Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Bai Fuling expertly tied the rope and slid down it. This way, he could descend without taking damage, and it was the shortest distance between two points, getting him downstairs as fast as possible.

Speaking of which, besides tying ropes and flying, was there an easier way to jump off a building? One that was fast, stable, and minimized health loss.

As he guided his character down, Bai Fuling started thinking.

He suddenly remembered a little story beat from earlier.

…Right, when he jumped off the big bridge into the river to save Guan Jizhong, he hadn’t lost any health! Back then, that drop from the bridge to the water was also a few stories high.

Remembering that, the player's eyes lit up.

So, losing health from jumping off a building depended on hitting the ground; if he landed in water, he wouldn’t lose health!

Hmm, Bai Fuling thought. Would dumping some water downstairs before jumping work? Was that too lazy?

He remembered falling through a manhole into a sewer, where there was water on the ground, but the player still took a ton of damage. So, it wasn’t just about having water—it needed some depth to it. Like, putting a bucket full of water there might do the trick.

Bai Fuling continued thinking. What if, right before landing, the player pulled a full water bucket from his backpack and stuck it under his feet? Would that count as landing in water or on ground? Would it still cost health? In a way, this was another new way to exploit bugs!

He'd note this down as another safe jumping option for now and test it out another day.

But this, like the two options the player already had, needed prep. It might be faster, though, since falling always beats climbing or flying.

If he wanted a permanent fix… maybe he could dig some ditches around the school buildings and fill 'em with water.

Since the school was the player's home base, this would let him jump off any building whenever he wanted—just open the window and go!

Bai Fuling's eyes lit up.

But future plans were for later. For now, he had something more important to do—rescuing Plum Cake from the storage closet.

“Buzzzz—”

The workers, holding chainsaws, were busy trimming branches and clearing dead trees. One worker in a hard hat had just sawed down a big tree with a coworker when he spotted a figure next to him.

“Hey! This is a construction site—there's caution tape up! How'd you get in?!” The worker was startled, shut off the chainsaw for safety, and warned sternly, “It's dangerous here. Don't wander in here. Get out now!”

Bai Fuling saw a bunch of exclamation marks pop up over the workers' heads and paused for a second.

He'd originally planned to just grab a chainsaw to bust the door open, but the NPCs looked alert.

If the player tried to take it, the workers might turn red and trigger combat mode—and it'd be a team fight, since there was more than one worker here.

Bai Fuling wasn't scared of fighting, even though he hadn't really done combat mode much. He had plenty of defensive gear and weapons. But the main issue wasn't whether he could win.

This game didn't have time-stop. Whether in dialogue or combat, time kept moving. And what Bai Fuling needed most was time! Finding Plum Cake and getting him back to class was a timed quest that had to be completed before 8 o’clock.

He'd have to change weapons. If the chainsaw was a no-go, then—

Bai Fuling's eyes landed on the fallen tree on the ground.

Could he at least snag this big pixel block? The player could use the tree to smash the door open!

These dead trees didn't belong to the workers or their control, so picking up a pixel block on the ground probably wouldn't start combat mode. These items should be outside the NPCs' programming.

Decided, Bai Fuling immediately selected the thick, sawed-down dead tree on the ground, meaning to take it.

He did select it. But his sprint turned into a slow, turtle-like crawl—or rather, he barely budged.

The tree was way too heavy! The player couldn't drag it.

Several debuff warnings for slow movement popped up on the screen.

The worker's exclamation mark was joined by a question mark: “What are you doing?! Get out of here!”

The player wanted to leave too! But the tree was too big and heavy. Bai Fuling racked his brain.

He could first store the dead tree in his backpack, then take it out at the storage room door.

But even if he brought it to the storage room, it wouldn’t help, because his ultimate goal was to ram the door with it, and if he couldn’t lift it, it was useless.

This was different from an iron door. A normal person could lift an iron door, so the player had been able to put one in the handheld slot at the mental hospital. But a whole fallen tree was too heavy for one person to lift, so it couldn’t go in the handheld slot.

If everything could be a handheld item, the player could just select [Villa] as a handheld and painlessly move the villa to school!

So… what else could he do? He’d have to find a way to exploit a bug.

Bai Fuling quickly recalled his previous bug exploits.

A follower pet probably wouldn’t work, since the dead tree was inanimate and couldn’t follow. Another method was clothing—right, he could use that!

When it came to clothing, the player’s first thought was the back accessory, but he quickly dismissed it. Putting it on his back, whether vertically or horizontally, would be inconvenient for ramming the door—he’d have to crawl or turn sideways.

Where had he placed things before? Oh, he’d once balanced a burger on his head.

Bai Fuling stared at the fallen tree on the ground for two or three seconds, then made up his mind.

