Chapter 96: Chapter 96 – The Tiles Of The Female Washroom
The weaker junior high school boy replied in a trembling voice, “I… I only have this much…”
The pangolin could not see how much the boy took out from where it was at, but the three hooligan-like students quickly answered the question. One of them said, “What? Two-fifty? Do you think we are beggars?!”
Two of the hooligan-like students started throwing kicks and punches at the weaker boy. The boy cowered and fell towards the wall of the toilet and let out a shout in agony. He cried as he said, “I only have this much breakfast money, I really only have this much.”
“How dare you talk back?!” the student, who appeared to be the leader of the trio, shouted. He walked over and grabbed the weaker boy’s chin and questioned, “What about your lunch allowance?”
“My lunch allowance is deducted directly from the bank card by the school every month…” the weaker boy said.
“You still eat the trash served by the school?” one of the trio mocked with a laugh.
“Wait, you said bank card, do you know the passcode?” another one of them asked.
The weaker boy quickly shook his head, saying, “I don’t know.”
“What a dumb kid, if you don’t know then go back and ask! Do you have the brain of a pig? If your father is dead, then ask your mother for it!” the trio said.
The leader of the trio slapped the boy. He did not respond, and the other two students started rummaging through the boy’s bag. They casually poured out all the contents of his bag, including his stationery and books.
“There really is no money,” the two of them remarked.
“Forget it, there’s nothing we can do about him. Let’s go find Brother Kun…” the leader said.
It should be noted that although the game seemed extremely real, the details of the characters were computer-processed—much like “The Hitman”, it was obvious that the characters were fake, but they tied in well with the reality and has a fairy tale effect.
For example, the three hooligan-like boys looked slightly contorted and abnormal, and they were brazenly arrogant.
On the other hand, the student who was bullied had a nose that appeared segmented and was thin and weak. Although he did not look very pleasant, he would not be despised by others. It felt like he was a small animal that looked pitiful and helpless.
The game was not comprised of missions, so it was completely up to Ren Suo whether he wanted to help the boy. His only worry was if he would immediately fail and lose his progress if his pangolin was exposed…
Nonetheless, the natural talent of the pangolin, “Burrow”, was extremely capable. With that ability, the pangolin could burrow into any soil ground and hide there, providing it an escape route.
Ren Suo then controlled the pangolin to dash out from its hiding spot and bit the ankle of one of the hooligan-like boys!
The boy was protected by the Nike basketball shoe he was wearing, and Ren Suo even had to press “X” so the pangolin would jump and be able to bite the boy.
A shrill shout emerged from the toilet, and the boy jumped around in pain. However, the pangolin continued its attack and bit and clawed the ankles of the other two of the trio. The boys looked down to see a “mouse” as large as a cat biting them and started shouting loudly in shock, then ran away.
The trio shrieked, “Mouse! There’s a mouse!”
Can’t students these days not recognize a pangolin?
Only the weaker boy remained in the toilet, still crouching by the wall, looking at the pangolin in fear. Ren Suo did not bother about the boy and was preparing to leave—if the hooligan students brought a security guard over to catch the “mouse”, it would be GG for him.
However, Ren Suo subconsciously pressed R3 and activated the “Second Vision” ability. He took a glance around the female toilet and found that there was actually a good “thing” in there!
In front of the cubicle that was closest to the door, beside the basins, there was a floor tile that was billowing thick, black smoke!
The pangolin walked over and a large chunk of information appeared upon contact:
[Floor tile from the female toilet that had been stepped on for 14 years (dirty)]
[Reiki content: Extremely little]
[Chance of Enhancement: 30%]
[Time required to absorb: 13 hours 16 minutes]
[Filth: A floor tile stained with the blood, urine, and body fluids of countless people, stepped on for over ten years, and dirtied by immense filth, but remained so resilient it remains intact till today. Absorbing the Reiki of this holy item can open up the Filth path in the evolutionary tree during the next evolution.]
[Unyielding: Every life form that steps on it may trigger a fall.]
Stepped on for 14 years… The toilet was older than the junior high school students.
Indeed, the cubicle that was closest to the door was the most commonly used cubicle in the female toilet. That tile would have been stepped on the most number of times, and similarly, it would likely be stained with the bodily fluids of the female students, especially since that was the toilet that the girls in their physical education lessons would head to… since the girls would “occasionally” be excused from the lessons.
