The three looked at each other, all surprised.
"Teammates?" one of them exclaimed first. "Hey, finally someone's here! I've been waiting forever!!!"
The other person looked more irritable, with a gloomy look in his eyes: "Why are we still missing one? If your brain is too thin, don't play games. Just throw it in hot pot and eat it."
Wen Zheng squinted: "If you're too talkative, then shut up. Cut out your tongue and feed it to the pigs."
The hot-tempered guy never expected that his casual remark would provoke such hostility. He just let out a "whoops" and a fourth person appeared in the classroom.
When Bei Sining, who has eighteen popular internet nicknames, successfully arrived, she was still facing the window on the side of the corridor, and cursed, "You little brat, if I see you again, I'll beat you so badly your own mother won't recognize you!"
After shouting, he turned around angrily, and the three of them stared at him with strange looks in their eyes.
"Hmm?" Bei Sining walked a few steps toward Wen Zheng: "You guys arrived a while ago?"
The hot-tempered guy suddenly chuckled and said, "Alright bro, are you two having an online romance while duo-queuing? Never mind, never mind."
The other person clearly recognized Bei Sining's face and Wen Zheng's necklace. He wasn't blinded by excitement and smiled good-naturedly: "We're going to be together all night, so let's get to know each other first?"
Wen Zheng glanced at the game panel. Their self-introductions went in one ear and out the other, but in his mind he was still calling them by their nicknames—"Grumpy Bro" and "Little Suffocator." Okay.
"Let's analyze this?" Little Bie Si was eager to show off in front of the audience: "In the previous segment, were the storylines the same for everyone?"
"Is that nonsense? Use your brain, okay? Does it make a sound when you shake it?... Okay, okay, I'll be civilized. What did I say? Oh, right. We started playing Connect Four. I won after a few moves. Then a bunch of brats came in and beat up the loser protagonist. After that, the loser ran to the classroom, met his sister on the way, called out her identity, and went into the classroom. Is that it?"
Wen Zheng nodded to indicate that there was no problem, while Bei Sining remained silent, not very interested.
"You won in just a few moves! That's amazing! I played for ten minutes... And that kid peeking at me through the crack in the door at the beginning, oh my god, I almost had a heart attack when I looked down, it was pretty scary..."
Little Bie Si, having encountered three indifferent teammates, couldn't continue the conversation and quickly said, "By the way, what do you guys think is the main storyline of this dungeon? It seems quite chaotic right now."
This is indeed a topic worth discussing. The hot-tempered guy reluctantly said a few words: "An honest person should just fight back and kill when he's really frustrated, otherwise this is too frustrating. But with his cowardly nature, I don't think it's likely."
Little Bie Si asked, "Um, where are Z and the King?"
Bei Sining said she had no idea, then ran to the corner of the classroom to search for things as usual. Wen Zheng, not wanting Xiao Sining to be too embarrassed, thought for a moment and said, "Since the dungeon is called Twins, it must be closely related to his sister. It seems that Yu Lan hasn't done anything too outrageous, so maybe there will be related plot later. Let's move on, there are still too few clues right now."
NPC Xiao Yu Jin now has a room full of ghosts, and he has to calmly copy homework from his seat.
The hardworking Ghosts searched for more than ten minutes, looking disheveled. Bei Sining's advantage buff was working as usual, making her as good as ten people. The viewers in the live stream were both excited and impressed.
Wen Zheng... He symbolically flipped the podium, then sat down next to Xiao Yujin, staring at his homework, lost in thought.
As for the comments, let him say whatever he wants; he really hates looking for things.
The grumpy guy was halfway there when he suddenly bumped into Bei Sining.
On this festive day, most people who are engrossed in games are lonely. This guy was also easily angered tonight. The two glared at each other, and their tempers flared up.
In a short time, the classroom seemed to have split into two sections: one side was fiery and enthusiastic—the two argumentative duo's language perfectly suited the classroom's sign, "Second Grade, Class Three," while the peacemaker, barely holding back, was saying things like, "Oh, please don't be like that," and "Calm down and say less."
