Remaining Rewards

"This isn't funny," Yang Zhanbai said gloomily. "I'm calling the police."

Zhu Yan nodded cooperatively. "I support that. It's best if you go tell Officer Guan right now!"

The more chaotic, the better.

"Since the [Hunter] did not expose their identity during this large-scale game..."

"...we will publicly award the [Hunter] a special reward."

Holy crap, there's more?

Zhu Yan pricked up his ears.

"The [Hunter] can hide the mark on the palm of their right hand for fifteen days. No one will be able to see through it."

"This reward takes effect immediately."

So it's this!

Zhu Yan felt a little burst of joy in his heart.

This was exactly what he needed.

Although it was only for fifteen days, it was enough to get through the police department interview and deal with everyone else.

As for what to do after that, there's always a way out. He would take it one step at a time.

However, Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming's expressions were not very pretty.

"The public broadcast has concluded," the female voice said cheerfully. "Players, please pay attention to your personal reward broadcasts."

Zhu Yan felt a surge of excitement.

His [Roleplay] ability had been stuck at level 5 for a long time.

The condition to upgrade from level 5 to level 6 was three closed-beta instances.

[What's the Time, Mr. Wolf] happened to be the third one!

This [Roleplay] should be able to upgrade now, right?

"As the [Hunter], your performance was truly not excellent enough."

The female voice emphasized critically: "Oh well, please listen to your player rewards."

"First, you have leveled up from a level 4 player to a level 5 player."

"Congratulations, you now possess your own attribute panel."

"Whether it is constitution, strength, agility, or your maximum sanity, they will all be digitized for easier measurement."

"This also means you are officially on the right track, player."

Whoa.

Zhu Yan felt pleasantly surprised, but also found it a bit funny.

Did [Carnival Paradise]'s phrase "on the right track" imply that players and horror creatures below level 5 were just noobs without specific stats?

"Correct," the female voice said happily. "It was all just for fun."

"You can head to the player's personal center later to check your specific stats."

"Now broadcasting your remaining rewards."

"Congratulations, you have obtained ten days of rest. Of course, you may choose to enter an instance; that is your freedom."

Zhu Yan really wanted to take a vacation.

But compared to a vacation, leveling up and solving his troubles were more important.

"In addition, you have received a clearance reward of 50,000 yuan. You can choose to have it issued in human currency to your human world account, or in the form of thriller currency to your [Hall of Mourning] account or campus card."

This sum of money didn't seem to be included in the dividend the slime mentioned.

The campus card could only be swiped on campus. If he had a choice, Zhu Yan would definitely prioritize the [Hall of Mourning] account.

"Very well," the female voice replied cheerfully but mechanically. "500 Bone Coins have been issued to your [Hall of Mourning] account."

"Furthermore, because of your outstanding performance, you have gained the recognition and commendation of the [Court of Performances]. This attracted some audience members to place bets and win. [Carnival Paradise] will give you an additional dividend of 2000 Bone Coins and an encouragement bonus of 500 Bone Coins, directly recharged into your campus card."

An extra 500 Bone Coins?

That was great, a nice little surprise.

This crappy school required money for everything; it felt like a bottomless pit.

These 2500 Bone Coins should be enough to last a while.

During this time, he would improve his strength and try to figure out the loopholes of [Xishan University].

"By the way, congratulations on your successful enrollment as a student of [Xishan University]!"

"This is a remarkably precious opportunity to improve your strength!"

"Please work hard and strive to obtain your graduation certificate as soon as possible."

Zhu Yan didn't think it was an illusion—

The usually rigid female voice actually raised its pitch slightly at the end, carrying a hint of secret delight.

He immediately pinched his palm, forcing himself to remember this detail.

Such secret delight was highly likely not a good thing.

[Xishan University] was probably a trap.

The female voice was still broadcasting, so Zhu Yan didn't overthink it and continued listening.

"Your ability [Roleplay] has leveled up to 6, a small qualitative leap."

