The Deferential Slime

Zhu Yan hesitated for a moment and did not reply right away.

Yang Zhanbai was a familiar acquaintance whose background he knew well.

Sharing a room with him guaranteed at least some level of safety. He would not have to worry about getting his left hand chopped off in his sleep and taken to the Hall of Mourning for cash.

The downside was that sharing a room with Yang Zhanbai meant he would likely be bombarded with questions, making it a bit risky if he wanted to do things on his own.

He opened the messages from Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming, quickly scanning through to filter out the important parts.

Yang Zhanbai: "We are here. When are you arriving?"

"The security guard is a bit scary, but we got in anyway."

"Oh fuck, it really is a school."

"The terrifying creature in the Moral Education Building will ask if you want to withdraw your enrollment. Do not do it, bro. If you withdraw, it is over for life."

Attached below was a bloody photo, with the main subject heavily censored with mosaics.

"Withdrawing costs a fee of 800 bone coins. He did not have that much money, so he defaulted to paying with his life."

Yang Zhanbai explained: "And they do not give you any room to regret it."

Well, that was very Carnival Paradise!

The rest were photos of campus cards, the convenience store, and the dormitories.

"The dorms have rooms for four, six, eight, and ten people."

"You have to pay an accommodation fee, which is deducted directly from the student card. I chose a four-person room."

"Coming? Saved a bed for you."

"Oh right, some people could not afford this fee, and they also paid with their lives. You can afford it, right?"

"I am dead tired, going to sleep first."

On Qi Yinming's end, there were just some polite greetings.

The only useful information was that he and Yang Zhanbai had chosen the same dorm room.

Zhu Yan put his phone away and looked up at the Moral Education Building in front of him.

The Moral Education Building consisted of two enclosed teaching blocks connected by a covered bridge. The exterior walls were covered in white rectangular stone tiles, stained with sallow watermarks.

Zhu Yan found Building 2, slipped inside quietly, and walked briskly upstairs.

It was dead silent inside.

The air lingered with a heavy smell of dust and a faint stench of blood, making Zhu Yan wonder if he had come to the wrong place.

He climbed up the old concrete steps, going all the way to the third floor before he heard a slight crunching sound.

It sounded like someone loudly chewing on boneless chicken feet.

Zhu Yan pushed open the door to Classroom 301, and the chewing sound stopped abruptly.

"Aha, another one," a shrill voice said.

The first row of the classroom was occupied by a giant slime.

More accurately, it was a lump of rotting meat in the shape of a slime.

Yellow fat and red-and-green minced meat were churned together, the outer layer already taking on a gelatinous texture. Scattered bone fragments poked out from it, some still a fresh pink color.

The thing was very fat, taking up a full three seats.

Zhu Yan did not see anything like eyes on it. Its upper body only had a slit about forty centimeters long, filled with fine, sharp teeth. Fresh bone fragments still hung on the outermost teeth.

A strong smell of dead fish assaulted his nose. Zhu Yan held his breath to keep from gagging out loud.

"Come, register your player ID and student name, fill out the form."

A long bone spike extended from the slime's body and tapped the edge of the desk.

On the desk lay a stack of blank forms and a pen. The format was very similar to the platform forms on the Monster Tram.

Enduring his nausea, Zhu Yan walked over, grabbed a form, and quickly reviewed the contents.

The first line asked whether to withdraw enrollment and voluntarily leave Xishan University.

Wow, what a trap.

Intentionally making people jump in, huh.

The second line was for name, player ID, and whether holding a special position.

Seeing this, Zhu Yan hesitated.

Did Hunter count as a special position?

"Ah, ah, ah, although Xishan University can provide you with some resources that do not exist in the outside world..."

The slime cleared its throat: "...it is also much more dangerous. You need to pay a fee to stay, so we support withdrawal—"

"I am not withdrawing," Zhu Yan said decisively. "I am staying."

He could afford the withdrawal fee.

But since he was already here.

It would not be too late to leave after he milked all the resources here.

