Chapter 9: 9

Time flew by when they were within the mission world. On the last day of their mission, #2 almost forgot that they were within a virtual reality. 

Before they left, #2 had been racking his brains trying to find a handle for Ai Bei’s toothbrush. All of the toothbrushes in prison had their handles broken off, only the toothbrush head would be left. Ai Bei was having a lot of difficulty trying to hold the brush. 

His back facing the rest, he squatted down in the corner with his sleeves rolled up. He took a drawl from his cigarette and weighed the toothbrush in his left hand, as though weighing a rock, as an idea formed in his head.

Before he could actualise anything, the mission period of one week ended. A white light glowed, and him, together with Ai Bei who had been scrunched up sleeping on the bed, was sent back to the training room. 

The atmosphere within the training room was a little off.

After a moment of silence, #3 lifted her lips as she applaused for Ai Bei, as though praising her for her moves she pulled inside the world, “incredible.”

#3 did the same mission as Ai Bei, and #3 hated #2, but #3 had never once thought about making an active effort to reverse her situation. In comparison to her, #5 was much better at this game.

#1’s gaze on Ai Bei was a little strange too, as though he was trying to figure out exactly what kind of person she was. On the other hand, #4 who had written the mission and was deducted 5 points was silent.

The competition waited for no one. Next, it was Ai Bei’s turn to input a character brief for #1’s mission. Ai Bei would also be the one to determine which person #1 would assume.

#1 smiled and tried to probe: “Should I join you guys?” He wanted to know if Ai Bei would put him in prison. 

It would be much easier for him if he didn’t need to join them in prison for his mission. But even if he did, he still had an ace on his hands, and that was #2, so things would turn out pretty interesting too. After spectating Ai Bei’s performance, he felt as though he’d found a worthy opponent, so sticking his nose into their situation was perhaps his adrenaline getting to his head.

On the other side of the room, #2 remained silent after returning. He was still trying to retune himself back to reality after experiencing all of that in the virtual world. The after-effects of such a 100% full-dive virtual experience was that it could confuse people, and those that exit from the VR world would mix up their reality with what happened occured in the VR world.

#2 wanted to know what Ai Bei had in mind too. If #1 was sent to prison, it was supposed to be a gleeful sight for him, yet somehow, he felt unwilling, as though he didn’t want him to appear.

As though oblivious to the tense atmosphere, Ai Bei keyed in the last code before she gave #1 her first smile, her tone light, “there’s no need.”

Despite only speaking three words, she left everyone wondering what she’d meant.

The character brief she’d set for #1 was very similar to his real background — a charismatic and popular young master hailing from a rich family in school. The mission Ai Bei set was: get the prettiest girl aka #3 to fall in love with him without revealing his mission details; his mission duration was one week. 

Usually, mission information were be public and open to viewing by the members in their group. However, the mission-giver was also able to “lock up” the mission details so that the group members would not be able to see it.

Even if #1 had to keep it under wraps, this was not a hard mission for him. 

——Or at least that was what he had originally thought. 

To him, getting a girl to fall in love with him was as easy as breathing. His childhood friend had once joked that he was like a peacock, there’d be girls jumping at him as though he was a peacock spreading its feathers. Though it was a joke, his friend’s words were indirectly reinforced his charm. 

#1 instinctively overlooked the previous futile attempt at striking a a conversation with Ai Bei. At the very least, #3 was receptive and friendly to him from the get go.

The system’s detection of one “falling in love” was not complicated, they go by the speeding up of the person’s heart rate.

However after the duration was over, he was shocked to learn that he failed the mission.

#1 was definitely not going down the same route #2 did — he didn’t make a huge commotion about trying to chase #3 in the mission, so he definitely did make a public confession. He remained relatively low-key about it, and his treats came in the form of candlelight dinner, cruise trip and feasts under the northern lights. They had many happy outings, and the atmosphere was almost romantic at times. Not only so, he also topped it all off with some flirting. Despite so, #3 was not a single bit moved.

