Chapter 48

Chapter 48

When the player suddenly remembered they hadn't completed their daily tasks, their spirit of resistance reached its peak.

...Although daily tasks often offer only paltry rewards, missing them feels like missing a chance to scrounge freebies from the devs, which is even more painful than losing a wallet.

What to do when there's knockout gas on the scene? Simple—just don't breathe!

So Bai Fuling decisively chose to [hold his breath], just like when he was diving to save someone.

After a while, the player became oxygen-deprived and began to lose HP bit by bit—but Bai Fuling wasn't afraid at all, as his backpack was still filled with plenty of HP-restoring books.

Seeing his health bar drop below half, Bai Fuling pulled out a copy of *Pure-Hearted Tentacle Spiciness* from his backpack and quickly devoured it in a few bites. When his health dropped below half again, he repeated the process.

Nearby, Luo Qingyue was also struggling to stay conscious.

He bit his lip hard with his teeth until it bled. The sharp pain helped him focus a bit more. Blood dripped down his chin, and he wiped it with one hand, looking down at the blood on his hand.

A crunching sound, like a paper shredder, came from nearby.

...Where did that paper shredder come from???

For a moment, Luo Qingyue thought he had returned to the library. He turned his head toward the source of the sound.

In the dim light, his field of vision had narrowed.

But Luo Qingyue could still make out the figure—a young man with an angel halo above his head was biting into a book he had taken from who-knows-where, devouring it cleanly and efficiently in a few bites.

Luo Qingyue: ?

Wait, how did the other person start eating books again after not seeing him for a while!

He instinctively asked, "Where did that book come from? Don't tell me it's from the library—"

Bai Fuling replied breezily, "The library."

Luo Qingyue: "..."

"But it's not a book from the shelves," Bai Fuling said seriously. "I took it from the underground storage room. I know the ones piled down there are probably meant to be disposed of. Since we're pals, I can give you an 80% discount on the disposal fee."

Luo Qingyue paused. "...I have to pay you for it?"

"Work deserves payment, that's only fair!" Bai Fuling said earnestly, his attitude very proper. "Didn't I put in the labor? Just tell me, didn't I handle the disposal of those miscellaneous books?"

He opened his mouth and pointed at it. "And I handled it personally, ensuring quality and quantity."

Luo Qingyue: ?

Wait, can that really be called handling it personally—though it is literally handling it personally.

A string of ellipses appeared above Luo Qingyue's head as he racked his brains, trying to come up with a response.

But since he had never said anything overly harsh or confrontational to others in daily life, he couldn't muster any words of rebuttal now. He could only keep adjusting his glasses.

Bai Fuling controlled his character to take a few steps closer, pulled a small yellow flower from his backpack, and tucked it behind Luo Qingyue's other ear. "Don't think about it anymore. Here's another flower for you."

As long as you interrupt an NPC's train of thought with another interaction while they're thinking, the NPC won't continue pondering!

Sure enough, just as Bai Fuling had predicted, Luo Qingyue leaned back half a step in surprise, his attention no longer on the logic of the situation.

He raised his hand and touched the small yellow flower on the other side. "...You already gave me a flower before."

"Here's another one," Bai Fuling said with a smile. "Even numbers look better."

The small yellow flower was free, so of course he should give it if it could raise affinity. If every gift added favorability, Bai Fuling could even empty an entire garden to please the NPC!

The player was just that capable and proactive—after all, it wasn't his own garden being emptied.

Bai Fuling silently plotted a path to wealth involving a lawnmower and a flower seller in his mind.

But for now, Bai Fuling just pulled out a small flower and gave it to the other person, then said, "If you like it, I'll give you more flowers in the future—I can even weave flower crowns."

Luo Qingyue's eyes behind his slightly long bangs curved into a smile. He pursed his lips and shook his head. "No need, the few flowers you've given me are enough. Let the little flowers stay in the soil where they belong."

He took the small yellow flower from behind his ear, pulled out a small notebook from his pocket, pressed the flower flat inside, and put it away.

Not far away, Liao Zhiqiu had already fallen into a semi-conscious state due to inhaling the gas. In his drowsiness, he vaguely heard the two of them talking.

Liao Zhiqiu opened his eyes and looked over in the darkness. He couldn't see clearly, and his words were slurred, but his question was exceptionally clear: "...Why... are you two... still awake?"

Even someone like him, who had developed a certain resistance after battling wits with his grandfather over the cat's birthday, couldn't resist the effects of this hypnotic gas. Why were the two people in front of him still able to stay conscious??

Bai Fuling: "Oh, that's because I'm not breathing."

Luo Qingyue: "Well, that's because it's not time to clock out yet."

Liao Zhiqiu: ?

For a moment, he didn't know which reply was more shocking.

And after hearing each other's responses, the two people opposite each other both turned to look at the other.

Bai Fuling: "Right, you've been breathing this whole time and you're still awake—by the way, how is 'not clocking out yet' a shot of adrenaline? How could that keep you conscious!"

Luo Qingyue: "You don't understand, Little Friend. Dozing off during work hours will lead to a pay deduction—besides, what do you mean by 'not breathing'? Is that a joke? From the start until now, you've already broken the world record for a living person holding their breath!"

