Chapter 55: Gaoji Academy (Part Twenty)

Chapter 55: Gaoji Academy (Part Twenty)

Jie Fangcheng considered himself to have a fairly good temper; he wasn't an unreasonable person.

However, even the most reasonable person would be livid when woken up at midnight to the sound of students' bell-like laughter accompanied by loud and rhythmic "thump thump thump" knocking at the door.

Jie Fangcheng was indeed infuriated.

Rubbing his eyes as he got up from the bed, he also grabbed the stick lying beside his bed.

— This was already the third one he had acquired.

One for the dormitory, one for the teaching building, and he had even prepared a spare one. Clearly, he was very concerned about facing these NPCs bare-handed... after all, their appearances were not very pleasant, often covered in red and white stains.

Thankfully this was a level two instance; had it been a level one instance accessible to newcomers, people with a slighter courage like Lu Xiaqin could have been scared to death just by entering.

At this moment, Jie Fangcheng stood up with his spare stick in hand, and the other three people in the dormitory also sat up, with Tong Xinxin and Liu Hui wearing expressions of eager anticipation for the upcoming scene.

The student NPCs at the doorway, blissfully unaware, continued to giggle. After the “thump thump thump” of knocking, someone cheerfully pushed open the door.

"Don't pretend you're not here, teacher, we all know you're in here! We just hope the teachers can answer a few questions for us, so we're coming in, okay?"

Having said this, the student at the door froze, their radiant smile stiffening.

Yawning, Jie Fangcheng hoisted the stick onto his shoulder.

"What are you all up to?"

Just as his words fell, a scream of terror resounded from the doorway.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!"

"It's that person! Run!!"

"Did the neighboring dorm hear that!! The one with the stick is here, aaahhh! Run!!"

"Whimper—"

What was originally a terrifying hallway suddenly descended into chaos, with NPCs arriving in a hopping manner, exuding vitality when knocking on the door, and fleeing in a panic without choosing their paths.

By the time Jie Fangcheng stepped out, the NPCs had all scattered, not even a shadow was to be seen.

Jie Fangcheng returned calmly after chasing for a couple of steps, while Tong Xinxin, who lacked perceptiveness, still asked, "Brother Jie, why didn't you continue chasing?"

Jie Fangcheng was quite honest: "I can't catch up."

Only then did Tong Xinxin realize the situation.

In the game, players' strength and speed are generally directly proportional, as stronger players usually have more completion runs, and the more they complete, the more they are enhanced by the game system, resulting in better physical attributes and naturally faster speed.

But as for Brother Jie, one could tell from his brief chase, although he seemed to be someone who runs often, he didn't appear to have been enhanced many times.

This was indeed a paradox.

In the game, the more completions one has, the stronger they are. After one or two completions of a level one instance, their physical capabilities already far surpass real-world athletes. Players who can complete a level two instance, although getting beaten up like grandsons by NPCs inside, would totally dominate in the real world, having the strength to bulldoze through.

What about Jie Fangcheng?

Tong Xinxin, who hailed from a large guild and had descended into instances with the management, felt that his strength was truly terrifying. It wasn't the kind of terror stemming from an old player possessing numerous items and strong skills, Jie Fangcheng up until now simply brandished his stick wildly.

His ability to extract rare items with a single swing of his stick was what made him most fearsome.

Tong Xinxin gazed at him, and at this moment, she hesitated, feeling as if she had vaguely stumbled upon a somewhat strange and terrifying question.

... Jie Fangcheng's strength didn't seem to have originated from the game, but rather appeared to be innate to him in the real world.

Possessing such terrifying strength in the real world, he couldn't possibly be an ordinary person, so who exactly was he?

A person with supernatural abilities? A cultivator? Someone who had traveled through time?

As Tong Xinxin's gaze grew increasingly contemplative, her vision flickered.

Zhang An stood between her and Jie Fangcheng, obstructing her probing gaze.

"It's already so late, shall we start looking for clues?"

The expression on Jie Fangcheng's face became particularly pained once more.

Zhang An turned his head to look at him, and smiled.

"We'll be responsible for finding clues, can Teacher Jie assist us in fending off the NPCs at the side?"

The crowd looked at him with collective alarm.

The remark made it sound like Jie Fangcheng was some kind of mosquito repellent.

Assigning such a formidable figure to do this kind of task, this youngster really is...

Jie Fangcheng was overjoyed upon hearing it: "Absolutely."

His change in expression closely resembled that of the most adept slacker in the department who was initially pained to hear about overtime but was instantaneously overjoyed, to the point of doubling, upon learning that while others would be working, he could continue his leave.

Of course, no one had any objections to this arrangement.

After all, both the stick in Jie Fangcheng's hand and the joyous expression on his face were equally eye-catching.

Everyone emerged from the dormitory, encountering, for the first time, a scenario without being pursued by NPCs, simply engaged in clue-finding.

