Taking Control

[Wasn't the Archmage Staff Fragment in Nine Times a Night's hands? I just took a screenshot with him to commemorate it. I couldn't be wrong.]

[Noob? One-round elimination player?]

[As everyone knows, the Archmage Staff shattered into twelve pieces. That means there are twelve fragments in total, and the streamer only got one of them.]

[Right, twelve fragments, and each one has a different skill.]

[The one the streamer has now is "Soul of Replication." I know one of them is "King of Disguise," which lets you ignore the game's rules and become whatever identity you want, whether a player, an NPC, or a female ghost boss.]

[So this top student, Yu Shujun, might be some big shot who got the "King of Disguise" fragment, changed identities, became a game character, and entered this Trial Map?]

[Looks like it.]

[I heard the nine current legendary players each have one of those twelve fragments. The remaining three are unaccounted for. We just saw the streamer find one, so that leaves two. They're either hidden somewhere on the map or in the hands of mysterious players.]

[So Yu Shujun might also be one of those nine legendary players?]

[Holy crap, what kind of insane luck is this? He's looking at a beginner Trial Zone map and runs into two legendary players at once?]

[Is this going to be... a showdown at the summit?]

[I came to the right stream!]

[I'm settling in. I'm never leaving, even if they kill me.]

[Waiting for gods to clash.]

But Wen Nan clearly had no intention of giving the chat what it wanted. A fight was out of the question—he was here to fall in love, not indulge in M-S like that fatty.

If he could settle things with words, he definitely didn't want to throw hands.

"What exactly do you want?" Yu Shujun asked, having steadied herself.

"I want to see you show some sincerity," Wen Nan replied calmly.

Yu Shujun took a deep breath. "Your Main Quest 1 has already been settled. You must have seen that your affection rating with me is holding at 60%—no more, no less, just enough for you to pass. Isn't that sincere enough?"

Wen Nan smiled and shook his head. "Affection ratings can change at any moment. Sixty percent isn't enough. Besides, Qiqi's affection rating dropped last night. We haven't settled that score yet."

"What does Qiqi's affection rating dropping have to do with me?" Yu Shujun said. "I only told her the truth."

Wen Nan sighed. "Little bro, if you're going to deny responsibility like this, then there's nothing to discuss."

Yu Shujun lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before finally giving in. "Fine, I admit I was partly responsible. But her affection rating is still above 90%. You haven't really lost anything, have you?"

Wen Nan said nothing. He just looked at Yu Shujun in silence, giving her a look that said, You figure it out.

Yu Shujun softened her tone. "What kind of sincerity do you want?"

Wen Nan gave her a gentle smile. "We're all players. Meeting in the same Trial Map is fate, and I don't want to make things difficult for you.

"If no one messes with me, I won't mess with them.

"I chose five targets to pursue and accidentally picked you, the odd one out. I did cause you some trouble, but you can't really blame me for that. Since you chose to pretend to be a character, you should've known from the start that players might try to pursue you, right?

"But I'm not interested in you, and I never planned to pursue you. I'm sure you don't want me pursuing you either.

"So we'd better clear things up now and agree to a peaceful, friendly arrangement."

At that, Wen Nan paused and glanced at the person beside him.

Yu Shujun said nothing, but watched Wen Nan attentively, waiting for him to continue.

Wen Nan cleared his throat and went on. "I agree not to report your identity to the report center or interfere with what you do on this map. In return, you'll promise not to contact any of my other targets from now on, and to keep your affection rating with me above 99% until I clear this map."

"...99%?!" Yu Shujun raised her voice. "That's practically a perfect walkthrough!"

Wen Nan shrugged as if he didn't care. "Is it that hard? You managed to keep your own affection rating at exactly 60%. Changing it to 99% should be easy, right?"

Yu Shujun lowered her voice. "It's not a matter of how easy or difficult it is..."

"Then what is it?"

"Never mind," Yu Shujun said, thinking it over before giving in again. "I can agree to 99%, but you have to accept one extra condition."

"What condition?"

"Lend me your equipment slot until your last Main Quest is settled."

Wen Nan didn't understand. "My equipment slot? Aren't you a player? Don't you have your own?"

He had stuffed several thousand Money Bags into his Equipment Backup Slot before, and it had still shown less than 1% capacity used. Judging by the game's mechanics, players' Equipment Backup Slots had virtually no limit on the number of slots. It was practically impossible to fill one up.

So why borrow his equipment slot?

Yu Shujun shook her head. "I used equipment to change identities and become a game character. On this map, I've lost all player privileges. Characters don't have equipment slots. I can't take the hidden items I find here out of the map, so I need to borrow another player's equipment slot to carry them out."

That sounded reasonable, but...

"If you put the hidden items you find in my equipment slot, aren't you afraid I'll refuse to return them once we leave the map and keep them for myself?"

"I am."

Yu Shujun answered without hesitation. Then she unzipped her school uniform, pulled a roll of parchment from inside, and held it out to Wen Nan.

"So we'll use an item to sign this agreement. The item will enforce it, and any player who breaks the agreement will pay a very serious price."

Wen Nan's gaze fell on the parchment, which looked like it had been around for ages. A system prompt immediately rang in his mind.

9527: [A hidden item has been detected on this map—the Gentleman's Agreement Scroll.]

9527: [Gentleman's Agreement Scroll:

Any two players, NPCs, or game romance targets may sign an agreement. The two parties decide its terms and enter them onto the scroll.

If either party violates the agreement, the violator will be permanently barred from entering the map. All of the violator's skills, items, equipment, goods, and property will also belong to the other party.

The scroll binds the accounts of both parties. The agreement takes effect immediately and cannot be revoked or altered.

Please exercise caution when signing.]

After hearing the system's explanation, Wen Nan furrowed his brow and fell into thought.

[That item sounds... really powerful.]

[Why do I keep feeling like the top student is setting a trap?]

[It looks like the top student got taken in by the streamer, but maybe the streamer's actually walking right into the top student's trap, one step at a time?]

[Don't sign it.]

[Nine, wake up! The top student isn't some little lamb like Qiqi. She's a legendary big shot, a wolf in sheep's clothing. Be careful—if you mess with her, she'll eat you down to the bone!]