The moon disappeared, the rain came so hard that not a single light could be seen in the night sky.
It seldom rains on the Mermaid Coast, but the climate is humid, and the thick, black tides seem to transport endless water vapor between heaven and earth. In the eyes of old fishermen, rain on the coast is a bad omen.
Yaerlin was late to return, and Song Yan had a slight cough when he came back. In order to prevent attracting monsters from the dormitory building, he prepared to turn into a mirror in advance.
Song Yan explained the reason to Wen Shi, saying that Yaerlin went to persuade Teacher Ruan to rebel.
"Persuade?" In Wen Shi's eyes, the credibility of this word was as low as the sudden drop in temperature.
However, his attention was soon attracted by the lake mentioned by Song Yan. In the evening, when Wen Shi went to the comprehensive building to pick up books, Teacher Ruan was innocently angry about the principal's decision to fill the lake, which led to him almost drowning in the office.
"Apart from water plants, is there anything else in the lake?"
Song Yan shook his head: "That lake is very strange. At first glance, it looks just the size of an ordinary lake, but the area behind the lake is very wide, giving the illusion of being boundless."
He described it accurately: "It's like entering another dimension."
Wen Shi raised his eyebrows. It sounded like a hidden small map.
Song Yan got back to the point: "King, then Yan Nu began to transform."
Wen Shi, who had the least right to speak, taught him, "Don't talk so immaturely."
Song Yan opened the attribute panel. He never doubted Wen Shi's ability. He believed that Wang had his own way to get the mirror to Teacher Ruan.
Although it was also a transformation, the points he consumed were only one hundred and sixty of Wen Shi's. The whole process was not gorgeous at all, and there was not even a special effect of a flash of white light. In the blink of an eye, Song Yan was gone, and a retro mirror appeared on the ground.
“So cheap.”
After witnessing Wen Shi's transformation process, Jian Qingrong expressed his true opinions as an audience.
The special effects are cheap and the goods are good.
The upgraded [Philosophical Mirror] has shed its dirty and dusty state. No adjective in the game is redundant. There is a description of [can't put it down] in the introduction column. This mirror comes with irresistible power.
Wen Shi bent down to pick it up and truly felt the uniqueness contained in it.
The mirror surface looks clear and comfortable. Under a small lantern, there is occasionally an illusion of shimmering light on the surface.
It happened that Ji Yuanzhi came back after deleting the surveillance footage and found that two people were missing from the dormitory. He immediately figured out the whole situation.
Although Wen Shi had introduced Song Yan's abilities before the team went into the dungeon in order to convince him to bring one more person, Ji Yuanzhi was still somewhat visually shocked when he saw the mirror with his own eyes.
"Not bad." Ji Yuanzhi gave a brief evaluation.
The workmanship is simple and elegant, with a bronze frame wrapped around the edge of the mirror. There is no excessive embellishment as a whole, as if it came out of an ancient castle, with a strong sense of history.
Wen Shi placed the mirror on the table and nodded with great satisfaction: "The instructor will like it."
He has already figured out what to do tomorrow.
It was getting late, and after everyone had gone to bed, Wen Shi did not fall asleep directly. Instead, he went to check the rewards issued by the game.
The game’s rewards for each special side quest are quite generous, and with some anticipation, Wen Shi opened his backpack.
[Broken Tail: A broken tail of the fox fairy. It can bring good luck to teammates after installation.
Instructions: When the fox fairy fulfills a human's wish, it always takes away one thing, and the same is true for the person being blessed. In five minutes, they are the darlings of the world, and in five minutes, they are the orphans of the world.]
"..." Wen Shi was silent for a moment: "How long will this orphan buff last?"
The reminder tone answered him: "Fifteen minutes."
Wen Shi closed his eyes. Triple the price
The game is definitely the world's biggest profiteer. It was clearly the boy who tore the tails apart. The boy tore off eight tails in total. After the game recycled them as a reward, it only gave one to Wen Shi.
“Middlemen are terrible.”
The most painful thing is that he has no way to join and can only watch the game and make a lot of money.
Wen Shi was so angry about the special reward that he didn't sleep well the whole night.
In the early morning, he saw Yarlin standing on the balcony. His tall body exuded a hint of melancholy, and the place where he was seemed to have some light.
