Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Bai Fuling ultimately did not ignite the NPC (literally), because Luo Qingyue pleaded urgently: "Stop, young friend, this uniform cost me money—"

Upon hearing the possibility of having to pay compensation, Bai Fuling immediately stopped dead and put away his lighter.

Although the player was enthusiastically trying to help illuminate the NPC, turning him into a torch, he had no intention of getting fined over it.

"We have rules at the library where I work," Luo Qingyue exhaled and added, "We have to wear this uniformly made work uniform. If it's damaged, we have to replace it immediately."

Alright. Bai Fuling thought. It makes sense that work uniforms can't be modified, whether adding special effects or other upgrades; it violates the uniform standard.

Good thing the NPC reminded the player, otherwise he almost fell for the game system's big scheme to scam players!

Bai Fuling put away his lighter and asked, "Then how will you see?"

"I don't—I don't need one." Luo Qingyue shook his head. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Actually, it was just that moment when everything went dark, it felt a bit black around. Now that I've adjusted, it feels okay."

He lifted his face, his eyes glinting with pinpricks of light in the dark. That didn't seem to be a reflection from the fire ring above Bai Fuling's head.

"I can see clearly," Luo Qingyue said, "I don't need lighting."

Huh, being able to see without a light source, what kind of NPC-cheating mechanic is this? Bai Fuling was very surprised. So there's something even more overpowered than the player!

But he noticed the glowing eyes on his character portrait, paused, and suddenly remembered something.

—Luo Qingyue had recently displayed a bestial, mutated form; he wasn't entirely an ordinary NPC but a character with hidden stats.

Based on previous speculation, he seemed to be an experimental subject of the Kate Injection. The only one to survive and return to normal—though unstable—Subject 022.

Currently, Bai Fuling knew very little about the effects of the Kate Injection. According to an old newspaper with the headline "#Innovative Technology Kate Injection, Strengthens Body, Revitalizes Energy! Hopes to Assist in Treating More Bedridden Patients in the Future#", he guessed this injection should at least have strength-enhancing effects.

This could also explain why Luo Qingyue, who appeared cultured and polite, possessed such great strength.

But why Luo Qingyue became an experimental subject, and how much he himself knew about it, remained a secret for the player to explore.

As the only semi-normal survivor of the second-stage beast-to-human transformation, Luo Qingyue was naturally a key focus for the experimenters; the whistle might be the link.

Currently, it seemed the Liao family's underground laboratory was, for some reason, still persisting in its research.

Human experimentation is illegal even in RPG games, right? Since it was already confirmed a failure and went bankrupt, why is it still being conducted secretly? Why continue, and who is providing the funding?

Bai Fuling's inner detective game enthusiast was fired up; he wished he could immediately equip himself with the "truth is always one" theme music, open a door behind him, and stretch out his arm to shout.

But naturally, everything wouldn't happen that quickly; the player still needed to proceed step by step.

Bai Fuling's thoughts returned to the present.

Considering the characteristics of cats and other similar animals, Luo Qingyue should be able to see in the dark naturally. As he himself said, he indeed didn't need a special lighting tool.

Thinking this, Bai Fuling completely abandoned the plan of "igniting the NPC to make him a beam of light in the night." He gave a brisk nod, finalizing the plan to go their separate ways.

"Alright. Then let's start exploring freely—remember the numbers of the forks we pass, meet back here in half an hour, or text each other." Bai Fuling typed out the instructions.

Luo Qingyue nodded, and the two separated at the path ahead.

Bai Fuling controlled his character to move forward, the angelic fire ring above his head illuminating the area around the character. This wasn't Bai Fuling's first time navigating underground, but the environment here was much better than before.

Although he knew there were many forks, Bai Fuling didn't expect there to be this many.

He never knew when another small path would appear beside him, its end unseen in the darkness. Twisting and turning, the surroundings barely changed, just like an underground maze.

If someone fell into such a place in reality, most people would definitely have a panic attack.

But Bai Fuling was a player. For players, aside from missing a sign-in by half a second, accidentally dismantling (discarding) important items, and losing the 50/50 pity on the guaranteed banner, nothing could make a player panic.

It's just a maze; the player just walks through it—according to RPG game logic, the end of a maze definitely hides a great treasure!

Because of this anticipation, Bai Fuling didn't find it boring. He sat at his computer desk, one hand controlling the character's movement on the screen, the other holding a pen to record the number markers he saw in a notebook.

Single digits, hundreds, tens... The numbers at each fork were different, seemingly without any particular pattern, and there were even repeated numbers!

The moment he saw a repeated number, Bai Fuling was stunned, then had a somewhat ominous premonition.

He clicked on the phone in his backpack and chose to open it.

