Chapter 42
Chapter 42
The King rambled on for a while, the gist of it being that every Player needed to do something good during their stay at the castle. Whether the deeds were good or bad, the Maids would record them in a ledger.
Only guests who had performed good deeds would be allowed to leave the castle before dinner to enjoy the cool night air.
The higher one’s Good Deed Points, the longer they could stay outside.
After finishing his meal, the King headed upstairs. Before leaving, he praised Ning Wang and Rao Lin once more, while also calling out Ning Shuo and Qi Yang for their poor habits.
As soon as the King left, the Maids didn’t even need to ask for help; several Players scrambled to help clear the table and clean up.
Rao Lin raised his hand. “Ma’am, can someone help someone else clean and have it recorded as their Good Deed Points?”
The Maid responsible for the records, who introduced herself as Lian Lu, shook her head. “No. Every person’s kindness is irreplaceable.”
Rao Lin silently lowered his hand. “Understood.”
Song Zhu didn’t seem to care much, picking up a feather duster to brush off some dust.
Luo Li looked around, found a cloth, and began wiping a vase.
Qi Yang joined the others in the scramble to wash dishes. Finding no other chores to do, Ning Wang whispered, “Should I go grab a bowl to wash?”
Ning Shuo shook his head. “No need.”
He walked straight up to Lian Lu and, with a gentle tone but a forceful movement, took the paper and pen from her hand. “Ma’am, let me help you with the recording.”
Lian Lu started to refuse, but Ning Shuo smiled. “This is the kindness I wish to offer. I’m sure the King would be very pleased to see this.”
Lian Lu’s mouth hung open slightly. “…Very well, guest.”
With that, almost everyone was helping out.
Ning Shuo looked at the records on the paper.
Willow: 1.
Number One Swordsman in the World: 1.
Lucky Little Qi: 0.
Ning Banxian: -1.
Z: 1.
Lolita: 1.
…
Murong Chuan: 1.
Ning Shuo silently changed his own entry from “-1” to “0.” With one added and one subtracted, Ning Shuo and Qi Yang became the two people with the lowest kindness scores for the day.
However, it didn’t affect their ability to go out for some fresh air tonight. Just as Ning Shuo was about to return the notebook to Lian Lu, a noise erupted from the dishwashing area.
The people outside immediately rushed toward the sound. Before Lian Lu could even take a step, the young man in front of her grabbed her-and the notebook-and pulled her along.
Lian Lu’s eyes widened. “Wait! Sir!”
“Don’t worry, Ma’am! You won’t fall! Ensuring you discover what happened as quickly as possible is the least I can do!”
Ning Shuo spoke with an air of dashing confidence, but in the next second-
With a loud thud, Lian Lu actually fell.
Ning Shuo gasped. “Oh dear! Ma’am, are you alright?”
Standing beside him, Ning Wang thought to himself: *Now this is what you call Poisonous Milk.*
Lian Lu struggled to her feet. “…I can go by myself.”
Ning Shuo looked regretful. “Alright then, Ma’am. Even though you accidentally tripped, my kindness remains constant.”
Lian Lu: “…”
Ning Wang was amazed, nearly applauding behind his back. *This level of twisting the truth… he really has my style from back in the day.*
The reason for the commotion was that too many people were fighting over dishes to wash, and someone had accidentally smashed a plate.
As luck would have it, the person who had dropped the plate was Zhang Qicheng-code name Murong Chuan-the one who had suffered an emotional breakdown earlier.
Lian Lu finally arrived, her expression stern. “What happened? Who broke it?”
No one was willing to take the blame, so everyone turned their gaze toward Zhang Qicheng.
Zhang Qicheng looked around in terror, his eyes eventually landing on Qi Yang’s face, a flash of malice flickering within them.
He immediately pointed at Qi Yang. “It was him!”
The others frowned. None of the people in the dishwashing room knew Qi Yang, though a few knew Zhang Qicheng. Those who knew him didn’t want to make an enemy of him, while the other Players simply maintained an air of indifference.
Qi Yang was stunned. He shouted, “It wasn’t me!”
Zhang Qicheng raised his voice another decibel to mask his guilt. “If it wasn’t you, then who was it?!”
Feeling wronged, Qi Yang shouted even louder than him, “Are you an idiot? You’re a thief crying ‘thief’! You’re the one who accidentally dropped the plate and now you’re blaming me! You total moron!”
Zhang Qicheng was clearly flustered. He pulled over two Players he knew. “Tell her! Was it him or not?!”
Ning Shuo watched the farce unfold with idle interest.
These Players clearly hadn’t realized that in high-level Scripts, the intelligence of an NPC was no longer comparable to the eight-year-old IQ of the Emperor of Li.
Sure enough, as those two Players hesitantly tried to testify for Qi Yang, Lian Lu sneered. “Accidentally breaking a plate wouldn’t have been considered an evil deed in itself.”
Ning Shuo: ? Then why did whispering count as an evil deed??
Ning Shuo remained silent for a moment, eventually letting out a childish huff to express his dissatisfaction with that King.
While Ning Shuo was being petty, Lian Lu continued, “When I asked who broke it just now, everyone instinctively looked at you. Do you take me for a fool?”
“Slander, perjury, and being a bystander-all of these count as evil deeds.”
Lian Lu then looked at Qi Yang, her expression softening into maternal kindness. “You had the courage to resist. That is a precious quality, and it earns you points.”
The other Players finally understood their positioning and felt a wave of regret. Someone tried to salvage the situation: “I was just a little slow to react…”
Ning Shuo didn’t forget the task he was supposed to help with and silently scribbled away.
Looking at it this way, Qi Yang, Rao Lin, Song Zhu, Ning Wang, and Luo Li had each accumulated one point.
Though he didn’t know what these Good Deed Points were actually for yet.
If doing one good deed earned a point and doing an evil deed deducted one, then aside from avoiding a total collapse of one’s ‘good person’ persona-which would attract monsters-it didn’t seem to have much use in other areas.
Was it just to be able to stay outside longer during the break?
After lunch, the Maids led them to the guest rooms to change. They could share a room with other guests, but their Good Deed Points had to be the same.
Upon hearing this, Ning Wang’s pace faltered almost imperceptibly.
When someone asked why, Lian Lu said it was to prevent the good people from being corrupted.
As she spoke, a loud crash suddenly echoed from behind them.
Ning Shuo hadn’t noticed Ning Wang was behind him. Hearing the noise, he turned around to see an oil painting on the corridor wall smashed to pieces.
The culprit’s apology was incredibly half-hearted: “Sorry, I accidentally bumped into it.”
Lian Lu bit her tongue repeatedly before finally snapping, “Can an ‘accidental bump’ really result in this?!”
In the end, Ning Wang successfully earned 0 points and moved into a room with his ‘dear brother.’
His dear brother was quite puzzled. “You pulled that stunt just to stay in the same room as me?”
Ning Wang gave a noncommittal hum. “Since you can tell, why bother asking?”
“I just thought there was a chance you were having a sudden mental breakdown.”
Ning Wang: “…”
Once the room assignments were finalized, the Servants brought them their clothes.
They were all luxurious formal outfits. The Manservant delivering the clothes said that for dinner that evening, the guests were requested to wear formal attire as a sign of respect for the King.
After the Servant left, Ning Wang fiddled with the suit. He managed to get it on, but for a moment, he couldn’t figure out how to arrange the cuffs.
A hand suddenly reached out from behind him and took hold of his palm. “Let me help you.”