Chapter 21

Chapter 21

In the end, Bai Fuling was still disappointed he didn't manage to get 9,999 hamburgers. It turned out the cafeteria's inventory was limited.

So he settled for the original goal of 99, completing his stock-up. Bai Fuling was basically satisfied with this.

Pang Chengyu watched as the transfer student made a motion like he was stuffing an invisible backpack, and then the hamburgers vanished into thin air one by one before his eyes.

Pang Chengyu was speechless.

Pang Chengyu silently raised his hand and wiped a bead of nervous sweat from his temple.

After witnessing this scene happen repeatedly, he knew it definitely wasn't a trick of the light or an optical illusion, or a problem with his own eyes.

So now, there were only two possibilities:

One, the transfer student had superpowers.

Two, his own brain had a problem.

Any sane person would pick the first one, after all, no one wants to think they're crazy.

Although Pang Chengyu often ranted about how this school was driving him nuts, he didn't actually want to become what others would call "that guy's lost it."

...So it must be superpowers, right...? It really is superpowers, right!

Combined with the transfer student's bottomless-pit appetite just now, Pang Chengyu thought the possibility of superpowers was even greater.

That food (and the plates) must have been sent to another dimension; otherwise, how could the transfer student's small, cute frame swallow so many dishes (and plates).

According to animated movies, people with superpowers are usually very careful and secretive about hiding their abilities—so why was the person in front of him acting as if no one was around, not even putting on an act?

At the moment, only Pang Chengyu and Bai Fuling were present. Because they had ordered many hamburgers and the service window was narrow, they had entered the counter area through a small side door to get them.

The fast-food window staff had long since fled, afraid that if he stayed a second longer, the bottomless pit in front of him might even take a bite out of him, the person wearing the hamburger hat. So, he didn't notice how Bai Fuling took away the later hamburgers.

Pang Chengyu watched Bai Fuling squirrel things away, opening and closing his mouth, at a loss for words.

It wasn't until the two of them walked out of the cafeteria and reached the area where they had previously tilled the soil, planted seeds, and watered them that he finally mustered the courage to ask, "...Cabbage... I mean, Classmate Bai, wasn't that a little too obvious?"

What? Bai Fuling turned his face, not really getting what the person beside him meant.

"Your ability—I mean, your power to store things in another dimension... Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, although you don't seem to be hiding it at all... Uh, anyway, is it really safe to be so open about it? Won't anyone come after you?" Pang Chengyu was worried the transfer student might be taken away for research. "Really, don't you need to keep it a secret?"

At this, Bai Fuling stiffened slightly.

His first reaction was: Whoa, this NPC is smart! It actually comments on the player's inventory mechanics!

His second reaction was: Wait a minute. Logically, NPCs don't say things for no reason; could there be some plot or hint?

Could it be that his blatant hoarding in front of others is going to be sanctioned by the system? Is the grace period ending, so there are restrictions now? Seriously, they don't allow players to hoard right in front of NPCs!

Bai Fuling pondered for a moment, and after a few seconds, he thought of a new workaround.

It's fine. As the saying goes, there's always a way around the rules. Game rules are rigid, but players are flexible.

Since openly stuffing items into the player's inventory slots isn't allowed, just add a cover, change the form slightly.

Bai Fuling decided to find a satchel to carry around. From now on, he would take out and put away items from the bag his character carries, or simply fish things out from under his wide raincoat cloak. Presumably, this way, the NPC's judgment wouldn't target the player themselves, at most it would target the bag and clothes.

Haha, he's really too clever. He was a genius player, Fresh Cabbage indeed!

Bai Fuling congratulated himself mentally, then piloted his character to reply: "I understand."

"If you need me to cover for you, just find me anytime," Pang Chengyu hesitated, then added in a low voice, "I'll help you—if you trust me, anyway."

Bai Fuling: "Yeah, I know," he replied. "You're a good guy. I'll find you."

Helping with work, even paying up for the player, and even reminding the player—this is practically a starter-pack NPC! Bai Fuling was very satisfied with the golden-haired pixel character in front of him. Of course, he would continue to milk him for all he was worth.

Hearing Bai Fuling's reply, Pang Chengyu lifted his head. He saw those dark, deer-like eyes looking at him, with a serious and focused expression.

So the meaning of those words just now wasn't that he didn't understand the need for cover, but that he was willing to trust him... Pang Chengyu felt a rush of gratitude inside, thinking the transfer student's statement was a form of recognition.

The good-looking transfer student with superpowers actually didn't write him off, counting him as a trustworthy teammate!

