Chapter 257: [Rotten Bones and Resurrected Flesh] Negative Favorability
The wooden box was quite large, and its sudden pop made a rather loud sound.
Still, the entire room was clattering and banging right now, so a little extra noise didn’t make much of a difference.
When Bai Cha reached out her hand, the box popped open once again.
In short, it simply refused to let her touch it.
Yet when she pulled it out earlier, there hadn’t been a single issue.
Bai Cha’s rebellious streak kicked in; with quick hands and sharp eyes, she pinned the box down in one firm motion.
The box struggled twice before calming down.
Hauling the box over to inspect it, Bai Cha found no lock on it, so she flipped it open.
Inside the box lay a marionette, resting atop a sheet of red velvet.
The puppet wore a set of ancient period clothing, also red, though the style was rather non-standard—hardly attributable to any specific dynasty, just generic ancient male attire.
The puppet’s entire body was smooth and glossy, clearly well-maintained.
Its head lacked facial features, bearing merely a smooth, round wooden head, yet every joint on its body could be articulated.
Bai Cha poked it.
The puppet remained motionless.
Pondering for two seconds, Bai Cha abruptly extended her hand toward the puppet’s sash.
Just as she grabbed the sash and made to unfasten it, the puppet moved at long last.
However, the puppet itself was very small—a mere palm’s length in height.
The puppet extended its tiny hand, pinning down its own sash as its head rotated toward Bai Cha’s direction.
Though it lacked a face, at this exact moment, Bai Cha could clearly sense the anger radiating from it.
Joke aside, while the puppet was tiny, its strength was by no means small; had Bai Cha refrains from using force, she wouldn’t have been able to budge it.
Chuckling softly, she patted the puppet’s head, helped it close the box lid, and pushed it back into place without troubling it any further.
Looking at it from this perspective, however, these objects in this place could indeed move.
The items on the shelves didn’t appear to be exceedingly vicious specters.
For the time being, the safety level remained relatively high.
The primary function of the items on these shelves was to cause trouble.
They were constantly trying to fall off the shelves.
Yet after equipping the Ghouls’ Bane title, they behaved themselves impeccably.
While the neighboring players were still scrambling in a frantic mess, Bai Cha’s side had already been swept clean with the feather duster.
Naturally, certain players noticed the quiet state over in her area as well.
Titles were things that generally remained invisible unless explicitly displayed, barring corresponding titles.
For instance, between Butterfly Chasers and Demon Hunters, wearers of either title could see each other’s titles.
Yet for titles like Ghouls’ Bane that targeted ghosts and monsters, only the ghosts and specters themselves could actually perceive it.
“Tao Tao, what method did you use to make them quiet down?”
Shen Xiao-luo was located in the northern corner, on the absolute verge of a breakdown.
These objects fell at far too rapid a pace, leaving zero time to purchase props. The props she currently held consisted merely of things akin to cloth sacks, which could catch the falling items if her reflexes were fast enough.
Yet if she proved even slightly too slow, something would drop to the floor.
“My skill,” Bai Cha offered her a pale, frail smile.
With her putting it that way, Shen Xiao-luo naturally couldn’t press further.
Personal skills and props were two entirely different matters.
If this weren’t a competition instance, one might still inquire about the general nature of her skill, but asking such a question inside this mode was far too taboo.
Viewers in Bai Cha’s live stream room were all guessing at her skill as well.
Because even old fans failed to realize this was Bai Cha, assuming it was simply a live stream room stumbled upon by chance.
[Making these little things quiet down out of nowhere—is it a skill akin to silence or stasis?]
[Hard to say, and it can’t really be called silence either. These things clearly just behaved themselves all of a sudden.]
[I was wondering how someone looking this frail managed to survive up to this point—turns out her skill talent is pretty decent.]
[Are there any fans who followed her before? Can anyone share what her skill is?]
[Why care about that? I’m more curious—if they can’t control the situation and that old man walks in, what happens then?]
That was indeed a good question.
And that old man arrived precisely when expected.
The instant the door was pushed open with a creaking whine, every single misbehaving object fell silent.
Yet the items that had dropped wouldn’t return to their spots on their own.
When Master Gao pushed the door open and looked inside, the players’ complexions shifted drastically.
Everyone reacted differently: some pretended to be taking all these items down to clean the dust off the shelves; others frantically tried to return items to their spots; others held cloths, pretending to wipe down the objects in their hands.
The unluckiest was likely Wang Yuan, because a piece of ceramic had shattered in his area, and he was currently trying to cover it up.
Only the corner occupied by Bai Cha remained neat and spotless.
Hands clasped behind his back, Master Gao swept his gaze across everyone, passing over their hands, their feet, and the shelves.
“Hmph, youngsters these days—clumsy and butterfingered, every last one of you.”
“Told you to clean a few things, and you can’t even wipe them clean, turning my place into a chaotic mess instead—especially you!”
Master Gao was pointing at none other than Bai Cha.
Bai Cha paused, a look of bewilderment gracing her face.
The other players felt the same—Wang Yuan in particular, as he was the only one with a shattered item, making him far more frantic than the rest.
Yet Master Gao’s finger pointed directly at Bai Cha, the sole player in the entire room who had cleaned her area into neat perfection.
“Hmph, do you actually think you did a splendid job?”
Master Gao fixated a sarcastic, cold glare onto Bai Cha.
“Every single one of you failed! Zero points across the board! You: minus 10 points!”
The negative score naturally fell upon Bai Cha.
Her eye rims turned red in an instant.
“Why?” she questioned with aggrieved hurt.
“Hmph, do my rules need to be explained to a slip of a girl like you? Let me tell you: if you want to be my apprentice, you must get a full score! Look at how every single one of you performed! Utterly disappointing!”
[Ding—Initial quest completed. You may now view Master Gao’s favorability toward you.]
A red line resembling a health bar appeared above Master Gao’s head.
Marked upon it was his favorability level.
Bai Cha couldn’t see the others’, able to view only his favorability toward herself:
-50.
Bai Cha fell into deep thought.
Was it an issue with the title, or was she simply inherently repulsive to others?
The other players displayed varying expressions as well, though nothing definitive could be parsed from the surface alone.
Master Gao spoke up once more: “Now, each of you pick an item and follow me! I shall teach you the very first step of restoration!”
[Ding—New quest dispatched: Restore an item. Completing the quest will yield prop rewards. Rewards will be determined by the difficulty and completeness of the restored item.]
This quest instantly caused the players—who had originally intended to pick somewhat simpler items—to hesitate.
Since completing the quest yielded rewards, higher difficulty naturally meant better rewards; though of course, high difficulty implied greater danger and failure rates as well.
“I’ll give you three minutes. Gather your items and come find me outside.”
Master Gao turned and walked away, resembling an emotionless quest-dispensing NPC.
Bai Cha scanned the shelves in her area. After weighing her options, she crouched down and reached out to grab the box.
The box slid inward in an instant.
Its intent to resist was beyond words.
Bai Cha couldn’t care less—she wanted this exact one! Kneeling flat on the floor, she extended her hand, pinning down the box.
The box struggled against her strength with considerable effort.
Bai Cha pried at it for quite a while without pulling it free.
“Sigh, looks like I can only pick the ones beside it then,” she muttered softly to herself.
Items rested beside the box as well; upon hearing her words, the box was kicked outward.
Bai Cha was satisfied, scooping up the box.
The other items were satisfied as well—at least it wasn’t them.
The puppet inside the box: “…”
