Mr. Deng still wanted to ask Xing Ye where the video came from, how they suddenly got another teammate, and whether or not she could be trusted.
But before he had the chance, Xing Ye had clicked through the memory card to find a hidden file and played it. Mr. Deng could only close his mouth and patiently watch through the whole video to ask afterwards.
The video swayed for a few seconds before the male teacher in Room 404âs face popped up. He adjusted the camera before leaving with a mischievous laugh.
After he left, the three could see the scene the male teacher had blocked earlier. It was a dressing room.
âItâs the girlsâ dressing room.â Mr. Deng said, âGymâs divided between separate genders. Before the girls attend class, they would go here to change into gym clothes. That male teacherâs the current grade head of the third years, yet heâs actually secretly recording the girlsâ dressing room. Seriously, how disgusting.â
âYeah, if only everybody thought like you.â Xing Ye said in agreement.
Cao Qian glanced at Xing Ye, but as usual, showed no interest and focused on watching the video.
Right now, there was nobody in the dressing room. Xing Ye changed the video speed to 16x and after an hour passed in the video, a girl finally appeared.
She was dressed in sportswear and had gloves on. She used a key to open the locker, taking out a watch and putting it into another locker without a lock before tightly locking it back up. She put the key beside the watch and silently left the dressing room.
Five minutes later, a group of girls walked in, chattering. They were just about to change when a clearly rich-born girl piped up, her voice confused. âWhere did my key go?â
âWeâre just changing clothes, what would you need a key for?â Her classmate said.
âMy dad gave me a Patek Philippe watch worth millions for my birthday yesterday and I accidentally brought it to school, so I locked it in my locker before I changed.â The gaudy looking girl said.
Even if she was rich, losing the watch before she could show it off sucked.
âMaybe you accidentally dropped it during gym? Letâs stop changing and go find it.â Her classmate said.
While they were clamouring around, another beautiful but rather unconfident looking girl opened her own locker. In there, sat the watch and key.
The glamorous looking girl snatched back the watch and ruthlessly gave the pretty girl a slap, âHow dare you steal my things? Letâs see how long you end up in prison when I sue you for this!â
âI-I didnâtâŚâ The beautiful girlâs face was flustered. Her pair of large eyes seemed to be able to speak, starting to overflow with tears.
Strictly speaking, her beauty was just about equal to the glamorous looking girl. However, superficial men would often prefer a delicate, soft little rabbit-like beauty like her over the arrogant and headstrong girl.
They fought for a while longer until the teacher finally called everybody to go, retrieving the video camera while he was at it.
Girl A snuck into the locker room while nobody was there and used the key she got from who knows where to take Girl Bâs watch and put it in Girl Câs locker. It was obvious what she was doing, framing Girl C while she herself just watched from the sidelines.
The Fly, the male teacher, knew the truth and could clearly say it, but didnât want to be blamed for setting up a spy cam in the girlsâ locker room. Thus, he could only keep silent.
âHave you memorized the threeâs appearances?â Xing Ye asked.
âTheyâre all very pretty so itâs easy to remember.â Cao Qian nodded.
Mr. Deng also nodded.
âGirls B and C are probably already dead while Aâs still alive.â
They might already be in Year 3 Class 3, about to take the college exam and graduate.
âI can check the office where the student profiles are. Iâm a teacher, so I have more access than students.â Mr. Deng said.
Xing Ye glanced at him before swiftly finding a part in the video with all three girlsâ faces, taking a screenshot and logging on to Wechat on the computer. He sent the photo to the group chat and typed: I want to know everything about these three girls within the hour. Iâll give whoever provides the information 10,000. If somebody knows them but doesn't dare to say, bring them to me. If anyone has their specific address or other information where I can contact her from, Iâll award an extra 5k.
Mr. Deng: â...â
âNow we can just wait, it probably won't even be half an hour before somebody contacts me with information. Oh but first, I have to buy a new phone. The computerâs too inconvenient.â
Cao Qian: â...â
âWhat happened to your phone?â Mr. Deng asked.
âAccidentally dropped it.â Xing Ye pointed down for Mr. Deng to see.
Mr. Dengâs legs immediately went soft, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he waved his hands, âNo, no, no, Iâm really too scared of heights, I canât look down. Youâre too careless, with how important your phone is, dropping it would be really inconvenient.â
âItâs fine, Iâll just buy a new one.â Xing Ye said casually, âEven if the school doesnât sell them, I can just buy one from a classmate. Iâm sure thereâs plenty willing to sell to me.â
Mr. Deng thought of the text Xing Ye sent out earlier and wiped the sweat off his forehead, nodding, âTrue. If I didnât need my phone, I would also want to sell you it.â
From that, XIng Ye could tell that Mr. Deng knew it didnât matter if his phone was broken. âMr. Deng, letâs trade information while thereâs nobody else on the rooftops. That way, itâll be more convenient to work together and fight.
âIâm sorry. Yesterday, I was on my guard against you and deceived you by putting up a strong front. In fact, Iâm not a high level player, but a novice player. Cao Qian and I both just finished the novice world and weâre from the opposing fate camp.â
âHuh?â Mr. Deng was dumbstruck, âThen will we be fine as all new players?â
âThe remaining four players all seem to be veteran players. Yesterday, we fought and killed one of them. It took the only two special QR codes I had as well as all of Cao Qianâs special ability to beat her. She was our classâs Ms. Li. She had over 30,000 points and was also very strong, but not undefeatable. As long as weâre prepared, thereâs hope.â Xing Ye said, âSo, I want to see your QR codes and draw up a plan to defeat the remaining three players.â
"Ms. Li?" Mr. Deng thought for a moment, "Oh, the year two English teacher. I heard she resigned yesterday and your gradeâs still looking for a new homeroom teacher now. For now, the math teacherâs going to substitute for her. So she was actually a player and the reason for her sudden resignation was because you two killed herâŚâ
It seems that the system would automatically remedy the aftermaths after players fight. Thatâs why no police came after Ms. Liâs death and why Cao Qian didnât seem the slightest bit worried.
