Lin Huai was a bit surprised about Wen Qian skipping class. If yesterday’s reason was because of He Ling, then what about today?
He couldn’t figure it out, and there was no way to ask Wen Qian herself—she hadn’t appeared all day.
During a break after Wen Qian left, members of the student council entered their class, calling for Wen Qian by name. Thinking about Wen Qian skipping class, Lin Huai’s first reaction was to explain for her.
But before he could say anything, Zhong Yin, who was sitting in the front row, called out to the student council member.
They seemed to know each other and joked together briefly.
Jokingly, Zhong Yin said, “Why didn’t you send me a message before coming? Now you’ve just made a wasted trip.”
“A wasted trip?”
“Yeah, the person you’re looking for isn’t here. She didn’t attend any classes this morning, so even if you wait longer, you might not find her.” She looked up curiously, “Is there something you need from her? I can pass the message along.”
The student council member frowned, looking a bit annoyed, and casually nodded at Zhong Yin. “Got it.”
“If she comes back, you tell me.”
After saying that, they hurriedly left.
As soon as they left, several students gathered around Zhong Yin, some sighing: “Xiao Yin, isn’t she the one from the Iris class?”
“I think I often see that person near Lu Yanbai.”
“Is that the Lu Yanbai?”
“Can you find a second one?”
For a moment, sighs and chatter filled the air. Someone looked at Zhong Yin and smiled, complimenting, “Xiao Yin, are you that familiar with the people around Lu Yanbai?”
Zhong Yin seemed a little embarrassed: “Not really. I’ve just seen them a few times when we had group dinners.”
Group dinners with Lu Yanbai?
Several people exchanged glances, their expressions changing somewhat.
“My birthday is in a few days, Xiao Yin, do you want to come hang out?” The leading girl paused, smiling as she invited.
Zhong Yin wasn’t really part of the invited group. Even though she had some family connection with He Ling, He Ling hadn’t shown her any special favor.
Without that factor, Zhong Yin probably wouldn’t qualify to join.
But with Lu Yanbai involved, it was different.
Zhong Yin’s smile didn’t fade: “Of course, how could I miss your birthday?”
Joking aside, the topic shifted back to Wen Qian.
A poor but excellent student skipping class and then being sought out by the student council didn’t sound like a good thing.
For these students, Wen Qian was an outsider they never truly considered a classmate, so they had no sympathy for her. They only treated this as an amusing topic after class.
“Actually, she’s kind of pitiful. It’s not easy for her to come to our school. I don’t know why she’d skip class,” Zhong Yin lowered her eyes and sighed.
“Who knows what people like that are thinking? If the student council caught her in the act, maybe it’s good she got expelled. Even for inter-school competitions, there’s no need to accept people like her.” The girl with delicate makeup fiddled with her nails, “I think Xiao Yin, your grades are just as good as theirs. You’re more than enough.”
Their words carried ridicule toward Wen Qian. Poor but excellent students weren’t welcomed, and Wen Qian was especially annoying.
Although they didn’t consciously feel it, their subconscious told them that this so-called poor but excellent student didn’t regard them as equals. This discomfort made them reject this outlier even more.
“Enough about that. Last time I saw—”
Having listened to the whole conversation, Lin Huai frowned, looking at the empty desk with only a backpack on it, and sighed inwardly.
When would his deskmate finally return?
Wen Qian hadn’t appeared and even after school ended, she still wasn’t in the classroom.
The next day, when Lin Huai walked into the classroom, his deskmate’s seat was still empty like the day before, only with an empty backpack on it.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed this; however, except for Ning Mingyue, who glanced at Wen Qian’s seat a few times, no one else cared about this classmate.
“I told you, she’s not coming back,” a girl who walked in with Zhong Yin smiled and said, “She’s just asking for trouble.”
“What do you think, Mingyue?”
“…Hmm.” Ning Mingyue looked at the empty seat behind her without much interest and replied softly.
Seeing Ning Mingyue not responding, the girl sulked and turned back to chat with Zhong Yin.
Everyone thought Wen Qian was finished.
Yes, Wen Qian herself felt the same way.
Because she had attacked a trash can in the lounge, Wen Qian and her loot were kicked out.
Whether it was because the trash can was smaller than those in public areas or because it had little trash, Wen Qian only got one item.
A company business card.
The company looked somewhat familiar—
Wen Qian couldn’t recall what company it was, so she put the item into her backpack.
The trash can in the lounge was the last one for the mission progress. Not long after leaving the lounge, the system sounded a mission completion alert.
【Newbie Profession Mission — Trash Can Battle (Completed)
Mission Reward: Work Performance ×10 (usable for profession advancement)
■■■■×1 (Randomly unlocks one system-locked feature)】
【System-locked feature randomly unlocked — Limited-time skill (daily refresh)】
Wen Qian was a bit surprised by this random unlock.
This was a small feature under the profession section of the game that refreshed specific profession-related skills daily.
Some special missions required particular skills to complete. If the randomly refreshed skill didn’t match the mission that day, you’d have to wait for the next day’s refresh.
Of course, you could pay money to refresh immediately.
These missions generally gave rich rewards.
