Chapter 60: Gao Ji Academy (Twenty-Five)

Chapter 60: Gao Ji Academy (Twenty-Five)

The howling wind was left behind.

In the ghastly moonlight, the entire villa area was as silent as a graveyard—and indeed, it was a graveyard.

After escaping from the garage, Dou Siqi and his companion zigzagged their way into a dark villa located at the upper left corner of the area, stealthily infiltrating an uninhabited room.

Zhao Zhe sneakily glanced outside from the window.

The NPCs from the basement had once again emerged to the surface, dispersing in all directions in search of the duo's whereabouts.

"Damn... why are there so many?" Zhao Zhe muttered under his breath before turning to ask, "What's going on with you? It was one thing to stay in the villa area, but how did you manage to attract so many NPCs?"

Dou Siqi shook his head with a bitter smile, "It wasn't me who attracted these NPCs, it was the students."

When those students came knocking earlier, Dou Siqi wasn't initially all that scared.

While these students indeed had grown stronger, they were still not as powerful as him; he could easily handle them.

Back then, Dou Siqi still had the inclination to fabricate another lie, as long as he could survive the fourth major examination, everything would be fine.

But after being deceived once, these students never trusted him again.

While Dou Siqi was pondering over ways to bluff these students, as the seconds ticked away and the clock struck midnight, the first hand emerged from under the blooming roses in the garden.

"These model students have the power to command both the security guards and the deceased NPCs."

It was to be expected that the security guards would heed these model students' commands, given that within the school, the model students were at the pinnacle of the hierarchy. Even Director Wei would listen to them, so it was not surprising that the security would as well.

As for the deceased teacher NPCs...

Dou Siqi's brows furrowed deeply.

"When these teacher NPCs were alive, they were categorized into various tiers based on their teaching performance, and it seems this distinction remains even in death. Teachers with poor performance can only be buried in the eastern forest, and as you saw, their bodies are mutilated and incomplete, while the high-performing ones get to rest in the villa's garden. Those model students have the authority to determine their final resting places."

Zhao Zhe couldn't help but utter a curse.

This damned school.

"What should we do now?" Zhao Zhe asked.

Dou Siqi hesitated for a moment: "Did you... inform Xie Fangcheng when you left?"

Zhao Zhe paused, then sneered coldly, "Seriously, bro, do you think I'm brainless? How could I possibly come here if they hadn't refused to help you after I told them?"

Zhao Zhe too hesitated for a long time.

He had already cleared the levels more than a dozen times and had made "friends" in the instances before. He had encountered many who were as selfish and self-serving as Dou Siqi. In the past, Zhao Zhe would not have bothered with him.

But this instance was truly different.

For a long time, within this game, what he experienced most were the deceit and schemes between players.

The weak clinging to the strong, and the strong exploiting the weak as pawns and tools; this had become the norm in the instance.

However, that day when Tong Xinxin was being pursued in the student dormitory, Liu Hui and Tan Chen went out to help her, even rescuing Yue Haiyang and Guo Siming in the process. Zhao Zhe didn't say it out loud, but he couldn't deny the envy he felt deep down.

These people really were...

He too wished for friends, companions, who could support each other to survive in this terrifying instance!

At that time, Zhao Zhe thought he had found such a person in Dou Siqi, who was close in age and shared similar interests. It had been a long time since Zhao Zhe had discussed hobbies and interests from when they were alive, which made him feel for a moment that he had found a companion he could trust implicitly.

Of course, he quickly realized that this notion was ludicrously naive.

He should just bury such a selfish and petty person on the spot!

That was what Zhao Zhe thought.

However, when he lay down on the bed, he found himself unable to fall asleep.

As midnight drew nearer, Zhao Zhe finally sat up on the bed.

Ah well, he thought, I'll just deliver a message for this kid.

Just delivering a message, it wasn't a difficult task. After saying it, he could return and sleep, come what may.

Anyway, that Xie Fangcheng would probably lend a hand, right?

After all, he seemed to be both powerful and kind-hearted.

But what he hadn't expected was, when he knocked on Xie Fangcheng's door, only Zhang An and Wang Xi were present, Xie Fangcheng was not there.

"Uhm... is Teacher Xie not here?"

