Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Bai Fuling logged on to see the land cleared of weeds and was very satisfied.

He glanced at the clock on the screen showing 7:46, wiped away the completely nonexistent sweat from his forehead, and stopped his relentless weed-whacking.

That's when Bai Fuling noticed a new text prompt had appeared on the left side of the screen: "It seems someone is watching you..."

Huh? Bai Fuling rotated his pixel character, swiped his fingers up and down to adjust the view, and then caught sight of a familiar figure standing on the third-floor balcony of the dormitory building not far away—it was the Dark-circle Pixel Character—Liao Zhiqiu.

Was Liao Zhiqiu watching him? Bai Fuling blinked. As he was about to put away the makeshift "farm tool" in his hand, it suddenly dawned on him. Oh! This guy was probably looking at the dagger in his hand, since it used to be his item.

Thinking this, Bai Fuling gave a thumbs-up in Liao Zhiqiu's direction, meaning "Your stuff rocks!"

Whenever you get items from NPCs, by any means, praise them a lot; you might get more gifts later!

—Although this dagger wasn't a gift but the result of 'liberating' it, it pretty much amounted to the same thing. Presumably, the NPC's built-in program wouldn't mind such a small detail.

The distance was too far for any interaction markers to appear above the Dark-circle Pixel Character's head. Bai Fuling didn't keep watching. He disassembled the makeshift "farm tool," stowed it in his backpack and moved on.

Lots of NPCs with huge exclamation marks over their heads passed by. Bai Fuling made his character give them a friendly smile. He knew the surrounding NPCs must be amazed by his weed-clearing efficiency.

Now that the weeds were cleared, he'd be ready to farm once he bought the other farming essentials at the market.

However, Bai Fuling wasn't heading toward the school gate but toward the teaching building—that's right, he planned to swing by the classroom first and trigger that bug.

Classes started at 8:00, and according to school rules and discipline, students must punch in at the classroom before class begins.

So, Bai Fuling walked into the classroom at 7:58 and addressed the young teacher NPC at the podium: "Good morning, teacher."

The young teacher at the podium had already heard about the transfer student's 'great leap' from the building yesterday. Hearing the transfer student greet her politely and properly, she paused for a second, taken aback.

"Oh, good morning," the young teacher NPC smiled. "You're the new transfer student, Fresh Cabbage, right? Your seat is in the sixth row, far right."

Great! Check-in before class successful. Bai Fuling mentally checked it off, tuning out the NPC's words completely.

He walked straight to the window, pushed it open with practiced ease, pulled the rope from his backpack, and tied it off securely.

The young teacher NPC, watching Bai Fuling's actions, asked, surprised, "...Fresh Cabbage? What are you doing there?"

Bai Fuling didn't answer. He let his actions do the talking—the moment the class bell rang, Bai Fuling unhesitatingly climbed out the window!

Young Teacher: !

Other Students: ?

The transfer student jumped again ahhhhh—

Bai Fuling: Entering the classroom through the door to punch in, then exiting through the window—this was the perfect, rule-abiding bug-exploit travel route!

As the saying goes, first time's the hardest. To avoid a repeat of the first time where he directly jumped, causing his health to tank and giving him a debuff, he specifically used the rope he fished out of the trash yesterday, choosing to slide down it.

As everyone around them gaped, Pang Chengyu, sitting nearby, appeared much calmer.

After last night's incident, his perception of the transfer student had been upgraded. Now, seeing the other jump from the fourth floor, it didn't faze him at all.

After all, cats—or monkeys—prefer the high road, right? Makes sense.

"Why did Cabbage Classmate jump as soon as the class bell rang!!" The young teacher at the podium was probably witnessing this for the first time in her life. Although she had some mental preparation in advance, she still looked rather unable to cope. She rushed quickly toward the window.

"Teacher, it's fine," Pang Chengyu said. "Classmate Bai is actually being quite considerate today."

Young Teacher: Where is the consideration!!

Pang Chengyu: "He could have jumped directly like yesterday, but for your sake, he went to the extra trouble of specifically using a rope to slide down."

Young Teacher: ?

The young teacher hesitated for a moment, comparing yesterday's rumors with today's events, and realized that seemed to be the case.

For a moment, she actually felt a subtle sense of gratitude inside.

Pang Chengyu paused, then added, "Moreover, he didn't violate any school rules or discipline either."

The young teacher was taken aback. Thinking carefully, the transfer student really hadn't violated any school rules or discipline...

Although something felt off, by the school's standards, the transfer student was actually a law-abiding good student!

=

Bai Fuling grabbed the rope and slid down, landing on the ground, achieving the fastest way to descend without using stairs or elevators.

He still remembered the small path Liao Zhiqiu had shown him yesterday to leave the school. Following his memory, Bai Fuling opened the map and successfully exited the campus from a hidden corner.

As planned last time, Bai Fuling intended to take the cheapest, most convenient, and commonly used bus—but this time, there were no NPCs at the bus stop!

