Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Luo Qingyue held the hoe, standing motionless in a daze.

Bai Fuling didn't mind. Through his persistent efforts, he demolished the entire wall by himself in no time.

As the rubble crumbled and pixel bricks scattered everywhere, Bai Fuling caught a glimpse of a flickering black line amidst the falling stone effects.

Found it!

Bai Fuling's eyes lit up. He immediately threw down the axe and steered his character to grab the clump of black tentacles on the ground.

The writhing mass of black lines hastily contracted and jumped into the nearby iron-grated manhole cover.

Hey, why did it run away again?

Bai Fuling widened his eyes. He stubbornly lay down next to the sewer grate, trying to find the [Open] button.

"...What are you looking for?" Luo Qingyue couldn't help but ask from the side.

"Didn't you see it? A mass—a small mass of unknown tentacled creature disappeared here." Bai Fuling pointed at the sewer grate in front of him, circling around it, trying to find the option to open it.

"Unknown tentacled creature...?" Luo Qingyue looked puzzled. "No, I didn't see anything else. I only saw you suddenly squat down and then chase over here."

The NPC didn't even notice? Bai Fuling pondered. Well, it seems this is a mysterious event only players can trigger.

Tasks in the quest log can be done anytime, but triggers for such mysterious elements might be once in a millennium. What if it's a treasure with a rare trigger probability after all!

So, Bai Fuling grabbed the nearby axe, deciding to visit Guan Jiayue's home in Warm Home Community another day. For now, he turned his attention to the grated manhole cover.

Mere chopping wasn't cutting it, so Bai Fuling tried a different angle to pry the cover open.

After several prompts of [Item Durability Decreased] popped up on the screen, he finally—managed to pry open the metal-grated manhole cover!

Seeing the dark hole exposed below, Bai Fuling happily prepared to jump down.

But before he could leap in, the NPC behind him grabbed him abruptly: "...Wait, don't do something rash! I don't know what's wrong, but you're still young, you have a long life ahead!"

Luo Qingyue half-dragged, half-carried Bai Fuling away from the sewer opening.

Bai Fuling tried to struggle free with his character but couldn't break loose. A line of text appeared on the screen.

"He's too strong. You can't break free."

Huh? Bai Fuling was slightly surprised, forgetting to use the [Unstuck] method. This was the first time he had seen such a prompt from the system.

"How are you so strong?" Bai Fuling couldn't help but follow the text prompt and ask, "I thought you were the bookish type who can't even hurt a fly."

After all, the NPC's CG illustration looked very gentle and bookish, with soft hair and a soft temperament. Luo Qingyue's previous behavior really seemed like "if you kick me, you've kicked a cotton ball."

"Me? I'm a library worker; of course I have strength." Luo Qingyue replied upon hearing this, then sighed. "You don't think our job is just sitting at the front desk handling book loans, do you?"

Bai Fuling nodded seriously. It had been his dream to be a librarian, enjoying a leisurely life of making tea, drinking tea, and reading books every day.

"Actually, I have a lot of work to do every day. Moving books, organizing books, pushing shelves—these are all physical tasks," Luo Qingyue listed. "Last time, when I accidentally bumped into Mr. Chen, it was because I wasn't paying attention while moving a shelf and collided with him..."

Combined with the previous harassment incident, Bai Fuling now had a bit of a conspiracy theory: maybe the Mr. Chen intentionally bumped into him.

"Do you really not need help?" Bai Fuling tried again to accept the quest. "I can help you solve the problem."

If the problem can't be solved, the player will solve the NPC causing the problem.

The player can first try diplomacy, advising Mr. Chen to drink some traditional Chinese medicine for his health. But if that NPC Mr. Chen insists on not listening and continues to harass Luo Qingyue, Bai Fuling does have experience fighting monsters.

In short, if Luo Qingyue issues a related quest, he will definitely complete it! He looked over expectantly, waiting for the NPC to give him the quest.

Hearing Bai Fuling's words, Luo Qingyue was stunned for a moment, then politely declined: "Thank you, but it's really not necessary—" He smiled. "Well, to be honest, earlier, I didn't expect you to be such a warm-hearted person."

There is absolutely no one warmer-hearted in the world than players!

Bai Fuling's response to this: Players are absolutely the ultimate do-gooder bystanders who catch cats, catch dogs, catch murderers, scale the heavens, plumb the earth, and ford the longest rivers—they do everything!

Wherever there is a quest, players will appear!

Once again rejected by the bespectacled NPC in front of him, Bai Fuling didn't insist on accepting this quest.

Since he couldn't accept it for a long time, it meant the time wasn't right, so there was no need to force it. Let it be.

He prepared to turn back and explore the mysterious tentacled creature.

Before taking action, Bai Fuling put away the axe and hoe, reluctantly touching the wheelchair: "I'm a student; can't you really give it to me? I really need a way to get around."

Wheelchairs are great; walking on the street even has the passive function of triggering NPCs to make way.

"...Wheelchair? You, how can a wheelchair be used as transportation?" Luo Qingyue's focus fell on the latter part.

"How can a wheelchair not be transportation?" Bai Fuling responded frankly, enthusiastically saying, "Do you need me to demonstrate for you?"

He understood: now he needed a demonstration, and then the NPC would give him the wheelchair.

In the real world, wheelchairs indeed aren't suitable as fast transportation. But in games, as long as you give players two wheels, they can make anything run!

