Chapter 272: Online Dating Scam Record (Thirty-Five)
No, it's more than that.
Guo Guo immediately remembered another thing: each of these cards requires a high number of points to use, and can only be used individually.
Among the three types of cards, the exam observation ticket can only allow students to enter other candidates' exams but cannot interfere; the tutoring ticket allows students to intervene, but the number of times is limited; the only free [Freshman Welcome Party Experience Ticket] has nothing to do with the exam and is at best a free meal.
As for the "Examination Tutoring and Orientation Copy Experience Card", it is something I have never heard of or seen before - judging from the name, isn't this just a combination of three cards and coupons, randomly pieced together?
But if it really is the Heart Sutra...it doesn't seem impossible.
Although he didn't know what exactly happened to Tang Xinjue, Guo Guo still had immense trust in his roommate.
What's more, this is indeed Tang Xin Jue's style - instead of sitting there in the dungeon and waiting to die, it is better to break down the barriers and pull everyone in!
Doesn’t the copy like to target students? It would be boring to bully a few of them. Are a hundred enough?
When his thoughts became clear, Guo Guo even felt that he could imagine Tang Xinjue's tone and voice in his mind.
When the girl did this, there should have been a smile on her lips, but a sharp look could be seen in her eyes: half was worry and anger for her roommate whose life or death was unknown, and the other half was calmness and excitement of becoming stronger when facing a stronger opponent.
Guo Guo, who was able to indirectly confirm Tang Xinjue's safety through this, couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat and wiped his eyes.
"Hey, don't cry."
The girl who was closest to her noticed her change of mood and quickly comforted her: "Although the resurrection items in this game are hard to find, it's not impossible to get them . As long as there's someone else in your dormitory, there's still a chance."
"Yeah, we were hiding in the closet in our dorm room at the time. We saw the ghost about to open the door, but we didn't expect this card to pop out at the last second. God knows what he means."
A boy also rejoiced, and when he recalled the thrill of the original copy, he couldn't help but get goosebumps.
In reality, after being redirected by the cards, they first arrived at an empty, locked classroom. They exchanged information with one another, and their emotions had largely calmed down. After all, wherever they were, it was better than the near-death experience they'd endured in the previous instance. It was just that, because they couldn't leave, they knew nothing about the new instance.
In addition, as time passed, more and more candidates dropped into this classroom, and gradually there was not enough space to stand on it. They could only use props to climb on the walls and light tubes... Just when some of them were thinking about how to ignore gravity and stand upside down on the ceiling, they were accidentally released by the school NPC.
"It's like this..."
Guo Guo was just thinking about how to explain the Study Committee Experience Card issue to them when a familiar voice and a chilling aura reached her from outside the corridor. She instinctively drew her weapon: "Those ghosts are back!"
As soon as he finished speaking, five middle-aged men who looked like teaching staff came in from the stairs with menacing expressions. Their fierce expressions were revealed as soon as they met him.
"I heard there are some disobedient students here?"
Looking at the endless crowd of examinees in the corridor, they fell silent.
Three of the teachers turned to look at the bald man leading the way: "You only said there are students here."
But it didn't say there were so many.
The bald man stiffened his neck and said, "Am I wrong? There are some unruly students here."
If I explain it clearly, will you still come?
"That's right," the female teacher retorted, "They even tried to assault the teacher just now. They absolutely need to be punished and managed according to the school rules!"
"Yeah." A teacher in the middle, who looked to be over 300 pounds and so fat that he could squeeze out three people, nodded. "School rules must not be violated, and students who violate them should indeed be properly managed. But I remember that it seems that the school is on vacation now, so the total number of students in the entire school is less than 100, right?"
He raised his thick chin with some difficulty and pointed at the candidate:
"The number of people is unusual now. I think the security booth should be held accountable first."
The other teachers nodded seriously: "That makes sense."
"I think so."
"Then..."
