According to what Ming Ruofeng had said, although Lin Taoyao and Lin Taozhi highly valued the cards in their hands, if he were to ask for them, they would definitely give them to him.
In other words, as long as he scored at least eighty points on the exams for all four subjects... he could obtain the other half-card, 【School Pass】.
Then, he could ask for the other card, 【Gate Permit】, from the Lin sisters.
This would allow him to combine the two cards into one, obtaining the complete 【School Gate Pass】. He could then leave the school, find the path of survival, and clear the dungeon.
At that point, he would be able to return to his own world and spread all the secrets of the supernatural world that he had uncovered.
The more Zuo Lin'an thought about it, the more he felt his deduction was correct.
Therefore!
What he had to do was ensure that Ming Ruofeng absolutely could not clear the dungeon!
Right now, he was faced with two choices.
Either kill him in the Scarlet Dream.
Once he was dead, everything would be fine.
However, there was only one opportunity left.
After all, Ming Ruofeng had already entered the Scarlet Dream twice. If he failed to kill Ming Ruofeng in tonight's Scarlet Dream, he would never have another chance to do so.
Or, snatch the cards from Lin Taoyao and Lin Taozhi's hands.
If he did that, the only remaining cards in the dungeon would be in the hands of Xuan Jingyuan and his group. With several Xiantian Rank experts flanking Xuan Jingyuan, snatching the cards from them would be absolutely impossible.
Zuo Lin'an calculated how to deal with Ming Ruofeng in his mind, but his face remained completely expressionless.
Thus, the three of them maintained this bizarre atmosphere all the way until the afternoon classes ended.
The dismissal bell rang.
Ming Ruofeng turned to look at Zuo Lin'an, his attitude exceedingly attentive.
“Brother An, class is over. Shall we go eat?”
Zuo Lin'an casually pulled the empty schoolbag from his desk drawer and slung it over his shoulder. The snacks that had previously stuffed the bag full had already been completely eaten by them.
“Let's go.”
The few of them walked all the way to the cafeteria. On the way, they happened to run into Xuan Jingyuan and his group, who were also heading to the cafeteria.
Their group of over a hundred people moved in a grand, imposing wave, looking quite formidable.
Ming Ruofeng watched them with great interest, his thoughts unreadable.
Xu Youyou tugged at Zuo Lin'an's sleeve. “Hey, how about we eat upstairs today?”
Zuo Lin'an thought about it. “Sure, let's go.”
The three of them went up to the second floor.
Ming Ruofeng carefully observed the layout of the second floor. He had naturally been to the second floor of the cafeteria in the Scarlet Dream, but could one actually eat up here?
“I didn't know we could dine upstairs as well.”
Zuo Lin'an said, “The school teachers and leaders basically buy their meals from a small window upstairs. The food there is prepared better and is more refined.”
“Is that so?”
Zuo Lin'an added, “The students eat mass-produced cafeteria food, whereas upstairs, everything is made to order—like various stir-fries, slow-cooked soups, and so on. It's just a bit expensive.”
Ming Ruofeng raised an eyebrow. “That sounds pretty good.”
Of course, Zuo Lin'an didn't mention one more thing.
That was that most of the food on the second floor was eaten by their own people, so there wouldn't be any issues with it.
But it was indeed expensive.
For the mass-produced food downstairs, a meal consisting of one meat dish and two vegetable dishes might only cost four or five yuan. But upstairs, a single vegetable dish cost four or five yuan. If one wanted to eat their fill for a single meal...
A girl would need at least twenty yuan, and a boy might need upwards of thirty. For an ordinary student, this was definitely unaffordable.
He wondered how much allowance the school had arranged for these players.
However, Ming Ruofeng didn't care about that. He did a rough calculation of the balance on his campus card and the time he had left, realizing he could afford to eat here for every single meal.
Players didn't need to save pocket money or buy school supplies like proper students did.
Perhaps by coincidence, as they were walking downstairs after finishing their meal, they ran into Xuan Jingyuan and his group again.
This time, they didn't leave immediately.
Gu Hedao exchanged a few words with Xuan Jingyuan and then quickly walked over.
“Student Zuo?”
Zuo Lin'an looked at him. “Hmm? Is something the matter?”
Xuan Jingyuan merely cast a cold glance in their direction before leading his people ahead.
Only Gu Hedao came over.
Gu Hedao said, “We've been too busy today, so I haven't had much time to talk to you. By the way, are you still attending evening self-study tonight?”
Zuo Lin'an shook his head.
“No.”
The group walked slowly toward the dormitory.
Gu Hedao noted, “Neither you nor Student Xu turned in your homework today.”
Zuo Lin'an didn't care in the slightest. “Yeah.”
Gu Hedao looked deeply at him. “Yet the teacher didn't mention you two at all, while the other students who didn't finish their homework were all called to the office.”
Zuo Lin'an turned to look at him. “What are you trying to say, Student Gu? That the teacher is biased?”
Gu Hedao fell silent.
In truth, even he didn't know what to say. He had simply felt uneasy seeing the two of them walking so closely with Ming Ruofeng, so he wanted to come over and interrupt them.
He had a premonition.
If they allowed Ming Ruofeng to continue interacting with Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou, letting their relationship grow closer, something terrible might happen down the line.
Gu Hedao said, “I didn't mean that. I just felt a bit tired from classes, so I'll also stay in the dormitory during evening self-study tonight to rest with you guys.”
Zuo Lin'an raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.
“You're not going to evening self-study tonight either? Aren't you going to review your lessons or complete your homework?”
“Then what about your exam on Saturday? If your score isn't high enough, you'll be placed in the lower-performing class, and the teacher will keep you behind at school for remedial tutoring.”
The most critical part was the latter: being kept behind at school for remedial tutoring.
This was essentially telling him that if his score wasn't high enough, he wouldn't be able to clear the dungeon.
Gu Hedao frowned and pondered for a long time, but ultimately shook his head.
“I really am tired today. I need a good rest.”
Seeing how firm he was, Zuo Lin'an didn't press the matter further.
However, this reminded him of something, and he turned to look at Ming Ruofeng. “What about you? Do you not care about the exam in a few days either?”
Ming Ruofeng put on a carefree, nonchalant look.
“Exam scores?”
“I admit that the material taught in class indeed contains many novel things worth learning, but they aren't actually that difficult to master. You just need to read through and memorize them a few times.”
“Besides, you said before that we only need a sixty to pass, so there's no need for me to be so tense.”
In fact, many players had privately asked the teachers if scoring sixty points on the exam would count as passing, and the answer they received was affirmative.
In other words, Zuo Lin'an hadn't lied.
Since they only needed sixty points, there was no need for them to spend most of their time studying.
Of course, the players had their own analyses regarding this.
It was impossible for a supernatural dungeon to truly require players to rely purely on studying and exam scores to clear it.
They could view exam scores as one path of survival, but it could definitely not be the only one.
They returned to the dormitory building.
Gu Hedao followed Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou into their dorm, while Ming Ruofeng, who didn't live with them, could only take his leave first.
Rate on N.U.