"I will directly broadcast the specific ability attributes for you."

Finally.

Zhu Yan sat up slightly straighter.

A small qualitative leap sounded pretty badass.

"[Roleplay] Lv.6: You can roleplay as any horror creature or human you have seen, but you can only deceive horror creatures and players at level 6 and below."

"At the same time, we have detected that you went to the [Nightmare Bookstore] and actively entered an instance to snatch another person's ability."

"This action has activated the hidden trait of the [Roleplay] ability!"

Oh.

If the first sentence was expected, the last sentence was a truly unexpected pleasant surprise.

"Hidden trait activated: [Hack]."

"This hidden trait is currently unviewable and temporarily unusable."

"Please clear the instance [Twisted Relationships] and others as soon as possible, seize others' abilities, and obtain the complete reward."

[Hack], this word alone sounded awesome.

Well, now Zhu Yan had even less of a reason not to kill.

Entering the [Twisted Relationships] instance was something that would happen first thing tomorrow morning.

Zhu Yan's heart lifted slightly.

If all went well, by tomorrow night, that [Hack] could be put to use!

"Your [Complain] level is still at level 5. You need 1 more closed-beta instance to level up."

"Of course, if you participate in an instance through a voluntary application, you can also level up."

That was still a matter for tomorrow.

Thinking of the detailed profiles of Feng Qiang, Feng Yaozu, and Wang Lanhua he had seen earlier, Zhu Yan felt a wave of nausea.

The abilities of these people were even more disgusting than he had imagined.

Them gathering together was no longer just a matter of birds of a feather flocking together.

"[Humiliation] has leveled up to 5, so it's no longer a weakness!"

The female voice said gleefully.

"After three more instances, the ability [Humiliation] can level up to 6."

"Looking forward to our next meeting, player."

The broadcast ended, and the female voice fell silent.

His ears were drawn into a silent vacuum, and a second later, subtle noises once again filled Zhu Yan's world.

Qi Yinming let out a long sigh of relief and picked up the coffee on the table.

"My reward is ten rest days and 400 Bone Coins. According to the prices we researched earlier, we should be able to get by this month."

The distribution of rewards had obviously buffered Yang Zhanbai's emotions.

He picked up his phone and typed rapidly, the expression on his face relaxing a bit.

"My reward is fifty Bone Coins more than yours," he said. "After this month passes, I don't know how long I can hold on."

He looked up, staring at Zhu Yan with rare seriousness.

"You should quickly look at the education section in the [Student Guide]."

"This crappy place is actually a school. There are midterms, finals, and normally you still have to figure out how to participate in instances to earn credits."

"If you don't have enough credits, no matter how good your test scores are, you'll fail the course. Failing means death."

Zhu Yan hadn't paid special attention to this.

At the time, he had skimmed through the [Guide] ten lines at a glance. The wording in this section hadn't seemed particularly problematic, so he had skipped over it.

Zhu Yan looked at Yang Zhanbai in confusion, then turned to Qi Yinming, hoping the two of them could give him an explanation.

"What's the big deal about credits? We'll just earn them."

Qi Yinming laughed. "You can't be as reckless as you were in the dungeon. You need to be more observant in your daily life."

"These credits aren't that easy to earn."

He pulled open the desk drawer, grabbed the handbook from inside, and skillfully flipped to a specific page.

"Here. Look, the school doesn't offer classes. Students have to find their own ways to participate in dungeons."

"We can leave the campus, but the cost of going out is very high."

Qi Yinming pointed at the text, then flipped to the expenses page at the back to show Zhu Yan the relevant fees.

"Twenty bone-gold coins per trip, which can be advanced by someone else..."

Zhu Yan immediately said, "Then we just join the official organization."

"I'm not sure if the officials can reimburse this fee, but even if they can't, it should still be a place that never lacks dungeon missions."

"It beats fumbling around in the dark by ourselves."