Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“What?! Su Xiaoyue is trapped with a Hitchhiker Ghost?!”

“Damn it! Why did it have to be a Hitchhiker Ghost?!”

Outside Exit B3 of Safe Zone 088, numerous staff members were busy registering information while warning tape sealed off a large nearby area.

The graduation assessment had been placed in the territory closest to the Safe Zone exit, where instances could reach no higher than 2-Star difficulty.

A short, fat man whose beer belly looked ready to burst through his shirt paced anxiously back and forth. Beside him stood the short-haired girl Su Xiaoyue had saved.

Her head hung low, and she did not dare speak.

“Hitchhiker Ghost… Damn it, that’s one of the few special anomalies among the 2-Stars. How did she end up with that thing?”

Fatty Wu gnashed his teeth, wishing he could charge into the instance and fish Su Xiaoyue out himself.

But this was the graduation assessment, a national examination supervised by the United Government. Even as principal, he could not defy its rules.

“I told her to accept direct admission while she had the chance, but she just had to take this damned assessment!”

“Fuck! An A-rank Talent doesn’t appear once in dozens of graduating classes. If she had the chance to grow…”

Fatty Wu wanted to howl at the sky.

Li Shan, the Dean of Students beside him, could no longer watch and tried to reassure him in a low voice.

“She’ll be fine, Old Wu. She has an A-rank Talent. Her odds of surviving a 2-Star anomaly are high…”

Even as he said it, Li Shan felt deeply uneasy.

The Hitchhiker Ghost might be only a 2-Star, but it was one of the rare anomalies from which escape became impossible once its rule was triggered.

Against something like the Slit-Mouthed Woman, a person who was strong enough or fast enough could still flee after provoking an attack.

But the Hitchhiker Ghost could take its victims directly to the Netherworld.

The Netherworld was enough to make even many people with A-rank Talents or higher blanch.

Anomalies associated with it usually appeared only in instances rated 5-Star or above.

The Hitchhiker Ghost was rated 2-Star solely because its rules were relatively simple.

Fatty Wu stamped his foot.

“No! I have to go in and save her!”

“Old Li, cover me. Distract the inspectors and I’ll–”

The Dean of Students went pale and hurriedly grabbed him.

“Holy shit! If you want to lose your job, don’t drag me down with you!”

“I retire next year, and I’m waiting for my pension! Who the fuck would cover for you?”

As the two men wrestled, a nearby announcement sounded.

“Two new survivors have emerged from the 2-Star instance [Road to the Netherworld].”

“Staff, please verify the survivors’ information promptly.”

Fatty Wu’s eyes lit up. His enormous belly knocked Li Shan aside with a yelp, and he sprinted toward the registration area.

One glance was all he needed to find Su Xiaoyue.

“Alive! She’s alive!”

“Thank heaven!”

At the sight of his precious student safe and sound, Fatty Wu nearly burst into tears.

He had spent close to twenty years as principal in this backwater, sending off class after class without seeing more than a handful of B-rank students.

Now that an A-rank phoenix had finally risen from their humble nest, he treasured her so much he feared she would break in his hands or melt in his mouth.

When he heard she was trapped with a Hitchhiker Ghost, he had wanted to drown himself in a latrine.

Seeing her unharmed at last taught Fatty Wu the meaning of tears of joy.

But before he could approach, he heard Su Xiaoyue’s angry voice.

“Why? Why was he given a failing grade?!”

“Your records are wrong!”

What was going on?

“A problem with her grade?”

Fatty Wu’s heart lurched. He thought Su Xiaoyue was in trouble.

That would not do.

He had waited twenty years for an A-rank genius. Was he supposed to let these people bully her?

Fatty Wu rolled up his sleeves and shoved through the crowd with a vicious expression.

Before he could speak, a registration worker said coldly,

“If you dispute the result, the school may submit a request for review.”

“Blocking the desk will not change anything.”

Beside them, Qin Lan held his report and stared in silence at the bright red stamp reading “FAIL.”

A failing grade meant that even though he had cleared the instance, he could not obtain permanent residency in the Safe Zone.

College and employment were even further out of reach. Every path had vanished.

“What’s going on?”

“Holy shit, why is it you?!”

Fatty Wu was startled to see Qin Lan.

Not because Qin Lan had failed, but because he had never imagined the dead-last student could survive the instance.

Should the owner of “the most spectacularly useless Talent of the century” not have become spring mud nourishing flowers inside the instance by now?

Had the corpse come back to life?

“Nooo!” Fatty Wu’s eyes widened. He shielded Su Xiaoyue behind him and stared warily at Qin Lan. “Get back! This must be an anomaly that escaped from the instance!”