After the player ventured deeper, the signal bar had turned into a cross—there was no signal here. Meaning Bai Fuling couldn't contact Luo Qingyue.

In the party interface, Luo Qingyue's name was still there, but a question mark was displayed next to his status.

Alright. Bai Fuling thought. In this situation, it seems contacting the teammate is impossible. Even the party status can't locate the teammate's position.

This place was built like this; it wasn't meant for people inside to get out, was it? Bai Fuling complained inwardly. Such interwoven, intricate, patternless paths didn't seem like normal passageways.

...Wait a minute. Bai Fuling suddenly thought. Looking at it this way, was his initial line of thinking wrong from the start?

If they hadn't exploited a bug but had fallen unconscious due to gas, then NPCs would have come to take them away at a later time.

But the path the NPCs used to take them away might not be forward into this darkness. Perhaps there was an unnoticed hidden door next to the hall that sank earlier? And that might be the real path.

No wonder they hadn't encountered a single person along the way. Because there were no researchers here to begin with!

Bai Fuling stood at the fork of yet another path, lost in thought.

If his speculation was correct, then the question arose... How to get out next?

The player avoided jumping off a building, avoided kidnapping, avoided an explosion; was he now going to have to reload a save file because he "wandered deep into the lotus flowers, intoxicated and lost the way back"? Could this be the punishment for exploiting a bug?!

Great, now directly stuck in an unknown maze due to a bug. This is worse than having a game character half-stuck in the ground or a building, because here there's no "Unstuck" option.

Should he try setting a fire here? Judge the airflow direction based on the smoke's movement to find the final exit.

Just as Bai Fuling was pondering this, he suddenly heard an unusual, dull thud in the ambient sound—as if something heavy had fallen to the ground.

Oh, something's happening? Bai Fuling's eyes lit up, his heart filled with wild joy. Great, something's happening!!

This means the player isn't trapped in this unknown dark maze!!

Bai Fuling quickly moved his character towards the direction of the earlier thud, the angel fire ring above his head illuminating the passage.

Not far away, a body lay on the ground.

The person was half-curled up, seemingly injured. He was holding his abdomen with one hand, where a spreading red bloodstain was visible.

Sensing someone approaching, a red exclamation mark popped up above the person's head. With extreme speed, he rolled and sprang up, used the wall to support himself, and held a gun in one hand, pointing it directly at the player.

—A gun?

Bai Fuling widened his eyes, looking at the pixelated gun opposite him, his own eyes gleaming brightly.

Wow, it's actually a gun! This is a super useful, rare, long-range weapon that packs a serious punch.

Most importantly, the gun's model is really cool. A player fighting while holding a gun and a player fighting while wielding a hoe are worlds apart in style.

Facing the gun barrel pointed at him, Bai Fuling's choice was to once again take out a healing book from his backpack—this time, he pulled out "The Runaway Little Wife of the [□□] Tentacle."

He believed that the number of bullets the opponent had definitely couldn't compare to the number of books he had hoarded in his backpack. If they really had to fight, it would just be a matter of who could outlast the other!

However, after getting a clear look at Bai Fuling, the NPC opposite him sprouted a question mark, then an ellipsis above his head before finally returning to calm. Although he didn't lower his gun, his name also didn't change to the hostile red-name status.

He said, "...Your... head... What are you doing here?"

He seemed to be distracted by the angelic halo of fire above the player's head, but he restrained himself and brought the question back to the main plot.

Bai Fuling entered his response: "The reason I'm here is because I want to leave this place."

New NPC: ?

Bai Fuling: "Long story short, I'm lost."

The new NPC stared at him for a moment: "...How could you possibly get lost and end up here?"

"I got lost from the main story and wound up outside of it," Bai Fuling said. "But seeing you, I know there must be a way out."

Even though the player glitched out, since a new story-related interactive character has appeared, it means there can be new quests to explore! This isn't a dead end.

Upon hearing this, the NPC in front of him let out a short laugh. Still leaning against the wall, he put away his gun and slid down slightly: "No. Unfortunately, I'm lost too, you could say."

This NPC wore a Tit Mask that covered most of his face. He had a collar around his neck, and his voice was digitally altered—he seemed to be intentionally hiding his identity.

The character portrait in the dialogue box depicted the curved lips not covered by the half-mask, somewhat resembling a fox.

Bai Fuling stared at the character portrait for a few more seconds. As a player, he remembered characters with portraits better. For some reason, he felt like he had seen similar fox-like lips somewhere before... Where was it?

"I've seen you before," Bai Fuling stated directly.

"..." The Tit Mask NPC glanced at him sideways. "Trying to get chummy won't work, you know." He shrugged. "I *said* I'm just as lost as you are. And in my current condition—I can't help you either."

He coughed twice, a few red pixels sputtering out, and the health bar above his head dropped slightly.

