 200. Oh wait, he had just bought a steamed bun, leaving him with 199.
Forget about buying things for emergencies in the game! This was barely a question of whether he could afford a month’s worth of meals, seeing as even the cheapest boxed meal cost 5 points. If worse came to worst, he would just crunch on 1-point steamed buns; at the very least, he would not starve to death.