Complicating a Simple Problem

Why would Yu Shujun do such a thing?

Was she blatantly targeting Wen Nan? What benefit could she possibly gain from landing him in trouble?

Taking a step back, one could argue that by orchestrating these two "shura fields," Yu Shujun was at least centering her logic around Wen Nan.

However, the behavioral logic of Qiqi, Wu Yuwei, Little Chili, and Aunt Mei all leaned toward drawing closer to Wen Nan, creating as many opportunities as possible to interact with him, which aligned far better with the purpose of this "Please Keep the Appointment" mission.

Yet, Yu Shujun's actions were skewed toward creating obstacles for him.

Causing trouble for Wen Nan would not help the two of them finish the mission any faster; on the contrary, it would only make the task more thorny.

Therefore, for some reason, Yu Shujun did not want Wen Nan to complete the mission so smoothly... But why?

Of course, it was not uncommon for some romance targets to have an affinity level of zero, or even negative, toward the player at the start of a mission.

Yu Shujun's character profile was that of a "cold and calculating top student." With such a personality, it was normal for her to be indifferent at first.

It wasn't strange that her initial affinity toward Wen Nan was low, especially since he had lost the buff of his maxed-out charm stat, leading her to feel resistant toward this appointment mission.

But the problem was...

Yu Shujun's act of egging on Wu Yuwei and helping Little Chili and Aunt Mei enter the school had all occurred before she had even met Wen Nan.

In other words, even when Wen Nan still possessed his maxed-out charm stat, and long before the two of them had even met, Yu Shujun had already been dedicated to making trouble for him.

Was there some deep-seated grudge or hatred?

It couldn't be just because Wen Nan didn't arrive for the appointment on time, could it? That seemed unlikely. Besides, Yu Shujun had given that letter to Wu Yuwei before the tutoring session she had scheduled with Wen Nan; at that time, she shouldn't have known he would be late.

Of course, taking a step back, it wasn't unheard of in romance simulation games for one or two characters to be difficult to conquer, or for them to harbor negative emotions or even hostility toward the protagonist at the start of the story.

After all, conquering a seemingly insurmountable enemy was far more satisfying than winning over a childhood friend whose ending was already written in the script.

However, Wen Nan felt that Yu Shujun's situation clearly did not belong to the former category.

One reason was that this was merely a novice trial area; Wen Nan felt there shouldn't be romance targets that difficult to conquer, otherwise, the game would be far too unfriendly to beginners.

Moreover, Yu Shujun's difficulty rating was only one and a half stars. No matter how one looked at it, she shouldn't be a target naturally hostile toward him.

Of course, these were just Wen Nan's subjective judgments and could not serve as direct evidence.

As for direct evidence...

Wen Nan: "[9527]"

9527: "[I am here.]"

Wen Nan: "[Just now, Yu Shujun admitted she is Wu Yuwei's best friend. Did you hear that?]"

9527: "[Yes, confirmed. A best-friend relationship exists between Yu Shujun and Wu Yuwei.]"

Wen Nan: "[In other words, in the background info you gave me about Wu Yuwei, where it said, 'Fortunately, her best friend found the letter at the back door of the classroom and reminded Xiao Wei in time,' that best friend was Yu Shujun?]"

9527: "[Yes, congratulations! You have successfully discovered a blind spot! You have received an additional map exploration reward: 10 gold coins!]"

Wen Nan: "..."

Ten gold coins? Was it trying to brush off a beggar?

And if he hadn't asked, was it planning to withhold those 10 coins as well?

Wen Nan couldn't be bothered to argue with the system and quickly returned to the main point: "[9527, pull up Yu Shujun's background profile again.]"

9527: "[The following is Yu Shujun's background profile—

Background: Yu Shujun has been a top student since childhood. Whether in major exams or minor quizzes, her grades have always ranked first in the grade, never once falling to second.

She is completely uninterested in anything other than her studies. Aside from attending classes, taking exams, completing assignments, and participating in Olympiad competitions, her high school life has had no other activities.

She is not only immune to romance but also immune to friendship.

She has always walked alone, with no lovers, no friends, and no social relationships that would distract her.

She does not participate in extracurricular activities, nor does she attend class gatherings or mixers...]"

Wen Nan: "[Alright, stop. Right there.]"

Wen Nan: "[9527, are you certain that the background info you just gave me is Yu Shujun's current, true situation?]"

9527: "[Confirmed.]"

Wen Nan: "[In other words, Yu Shujun has always walked alone, with no lovers, no friends, and no social relationships that would distract her?]"

9527: "[Yes.]"

Wen Nan: "[Then tell me, why does she have a best friend?]"

9527: "..."

9527: "[A 'best friend' usually refers to an intimate relationship between two female friends who have a close bond; it is a form of friendship...]"

Wen Nan: "..."

This was the rogue nature of AI.

When it couldn't answer a question, it would start providing irrelevant dictionary definitions...

But Wen Nan didn't care anymore.

He had already confirmed his judgment through the system—Yu Shujun was problematic.

Either Yu Shujun's identity information had been tampered with as a character to be conquered within the trial map, and the background introduction the system presented to Wen Nan now was false.

Or, the information provided by the system truly belonged to the character Yu Shujun, but... the person sitting beside Wen Nan right now was not Yu Shujun.

Of these two possibilities, Wen Nan leaned more toward the latter.

Thinking of this, just as Wen Nan was about to call out to the system in his mind again, the movement of the person beside him interrupted his train of thought.

Yu Shujun raised her wrist, glanced at her watch, and said with a cold face, "Time is up. Let's end today's tutoring here."

With that, she gathered the test papers on the table, picked up her backpack, and turned to walk out.

"Wait a moment!" Wen Nan called out to her from behind.

Yu Shujun turned her head back. "If you have any questions, save them for the next tutoring session."

"But I still haven't figured out the previous question."

Yu Shujun's brows furrowed slightly. "Ye Jiu, why must you make such a simple multiple-choice question so complicated?"

Wen Nan: ...

He suspected she was taking a dig at him, but he had no evidence.

The moment Yu Shujun left the classroom, the system's voice rang out in Wen Nan's mind.

9527: [Congratulations! You have successfully completed Main Quest 1. Please hurry back to the trial zone respawn point—your dormitory—to settle the quest.]

Wen Nan did not set off immediately, but instead asked, [9527, how many players are participating in this novice trial zone map in total?]