Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Hearing Bai Fuling's words, Mei Bing froze for a few seconds. In the middle of the raging storm, the scene before him felt like a dream.

"...School?" Mei Bing muttered the word.

"Don't you get it? You can't cheap out on education, no matter how broke you are," Bai Fuling said. "Also, you gotta pay for work, that's just how it is. We agreed you'd take care of the black pigs and yellow ducks, and I already gave you that 100 bucks!"

"Oh, oh, so that's what this is." Mei Bing forced a smile, finally getting it after the last bit. He thought it was actually about making him study! Turns out it was about getting the money back.

He just didn't think the guy would go this far for cash.

He figured the other guy would at most badmouth him a few times behind his back, or go a step further and get someone to corner him on the street for a few days—Mei Bing had been through all that and had a full escape plan ready.

But he never thought the guy would climb through his window that same day, like a vengeful ghost busting in!

Mei Bing's eyes drooped, and he spread his hands out. "To you, it's just a lousy hundred bucks, chump change. Why bother chasing me all the way here and hurting yourself—look, I live in a dump, I really don't have any money."

"I don't have money, either," Bai Fuling replied immediately. "Haven't you seen me dumpster diving every day?"

Taken on their own, those two statements were totally honest.

But, of course, for a player, dumpster diving had nothing to do with being rich or poor—it was just because free stuff was too good to pass up, plus you got the thrill of a mystery blind box.

Nobody can say no to free daily loot and mystery gacha!

Hearing Bai Fuling's reply, Mei Bing stopped mid-gesture. That answer caught him off guard.

"Gotta admit, there's some good stuff in the trash. Our school's trash cans have a crazy loot drop rate," Bai Fuling remarked, getting into it. "In just one morning, I pulled out three big loaves of bread, and every single one was a red bean-filled long loaf!"

Mei Bing almost asked, "How do you know they're filled?" before realizing the answer—he must've eaten them to know.

"..." Mei Bing went quiet. He was broke, sure, but he hadn't stooped to eating out of the trash yet.

For a second, Mei Bing wondered: Did he accidentally run into another broke soul? Was there even a poor kid in Class A at Pelland Academy???

...But whatever! Mei Bing looked down. Either way, he wasn't paying that money back. As long as he had no morals, nothing could hold him back.

Mei Bing nodded, kept his fake smile, and said casually, "Tough life, huh. Looks like we're both miserable wretches... Why should the poor make things hard for each other? How about this, kind-hearted and beautiful Little Sir, cut me some slack this once? I'll be forever grateful and pray for you later."

A few nice words to smooth things out. This whole "vengeful ghost debt-collecting" thing should end here, Mei Bing thought. Anyone who could find this neighborhood should know what kind of people live here.

Bai Fuling tilted his head, thought for a couple seconds, and said first, "First, show me the blessing, let's see what it does."

—In the game, NPC blessings sometimes give players buffs. Bai Fuling hadn't seen any blessing buff in this game yet, so when the guy mentioned it, he wanted to test it.

Mei Bing was stunned again, not expecting that kind of reply... What did "see what it does" mean?

But he only hesitated half a second before naturally putting one fist to his chest and going along with it: "Sure. I bless you, kind-hearted and beautiful Little Sir. I wish you health and good luck, I wish you overnight riches and tons of romantic luck."

He rattled off a string of words, finishing smoothly in one breath. The phrase "overnight riches" especially rolled off his tongue like he'd said it a thousand times.

After the dialogue box popped up, Bai Fuling opened his character stats panel and checked it. But he didn't see any special blessing buff displayed.

Well, it turned out this NPC's blessing had no real effect. So the player decisively replied, "Forget it, you'd better just go back to school and work."

"...Didn't you just ask me to bless you?"

"But I didn't say that was the end of it—and besides, I'm not glowing," Bai Fuling said seriously. "That means your blessing is fake, not sincere enough. Look, I don't even have a single layer of white light on me!"

Mei Bing: ?

What does "blessings glow" mean??

And what does sincerity have to do with it! No blessing would make someone glow... Well, to be precise, normal people don't glow at all!

But seeing the earnest look on the guy's face, Mei Bing didn't argue further. He switched excuses, drooping his brows and sighing dramatically: "Alright, alright. To be honest, I have no choice."

He spoke half-truthfully, "I got in and stayed this long on a bit of luck. Now that luck's run out, it's time for someone like me, who was never on the same level as the others, to leave."

"Exams are coming up soon. Rather than getting points docked and kicked out with nothing after failing, it's better to have some self-awareness and quit first. At least I can get a little subsidy that way."

The topic finally circled back to what Bai Fuling had been thinking about earlier.

The player had been wondering what to do after dragging Mei Bing back. Catching the NPC was easy; the hard part was keeping him there smoothly.

Pelland Academy had clear scoring standards for student evaluations, and system NPCs couldn't exploit bugs like players could, so getting booted by the rules would be a real hassle.

For now, the biggest factor affecting Mei Bing's stay was his grades. The player decided to focus on boosting the NPC's performance—

After all, in games, those bullied, lonely, gloomy characters were always geniuses in things like medicine, tech, or marksmanship!

Bai Fuling believed this guy was definitely a genius. Because clichés were classics, and no named NPC came without a story.

But Bai Fuling didn't say that out loud. He stepped forward and grabbed Mei Bing's hand: "The exams haven't even started yet. How do you know you won't get everything right or guess correctly? At least test your luck before leaving."

