WTNL Chapter 3.1

Decai Middle School
Chapter 3.1: People, they’re all voyeuristic.

After modifying the list, the old witch closed the crumpled little notebook and tossed it to Wen Jianyan:

“Alright, send it over, but you must copy one for me to keep.”

The young man hurriedly caught the roster, pushed up his slightly crooked glasses frame, and answered nervously:

“T-Troubling you.”

“Intern teacher… hmph.”

The old witch narrowed her eyes, her dull pupils reflecting a gloomy light behind the greasy lenses. She ordered tyrannically:

“It’s almost time for headcounts. Just right, come over here again after you deliver the roster. I’m very short on hands here.”

“Fucking hell, every time a bunch of crappy matters are all piled onto me, a bunch of shameless things…”

The woman spat, cursing filthily as she turned and walked out. Her tall and bloated back disappeared outside the door.

“Bang!”

The door of the duty room was rudely slammed shut.

Through the door panel, Wen Jianyan heard that bizarrely tuned singing voice ring out again. Accompanied by the woman’s heavy footsteps, the humming gradually faded away, ultimately swallowed by the pitch-black shadows.

Even though it was only a short few dozen seconds, it felt as long as a century.

Finally, only a deathly silence remained in his ears.

“…”

Almost immediately, the green and shy smile on the young man’s face, like thin snow under intense sunlight, swiftly disappeared, leaving only an expressionless calm where no emotion could be seen.

The barrage also fell silent for a few seconds.

[…]

[The streamer’s expression—it always feels like he’s plotting something…]

[Speaking of which, he felt quite familiar with the process from the very beginning. Could he be some big shot’s alt account? After all, streamers can use points to exchange for shells.]

[Moreover, if I remember correctly, this streamer drew a hell-difficulty initial survival time right in the first level. How could an ordinary person’s luck be this bad? It must be a restriction added by the system, right?]

[Right, right, I feel the same, the possibility of it being an alt account is very high.]

[But, I follow the vast majority of S-rank streamers and large guilds, but this broadcasting style… feels a bit unmatched?]

Right at this moment, the streamer who had been motionless just now suddenly stood up.

[!]

The viewers watching the live broadcast seemed to all be greatly startled.

They subconsciously held their breath, staring fixedly at the young man on the screen, half-surprised and half-excitedly anticipating his next move—

“Blargh—”

Wen Jianyan lunged to the side of the desk with one step, leaned over the trash can, and started to dry heave.

His slender fingers pressed deadly against the edge of the desk, his knuckles turning ghastly pale from the force. Coupled with the retching sounds echoing through the room, no matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem fake.

[…]

[…]

The barrage fell into a deathly silence.

A few seconds later, rows of [?] slowly appeared.

[…WTF?]

[…The streamer revealed such an unfathomable expression just now, and the result is showing me this?]

[So the streamer is indeed still a newcomer, right, otherwise how could his reaction be this big…]

[Maybe it’s acting…? I’m not sure anymore…]

Half a minute later, Wen Jianyan stood up with a pale face, holding onto the desk.

Perhaps because he hadn’t eaten for too long, he didn’t throw up anything this time either.

He wiped the corner of his mouth with a look of exhaustion. The corners of his eyes were wet and red, and a layer of physiological mist veiled his long eyelashes.

Damn it…

That was really…

Scaring people to death!

The clothes on Wen Jianyan’s back were tightly stuck to his skin by sweat, and his palms were also damp with sweat. When the cold wind blew, he couldn’t help but shiver.

Aaaaaaaaah, what kind of hellhole is this aaaaaaaaah!

That terrifying smiling face was right behind his head just now! Behind his head! So close! So close! I’m fucking scared to the point of vomiting!!

Wen Jianyan’s expression twisted slightly.

Fortunately, the NPC that came in later at least looked somewhat human; otherwise, he suspected he would have died on the spot.

Moreover, more importantly…

Even though Wen Jianyan didn’t know how much of his survival time was left! But he clearly knew that it was probably very critical right now—he might be finished in a few seconds!

