Chapter 118.1 Merfolk Shore
The moon disappeared, and the rain poured down heavily. The night sky held no light.
Rain was rare at Merfolk Shore, but the air was damp. The dark, thick tides seemed to carry lots of moisture between the earth and sky. The old fishermen believed rain on the shoreline was a bad sign.
Arlon hadn’t returned yet. After Song Yan came back, he had a slight cough. To avoid attracting monsters in the dormitory, he chose to become a mirror in advance.
Song Yan told Wen Shi the reason and mentioned Arlon had gone to persuade Mr. Ruan to defect.
“Persuade?” Wen Shi found the word as suspicious as the sudden cold temperature.
But he soon got interested in the lake that Song Yan mentioned. That evening, when Wen Shi went to the comprehensive building to get the booklets, Mr. Ruan unjustly took out his frustration due to the principal’s decision about the lake, causing Wen Shi to nearly drown in the office.
“Besides water plants, is there anything else in the lake?”
Song Yan shook his head. “That lake was strange. At first glance, it seemed like a regular-sized lake, but once you’re underwater, it’s like it suddenly becomes this vast area that feels like it goes on forever.”
He described it precisely, “It was like stepping into a different space.”
Wen Shi raised an eyebrow. It sounded like a hidden mini-map.
Song Yan brought the conversation back on track, “King, your devoted servant is starting to transform.”
Wen Shi, who was the least qualified to speak, educated him, “Don’t make it sound so juvenile.”
Song Yan opened the attribute panel. He never doubted Wen Shi’s abilities. How the mirror ended up in Mr. Ruan’s hands, he believed the King would manage.
Similarly transforming, he only used a hundred and sixty points, a mere fraction of Wen Shi’s. The whole process lacked any grandeur, not even a flash of white light. In the blink of an eye, Song Yan vanished, leaving behind a vintage mirror on the ground.
“Pretty cheap.”
Having witnessed Wen Shi’s transformation process, Jian Qingrong gave an honest audience review.
The effects were affordable, but the product was good.
The upgraded【Philosophical Mirror】shook off its grimy layer. In the game, no adjective was superfluous. The introduction had the description【Irresistibly Charming】, portraying this mirror as inherently compelling.
Wen Shi bent down to pick it up, feeling a hint of uniqueness emanating from it.
The mirror appeared clear and comfortable. Under the glow of a small lantern, occasional glimmers of light would dance on its surface, creating an illusion of shimmering water.
Just then, Ji Yuanzhi returned after erasing the surveillance footage and noticed two missing from the dorm room. He instantly connected the dots.
Even though Wen Shi had introduced Song Yan’s abilities before the team entered the instance, using it to convince him to bring an extra person, seeing the mirror in person still gave Ji Yuanzhi a bit of a visual shock.
“Not bad,” Ji Yuanzhi offered a brief assessment.
The craftsmanship was simple and elegant, a bronze frame encasing the mirror’s edges. The overall design lacked excessive embellishments, as if it had wandered out from an ancient castle, exuding a distinct historical essence.
Wen Shi placed the mirror on the table and nodded in satisfaction. “The mentor will like it.”
He had already figured out how to proceed tomorrow.
With the time being late, everyone went to bed. Wen Shi didn’t immediately fall asleep. He first checked the rewards provided by the game.
Every time there was a special side quest, the game’s rewards were quite generous. With a touch of anticipation, Wen Shi opened his backpack.
【Tail Fragment: A piece of a fox spirit’s broken tail. When installed, it brings good fortune to teammates.
Usage Instructions: Whenever a fox spirit fulfills a human’s wish, they always take something away, and the same goes for those who receive the good fortune. For five minutes, they are the world’s darlings. After five minutes, they become the world’s orphans.】
“……” Wen Shi fell silent for a moment. “How long does this ‘orphan buff’ last?”
The prompt responded, “Fifteen minutes.”
Wen Shi closed his eyes briefly. Was it worth the triple cost?
The game was undoubtedly the world’s most skilled swindler. Clearly, the tails were torn off by the teenager, and in total, he tore off eight. The game reclaimed them and gave Wen Shi just one as a reward.
“Middlemen can be despicable.”
What pained him most was that he couldn’t join in. He could only watch the game raking in profits.
Frustrated by the game’s tricky rewards, Wen Shi couldn’t sleep well all night.