The nearby worker saw the black-haired youth suddenly crouch down, lean forward, and press his head reverently against the tree trunk. Or more accurately, he pressed the halo on his head against the trunk.

The worker looked puzzled. What was he doing?

The person pressed against it, then stood up the next second—and the tree on the ground was lifted up with him!

Worker: ???

They stared in shock as the small figure before them balanced a century-old dead tree on his head, the horizontal log steady on top of his… angel halo.

What the hell? What was that halo?! How was it not crushed under that weight, and still sticking straight up?!

More importantly, how was this student lifting a whole tree?! These trees would normally need forklifts and trucks to move. This wasn’t just a tech issue—it wasn’t even a human issue anymore!

For a moment, they forgot what to say. Witnessing this scene, no one remembered to shout, “Hey, student, don’t take the wood!” Not screaming and running away was already a sign of high-quality workers.

Bai Fuling was satisfied to see the character on screen lift the tree. Now the player had become a tree-man! Or a hammer-man. The tree on his head looked a bit like a hammer, and its function for ramming the door was also hammer-like.

Alright, no time to waste. Let’s go.

Bai Fuling nodded in satisfaction, controlling the character to run cheerfully toward the teaching building, bouncing as he went.

The angel halo, with each jump, was pressed down by the tree and then rose again, but it stubbornly stayed on top, maintaining its presence.

Bai Fuling, tree on head, ran off into the distance.

The workers on site were still staring after him.

Worker: “…Did we cut down the wrong tree? Offended a tree spirit?”

Never mind whether tree spirits exist in this world—though this conclusion sounds fantastical, reality looks even more surreal, for real!

=

The storage room on the first floor was stuck in a corner, piled high with random teaching junk. It had no windows, only an iron door.

Why the hell does a storage room need a vault-like iron door? No one knew. In this school, everything was reasonable. If it exists, it's reasonable.

Plum Cake found a comfy spot to lean back, not wasting energy on trying to open the door.

You couldn't open it from the inside. The room was on the edge, on the first floor's outer side. Banging and yelling for help would probably get no response—and in fact, Pelland Academy's students weren't exactly friendly; honestly, you could call them cold.

Under the crushing weight of the points-based elimination system, when given the choice between helping someone after a weird noise and going to class, these students would pick class every time.

Even if the school gave bonus points for being a hero, not everyone was willing to gamble on getting those points. Besides, they were all each other's competition.

This wasn't the first time Plum Cake got picked on. In fact, the second someone said the teacher wanted him to grab stuff from the storage room for the next class, he knew it was a lie.

It was a laughably bad excuse. Those people had their hatred practically written all over their faces, and they didn't give a damn if Plum Cake agreed. If this trick didn't work, they had plenty of other ways to mess with him.

So Plum Cake just went to the storage room without a fight. Compared to other nasty pranks, getting locked up and missing class was no biggie.

He actually wanted to use this as a way out—what was the point of fighting it? Once his points were completely drained and he got kicked out, that raincoat ghost would stop coming after him.

Besides, maybe there was something in the storage room worth taking. Plum Cake never passed up a chance to make a quick buck.

Since he was gonna get expelled sooner or later, he might as well grab as much as he could before he left.

When the storage room door slammed shut with a bang, Plum Cake let out a knowing chuckle. He knew it would happen—locked in here till someone found him. At worst, it'd be evening; there were patrols every night.

He bent down and kept picking through the stuff on the floor like nothing was wrong.

Too bad there were no windows, though. Picking through stuff in the dark was a pain and hard on the eyes, Plum Cake thought.

He couldn't take this stuff out in the open, so Plum Cake stuffed them into his shirt.

His clothes were already old, patched up and washed a million times, but he'd sewn extra pockets inside—for times like this.

After stashing everything, Plum Cake sat down off to the side. He thought: This butterfly breeding thing had to work out. If it did, and it got picked for an exhibition, he'd be loaded!

Once he was rich, he'd get out of that filthy, stinking dump. He'd buy a big house and eat every good thing he could. Then he'd toss all those bugs... Of course, he didn't even like bugs! But this was his only shot at climbing the social ladder.

He clutched the notebook his grandpa had left behind, slowly finishing the new butterfly species his grandpa never got to complete. It was because of those research notes that he got a special admission into Pelland Academy.

Back then, Plum Cake thought this was another step up in life. Later, he realized this closed-off, rigid school was just another solid cage.

And the way people treated him... Plum Cake clicked his tongue. He didn't care what others thought, man! But messing with his money-making path was a whole different story.

I mean, what was wrong with him? Loving money was just human nature. What did they mean by "playing both sides"? He just chose the most profitable way. So what if he had a little less morality? He hadn't killed or set fires—he wasn't a heinous criminal.