However, everyone was unclear what this "clue" was, and the rationale behind Zhang An forgoing the faculty dormitory to willingly accept this "punishment" remained a mystery.

The players could at least infer what they might find in the student dormitories based on past level completion experiences, but Yan Ran, the sole teacher NPC accompanying the players, was genuinely at a loss about what was happening.

"You can't just wander around the student dormitories, it could lead to trouble!"

Yan Ran had no intention of leaving the dormitory, but having witnessed the recent events, he concluded that following these new and senior teachers would ensure higher safety. Staying alone in his room might invite a return of those students, which would truly endanger his life.

Hearing this, Yue Haiyang curiously asked on the side, "What kind of trouble?"

Yan Ran explained, "It's said that students who have committed suicide by jumping from the school building return to the student dormitories. If one doesn't rest properly after midnight and roams the hallways recklessly, then those students... those students... um..."

Yan Ran's expression became blank.

Yue Haiyang chuckled, "The students will flee?"

Yan Ran: "..."

Meanwhile, Zhang An led the team, first heading to the second floor.

He seemed to have some leads and proceeded directly to the second-floor study room.

The study room was spacious, furnished with hundreds of sets of tables and chairs, each adorned with a student's name at the top right corner.

Zhang An inspected the place for a moment, even flipping through a math book and notebook found on one of the tables, before nodding in approval.

"This will do."

He turned and exited, while the remaining players, following their occupational instincts, continued rummaging through the study room.

Zhang An didn't rush them, merely standing quietly at the doorway, waiting.

After a considerable time spent searching the room without finding anything, the players began to leave one after another.

In this manner, Zhang An systematically checked every study room from the second to the sixth floor, only browsing through the student materials laid on the tables, without tampering with anything else.

After inspecting the six study rooms, Tong Xinxin couldn't hold back anymore, "Have you found something?"

The rest of the players, who disagreed with them, were all ears, eager to hear any news.

Zhang An merely shook his head: "Nothing much."

Their faces displayed a mixture of reactions.

Tong Xinxin's face crumpled into a frown again.

In truth, having cleared so many instances, they had encountered numerous players like Zhang An who discovered clues but wouldn't share them with others, especially in competitive scenarios where many wished to monopolize all the information, keeping others in the dark.

However, since entering this instance, having met friends like Tan Chen and Xu Xiuxiu, who gelled well from the get-go, along with standard Ronghua Guild players like Liu Hui, and formidable yet congenial bigwigs like Jie Fangcheng, Tong Xinxin felt the vibrant essence of living in the real world once again.

Now, being around this overly scheming person made her particularly uncomfortable.

Even though this person was on the same side, getting along with him indeed seemed a difficult feat!

This was what Tong Xinxin was contemplating.

"Shall we return to the faculty dormitory now?" the overly-scheming individual inquired.

Jie Fangcheng was the first to agree, but his agreement was not complete.

"Just spit it out if you found something. You can't possibly be dragging us here just for fun, right?"

After speaking, Jie Fangcheng slammed the stick in his hand onto the table, "Speak up, or I might just chop you down."

Everyone's faces seemed to lighten up a bit at his remark.

Since entering the instance, this Zhang An had been all mysterious, his true abilities still unclear to everyone. Despite seemingly having a good temperament, his overly agile mind made it hard for others to believe that he harbored any goodwill.

This person was truly vexing.

At this moment, when Jie Fangcheng slammed his stick onto the table, many even hoped that Zhang An wouldn't be able to answer, wishing the stick would just land on him instead.

But at that moment, Zhang An just gave Jie Fangcheng a peculiar look.

"I indeed found something, but it doesn't relate much to our mission of clearing the instance."

"Huh?" The crowd exchanged puzzled glances.

Zhang An didn't withhold any longer, "The students' test scores have always been quite average, none excessively high nor particularly low. But the scores in Teacher Jie's Chinese class dropped drastically, plummeting to single digits. Yet, despite this rapid drop, the average score remains consistent. I am wondering how these students manage to maintain their scores around the average."

Once again, faces turned to one another, mirroring confusion.

Zhang An picked up the math materials beside him, then glanced at the names taped on the tables.

"Furthermore, the school prohibits students from speaking freely. They seem not to know each other, but soon after a teacher dies, the underperforming students quickly band together to kill the teacher they despise, and the good students unite to kill the teachers they disapprove of. This synchronized action cannot be a mere coincidence. Therefore, the students must have their own channels of communication."

A player asked, "What if they communicated with each other?"

Xi Xi immediately realized: "You mean the students agreed on average scores for each subject amongst themselves, and worked to get grades close to those averages so no one's scores deviated too far from the average?"

"Not just that," Zhang An looked at the student names pasted on the table. "Didn't you notice, the last row of students in each class - if they got the worst grade in a subject, they wouldn't also get the worst grade in other subjects."

Yue Haiyang was baffled: "What does that mean?"

While on the other side, Liu Hui had already caught on first: "It means...the students are trying hard to ensure no single classmate suffers humiliation from two teachers."