The transfer student probably saw it, saw that he was also a struggling fish in this stagnant pond. He wasn't as smart or as brave as the transfer student. Even so, he also wanted to try to resist.

"...What can I do?" Pang Chengyu clenched his fist and asked eagerly.

*Wow, this newbie-benefit NPC is on fire.* Bai Fuling was surprised. He just helped stock up on food, and now he's actively initiating a new assistance mode.

But Bai Fuling was only taken aback for a second before quickly nodding—please, like any player would say no to an NPC's help!

What should he have the NPC do? Usually, NPCs help with fixed routine tasks: like taking care of animals, collecting stone materials, farming, watering, and so on.

Sometimes players grind favorability just to gain NPC assistance. Letting NPCs handle some repetitive work allows players to explore new maps and quests more.

Standing next to his farmland, Bai Fuling quickly thought of a quest instruction. He said frankly, "Then I'm counting on you to look after this piece of land."

Then, Bai Fuling gave the condition prompt: "It's very simple. Just water it every morning and wait for the crops to mature."

Farming in RPG games is relatively simple: after tilling and planting seeds, just water them daily and wait for the harvest.

Occasionally, there might be cases of crops getting sick, then just spray pesticide as prompted.

"If there are any problems, you can find me anytime," Bai Fuling added. He hadn't tried farming in this game yet and didn't know if there would be any other requirements.

"Okay, don't worry," Pang Chengyu replied quickly, his spirits high. "Leave it to me!"

Pang Chengyu's eyes were bright and full of spirit. He understood the meaning behind Bai Fuling's arrangement—obviously, this wasn't simple farming, but a clear challenge to the school's rigid rules, and also a banner of resistance for other students to see.

The location of this farmland happened to be on the lawn in front of the student dormitory building. Now, the transfer student had completely cleared away the neat, uniform perennial grass the school had previously laid down and planted a batch of new, unknown seeds.

Presumably, the transfer student was using this as a metaphor for the power of new life: the seeds of resistance have already been sown, to be shown to all the students coming and going.

The better the crops planted here grow, the more they can convey the underlying meaning.

Without Bai Fuling saying anything, Pang Chengyu actively started thinking, piecing together a set of self-consistent, complete logic on his own.

The work of tending this land, seemingly simple, actually held great significance. If nothing grew here, or if the crops grew poorly, they would lose face and momentum from the start.

The transfer student's willingness to entrust this land to his care was a sign of trust and also a test.

Pang Chengyu straightened his back and said firmly once again, "I definitely won't let you down."

Such a serious NPC, swearing an oath just for farming! Bai Fuling was also quite moved upon hearing this. For this reason, he decided to take out the watering can and give it to Pang Chengyu.

He didn't know if NPCs would act without items, so just in case, he decided to give the NPC a tool first. This was to prevent a situation where the NPC couldn't water the crops due to lacking tools, causing the system to skip this step by default and preventing the seeds from sprouting.

Bai Fuling reached out, preparing to retrieve his broken watering can from his backpack, but remembering the system prompt that had spoken through Pang Chengyu earlier, he added an extra control input to his character.

He had his pixel character reach into the bright yellow raincoat and pull out the watering can from under the wide raincoat cloak.

Perfect! This way, it wouldn't look like he was pulling items out of thin air.

He handed the broken watering can to Pang Chengyu: "Use this for watering. A full can is just enough to water this entire plot."

Bai Fuling hadn't chosen the farming area at random. He had figured out the watering can's capacity and calculated the number of grid squares, plowing exactly the amount of soil that could be watered with one full can.

Pang Chengyu took the watering can, nodding vigorously to show he understood, his heart overflowing with emotion once again.

The transfer student had given instructions so meticulously... It seemed he really was treating him as a teammate.

Bai Fuling blinked as he saw pink plus signs and numbers bubble up above the golden-haired pixel character's head on the screen.

Huh. Bai Fuling was inwardly quite impressed. So assigning him tasks could increase favorability?

After discovering Liao Zhiqiu, the animal fanatic, Bai Fuling had found another NPC whose favorability could be boosted—the model worker Pang Chengyu!

Just give him tasks, and his favorability would bubble up nonstop. Such a diligent spirit was truly touching.

It had to be said, both these NPCs had rather unique ways of increasing favorability. Bai Fuling thought to himself.

After parting ways with the golden-haired NPC, Bai Fuling wandered aimlessly around the campus, casually rummaging through a few trash cans while pondering what to do next.

Food supplies were restocked, and the farmland was entrusted, so he could now focus on the main questline again.

