Chapter 249 - 14: I’m Joining You

Flora arrived at the school gate, brimming with excitement and ready to find her so-called friends. Instead, she was met with a head-on blow from a large, stout man.

The man was dressed in a worn-out white prison uniform and carried an iron ball weighing hundreds of pounds on his back. Before Flora could even react, he slammed the ball into her, knocking her to the ground.

Glasses came jogging up from behind. Seeing Flora on the ground, he said nervously, "Didn’t the Dean of Students say we weren’t allowed to injure the teachers?"

"I didn’t injure her," Pot Lid Haircut said earnestly. "I used Spirit Mode."

"Huh?"

"My Deceitful Object can switch between Spirit Mode and Physical Mode. In Spirit Mode, it only attacks the target’s spirit."

"Oh, okay. That’s good."

Reassured that there was no issue, Glasses was just about to take Flora into the room when Wang Yun coughed and beat him to it, dragging Flora inside.

The room by the entrance was the gatehouse. Teachers were sometimes "invited" to act as security guards, but the students had no intention of leaving the school anyway.

There was nothing outside the school—it was just a looping space.

If you walked out the front gate, you would inexplicably emerge from the back gate. From a high vantage point, you could see what looked like buildings in the distance, but they were always shrouded in Mist, obscuring the view completely.

According to the Dean of Students, it was a "closed campus" for intensive study. As long as they graduated, they would definitely be able to get out.

Glasses always felt something was off about that explanation, but he had no choice but to believe it.

After tying Flora to a chair, Glasses had his team members think about the questions they each wanted to ask, then they waited for her to regain consciousness.

Before long, Flora awoke. She looked at the three of them and shouted furiously, "You tricked me!"

"If you fell for such a simple lie, that’s clearly your own fault," Wang Yun retorted evasively.

And it was super effective.

Tricked once again, Flora actually paused to consider it. "Is that so?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, alright then. But what about the kidnapping?"

"...Hmph."

Realizing she couldn’t trick her any further, Wang Yun dropped her prim and proper act.

She patted Flora’s soft cheek. "Alright, Teacher. We didn’t ’invite’ you here with any ill intent. We just want to understand what your ultimate goal is."

"To complete the hidden quest, of course."

"And what is this hidden quest?"

Flora narrowed her eyes at the three of them and wisely chose to keep her mouth shut.

’If I let these three kids know that the players’ goal is to farm anxiety from them, this group of students would absolutely revolt.’

’Even if they don’t revolt, it would affect the plan’s execution and could cause Duan Someone’s plan to fail.’

’And if Duan Someone’s plan fails, and he finds out it’s my fault, what would the consequences be?’

’Jinghong’s opinion of me would probably drop, and I’d lose my chance at making a new friend.’

So, Flora declared with an air of heroic defiance, "Kill me! An hour from now, I’ll be back as good as new!"

"We’re not going to do that," Glasses said with a sigh. "First, I want to apologize for bringing you here by force. But we really want to know why the school has become like this."

Through the gatehouse window, Glasses pointed to the main school building. "Normally, everyone would be on break right now. But look. Every single person is anxiously poring over their textbooks, cramming for exams. We used to discuss what we were learning, but now, there’s barely any talking at all. All they do is prepare for exams, draw cards, then more exams, more cards... They’re not happy like they used to be."

Flora looked at Glasses, puzzled. After a moment of thought, she said, "I remember you. You get excellent grades, right? It seems like you can get a perfect score every time without even trying."

"Well, the questions are too easy. Isn’t getting a perfect score normal?"

The slacker, Pot Lid Haircut, and the super-slacker, Wang Yun, pulled out some electrical wires, ready to show Glasses the fury of a bad student right then and there.

"That’s what I find strange," Flora continued. "You can get all these benefits so easily, so why do you care whether the other students are happy or not?"

"Um, is there something wrong with caring about other students?" Glasses asked, confused.

"What a goody-two-shoes," Flora remarked with a nod. "Hang on a second, I need to reply to a message."

Glasses watched Flora warily. ’Is she about to use some kind of Deceitful Object?’ he thought.

But all he saw was Flora nodding at the empty air, blinking, and then saying excitedly, "Got it, I’m in! But you have to keep your promise to me, you hear? If you dare trick me, I’ll hold a grudge for the rest of my life!"

After ending the telepathic call, Flora looked at the other three and said, "Alright, you can untie me now."

"Why?"

"Because I’m joining you. The reason is, I don’t agree with what the other teachers are doing either. Of course, it’s fine if you don’t believe me. You will soon enough."

Before Glasses could understand what she meant, a chill ran down his spine.

The gatehouse door was pushed open. A maid with smiling eyes stood in the doorway and said in a voice as gentle as a spring breeze, "My lady, I have arrived."

Pot Lid Haircut spun around instantly, his thumb already mashing the start button on his game console. A game character was about to be summoned, but a fist was already in his face.

The Maid’s iron fist sent the boy crashing to the floor, the whites of his eyes showing as he lost consciousness.

Shaking the blood from her fist, she walked toward Wang Yun with a smile. "So, you’re the three NPCs who kidnapped my lady?"

"Wait, I can explain—URGH!"

Before an iron fist, all are equal.

Even though this instance preset every player with the physical fitness of a standard adult, that was more than enough to beat up a group of fifteen-year-olds.

One punch was all it took to make Wang Yun spit up her lunch. The Pruriency Fox Immortal floating behind her turned pale with fright. It was about to defend its master when the Maid pulled a mop from under her skirt and viciously pinned the creature to the wall with it.

"Looks like there’s a stubborn stain here."

The mop began to scrub furiously against the wall. Its powerful cleaning action left the wall looking brand new, and also scrubbed a ring of fur right off the Fox Immortal caught in its path.

Tossing the half-bald Pruriency Fox Immortal into the trash can, the Maid gave the mop an elegant flourish like a spear before putting it away. She then turned to look at Glasses, the only one left who could still speak.

Clutching his Fat Head Fish, Glasses screamed at the top of his lungs, "Stay away from me! I’m opposed to corporal punishment!"

Flora, still tied to the chair, quickly chimed in, "Um, Maid, I’m okay!"

"Whether you’re okay or not is irrelevant. I’m just angry that I wasn’t the first one to kidnap you. My lady, I must be the one to claim all of your firsts!"

"Are you insane?! Then just be my first friend!"

"...I’ve lost interest."

"What’s that supposed to mean?!"

"I guess not every ’first’ is worth having."

"What in the world are you talking about?!"