Yaerlin used his mental power to control the rain, making it stop in mid-air, as if time had stopped.
Wen Shi watched this scene in silence, remembering that except for A Sang who clearly stated that he had not encountered any difficulties, the rest of the family members seemed to have their own predicaments.
"Now that you are so powerful, do you still have any worries?"
He lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
After a long time, listening to the sound of rain, he remembered that his real soul also had troubles. His real soul was trapped in memories and couldn't get out. The strong-willed count struggled with mental illness all his life, and the host was still determined to stay in Frank Hospital for his career... Compared with this, his own cause of restoring the country did not seem too difficult.
Wen Shi fell asleep unknowingly, and in a daze, he seemed to have someone cover him with a blanket.
The rain fell all night long and there was no sign of stopping the next morning.
As a class representative, Wen Shi did not need to create special encounters. During the break, a senior student came to the classroom and said that Teacher Ruan asked him to take some time to go to the office.
When the class started again, Lily was explaining the dance moves on the stage with great enthusiasm. She liked to demonstrate them herself, and every move was graceful and elegant, but Wen Shi always felt that he was stretching too much. The demonstration made him feel like he was looking at an anatomical diagram in a biology book.
Ji Yuanzhi suddenly said, "One of her class representatives didn't come today."
Wen Shi nodded, players would not miss classes casually, in this case, most of the time, the person is gone.
Ji Yuanzhi seemed to be very concerned about this matter: "I'll go ask."
After saying that, he went out for a while on the pretext of going to the restroom, and when he came back he naturally sat in another seat. Ji Yuanzhi had a very good memory and he clearly remembered who the class representative's roommates were.
The roommate was not generous enough to selflessly share information. Just as he was about to say something perfunctory, Ji Yuanzhi took out the contract prop and said, "I have some information that Mr. Ruan's class representative has. We can exchange it."
The roommate rolled his eyes, and after both parties promised not to lie, he said, "He went to help Teacher Lily deliver something to the principal last night, and he never came back. We used props to keep in touch before he left. I heard him say that the principal's residence was hiding some shocking secret, and then there was the sound of the door being pushed open. After a burst of noise, I couldn't hear anything."
When a player dies, the props that are still in use will automatically become invalid and will eventually be recycled by the game. This is much safer than ordinary communication tools.
Ji Yuanzhi saw the other party's intention, and he wanted to lure him to the principal's dormitory to take a look, but this information was somewhat useful, so he offered the same exchange: "Don't eat raw food, the mental pollution effect is quite serious."
Then he said, "King Asa appeared in the library yesterday."
My roommate opened his mouth wide and exclaimed, “Ah!”
What is King Asa
"It is said that he is the mortal enemy of the Mermaid King."
The bell rang for the end of get out of class. Ji Yuanzhi finished speaking seriously, reached out to the edge of his sleeve, and crushed a button.
The roommate's face changed, because that was the eavesdropping device he had just secretly installed.
The uniforms for boys at Pearl College are formal, and most people would not notice the decorative buttons on the sleeves of their outerwear. This trick works every time. He had a good plan, tricking the other party into going to the principal's dormitory, and then he would get the information through the eavesdropping device. His roommate did the same thing last night, and using props to keep in touch was a completely beautified statement.
Ji Yuanzhi did not expose the wiretapping when it was pretended, but waited until now, just to wait for the request: "Do one more thing, and we will be clear of the wiretapping."
"What's up?"
The player's eyes flickered. He also had the support of a big guild, so it would be best if the matter could be written off at one stroke. But if the matter was too big, then forget it.
"Someone will definitely come to ask you about the same thing soon. You just need to shift the focus to another clue..." Ji Yuanzhi's eyes flashed, "Tell the person who comes that waking up the Mermaid King in advance is the key to breaking the situation."
The roommate had not come across any information related to the Mermaid King, and at first glance, he actually thought the clue he mentioned was very reliable.
"This is an important piece of information." In order to make the chess piece work harder, Ji Yuanzhi said calmly: "You can use this to make a lot of money from the other party."
The greater the cost, the more convinced the buyer will be that it is correct.
Ji Yuanzhi was too lazy to even waste his skills to decipher the identity of the person behind the scenes who was plotting against Wen Shi. People who like to hide behind others and make trouble have one thing in common: they are cautious.