Sitting in the dim storage room, Plum Cake bit his nails. Those of them born abandoned had to carve their own path.

Crouching in the pitch-black, enclosed space, Plum Cake's mind quickly raced through his wealth-building fantasies before going blank. The main reason was hunger.

How long had it been since he last ate? He had also expended too much energy and focus. If he was locked in here for another day... thinking about it, coming here wasn't the smartest choice.

Plum Cake frowned. He had only thought about grabbing stuff from the storage room, forgetting there was no food here! Damn it.

He sprawled out, minimizing any unnecessary energy expenditure. Lying on his side on the floor, he clutched the inner pocket stuffed with items.

...It's okay. It's okay. He could hold on. Once he got out, he'd buy something to eat. In the future, when he was rich, he'd eat whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted!

Despite this, the gnawing hunger in his stomach stirred a certain fear. As a child, Plum Cake had seen many kids starve to death. His adoptive grandfather wasn't wealthy either, and later, for the butterfly experiments, he had spent every last penny.

Grandfather died of illness. But Plum Cake guessed he also starved to death. When he passed, he was skin and bones.

Plum Cake didn't want to die, especially not from starvation. He wanted to get rich, so he could endure hardship, but he didn't want to starve to death before making his fortune. At least not from hunger!

Perhaps due to the combined effects of hunger and the dark, confined space, Plum Cake felt a rare surge of fear, followed by resentment.

He hated many things, but most of all, he hated poverty, hated the rich... hated that damn butterfly. It was all that big pie's fault—he had spent all his money on butterfly feed instead of food, and now he was starving to death! He also hated this school, those people... and himself.

When people are hungry, their reactions slow down, so it took Plum Cake a few seconds to faintly hear the commotion outside, growing closer.

There were shouts, screams, the thud of footsteps, and the clatter of things falling.

"Ahh! There's a tree running sideways!!"

"Tree demon, it's a tree demon!"

"...Isn't that that guy? That guy!"

Plum Cake didn't care what was happening outside. Not until the sound seemed right at his ear.

"Thump! Thump! Thump! Dwoong~!"

A series of loud bangs echoed, snapping Plum Cake out of his daze. He looked up in shock at the source of the noise—the door. Someone was banging on the door!?

...Were they looking for him? Was someone actually coming to save him?

The storage room door was iron, and the banging made a huge noise. The door was sturdy, but it couldn't withstand repeated impacts. Plum Cake saw it starting to dent and warp.

Then—"Boom!"

The door was smashed open!

The iron door slammed heavily into the wall, even bouncing back a bit. Harsh sunlight streamed in from outside. Plum Cake struggled to sit up, raising a hand to shield his eyes. Through the gaps in his fingers, the first thing he saw... was a half-length tree trunk suspended in midair, poking inside.

Plum Cake: ?

Then the trunk continued to push in, shaking off countless dry, brown bark fragments. Plum Cake watched in disbelief as a horizontal tree shoved its way in.

...What the hell?! What is this?!

The tree stopped just before it was about to hit Plum Cake's face. Then he saw a figure.

"Great, I found you!" A cheerful, familiar voice rang out. "You really are here!"

—It was the transfer student!?

Bai Fuling stood at the door, pleased to have completed this small task.

He had carried the tree into the teaching building, only to find the corridor too narrow to use the tree to ram the door directly—it was too cramped here!

The player first tried the clipping trick, but all it did was make the wall thud loudly and trigger a string of exclamation marks from the NPCs in the hallway, with no other results.

Luckily, the storage room door faced a wide window. So Bai Fuling decisively used an axe to smash the glass and frame—now the wood could finally turn and knock against the storage room door back and forth!

With Plum Cake here, Bai Fuling was relieved. Now he just had to bring this guy back to class.

Bai Fuling happily moved his character forward, momentarily forgetting he was still carrying the tree. The stump end directly smacked into Plum Cake's face.

Plum Cake keeled over flat on the ground.

Bai Fuling: !

Ahhh, the player seriously didn't mean to do that, but why's this NPC such a glass cannon?!

Bai Fuling was stunned for a moment. He quickly moved the tree off his head accessory, tossing it to the ground with a thud, then stepped up in a couple strides and reached out.

First, obviously, he tried to shove it in his backpack.

Finding that he couldn't, Bai Fuling let out a clear sigh of relief. Sweet, the NPC's not a corpse—he can still get up and feed the pigs!

But then Bai Fuling noticed Plum Cake's health bar was super low. How was it this low?

After adding Plum Cake to the party, he saw the NPC's status had "mild concussion" and "extreme hunger."

The player totally ignored the first one and zeroed in on the second.

Hungry? Lucky for him, the player had fished out some eight-treasure congee from the trash this morning.