Oh no, a bug appeared. Bai Fuling became serious. Without task NPCs, how could he queue up to summon the bus?

He had to fix his own game's bugs. Bai Fuling immediately decided to randomly grab a few passing NPCs to make up the numbers.

He looked up, scanning with a predatory gaze—perhaps because it was a weekday and working hours, there were almost no pedestrians on the street. The only passerby was someone riding a bicycle.

Never mind, just pull them over first!

Bai Fuling controlled his pixel character to rush forward, grab the bicycle's rear rack, and force it to stop—almost pulling the person into the ditch beside the road.

"Hey... wait!?" The cycling NPC slammed on the brakes, planted both feet on the ground to steady himself, and twisted around to look back.

It was also at this moment that Bai Fuling realized this NPC's model looked somewhat familiar.

A light blue work shirt, cloth shoes, a bespectacled young man. The dialogue box portrait showed someone who looked good-natured and scholarly, with slightly long, somewhat curly bangs.

Oh, it's one of the NPCs from the bus stop yesterday! And the one who gave him the final hint and helped him line up properly—a good NPC.

Bai Fuling recognized him and was very happy inside.

The NPC who gave hints before appearing again—what did this mean? It meant the benefits of the game's newbie protection period had arrived again!

What was the benefit this time? Bai Fuling's gaze fell on the other's pixel bicycle. After thinking for a second or two, he smoothly guessed the answer.

Why were there no NPCs at the bus stop today? The answer was simple. It wasn't a game bug; it was that the newbie benefit had come to deliver a means of transportation—namely, a bicycle!

However, this game pursued an authentic experience and wouldn't directly send the bicycle to his backpack, so he needed to discover and obtain it himself.

Yes, that's exactly it. Bai Fuling nodded, skillfully deducing the answer in his mind.

He took two steps forward, directly reaching out, intending to continue implementing "taking what's available" and take over the bicycle from the bespectacled NPC.

But the NPC in front of him, when Bai Fuling reached out, didn't voluntarily let go. Instead, he still tightly gripped the handlebars.

Bai Fuling looked at the shirt-wearing, bespectacled NPC, and they stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Three seconds later, the NPC with glasses said, "You..." He paused, let out a low sigh, and continued, "Let go first. Where do you need to go? I'll take you."

Oh wow! Not just providing a ride but a driver too! Although the bicycle looked a bit shabby, Bai Fuling didn't mind.

For players, whatever works is king. Whether it's a bicycle, bus, or car, anything that gets you to your destination is a good vehicle.

"I'm going to the farmers' market," Bai Fuling said. He controlled his character to hop onto the back seat of the other's bicycle, and before that, he casually grabbed a newspaper from the glasses-wearing NPC's bike basket.

—No particular reason, just an itchy hand. When passing by something interactive, he couldn't help but click on it.

The NPC with glasses: "..."

A string of ellipses appeared above his head, but he ultimately said nothing.

The bicycle moved forward with a soft creak. Bai Fuling sat on the back seat and, having nothing better to do, clicked on the newspaper in his hands to read.

An enlarged version of the newspaper appeared on the screen, which could be rotated, flipped through, and zoomed in further for reading.

To be fair, this game was quite detailed. Even a small newspaper looked very realistic.

It even included various advertisements, job postings, and phone numbers tucked into the margins and inserts.

Bai Fuling first circled and marked the contact information related to agriculture and animal husbandry mentioned in the margins and supplements, such as fertilizers, pig feed, and chicken farms. Then, just to kill time, he started reading the other content.

Flipping to the first page, the big, bold headline read: "#Police Warning: Crescent Scythe Murder Case Reappears! Number of Victims Rises to 3#"

Bai Fuling's gaze passed over the headline, stopped short, and then returned to it.

Wait.

Newspaper content in games is usually related to the main storyline or major side quests—so this first article must be a quest hint!

Here it is, a serious quest beyond farming, fishing, and slacking off! And along with it, there must be equally serious and generous quest rewards.

Bai Fuling excitedly tapped on the headline on the screen, ready to trigger the quest. But after several taps, nothing happened.

"Strange, is it lagging again?" Bai Fuling muttered. "Logically, it should prompt that the quest has been accepted and show the reward description."

Refusing to give up, he continued tapping repeatedly on the headline in the newspaper. He tried refreshing by repeatedly closing and reopening the newspaper, then tapping again.

Through his persistence, the game program finally seemed to kick into gear, no longer lagging. New prompt text appeared on the left side of the screen.

"[Sweet Dream]: Find the real culprit. Or, become one of those who rest in peace, staying forever.

Time Limit: None.

Quest Reward: You'll know when it's completed."

Bai Fuling: ?

This quest reward is totally vague! It feels like someone couldn't come up with anything and just resorted to cryptic nonsense.

He fell silent for a moment but still glanced at the quest content.

Hmm, got it. From now on, it's about farming while solving a case, right?

Clearing land in the fields while also digging graves, passing by slaughterhouses to both investigate the case and buy or sell breeding pigs—he's the new-age farmer detective!