On one side, life is peaceful and serene—Wen Zheng and his "deskmate" Xiao Yu Jin watch the endless sunset.
"Shut up," Wen Zheng suddenly said, raising his voice, "Listen."
It was a pure and beautiful children's choir singing, echoing through half a building in the desolate schoolyard.
When it drifted into this classroom, only ripples remained at the edge, and this ethereal, almost imperceptible quality made it seem even more tranquil and gentle.
"Red dragonfly in the sunset, where are you..."
"I met you in my childhood, what day was that..."
The four of them held their breath in unison, and Xiao Yujin's pen also stopped moving.
"Carrying a small basket, I went up the mountain, where the mulberry trees were lush and green..."
"Picking mulberries and putting them in a small basket, could it be a dream..."
Xiao Yu Jin listened intently, then suddenly stood up and strode to the window.
The window on the lawn side wasn't locked; after all, it was on the fourth floor, and obviously couldn't be used as an escape route. Xiao Yujin pushed the window open forcefully, leaned out, and basked in the sunset and the wind.
A serene and blissful smile graced her face.
A little while later, Wen Zheng heard him sing along in his childish voice. Although his voice was very soft and his breath was intermittent, he sang very earnestly.
"Red dragonfly in the sunset...where are you..."
"Perched on the tip of that bamboo pole... was a red dragonfly..."
"Ouch!" the hot-tempered guy exclaimed first. "Don't look at this creepy song. What kind of weird nursery rhyme is this? Red dragonfly, blue butterfly, it'll keep you from leaving the classroom. Look at the decorations in our classroom, where are the butterflies and dragonflies?"
“Yes,” Wen Zheng pointed to the door. “There are dragonflies.”
As the sun began to set, its rays gradually fell upon the podium and the locked door.
Two pens stuck in an inconspicuous box on the podium, blocking the shadow cast by the setting sun, resembled a dragonfly perched on a doorknob.
“The box has a mechanism.” Bei Sining tossed the small button she had just found, turning the box over and over to examine it. She found a small groove at the bottom, just big enough to fit the oddly shaped button. The box suddenly cracked open, and an ordinary brass key fell out, making a soft sound as it hit the podium.
"Finally, we can go out!" The grumpy guy happily grabbed the key and went to open the door. Bei Sining secretly glanced at Wen Zheng and saw him smile at her. A tingling sensation ran from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
He laughed!!!
Is he not angry anymore?
Or was it because I found the drawer, opened the broom cabinet, found the projector box key in the cabinet, and then pried out the button from the projector box, and acted so perfectly that he smiled at me?
But he said he had to leave.
We can't play like this anymore?
Her mood fluctuated, and Bei Sining's expression also changed accordingly.
Am I, the mighty Demon King, supposed to beg him to play games with me?
"Let's go?" Wen Zheng had already walked ten meters with the protagonist, but when he looked back and saw that Bei Sining was still not following, he gave her a strange look.
Bei Sining... obediently walked over.
Little Yu Jin, whether out of a carefree attitude or easy satisfaction, still had a smile on his face after being bullied for a day. He turned around and said softly, "Thank you, Mr. Ghost."
Then, the moment they stepped lightly down the stairs, the scene suddenly changed, and the four ghosts suddenly appeared on the next day.
The school is very lively during the day. During recess, energetic elementary school students dart around in the corridors, and the few who are passed by quickly dodge to the corner of the stairs.
"What's going on? Where am I?" The grumpy guy scratched his head and looked around.
A conspicuous banner came into his view, and he exclaimed, "Hey, look over there!"
—A warm welcome to the Provincial Education Bureau for their guidance.
"Lily, you don't have class this afternoon, why don't you come over to my house to play?"
"OK!"
"Aren't you going to see the performance? The teacher said you can all go if you want..."
"No, we want to play games."
"I want to go, my deskmate is going to perform a talent show."
Which program is it?
"It's a chorus, yes, the lead singer is Yu Lan..."
"What's so interesting about it? The lead singer is Yu Lan, not your deskmate."