In the early hours, he saw Arlon standing on the balcony. His tall figure exuded a touch of melancholy. Where he stood seemed to possess its own source of light.
Arlon used psychic power to control the raindrops, freezing them mid-air, as if time had come to a standstill.
Wen Shi silently watched the scene, reminded that apart from A’Sang who clearly stated not encountering difficulties, the remaining family members seemed to be dealing with their own challenges.
“With such power, could there still be worries?”
He shifted into a reclined position, gazing at the ceiling, lost in thought.
For a while, listening to the rain, he thought about how even the true spirit had their worries. The true spirit was trapped in memories, unable to break free. The Earl, who was strong, fought against mental illness throughout his life. The host remained single-minded about getting into Frank Hospital for the sake of his career. When compared to all this, his mission of restoring his kingdom seemed somewhat less arduous.
Unknowingly, Wen Shi drifted into sleep. In a half-awake state, it felt as though someone had pulled a blanket over him.
The rain continued all night, and the trend showed no signs of stopping on the next morning.
As the class representative, Wen Shi didn’t need to orchestrate coincidental encounters. During break time, senior students came to the classroom, saying that Mr. Ruan wanted him to visit the office when he had time.
During the next class, Lily was on stage, energetically explaining dance moves. She loved demonstrating herself, each movement graceful and elegant. But Wen Shi always felt there was a certain exaggeration, making him feel as if he was looking at anatomical illustrations from a biology textbook.
Ji Yuanzhi suddenly said, “One of her class representatives didn’t come today.”
Wen Shi nodded. Players wouldn’t miss class without reason. This situation likely meant the person was gone.
Ji Yuanzhi seemed concerned about this. “I’ll go ask.”
After saying that, he used the restroom as an excuse to step out briefly. When he returned, he naturally took a seat in a different spot. Ji Yuanzhi had an excellent memory, remembering clearly which students were the class representative’s roommates.
The roommate wasn’t generously sharing information. As Ji Yuanzhi was about to offer a perfunctory response, he pulled out a contract item. “I have information here that Mr. Ruan’s class rep has that can be exchanged.”
The roommate’s eyes flickered. After both sides promised not to lie, they began, “Last night, he went to help Ms. Lily deliver something to the principal. He didn’t return after that. Before leaving, we used an item to stay in contact. I heard him mention that the principal’s residence hides a colossal secret. Then there was the sound of a door opening, followed by a jumble of noises. After that, I couldn’t hear anything.”
When a player died, any items they were using automatically became ineffective. They’d eventually be reclaimed by the game. It was far safer than regular communication tools.
Ji Yuanzhi could see the roommate’s intentions, trying to tempt him into exploring the principal’s dorm. Nevertheless, the information was somewhat useful, so he offered a similar exchange, “Avoid eating raw food. The mental contamination effect is quite severe.”
He added, “Yesterday, King Asa appeared in the library.”
The roommate’s mouth hung open. “Ah.”
What King Asa?
“Supposedly, the archenemy of the Merfolk King.”
The bell for the end of class rang. Ji Yuanzhi finished speaking with a serious expression, then reached to his sleeve and crushed a button.
The roommate’s expression changed. That was the hidden microphone he had just secretly planted.
Mingzhu Academy’s male uniform leaned towards formal wear. Most people wouldn’t notice the decorative button added on the sleeve of the outer garment. It was a a tried-and-tested trick. Tempting the other party to the principal’s dorm, he would then gain information through the bug. That was how he handled things last night as well with his roommate. Maintaining contact with an item was merely a prettified explanation.
Ji Yuanzhi didn’t expose the bugging all this time, saving it for now, precisely to wait for the right moment to make a demand. “Do something extra, and we’ll be even regarding the eavesdropping.”
“What is it?”
The player’s gaze flickered. He also had the support of a major guild. If this could be settled with a single move, that would be best, as long as it wasn’t too major.
“Later, someone will definitely come to inquire about the same thing from you. Just shift the focus to another lead…” Ji Yuanzhi’s eyes gleamed briefly. “Tell the person that causing the Merfolk King to awaken prematurely is the key to breaking the deadlock.”
The roommate hadn’t encountered information related to the Merfolk King yet. At first listen, he surprisingly found the lead Ji Yuanzhi suggested very reliable.
“This counts as valuable intelligence.” To make his pawn more dedicated, Ji Yuanzhi said casually, “You can use this to fleece the other party mercilessly.”