Compared to the driver’s jade pendant, the tile was apter as a “Reiki item”. Not only was there a higher chance of activating Enhancement, but it also had existential abilities—if even a floor tile could have an “unyielding” nature, Ren Suo could finally be made to believe that all objects had a spiritual essence.’
Ren Suo was still slightly unsure of the Reiki content settings in the game, for he had previously encountered “extremely scarce”, “moderately scarce”, and “scarce”, and now, there was “extremely little”.
However, based on the “Second Vision” mode, the floor tile contained much more Reiki than the hundred-dollar note, which meant that “extremely little” was more than “scarce”.
With the same line of reasoning, above “extremely little”, there should be Reiki content descriptors like “moderately little” and “little”.
The tile was not big and the pangolin could dig it out and take it away. Ren Suo controlled the pangolin to begin the digging—actually, he just needed to press and hold the ○ button, and the pangolin began working its way with its small claws.
However, Ren Suo overestimated the pangolin’s ability and underestimated the floor tile.
The tile had, after all, been stepped on for more than ten years and remained intact, and the attachment of the tile to the ground was unexpectedly strong. The pangolin spent a few minutes before it managed to dig out the entire tile.
But at that moment, hurried footsteps and loud voices could be heard from the outside. “It’s inside!”
“Hurry, catch that big mouse!”
“Damn it, the bite is so painful!”
It was unclear whether the trio had brought a teacher or a security guard, but there was no doubt that they were here to seek revenge. However, they were in their school uniforms, and there were obvious injuries on their leg, so any adult would naturally believe them.
It’s going to be troublesome now. If the pangolin did not have the tile with it, activating “Afterimage” would definitely allow it to escape. Looks like I have to leave the tile behind and escape first, and come back at night to retrieve it…
“Come inside here!” the weaker boy said.
Ren Suo realized that the weaker boy had not left the toilet and was slowly replacing the books into his bag.
The boy had also heard the voices outside, and he hugged his bag and walked over to the pangolin. He gestured for the pangolin to go in.
To go in or not?
Ren Suo did not deliberate too much and let the pangolin into the bag with the floor tile. It was obvious that the boy wanted to save the pangolin, and Ren Suo chose to believe him.
At the most, I just have to restart from the beginning again.
It was pitch black inside the bag and only the teacher’s voice could be heard, asking the boy where the “animal” had gone. The boy said that the animal had crawled into the water pipes, then slipped away quickly.
Ren Suo fast-forwarded the game by 30 minutes, to find the pangolin lying on a bamboo mat, beside the weaker boy’s bag.
Where was the floor tile?!
The pangolin crawled into the bag in search of the tile when the sound of footsteps came from outside the bag. The boy held a clean tile in his hand as he looked at the pangolin rummaging through his bag. He could not help but ask in surprise, “Aren’t you asleep?”
Is sleeping the default setting for fast-forwarding…
The boy placed the tile in front of the pangolin and said, “You look like you really wanted this tile, but it was very dirty, so I washed it.”
Was it still effective after washing?
The pangolin touched the tile and found that the information of the tile had not changed, except that the “(dirty)” word in its name was gone.
Good, it is now time to bring the tile to a safe place and fast-forward 13 hours to absorb the Reiki.
Ren Suo controlled the pangolin to carry the tile and was about to run away, when the weaker boy rubbed his palms together and said, “Well… I am Huo Liang, it’s nice to meet you.”
How silly, why would the boy talk to a pangolin?
But Huo Liang continued, saying, “Are you one of the Reiki creatures that the news has been reporting? You can understand me, don’t you? Thank you for saving me.”
Reiki creature? The news?
Ren Suo thought about it, but the nation had not announced any of such news.
“I don’t want my mother to worry… But I am not smart, and I was born with congenital heart disease. My body is weak and my mother has no choice but to work outside every day to pay for my medicine,” the boy said.
Huo Liang lowered his voice and said, “And I am not talented either, so I did not make it into the Practitioner School. There was a year three senior in our school that had Practitioner talent and not long after he entered the Practitioner School, he now has an Extraordinary Ability…”
Hold on, the Practitioner School has not started, has it?