Chapter 11: Why Is My Mission Different from Yours?

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Human or ghost?
Wu Wang squinted his eyes and quietly slipped behind a stone pillar beside the school gate, hiding himself. Despite the bulky load he carried, he made no sound, moving as silently as a shadow.
He was far too familiar with this environment.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be a five-person mission? Where did the last one go? Who the hell would give up such a good chance?” A tall guy in a school uniform cursed loudly.
Next to him, a girl wearing a mask, her face obscured but her long, flowing black hair and clear, bell-like voice unmistakable, sneered, “Doesn’t matter. As long as the minimum number of people is met, the reality-orientation mission can start.”
“Hehe, missing one person’s actually good. Maybe we’ll get more good loot,” chimed a short guy, barely over five feet tall, as he circled the flowerbed by the school gate with a gloating grin.
He was the one who had just made footsteps.
Meanwhile, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard stood silently nearby, smoke curling from the cigarette clenched between his lips. His uniform, stained and mismatched with the scar on his cheek, made him look completely out of place.
Is this a student?!
Wu Wang’s expression twisted in confusion.
When he heard the words “reality-oriented mission,” he guessed these people were probably players, not some ghosts from the Gaoshan High School mission haunting reality.
But why were they here?
Wu Wang understood that multiple school uniforms wouldn’t be unusual—after all, the last newbie tutorial had fifty murderers playing hide-and-seek together.
But the equipment description for the school uniform didn’t specify which school to go to!
Was it just a coincidence that everyone had come to the abandoned Hope Middle School?
Wu Wang didn’t believe in such coincidences.
Before he could figure it out, a chilling, Sadako-like voice echoed in the minds of the four people on campus—
[Reality-Oriented Mission Activation Conditions Met]
[Welcome to Gaoshan High School]
[Mission Name—Truant Dragon]
[Mission Description: This is a prestigious academy with a 98% graduation rate. Parents nationwide fight tooth and nail for a single admission slot. Graduating from here ensures a bright future!]
[Team Main Task: Prevent any truancy at Gaoshan High School within five days. Each truant captured adds one cumulative reward point.]
[Side Task 1: Uncover the secrets of the principal and homeroom teachers (I have a little secret~ little secret)]
[Side Task 2: Investigate the legends of the detention room and art building (It’s watching you, watching you without blinking~)]
[Completion Reward: Base reward is a random piece of ordinary equipment; specific rewards increase cumulatively based on the number of truants captured (the prize pool keeps growing!)]
[Hidden Reward: Conditions unknown]
[Wish everyone finds their own death]
At the same time, the surroundings transformed from the desolate, dilapidated abandoned school into a clean, orderly space.
The ivy and moss on the buildings vanished, replaced by a large banner reading—
“As long as you don’t learn to die, learn till you drop!”
The pitch-black night turned into bright daylight, and the group realized they were no longer by the flowerbed at the entrance of the Hope Middle School ruins.
They were now inside a dormitory room.

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The awkward part was...
There were five people in the dorm room.
On one corner bed lay a man who seemed to be a military enthusiast, adorned with various strange talismans, watching the other four through the bed rails.
“Hey there, folks! You must be the new roommates. I’m a senior in the final year. Nice to meet you,” Wu Wang smiled naturally.
No blushing, no heartbeat racing.
His lie was flawless under his superb acting skills, though inwardly he was cursing wildly.
Damn this system for forcing all players to gather first. He had planned to lie low and handle things alone!
He strongly suspected the system was punishing him for his naked broadcast calisthenics last night.
The four on the beds exchanged glances, unsure whether this guy was an NPC or another player.
Until the scar-faced man silently pressed a finger to his school uniform.
Then, with a thought, Wu Wang saw the equipment description appear next to the uniform—
[Gaoshan High School Uniform: Collect three or more pieces of this uniform and stay for one hour before midnight at the Hope Middle School ruins in the suburbs of Mingyang City to unlock a non-lethal reality-oriented mission.]
“?”
A big question mark popped up in Wu Wang’s mind.
Why was this uniform different from his?
Not to mention the “Bloodstained Uniform” twisted by that red-eyed crazy CEO Ke, even the original school uniform he had wasn’t like this!
Could it be that his uniform was special from the start?
Maybe only the blood-red pupils on his wrist distorted it further?
Meanwhile, a text appeared above the scar-faced man’s head—
[Hawkeye • Bailidao] [Lv6]
“Brother, stop pretending. You can see player panels, right?” The scar-faced man crushed his cigarette on the table.
Damn, he’d been caught.
Wu Wang immediately realized this guy had been watching his eyes all along. His gaze moving up proved he could see player IDs, so he couldn’t be an NPC.
This guy was an old hand!
Before Wu Wang could reply, the scar-faced man said calmly, “I’m an agent from the Anomaly Bureau. My ID is Bailidao. You can verify for yourselves.”
“This reality-oriented mission is a team cooperation type. No need to fight each other. I hope we can be honest and avoid suspicion or attacks. Sincere cooperation for mutual benefit is the way!”
The Anomaly Bureau—officially the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs—operates independently of the police and military, responsible for handling supernatural events and extraordinary individuals related to the “Spirit Disaster Game.”
In short, an official department.
The tall guy and the masked girl exchanged looks.
Then both revealed their IDs.

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[Shigandang] [Lv5]
[How Can One Bear It] [Lv5]
Seeing everyone choose cooperation, the short guy shrugged and revealed his ID as well.
[Tuxingsun] [Lv4]
All eyes then turned to Wu Wang, curiosity evident in their gaze.
Was this guy seriously going to stubbornly pretend to be an NPC?
Little did they know Wu Wang faced another problem—how the hell was he supposed to reveal his player ID?!
After much thought, he found a way.
With a mental command, his stunningly unusual player ID appeared before everyone.
[Widower] [Lv1]
The four faces twisted in confusion — the eccentric nature of this ID provided too many points to mock.
The short guy, Tuxingsun, couldn’t hold back, “Brother, your XP preferences are pretty private. No need to flaunt your tastes to everyone.”
Before Wu Wang could respond, Bailidao spotted another flaw—this guy was only level one!
Frowning, he asked, “You… haven’t experienced any missions since becoming a player?”
“I wish I had time to play more missions! The thing is, I just became a player last night,” Wu Wang said with a slight smile.
“Well... didn’t expect to have to carry a newbie. Fine, let me explain the tasks and mission types first,” Bailidao sighed, rubbing his forehead.
He really hated newbies.
Most newbies were arrogant, but he feared they might provoke something that could wipe out the entire team.
Fortunately, the Anomaly Bureau trained agents like him to handle newbies carefully.
The department also hoped to win favor with wild players this way—not necessarily to recruit them all, but at least to keep them from opposing the authorities.
Bailidao then explained the current main task and the priorities of the two side tasks to Wu Wang, hoping he wouldn’t jeopardize the main mission by forcing side quests.
But the more Wu Wang listened, the stranger his expression became.
Because what he had heard before entering the mission...
The side tasks were the same, but the main task seemed different?
Worried he might have misheard, he glanced at his own panel to confirm—
[Main Task: Escape Gaoshan High School within five days. The more living students you escape with, the greater the rewards. (Who really decides the course of our lives?)]
Oh no!
So the team mission meant he was supposed to fight an entire player team alone?
Was this game discriminating against him?