Chapter 23 (Part 2)

Ideals (Debugging)

"I'm fine." Mr. Xu opened his eyes. The tawny-gold irises caught the light. "Drop me home, then get some rest yourself."

The car window rose, sealing the interior from the campus outside.

*

"Hss." Chao Musheng washed his face, looked at the red splotches across his cheeks in the mirror, and scratched at them vigorously.

"What are you doing — what are you doing to yourself?" Second shoved through and caught his hand. "Fourth, what in the world are you doing to your handsome face?"

"Is it a makeup allergy?" First looked at Chao Musheng's face, flushed bright pink as a baboon's rear, and couldn't hold in a laugh. "Lucky you didn't swell up while you were still on stage."

"The anniversary performance had a live stream tonight — you came up on screen and the comments section went completely berserk." Second rummaged through the cabinet in search of antihistamine cream and found one that had expired two months ago.

First snapped a photo of Chao Musheng's sorry state with lightning speed and pocketed his phone. "Watch him — don't let him keep scratching. I'll go get something from the pharmacy."

"Send me that photo while you're at it." Second planted his hands on his hips, grinning with spectacular villainy. "When he eventually gets a partner, if he doesn't take us out for a meal, we send the ugly photo to the partner."

"I'm deeply grateful to you both, never missing an opportunity to think about food." Chao Musheng toweled off his wet hair and face. "Don't bother going out — I have something."

He produced the ointment Mr. Xu had given him. The box was still factory-sealed.

He peeled off the wrapping, applied the cream to his face. It was cool and immediate — the itch subsiding within moments.

Remarkable stuff. Mr. Xu was a genuinely kind person.

Chao Musheng looked at the packaging. A Kunlun Pharmaceuticals logo was printed on the side.

Medication trusted by the CEO of the parent company. The quality must be exceptional.

Good. From now on, the family medicine cabinet would be stocked with Kunlun Pharmaceuticals exclusively.

*

Under the campus streetlights, Zhang San and Zhao Shang walked in single file, saying nothing. The silence had a quality that was difficult to name.

"Shang-bro." Zhang San had been stealing glances at the empty water bottle in Zhao Shang's hand. He picked his words carefully. "Are you going to the library tomorrow? I'll come with you."

From this point on, he was not letting Shang-bro out of his sight.

"I'll come wake you up in the morning." Zhao Shang looked at him. "What did you say to Chao Musheng, just now, when you were alone with him?"

"Oh — nothing much. Just said hello." Zhang San avoided his eyes. "Asked what his plans were for the weekend."

"Is that so?" Zhao Shang dropped the empty bottle cleanly into a bin they were passing. "And what are his plans?"

"He's going home — won't be on campus." Zhang San was quick. "Shang-bro, you want to pick up as much useful knowledge as possible, right? There aren't any classes scheduled these two days, so we can spend as much time in the library as we want."

Zhao Shang: "You don't like the library."

"I don't like it, but I don't want you sitting there bored on your own." Zhang San was sweating under Zhao Shang's steady gaze. In all the time they'd known each other, he'd always just followed Zhao Shang's lead. This was the first time he'd pushed back with a plan of his own.

"Alright." Zhao Shang nodded. "Everyone here takes learning seriously. Spending more time in the library is probably good for you too."

Zhang San felt a flicker of guilt and shame, and kept his head down.

He really was a piece of work.

They climbed to the fourth floor, passed Room 402, and were immediately pulled inside by the four players still up.

"You two are finally back." Wan You was sitting cross-legged on a bed, absentmindedly picking at his toes. He made no move to get up when Zhang San and Zhao Shang arrived. "Everyone's here. Say what you want to say."

"I have a way to get hold of the school seal, but I need your cooperation." The male player turned his gaze to Zhang San and Zhao Shang. "There's an NPC in the computer science department called Chen Er — well-connected, influential, the kind of person most people in this school won't cross. He has one particular enemy. Help him deal with that person, and he'll help us."

Zhang San: "Who's this person?"

Please. Please don't say what I think you're about to say.

"Your guide. Chao Musheng." The player didn't bother softening it. "You're his students — he trusts you. All you need to do is get him to somewhere with a blind spot in the camera coverage, rough him up a bit—"

"Hold on. If Chen Er is as well-connected as you say, why does he need our help to deal with Chao Musheng?"

Zhang San thought about how Chen Er behaved in front of Xiao Chao and nearly laughed. "And besides — you're the one who hooked up with Chen Er, not us. Why would we do this for you?"

