Chapter 2

Chapter 2

This game's pervert is just too persistent, the character art is average and the character keeps getting stuck, not much fun. Time to bounce.

Bai Fuling didn't want to keep getting entangled; he wanted to play something else. So he frantically mashed the [Unstuck] button and quickly moved his character towards the school.

The middle-aged man, seething with impotent rage, grabbed at thin air several times. He watched as the strange figure in the yellow raincoat walked away nonchalantly at a brisk pace, his face turning beet-red.

The blond young man behind him sauntered over, his bag slung over one shoulder, and laughed heartily. "Hey, old man, serves you right?"

"You little brat...!!"

"Alright, alright, stop nagging. Aren't I going to school like you told me to?" The blond youth's previous reluctance was gone, replaced by a cheerful look. He lifted his chin. "That's my friend, what about it?"

—Whether they knew each other or not, anyone who opposed his dad was his friend.

Come to think of it, is that person a new transfer student? He didn't remember anyone dressed so peculiarly at the academy before.

"Pang Chengyu, you just go around making friends with all sorts of weirdos like that!?"

"So what?" The blond youth—Pang Chengyu—swung his bag and scoffed. "Stop bothering me, worry about yourself."

He ignored his father's continued yelling and strolled forward leisurely. Usually, he was reluctant to step foot in this stifling school, but this time, with an interesting person around, his steps felt much lighter.

From a distance, he spotted that eye-catching yellow raincoat.

Pang Chengyu intended to catch up, maybe introduce himself briefly or find out which class the person was in. Unexpectedly, the person suddenly veered off the path towards the teaching building and headed for the flowerbed next to it... specifically, the trash can.

"Clang!" The yellow-raincoat youth lifted the trash can lid without hesitation.

Pang Chengyu: ?

Such an unexpected action left him completely stunned.

Before he could process it, the yellow-raincoat youth walked to another nearby trash can and "clang" lifted the plastic lid!

Pang Chengyu: ??

While he stood there dumbfounded, the yellow-raincoat youth proceeded to lift the lids of all the trash cans around the flowerbed.

Near a few of them, the person even paused briefly, making motions as if opening a backpack and stuffing things inside—even though he clearly had no backpack.

After finishing with all the trash cans, the person turned back towards the teaching building as if nothing had happened. Before leaving, they even plucked a flower from the flowerbed.

Pang Chengyu: "..."

Pang Chengyu: "...???"

Bai Fuling looked at the newly acquired items in his backpack—[Wooden Stick ×1], [Three-Day-Old Stale Bread ×1], [Apple ×1], [Rose ×2]—and was a little disappointed.

=

Trash cans, crates, cabinets—these are must-check spots for any RPG player. Zero investment, decent probability of loot. Of course Bai Fuling wouldn't pass them by.

But whether it was average luck or just how the game's set up, rummaging through trash didn't cough up anything great.

If it's a luck issue, no problem. Just keep trying, and eventually, something good will turn up.

If it's by design, then it means the path to early-game wealth isn't through dumpster diving and crate looting; he'll need to find another way.

Farming build? Mining build? Or business management build?

While pondering this, he kept walking his character forward. The text prompt in the top-left corner changed to a new line the moment he entered the school.

"Report to Classroom D at the end of the fourth-floor corridor."

Bai Fuling followed the prompt and found the classroom. The door was shut tight, with no window in it. As he approached, two options appeared beside it.

→ [Wait]

→ [Push Door]

Bai Fuling selected the [Push Door] option, but the door didn't budge. A line of small text appeared in the center of the screen: 'The door is locked during class.'

They lock the door during class?! Bai Fuling was slightly surprised, then his mind raced. What did this mean—would there be time restrictions for entering and leaving classrooms later on? Or were there buildings in the game that only opened at fixed times?

But if class was a mandatory time-sink, wouldn't that really slow down exploration?

There were still no hints around. Bai Fuling's puzzle-solving instincts kicked in again.