Qin Lan gave the ridiculous fat man a sidelong look and could not be bothered to respond.

Fatty Wu had been the first person to spread that awful nickname for his Talent.

Principal or not, Qin Lan had no intention of treating him politely.

Su Xiaoyue hurried to explain.

“He saved you from the Hitchhiker Ghost?”
“That makes no sense. I remember taking my medicine this morning.”

Fatty Wu rubbed his temples, wondering if his brain had malfunctioned.

An F-rank dead-last student saved an A-rank genius from an anomaly in the nick of time?

Had reality suddenly abandoned all common sense?

“No, wait. That makes even less sense.”

“If both of you escaped the Hitchhiker Ghost, there is no way his assessment could be a failure.”

“Unless–”

Fatty Wu turned toward the registration worker, ready to question him, only to understand something from the man’s complicated gaze.

“Oh… So he happened to be the one they picked?”

The worker looked as if he wanted to speak but could not. Fatty Wu understood everything.

With a sigh, he beckoned to Qin Lan.

“Come with me.”

Qin Lan was no fool. He had also read plenty from the glance exchanged between Principal Wu and the worker.

“Looks like some kind of secret, under-the-table deal.”

He sighed inwardly.

“Principal, you have to help him!” Su Xiaoyue stamped her foot anxiously. “Qin Lan barely survived the instance, and he faced the same anomaly I did. How could he possibly have failed?”

“His family is already struggling. If something happens to his college entrance examination results too, what will he do?”

Fatty Wu’s mouth twitched. This was the first time he had seen his star student, surrounded by so many honors, this anxious.

As far as he knew, Su Xiaoyue had never shown the slightest interest in boys her age. No suitor had ever unsettled her heart.

Not even young men from powerful families in Safe Zone 088 had caught her eye.

Fatty Wu’s stare turned interrogative, as though asking Qin Lan, “Did you drug her or something?”

Qin Lan merely rolled his eyes.

Not my problem. Do not ask me.

“Tsk.” Fatty Wu was annoyed, but he suppressed it and said, “Qin Lan, right? You have two choices.”

“One: take the failing report, ask no questions, and pretend none of this happened. I’ll find you a job at the school and approve a residence permit. You will have food and a roof over your head.”

“Two: I’ll submit a review on your behalf. But afterward, you will receive no compensation, your proper result still won’t be restored, and you will be expelled from the Safe Zone.”

Fatty Wu’s voice was cold, tinged with helplessness.

Su Xiaoyue stared at him, unable to understand why Principal Wu would say such a thing.

Qin Lan smiled.

“Let me guess. My result was given to some rich young master, wasn’t it?”

Principal Wu nodded.

“You’re smart.”

“This happens every year. Some ordinary students unexpectedly achieve excellent results, and those results are taken by people who need a ‘quality record.'”

“But you’re luckier than most. At least I can keep you alive.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he continued,

“A student with no backing like you could search for every possible connection and still fail to get through the office door.”

“My advice is… accept your fate.”

Qin Lan looked down at his report and grinned.

“An F-rank Talent like mine earned an ‘excellent result’?”

Principal Wu merely shook his head at the sarcasm.

“If what Su Xiaoyue said is true, then you escaped two anomalies unharmed and saved a companion. Your rating would be well above the other examinees’.”

“In other words, if you had performed normally, none of this might have happened.”

“How can they do this?!”

Su Xiaoyue’s gentle voice rose with agitation. “Qin Lan risked his life for that result. How can those people take it with a few words–”

Her limpid eyes were filled with anger and disbelief at the injustice.

Principal Wu cut her off coldly.

“They can.”

Su Xiaoyue froze.

“Those people are nearly all prominent figures in Safe Zone 088,” Principal Wu said gravely. “Their children need attractive results, and they do not care what those results cost someone else.”

“A student from the slums? With a few words, they can make someone disappear from the Safe Zone entirely.”

“There has never been any such thing as fairness inside the Safe Zone.”

Principal Wu looked at Qin Lan with mixed emotions.

“Whatever else happened, you saved Su Xiaoyue and did me a great favor.”

“I’ll help you in return. I can use my authority to secure you a position. At least you will have food and shelter for the rest of your life.”

“If you want to struggle, I can report this to the higher-ups… but you can guess how that will end.”

The old Qin Lan could only have swallowed his grievance after such a gross injustice, even when someone stole the result for which he had risked his life.

But everything was different now.

“I can accept that… I don’t need the job, though. I only want the principal to do me one small favor.”

Principal Wu’s expression softened.

“Go on.”

Qin Lan bared his white teeth in a radiant smile.

“I just want to know the name of the person who took my result — and what kind of backing he has.”