Someone suddenly shoved me hard from behind. I stumbled, nearly falling over.
I turned my head to look. A blue light flashed on my right side, and then a robot crashed to the ground beside me.
"Don't block the way!" Zi Qian pushed me aside again, then swung his sword and took care of the last robot.
This time, I couldn't control my footing, and I fell flat on my back.
"Are you okay?" Xin Hui ran over and helped me up.
Thinking that Xin Hui and Zi Qian, who had originally gone far ahead, were willing to come back and help me deal with these robots surrounding me – to be honest, I was deeply touched.
"I'm fine, thank you for coming back to save me."
After standing up and thanking Xin Hui, I glanced at Zi Qian, whose face clearly read "I don't want to talk to you." I immediately swallowed the "thank you" that was almost out of my mouth, and just walked over to pick up the ballpoint pen I had dropped when Zi Qian pushed me over.
Then, Xin Hui turned to Zi Qian and asked, somewhat angrily, "Zi Qian, why did you push him over?"
"Let's hurry to Class 1-6. We've wasted too much time already." Zi Qian completely ignored Xin Hui's question.
"Let's wait until Wu Yi's HP recovers to full before going!" Xin Hui turned to me, pointing at the marks on my arm, and said, "Wu Yi, stand here and don't move. These wounds will disappear faster that way."
Although Xin Hui didn't explain it very explicitly, I knew it was a game mechanic. The red marks indicate the HP deducted when a player is attacked. When a player hasn't taken damage for a while and enters a non-combat state, their HP automatically recovers, and the marks disappear automatically as the HP is restored.
I believe 'campus adventure' , like other virtual action games from Tian Xiang Company, makes HP regenerate faster if the player remains standing still.
"This is our third time challenging Boon Fong. We never encountered robots on this path the previous two times. Why did we run into them here this time?" Zi Qian rested his chin on his hand, first looked at Xin Hui, then stared at me. "Weren't you following right behind us? When did you get separated?"
"Did we get separated here?"
It was obvious Zi Qian was very dissatisfied with my answer.
Zi Qian clenched his fist. You could tell he was angry, but he held back and asked again, "Why didn't you activate your weapon?"
"I only have a ballpoint pen, no weapon." I held out the dark blue ballpoint pen in my hand.
"This ballpoint pen is the weapon." Xin Hui, though wearing an extremely puzzled expression, still demonstrated for me how to activate and retract the pen. "Click here twice with your thumb to activate or deactivate any weapon."
I mimicked Xin Hui's earlier action, first gripping the ballpoint pen in my palm, then extending my thumb and clicking the body of the pen. With a "hum," the ballpoint pen transformed into a dark blue lightsaber.
Just as I was still somewhat happily and excitedly observing my dark blue lightsaber, I faintly sensed Zi Qian sizing me up from the side. After changing the lightsaber back into a ballpoint pen, I asked, "Why are you staring at me?"
"It's nothing." Zi Qian avoided my gaze. "The wounds on your body have all disappeared. We can head to Class 1-6 now."
Along the way, I kept the ballpoint pen tightly gripped in my hand, just in case we were ambushed by robots again at any moment.
I followed their steps to the stairwell behind Building 1. Huh? Why does it feel like they deliberately took a longer route?
I couldn't help but wonder, "Why not use the front stairs? Is it closer this way?"
"The Assistant Discipline Teacher is at the front stairs." Zi Qian, walking ahead, replied without turning his head.
I looked towards the front stairwell. A middle-aged male NPC wearing a burgundy shirt and black suit pants was loitering nearby.
Why avoid the Assistant Discipline Teacher? Does he attack players like the robots? But there's no health bar above his head...
"The Assistant Discipline Teacher is a special NPC. He will ask the players questions. If the player answers correctly, he will give hints related to the game mission; if answered wrong, he will transform into a giant robot and attack the player."
Xin Hui probably noticed me constantly looking towards the Assistant Discipline Teacher, so she explained it to me.
"During our second attempt to challenge Boon Fong, Zi Qian and I ran into him at the front stairwell. We couldn't answer his question and were killed by him. Ever since that time, we always take a detour whenever we see him."
...