What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C17.1

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Chp17. part1

Pei Han composed himself and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Look. It requires all players.” Ning Ge pointed to the quest description.

It said “all,” which naturally included the chubby boy who was already inside the metal door which is the Mother Body.”

Pei Han glanced at Jing Yao.

Jing Yao understood and shrugged.

“What does it have to do with me? All the NPCs look perfectly normal. He’s the only one with an unusual build. Besides, even if I don’t push him out, he’ll have to be weighed sooner or later. Given his weight, you could chop him into a pig and still not pass, right?”

Owen immediately realized, “Right, dead players should count too. But why didn’t his parents come?”

The chubby boy was gone, his parents should be frantic. But when they came over, none of them seemed to be looking for their child.

His mother, for some reason, didn’t appear.

The aunt was comforting the suddenly grown-up children when she happened to walk over. Jing Yao bluntly asked her, “Who’s the mother of that fat boy who died? Why didn’t she come?”

The aunt looked at him blankly, speechless. “Fat boy? What fat boy?”

She seemed to have amnesia.

Owen helped explain, “It’s the boy who was thrown into the small door during the health check because he was overweight.”

The aunt looked confused. “Overweight? What boy?”

It was unclear whether she genuinely didn’t know or was unwilling to tell the player.

Ning Ge changed her question: “If you know a child’s ID number, can you find their parents’ ID numbers?”

“No,” the aunt looked at her gently. “That’s everyone’s privacy.”

Fine.

Where do you even begin?

Pei Han speculated, “I’ve encountered similar situations before. After a player is eliminated, the NPC’s related memories are erased. I guess that’s why the aunt doesn’t remember him, and his mother didn’t come.”

Pei Han casually patted a boy’s shoulder next to him, “Do you remember the chubby boy who was thrown into the small door earlier?”

The boy looked at him in surprise, “Huh? What chubby boy?”

The NPCs really didn’t remember him.

“The chubby boy is gone. The standard for ‘finding the mother’ definitely isn’t just mother and son recognizing each other,” Ning Ge pondered. “If his mother doesn’t remember him either, how do we know if we’ve found him?”

Pei Han, with his rich dungeon experience, immediately answered, “To find a specific NPC, the standard for successfully finding them is usually to be within a certain range of them, like two meters.”

Ning Ge looked up at the densely packed cubicles around them.

To get within two meters of the person in each cubicle, you have to knock on each door and go in. Even if everyone splits up, it probably won’t be finished in an hour.

Ning Ge thought for a moment.

Although there were many cubicles, half of them could be eliminated for men.

Furthermore, the cubicles seemed to be arranged systematically, the higher up the cubicles, the older the people were, with those of the same age group grouped close together.

Women of childbearing age were all grouped together, trying them one by one, she might be able to find one within an hour.

The only concern was that the system might be deliberately hiding the little boy’s mother, as many people, like the nanny and the man in the infirmary, were not using wheels in the cubicles.

Before Ning Ge could decide, the aunt urged everyone to line up and move forward.

She led the group of boys and girls through the hall to a room.

Inside were tables and chairs, like a classroom.

Each seat had a helmet, round and large, like a motorcycle helmet.

Each helmet had a numbered QR code attached.

The aunt told everyone to find their helmet according to their number and sit down.

She looked at the room full of boys and girls who had suddenly grown up, feeling somewhat at a loss.

“Even though you’ve grown up, we still have to follow the original curriculum… Now you’re going to start learning new, more difficult things. Good luck!”

While everyone else was anxiously pondering the mission, Owen was quick and had already put on his helmet.

Ning Ge asked curiously, “What is it?”

Owen uttered two words, “Knowledge.”

Ning Ge also put on the helmet. It really was knowledge.

Language, math, music, art, and more—after selecting the courses, countless pieces of information flooded into Ning Ge’s brain. This cramming method was very convenient and saved a lot of time.

The aunt then opened the helmet and took out a small chip to show everyone.

“This contains the knowledge you need. These chips were earned through your parents’ hard work, so don’t let them down.”

Owen asked, “How long will it take to learn?”

“Until we finish learning, probably by tomorrow night.”

Owen laughed, “Goodness! We only have a few days left to live, and learning takes up two days!”

The aunt disagreed. “Learning is very important. Knowledge will change your thinking and broaden your horizons.”

She said, “Besides, you need to learn well to work for the Mother Sphere. Everything you eat, wear, and use is made by the Mother Sphere and given to everyone. Of course, you need to work hard on the energy wheel to supply energy for the Mother Sphere.”

No wonder there were no factories producing food or daily necessities here, the system’s ‘Mother Sphere’ supplied everything.

And the hamster wheels- the adults were using to supply power for the ‘Mother Sphere.’

The aunt continued, “You need to work to earn money, otherwise how will you support yourself and your children?”

Someone asked, “Can we take a break in between?”

“Of course,” the aunt smiled, “You’re all big kids now, you can manage your own time. If you’re tired of studying, you can go out for a walk or rest if you want.”