Since the option to push the door existed, it meant there must be a way to get through. The door being locked didn't matter—he just needed to find a way to break in!

Bai Fuling clicked to open his backpack.

Following typical puzzle logic, the items he'd found earlier by rummaging through trash cans must be useful later—in any case, he should try using every single item from his backpack on the door!

...

Pang Chengyu followed him upstairs. His earlier daze had put him a bit behind, but fortunately, he hadn't lost him.

He climbed to the fourth floor, turned the corner, and saw the guy in the yellow raincoat stopped at the door of the classroom at the end of the corridor.

Class D... So he really was a new transfer student, Pang Chengyu thought. Transfer students were usually placed in Class D initially.

Pelland Academy followed a strict points system with numerous school rules and regulations. Both academic performance and discipline impacted your points. Each month, the academy would sort students into classes from A to F based on their points.

Good resources and privileges were concentrated in the top classes, while the bottom classes implemented an elimination system. Students at the bottom of Class F were constantly at risk of expulsion.

Oppressive, gloomy, and rigid—that summed up this school. Pang Chengyu hated it here.

Initially, based on his overall grades, he had been placed in Class B. But due to repeatedly skipping classes and losing points, he had been demoted to Class D this month—coincidentally ending up with the transfer student.

It was currently class time. Classroom doors were locked from the inside and would only open after class. The new transfer student probably didn't know this yet.

Seeing the other person just standing there at the door, Pang Chengyu planned to step forward and say a few words, taking the opportunity to get to know him.

But just as he took a step, the other person moved.

The guy in the yellow raincoat reached out and grabbed something—a wooden stick seemingly out of thin air—and without hesitation, began violently smashing it against the door with loud 'bang, bang, bang' sounds.

Pang Chengyu was stunned.

That wasn't all. Immediately after, the yellow raincoat-clad youth pulled out a piece of dried bread from nowhere and repeated the same action with the bread.

Pang Chengyu: "..." What, why was he using bread to smash the door??

Seeing this seemed ineffective, the guy in the yellow raincoat soon switched objects again, taking out an apple—however, before he could do anything, there was movement from the classroom door.

The dark wooden door first made a 'click' unlocking sound, then opened from the inside. An elderly professor with a head of white, curly hair stood there.

The door opened! Bai Fuling's eyes lit up. Looking at the woolly-curled pixel character appearing before him, he casually handed over the apple he was holding.

Now that he had it out, he might as well gift it to the NPC to boost favorability, which would make skipping class easier later.

A cloud of black lines popped up over the Woolly Curly Old Professor's head. He didn't accept it, but Bai Fuling noticed the red progress bar above the NPC's head went up.

Hmm, the favorability meter went up, right? So gifting should still be effective, he thought, convinced.

The Woolly Curly Old Professor frowned. "What kind of outfit is this... Who are you?"

Whoa, didn't think the NPCs in this game to be so smart, even having aesthetic discernment. Bai Fuling grinned. He'd thought NPCs wouldn't care what he wore; seems this game is quite detailed.

In response, he skillfully typed in the nickname he'd successfully created earlier on the bus: "I'm Fresh Cabbage." Immediately after, remembering the text prompt in the top-left corner, he added, "The new transfer student."

The Woolly Curly Professor's head popped up another cloud of black lines: "I asked for your real name... Where's your student ID?"

Even the name gets questioned? Now that's smart AI!

Musing to himself, Bai Fuling controlled the pixel character to put away the apple and present the student ID that was in his backpack from the start.

The Woolly Curly Old Professor took the student ID, looked at it carefully, and an ellipsis of six dots appeared above his head. After a long pause, he handed it back: "Alright, alright, fine. Student Fresh Cabbage."

"Considering today is your first day, I won't mark you down for being late. I'll give you one day to familiarize yourself with the school rules and regulations—find an empty seat and sit down to listen to the lecture."