His flat refusal left the player looking unpleasant. "This instance is dangerous. Players should be looking out for each other."

"Ha." Zhang San let the sarcasm land openly. "Looking out for each other. Are you forgetting that Chen Er is a piece of trash who bullies vulnerable students?"

"As long as I get the instance rewards, I don't care what he is." The player shrugged. "If it would clear the instance, I'd do a lot worse than help Chen Er throw his weight around. I'd start at the front gate and work my way to the back."

"Don't be so quick to reach for violence." Wan You interjected slowly. "You might accidentally provoke some kind of boss. Hard to know who'd come off worse."

"Shut your mouth, you freak — I wasn't talking to you." The player made no attempt to conceal his contempt.

"You can call me a dead male-freak if you like — whether I disgust you is a problem with your eyesight, not anything to do with women." Wan You scratched the back of his foot, then slid off the bed and made his way — one slow, unhurried step at a time — toward the door. He put his hand on the knob.

"What are you doing?" The player and his companion felt something was wrong, and moved to stop him.

Wan You pulled the door open, stepped forward, and fell gently to the ground — landing precisely in front of a group of students just returning from the anniversary celebrations.

"Brother Wang, Brother Li, I know I was wrong — please don't hit me." Wan You scrambled to get up, then collapsed back down with a show of helplessness. "I'll go buy cigarettes right now. I'll go right now."

Players Wang and Li: "..."

What was he doing?

"Are you alright?" The male students looked at Wan You on the ground, stared for a moment, then moved forward to help him up.

This person looked so pitiful. So helpless. So in need of assistance.

"I'm fine — really, I'm fine." Wan You shook his head. His eyes were bright and slightly wet. "Thank you."

"Don't be scared." The students helped him to his feet and formed a wall in front of him. "Who gave anyone permission to bully people in this school?"

Wan You looked up at the students standing between him and the room — all of them a full head taller than him, blocking him completely — and for a moment his expression went somewhere else.

In other instances, NPCs had always stepped forward to help him too. But they also took advantage. In those strange eyes, he had always been something to consume — everyone wanting a taste, everyone closing in.

But tonight was different.

Even drawn in by his ability, they only stood between him and the threat.

No hands moving to explore. No hunger or revulsion tangling around him.

"There's been a misunderstanding, everyone—"

The two male players realized the situation had slipped, but the students weren't listening to their explanations. A dormitory supervisor was called.

By the end of it, the two players had received a formal disciplinary warning, and their names had been entered into the dormitory violation register.

The helpful students enthusiastically arranged for Wan You's bed to be swapped into Room 404 next door. On their way out, they made sure to tell him: if the boys next door gave him any more trouble, he should come find them.

"Thank you." Wan You walked them to the door and committed each warm, earnest face to memory. "Thank you all."

This instance — maybe it wasn't so terrible after all.

"It's nothing. Don't mention it." The students left with slightly red faces and sheepish head-scratching.

Wan You closed the door, turned around, dropped into a chair, and sat there jiggling one crossed leg with complete composure.

"Okay, but — you have two completely different faces?" Zhang San stared at him. "Those two have a nasty streak. You made enemies of them tonight — watch yourself for the next few days."

He still hadn't worked out, exactly, why Wan You had chosen to get involved in the first place.

"Two cockroaches with delusions of grandeur." Wan You climbed back onto his bed. "Looking at them was giving me a headache." He glanced at the room. "Has anything strange happened in 404 at night?"

"No." Zhang San shook his head.

"Fine then." Wan You pulled the blanket over himself and lay down. The overhead light was sharp and uncomfortable; he pulled the covers up over his face, more settled in the dark.

The room went quiet.

After some time, the vegetable player suddenly spoke: "This instance is so hard. Even if we clear it, there are still endless instances waiting after. I don't know when — if ever — we'll get out of the infinite world."

No one answered. He didn't mind, just wanted to say it out loud. "Has anyone heard of a player accumulating enough points to actually leave the infinite world?"

Zhao Shang, reading at the desk, pressed a wrinkle into the page. Zhang San sat bolt upright. "I... genuinely haven't."

"The infinite world is a mess, and the real world probably isn't much better." Wan You tugged the blanket off his face, impatient. "If I had the choice, I'd rather spend the rest of my life in this instance. At least the people here seem like normal human beings."