This caution needs enough information to support it, so they will definitely come to find out what happened to the missing class representative. Using these people to wake up the Mermaid King early saves time and effort. The only trouble is that those who have done something bad once will definitely find a way to divert the blame again.
Ji Yuanzhi was not worried about these. He just hoped that Jian Qingrong, who insisted on waking up the merman king early even though he knew what would happen, would not cause too much trouble.
After two classes, the broadcast notified students that they could return to the dormitory. The tradition of Mingzhu College is that if it rains heavily, all classes for the day will be ended early before 12:00 in the morning.
Everyone was heading out. Wen Shi passed by Ji Yuanzhi and said, "I'm going to give Teacher Ruan a mirror. Jian Qingrong needs to look after my eldest brother. Can you please bring me some food?"
Ji Yuanzhi took off the frame and pinched his brows: "Go ahead."
At this moment, he had the same idea as Wen Shi before: no one is worry-free.
Seeing him rubbing his brows, Wen Shi thought he was worried about the mission, so he took two steps back: "Don't worry, although it's an S-level copy, but..."
"You will take action, I know."
Wen Shi nodded and walked out of the classroom calmly.
The heavy rain was beating down on the ground. Wen Shi held an umbrella and hurried towards the comprehensive building.
Halfway through the journey, he heard a player in front of him complaining to his companions: "Damn, I finally understand the importance of following the right mentor. Lily is definitely not an easy person to deal with. I used the [King Card Box] last night to complete the task until today."
NPCs cannot hear the game content, and unless it is particularly urgent, players will not avoid others when discussing on the road.
Wen Shi followed closely behind. The other party didn't say anything important the whole time, but repeatedly complained about the difficulty of the game.
When he was about to pass a teaching building, he was stopped by a chubby player: "Do you want to loan points? Brother, the daily interest rate is 3%, and the maximum loan amount is 2,000 points. If you are willing to pay 5%, you can borrow 3,000 points. I promise you the props."
Wen Shi had a complicated expression: "Aren't you afraid that the borrower will die and you won't be able to get your money back?"
The chubby player smiled and told him: "My skill is [Abacus], which can calculate the player's survival rate, but it is only 70% accurate."
The rest depends on observation. Since he started his business, he has made more money than losses.
The chubby player observed for a few days and made a list of people who could be loaned out.
He chose this time to show up, of course, for a reason: "Everyone is frantically trying to collect points to buy the [King Card Box], this is a great opportunity not to be missed."
Wen Shi only knew that the [King's Box] would refresh the side quest, but he didn't know that it had the opposite ability of the [Queen's Box]. After a single refresh of the quest, the difficulty would be reduced.
“Why do you have to buy this prop?”
The fat man saw that he had no intention of lending money, but his attitude was very good. He first smiled and took out a business card and handed it to Wen Shi, then said: "There is news that the college will start selecting programs and drawing up a list of audiences tomorrow. This is equivalent to the beginning of a main quest. The NPC will find various excuses to issue quests at this time..."
The fat man smiled a little bit frivolously: "This kind of initial task is often very difficult."
Wen Shi lowered his eyes: "I see."
I learned something new.
"See you later. Feel free to contact me if you need a loan." The fat man went to look for the next business.
Wen Shi looked at his business card: "Wangcai Bank."
"… "Good name.
There was a note next to the phone number below: A loan phone number that can be called no matter where you are.
Wen Shi had no habit of owing debts to others, and he originally wanted to throw the business card away, but there was a comprehensive building in front of him, and he didn't see any trash cans on the way, so he simply put it away.
Comprehensive building.
It seems that people at Mingzhu College don't like to turn on the lights, so the building is dark even in broad daylight.
While Wen Shi was going upstairs, he searched for [King Card Box] in the game mall, preparing to buy one in case of emergency. After seeing the price, he silently retracted his claws.
excuse me.
This price is enough for him to use his sword skills once, and still have some left over.
Wen Shi walked along and found only one office with people in it.
The humidity inside the room is even higher than outside. There is little sunlight today. Teacher Ruan's desk is next to the window, and most of his body is shrouded in shadow.