"What's the matter?" asked Zhang An.

Zhao Zhe pondered for a moment.

Although he couldn't speak directly to Xie Fangcheng, Zhang An and the others were part of the same group, informing them should be just as effective, right?

With this thought in mind, Zhao Zhe conveyed Dou Siqi's predicament, including his willingness to offer points and items. After he finished speaking, Zhang An merely nodded in response.

"Oh."

With hesitation in his step, Zhao Zhe turned to leave. As he reached the doorway, he couldn't resist looking back: "You will go save him, won't you?"

Zhang An just gave him a placid look from behind his glasses.

"What makes you think that?"

"Ah?" Zhao Zhe's face changed hues, "But Teacher Xie is so powerful..."

"Back in the instances, did the strongest player take care of everyone?" Zhang An counter-questioned, "When you were the strongest, did you do the same?"

Of course not.

When Zhao Zhe was at his strongest, he, at most, refrained from sacrificing others indiscriminately like some “big shots” did, but looking out for other players? That simply didn't happen.

Zhao Zhe opened his mouth, "But..."

But the words just wouldn't come out.

Zhang An glanced at him, filling in the words he wanted to say but couldn't vocalize.

"But since Teacher Xie has looked out for other players, why can't he look out for you all? Teacher Zhao," Zhang An smiled, "leaving aside who he chooses to help, which is his prerogative, considering your group...you all have nothing to offer him. Points, items? Do you think he needs any of these given his strength? Emotional value? He fought off numerous NPCs, shielding you from their threats, yet you complain about his recklessness, believing that your own experience could have led to a better strategy for clearing the levels."

"You never respected his efforts, nor appreciated his protection, yet you expect him to tirelessly assist you out of danger. There's no such good fortune in this world."

"Since you believe you can clear the levels on your own, then go give it a try."

Having said that, Zhang An extended his hand towards him.

"Take care, no need for send-offs."

Zhao Zhe's face alternated between shades of pale and flush, and it took him a while before he turned to leave.

Yes.

Initially, when Xie Fangcheng aggressively confronted the teacher NPCs, Zhao Zhe also thought him to be brash.

Fighting the NPCs might have been exhilarating, but besides that, it brought no tangible benefits.

Later on, when Xie Fangcheng prohibited everyone from treating the students the way they had been treating the teacher NPCs, many players were quite disgruntled.

But looking back now, setting aside whether that method was effective or not, it indeed was genuinely perilous.

Truly, if they had pushed the poor performers too hard and the class average score dropped, getting thrown into the student dormitories would mean almost certain death.

But back then, everyone unanimously overlooked this risk.

Even though they were mentally reassuring themselves that "the class average score won't drop," in reality... everyone thought that even if they ended up in the student dormitories, facing those students, they still had a last resort to turn to.

—— Seek out Xie Fangcheng.

The man has formidable strength; scaring off those student NPCs would merely be a flick of his wrist.

But Zhang An is right, why should he bother to help them?

With a tumult of emotions, Zhao Zhe returned to his dormitory.

Soon, the clock struck twelve.

Brother, it's not that I don't want to help you.

Thinking this, he forced himself to close his eyes.

But this time, within mere minutes, he opened his eyes again.

"Damn... I must be an idiot, aren't I?"

Swearing under his breath, he grabbed his weapon and dashed out from the staff dormitory.

Meanwhile, after realizing Xie Fangcheng wasn't coming, Dou Siqi fell into a silent moment.

"You... shouldn't have come," Dou Siqi murmured softly.

Zhao Zhe nodded gravely, "I think so too, next time you can go die yourself!"

Dou Siqi remained silent.

The two silently looked out the window.

Being on the second floor allowed them to oversee the movements of the NPCs down below.

These NPCs seemed utterly clueless, scrambling around like headless flies.

Dou Siqi finally let out a sigh of relief.

He turned his head, "It seems the danger tonight has passed. We can finally get some rest."

After hearing that, Zhao Zhe also turned around, "Yes. Tomorrow we... Dou Siqi."

Confused, Dou Siqi turned towards him, "Hmm?"

Zhao Zhe's pupils dilated; abruptly, he reached out, fiercely swatting something off Dou Siqi's right shoulder.

