novellk Chapter 242 - 239 -
Chapter 242 - 239 -
Chapter 242: Chapter 239 - "I Was Saving Her[System Time December 1st, 10:00 AM]
...
Su Ming’an opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.
It was the morning of the first day after the instance reset.
He had checked the first and second floors in the night, besides himself and Mo Yan, there were no other players left alive.
In this instance, there remained only the two of them as players... and ten NPCs.
Shadow, after leading away the points of light, didn’t die. Su Ming’an had him hide in the cupboard the entire time to avoid breaking any strange rules.
The megaphone outside continued to broadcast its summoning voice. He went out and walked towards the classroom bathed in the morning sun. After taking his seat, he saw Xia Luoyang under the cover of a white exterior.
Out of thirty seats, eighteen were now empty.
The process was the same as before; Xia Luoyang had them copy down the rules and discipline of White Sand Paradise.
Su Ming’an tested Xia Luoyang; the Ruler’s Skill could no longer be activated. It was a one-time use skill within an instance, and remained so even after the instance reset.
But fortunately, the buff that Xia Luoyang had previously given him was still in effect, and he was still unaffected by these odd texts. The clues he had collected also still lay quietly in the clue bar.
Without the chatter of other players, the classroom seemed extremely quiet.
As Su Ming’an copied down the text, the barrage happily rolled by:
[Hey, have you guys heard? The top ten servers are going to conduct a census.]
[A census? Here?]
[I thought it was absurd when I heard it too, but since the United Group has spoken, the person in charge of the statistics must be confident.]
[What’s there to check? The elderly have all turned middle-aged; age doesn’t reflect reality anymore.]
[Maybe they’re checking for original identities on Zhai Xing? By the way, have you noticed that many of the famous big shots from Zhai Xing are silent here...]
[Just entered the livestream and see you guys are chatting again. Aren’t you watching the instance?]
[What? Isn’t this the world chat area?]
[Doesn’t anyone care about Ming’an bro...]
[Does he need caring for? I feel like even if this instance resets to day fifteen, he won’t have a problem.]
[Indeed, so reliable. No heart-racing like when watching other top-ranked players, just like a retirement livestream.]
[On the forums, there’s a bunch of people digging into the Number One Player’s background. Someone has traced his mother’s real identity.]
[Number One Player’s mother seems to have been a mental patient, kept in a mental hospital before.]
[...Does anyone know his father’s identity? I seem to recall seeing someone say he was a special police officer...]
[...]
Su Ming’an closed his eyes irritably.
From the moment he killed all the players except Mo Yan, the sanity value in the top left corner of his vision began to behave oddly.
Like falling into a state of unstable equilibrium, rising and falling, it churned like boiling water, but for now, it hadn’t brought any substantial effect on him.
He quickly finished copying the rules and discipline, and then waited for class to end.
This time, Xia Luoyang didn’t find any "naughty children"; he expressed genuine satisfaction towards them.
...Because all the naughty children were already dead.
This time, Su Ming’an also didn’t see any rules about "Doctors" and "Students".
Possibly because most of the players had already died, this rule did not appear again.
He followed White Sand Paradise’s time management system until the next day.
The Flax teacher with her pots and jars entered slowly from the door.
As usual, she had them copy down the development history of White Sand Paradise and then called upon a few people.
...Everything was the same as before.
Only, this time, no Player would suddenly make a move, pulling everyone into a boss battle.
Su Ming’an patiently completed all this, then raised his head.
He saw Mo Yan, sitting in her seat, appearing somewhat restless.
Mo Yan was different from him.
He had managed to hold on until now because of his high Mentality Points.
But as for Mo Yan... she was merely enduring by sheer willpower.
Su Ming’an watched as Mo Yan barely finished copying history.
The pale-faced Mo Yan smiled weakly at him, trying to assure him not to worry.
After taking back the papers, Flax brought out her bottles and jars.
"This is the Potion responsible for ’healing’ you all," Flax said with a smile, "Tailored for each person, it will have the perfect effect. Therefore, everyone must try."
