[Overseas Chinese Middle School 2] Everyone Had a Character to Play? Interpreting the Rules

What had happened behind Chen Han was that quite a few players in the rules horror game had also just transmigrated here.

Naturally, they were curious about their surroundings, so they began looking around for students who were fellow players.

They never expected their homeroom teacher, Teacher Li, to catch them, resulting in a savage beating.

The sudden turn of events shocked the livestream chat, too.

"That scared me to death. Is this a school or the mafia?"

"I can't take this. Who beats students like that?"

"This is a rules horror game. No kind of freak would be surprising here!"

"He's a player! Look at the view in the bottom left. A first-person view of getting beaten up."

"I can't even..."

The other players also turned to look at the player being beaten.

The player being beaten was named Li Shixin.

These players had initially been pretty brazen, not worried at all about being caught acting strangely.

Now, they reined themselves in considerably.

As for those who had been cautious to begin with, like Chen Han...

They became even more cautious, leaving nothing to chance.

It would have been difficult for anyone else to even realize he was a player.

Chen Han's eyes hadn't strayed an inch from his book, and he was reading with complete concentration.

Li Shixin was beaten until he stopped moving and lay helplessly on the floor.

He had even been beaten into a nosebleed, which smeared his entire face.

He looked utterly miserable.

Only then did their homeroom teacher, Teacher Li, finally stop.

Even so, Teacher Li still looked as though he hadn't had his fill.

He cursed at them viciously.

"Your parents sent you worthless trash to school to be good students."

"The college entrance exam is almost here, and you still won't take morning reading seriously."

"Today, I'm going to teach you worthless trash a lesson."

"From now on, anyone who dares slack off during morning reading will end up just like this!"

"Overseas Chinese Middle School doesn't keep freeloaders!"

His authoritative voice rang through the classroom, brooking no argument.

Not a single student dared respond.

Perhaps they were already used to scenes like this.

So they continued reading mechanically.

Like robots without feelings.

Quite a few players looked sympathetically at Li Shixin, who had collapsed on the floor in pain.

His mouth was now half open, letting out faint, broken groans of pain.

Since this instance had so many participants and hadn't given the players a chance to introduce themselves at the beginning...

Red lettering appeared above every player's head, displaying their actual names.

With that red lettering, the players could easily recognize one another.

Of course, aside from the players, the other people and supernatural entities in the instance couldn't see it.

As a result, the other players had all given themselves away to some degree.

Some players had even let out a startled cry.

Gu Xiao, for example.

Fortunately, everyone was doing their morning reading, so it went unnoticed.

Even so, Gu Xiao instantly felt the surrounding atmosphere turn strange.

The air pressure dropped considerably.

It was as though everyone nearby had heard Gu Xiao's startled cry.

Only, no one came forward to point it out.

Yet it felt as though everyone was watching Gu Xiao's every move.

The livestream chat was also buzzing with discussion.

"These players don't seem very competent. Chen Han's the only decent one."

"Exactly. Even when they deliberately restrain themselves, their reactions are still way too obvious."

"Chen Han's seriously amazing. The guy was getting beaten right behind him, closer to him than anyone else, but he didn't react at all."

"His nerves are incredible. I'd definitely have jumped."

"Looking forward to seeing what the streamer does next!"

In reality, Chen Han had simply been scared stiff.

It was as though their homeroom teacher, Teacher Li, had been yelling directly into his ear.

For the moment, all he could do was keep reading.

He didn't even dare breathe loudly.

Who would have thought his reaction was actually the standard response for a student at this school?

Before long, the bell rang.

All the students sat down in unison.

Their homeroom teacher, Teacher Li, remained at the lectern, cursing incessantly.

"A bunch of stupid pigs! Our class didn't even make the top three in this month's exam rankings!"

"You couldn't even solve such simple questions on yesterday's math quiz!"

"Come on, group leaders, hurry up and hand these out. Stop dawdling and wasting time."

This gave Chen Han time to study the rules.

The rules were more restrictive this time.

Four rules imposed absolute restrictions.

Rules 1, 2, 3, and 8 restricted the players as follows:

Talking during class was forbidden.

They must never enter the wrong classroom.

They must not let the supernatural entities discover they were players.

Leaving their seats before class ended was forbidden.

Chen Han fell into thought when he saw Rule 3.

What did it mean, don't let the supernatural entities discover you're a player?

Could this instance be different from the previous two, where you were assumed to be a player from the start?

It seemed they would have to keep their identities as players secret this time.

Two rules imposed conditional restrictions.

Rules 5 and 6 imposed the following conditional restrictions on the players:

If strange writing appeared in their books, they had to close their eyes immediately.

When a blue pen appeared in their deskmate's pencil case, they were forbidden from speaking to him.

Chen Han instinctively glanced at his deskmate's desk and found only a black pencil case, with its lid closed.

For now, he couldn't tell whether there was a blue pen inside.

As for the remaining two rules...

Chen Han was more inclined to view them as hints.

Rules 4 and 7 offered the players the following hints:

They had to be good students.

And they had to talk to their classmates more, as they had unexpected information to offer.

Be a good student?

Chen Han swallowed. That would be difficult for him.

After all, did being a good student mean simply being obedient, or did it require good grades?

If it meant getting good grades, then for him...

How would that be possible?

He had been out of high school for years and had long since forgotten everything he'd learned there.

If another pop quiz or some citywide assessment came up later, Chen Han was certain he would be done for.

Since the livestream viewers could see the rules displayed on every player's digital watch screen, they made a surprising discovery.

Everyone's Rule 4 was different.

For some, it was "be an idiot."

For some, it was "be an obedient lamb."

For some, it was "be an ordinary student who really wants good grades."

This got the livestream viewers talking.

"Why is everyone's fourth rule different?"

"I think it's because of the third rule. Since they can't let the supernatural entities discover they're players, they have to follow their original character settings and fit into this environment. Otherwise, the supernatural entities will find out!"

"Li Shixin, the guy who got beaten, has the character setting of a bad student. No wonder he got beaten so badly!"

"I feel like, out of everyone here, big shot Chen Han's character setting fits this instance best. A good student."

"The good student character setting will be really popular in this instance!"