The next day.
Real-world time: 6:40 PM.
Q City, a high-end apartment.
Zhou Si walked into his home, yawning, glanced at his mother busy in the kitchen, and without a word, went back to his room, slamming the door shut without a sound.
"Dinner will be ready soon~" His mother's voice came from outside the room.
"Annoying!" Zhou Si, sitting on his game pod, casually tore open a bag of snacks and shouted at the door, "I'm not eating."
The young mother, who was serving dishes, smiled bitterly and sighed helplessly.
It's normal for children this age to be a bit rebellious; it should get better in a few years, right?
As someone who had been through it, she thought so.
She thought a little too simply…
Zhou Si, who was in his final year of high school, was not just 'rebellious'; in fact, with his wealthy family and strong physique, he had already become a school bully.
The 'bully' in 'school bully'.
His powerful family background, a gentle and uncommunicative mother, a father who was often away and rarely home, overindulgent elders, sycophantic classmates, a handsome and sunny appearance, a strong and powerful physique… all these factors combined to turn him into what he was today.
He could casually bully and beat up classmates he disliked, and even teachers were quite afraid of him, making him an almost emperor-like presence on campus who could do as he pleased…
This was not an exaggeration.
Although human social structure, average quality, and scientific technology were constantly improving, this did not mean that certain filthy, dark, dirty, and disgusting things ceased to exist, whether people or events.
In fact, quite the opposite, those twisted products, derivatives of humanity, still persisted, enduring through time.
Zhou Si was just one perfectly normal example among them.
His busy father had no time to manage his child, only to give him money; his mother, who spent every day with him, did not notice anything amiss; and the teachers in the school, who should have played a supervisory and educational role, feigned ignorance due to fear of his family…
Of course, exceptions existed. There was once a teacher who, dissatisfied with his behavior, prepared to inform his parents of Zhou Si's 'great achievements' at school. As a result, that very night, he had his legs broken by seven or eight thugs.
Zhou Si did this, but this clever young man made other teachers believe it was his family's doing. Thus, his mother is still in the dark, believing her child is merely 'rebellious'.
Let me emphasize again, this is not an exaggeration, nor does it mean that certain judicial or educational agencies are all a bunch of good-for-nothings zealous in dereliction of duty. It's just that, in many cases, rules do not treat everyone equally…
So, let's return to the story.
In short, Zhou Si was in a very bad mood today; in fact, he had been in a very bad mood for quite some time!
Because of an annoying bug, a bug with no redeeming qualities except for his grades, a wimp, a coward, a piece of trash!
He even tried to 'make friends' with Zhou Si through the game he played!
Not only did he find out his and his friends' game IDs, but even their starting location was fortunately not far from them.
He was as disgusting as a snot slug that couldn't be shaken off no matter what!
“If I hadn't figured out what that 'sin value' was, I would have killed him already!”
Zhou Si couldn't help but think indignantly. Caution was a common problem among players of Innocent World at this stage, after all, this game was too realistic, and the death penalty was too severe.
But Zhou Si still felt that it couldn't go on like this…
How could a big shot like him be entangled by a snot slug! What kind of nonsense was this!
"If you want to come in and take revenge, I might even think highly of you." Zhou Si sneered, then picked up his phone, opened a social media app, and sent a voice message in one of the groups.
"Hey, brothers, I've got a good idea…"
At the same time.
Q City, a certain unfinished building.
He Lei returned to his empty home. He neatly carried his schoolbag, neatly had a buzz cut, and his appearance was quite refined, but his expression was very dull. His thin body was clad in a wrinkled school uniform, and the black-rimmed glasses on his face had some cracks around them and were missing a temple arm.
He was Zhou Si's classmate, and like Zhou Si, he was also considered a school 'tyrant'…
A straight-A student.
A straight-A student who had never gotten any other ranking than first in any exam, but that was useless.