*His health bar is showing?* Bai Fuling looked over.

Generally, characters don't display health bars outside of combat. If a health bar appears, it must be for a special reason—probably because they need rescuing.

"I get it. Don't worry, I'll help you!" Bai Fuling entered a rather enthusiastic line and stepped forward.

The Tit Mask NPC seemed very on edge.

As Bai Fuling approached, a yellow exclamation mark popped up above his head, but due to his physical condition, he couldn't move.

That initial series of quick reactions—rolling from the ground and pushing himself up—seemed to be the limit of his remaining strength.

"I have extensive rescue experience. I've saved a drowning Unlucky Bear, a car-accident Unlucky Bear, and an exploding hamburger," Bai Fuling said. "I can definitely heal you."

The Tit Mask NPC was silent for a few beats.

The first two might be referring to people... but what does 'exploding hamburger' mean? What kind of rescue is that???

But his injuries were getting worse by the second. He could only clutch his bleeding abdomen, breathing heavily.

Bai Fuling glanced down at the healing book in his hand and decided to try if force-feeding the NPC could restore his health.

So, holding the thin book, he shoved it into the NPC's mouth while he was gasping for air.

Tit Mask NPC: "!?"

He nearly choked.

Bai Fuling saw the health bar above the other's head drop.

Oh no. Bai Fuling's heart sank. So you can't restore an NPC's health bar! It seems this is a special item exclusive to players.

He had to regretfully abandon the option of feeding the NPC a few tentacle BL novels to restore his health.

As for why it's tentacle BL novels and not tentacle romance novels—because Bai Fuling knew this was a boys' love game! All the details in it must be very fitting.

He gave up on shoving books and asked, "Sorry, it seems you and this thing are a bit incompatible. What kind of help do you need?"

The Tit Mask NPC caught his breath. Although he didn't understand what "incompatible" meant, he felt it was better not to try to understand.

He paused for a moment before cautiously replying, "I need something to stop the bleeding—bandages, a jacket, anything. As long as it's cloth, I need to wrap it."

Bandages... Originally, the small medkit had bandages, but the player wrapped them around the halo on his head and set them on fire.

Oh, wait. Since it was combined and wrapped as a decoration, it should be possible to disassemble it!

Thinking this, Bai Fuling clicked on the clothing, clicked on the Angel Halo, and reached out to separate the combined bandage from it.

However, the alcohol and flames couldn't be separated a second time. So now, what the player held in his hand was a still-burning bandage.

Seeing the burning bandage in the player's hand, the Tit Mask NPC had a slender question mark appear above his head.

...What on earth is this? No, this way of burning and existing defies the laws of physics and chemistry!!

"Combining bandage, alcohol disinfection, and high-temperature treatment into one, perfect one-stop treatment," Bai Fuling introduced confidently, holding the burning bandage forward. "Come on, I'll wrap it for you."

"No." The Tit Mask NPC mustered new energy. As Bai Fuling approached with the burning bandage, he actually managed to move his feet, leaving the wall he had been leaning against and taking several large steps back.

"Don't be afraid, I'm sincerely trying to help you! It looks scary, but it won't burn you because it's just a decoration," Bai Fuling quickly chased after him a few steps. "Don't rush off, this thing can even glow. A free glowing belt!"

But the Tit Mask NPC simply wouldn't listen, just kept moving away. Even though the health bar above his head was steadily decreasing.

Finally, Bai Fuling couldn't take it anymore—mainly because if it kept dropping like this, the new NPC in front of him might just gg!

The player had finally encountered a way out of this glitch; of course he couldn't just watch the other's health bar drain away.

He finally decided to grab the NPC, but the Tit Mask NPC was a head taller than Bai Fuling. Even injured, he wasn't so easily pinned down.

In the struggle, Bai Fuling's arm bumped against the other's mask. The already damaged, no-longer-secure mask was knocked off by the raised hand—

*Clatter.*

The mask fell to the ground, revealing the full face.

The person's first reaction was to lower his head to hide, but then he realized Bai Fuling was a head shorter, so lowering his head actually meant facing him directly.

He said nothing.

Bai Fuling looked at the dialogue box that popped up on the screen. The character portrait this time was clearly visible—it did look familiar.

Short hair, deep-set eyes, fine, mixed-race features, paired with lips with an upward curve. Bai Fuling recognized him: it was that NPC from before who passed by and asked him to pretend to be his boyfriend, and even "gave" him that flashy red car!

That person at the bar entrance before seemed to call him "Olbert"?

"Alright. Alright. Little angel." The mixed-race youth whose mask had been knocked off let out a sigh, and his attitude changed accordingly.

He was no longer the somewhat cold, somewhat distant person from before. Instead, he curved his eyes, "Fancy meeting you here."