Following Flax’s words, Su Ming’an clearly saw the change of expression on the other Students’ faces.
Fear, apprehension... similar emotions surfaced on their faces.
The NPC Students might not really be NPCs.
They might be subject to certain rules, having to follow them, acting differently from Players. But they do not know that they are NPCs.
Or rather, these people, might actually be living humans.
Constrained by rules, with their memories erased, unaware that they are in an instance world, the living humans.
They too would feel fear, they too would feel pain, their emotions would be just like those of normal people, like Hui Shuhang and Dan Shuang from the beginning.
The feeling they gave him was no different from interacting with other Players—real and vivid, with their own unique souls.
Strangely shaped Potions were placed in front of each person. Su Ming’an looked at the Potion in front of him, emitting blue bubbles, and fell into hesitation.
He wanted to first see the reactions of others.
"...Um, Teacher."
A girl with a black ponytail raised her hand.
She looked skinny and small, like she hadn’t even reached high school age, the oversized hospital gown on her revealing a pair of thin arms.
Her arms were full of scars.
Flax turned around, her smile unchanged.
"Teacher, can I... can I not take it..."
"Do you want to undergo electroshock therapy?" Flax asked her with a smile.
As if frightened with a jolt, the girl immediately withdrew her hand. She looked down at the Potion on the table, biting her lips.
Flax slowly walked over to her, as if making sure to watch her drink it.
With great hesitation, the girl reached out, as though mustering immense courage, and drank down the medicine.
The azure Potion trickled into her mouth, bit by bit.
Then, Su Ming’an saw a glint of tearful light swirling in her eyes.
Suddenly she set down the Potion, covering her mouth, as tears uncontrollably fell, dropping onto the back of her hand.
"I... I was wrong," she said with tears, crying like an abandoned child.
"Teacher, I was wrong... I really was..."
"What did you do wrong?" Flax asked gently.
"I shouldn’t... I shouldn’t have had a premature relationship with a male Student—I shouldn’t have liked him. I should have focused on studying, not these things beyond my studies. I... I shouldn’t have had feelings like love. I’m too superficial now; I really am not worthy..."
After drinking the Potion, as if her heart had opened in an instant, the girl wept, with her sobbing filling the entire classroom:
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have liked him, I should have waited until I got into university before I had the right to like someone, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have neglected my studies for love..."
As she spoke, tears fell like beads.
After her, other students also drank the potion, and they began wiping away tears one after another, filling the classroom with a sorrowful atmosphere.
"Teacher, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have been addicted to the internet, even running away from home to play games..."
"Teacher, I’m sorry! On the battlefield that day, I shouldn’t have run away... Even if I was forcefully conscripted as a child soldier, I should have gone, I should have contributed to this land..."
"I shouldn’t have talked about jumping off a building just because I’m scared of exams, using public resources, causing my parents to apologize for me..."
"I was wrong... I shouldn’t have entertained the thought of running away, even if my husband beat and scolded me, it was deserved. I indeed didn’t listen to him, didn’t do the housework properly, didn’t take good care of the children..."
"I shouldn’t have forced my children to support me, they have their own families too! I’m just a lousy old man, why should I trouble them... I should just find a mat, roll myself up in it, why waste our children’s food..."
The classroom was filled with cries.
These students, not only young people and children, included middle-aged women and even the elderly. But even the old men, at this moment, cried their hearts out, as if they had found a new meaning in life.
They wept, bowing continuously, slapping their own faces, some even knelt down, banging their foreheads on the ground, as if only in this way could they express their remorse.
The bottle of azure potion, like a miracle cure for all diseases, made everyone start confessing their sins in unison after drinking it. Like criminals who had undergone a thorough soul-
Her hand was still pressing on Dong Xue’s head, blood pooling on the lectern and gradually spreading out.
"I’m just doing the same thing this world has done," Flax stared at him. "If I let Number Twenty-Nine just go out like this, her actions will be much more ludicrous than anything I’ve done. I am saving her.
—Number Thirty, you’ve also had experiences similar to Number Twenty-Nine, don’t you yearn for this kind of treatment as well?"