Even if he was a straight-A student, even if he had won a provincial scholarship, even if he had achieved good rankings in many math competitions, he was still a coward and a dullard in the eyes of most people, and a worm, trash, a joke, a scumbag, and a good-for-nothing in the eyes of a few.
Grades don't prove everything. This conclusion, which should logically be an optimized outcome of society, is not a good thing in some sense.
This was no longer a society where one could earn applause and praise based solely on exam results.
Of course, if you could win an international award or take first place, the value would naturally be different, but He Lei obviously had not reached that level. Coupled with his weak and dull nature, and no family background, his life was quite difficult.
His parents were just ordinary working-class people, mediocre and unremarkable.
Plus, the title of 'straight-A student' easily attracted the attention of certain people. Yes, I'm referring to the group led by Zhou Si…
He Lei's high school life was clearly not smooth.
He didn't know when, but getting beaten had become commonplace. His already meager pocket money was forcibly taken by people who didn't need it. He was 'maliciously pranked' during class, ambushed and humiliated somewhere after school, stripped of all clothes except his underwear in the restroom and thrown into the classroom…
If it were someone with a weaker psychological constitution, they would probably have transferred schools or committed suicide by now. As for calling the police, forget it, it would only be self-humiliation.
But perhaps because he was dull or too broad-minded, He Lei did not choose to die.
He also didn't transfer schools; after all, this school had waived most of his tuition fees when they accepted him due to his grades. If he changed schools, not only would the teaching quality decline, but it would also add a significant burden to his family.
Just get through it, it's only three years, it'll be over once I get through it…
He Lei had always thought this way.
But how unpleasant this process would be was also predictable.
So he hadn't not thought of ways before… but with little effect…
However, recently He Lei felt that his chance seemed to have come. Zhou Si and others, who had previously not been very interested in various games and only had a three-minute attention span, suddenly became obsessed with a game called 'Innocent World'.
This might be a good opportunity!
He Lei thought so. He felt that if he could build a good relationship with them in the game, or if he could help Zhou Si and the others, perhaps the current situation would change!
It didn't need to change much, just enough so he wasn't beaten so badly, preferably so it didn't affect his normal studies.
So, he resolutely used the prize money he had secretly saved from various competitions to order a game pod for Innocent World, then lied to his parents that he had won it in a lottery…
"It's really lucky it wasn't sold off." He returned to his room, looked at the only valuable item in the entire room, nodded, then walked over and lay down in it, trying to block out the pervasive pain in his body, waiting for the game to start.
“Although my intentions are not entirely pure, I want to be friends with them no matter what…”
He slowly closed his eyes.
…
Real-world time PM 7:02.
“Your mental connection has been detected. Personal information is being synchronized…”
“Connection complete. Character information is being read.”
“Welcome back, lawful neutral Gareths. Innocent World is loading. Good night.”
…
Innocent Continent, Misha County, Hofur City.
He Lei, no, it should be Gareths, appeared in an alley.
The name Gareths was taken from King Arthur's Twelve Knights of the Round Table. Although there are many translation versions, such as Gareth, He Lei still preferred the name he was currently using.
Of course, in fact, this kind of name, which sounded both grand and high-class, did not fit his personality. If He Lei were playing this game by himself, he would certainly not choose such a nickname, but this was a helpless choice…
Because Zhou Si's name here was Lancelot, his number one minion was Geraint, number two was Galahad, number three was Merlin, number four was Bedivere, and so on, all borrowing from the names of the Knights of the Round Table.
So He Lei, dedicated to getting along with them, pondered for a long time and finally decided on Gareths.