"Excuse me for interrupting." The candidate at the front suddenly laughed. "If I heard correctly, you mean, are you scared?"
Everyone present had been in the game for quite some time and had gone through many dungeons. Countless candidates had been scared to death by ghosts, but this was the first time they had ever seen a ghost being scared away by a candidate.
Is this what it feels like to be a serf and become a master?
The tension in the air suddenly grew tense as the words were brought to light. Many of the candidates exchanged glances, their faces lit up with inscrutable smiles.
"If you ask me, since we're already here," one of the students cleared his throat and said loudly, "Doesn't the game always emphasize that we must pass the exam? Then let's do it!"
"Yeah, it's just a group instance, it's not the first time I've encountered this. But this game is such a jerk. They're trying to crush us to death with the sheer number of test-takers. Fortunately, we've already passed the difficult first level. Let's see what we'll do next... Oh, fighting fraud, right?"
Most people showed their approval.
That’s right, the copy of one hundred candidates is also a group copy, which makes sense!
When the five school NPCs wanted to escape, it was too late. The candidates who had finally come to their senses had already blocked their way with their skills.
The first to bear the brunt of the attack were the bald man and the female teacher who had let the people out. They were surrounded by the same group of dormitories they had initially offended. Even the wounds on their bodies, which had not yet healed, were twisted and blue.
"Ahem, we're all teachers and students from the same school. We should get along with each other in a friendly manner. If there's anything you want to talk about, don't resort to violence... Hey, do you remember? I let you out once!"
The bald student, whose neck was nearly broken by the bald male teacher, smiled and said, "Excuse me, my school is Guanzhou Sports College. We have hundreds of teachers, but you are the only one not here. What kind of teachers and students are we?"
After saying that, a continuous stream of skills and bombing sounds exploded in the corridor!
Caught in the heated crowd, Guo Guo didn't even have a chance to make a move. A barrage of skills flew over her head, and she shrank back with a chill on her scalp. She first found a corner, opened her phone, and sent a message to Tang Xinjue:
[Guo Guo: Hello, I would like to order the virtual lover service again.]
The virtual lover's account had long since vanished, along with the "lover" himself. Guo Guo had wanted to report the situation to Tang Xinjue, but was afraid that speaking to the customer service account would be detected, so he temporarily changed his tone to an order.
However, this time [Customer Service Xiao Tang] did not reply to her immediately. The phone was silent and there was no message.
Guo Guo's heart couldn't help but hang in the air again.
After a short wait, the fight outside also came to an end. The crowd dispersed again, and the bald boys came back carrying the bald male teacher, complaining:
"They ran too fast and we couldn't catch up. Suddenly, four more of them ran away, leaving only this bald one."
Guo Guo collected his thoughts and immediately walked up to the bald teacher who had been almost beaten to his original form. He pulled out the pen and red string, and sure enough, he saw the other party shudder, with obvious fear in his eyes.
She said, "I won't say any more nonsense. If you don't want to be wiped out, just tell me how to pass the level."
The bald teacher trembled: "I, I don't understand what you are saying, I, I'm just an ordinary teacher..."
Guo Guo changed his perspective: "You should know about the fraud case, right? Why are you covering up the investigation into the fraud gang?"
The bald man mumbled, "Investigation? Of course we can investigate, but the regulations require sufficient complaint forms. And you didn't provide enough yesterday. Of course, the school leaders have the right to refuse."
"Appeal forms?" Another candidate, who had briefly reviewed the dungeon's plot, raised an eyebrow and asked, "How many appeal forms do you need? With so many of us, we should be able to gather at least a hundred."
Bald teacher: "...Enough, enough."
Three consecutive appeals are enough!
"Damn it, damn it, damn it..."
In the narrow corridor, several humanoid monsters with wounds on their faces climbed quickly along the wall, whispering hatefully, thinking about how to torture those damn candidates after catching them.