Wen Qian had once played a lawyer profession file. At that time, a special event was triggered in the game. Although her level wasn’t high enough, she managed to complete the mission thanks to the skill “Debate Against the Crowd” that refreshed that day.
Wen Qian looked expectantly at the system panel, wondering what skills her current profession might randomly get.
【Today’s skill randomly selecting…】
【Skill equipped — Garbage Sorting (Refresh countdown 23:59:59)】
Wen Qian: …
Why on earth did she still have any hope left for this damn profession?
Dejected, Wen Qian looked up briefly toward the classroom, then resolutely decided to keep skipping class. She turned and headed toward a less crowded area.
A layer of illusory arrows appeared on the ground as a guide—this was the reward item from the lounge quiz, called the “Tricks for Skipping Class.”
Following the arrows on the ground, Wen Qian walked along the wall to a somewhat hidden spot near a railing.
The nearly three-meter-high wrought-iron railing was entwined with cascading wisteria flowers. The lush branches and vines wrapped around the ironwork, blending into the adjoining wall.
Wen Qian observed for a while before barely finding a corner where the vines were a bit less dense.
The guiding arrows abruptly ended here, disappearing right at the railing.
Wen Qian fell silent. So this was the so-called trick for skipping class?
She’d thought it would be some mysterious passage, but it turned out to be just climbing over a wall??
Well, since she was here already—
She sized up the height of the railing, confidence brimming, and stepped forward.
Using the branches of a low tree near the railing, she quickly climbed to the top.
Carefully avoiding the pointed finials at the top of the railing, Wen Qian moved her wrist and swung over, preparing to leap down.
Her knees bent, ready to absorb the landing impact.
The next moment—
Suspended midair, Wen Qian’s eyes widened: “Huh?!”
Why didn’t she land on the ground? What’s going on? Was this a bug?
Dangling in midair, Wen Qian flailed helplessly, unable to descend.
She vaguely felt something was wrong but couldn’t put her finger on it.
It was as if some mysterious force was holding her—
Suspecting a bug in the game’s gravity system, Wen Qian struggled to look back along the pull.
She saw the evil pointed finial atop the railing—and her poor, innocent school jacket collar, firmly hooked and trapped.
Wen Qian: “…”
Wen Qian: “…I’d rather this be a bug.”
【Encounter Triggered — The Dutiful RailingThis is a dutiful railing that blocks every student trying to skip class.Choose your route:① Struggle desperately (100% chance school uniform gets damaged)② Wait for rescue (The best route for skipping, but does anyone really pass by here?)③ Bribe with money (Money opens all roads. Promise the railing you’ll refurbish it, maybe it’ll let you pass [Cost: 80 gold])】
Wen Qian sneered. Spending money was out of the question. Trying to ruin her special equipped school uniform? Even more absurd.
Who said there wasn’t another option? Wen Qian decided to choose a non-existent fifth route — the great escape (shedding the skin).
Her jacket was only hooked; she could just lift her arm, take off the uniform, and jump down, then rescue the uniform later.
Just as Wen Qian raised her arm, the system warning blared.
【School Uniform Damage Rate — 1%】
“Wait, wait, wait! Cancel that!”
Immediately stopping, Wen Qian was shocked. Why would this also increase the damage rate? Was this considered a big struggle?
【Shoulder joint abduction exceeded 90°, classified as large movement】
Wen Qian: “…Enough.”
The whole afternoon passed without a single person appearing—no wonder this was the system-designated sanctuary for skipping class.
The only people who might patrol the campus were security guards, but—
【Tricks for Skipping Class (Security guard version disabled)】
Reluctantly, Wen Qian decided to pay the bribe, tears in her eyes, when suddenly a red warning appeared on the system panel.
Her stamina had reached a critical point.
After a busy day without lunch, the player was brutally punished by stamina depletion.
Stamina hit zero, and she entered rest mode on the spot.
During her absence, this became the evidence used by the student council to trouble her and prepare for her expulsion.
While classmates gossiped about her in the classroom, she was hanging on the railing watching the scenery.
When others went home after school, she was hanging on the railing watching the sunset.
The next day, when Lin Huai worriedly found his deskmate still absent, she was just waking up, still hanging on the railing.
For Wen Qian, it was just a blackout and reopening her eyes to a new day.
The player who spent the whole night hanging on the railing without falling was speechless.
Schrödinger’s school uniform quality: a living person can hang all day without problem, but if she dared to move, the clothes would immediately be damaged.
Wen Qian was unwilling to give up: “Enough, I’ll pay—”
“Think again if you think you can stop me.” A cold, mocking male voice sounded nearby.
“Be clear-headed. It’s just the two of us here. You can’t stop me. Don’t force me to act.” Chu Lingyu said impatiently.
Someone else whispered advice to him, but seeing he was unmoved, sighed and left first.
Chu Lingyu lazily approached the railing, quickly jumped up, grabbed the top, and nimbly flipped over, landing smoothly.
After landing, he casually glanced around, and when his eyes caught a flash of deep blue, he froze.
“You?”
Hanging there, looking completely out of place in the scene, Wen Qian smiled brightly.
“Didn’t expect that, did you, Chu? Actually, there were three people just now!”