But itâd be a completely different matter if ordinary people were killed.
âTo make sure we can all trust one another, I want each of us to share our basic information. Cao Qian, you go first.â Xing Ye signalled Cao Qian with his eyes.
Cao Qian still remembered what Xing Ye said yesterday about not trusting Mr. Deng, who would give over a QR code so easily. How come now...
She thought back to Xing Yeâs words and tried to think for herself, but even after a while, she still couldnât understand. However, she still listened to him and showed the information on her phone screen.
âCao Qian, opposing fate camp. I have 1100 points, soon to become 1000 because 100 needs to be consumed to sustain my initial skills, superhuman strength and agility. I have no special QR codes and just have a prop-type Hundred Shot Gun. Thereâs ten bullets with a guaranteed accuracy of 100%, 4 of which Iâve already used. The rest have a hit rate of 20-50%, and I donât think that itâll be able to hit with my luck, so theyâre basically useless. I was the one who killed Li Hong and this is her death information.â
Cao Qian was an honest person. Since Xing Ye told her to say it, she wouldnât hold anything back. Her phone screen proved everything she said was true. When Mr. Deng saw how penniless Cao Qian was, his face distorted.
Xing Ye then introduced himself. âXing Ye, with 200 points. Iâve never used my starting skills before. Theyâre just growing abnormally long legs and large lungs, so it looks like they let me jump higher and hold my breath for longer. Itâs not very useful. I only had the QR code you gave me earlier, which is already used.â
He lied without even blinking as he frantically tapped around his wristbandâs interface to no avail. âHow do you show your profile to others with this?â
âYou canât when itâs a wristband. Itâll only work when itâs on your phone, so youâd better buy a new one quickly.â Cao Qian said.
Xing Ye spoke to Mr. Deng. âMr. Deng, weâve already proved our sincerity. If you want to cooperate with us, let us see your profile. If youâre not willing, our cooperation will end here. Cao Qian and I will just think of ways to find QR codes around the campus. Thereâs still a day left, so we should⌠be able to at least find one, right? Itâs not like weâll never be able to find one.â
âWe definitely wonât be able to find one,â Cao Qian said coldly. âYou really overestimate your own luck. Do you think itâs that easy to find a carefully hidden, concealed sheet with a QR code in this big-ass campus?â
Mr. Dengâs expression was very, very unsightly. Before, he was willing to work with Xing Yeâs group because he appeared very strong, but now that he knew Xing Ye had nothing, anybody in his place would be unhappy.
âIf youâre willing to join us, I guarantee Iâll use my life to protect you.â Xing Ye said, âAlthough our luck is a little lacking, you saw our strength. We could kill a high level player like Li Hong, so as long as we have special QR codes, weâre good! Right now, Di Kuangâs side seems to have gotten a lot of clues, but thatâs alright, we also have plenty. Di Kuang has three and we also has three, so as long as we can catch one of them alone, weâll be able to win.â
Combined with Xing Yeâs current sixteen year old face, his words sounded especially stupid and hot-blooded.
Mr. Deng was so furious that his whole body trembled as he pointed at Xing Ye, âIâd be crazy to team up with two trash teammates like you! And here I was, thinking you really were a high level player and even wasted a QR code to befriend you! Who do you think you are, using those bits of information to try and trick me into revealing my personal abilities, points, and QR codes? You must be dreaming!â
With that, he left, stomping down the stairs as if he would be stopped if he was a moment slower.
He flipped his face so fast that Cao Qian was still dazed with shock.
Xing Ye didnât chase after Mr. Deng, instead going to post something on Wechat: I need a new phone, just deliver it to me at the rooftops. I donât care how much it is as long as itâs mostly new. Iâll buy it for 10,000, paid to whoever sends it to me first.
Cao Qian was speechless.
âDo you understand now?â Xing Ye asked.
Cao Qian pondered and said, âMy dataâs obvious, so even if I didnât say it, an attentive person would be able to see through them instantly. It doesnât matter if he knows and by doing this, we can test the character of our potential teammate to make sure he can be trusted."
Xing Ye was satisfied. âWhat you said was all correct, but thereâs still two points. First, I told him the other groupâs leader is Di Kuang, especially stressing how he was much stronger than us and had a lot of clues. Since Mr. Deng knows the three girlsâ faces, he can use that along with our data and profile to get Di Kuangâs help, similar to how he tried to get my goodwill with the QR code earlier. Second, I didnât give him my real initial skills. That way, he would confuse Di Kuang and let him relax his guard against me.
âAlthough he refused to be our teammate, heâs still helping us sabotage them. Providing the enemy with wrong intel is a great merit.â
Xing Ye certainly was testing Mr. Deng out earlier, but if Mr. Deng chose to overlook their situation and join hands with them anyways, Xing Ye wouldâve directly revealed the truth. If he really was a man of honor, Xing Ye wouldnât mind revealing his weaknesses to him.
Unfortunately, he wasnât.
Xing Ye sighed, âI really hope heâs somebody who would act as they say. I know my ways are despicable, but in this sort of game, I canât risk letting a hypocrite be part of our team.â
Cao Qian seemed to want to say something as she opened her mouth, pausing for a while before finally asking. âAre your initial skills strong enough to help us beat Di Kuang?â
âIf Iâm not misunderstanding my skillâs true use, it is.â Xing Ye admitted.
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!