Bai Fuling pulled the eight-treasure congee from his backpack and targeted Plum Cake—

The character on screen smashed the can over the NPC's head.

"[Plum Cake] HP -10"

Bai Fuling: Huh? Why didn't it just digest and turn into an attack?!

Is it because of the packaging? When the player selected it for direct consumption, it worked instantly—no need to open anything! Cans, plates, whatever—it all got chugged in one go.

Now the NPC's already low health bar was even more screwed.

Bai Fuling was starting to panic a little. It wasn't just about making it to class anymore; he had to save this guy first. Otherwise, by the time he carried him halfway, the NPC might end up in his backpack—as a corpse.

Could he still open the can and pour the congee into the NPC's mouth? Could he just use some stat or trait to save him?!

Bai Fuling put both hands on Plum Cake's chest. The player had racked up so much Angel progress—surely he could heal him again, right? And this was just healing, not a resurrection, so it should be easier than last time.

System, hurry up and react—save the player's pig farmer! Preferably get rid of the concussion too, so it doesn't mess with the NPC's learning.

On screen, a few drops of black liquid dripped from the Angel Halo above the character's head, landing on the NPC's lips. The hands Bai Fuling had pressed against Plum Cake's chest gave off a faint, glowing light.

"..." Plum Cake felt like his consciousness was drifting. At first, he felt cold, his senses fading, but then warmth slowly returned, and the pain hit him late.

His forehead ached like he'd been hit, but his knotted stomach had relaxed. Plum Cake opened his eyes and saw a handsome face up close, with a bright angel halo hovering above the person's head.

A slight tickle brushed his cheek, like something had lightly grazed it. Plum Cake shifted his eyes and caught a glimpse of a few pure white feathers drifting down.

...Feathers?

Before Plum Cake could react, the person in front of him suddenly scooped him up: "You're awake? Sweet, let's get back to class!"

Plum Cake's brain started working again, but real slow.

The transfer student...? Was it really him? He'd come to find him?!

This was the first time anyone had ever carried him. The slender young man held him, the position a bit awkward, but his hands were rock steady.

Still, Plum Cake's natural insecurity and distrust made him want to grab onto something. His hands flailed a bit, and behind the transfer student's back, he seemed to catch something for a moment—

Warm, soft, covered in downy feathers—what the hell was that? Plum Cake's eyes widened. But the feeling only lasted a second, then vanished. Plum Cake grasped at nothing.

Bai Fuling didn't notice any of that at all. He carried Plum Cake out of the storage room, controlling the character to rush upstairs in a flurry—finally bursting into the classroom just in time, with a minute to spare!

The player should get an S-rank score for parkour!

Bai Fuling set Plum Cake down in his seat. The surrounding classmates were all stunned, with exclamation marks popping up over their heads.

The player had finished this little task and turned to leave, planning to do something else. But after thinking for two seconds, he stopped and added a few more words.

Bai Fuling pointed at the slumped Plum Cake and typed in the dialogue box: "He's my person. Don't bother him anymore."

The player meant that no one should disturb the pig farmer's studies! Otherwise, if he got expelled, he'd have to grab a random NPC to do his work.

Bai Fuling casually said that line, and the exclamation marks over the surrounding NPCs' heads grew even more intense.

Plum Cake lifted his head.

The class bell rang right on cue. Bai Fuling said "Hello, teacher" in Class F as a daily routine, then skillfully jumped out the window, heading to the school gate to see if Guan Jizhong had delivered the clothes for his "sister"—he remembered the other had said he'd send them early today?

The player couldn't wait to try on the new clothes.

Bai Fuling flew away from the window with a spinning flourish, leaving the classroom full of silent students. Their minds were still replaying the transfer student's just-spoken words—what kind of statement was that?!

...But regardless, they all understood: it was the transfer student's protection of Plum Cake. The bullies nearby lowered their heads.

Plum Cake sat in his seat, his head hanging down. The classmates glanced at him a few times but eventually turned their attention back to the blackboard. The teacher had already started the lesson.

Only when the surrounding gazes had all withdrawn did Plum Cake slowly open his tightly clenched hand—inside were a few pure white feathers.

Just now, had he accidentally grabbed a wing?

That person had wings? ...What was that, an angel?

Angel. The thought that instinctively popped into Plum Cake's mind was: This is a very valuable piece of information.

How dare he? How could he reveal his true self to me? Plum Cake curled his lips and narrowed his eyes, finding it absurdly funny inside. An angel had come to save him!

An angel shouldn't trust a poor man, nor save one! A truly poor person, desperate to get rich, has no morals! He was destined for hell.

Benevolence is a mistake. Of course.

In the end, Plum Cake clenched the feathers tightly.