"Although I broke the living person breath-holding record," Bai Fuling nodded along, "there's still a dead person breath-holding competition record I haven't broken yet."

"...No, that's not a record that can be broken," Luo Qingyue silently retorted.

Liao Zhiqiu listened to the somewhat distant, chaotic voices in his ears, sat down leaning against the corner, and buried his head in his knees.

He was very sleepy now. The fragrance permeating the air was like a seasoning for sweet dreams, pulling his consciousness into the darkness.

After the initial surprise upon hearing the two's replies, he had now calmed down again.

A cat's thoughts are always whimsical; that's perfectly reasonable. Liao Zhiqiu looked at it another way. Such replies meant they still retained some cat-like traits. The cognitive impairment symptoms of the big cat and the little cat weren't that severe, which was a good thing.

Thinking of this, a sense of comfort rose in Liao Zhiqiu's heart.

He lowered his head, remembering a very, very distant past. He had once snuggled in a cat's embrace, listening to the cat tell whimsical stories.

Stories about the rich and colorful world outside—the gentle breeze, the soft grass, the damp mist, and the forsythia flowers that always bloomed first in spring.

But the cat never got to see them.

He had promised to see them for the cat, to celebrate new life in the beautiful natural world.

"..." Liao Zhiqiu closed his eyes.

He slowly, slowly drifted off to sleep.

The sinking floor suddenly shuddered, as if it had reached the bottom.

Bai Fuling saw the character on the screen stumble and tilt to one side, but fortunately, Luo Qingyue reacted quickly and grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

Everything was still pitch black.

"Where is this?" Luo Qingyue finally asked, voicing the question he hadn't gotten to ask earlier due to the player's interruption. "How did I get here?"

"This is the underground cat kingdom from Alice in Wonderland," Bai Fuling typed casually into the text box, making a pop-culture reference. "You're the White Rabbit."

Luo Qingyue was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. "Alright, I know you're trying to help me relax, Little Friend. Just like earlier, when you deliberately said all that twisty, debate-like talk—it was actually to keep me awake, wasn't it?"

The NPC actually thought the player was that nice! Hearing this, Bai Fuling didn't have the heart to ruin it for him. Since it was a positive assumption, he simply accepted Mr. Cotton Spirit's interpretation.

He made the character spin in place a couple of times, steering the conversation back to the main plot. "Earlier, Liao Zhiqiu said he was sending us for treatment. This is probably an underground passage leading to the 'treatment' facility."

"Hmm." Luo Qingyue frowned slightly.

"Theoretically, we should be unconscious right now," Bai Fuling said. "That means someone will come to move us soon."

"So... we wait here for them to arrive?" Luo Qingyue said earnestly. "Then, when they get here, we explain that there's been a small misunderstanding, that we're actually not sick, and ask them to take us out of here?"

"Of course it won't be that simple," Bai Fuling gave a firm shake of his head.

If that were the case, this storyline would be completely uninteresting and pointless!

Game devs wouldn't design something so conventional, and players certainly wouldn't play by the rules so obediently.

"Since we've managed to trigger a bug—I mean, since we're both awake, why not explore a bit?" Bai Fuling suggested, extending a party invitation to the NPC Luo Qingyue.

Luo Qingyue was so strong; he looked like he could pack a punch. Although his personality was soft as cotton and he probably wouldn't initiate attacks, he'd probably be a great teammate.

At the very least, as a teammate, the NPC wouldn't stand by and let the player get attacked.

Hearing this, Luo Qingyue hesitated for a moment. "...It's too dark around here. Wandering around recklessly could be dangerous."

Too dark? Oh, so that's the hint for what to do next. Bai Fuling thought. Indeed, after the floor descended, the surroundings were even darker than before, and his field of view was really, really narrow.

The flashlight had been smashed earlier when Luo Qingyue, in his beast-like state, pounced on it, so it was unusable now. The system didn't count the phone as a light source.

So the player needed to think of another way—what could provide light?

Bai Fuling opened his backpack to see what was inside.

A lighter... he'd looted it from some thugs at the very beginning, and it was unused so far.

Maybe the player could try lighting something on fire!

He continued browsing through the backpack, which also contained the small medical kit taken from Guan Jizhong's forest cabin earlier.

Clicking to open it, he found bandages and medical alcohol inside.

Bai Fuling pulled out the bandages, alcohol, and lighter.

He glanced through the backpack again; there were also items like a hoe and a wooden stick.

The traditional approach would probably be to wrap the bandages around items like the hoe or wooden stick, douse them in alcohol, and set them alight.

But doing so would turn the wooden stick, hoe, and similar items into disposable tools. They'd definitely break and become unusable afterward! And the burning time likely wouldn't last long.

So the player needed a bit of innovative thinking—what provides the most lasting light? Clothing effects!

If he could make clothing emit light, then he wouldn't have to worry about duration, because clothing effects weren't subject to wear and tear.

Bai Fuling had a brainstorm.

He clicked on the bandages, doused them in alcohol, and then wrapped them around the Angel Halo on his head.

Then, he used the lighter to set it on fire.

With a *whoosh*, bright flames erupted from Bai Fuling's head—the Angel Halo was on fire!!