"They're normal?" The vegetable player, stung by Wan You's tone, found his temper. "Not everyone is an orphan with nowhere to go back to—"

"Who are you calling an orphan?" Wan You fixed him with enormous, very still eyes. "Say something like that again and see what happens."

"I wasn't talking about you — paranoid." Under the weight of that gaze, and with the recent memory of the two players in Room 402 very present in his mind, the vegetable player swallowed his anger, rolled over, and stopped talking.

Room 404 went silent.

*

By morning, the allergic reaction on Chao Musheng's face had completely cleared. He took a taxi home and picked up two breakfast portions from a stall at the estate entrance.

His parents were, predictably, only just waking up when he got in.

"Thank you, my dearest darling." Chao Yin accepted the breakfast. "Your father and I watched the anniversary live stream last night. My boy was so handsome! Handsomer than every single person on that stage. All the other parents in the comments were saying so."

"My dearest mother, the reason you think I'm handsomer than everyone else is because you are wearing Parent Goggles." Chao Musheng changed into slippers and arranged himself with maximum leisure on the sofa, reaching for the TV remote.

"You were working on that little game project for a while." His mother looked at the spectacular idleness on display before her. "You've stopped lately?"

"End-of-term exams are next month, and after that I might be going to Kunlun headquarters for a two-month internship. The game has to be on hold for a bit."

Even a lightweight casual game took a serious investment of time and energy when you were building it alone. He'd taken it on as practice, not a self-destructive exercise. Chao Musheng understood perfectly well the importance of rest.

"You're absolutely right — nothing comes before your health. And if it all falls through, you can always come home and sponge off us." His mother gave his father a meaningful kick under the table. "Right?"

"Absolutely right." His father nodded quickly and decisively. "Your mother has the final word in this house."

His mother smiled, satisfied.

"But an internship at Kunlun headquarters?" His father's tone shifted. "The school has some kind of deep cooperative arrangement with Kunlun?"

As a professor at the university next door to Jinghua, he couldn't quite keep the note of mild professional resentment out of his voice. Their school wasn't Jinghua, but it was solidly top-ten nationally — how had he never heard of Kunlun offering internship positions to undergraduates?

"He's just a student, how would he know about all that?" His mother, unbothered, was already looking pleased. "To celebrate our Musheng securing an internship placement at Kunlun headquarters, we're going out for a proper lunch today."

"Mum, it's only a possibility. Nothing's confirmed yet."

"That's fine." She adjusted course without missing a beat. "To celebrate the possibility of our Musheng potentially securing an internship at Kunlun headquarters — we're going out for a proper lunch."

"I'll book a table." His father instantly stopped being professionally resentful and pressed up next to his wife to look at nearby restaurant options on her phone.

One way or another, this lunch was happening. Chao Musheng's input was largely decorative.

*

On the way home after lunch, they ran into a neighbor walking his dog in the estate grounds.

The golden retriever saw Chao Musheng and launched itself toward him at full velocity, jerking the neighbor's arm nearly out of its socket — it became briefly unclear which of them was walking the other.

Chao Musheng crouched and gave the retriever a thorough head rub. "Ermao. Afternoon. Brother Lou, not on duty at the security office today?"

"Weekend off." Brother Lou was still catching his breath, and gave Ermao's ear a reproachful squeeze. "Every time he sees you, he runs like a leopard."

"Woof!" Ermao ignored his owner entirely and continued wagging at Chao Musheng with undivided devotion.

Brother Lou, deeply embarrassed by his dog's behavior, nudged the animal's substantial backside with the toe of his shoe. "Thursday night — you were walking students over the campus wall, were you?"

"It's a shortcut." Chao Musheng grinned. "I'm not like other students — I have connections. No risk of getting caught with Brother Lou on my side."

"I can at least cover you on that front, yes." Brother Lou looked quietly pleased with himself. Some neighbors still looked down on him for going into campus security at his age.

What they failed to consider was that he wasn't just any security guard — he was a Jinghua security guard. That was how he'd become part of Chao Musheng's campus network in the first place.

"I heard something today — bit of gossip connected to your department." Brother Lou leaned in. "Word is the security office has been looking into Chen Er's conduct. You and him don't get along, right?"

"We've had our disagreements. Not close."

"Good." Brother Lou relaxed. "Apparently he's been using his family money to bully students from poorer backgrounds. The school leadership is furious — they've asked us to investigate thoroughly."