Bai Fuling decisively controlled his character to sit in the wheelchair, cranking the speed and sensitivity to max.

Then, he gripped the wheels with both hands, cranked the settings to max and got them spinning!

Luo Qingyue only saw the wheelchair stay in place for half a second, then suddenly shot forward and zoomed off!

Luo Qingyue: ???

He witnessed the black-haired youth's hands spinning into blurs, propelling the wheelchair at wind-like speed, rushing to the end of the street, making a turn, and rushing back.

Luo Qingyue watched the wheelchair charging menacingly toward him and instinctively wanted to sidestep to avoid it.

However, the wheelchair had already noticed him beforehand and turned early. The wheelchair executed a perfect drift on the ground, then stopped with a whoosh!

The wheelchair stopped—but it seemed because the brakes were too sudden, the black-haired youth sitting on it flew out like a cannonball, drawing a perfect arc in mid-air!

Then he fell into the uncovered manhole.

Luo Qingyue: ...?

Luo Qingyue: !!?

=

Bai Fuling set all parameters to maximum, and the character spun the wheels, creating a flying sensation.

He tested it once and was very satisfied with the wheelchair as a manually controlled (literally) means of transportation.

However, from firsthand experience, he also discovered a problem—that is, next time he needs to buckle up.

That's what Bai Fuling thought as he went flying from the momentum.

Watching the pixel character on the screen soar through the air and land in the sewer he had originally intended to jump into, his mood brightened like the sun.

Oh wow, talk about a direct route! This wheelchair really gets me! There really are some great wheelchairs out there! Guess they were meant to be!

The pitch-black sewer seemed bottomless. While falling through the air, Bai Fuling opened his backpack and selected his stash of 99 hamburgers.

Just as he expected, when he hit the ground, the screen exploded with a large burst of red pixels, and the edges turned a dangerous crimson, just like the first time he had jumped off a building.

Bai Fuling immediately spammed the hamburgers until the screen edges were no longer dangerously red and his health bar had recovered to two-thirds of its normal level before stopping.

He got his character back on its feet, hearing the rush of water in the background. It was too dark around him; he could only see a small circle around his character.

Fortunately, he had come prepared. Bai Fuling took a flashlight from his backpack, once again thanking his past self for his grab-everything policy.

He decided to continue adhering to this principle in the future, never missing any chance to milk the NPCs for all they're worth—who knew when an item might come in handy later!

Bai Fuling turned on the flashlight, lighting up the way forward.

There were many pipes of varying thicknesses around, alongside flowing water. Ahead, there was a path and arched tunnels.

Why was this place like the Gotham sewers, with a whole 'nother world underground? Bai Fuling pondered. According to RPG game tropes, unfamiliar places should have treasures and mini-bosses... What would a sewer boss be? A crocodile monster? A catfish monster?

Letting his imagination run wild, Bai Fuling walked forward along the path, trying to find traces of the mysterious tentacle lines from before.

The background sound was the rushing of water, but as he went deeper, the water sounds faded, leaving only the dripping in the quiet.

Bai Fuling continued walking, flashlight in hand, amazed that there really was a whole other space underground.

...He had actually unlocked a new map! So indeed, that black tentacle was a treasure clue. Bai Fuling thought to himself.

But now there was another problem.

Bai Fuling wondered as he walked. How was he supposed to get back up? He hadn’t seen any ladders to climb upward nearby... Could it be that he had to swim out along the water? He wouldn’t end up swimming straight out of the city, would he?

He'd better not be late for class tomorrow—the school rules and regulations required everyone to clock in by entering the classroom before 8 a.m.

Bai Fuling really didn’t want to casually give up his label as a "rule-abiding, disciplined good student."

"Clack, clack—"

A third sound, different from the water, echoed from somewhere in the distance. Bai Fuling focused on listening, thinking it sounded like the clashing of something metallic.

It didn't sound like a machine—it was too irregular. It seemed more like there was a living creature over there!

Was it a boss? Had a boss appeared so quickly? Was it a crocodile monster or a catfish monster? He hadn’t seen any monster bosses in this game yet.

Bai Fuling immediately perked up. Holding the flashlight in one hand, he pulled out an axe from his backpack with the other and quickly crept closer to the source of the sound.

The flashlight’s beam was a forward-facing fan shape. With 120% curiosity, Bai Fuling raised the flashlight and shone it toward the source of the sound—

...Huh? Over there was an iron cage.

Wait, why was there a person inside??

And it was someone he knew!

Bai Fuling held up the flashlight, staring in surprise at the dark-circle pixel character illuminated within the beam.

It was Liao Zhiqiu!

What was he doing here?

Liao Zhiqiu was half-kneeling inside a square iron cage, trying to pick the lock with a small knife, making clacking sounds. However, the lock was simply too large; the blade only left a few white scratches on it.

Noticing the light source, he narrowed his eyes and stared dangerously—only to soften his expression upon recognizing the newcomer.

"...Kitty?" Liao Zhiqiu said softly.

Well, it was a typical RPG game after all. Bai Fuling thought. Exploring a new map would inevitably lead to encountering a trapped 'princess' in need of rescue.

—It’s just that the gender was a bit off.

Huh, could this really be a gay game?!

Author's Note:

Bai Fuling: Liao Zhiqiu talks to small animals and has experienced kidnapping, so he really is a princess! (Not really)