Wen Shi knew why the other party called him here, but he didn't show it on his face. He stood in front of Teacher Ruan with his head lowered.
"What happened in the library last night?" Without any buffering, Teacher Ruan stared at Wen Shi's expression, as if trying to interpret every change in micro-expression.
The library is closed today. Teacher Ruan also went to the scene in the morning. The mermaid's whole body seemed to be sealed with wax. She was half-kneeling on the ground stiffly, with a tablet hidden in her belly. The scene was weird and distorted.
"Fortunately, everyone was very interested and immersed in the books, but before long, strange noises appeared in the library, like the meowing of a cat or the howling of a fox..."
He spoke every word very carefully, trying his best to highlight from the side that he was taking the task of delivering the books seriously.
When Teacher Ruan heard that Wen Shi stayed behind to make sure the students were reading, he felt a rare sense of satisfaction.
"I thought the sound was caused by the wind and was about to close the window..."
Wen Shi's tone became hurried and nervous. As he spoke, he took out his cell phone and opened the photo album tremblingly.
He seemed to be very frightened, his fingers were shaking more and more violently, and finally the phone slipped down without him noticing.
Before the screen fell to the ground, Teacher Ruan caught it in time.
Wen Shi was still talking intermittently, repeatedly emphasizing the fear he felt last night.
Teacher Ruan could only look for photos by himself. He first saw a photo of a vague fox, but the low pixel count made the fox look even more weird.
These are the materials prepared by Wen Shi in advance. Fox spirits are a relatively special kind of monster. They have a physical body and can be photographed and recorded after being seriously injured.
As he was flipping through the pages, Teacher Ruan suddenly stopped and was attracted by a mirror: "What is this?"
Wen Shi explained: "When I was performing in a drama, the teacher asked us to take one prop each as a souvenir after the performance. But I plan to sell it in the next two days."
Before Teacher Ruan questioned the authenticity of the incident, Wen Shi gave a very reasonable reason: "There is only 50 yuan in the campus card, which is not enough to spend."
The special recruits who come to Mingzhu College are generally poor, so the school will give them a 50 yuan quota in advance. The school does not want to give more, anyway, the school leaders do not intend to let these special recruits live for too long.
Teacher Ruan couldn't help but feel murderous when he saw the mirror, but it was a necessity in life. He found the mirror in the album pleasing to the eye, so he said, "I'll give you 100 yuan and send the mirror back later."
Wen Shi readily agreed.
He left the office on the pretext of getting a camera.
After returning to the dormitory, he found a lunch box on the table. It was the meal that Ji Yuanzhi had previously asked him to bring back.
Wen Shi never treats himself badly, so he plans to deliver the food after finishing his meal.
The mirror was placed against the table, and he would catch a glimpse of it from time to time while eating. Under the influence of this mirror representing dialectics, Wen Shi's hypnotic effect, which was about to expire, began to falter again.
"The kingdom of Uzzah."
He repeated it unconsciously, his brows furrowed tightly.
At the same time, Ji Yuanzhi noticed this scene and determined that Asa I would soon die.
Unfortunately, the person involved didn’t know.
Wen Shi just felt dizzy and was still trying hard to resist this negative buff. He quickly ate a few mouthfuls of rice and went out to deliver the mirror.
At the same time, in the office of the complex building, the perfect mermaid that only existed in game modeling was now like a relief, standing still on the wall, with her lethal lake blue curly hair dancing gently even in the wind.
This mermaid is Teacher Ruan's assistant and once went on a killing spree in the cafeteria.
Normally he would never set foot in the comprehensive building, but today was special. It was raining and many employees had returned to the dormitory. The principal was still dealing with library matters, so the probability of being discovered here was very low.
"I seldom go to the library, and I don't know what happened last night." The beautiful voice seemed untouchable because of its coldness.
"After this batch of special recruits entered the school, strange things happened one after another. The student who just came to see you has an aura that is a bit like a stupid cat I saw before."
The mermaid said coldly: "The time when the stupid cat appeared happened to be the first day of school for new students."
In previous years, he would rather kill such a suspicious person by mistake than let him go, but now is the most critical time for Wang Suxing. It is not convenient for them to come forward for many things, so they have to find a go-between.