"Now is not the time to talk about this. There is a problem with the copy, and an error should be reported!"
One of the monsters slapped the other, then quickly ran to a small door at the end of the corridor and climbed in through the window.
The other monsters were stunned for a moment: "Reporting an error isn't just for candidates..."
"That's right, but if the candidates can do it, why can't we? I have found a way--" The monster sneered, and after drilling through the first door, it went through the corridor to drill a second, smaller door. When it got to the point where it could no longer be drilled, it began to smash the door frantically.
"Is customer service here? We need to provide feedback to our superiors!"
The little stick figures who were diligently typing away on the keyboard were so frightened that they jumped up and hugged each other: "Earthquake! It's the end of the world!!"
No, how could there be an earthquake in a university town?
When they reacted, they found a pair of huge monster eyes outside the door staring fiercely inside, shouting in a rough voice: "Customer service, customer service, quickly open a channel for me to feedback upwards, otherwise I will..."
Little stickman: “…”
Not long after, just as the NPC outside gradually returned to human form, a scream was heard from inside the door, and the companion inside had turned into a pool of black water.
In the innermost small room, the little stick figure had returned to normal working order and said in a low and cold voice:
"Congratulations, your complaint has been successfully received. We will investigate it after the copy is completed. Please wait."
NPC: ???
What? We have to wait until the instance is over before we can process it? Then what do they have to do with it?
And if you want to complain, then just complain. Why did your companion suddenly disappear?
In response to the ghost's question, the stickman replied confidently, "Complaints by students will cost you credits, and you don't have any credits, so of course you can only pay with your life, hehe~"
…
The students still stuck on the sixth floor had no idea what was happening on the other floors. They managed to get a batch of appeal forms, filling them out based on the newly generated chat logs on their phones, and then forced the bald teacher to start the next stage of the plot.
"First, you need to find a non-existent floor in the teaching building. Oh, you're already there." The bald man twitched his lips twice in anger and said reluctantly, "Next, you just need to find a teacher named Zhu. She will send you the results of the school's investigation. After that, you need to go through three more steps, wait seven working days, and cooperate with four more investigations..."
Candidates: ???
Someone said quietly, "I suddenly feel that the dungeon I was just going through wasn't that difficult after all."
In just a short period of time, they had already realized that the difficulty of this copy was simply inhumane. It was really hard to imagine how Guo Guo's dormitory would have been able to pass it alone if a large group of candidates had not suddenly descended.
Guo Guo's scalp tingled. She hadn't expected that after two days, the dungeon's storyline would only reach its beginning. With only the seemingly endless appeals process to follow, she almost suspected she'd die from simply playing through the dungeon.
"By the way, you don't have to think about finding the fraud gang directly. Haha, you won't be able to see them until the school completes the investigation process."
The bald man looked at the expressions on the students' faces and finally laughed with a gloating smile: "Hahahaha, students are so naive. The dangers of society are beyond your imagination..."
"bite!"
Two messages suddenly popped up on the phone that had been silent for a long time.
[Customer Service Xiao Tang: If the deviation is too large, the instance will automatically correct some of the errors . The monsters will gradually increase in number. Be prepared for battle.]
The second message is:
Go up the stairs. Don't worry about whether there's a path above you or what you see. Just pretend there's a path ahead and keep going up. When you see a light, stop and come find me.
Guo Guo felt that all his attention was focused on the last three words.
——Come to me.
The first teaching building only has five floors at its highest.
But the buildings in the university town have no end in sight on the top floors.
Guo Guo had reached the sixth floor before the ghosts invaded, stopping at the "out of the dungeon" level. But looking up, the staircase was a vast expanse of white, with a solid, thick wall blocking the middle of the staircase, and no way out was visible.
But Guo Guo believed that since the Heart Sutra told her the method, she would be able to do it if she followed it.
She quickly explained what she knew about the dungeon to the other candidates, and then declined their offers of help. She didn't want to drag others into the unknown danger.