The slime's shrill voice stopped abruptly in disappointment, and it snorted in dissatisfaction.

Zhu Yan quickly filled out the form, leaving the special position column blank for now, and continued down to the dormitory selection.

Sure enough, there were four types: rooms for four, six, eight, and ten people.

The difference was that the ten-person room was the cheapest, only 10 bone coins a month, but had the lowest safety factor.

Personnel were randomly assigned, and all behaviors were permitted, including brawling, murder, and robbery.

The eight-person room was 20 bone coins a month; brawling and robbery were allowed, and murder would be punished but would not cost your life.

The six-person room was 30 bone coins a month; brawling was allowed, but murder required paying with your life.

The four-person room was the most expensive, 40 bone coins a month. All illegal and criminal acts were strictly prohibited, including brawling, theft, robbery, murder, and so on.

40 bone coins...

4,000 RMB a month.

Fuck.

But the safety factor was high, so it was acceptable.

Zhu Yan suddenly understood Yang Zhanbai.

Well, put that way, sharing a dorm with Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming was much more reliable than being assigned with strangers.

Zhu Yan decisively checked the four-person room at the end.

"A dorm head saved a bed for me." Zhu Yan double-checked the filled-out form. "Does Hunter count as a special position?"

The slime paused: "What? ...Yes, it does."

Its bone spike pointed straight at Zhu Yan, and the entire lump of meat remained motionless, as if sizing him up.

When Zhu Yan handed over the completed form, it quickly poked the paper with that bone spike, then trembled all over.

"Ha... the information matches."

The shrill voice changed its tone, doing its best to imitate respect.

"First time meeting you. We received a notice saying you are a highly valued player at the moment... I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Zhu Yan immediately thought of the Court of All Performances that had tipped him in the instance.

Terrifying creatures usually looked down on Hunters.

Aside from those incredibly high-status viewers, Zhu Yan could not think of any reason for this terrifying creature to be so respectful to him.

"What exactly is the Court of All Performances? What kind of organization?"

Zhu Yan could not help but ask.

"I do not know either." Unexpectedly, the slime hesitated. "I do not know... but I would not dare touch things belonging to those big shots."

Oh.

It seemed his status had not changed; he just earned too much for those things, and they could not bear to see him die.

This was quite good too.

At least, he could get the chance to lay low and quietly build up his strength!

A bunch of bone spikes extended from the slime's body, frantically pulling out a red card and a palm-sized booklet from the drawer.

"Student card. You can use it to swipe through the access control of the Nightmare Bookstore!"

It panted heavily, its entire lump of meat quivering with excitement.

Nightmare Bookstore?

A term Zhu Yan was familiar with!

He hastily asked, "Is there a Nightmare Bookstore here?"

"Yes, yes." The long crevice twisted into an upward curve. "The place where the [Nightmare Bookstore] descended happens to be the library of [Xishan University]. Oh, please don't tell the other students."

"This is a secret!"

Zhu Yan committed this to memory.

Usually, whatever [Carnival Paradise] tried to hide was exactly what would benefit the players.

What could be the difference between an ordinary library and the [Nightmare Bookstore]?

He had no idea why the slime was trying to curry favor with him, but now that he had acquired such crucial information, it would be a great idea to head over to the [Nightmare Bookstore] right away to check it out.

"The rewards you earned this time, plus your dividends, come to a grand total of 2,000 Bone Gold Coins. They have all been credited to your student card. Let me let you in on a little secret: ordinary students don't get to know this kind of information!"

2,000 Bone Gold Coins? 200,000 yuan?

That much?

Zhu Yan smiled in delight. This was truly an unexpected windfall!

"That should be all." The slime jiggled its body. "Your daily necessities are on your dorm bed."

"The school's introduction, the pros and cons of staying here, and other details can be found in your handbook."

"As for your other rewards, you will have to wait until the instance time limit is up and it closes before they can be announced over the broadcast!"

"Remember, you are not allowed to leave the campus before the instance ends."

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