It was an eyeball.

The eyeball rolled around in Zhao Zhe's hand, fixating its gaze on him.

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.

"Teacher Dou, and... Teacher Zhao, could you please return my eyeball?"

Upon hearing the statement from outside the door, Zhao Zhe swiftly turned his head.

Outside the window, the NPCs that had appeared aimless initially raised their heads, revealing faces marred with grimaces of death as they gazed towards them.

"...they knew right from the start," Zhao Zhe, clutching the eyeball in his hand, spoke, "They knew we were in this house. The NPCs outside the window were here to deceive us, and the rest are probably stationed at the entrance right now! Run!!"

Following his words, sounds of the door being forced open and the window shattering resonated simultaneously.

...

Ten minutes later.

In the pitch-black room, Dou Siqi breathed silently, momentarily laying Zhao Zhe beside him with his right hand.

He took bandages from his system backpack and began wrapping them around his leg.

But it was essentially futile.

Dou Siqi had lost sight in one eye, his left arm twisted at a grotesque angle, his body covered in numerous wounds, both big and small.

His personal abilities were no longer functional, his body had reached its limit, it was almost impossible to endure another round of life and death escape with Zhao Zhe.

Now, between them, they had only one bottle of potion left.

Should he consume it himself?

Dou Siqi pondered.

Zhao Zhe's personal ability was quite unique, it consumed his mental energy.

Earlier, in an attempt to deceive the group of approaching NPCs, Zhao Zhe had overexerted himself and fallen into a coma.

This kind of unconsciousness couldn't be remedied with a system potion.

If he consumed the potion himself... at least he could manage to flee with him.

But...

Dou Siqi looked down at Zhao Zhe.

The man had a long, deep wound across his abdomen, blood flowing ceaselessly. Without the potion, he would perish merely from blood loss.

If he took the potion, perhaps carrying him... no, abandoning him, he might still have a chance to escape with his life.

But administering the potion to him would inevitably lead to both of them meeting their end together.

Holding the potion in his hand, Dou Siqi ultimately sighed, resigning to feed the potion to Zhao Zhe.

Shortly after, the wounds on Zhao Zhe began to heal.

This was the second time Dou Siqi made a choice that went against his own interest.

The first time, he paid the price with his life, landing in the infinite game.

The second time, it was the same.

It seems that his longstanding philosophy was not wrong after all - once a person compromises their own interest, they would incur a cost that is unbearable.

But at this moment, it seemed he could empathize with the feelings of that junior female student from that day.

"Really..." Dou Siqi gave a bitter smile, "indeed, it seems impossible to save oneself alone."

Even though both logic and experience told him what would be the best choice.

But even someone as selfish as him sometimes opts for the most foolish decision.

Just then, footsteps echoed faintly from somewhere.

"Mr. Dou, stop hiding, I can see you now!"

"Mr. Dou, come out quickly! It's already past one, it's so unfair to hide this long, it's past my usual bedtime!"

"Exactly! If you don't come out now, once I catch you, I'll slice you up piece by piece!"

"Hee hee — found you!"

A voice, so close it was almost at his ear, said.

Dou Siqi swiftly turned, using his only functioning eye, only to see a knife lunging at him.

Dou Siqi dodged out of instinct, the knife plunging into Zhao Zhe's body instead.

"Damn it!!"

Dou Siqi exerted his last bit of strength, although unable to use personal skills and props again, he relied on his own physical strength, fiercely knocking the NPC to the ground with his bare hands.

... but that was all he could manage.

"Aaaaahhh!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

Countless voices resounded from all directions, twisted faces of excitement emerging from the darkness.

Exhausted, Dou Siqi collapsed onto the ground, exerting his last ounce of strength—lying atop Zhao Zhe.

Much like many years ago, when a fragile and soft eggshell had once tried to protect him against all odds.

Even though the eggshell was well aware that such an act was futile.

In this moment, he made the same decision.

Because sometimes, humans choose the option that brings no benefit.

So be it then...

With that thought, Dou Siqi closed his eyes.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a massive noise, resembling something exploding.

Following that was the comforting words of Tong Xinxin.

"Oh my! They are here! Quickly, notify Brother Jie!!"