These teacher NPCs all enjoyed berating the students who scored worst in their subjects. Their verbal abuse was vicious - fragile students could be humiliated into jumping off buildings by them.

"How is that possible..."

Xu Xiuxiu looked somewhat confused: "The student in our class who jumped to his death was driven to it by his classmates!"

Tan Chen had been silently standing by. Now he spoke up: "But every group has good and bad - just as there are bad students, there are also good ones."

Someone wore an even stranger expression: "Is it really that complicated…?"

Do these backdrop NPCs have such intricate settings?

Never noticed this in previous dungeons!

At this moment, Zhang An spoke up once again.

"For the students to establish such 'rules' in this kind of environment is quite challenging. Those who have managed to create norms to protect their peers are indeed remarkable," he remarked.

Liu Hui's fingers trembled slightly.

Everyone had arrived with the intention of ruthlessly beating the NPCs, but as they left, their perspectives diverged significantly.

Not to mention players like Liu Hui, who hailed from a background of glory and wealth, and were profoundly impacted by this scenario, even Tong Xin Xin, who had always staunchly believed that NPCs were nothing more than strings of data, found themselves tossing and turning in bed after returning to the dormitory.

Zhang An was just making casual remarks, wasn't he?

How could these NPCs possess such a spirit?

But the more they observed, the more it seemed like these students... didn't they resemble the players struggling within the dungeon?

There were both good and bad ones, all enduring the oppression from the teachers and the school.

The players were experiencing the same.

A survival rate of 20% within the dungeon, the frequent encounters with various terrifying and adverse events, the life filled with trepidation...

It wasn't just this instance; memories of the very first dungeon she ever entered began to replay in Tong Xin Xin's mind.

Meanwhile, Zhang An returned to his dormitory, where Guo Si Ming was sitting by the bed.

Ever since Yu Han Fei chose to "offer" the girls from his class to the good students, Guo Si Ming's behavior had become increasingly odd.

It seemed as if he had discovered something. This typically brusque and seemingly guileless individual had become quiet and reticent lately, often found lost in his own thoughts.

At that moment, Zhang An returned to the dormitory, Guo Siming looked at him, hesitating to speak.

"What's the matter?"

Guo Siming gazed at the person before him, and after a long while, he asked softly, "Don't you feel... these NPCs, they resemble living people quite closely?"

The movements of Zhang An's hands paused momentarily.

Guo Siming covered his eyes.

"I initially believed that these NPCs were nothing but data... but this, this is too coincidental," he said, his voice tinged with distress. "The first instance I entered was called 'Top Students'. I played the role of a student in that scenario, and the school there was nothing like the High Achievement Academy. Our objective as players was to win the favor of the teachers. Some teachers preferred students who excelled academically, while others favored those who were not academically inclined but were good in sports... Anyway, it bore no resemblance to this instance, not in the slightest."

"Back then, a kind-hearted female player constantly looked out for us newbies, offering us her items and sharing strategies to clear the levels... but later on..."

Guo Siming's hand, which was covering his eyes, began to tremble slightly; he found himself unable to continue speaking.

"But why is it so similar..." he mumbled neurotically, "That female player was also... by newbie players... but she wasn't as fortunate as that female student... It shouldn't be, but why do their expressions resemble each other so closely..."

Zhang Daoan asked, "Was it you who caused her demise?"

"Absolutely not!" Guo Siming quickly retorted with a hint of panic, "How could it be? I'm not a monster! That female player was really kind to us, she was an exceptionally good person..."

"But you didn't save her," Zhang Daoan stated calmly.

"I..." Guo Siming opened his mouth, his energy deflating like a punctured balloon, "I was a newbie at that time, truly helpless... Besides, the survival rate in the instances was inherently low. Even if I had stepped forward at that moment, she was already targeted by the NPCs... Of course, if it were in the real world, if I were still alive, I would definitely have saved her!"

Zhang Daoan shook his head, "No, you wouldn't have."

"What?"

Zhang Daoan looked at him, "Cowardice, selfishness, these are intrinsic human qualities. You were a newbie, an ordinary person; not having the courage to save her is normal. But don't indulge in such assumptions; it's a slight to those who are genuinely brave and sincere. Bravery comes at a price. Since you didn't pay it, don't readily assume you could have been brave."

Guo Siming's face turned pale, and he opened his mouth, seemingly trying to articulate something.

Zhang Daoan merely raised his hand in a stopping gesture, "Guess what, if it were... the guild leader of the Ronghua Guild, who also experienced something similar during his newbie period, do you think he would have stepped forward?"

Having said this, Zhang Daoan, who had initially settled to rest, stood up again, seemingly ready to open the door and step out.

Guo Siming was stunned, "Where are you going?"

Zhang Daoan, with his back turned to him, seemed to exhale slowly.

Following that, he let out a laugh.

"I am going to find... another 'brave' individual."