Chapter 159: [Passing the Imperial Examination] A Bizarre Turn of Events
Bai Cha was not at all surprised.
Anyone in their shoes would be driven mad with rage—not to mention that emotions were naturally unstable after becoming a ghost.
“Did he achieve anything?”
“No. He came back afterward. He found that he couldn’t get inside 101 at all. There was a strange layer of protection there, though we had never noticed it before.”
Bai Cha pondered for a moment. “You never noticed it before—was it because you had never been there, or could you still enter when you were following your parents or the players?”
Han Yingying thought carefully about it. “It seems we just never paid attention to it. No matter who went there, none of us seemed to have ever thought about going inside.”
Bai Cha lowered her eyes. “I see.”
If that was the case, they still had to rely on the players themselves.
“Go tell more of your schoolmates then. Everyone needs to keep themselves in check, gather together, and meet tonight.”
Han Yingying nodded, departing with boundless motivation.
During the afternoon exams, another two teachers ran into trouble.
When it came time to eat before evening self-study, Wang Jiapeng and his group were in no mood to eat at all, crowding straight over to Bai Cha.
“Ahem, about those teachers today… the person who took action…” Wang Jiapeng first peered around warily before whispering, “is from the Puppet Guild.”
Bai Cha raised an eyebrow.
To be honest, she really didn’t know much about guilds.
Mainly because she had never been interested in them.
Even so, she would occasionally scroll past posts on the forum cursing the Puppet Guild.
That guild clearly had a terrible reputation.
One could tell just by looking at their name.
Ranked eighth among guilds, with Yin Qing-ping as their guild leader.
It seemed that as long as a player joined the guild and reached a certain level, they could redeem a skill: Puppeteer.
The sheer power of this skill was evident.
Take the four teachers who had met with accidents today, plus the one yesterday.
They had been completely unable to control their own bodies, marching straight to their own deaths.
If such a skill were used to control players, it was no wonder the player base cursed them so fiercely.
Bai Cha hadn’t paid it much mind before. But after obtaining Grandmother’s Medium Tome, she learned that skills could be acquired from external sources, though doing so would alter one’s personality.
Given that the entire guild was learning the Puppeteer skill, their personalities…
“Sigh, I didn’t expect any of their members to be here. Actually, their guild doesn’t have that many people…”
Truth be told, most people weren’t very keen on joining that guild unless their strength was already sufficient to obtain the Puppetry technique right after entering.
Besides, with a skill that could be imparted to so many people, who knew if the players themselves weren’t also being controlled by Yin Qing-ping?
Although gaining power and surviving was all that mattered, everyone who joined turned uniformly gloomy, unpredictable, and prone to killing at the slightest trigger.
Even their real lives were severely affected.
Most players were still unwilling to accept such a trade-off.
“Forget it, don’t worry about that… Do we have any plan of action?”
As long as they didn’t provoke them, it shouldn’t matter too much.
Bai Cha quickly finished her food and nodded. “See you tonight.”
The group let out a collective breath of relief. Having a plan of action was good—though even if Bai Cha hadn’t planned anything, they would have had to make a move regardless.
There were still exams tomorrow, so it was temporarily safe for now, but the exam results would likely come out right after.
Things would be hard to say by then.
When evening self-study ended, everyone headed back to their respective homes.
However, a small incident occurred on the way today.
When Bai Cha walked out of the school, she saw Mother Han standing off at a distance all by herself, looking distinctly ostracized.
The other parents were clearly shutting Mother Han out.
Bai Cha knew this was related to the excuse she had concocted yesterday.
Mother Han’s already gaunt figure looked all the more pitiful.
Yet the moment she caught sight of Bai Cha, delight washed over her face.
She shoved food into Bai Cha’s hands as usual. “How were the exams today?” Mother Han asked gently.
Before Bai Cha could speak, a snide, sarcastic voice sneered from the side.
“How could they be anything but great? After all, she stole someone else’s brain! Some people are inherently wicked—retribution will catch up to them sooner or later!”
Saying this, the speaker yanked her son, Wang Jiapeng, to her side. “Son, stay away from people like that, understand? You can never be too guarded against others. You’re just way too kindhearted every single day!”
Wang Jiapeng: “…”
Ahhh! What is going on? Why is there a plotline like this too?!
Although Wang Jiapeng’s mother hadn’t named names, it was practically no different from pointing a finger directly.
The surrounding parents’ eyes gleamed with the spark of onlookers eager for drama.
Sure enough, no matter how intense the study atmosphere was, encountering this kind of drama would always draw a few extra glances.
Mother Han’s face turned ash-green with rage.
However, she didn’t want to argue. Making a scene would only ruin her daughter’s rest after going home.
She immediately pulled Bai Cha, intending to leave.
Seeing this, Wang Jiapeng’s mother let out a cold laugh. “Look at that—some people really do have a guilty conscience!”
“Who has a guilty conscience?” Mother Han could not tolerate anyone slapping such an accusation on her. She might be uneducated, but she knew this would ruin her daughter’s reputation.
“Whoever answers is the one!” Wang Jiapeng’s mother sneered again.
“You!” Mother Han trembled all over from sheer rage.
Yet she had never been good with words to begin with.
Otherwise, back when her husband cheated on her, she wouldn’t have quietly gotten a divorce without a word.
A figure stepped forward, blocking the way in front of Mother Han.
“Apologize to my mother!”
Bai Cha’s expression was icy cold as she stared straight at Wang Jiapeng’s mother.
Wang Jiapeng’s mother instinctively felt a flash of guilt, but then quickly thought: Why should I feel guilty?
“Why should I apologize to her? Do you even know what your mother did? Your good grades are nothing more than a dark ritual your mother used to steal my son’s scores! I bet you’re not in the dark about it either. What, does it feel great enjoying someone else’s stolen scores?”
Wang Jiapeng felt completely suffocated.
Why had things turned out like this?
Bai Cha sneered as well. She first reached behind her to squeeze Mother Han’s hand to soothe her, while firmly projecting an unyielding attitude that she demanded an explanation today.
“How do you steal scores? Let me ask you: my scores were earned through my own studying! Your son’s poor exam performance is due to his own lack of ability! Who are you falsely accusing with your slanderous mouth?! Do you have any evidence? If you don’t have evidence, apologize to my mother right now!”
“Who says I don’t have evidence? The Master himself said your mother used dark sorcery! Otherwise, my son used to have such great grades—why doesn’t he know a single thing now?”
“Oh, a Master? What era are we living in, Auntie, that you still believe in that stuff? If that Master were really that useful, wouldn’t your son have been granted early admission to Tsinghua or Peking University by now? Why is he still stuck in high school?”
Wang Jiapeng couldn’t hold it in and let out a snort of laughter. Exactly! If that Master were truly that capable, who would still be stuck here?!
The next second, his mother shot him a vicious glare and slammed a punch onto his shoulder.
“What are you laughing at, you little beast?! Your old mother is out here demanding justice for you, and you’re over there laughing?!”
Wang Jiapeng: “…”
Just… why on earth did this plotline develop?!
Mother Han pulled at Bai Cha once more. “Enough, Yingying. Let’s go home and ignore people like her.”
“No!” Bai Cha raised her voice, breaking free from Mother Han’s hand as she turned to look at her, tears already spilling from her eyes.
“Mom! What right does she have to slander you?!”
Although the root cause of this whole mess was actually her fault…
Just like Wang Jiapeng, she hadn’t anticipated that these NPCs would collide and spark this kind of drama.
Still, now that things had come to this, it wasn’t necessarily a bad opportunity.