Only freshmen meet the requirements, and the school treats them as a source of meat, without implementing strict control. Unlike regular old students, there is a building manager on each floor, and even those who come back late from rehearsal have to report in advance, and their daily routine follows military management.
"I have already tested him once. Since you have doubts, try again." Teacher Ruan said coldly, "Even if there is a little suspicion, we must eliminate the source in time."
No mistakes are allowed in this matter.
Because of a heavy rain, the campus was empty. Downstairs, a young man was closing his umbrella and entering the complex building. Seeing this, the mermaid in the office disappeared temporarily.
The cold air outside didn't wake Wen Shi up at all.
When he held the mirror, he would always think of the column "False King Asa" on the attribute panel. The adjectives dotted in front of it invisibly stung his brain nerves.
He was not in a good state, so when Wen Shi entered the office, he did not notice the murderous intent that flashed in Teacher Ruan's eyes.
The school leaders said that the surveillance data had been deleted. In Teacher Ruan's opinion, even if there were any demons, they would not delete the surveillance data. As an eyewitness to the library incident, Wen Shi's suspicion in Teacher Ruan's eyes was gradually increasing.
"It's raining so hard, thank you for coming all the way here," Teacher Ruan said considerately, handing over a paper cup. "Drink some hot water."
A glass of water woke Wen Shi up.
The water temperature is not high, the few tea leaves have not yet unfolded, and the sweetness and bitterness of the tea cannot cover up the faint fishy smell at the bottom of the cup.
There was a problem with the water, but Wen Shi had no choice.
He had long been aware of Teacher Ruan's seemingly gentle but actually strong personality.
Knowing that there could be no hesitation, Wen Shi was flattered and said thank you, then immediately took the cup.
When the rim of the cup reached his lips, he thought of the dinner that night and comforted himself that no matter how good the water was, it could not be as good as the uncooked meat.
Naturally, Wen Shi began to think about how he had endured the mental pollution brought about by the raw meat. After some hard thinking, some fragmented fragments appeared in his mind, which made him break out in a thin layer of sweat on his back in the cold weather.
Gurgle.
Wen Shi started drinking water in big gulps in front of Teacher Ruan.
A drop of mermaid blood was added to the water. After it flowed through his esophagus, Wen Shi's eyes became a little more blurred, but that was all. After he established his own ideal country, the influence of the mermaid's spiritual pollution was greatly reduced.
"You said before that your goal was to participate in a concert." Teacher Ruan's voice was a little more seductive than usual, which made him lose his willpower. "The academy will start selecting programs tomorrow. With your qualifications, you won't be selected even if you practice for another three years, unless I use my personal power to squeeze you in..."
He looked at Wen Shi, whose eyes were unfocused, and said, "But if I do this, I will definitely arouse suspicion from the school."
Teacher Ruan changed the subject: "Now there is another very troublesome matter..."
He didn't finish his words at once, and the implied subtext was that Wen Shi had to demonstrate corresponding value before he would consider making an exception for him.
Wen Shi's heart tightened. This should be the beginning of the side quest of the main storyline that the fat player just mentioned.
He could only continue to ask: "What's the matter?"
As he was worrying about the mission, his mind became more and more confused. Wen Shi's memories had already traced back to the time when he once owned the prop "Pen". The promotional manuscript was not a classic, but was written by him personally for the purpose of... deceiving people.
My mind suddenly became clearer.
So the kingdom didn't exist from the beginning
Teacher Ruan stood up and walked to the group photo of faculty and staff hanging on the wall. The principal standing in the middle made his pupils shrink suddenly, and he could no longer hide his hatred: "The principal has been able to stand firm for so many years because he dug out the heart of the Mermaid King. He..."
"No!"
A scream interrupted Teacher Ruan's speech.
Wen Shi’s face turned pale, and he looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
His expression was extremely distorted, which was something he couldn't fake. The other mermaid who was hiding in the dark and observing was also startled by his state.
However, both parties were thinking of different things.
Wen Shi completely broke free from the hypnosis barrier, and his mind was filled with the following questions: What did I do? What on earth did I do!
In his original imagination, he might do something outrageous, but it would never rise to the level of hiding books in a fish's belly. He even used the home function to shout "Ula" in front of his family and even wanted to enthrone Asang as Asa II.