Bai Fuling shifted his gaze to the quest log nearby.

His arrangement with Liao Zhiqiu was for the next day at the back alley of the school, so the "Cat's Secret" quest would likely have to wait until tomorrow.

"Sweet Dream" had provided the latest clue—Guan Jiayue's house key—so he could sneak out tonight to take a look.

The in-game clock had already reached nighttime.

A crescent moon hung in the sky, with a few scattered pixel stars dotting the night.

Bai Fuling skillfully made his way out through the back path of the school, locating the Warm Home Residential Area indicated by the clue for "Guan Jiayue's House Key" on the map.

The overall color palette of the game at night was quite dim, with only streetlights providing patches of brightness.

It wasn't very late yet, but strangely, there were hardly any NPCs walking around the streets. The roads felt empty, with only the occasional car speeding by. The evening wind swept up a few newspapers with bold headlines lying on the ground, sending them fluttering before they settled again.

Operating on the principle that if you have a mount, you should summon it, Bai Fuling stood at the street corner and whistled to call for the Grey Wolf [Big Dog].

However, the system popped up a prompt:

"＊[Big Dog] is already resting＊"

What? The player's mount actually rests? Bai Fuling widened his eyes. The player themselves hadn't even rested yet, so how could the mount be asleep! Animals sleep better than humans.

Come to think of it, wolves are supposed to be nocturnal, right? Did its sleep schedule change after becoming [Big Dog]?

Bai Fuling stood still, feeling puzzled. He thought for a moment, then instinctively tapped on the mount panel, wondering if changing the Grey Wolf's name to something like [Owl] might wake it up.

But before he could tap, he noticed the text quietly changing beside the panel.

"Someone seems to be watching you..."

Huh? Why was this prompt appearing again? Bai Fuling closed the mount panel and quickly rotated his character's field of view.

This rotation happened to catch a glimpse of something.

At the edge of the screen, what seemed like pixel tentacles hurriedly slipped past, vanishing in an instant. Bai Fuling instinctively made his character chase a couple of steps, only to see those black lines disappear into a brick wall.

What was that? A bug? A living bug? Or some hidden treasure hint? Bai Fuling approached with interest, wanting to investigate the spot where the fleeting black tentacles had vanished.

The pixel wall where the black lines disappeared looked completely ordinary, no different from the surrounding brick walls.

But a player who had spotted something unusual wouldn't be fooled by appearances—in any case, try breaking it first!

Bai Fuling, full of vigor and determination, prepared to smash the wall. He controlled his character to pull out an axe from under the wide raincoat cloak, retrieved from the backpack.

It was at this moment that Bai Fuling heard the sound of something falling in the background music.

Accompanied by a "clatter-clatter" sound, a can of coffee rolled to his feet.

Wow, a gift from nature!

Bai Fuling's eyes lit up as he skillfully bent down to pick up the canned coffee and stash it into his raincoat (backpack). Only then did he look in the direction from which the can had rolled.

At the edge of his vision, he saw a familiar bespectacled corporate slave pixel character.

The bespectacled character stared at him in shock, his canvas bag fallen on the ground with its contents scattered everywhere. In the CG image, under his slightly long, somewhat curly bangs, a pair of grass-green eyes widened as they looked over.

In front of the bespectacled pixel character was an NPC in a wheelchair. It seemed the bespectacled young man was pushing the person in the wheelchair back home.

What new storyline was this? Bai Fuling stood up, looking at the suddenly appearing NPC.

The environment was quiet, with no one else around.

No one spoke first, and they stood in silence for a moment, as if the scene had frozen.

Bai Fuling's gaze swept over the bespectacled NPC carrying items, then over the wheelchair the NPC was pushing. After a second of thought, he understood.

It must be one of those small, spontaneous tasks to help NPCs! In RPGs, aside from long-term major quests, there were many small tasks triggered anytime, anywhere.

Even the smallest reward was still a reward, and players never complained about having too many quests. He'd take any he could get.

Bai Fuling, full of enthusiasm, stepped forward to offer help. Even though he was holding an axe in his left hand, his right hand could still push the wheelchair!

As a player, Bai Fuling didn't see anything wrong with this scene. But in the eyes of others, what they saw was a strange figure in a bright yellow raincoat cloak, wielding an axe, rushing toward them under the hanging crescent moon.

Almost as soon as Bai Fuling took a step or two forward with the axe, a huge exclamation mark popped up above the bespectacled NPC's head.

And the person in the wheelchair trembled, instinctively jerking upright and standing up straight!

Bai Fuling was utterly astonished.

The player had just performed a medical miracle!