"There was that case at another school not long ago that went everywhere online. If this one gets confirmed, the way I see it, he won't even keep his enrollment." Brother Lou lowered his voice. "Keep this between us, obviously. Just — stay away from that type."

"Thank you for telling me, Brother Lou." Chao Musheng shook his head. "I'm grateful our school handles things like this without flinching."

"Of course it does." Brother Lou warmed to the subject. "The school found out that one of the students being targeted — his parents work as cleaners at a company Chen Er's family owns. They were worried about retaliation. Apparently the school has already arranged new positions for them."

Chao Musheng hadn't anticipated the school acting at that level of detail. He'd quietly intended to help Zhou Yi's parents find new work himself, but had been waiting for the right moment — not wanting to wound Zhou Yi's pride by making the situation any more visible than it already was.

The school handling it quietly, without involving him, was genuinely better.

*

The weekend passed. The players had nothing to show for it — and then came worse news: the president attended domestic and international academic exchanges frequently and was rarely on campus. The Friday anniversary celebration may well have been the closest any of them were likely to get to him.

"Now do you understand why linking up with Chen Er was the right move?" One of the male players preened, enjoying the sight of the others looking beaten. "Shame some people couldn't read the situation."

"Don't get too pleased with yourself." Wan You looked at him flatly. "The higher you climb, the worse the fall."

He'd latched onto plenty of bosses in his time. Someone like Chen Er — a campus bully running on daddy's money — wasn't worth a second glance.

"Shut your mouth. When I get the instance rewards, you're first." The player's anger reignited at the memory of what Wan You had done Thursday evening.

"No more fighting. There's a message in the study exchange group."

Their assigned hosts were in the group, so the players all opened it promptly. The group administrator had tagged everyone.

"Chen Er has been found responsible for bullying within the school. Behavior deemed severely unacceptable. After deliberation, the school has decided to expel him." Wan You held up his phone, smiling without restraint. "Bad luck. Your asset has been liquidated."

If, back when he was small and poor and being pushed around, the school leadership had stood up for him the way this instance's leadership did — how different things might have been.

The two players who'd been riding Chen Er's coattails went pale. Then the next message in the group removed what little color remained.

[Following investigation, students Li and Wang have been found to have demonstrated poor study conduct, inadequate character, and involvement in bullying during their placement at our institution. Their study placement qualifications have accordingly been revoked.]

These two were finished.

The remaining players looked at the two of them with blank expressions, waiting.

[Ding! Players Old Wang and Old Li have failed the instance. Eliminated by the system.]

Perhaps it was the players' imagination, but the system notification seemed to be getting colder with each one.

Both players disappeared before they could make a sound.

Students passing nearby showed no reaction to what had just happened. Perhaps only their guides would retain some dim memory — two visiting students who had been caught up in a bullying incident and lost their placement privileges.

*

Another day passed.

"Two days left in the placement." At a mid-lecture break, Zhang San rested his chin on his arms and looked at Chao Musheng with a subdued expression. "Xiao Chao — what do you want to do with your life?"

"I want to make a few games that take the world by storm. I also want to design an intelligent care robot that could help elderly people live independently — do something about the aging population problem." Chao Musheng turned it back. "What about you?"

"Me?" Zhang San's mind went blank. Before the infinite world swallowed him, he'd been a rich kid who coasted through everything and had never once thought about ambitions or the future of humanity.

And now he couldn't even survive an instance, let alone think about the future.

"Probably... just want to go home and lie in bed."

He'd been thinking about his bed. That particular bed — soft and warm and perfectly his.

"Zhao Shang?" Chao Musheng turned to where Zhao Shang was still copying notes. "What do you want to do?"

"Learn more useful knowledge." The pen didn't stop moving. "Serve my country." His voice was steady.

Chao Musheng didn't smile at that, or deflect it, or treat it as something naive. He said, with complete sincerity: "I hope you get there."

Not a dream. An ideal.

Zhao Shang looked up. "Thank you. Chao Musheng."

"Of course." Chao Musheng knew Zhao Shang was someone who meant what he said. "After the placement ends — do you two want to stay and explore for a few days?"

Zhao Shang shook his head. He couldn't tell Chao Musheng that this was never a study placement. That it was a game of life and death.

"Fair enough." Chao Musheng sighed. "When you leave the school, I'll walk you to the station."

Zhao Shang looked back down at the page. "Alright."

If only it could be as simple as a farewell.