After she finished her instructions, she stepped onto the stairs and walked up step by step.
There is a road ahead, there is a road ahead...
Guo Guo used all the methods he had used to train his brain. He kept repeating the same idea to himself, trying to ignore the wall in front of him and outlining an unobstructed upward staircase in his mind.
Even when she was about to hit the wall, she was still immersed in her own world, keeping a steady pace and continued walking.
...There is a road ahead!
When her vision changed, she had already climbed to the end of the stairs without any hindrance. Going up again, a staircase leading to the seventh floor suddenly appeared before her.
Starting from the seventh floor, a thin layer of white mist began to spread in the air. Guo Guo didn't look back, but calmly walked into the mist. The light around him became very dim, and he could only vaguely see the scenery. There was no light ahead, so he couldn't stop.
Keep walking, Xin Jue is waiting for her on a certain floor.
With this thought firmly in mind, Guo Guo felt his feet lighten. After climbing a few dozen more steps, figures suddenly appeared in the white mist. One, two... the shadows of several young students appeared above.
They seemed to be engaged in an intense conversation, their expressions filled with determination and passion. As they chatted, they walked down the stairs, seemingly completely unaware of Guo Guo as they passed. Guo Guo couldn't see their faces either, and after passing them, she didn't turn around to look, but simply continued walking forward.
——Don’t worry about what you see.
The higher she went, the more people she saw. Some were a few girls, some were a few boys, and sometimes there were groups of boys and girls standing together, holding computers, blueprints, and various tools that Guo Guo couldn't understand.
When they reached the eighth floor, two staircases appeared above them. Although they both seemed to lead to the ninth floor, Guo Guo felt a sense of danger.
Her intuition told her that only one of the two options was correct and she couldn't make the wrong choice.
There were also three figures whose faces could not be seen clearly standing at the corner of the stairs. Guo Guo caught a glimpse of one of them, a tall boy with a crew cut and wearing a black T-shirt with letters. For some reason, she felt a vague sense of familiarity with him.
The boy with a crew cut seemed to glance at her imperceptibly, then pointed a finger.
Guo Guo was stunned. Was she mistaken? Although it was only a moment, the boy clearly pointed to the stairs on the left.
She hesitated for a moment, then followed the instructions and headed left. After successfully climbing to the ninth floor, the environment became even darker, almost pitch dark. But as soon as she reached the intersection of the stairs and the corridor, a glimmer of light quickly caught her eye.
It was a small lantern.
The lantern fell diagonally in the middle of the corridor, its pale white light flickering, looking like it was about to go out. For Guo Guo at that moment, although the light was poor, it could illuminate the path under his feet, and that was enough.
In the darkness, even more severe than the unknown danger was the psychological pressure. After grasping the lantern, Guo Guo felt the suffocating tension ease a lot. Holding this weak light, she walked deeper into the corridor on the ninth floor.
She didn't know how long she'd been walking, but she felt like she was floating on the sea, losing all sense of space and time. She couldn't even tell if she was following the path she'd taken or running into a wall. The cold air enveloped her for so long that even her eyes felt numb. She tried to blink, and then blinked again.
A scene that she had not seen for a long time slowly unfolded before her eyes.
Familiar lights, familiar tables and chairs, familiar beds, and furnishings...
Guo Guo walked straight forward due to inertia, and only stopped subconsciously after he had walked inside.
She stared at all this in a daze, then turned her head and saw a newly bought "Bixian Guide" lying crookedly on the familiar desk. Even the curvature of the pages at the corners was exactly the same as she remembered.
This is the dormitory in her memory, no, it should be said that it is the dormitory that is most familiar to her.
She walked back to the real 606?
Guo Guo felt that she was either hallucinating or having a last glimpse of life before death. Otherwise, how could she see Tang Xinjue, who still looked the same as before the game came, sitting in his seat in the dormitory, reading quietly and even greeting her?