"you……"
All the students in the corridor were talking about this "cultural performance," and a flood of information came at them.
Wen Zheng said, "Go to Yu Jin's classroom from yesterday; the key incident must be there."
Xiao Bi was excitedly saying, "I remember, it's Class 3, Grade 2, let's go!"
The children's lines consisted of just a few pieces of information: who the host was, what their club would be performing, whether or not people they knew would be there, and how much Yu Lan, the lead singer, would steal the spotlight.
She is said to be the prettiest girl in the second grade. Many boys like her, and she is friendly and generous. She is willing to share any good food or fun things she has, and she is popular with both boys and girls.
As the grumpy guy walked along, he asked curiously, "What's wrong with the main character? Isn't he the younger brother? What he did that deserves to be bullied by the whole school?"
"Uh, so the older sister is considered pretty, but the younger brother is considered effeminate?" Xiao Bisi didn't quite understand either: "...I'm just guessing, I'm a straight man and don't really understand."
"There are so many sissies, yet they don't all get bullied. What era are we living in?" the hot-tempered guy disagreed.
“It’s imitation,” Bei Sining suddenly said.
The two were astonished, as if they had witnessed an iron tree blooming, that this guy had actually participated in the discussion.
Bei Sining turned her face away in disgust: "You guys are too ugly, don't look at me."
The grumpy guy and the sullen guy: "???"
"How so?" Wen Zheng steered the conversation back on track, and Bei Sining took the opportunity to continue.
"When people reach a certain age, they develop self-awareness and believe that they are unique in the world." He said calmly, "At that time, what they hate most is being imitated, especially poor imitation."
"People around the protagonist used to say things like he wore a skirt, which means he did wear one. No one called him by his name; they always called him Yu Lan's younger brother. Plus, the two look so alike, so they'll always be compared."
“If Yu Lan had such a presence around her, someone must have often said to her: Do you have a younger brother? He looks just like you. Is he wearing a skirt because he's imitating you? Your brother is on the playground too, is he here to see you? Your brother's hair is so long, is he really a boy? He's looking at you again, why don't you play with him?”
Bei Sining's voice was deep and pleasant, quite melodious when she wasn't irritable. Even the irritable guy stopped talking and obediently kept his mouth shut.
“If this continues, it’s normal for Yu Lan to dislike her younger brother,” Bei Sining said. “She’s popular, so if she shows her dislike, others will naturally sympathize with her.”
"Holy crap." Xiao Misi shuddered. "That's a bit scary... Just imagine if someone around me kept copying me, I'd hate it too. My girlfriend goes out and wears the same outfit as someone else, then comes home complaining and tearing her skirt. Having someone copy her like that is really..."
The hot-tempered guy, however, didn't understand this kind of subtle sentiment and asked blankly, "What's wrong with that? If I buy a cheap and comfortable piece of clothing somewhere, I'll send the link to my buddies and we can all buy it in bulk together. What's so annoying about that?"
Little Bie Si rolled her eyes: "It's not just about clothes... Hey, your brain is the one that's scrambled."
Wen Zheng suddenly reached out to stop their impending verbal sparring: "We've arrived."
As they walked and talked, they had already reached the vicinity of Yu Jin's classroom, and someone was crying.
Upon closer inspection, the woman with long, flowing hair and a headband was not Yu Jin, but Yu Lan.
The female teacher, wearing glasses, sighed and said, "It's definitely not going to work. Your voice is so hoarse... We'll definitely have to change the lead singer." She sighed again, "How could you be so careless?"
Several friends who accompanied her pleaded anxiously: "Teacher, maybe Yu Lan will be better this afternoon? She's been preparing for so long!" "Teacher, could you please make an exception...?" "Teacher, teacher?"
"I'm even more anxious than you are." The female teacher, feeling pressured like she was some kind of bad person, grew impatient: "Where am I supposed to find a lead singer right now..."
As they were talking, Xiao Yu Jin walked past the classroom door with his head down and saw a group of people crowding together. He instinctively glanced at them.
"!" The female teacher suddenly pointed and exclaimed, "Hey, you!"