Chapter 127 Merfolk Shore
Both parties shared an intimate moment, so who could reject a little fool?
It was unclear if it was because Jian Qingrong was present, but the mimetic octopus had a somewhat see-through big head, not showing many brains. Still, Wen Shi saw a few tiny dark spots like tadpoles–could they be… condensed?
Apart from Jian Qingrong himself, Wen Shi couldn’t completely grasp Jian Qingrong’s health.
However, Jian Qingrong’s eye, concealing a hint of aggression, was very familiar to him.
The lone eye was as overcast as the weather today. The long, strong joints bent back and forth, making Wen Shi reasonably think that Jian Qingrong might want to squish the mini octopus till it burst. He signaled with his eyes for the little fool to calm down, but the mini octopus got even more persistent, rubbing against him as if it were enjoying a spa treatment. And Wen Shi’s palm became its sunny beach.
Just when Wen Shi was thinking about how to save the mini octopus, Arlon and Ji Yuanzhi entered one after another.
Ji Yuanzhi had already chosen the replacement for his undercover operation. Earlier, he’d secretly recorded a rehearsal of that particular act, preparing to learn it and then knock out the target to take their place at the concert, which was sure to be eventful.
He saw the mimetic octopus swirling in Wen Shi’s palm and adjusted his glasses. “Scarecrow?”
“……” Wen Shi was truly amazed by his ability to connect things logically.
Arlon didn’t pay much attention to the little monster. The way he looked at the mimetic octopus was quite similar to how the old lady would look at the little fool.
No matter which angle one looked from, it appeared quite foolish.
Wen Shi put the octopus in his pocket. Just after he finished saying there was no need to search below the third floor of the Exhibition Hall, a series of knocks echoed.
The door was never locked, and monsters didn’t politely knock during the daytime. Wen Shi said, “Come in.”
To his surprise, it was Chubby Guy who entered.
He always had a humble expression. “Classmate Aaron, Mr. Ruan asked us to come over.”
Chubby Guy suddenly used character names, making Wen Shi somewhat uncomfortable as he looked at him suspiciously.
Chubby Guy grinned and said, “I’m a class representative now too.”
With Song Yan gone, Mr. Ruan had chosen another class representative to take his place. Chubby Guy seemed to have earned a bit more of Mr. Ruan’s trust.
Wen Shi made up an excuse, “I have a bit of a stomachache. I’ll come over later.”
Chubby Guy passed along the message, “Alright, take your time. We’ll leave together later. I’m in Room 404, so remember to call me when you come down.”
After speaking, he left cleanly and neatly.
Once the door was closed, Wen Shi’s polite smile disappeared as he pondered the reason Mr. Ruan had called him over. The merfolk he encountered last night must have shared the fox’s nonsense with Mr. Ruan, although the likelihood of the latter believing it was close to zero.
Thankfully, without violating any rules, Mr. Ruan was unlikely to simply and rudely kill him. At most, he’d assign a high-difficulty quest.
Having already learned about the Merfolk King’s partially revealed location, he really didn’t want to waste time dealing with Mr. Ruan.
Wen Shi rubbed his forehead, inwardly sighing at the many things he needed to accomplish.
Seeing him looking somewhat troubled, Arlon suddenly enveloped their dorm with his psychic power, shielding it from possible eavesdropping.
In the moment the air seemed to ripple, Wen Shi instinctively turned to Arlon, as if he had already guessed what Arlon wanted to say. He wryly smiled and said, “Big Brother, the more important the matter, the more I have to handle it myself.”
The will of the game was everywhere, and he didn’t want to be deliberately targeted for taking shortcuts.
“Battle calls for strategic deployment.” Arlon gazed at him with a hint of fondness. “Don’t be too rash.”
Wen Shi was always receptive to advice, so he obediently pulled up a chair and sat in front of him, ready to listen.
“Which part of the Merfolk King is the trickiest to deal with?” Arlon asked.
Wen Shi thought for a moment and answered, “The head.”
The most crucial parts of any living being were typically the brain and the heart, but the Merfolk King no longer had a heart.
“Exactly. After the principal took the heart, that part of the body became less important to him. So, in the locations he visited after the explosion last night, there must be a seal containing the head of the Merfolk King.”
Arlon didn’t engage in the players’ daily discussions, but he didn’t miss a single piece of information, including Wen Shi’s earlier conversation with Jian Qingrong when he returned to the dorm. Arlon politely stood at the door and waited for them to finish talking before coming in.
“It should be the Exhibition Hall,” Ji Yuanzhi said.
This morning, when decoding the information, both the Exhibition Hall and Dorm 34 had deep-colored information. However, the Exhibition Hall’s information was slightly deeper, almost like undiluted black ink, representing the most crucial information to the other party.