He hadn’t even had time to spend the two billion he just got his hands on! He hadn’t had time to properly enjoy a beautiful life yet!

Not getting sunk in a pond by a criminal syndicate, but dying an unnatural, unexplained death because of being pulled into a horror live broadcast software…

This kind of thing, please no!

Wen Jianyan was currently very desperate.

Just when he was panicking like crazy, suddenly, a “ding” rang in his ears. Immediately after, the system’s mechanical voice sounded:

[Congratulations to the streamer for unlocking a new method to acquire points!]

[Plot Deviation Degree: 31% Reward Points: 10000
As the deviation degree increases, the reward points will also increase substantially oh~
Attention: As the degree of plot modification increases, the instance will undergo uncontrollable changes!
Please keep up the good work, streamer, and unlock brand new plotlines of the instance!]

[Live broadcast task rewards are being calculated for you…

Instance Exploration Degree: 20% Reward Points: 2000]

[Oh no, the system has detected that the streamer’s remaining survival time is about to fall below one minute, and your live broadcast room is about to close! For the sake of the loyal fans eagerly waiting to be fed in your live broadcast room, would you like to exchange all the points in your account for survival time?]

!!!

I’ve been waiting for those exact words!

Wen Jianyan almost wept tears of joy:

“Exchange!”

[Ding! Your points have been exchanged. Please open your identity card to check!]

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath to calm his mood.

Then, he took that identity card out of his pocket. He saw that the writing on it had changed at some unknown point.

[Identity Card]
Name: Cheng Wei (Changed to: Xiao Wen)
Age: 16 (Changed to: ???)

Occupation: 1st Year High School Student at Decai Middle School (Changed to: Intern Teacher for 1st Year High School at Decai Middle School)

Related Plot: Not yet unlocked (Changed to: ???)

All the text following “Changed to” appeared in a dim light gray, faintly discernible. It was almost hard to see clearly in the not-so-bright light, as if it would disappear from the card in the next second.

Wen Jianyan looked at it thoughtfully for a few seconds, then flipped the card to its back.

On it was a blood-red countdown.

The survival time had grown from a shocking single digit to one hundred and twenty minutes.

Although it was only two hours, he could at least live until the first point settlement point now.

Wen Jianyan slowly let out a long breath of relief.

He gazed at the remaining survival time displayed on the card and fell into deep thought.

It seemed that points and survival time were exchanged at a ratio of one hundred to one.

The rewards given for exploring the instance were truly too little. Even if maxed out to one hundred percent, it was only ten thousand points.

Of course, more live broadcast tasks might be updated later on, but whether he could actually survive until then was another story.

Wen Jianyan rubbed his chin.

As for the plot deviation degree…

Although it really gave a lot of points, he hadn’t forgotten the system’s warning just now. The subsequent risks of this method were truly too great.

Then, in the end, only one point acquisition channel was left—

Wen Jianyan lowered his head and searched a bit, then lightly tapped in the void, releasing the live broadcast interface once again.

The barrage violently came to life.

[!!!]

[Oh oh oh! The streamer opened the barrage!]

[Remembering to open the barrage at this time, what? Finally realized you don’t have enough points to keep living?]

Wen Jianyan’s gaze lightly swept over those barrages—whether they were excited, malicious, sarcastic, or gloating—and landed softly on the upper right corner of the screen.

[Online Viewers: 364]

Although the single digit was constantly fluctuating, the change overall wasn’t considered large.

“Hello everyone.”

The young man slightly lowered his head. The half-bright, half-dark light fell on his pale skin, making his contours appear deeper and his face handsome.

He lifted a smile.

He didn’t know if it was because of his profession, but Wen Jianyan’s lips were extremely good-looking. The lower lip was soft and plump, while the corners of his mouth were narrow and sharp. When they curved upward, they could be easily manipulated to reveal various emotions. Whether it was exerting deterrence or expressing friendliness, he could pull it off effortlessly and without any obstacles.

