You Know a Lot, Huh?

"How did it go? What should we do next?"

Watching Wu Hua walk in from outside, Xu Qiang, who was half-reclining on the Sofa with his feet on the Coffee Table, turned his gaze toward him.

"The Logistics Team will handle the unconscious students and the public response. There's an eighty percent chance the official report will once again say the comas were caused by a Laboratory Gas Leak. They're very familiar with this sort of thing."

Skillfully lighting himself a cigarette, Wu Hua answered after exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"I'll write the report for this incident. There's no need to mention the other Players at the school. If it hadn't been for their intervention this time, we'd all be dead."

"Suit yourself. If we leave that out, I can get a little more of the reward anyway. I'm just a few Game Coins short of buying that thing."

Xu Qiang looked utterly unconcerned.

"Still, I'm not too optimistic about Wang Xuan. He'll be doing his Novice Quest in a few days, right? It'd be hilarious if he died in the Novice Quest and all the equipment the bureau gave him ended up lost."

"Qiangzi!!"

"Alright, alright, I said too much."

Curling his lips, Xu Qiang slowly raised both hands over his head.

"Without equipment and Skills, it's far too difficult for newbie players to survive a Novice Quest. Don't be fooled by those Walkthroughs claiming that careful enough players can clear them safely. The clear rate for Novice Quests and the books is only a pitiful forty percent. Are you sure Wang Xuan can handle it? Even with the equipment provided by the bureau, it'll be a struggle."

"We've done enough. The rest is up to him."

Taking a deep drag from his cigarette, Wu Hua's expression darkened slightly.

"Don't say things like that again. No matter what, he's our companion."

"Tch..."

Having made himself unwelcome, Xu Qiang lazily lay back down on the Sofa.

"Fine, fine, then I'll say something nice. Like hoping he runs into an incredibly strong Teammate during his Novice Quest, clings to their thigh, and gets a Perfect clear or something..."

Wu Hua: "..."

Although they had deliberately concealed that Player's existence in the report to avoid unnecessary trouble, the fact remained that the other party had saved them.

So before leaving the school after this mission, Wu Hua deliberately went to visit the other party at his Rental Apartment.

"Hm? You're here? Sit."

Apparently not at all surprised by his arrival, the other party let him in and casually pointed toward the Sofa.

He actually lived in such a shabby place?

Quietly marveling at the other party's low profile, Wu Hua sat on the Sofa and took the lead in speaking. Overall, he only had two or three things to say.

He thanked the other party for saving him, expressed his goodwill, and hoped to build a good relationship. Finally, Wu Hua even placed an anonymous bank card on the table.

"...No matter what, it's a fact that you saved us. There's one million in this card. Consider it a small token of my personal feelings. Please accept it."

"..."

Looking at the bank card on the table, Bai Zhi silently took a sip of tea.

After becoming a Player, money truly meant very little to Players. The forums were filled with posts offering high prices for Game Coins. The price of a single Game Coin had been driven all the way up to one thousand yuan, meaning one million yuan only amounted to one thousand Game Coins. Even then, there was demand but no supply; Game Coins on the market were perpetually out of stock.

Bai Zhi estimated that if he listed the two items in his Inventory at the Auction House, selling them for tens of billions would be effortless... unfortunately, they couldn't be traded.

Come to think of it, he had saved the man's life, so one million really wasn't much...

He had originally thought the man had come on behalf of the authorities to recruit him. He had even prepared what he would say to refuse. Yet from the moment the man entered, every word and action had far exceeded his expectations... so where had things gone wrong? When exactly had the man somehow imagined him to be a Big Shot?

—Lin Xiaoyi, who had just returned to her Dormitory, suddenly sneezed.

"What's wrong? Your brain hasn't been fried, has it?"

The moment Xia Wen entered the Dormitory, she anxiously pressed the back of her hand against Lin Xiaoyi's forehead.

"When I went out to buy medicine earlier, something big seemed to have happened over at the Teaching Building. Even the police came, and ambulances showed up blaring their sirens in the end. I heard there was some kind of chemical leak in the school laboratory. Oh, right, I also saw your one true love slowly walking into the shop."

"What did Bai Zhi go there for?"

Grabbing Xia Wen's hand as it messed with her forehead, Lin Xiaoyi's eyes immediately lit up at those final words.

"Wow, Doggy, you really have changed!! You didn't even care why I went out to buy medicine!!!"

Xia Wen immediately flew into a rage.

"I think your brain really has been fried. What's so good about Bai Zhi? One classmate after another was being loaded into ambulances, yet he leisurely returned to his Rental Apartment as if nothing had happened. And you've fallen for someone that cold-hearted!?"

"What do you know? There's plenty in this world that you don't know. Seeing is believing, hearing is doubting. Don't let all those rumors blind your wise eyes."

Letting go of Xia Wen's hand, Lin Xiaoyi gave a soft snort, then hummed a tune as she went to rummage through her wardrobe.

"I'll explain the specifics to you later. Anyway, I told you some of it before, even though you didn't believe me..."

"Wait, why are you changing clothes? Where are you going later?"

Blocking Lin Xiaoyi's way, Xia Wen looked intensely nervous, as though terrified that her Best Friend would be taken advantage of.

"It's simple. I've decided to treat Bai Zhi to lunch!!"

Clenching her fists, Lin Xiaoyi looked full of fighting spirit.

"Daring to love and hate, taking the initiative—that's my style. I'll definitely win Bai Zhi over!! He's my one true love!!"

"...I think you've really gone crazy."

Dropping onto the bed, Xia Wen's mouth twitched hard.

"Seriously, I strongly suggest that you see a psychologist. It'd be best to get a thorough examination at a major hospital, because I'm worried about you."

"Hm? Worried about what?"

Holding a white dress against herself, the Campus Belle turned around in slight confusion.

"Isn't this a common plot in those doujinshi?"

Solemnly holding up one finger before herself, Xia Wen wore a grave expression.

"The Protagonist pursues the Campus Belle desperately but fails, then one day he suddenly encounters a stroke of fortune and gains hypnosis. Without anyone noticing, he hypnotizes the Campus Belle and makes her fall madly in love with him, then in some secluded corner does this and that, makes her get on top and move by herself or something..."

A piece of clothing flew straight into her head.