The Sickroom Support Group

Four people took their seats in the room, pulling their chairs together in a circle.

This situation... why did it feel so familiar to Wen Nan?

Oh, right. This used to be part of his daily routine—the sickroom support group!

Wen Nan shifted into a comfortable position in his chair and looked at his three roommates, each sitting in a position stranger than the last. He took the initiative and asked, "You guys... how'd you get corrupted?"

In this game, "corrupted" referred to players who'd been turned into prey by female ghost bosses. Of course, the term didn't really fit Fatso, Glasses, and Sports Student. After all, they hadn't picked female ghost bosses at all, but neutral NPCs.

But who could've guessed that a neutral NPC could be so terrifying?

Sports Student, who was sitting across from Wen Nan, spoke first:

"I'm a sports student, and I maxed out my agility. I figured with my build and physique, I could at least hold my own in a game of ball against the guy I picked. He likes singing and dancing, so I thought he'd be terrible at basketball, right?

"But what happened? Sigh...

"I got pinned to the ground and thoroughly crushed for three whole hours!

"The scariest part was that my maxed-out agility trial expired in the last five minutes... I barely made it back in time."

Sports Student tugged at his tattered tracksuit. As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and tears brimmed in them, threatening to spill over at any moment.

Fatso glanced at Sports Student's ruined tracksuit and let out a long sigh. "That's nothing. Look on the bright side—you only got your clothes wrecked. At least that's better than me. My ass got wrecked."

Hearing that, Sports Student looked at Fatso's behind, taking a long, hard look. "You..."

Then, as if something had just occurred to him, Sports Student's face lit up with realization. "That pig-slaughtering scream from the teachers' office earlier... that was you?"

Fatso gave Sports Student a mournful look and wailed:

"My test paper only had nine points. I was terrified, so before I went to the office, I secretly changed it to sixty-nine with a red pen.

"I didn't even dare to change it to a high score. I just barely scraped together a passing grade. Who knew... the test was out of 150! Sixty-nine still wasn't enough to pass!

"I got so mad that I blurted out the truth... The homeroom teacher lost it on the spot..."

As he spoke, Fatso held his arms apart to demonstrate. "A cane this long! She put every last bit of strength into whacking my ass!

"I'd maxed out my defense, but it still hurt so much I kept twitching. I was counting on my fingers, wondering when it would finally end.

"I was so close—the last five minutes were all that remained. Who knew... who knew... my starter pack trial would expire!

"These neutral NPCs are even scarier than those fe... female classmates! If I'd known, I would've picked the school beauty! I'd rather be bitten to death by her than beaten to death by my homeroom teacher..."

As Fatso spoke, he burst into tears, and the dorm room once again echoed with the sound of a pig being slaughtered.

Meanwhile, Glasses seemed calm. He sat motionless in his chair, like a statue, looking perfectly composed.

But a closer look made it easy to see that his calm was only a facade. His vacant eyes were filled with deep despair, and his faintly trembling body revealed the terror lurking in his heart.

"I was so stupid. So stupid..."

Glasses's simple opening line immediately earned the solemn respect of the other three. In this misery contest, that one sentence had already won him the crown.

Under the others' curious and sympathetic gazes, Glasses forced his face into an expression that looked like he wanted to cry but couldn't, then continued:

"When that guy handed me a bar of soap and invited me to the bathhouse, I knew something bad was going to happen.

"I knew I couldn't escape it, but then I thought, I'd maxed out my strength. I had a body full of muscle. It was obvious I'd spent two years pumping iron at the gym to build it. With a physique like this, being on top... shouldn't be a problem, right?

"Who knew... in their circle, the better your physique, the flatter you end up on your back... Mm."

At that point, Glasses couldn't go on. He covered his mouth, a muffled sob escaping his throat.

Fatso patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Look on the bright side. Only your private parts suffered. My entire rear end got drenched."

Glasses gave Fatso a deeply aggrieved look. "Want to trade?"

Fatso immediately shook his head and decided to try a different way to comfort him. "You've suffered, but at least it's over now. No matter what, you two must've had a nice night together, right? So your mission score and target affection level must be pretty high, right? Unlike me. I've got no idea when I'll ever make progress with my targets."

Hearing that, Glasses began sobbing again. "I thought that after making such a sacrifice, I'd at least make him happy. Surely I'd get some progress with him, right? But... I threw it all away in the last five minutes.

"My starter trial expired, and I went back to normal. That guy took one look at me, called me a 'skinny dog,' and walked away with a disgusted look on his face... He just left!"

Fatso patted him again, hoping to offer a few more words of comfort, but found he had no idea what to say. His own ass still hurt, and he wasn't in the mood to say much more.

At last, all three of them looked at Wen Nan, hoping to find a little comfort in him. "Didn't you pick five targets at once? Anything you want to share with us?"

Wen Nan wanted to "fit in" too, but while the other three had been talking, he'd realized he couldn't get a word in.

Now, with their eager, expectant gazes fixed on him, Wen Nan cleared his throat and recounted his two run-ins.

When he finished, an eerie silence fell over the dorm room.

The other three stared at Wen Nan in disbelief.

"That's it?"

"That's it?"

"That's it?"

Wen Nan wanted to say that this was already the version he'd embellished for dramatic effect, but the other three wouldn't accept it.

"Yeah, right! You took on five people by yourself. How could it have gone that smoothly?"

"Did you use a Safety Bubble and spend the whole time hiding in some bathroom? You didn't even show up for your dates!"

"You can't make any progress with your targets that way! You won't even be able to complete the main quest!"

"Come on, man. They're about to tally the scores. You're still going to insist you're fine? Make up whatever you want now, but once the system tallies your scores, you'll be exposed!"

Wen Nan was a little confused. "But everything I told you was true."

The other three were about to gang up on him again when the countdown on the light screen overhead ended.

[Main quest scoring is now beginning]

[All contestants, please take your positions]