NOVEL WEB Chapter 11 - Passing Conditions
Seeing this scene, He Gu was instantly chilled to the bone with dread.
The sleepwalking Wang Tao, the dorm supervisor in uniform…the two dangerous situations mentioned in the rules had occurred to He Gu at the same time!
Especially the sleepwalking Wang Tao. The rules stated that if he was seen sleepwalking, he must not be disturbed and one should immediately return to the dorm room.
Clearly, He Gu had already violated this rule.
Fortunately though, this rule did not seem to be immediately fatal, otherwise the livestream would likely have been filled with blood the instant He Gu pushed Wang Tao.
But even so, He Gu had nearly been dragged into the next dorm room by Wang Tao.
Thinking back now, He Gu still felt some lingering fear.
Leaning against the dorm room door, it took He Gu quite a while to catch his breath.
The struggle and shock just now had drained He Gu of a lot of energy, leaving him feeling spent.
To experience such a thrilling “door kill” first thing in the morning was truly too stimulating.
At the same time.
On Earth.
Inside the Dragon Nation’s livestream.
After witnessing that intense and thrilling process, the bullet screen was now lively to the extreme.
“Damn, that was close! If He Gu had been dragged into the next dorm room, he’d likely be dead for sure!”
“Luckily this rule wasn’t immediately fatal, leaving some room to maneuver.”
“Too freaking scary, who’d have thought Wang Tao would be sleepwalking so early in the morning! And standing right outside the dorm room door!”
“That dorm supervisor in uniform is pretty scary too. I wonder if he was the one who dragged Wang Tao away in the end?”
“Shameless! The Dragon Nation’s player clearly broke the rules yet is still alive! How unfair!”
“Hey little Japan guy, go back to your own livestream!”
“Their livestream went dark yesterday lol”
“Hahahaha…”
…
Amidst the intense bullet screen discussion, the remaining surviving players from Australia and Oil Nation also notified their players about the intel seen in Dragon Nation’s stream, warning them to avoid an unexpected “door kill”.
…
Back in the World of Strange Tales.
Leaning against the dorm door, it took He Gu quite a while to recover.
At this time, He Gu noticed he was still tightly clutching the bird cage, and the parrot inside was cocking its head looking at him.
He Gu stared intently at the parrot for a while, and suddenly realized it seemed different from yesterday.
Exactly what was different, He Gu couldn’t say, he just felt…its gaze seemed more human-like?
Holding the cage, He Gu kept staring at the parrot for a bit but couldn’t figure out why.
At the same time, he noticed the food tray was empty, and there was a lot of bird droppings on the paper lining the bottom of the cage.
After hanging up the cage, He Gu refilled the bird food.
At this moment, the parrot suddenly flapped its wings and squawked “Meat! Meat!”
“Meat! Meat!”
…
After squawking twice, the parrot quieted down again and resumed pecking at its food.
He Gu, however, was no longer calm.
How could this parrot say so much!?
It had greeted customers outside the door earlier, and now shouting for meat…
Recalling the two hidden messages that both mentioned the parrot, He Gu suddenly had a bold idea – this parrot could communicate with humans!
Thinking this, He Gu tentatively said to the parrot: “Hello?”
The parrot cocked its head looking at He Gu, seeming a bit puzzled.
He Gu said again: “Hello, my name is He Gu.”
The parrot kept staring at He Gu.
He Gu: “What’s your name?”
The parrot seemed to have lost interest in He Gu, turning away and resuming pecking at its food.
He Gu: …
Alright, this parrot probably couldn’t directly communicate after all.
But could its words have some special meaning?
Meat?
Was it saying it wanted to eat meat?
Or reminding He Gu to eat meat?
He Gu shook his head, feeling somewhat muddled.
Ultimately, He Gu gave up the fruitless guessing. He took out a fresh sheet of lining paper, preparing to replace the soiled one in the cage bottom.
And when He Gu pulled out that lining sheet from underneath the cage, he suddenly discovered a folded piece of paper beneath it.
“This is…”
He Gu took out the paper and unfolded it. It was an A4 sheet with writing on it:
[Passing Conditions: 1. Survive for one week in the dorm room, wait for the internship company personnel to retrieve you (passing score: A); 2. Obtain the internship notice, proactively contact the internship company to retrieve you (passing score: S); 3. Obtain the internship notice, uncover the truth then contact the internship company to retrieve you (passing score: SS-SSS)]
…
The passing conditions!
The passing conditions for this instance were actually hidden in the parrot’s cage!
Seeing this paper, He Gu was elated.
There were two types of instances in the World of Strange Tales.
One was passing by simply experiencing the full story alive, with relatively low danger and mortality below 50%.
The other had specific passing conditions that must be met to clear, often with frighteningly high mortality rates.
Judging by the danger experienced so far, He Gu had already guessed this instance would have special passing conditions.
And in such instances, challengers typically had to achieve a certain level of puzzle solving before the conditions appeared.
Finding it directly in the bird cage like this was quite rare.
Unfortunately, since this paper detailed “passing conditions” rather than “rules”, it did not trigger He Gu’s talent [Eyes of Delusion Breaking] and he did not obtain new hidden information.
He Gu carefully read the contents twice, deep in thought.
There were three passing criteria in total, all requiring “retrieval by the internship company” to pass.
In other words, to pass, the only way was the off-campus internship.
But in He Gu’s memory, all his classmates had already been assigned internship companies and left campus, only he and Zhang Chao were still waiting endlessly for their notices.
Previously when they had asked about it, the school’s reply was always “limited partner companies”, telling them to wait patiently.
Perhaps he should ask the class advisor about the situation again?
Thinking this, He Gu took out his phone and dialed the class advisor’s number from his contacts.
“Beep…beep…Hello, the number you dialed is on another call…”
The call was cut off after just two rings.
He Gu frowned slightly. Was the advisor unavailable to take calls?
Just as He Gu was thinking to try again later, his phone suddenly vibrated.
Looking down, He Gu saw the advisor was calling him back.
Picking up, he heard the advisor’s voice: “Hello, who is this?”
Teacher Fang had all the students’ numbers saved right?
Why was she asking “who is this?”
Puzzled, He Gu politely replied: “Teacher Fang, this is He Gu.”
But as soon as he spoke, the other end hung up again immediately.
Was it a bad connection?
He Gu dialed again, doubtful.
This time, it rang for a long time before Teacher Fang finally picked up again.
Yet as soon as the call connected, He Gu heard Teacher Fang yelling anxiously and angrily: “Who are you! Is this kind of prank fun? What are you trying to do!”
He Gu: “Teacher Fang…I don’t understand what you mean.”
Teacher Fang kept yelling: “I don’t care who you are, please respect the deceased and stop this mischief immediately! Otherwise I’m calling the police!”