"Sorry, but my luck's always been terrible." Mei Bing shrugged with a fake smile, pulling his hand away from Bai Fuling's. "You can tell from my birth."

"Then change your fate through studying!" Bai Fuling typed out the classic motivational quote in the dialogue box, then followed up, "Compared to combat, talent, and other stats, studying is the easiest to grind."

"First, set a small goal. You don't have to study all 24 hours—just 18 hours a day is fine. Leave 5 hours for rest and 1 hour to feed the pigs and ducks. Pretty generous, right?"

He planned, "That's settled. I'll supervise you, and you start studying now! I brought back your withdrawal papers—if you need any study books or materials, I can help you find them."

The player now knew the school library's location and the town library's too. He could stuff any book into his backpack and bring it out. In short, the player could fully support the NPC's studying; the NPC just had to sit down and grind stats.

A question mark appeared over Mei Bing's head, followed by an ellipsis. He touched the dark birthmark on his cheek with one hand: "Didn't I say I have no hope of passing? If this is your way of collecting the debt, I admit it's very unique..."

Bai Fuling directly typed in the dialogue box: "One sentence: are you studying or not?"

Before Mei Bing could answer, he continued.

"If you don't study, I'll—" Bai Fuling reviewed all the info he'd gathered, recalling what the Class A students had said earlier—this guy raised caterpillars.

He said, "I'll turn your caterpillars into super delicious, fragrant, high-protein, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside fried bugs."

Mei Bing: ...Why add so many adjectives in front of bugs!!!

That long string of adjectives made his stomach growl. He'd only eaten one meal in two days. In the empty room, a clear "gurgle" sound echoed.

Bai Fuling glanced at Mei Bing, rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out a handful of grass: "Hungry? Eat up—if you don't study, you only get grass. Study well, and I'll take you dumpster diving."

Mei Bing: "..."

He'd thought earlier that this guy couldn't possibly eat bugs—since he raised non-edible ones, caterpillars that turned into butterflies.

But now, seeing the guy eating grass, he realized those delicious descriptions were serious!

He never thought he'd meet someone poorer than himself. Poor and stubborn.

Plum Cake now believed the guy in front of him would actually do what he said, so he had no choice but to nod and agree, though reluctantly.

There was no other choice—the butterfly larvae and cocoons he raised were his life, his hope for wealth and success, the ladder to climb out of his social class and hit the big time. He was only half a step away from success.

There was no way he was letting this guy fry them, even if they could actually turn into crazy delicious, super fragrant, high-protein, crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside fried bugs!

"I'll study." Plum Cake let out a sigh. "I'll do it."

Under Bai Fuling's watchful eye, Plum Cake picked up the only textbook left in the study.

He didn't know if studying would even help, but he sat at the desk and opened it.

...

Seeing that the NPC had finally caved, Bai Fuling was satisfied and set up an auto-play script.

He set it so the character would stay here until midnight, then head back to the house Zhong Xiaye marked on the map to rest.

He'd been playing for a while, so it was time for him to crash too. Bai Fuling put down his phone, flopped onto the bed, rolled over, and hugged his octopus plushie.

In the game.

The Black-haired Youth sat in the chair until midnight, then stood up on time, left the same way he came, and jumped out the window while Plum Cake stared with wide eyes.

He hugged the walls as he walked and soon arrived at a villa.

A figure was leaning against the wall by the entrance.

Zhong Xiaye, seeing Bai Fuling coming back from a distance, finally relaxed. He waved to the butler and guards standing nearby, all neatly dressed, and said, "It's fine, everyone can go rest. No need to go searching for him."

But as he got closer, he noticed a gash on Bai Fuling's arm, like it was made by a sharp blade!

"...What's going on?! How did this happen?" Zhong Xiaye instinctively grabbed hold of Bai Fuling.

But the Black-haired Youth didn't answer or stop, just kept walking inside. Even when grabbed, he just kept walking in place.

"You... if you don't want to talk, then forget it." Zhong Xiaye felt the guy was acting like he was throwing a tantrum. He let go, thinking: "If he doesn't want to talk, fine." I'll have someone look into it tomorrow and find out.

For safety's sake, he had to know every little detail about the Antelope Youth.

Bai Fuling, now free, walked straight ahead and went inside.

Zhong Xiaye had finally waited for Bai Fuling to come back, his nerves relaxing, and sleepiness hit him late.

Time to sleep. Just sleep.

Zhong Xiaye stepped into the villa too and headed upstairs.

This villa was under his name, and he had been living in it recently. He'd promised to give it to Bai Fuling but hadn't gotten around to packing up yet, so his personal belongings still filled the master bedroom.

So the room for Bai Fuling tonight was a guest room the butler had set up.

He'd deal with it slowly tomorrow. For now, it was better to stay here and keep an eye on things.

Zhong Xiaye thought about the next day's plans and how to investigate tonight's events. As he pondered, he walked up the spiral staircase to the master bedroom on the second floor.

By now, Zhong Xiaye was dead tired. Overcome with drowsiness, he lay down, pulled the covers, and closed his eyes.

Sleep.

...

...Wait.

Why was the blanket bulging?

Someone!!!

In an instant, Zhong Xiaye was wide awake. He shot up and yanked the blanket off.

—Under the blanket, the familiar figure lay quietly curled up on the bed. The Black-haired Youth was lying there with his eyes closed, his hands tucked under the pillow.

Zhong Xiaye: "!!!"

Why the hell was Little Bai sleeping in his bed?!

Author's Note:

Bai Fuling: Auto-sleep mode automatically targets the master bedroom (?)