Arlon leisurely said, “When awakening, the brain would definitely be the first to wake up. I’ll take care of the most troublesome part in the Exhibition Hall.”
In Wen Shi’s chats, he had mentioned consuming the merfolk body, evidently indicating the intention to eliminate the Merfolk King.
With Arlon taking charge of the Merfolk King’s head, the instance’s difficulty would significantly decrease.
“The merfolk body has four parts, and each one is crucial. Pick another one to deal with. Not acting is not an option.”
Wen Shi hesitated for a moment. From that perspective, it made sense, but he wasn’t sure how the game would judge it.
Arlon smiled. “Which part are you prepared to handle?”
Wen Shi instinctively pointed towards Jian Qingrong, “Help him consume the contaminated body.”
Jian Qingrong quickly looked at Wen Shi, confirming his position in Wen Shi’s mind was higher than that of the silly octopus.
“So, you’re just participating, needing to utilize his consumption ability.”
Wen Shi nodded. That was how games work—participation was key. However, he could be certain that Jian Qingrong’s consumption process wouldn’t be too smooth. He’d have to put in a lot of effort as well.
Arlon probably gained an understanding of the judgment scale. “Rest assured, I’m also leveraging external power. My role is similar to yours.”
He looked at Ji Yuanzhi. “You go and find a way with that handsome fool to locate the other two sites.”
Handsome fool?
Ji Yuanzhi took a moment to react, realizing he was referring to Luis.
Mentioning Luis, Wen Shi continued, “We need Luis to gather information about the Exhibition Hall, especially the fourth and fifth floors. Check if there are any eerie legends, and help confirm the location of the head.”
Ji Yuanzhi: “……”
It had been less than a day since Luis was brought in as a collaborator. And these two brothers were almost driving him crazy.
Wen Shi checked the time. “I’ll go to Mr. Ruan’s place first and see what he wants to do.”
Before leaving, Arlon reminded him, “The first explosion yesterday was caused by your mentor’s hand.”
Wen Shi nodded at the words and then headed out by pushing the door open.
Before leaving, he temporarily returned the mini octopus to Jian Qingrong. Both being marine creatures, the scent of the mini octopus might be detected by Mr. Ruan.
Downstairs, Room 404.
The dormitory where Chubby Guy stayed, combined with the fact that he was left with only two people, wasn’t a fortunate number combination in the game–neither four nor thirteen were considered lucky digits. So, the room number was rather inauspicious.
Chubby Guy lived quite comfortably. When Wen Shi arrived, the door was open, and he was on his bed calculating interest on all the borrowed notes.
“Here you are!” Catching sight of Wen Shi, he skillfully rolled off the bed.
The two of them didn’t exchange many words on the way. Mr. Ruan was a person who valued punctuality, so they quickened their pace to get to his office.
Outside the office, Chubby Guy took half a step in before Wen Shi. However, Mr. Ruan’s gaze landed on Wen Shi who entered behind, though that look couldn’t really be described as warm.
Mr. Ruan didn’t bring up the fox spirit incident, instead shifted the topic to his role as class representative, “The class representative is the one I trust most among all the students.”
Wen Shi: “……”
Go on, keep boasting.
However, Chubby Guy must have had merfolk meat before, and he didn’t exhibit any strange behavior. Mr. Ruan still held a bit of trust in him.
“I have something very important here…” Mr. Ruan’s expression was sincere.
Before he could finish speaking, the game’s prompt sound came first.
“You’ve finally discovered the secret of Mingzhu Academy, realizing that the concert might turn into a large-scale slaughterhouse.”
“Humans slaughter merfolk, and merfolk engage in cannibalistic mating. You don’t know how to settle this mess, and you just want to survive. Based on personal judgment, please choose a faction.”
“Faction 1) Merfolk’s faction, where you need to help the merfolk and kill the principal.”
“Faction 2) Principal’s faction, where you need to help the principal and kill the Merfolk King.”
Mr. Ruan continued speaking, “You all once claimed to be the most loyal followers of the Merfolk King. Now, someone is defiling his body. Are you willing to help find and execute this sinful person?”
This kind of quest triggered only when instance information had been collected to a certain extent. What surprised Wen Shi was that this meant Chubby Guy also knew where the Merfolk King’s body was sealed.
Even though Wen Shi was skilled, he couldn’t know everything. Naturally, he was unaware that the guild leader of Sixth Commandment was cooperating with Chubby Guy last night, with roles divided to monitor NPCs and ultimately share information.
Sensing his confusion, Chubby Guy smiled but didn’t say a word.