Wen Shi's body swayed and he felt like he was going to die suddenly.
The same scene looked different in the eyes of Teacher Ruan and the mermaid who was observing secretly.
Wen Shi's pain, as if his entire family had died, was his reaction after hearing that the Mermaid King's heart had been dug out, so they naturally thought that the cry was made for the Mermaid King.
Although the mermaids kept shouting that they wanted to revive the Mermaid King, when they discovered that the Mermaid King's heart had been dug out, they only felt anger and no grief.
The student in front of him had an expression of despair and a look as if he wished he could disappear from this world immediately. It seemed that he was even more miserable than a real mermaid.
Teacher Ruan narrowed his eyes to make sure there was no trace of falsification.
Acting also requires preparation time, but the other party doesn't have this kind of artificial emotional transition at all, and can do it in one step.
"No!" A hoarse voice was about to howl out again.
Fearing that this would attract other people, Teacher Ruan subconsciously covered Wen Shi's mouth with his hand. He was naturally strong, and Wen Shi was not standing steadily, so this press pushed him directly against the wall behind him.
Wen Shi’s eyes suddenly widened, and the word “no” was almost engraved in his pupils.
Teacher Ruan gritted his teeth and threatened in a low voice: "I know you are sad, but don't scream anymore."
His fingers were very long, and when he covered his mouth, it seriously hindered Wen Shi's breathing. The breath was stuck in his throat, making the corners of his eyes red.
The mermaid in the dark had disappeared. He heard the sound of high heels, and Wen Shi also heard it. At the moment when Teacher Ruan let go of his hand, he suddenly grabbed the other's hand and pressed it against the wall, pretending to trap himself.
Then Success yelled again: "No—"
"Teacher Ruan, the concert program..."
Wen Shi deliberately left the door open when he came in, to prevent any accidents so he could run away. Lily knocked twice and pushed the door open. She had been looking down at something in her hand, and when she looked up and saw this scene, she was dumbfounded.
"… "
Three seconds later, Lily quietly retreated and closed the door.
It is reasonable for psychologically distorted victims to become abusers in order to vent the pain they have experienced.
Since Teacher Ruan did not extend his evil claws to the regular students, Lily decided to ignore it. After all, the purpose of these special recruits' existence was to be eaten, so it didn't matter how they were eaten.
She politely made the sign of the cross on her chest as a final prayer for the student.
The office was eerily quiet.
Wen Shi's current state is very strange. On the one hand, because of the cup of tea with mermaid blood, his thoughts are still not focused and he says whatever comes to mind; on the other hand, he is reflexively grasping all factors that are beneficial to the task.
While adjusting his breathing, he said, "You said before that if you used your personal power to get me into the concert directly, it would definitely arouse the suspicion of the school. Now it won't happen."
Wen Shi said solemnly to Mr. Ruan, who had done nothing wrong but whose reputation was completely ruined, "The unspoken rules are the best explanation."
That immature past could not be redeemed, he looked to the future: "We have an eyewitness, when we choose the program tomorrow, you can insert me in, the principal will definitely question it first, and then Teacher Lily will hold the principal down and say, 'I saw Teacher Ruan seducing him', the principal will definitely not let this scandal get out, for the sake of the reputation of the academy, in the end he will turn a blind eye and acquiesce to my joining."
The words completely paint a picture of what might happen.
Wen Shi almost applauded himself for his flexibility, and in fact he did clap his hands.
"Great, now no one will doubt us!"
No one would doubt Mr. Ruan's purpose, so his previous statements were invalid and he had no excuse to assign himself a difficult task.
The principal, the heart of the mermaid king, etc., are not easy jobs. [King Card Box] is too expensive, so I can only manually refresh the difficulty of the side quests.
Seeing Teacher Ruan pursed his lips, Wen Shi took it as his acquiescence and continued, "If there is nothing else, I will leave first. By the way, teacher, I don't have much singing ability, so please don't overdo it, just let me dance with you."
He's not picky.
Before leaving, he did not forget to bow deeply.
"… "
It is no exaggeration to say that at this moment Wen Shi made a special NPC so angry that his hands were shaking.
The retro mirror on the table watched everything and almost filled the screen with “666”.
My King, the Eternal God!
(End of this chapter)