After returning to the training room, #1 was remained in a daze by the “mission failed” words, flabberghasted.

He couldn’t believe that he lost two rounds consecutively, and became the first one to be kicked out. 

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#3 drank a sip of water and exhaled. After she realised what #1’s mission was, an expression of shock coloured her face, “you should’ve said earlier! Even if you can’t, at least drop me a hint or something?”

If #1 was as high-key as #2 had been, to the extent that the entire school knew he was chasing her, she maybe might be able to sense that something was up. 

After being pulled into the virtual world as a “tool”, she started probing #1 in an attempt to understand the situation, but #1 kept his mouth tightly zipped. Under such a situation, the low-key holiday trips did not get to her; her head was full of the mission and trying to figure her sitaution out. 

The two of them were allies per say, so naturally she’d hoped that he would be able to successfully complete his mission and take Ai Bei’s points. But #1 didn’t mention anything about it. She figured that it was because of the circumstances that’s why he couldn’t say anything, but it shouldn’t be to the point where he didn’t even give her a hint. All he knew was to bring her around with a happy face, how in the world was she supposed to figure anything out! 

The information mismatch contributed to his undoing. ♢ CHART TOPPER QUEEN, CHAPTER 09 is hosted at ZHANLANN.COM ♢

Ai Bei was not surprised by the outcome. After #1 was eliminated, she didn’t look at him anymore. 

Even though #1 was eliminated, he didn’t leave the training room. He remained sitting at his seat instead, evidently very unhappy about the outcome. The system did not kick him out of the training room either. 

After the first round of missions ended, the points were as follows:

#1 was eliminated, #2 had 18 points, #3 had 2 points, #4 had 10 points, #5 had 20 points. 

The second round started. Because #1 was eliminated, #2’s character and mission was set by Ai Bei. 

The players with the highest points were #2 and Ai Bei. If nothing goes wrong, the two players that would be able to proceed to the next round would be the two of them. However, the competition was still going on, so anything was possible. 

#2 saw Ai Bei biting on her nail intinctively. After their period of interaction, he knew that this was a habit she had when she was feeling a little difficult and a little at loss.

Ever since leaving their virtual world, she had not looked at him even once. 

Even though he knew this was a competition, and that no one would take whatever happened in the virtual world too seriously, he still felt as though he had been stung by a bug. He felt as though something was throbbing in pain, and after the pain it became an itch that didn’t go away.

He had no idea why but he suddenly spoke. 

“I’m scared of heights.”

The male voice that suddenly sounded in her private message had Ai Bei glancing up at him. By then, #2 had already turned to look away, his heartbeat thundering away in his chest, as though he wasn’t the one that just spoken.

Unbeknowst to the rest, a hidden “exchange” had silently occured.  

As the system had a minimum and maximum cap for the mission difficulty, Ai Bei’s mission for #2 had to be set in the same prison environment too. And so, she got him to secretly climb up the prison dormitories and look down at the first floor. #2 stood before the railing for a bit before he waved his hands: “I can’t do it.”

His straightforwardness was almost dashing, if it weren’t for his trembling legs that Ai Bei noticed. 

“Is this considered cheating?” #3 frowned. She didn’t understand what had just happened, because #2 gave up too quickly, as though this was all just formality. Evidently something was off. The person being questioned ignored her. Only #4 tugged on her sleeve, and gestured at her to look at the projection. 

The system indicated that Ai Bei did not violate any rules; in other words, her actions were within the scope of the competition. 

After all, there was no rule that barred players from “giving away their points” for free.

Ai Bei had already collected the full marks of 25 points; she was eligible to proceed to the next round.

The competition continued. #3 sucked it up, completed #2’s nitpicky requests and safely secured her 3 points, and collated a total of 5 points for herself, before “giving her points away” to #4.

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