“The situation earlier was too urgent, I didn’t have time to greet everyone, I’m sorry.”

Wen Jianyan’s eyelashes drooped slightly. His light amber eyes contained no trace of gloom, appearing clear and sincere. Although his voice was slightly hoarse from the dry heaving just now, the apology in his tone was completely unadulterated.

[…]

The barrage was rendered speechless for a moment.

Indeed, the situation just now was so urgent, the streamer hiding the barrage was also forced by circumstances.

He didn’t do it on purpose!

Looking at the streamer’s sincere and handsome face, some viewers couldn’t help but start reflecting on themselves, wondering if they had been too harsh on this newcomer streamer earlier.

Thus, more friendly barrages appeared.

[It’s fine, it’s fine, understandable.]

[For a newbie streamer to be able to play like this on his first time, it’s very impressive.]

Some people even threw some small gifts into the live broadcast room as consolation.

Gazing at the increase in points displayed on his backstage balance, Wen Jianyan curved his eyes inconspicuously.

Next, he casually picked a few questions from the barrage to answer.

“Feelings? Hard to describe. Of course, I’m a bit scared, but aren’t you guys here.”

“Of course I hope to get out alive.”

“Hahahaha, I am single.”

Finally, Wen Jianyan’s gaze landed on one of the barrages, as if subconsciously reading out its contents:

“Is it really the streamer’s first time playing? Is it really not someone’s alt account—”

He abruptly stopped his voice.

The young man smiled at the screen, speaking with an undisturbed, calm posture as if no one was watching: “Ah, sorry, I’ve paused for too long, time to continue.”

Having said that, without waiting for the barrage to react, Wen Jianyan crisply hid the live broadcast room again.

[???]

[!!!???]

[Wait! I feel like I’ve detected something!]

[Someone go check which streamers B-rank and above from the major guilds haven’t started their live broadcasts today!]

[The dry heaving just now was definitely acting! Definitely!]

The barrage scrolled crazily, countless speculations emerging. The number of people watching the live broadcast also skyrocketed accordingly. In the short span of a few minutes, it rose from over three hundred to nearly eight hundred, and was still continuously increasing.

Although Wen Jianyan had hidden the barrage, he didn’t close the light screen.

Listening to the clinking sound effects of the live broadcast gifts taking effect, he narrowed his eyes, a fleeting smile brushing across his lips.

People, after all.

They all have a voyeuristic desire.

However, right now, both the number of online viewers and the rewarded points were still too small. Better nurture them first, and slaughter them when they get fat.

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on a corner of the light screen, and he couldn’t help but pause slightly.

Squatting there was a miniaturized flower pot icon.

It was exactly that useless apple seedling gifted by the system.

However, he didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he always felt… the layer of soil in the flower pot seemed to bulge up a bit.

Wen Jianyan stared at it for a good while and frowned.

The icon was too small, maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He shook his head and completely turned off the light screen.

Wen Jianyan stood up. Although his legs were still a bit weak, they were much better than before.

Before turning around to leave, he couldn’t help but look in the direction of the mirror.

Although the incident had already passed, thinking about what had just happened still gave him some lingering fears.

In the half-broken mirror, the pale, smiling ghost face from just now had disappeared, leaving only the wardrobe still half-open.

…Wardrobe?

Wen Jianyan revealed a thoughtful expression.

Speaking of which, the roster for this year’s students was also dug out from here, so… could there be some important clues here?

Better to act than to just think about it.

Wen Jianyan stepped forward, leaning over to search for something inside the messy wardrobe.

Because his life was hanging by a thread just now, and he didn’t have too strong a purpose, he had only done some rough rummaging. Now he finally had the chance to carefully search the entire interior of the wardrobe in detail.

“Click.”

A slight, crisp sound rang out.

A small hidden drawer popped open from the bottom of the wardrobe.

Just as expected.

Wen Jianyan pursed his lips, preventing his excitement from showing, and lowered his head to inspect the odds and ends inside the drawer.

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