The greater the cost, the more the buyer would believe in its accuracy.
Ji Yuanzhi was even too lazy to use his skills to decipher the identity of the person who manipulated things behind the scenes against Wen Shi. People who enjoyed causing trouble from the shadows all shared a common trait: caution.
This level of caution required enough information to support it. So, these people would surely come to learn what had happened to the missing class representative. Using them to expedite the Merfolk King’s awakening saved time and effort. The only inconvenience was that someone who had already meddled once would certainly find a way to stir up more trouble.
Ji Yuanzhi wasn’t concerned about all this. He simply hoped that Jian Qingrong, who knew what was going to happen, would still stick to his decision of letting the Merfolk King awaken prematurely and not create too much of a disturbance.
After two class periods, a broadcast announced that students could return to their dorms. At Mingzhu Academy, the tradition was that in heavy rain, all classes for the day would end by noon.
Everyone was heading out. As Wen Shi passed by Ji Yuanzhi, he said, “I’m going to give the mirror to Mr. Ruan. Jian Qingrong will be watching over my Big Brother, so could you do me a favor and bring some food back?”
Ji Yuanzhi took off his glasses and rubbed his brow. “Go ahead.”
At this moment, his thoughts were the same as Wen Shi’s before: not a single one was trouble-free.
Seeing him rubbing his brow, as if worried about the task, Wen Shi stepped back two steps, “Don’t worry. Even though it’s an S-level instance…”
“You’ll step in, I know.”
Wen Shi nodded, his resolve steady, and left the classroom.
The pouring rain pounded angrily against the ground. With an umbrella, Wen Shi hurriedly walked toward the comprehensive building.
Halfway there, he overheard a player ahead complaining to their companion, “Damn, finally realize how important it is to have the right mentor. Lily is definitely not easy to deal with. I used the【King’s Card Box】to push the quest to today.”
NPCs couldn’t hear in-game content, and if the matter wasn’t particularly crucial, players wouldn’t intentionally avoid others while discussing it on the way.
Wen Shi followed at a moderate distance. The person ahead didn’t share any important information throughout, just repeatedly griping about the game’s difficulty.
As they were about to pass an academic building, a chubby player stopped him. “Need loan points? Brother, with a daily interest rate of 3%, you can borrow up to 2,000 points. If you’re willing to pay 5%, you can borrow 3,000 points, just promise to provide collateral.”
Wen Shi’s expression turned complex, “Aren’t you afraid of borrowing yourself into a financial hole you can’t get out of?”
The chubby player smiled and didn’t hide it from him, “My skill is【Abacus】. It can calculate a player’s survival rate, but it’s only accurate to around seventy percent.”
The rest was based on observation. Since he started doing business, he earned more than he lost.
The chubby player had been observing for a few days and had already compiled a list of potential borrowers.
He chose to appear at this time for a reason, of course. “Everyone is frantically gathering points to buy the【King’s Card Box】. Don’t miss the opportunity.”
Wen Shi only knew that the【King’s Card Box】refreshed side quests, but he didn’t know it had the opposite ability of the【Queen’s Card Box】. After refreshing a quest once, the difficulty would decrease.
“Why does everyone want to buy this item?”
The chubby guy sensed that Wen Shi wasn’t interested in borrowing, but he maintained a friendly attitude. He first smiled and handed Wen Shi a business card, then continued, “News has come out that the academy will start selecting programs and preparing part of the audience list tomorrow. It’s like the beginning of a main quest. NPCs tend to use this opportunity to issue quests…”
The chubby guy laughed with a hint of mischief. “These kind of introductory quests often come with significant difficulty.”
Wen Shi lowered his gaze. “I see.”
He learned something new.
“Goodbye. Feel free to contact me if you need a loan.” The chubby guy went to find his next deal.
Wen Shi looked at his business card: “Wangcai Bank.”
“…Nice name.”
[T/N: Wang means “prosperity”, while cai means “money”. Wang (woof) is also the onomatopoeia for a dog’s bark. Wangcai is actually a very popular dog name in China. It means “carrier of prosperity”.]
Next to the phone number at the bottom, there was a note: “A loan hotline that’s accessible from anywhere.”
Wen Shi wasn’t in the habit of owing people money. He had originally planned to discard the business card, but right in front of him was the comprehensive building, and he hadn’t seen any trash bins along the way, so he decided to keep it.
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