Of course, he was super weak…
“Gareths”
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Alignment: lawful neutral
Level: Warrior 2, Alchemist 2, Engineer 1
Faith: None
HP: 40/40
Stamina: 120/120
Talents: Frail, Timid, Science Whiz
Basic Attributes: Strength 3, Wisdom 10, Dexterity 3, Constitution 2
Civilization Attributes: Eloquence 1, Charm 1, Knowledge 5, Leadership 0
Combat Attributes: One-Handed Weapon Specialization Level 1, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization Level 1
Skills: Bash, Basic Alchemy, Elementary Engineering
…
For a player who had been playing for nearly half a month, he was genuinely quite weak.
However, there was nothing he could do. After all, Gareths had spent several days traveling before, and it also took him some time to find Zhou Si and the others. Although he followed them when they were fighting monsters and doing quests to level up, he was basically just eating dust. Plus, his talents were really not great; he had no buffs but quite a few debuffs, which made it even harder for him to get stronger.
In short, Gareths waited for about two or three minutes, and then Zhou Si and his group of friends logged in one after another, appearing in the same alley.
The system would not allow players to avoid other players when logging in, which was why Gareths was confident he would wait for them.
"Yo, still here?" Zhou Si, whose in-game name was Lancelot, grinned maliciously at Gareths, then waved to the others around him: "Give him the usual muscle-relaxing service, but don't kill him…"
The group of people around rushed forward.
A few minutes later, Gareths, beaten to near death, slowly stood up by leaning on the wall and whispered to Zhou Si, who was wearing dark blue knight armor, "I think… everyone should leave this city."
"Oh?" Zhou Si raised an eyebrow slightly: "Why?"
Gareths immediately said, "The Plague has completely spread throughout Misha County, and I saw examples of players getting infected on the forum before. I think we should leave here as soon as possible, before everyone gets infected, and cross the blockade to level up somewhere else…"
“If I can make them feel like I can help, then maybe I can slowly achieve a relatively equal dialogue, right?”
Gareths, trying every possible way to help the people in front of him, was simply deluding himself.
Yes, delusion…
"Oh oh, Xiao Lei, you're really smart!" Zhou Si smiled and nodded, exchanged a look with his companions, and shrugged: "We thought of the same thing!"
“That’s great!”
Gareths immediately smiled. Just as he was about to say something more, he was suddenly held up by the people on both sides.
He was instantly stunned and said, "What are you all doing…"
"Oh, nothing." Zhou Si chuckled, walked up to Gareths and whispered, "We are indeed planning to cross the blockade, but everyone thinks you're very suitable to stay here."
Gareths smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I just want to be with everyone, I won't cause any trouble."
"Whether you cause trouble or not is not up to you," Zhou Si sneered, then looked at a player dressed as a Thief beside him: "Go, be careful on the way."
The other party nodded and quickly turned to leave the alley…
Fifteen minutes later.
"I'm back." The player dressed as a Thief returned to the group, holding a small bottle filled with dark red liquid, and said with a smile, "I got the stuff, and it's fresh."
Gareths was somewhat stunned: "What is this?"
"This is good stuff." Zhou Si took the bottle handed to him by his companion and said with a chuckle, "It's the blood of those unlucky people who died from the Plague!"
“No way!?”
Gareths froze.
"You know, I really hate you, especially, especially, especially hate you!" Zhou Si's face suddenly darkened, and he drew the longsword from his waist, saying coldly, "You are a maggot, and a maggot who delusions of being equal to me, a Slime that can't be shaken off, a piece of trash that everyone will despise no matter where you're thrown, always pretending to be aloof, not crying, not making a fuss, not arguing, not shouting, there's no sense of accomplishment even when I hit you! Instead, because of your behavior, I look like a joke, and you don't let me have peace even when playing a game…"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and finally, he slashed Gareths' arm with his sword.
"A joke should know its place!"
Foul-smelling blood dripped into Gareths' wound…
"Rot here alone!"
Zhou Si sneered and threw away the bottle in his hand.
"No one will accept you! No one will care about you! Scum!"
…
“You have been infected with: Corrupting Plague, Putrid Plague, Pustule Plague.”
Chapter 131: The End