“I’m willing,” Wen Shi didn’t hesitate for even a second.
The smile on Chubby Guy’s face suddenly stiffened. When faced with a faction choice like this, most people would hesitate for a few seconds at least.
Wen Shi thought optimistically, it didn’t really matter which faction he chose. After all, he had to eliminate both NPCs, so the outcome would be the same.
“Sir, please entrust this to us. We absolutely cannot tolerate such shameless individuals. My spirit will forever be with the King!” Wen Shi appeared devout.
Apart from the factions themselves having little impact on him, Wen Shi had a gut feeling that he didn’t have the same qualification to refuse as Chubby Guy did.
It felt like a pitfall the game had set.
That someone who defiled the Merfolk King’s body that Mr. Ruan mentioned must definitely be Jian Qingrong. If Jian Qingrong didn’t escape, a side quest would inevitably be generated later. Choosing the Merfolk Faction meant sacrificing Jian Qingrong. From this perspective, he would probably need to decline–but if he did that, combined with last night’s fox spirit incident, he would likely become a marked target in Mr. Ruan’s eyes. Walking out of this office today would be difficult.
As for the quest itself, Wen Shi wasn’t worried. If it was a mandatory side quest, he could just spend a high price to buy a【King’s Card Box】and breeze through it.
If it turned out to be a special quest that couldn’t be refreshed, he would have to venture and figure out a way to take care of the person raising the issue.
Wen Shi’s quick agreement wasn’t something Mr. Ruan had anticipated.
This student always managed to surprise.
His quick response made Mr. Ruan cast an annoyed glance at Chubby Guy and asked, “And you?”
“I… of course, I’m willing.”
Despite what he said, he really didn’t want to!
Chubby Guy initially intended to choose the principal’s faction. He already knew some of the Merfolk King’s body’s locations, so killing a fish would be simpler. However, there was an opposing group, and refusing now might lead to unforeseen consequences.
Wen Shi caught the sound of Chubby Guy grinding his teeth.
“You’ve done a good deed,” Chubby Guy mouthed.
What was supposed to be a multiple-choice question turned into a fill-in-the-blank because of this guy. Simply saying they needed to consider it could’ve allowed everyone to escape unscathed.
Mr. Ruan’s demeanor then returned to its usual gentleness.
“Starting tonight, go camp near Dormitory Building 34. If the defiler reappears, resolve the situation at any cost.”
【Side Quest: Kill the Defiler
Quest Description: After sunset, head to Dormitory Building 34 and lie in wait until the target is eliminated.】
Logically, as long as Jian Qingrong avoided going, he wouldn’t be caught. But the quest couldn’t be that straightforward.
Mr. Ruan must have only recently learned about this matter, otherwise the mini octopus would have been taken earlier. That left only one possibility: after the explosion incident last night, another merfolk went to the place where the Merfolk King was sealed, and unexpectedly found something.
Wen Shi suspected that these merfolk might not know the sealing locations of all the body parts, just the location of the part containing the heart. Otherwise, a merfolk would not have missed going to all four locations, and Mr. Ruan would have acted last night.
If this was the case, the player responsible for tracking him after creating the later explosion incident would have discovered something. Ji Yuanzhi wouldn’t have deciphered only two locations.
Wen Shi raised an eyebrow. Things were getting interesting. The Merfolk King didn’t fully trust its subjects, otherwise it could have at least disclosed the location of its head’s seal.
After saying a few empty promises about completing the mission, Wen Shi and Chubby Guy left the office.
Behind Chubby Guy’s smiling exterior was a sinister undertone, “You’re quite the responsible class representative.”
He didn’t need any contemplation to choose sides.
However, when he looked at Wen Shi, he saw nothing but icy coldness in his expression.
“Until the target is eliminated,” Wen Shi softly repeated the task.
Going by his previous deduction, the other merfolk might still be near Dormitory Building 34.
If they wouldn’t keep watch tonight, the merfolk would see it as betrayal. If they go and Jian Qingrong didn’t appear, they’d have to keep watch day after day, and wouldn’t need to do anything else in the future.
That was the most malicious aspect of this quest.
“Do we need to use the【King’s Card Box】to refresh the quest?” Chubby Guy suddenly asked.
The skepticism in his eyes was masked by a casual tone. It was just a side quest, but Pei Wenwei’s reaction seemed a bit too intense. This intensity contrasted with the fact that the other guy willingly formed a debt relationship with him. Such a person shouldn’t reveal that kind of expression due to a quest.
Wen Shi shook his head. “Not necessary.”
Since the game had to be played this way, it felt somewhat unfair not to showcase a successful completion as a final flourish.
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