Bai Fuling took back his student ID, and the text prompt in the top-left corner also changed: "You have successfully checked in."

That's it? No further guidance? Seems like it means do whatever you want. Free exploration phase—he liked that.

Bai Fuling blinked and started recalling the RPG games he played before.

Next up was finding random tasks or prompts to trigger. There must be corresponding NPCs in the classroom; he needed to find characters for deeper interaction.

So he walked to the first row and first interacted with the student closest to the aisle, the first student: "Hello."

Student #1: "?"

Bai Fuling: "Hello."

Student #1 hesitated: "Uh, hello?" He then whispered, "Chatting is not allowed during class."

Bai Fuling: "Hello."

Student #1 paused and tentatively asked: "...Um, do you want to sit here? Sorry, there are no seats left here."

Bai Fuling: "Hello."

Student #1: "?"

Seeing that the guy gave no task and started repeating the initial question mark, Bai Fuling knew this must be a generic NPC whose fixed dialogue was exhausted. So he immediately moved on, turned, and walked to the next person: "Hello."

"Transfer student, what are you doing!?" The Woolly Curly Professor on the podium rapped the desk with a ruler. "Hurry up and find a seat!"

Bai Fuling saw the dialog box that suddenly popped up and vibrated and frowned.

...He hadn't even finished trying to interact with everyone one by one, how did he trigger that NPC's pop-up already?

He ignored the professor's admonishment and continued interacting with the seated students in order: "Hello."

"Transfer student!"

A vibrating dialog box appeared on the screen again. Bai Fuling paused and stopped trying to interact with the students below.

Alright, it seems besides [locked door], there's also a [no interacting with NPCs] logic setting during class in the classroom.

But it's fine, no rush to get to know classmates. Since there's nothing to dig up in the classroom right now, it was time to explore outside.

He steered his character to turn and walk toward the classroom door.

The Woolly Curly Professor on the podium popped a huge exclamation mark above his head: "During class, where are you going? Leaving without permission is a serious violation of school rules and regulations!"

What's with all these rules? Bai Fuling controlled the little character to stop. Could it be that class is really a fixed plot? But there's no pop-up skill learning prompt either...

...No, since he could still move freely, it meant there was room for flexible handling.

Bai Fuling thought briefly, then had a flash of inspiration.

Since he couldn't use the door, then find a closer route to exploit a bug and leave—like the window.

Although he wasn't sure if the game had fall damage from jumping from heights, his backpack contained HP-recovery food fished out from the trash, which he could use just in case.

Besides, since he was playing a game, of course he should do as he pleased. Bai Fuling remained unfazed.

It's just the beginning; everything should be tried. Even if he really fell to his death, it was no big deal—just reload a save and start over!

...

The old professor on the podium frowned deeply, staring at the oddly dressed transfer student, his expression very serious.

Under his reprimand, the transfer student in the bright yellow raincoat finally stopped pacing around the classroom and turned around.

"The school rule is, can't use the door, right?"

The Woolly Curly Professor looked serious: "Naturally. During class, you cannot leave the room arbitrarily without permission."

"Okay." The oddly dressed transfer student nodded, indicating understanding.

But he didn't walk toward the back rows of seats. Instead, he quickly strode toward the classroom window.

The next second, he "swished" open the window and boldly flipped himself out!

Woolly Curly Old Professor: ?

Students: ?!!

In the corridor, Pang Chengyu finally moved to the doorway.

He originally planned to wait until after class to come over, since he was already late anyway. But hearing the commotion inside, he got curious and came to take a look.

—Just in time to see the new transfer student cheerfully leap down from the window.

Pang Chengyu: ?

Pang Chengyu reached out a hand: Wait—buddy, this is the fourth floor?!!!

Author's Note:

Bai Fuling: Alright, I'll use the window so I won't be disturbed anymore, right?

#If players can't use the door, players have plenty of other paths to take#

Pang Chengyu: ...How did the new classmate take the road to heaven in the blink of an eye!!