Zuo Lin'an waited for a short while, but he didn't receive any prompts regarding the main quest.
It seemed that this part of the prompts was only provided to the players by the dungeon.
But that was fine.
Even without the prompts, he already knew what the main quest was. The materials their homeroom teacher had handed out earlier contained a brief explanation, which he had casually glanced over.
He had found that the four main quests weren't very important to NPCs anyway, so he hadn't paid them much attention.
“Huh? I've gotten younger!”
A simple, honest voice suddenly drifted over from beside him.
Zuo Lin'an instinctively turned to look and saw a youth with dark, somewhat rough skin.
He was wearing a blue-and-white school uniform, and his messy hair was tied behind his head.
His entire appearance looked completely out of place with both the school uniform and the surrounding environment.
Zuo Lin'an merely gave him a casual glance before averting his gaze to carefully observe their surroundings.
He realized that more than half...
No.
It would be more accurate to say that ninety percent of the people had long hair.
Some had their hair tied up, some had it in buns, some had it bound, and some simply let their long, messy hair drape over their shoulders.
These players were highly curious about the suitcases in their hands and the heavy backpacks on their shoulders, and many were already clumsily rummaging through them.
However, some were observing their surroundings.
A few of them were staring blankly at the high-rise buildings—ranging from a dozen to dozens of stories tall—surrounding the school, as well as the novel roads and buildings they had never seen before.
Of course, because the dungeon had already begun, there were no pedestrians or vehicles on the streets, or they would undoubtedly have been even more shocked.
In the blink of an eye, Zuo Lin'an noticed some people behaving strangely, constantly weaving through the crowd as if they were looking for something.
Some found what they were looking for and looked relieved.
Others failed to find it and looked solemn.
They were likely searching for their masters.
Only...
Zuo Lin'an gently shook his head a bit and realized his hair was still the same as before.
It was short hair, clearly distinguishing him from the people with all kinds of long hairstyles around him.
So, was there even any need for him to pretend to be a player?
Wasn't it obvious at a glance?
“Brother An!”
Zuo Lin'an turned around. Who else could it be but Xu Youyou?
“You're here too?”
Xu Youyou grinned.
“Yeah, we got lucky and were assigned to the same place.”
As he spoke, he reached up to scratch his short hair, then silently rolled his eyes.
Judging by his movements and expression, he seemed to be telling Zuo Lin'an that there was no need for either of them to put on an act.
Zuo Lin'an was about to say something, but he keenly sensed that many eyes in the vicinity were landing on them.
These people had already noticed their differences.
Of course, besides the two of them, there were nearly a hundred other NPC students mixed in.
Honestly.
They truly stood out like sore thumbs. Even the female NPCs with long hair could easily be identified.
This was because the female players all wore their hair in buns, some secured with simple wooden hairpins, while others wore gold, silver, jade, or pearl hairpins.
It was very easy to tell them apart.
Ignoring the gazes of those around him, Zuo Lin'an casually pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 4:55 PM.
Five minutes until five o'clock.
Just as he pulled out his phone, the number of eyes on him instantly multiplied.
He didn't care, though. He casually took off the backpack from his shoulders, set it on top of his suitcase, and then slipped his phone inside.
At that moment, Zuo Lin'an suddenly caught sight of a gold hairpin lying at the very bottom of his backpack.
It was weighed down by several textbooks, with only a small portion visible.
His movements remained fluid, showing no hesitation upon seeing the gold hairpin as he quickly zipped the backpack shut.
Only then did he realize something.
Although this gold hairpin was a specter item, it originally belonged to Yao Qianhe and Lin Deshuang. Now, there were a whopping nine hundred players in the Lingyang First High School dungeon.
Someone might have seen this gold hairpin before. If he took it out carelessly, it was highly likely to be recognized!
Therefore, during the dungeon, he had to keep it well hidden.
Furthermore, during a dungeon, once a player acquired any specter item present in it... its ownership would instantly change, becoming that player's property.
Players could sublimate specter items into their bodies. Unless they voluntarily transferred the specter item in the current dungeon, it would instantly return to their hands even if it was lost.
The item could indeed be used and was very handy, but Zuo Lin'an had to remain a thousand percent vigilant at all times.
Xu Youyou leaned in and asked.
“How much longer?”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “The school gates open in five minutes.”
Just then, they suddenly heard a faint, low voice not far away.
“Your Majesty...”
There were only those two muffled words; they couldn't hear the rest of the sentence clearly.
This was only because of their unique constitutions, which enhanced their five senses, allowing them to catch a faint trace of it.
They didn't act like fools by turning their heads toward the sound. Instead, they merely exchanged a surprised glance.
The country their National War Dungeon was set in was called the Great Xuan Dynasty, and the only person who could be addressed as "Your Majesty" here would be the current Emperor of the Great Xuan Dynasty.
Who would have thought?
The Emperor of the Great Xuan Dynasty had actually been selected as a player for this National War Dungeon, and by sheer coincidence, he was assigned to the same dungeon line as them.
However, Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou were only slightly surprised for a moment.
After all, to NPCs like them, commoners and imperial nobility were all the same.
Oh, wait. That wasn't quite right.
There was still a big difference.
After all, commoners wouldn't have guards, nor would they possess a large number of talent creations, such as the 【Death Doll】 or the 【Life-Buying Coin】.
If there was any true equality, the only equal thing would probably be their 【talent】.
Zuo Lin'an gradually calmed down. Dragging his suitcase with one hand, he grabbed Xu Youyou with the other and walked toward the school gates.
Xu Youyou asked, “Standing this close? Are we going to be the first to charge in later?”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “No, I just think walking at the front makes it less likely for us to get jostled.”
They stood closest to the school gates, roughly in the middle.
The two chatted idly while carefully eavesdropping on the voices of the people around them.
“My friend, may I ask if you know about the novice benefits?”
“I am no longer a novice, so I naturally do not know.”
“Let's look for novice players.”
“Who knows which ones are the novice players?”
Watching them ask around, Zuo Lin'an couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
With nine hundred players allocated to each dungeon, about five hundred and sixty of them were veteran players, leaving only three hundred and forty novice players in total.
But these "novices" didn't solely refer to players who enjoyed novice benefits; it also referred to useless players.
After all, a portion of the players chosen to participate in the National War Dungeon met the exact same condition: they were absolute freeloaders who hadn't actively opened three Daily Dungeons within the past six months.
These were collectively referred to as novices.
Of course, this didn't rule out those who intentionally limited their opened dungeons to two, just to piggyback on other players' dungeons.
Rate on N.U.