Jiang Jin whispered something to Jing Yao.

Jing Yao stood up, “Let’s go out and take a look.”

“Brother Jing, I’ll go too!” The short-haired boy quickly followed.

The aunt let them go, saying to everyone, “Your clothes are all too small, I’ll go get you some adult clothes. Your parents’ payments already include clothes and shoes.”

As soon as the aunt left, Ning Ge quickly turned around and grabbed the helmet on the table behind her.

All the helmets in the classroom had owners, except for the one behind Ning Ge, which sat there alone, unclaimed.

Ning Ge moved so fast that she almost grabbed it from someone else’s hand.

It was Pei Han, who also reached out to grab the helmet.

“It looks like that chubby kid’s,” Pei Han said.

Ning Ge withdrew her hand. “It’s his. I remember his number, it’s easy to remember, KW7373.”

The helmet’s QR code displayed the number KW7373.

Pei Han pulled his chair over and placed it next to Ning Ge’s seat, then went to the front of the classroom to get paper and a pen.

He sat down. “Give me your left hand.” Ning Ge, bewildered, stretched out her hand, palm up, as if intending for him to read her palm.

Pei Han smiled, took her hand, and flipped it over, placing the back of her hand face up on the table.

They had held hands before, during the last dungeon on the stage, squeezing his hand until it went numb to prevent him from falling into the crematorium furnace. But this slight touch just now still gave Ning Ge a strange feeling.

Pei Han must feel the same way. Ning Ge saw the familiar blush creeping up his ears again.

However, this time he wasn’t so obvious, at least holding her hand didn’t feel like being burned.

He sat beside her, very close, Ning Ge could almost feel his faint body heat and his gentle breath.

Undoubtedly, it was the hormones promoting reproduction working, both of them were much more sensitive than usual.

Ning Ge tried to concentrate, “Want to see my QR code?”

“Yes.” “Do you remember your mother’s number?” Pei Han said, adding, “I know you definitely remember.”

“JJ0631,” Ning Ge replied.

“Hmm. Look at this.” Pei Han picked up a pen.

“Each small square in the QR code is an encoding; black is 1, white is 0. The information contained within is actually a string of characters, but to read it, you need to decode it.”

He lightly tapped the three corners of the QR code on the back of Ning Ge’s hand with the tip of his pen.

“These three small squares in the corners are called finder patterns, used for positioning when scanning. Don’t worry about them, the real decoding part is here.”

He then traced the lower right corner with the tip of his pen.

This made the hairs on Ning Ge’s arm stand on end.

Pei Han saw it too. He raised his eyes. “Why are you so nervous?”

Ning Ge remained expressionless. “There are still forty-six minutes left in the mission countdown. I was wondering if you could finish before the deadline.” 

Pei Han’s lips curved slightly. “Okay, I’ll be quick.”

He pointed to the QR code, this time, the pen tip hovered a few millimetres away from Ning Ge’s hand.

But not touching it was the same as touching it.

It seemed as if all of Ning Ge’s nerve endings were concentrated on the barely visible spot where the pen tip was hovering.

It would be better to tap it directly, give her a quick fix.

“There are three small squares directly below the finder icon in the upper left corner, indicating the mask pattern of this QR code,” Pei Han continued. “The mask is like a mask, covering the original QR code, refusing to show you its true face.”

“These three squares representing the mask pattern are black, white, and black, meaning the mask pattern is a black and white checkerboard.”

His pen tip finally left Ning Ge’s hand, drawing a checkerboard-like grid on the paper.

“The original code plus the mask is the QR code you see. Now we need to remove the mask. The rule for removing the mask is XOR operation: white plus white equals white, black plus black equals white, and white plus black equals black.”

Pei Han used a small area in the lower-right corner for a demonstration.

“Look at these four squares in the lower right corner. After removing the mask, read them in a zigzag pattern from bottom to top. These four squares are white-white-black-white, which is 0010, indicating that this QR code is alphanumeric. The QR codes we usually use are UTF-8 encoded, but this one isn’t, it only contains numbers and letters.”

“Then there’s the bit indicator. This version has nine bits, so ignore it for now. Then you can continue, reading the eleven-bit code in a zigzag pattern from bottom to top within a two-square area.”

Curly hair kept glancing anxiously at the countdown, then at Pei Han and Ning Ge huddled together. Unfortunately, his only arm was firmly held by Owen, preventing him from getting through.

“Calculating a QR code by hand? Isn’t that insane?”

“It’d take forever!”

“Isn’t it a waste of time if you can’t figure it out? It’s only an hour!”

He kept grumbling.

Pei Han ignored him and wrote the eleven-bit binary code on a piece of paper: 01101101010.

He quickly added it up, converted it to a decimal, and got 874.

“Divide 874 by the constant 45, and you get 19, with a remainder of 19. Two 19s are the code for the first two characters.”

“The alphanumeric code table is simple. 0 to 9 correspond to the numbers 0 to 9, and starting from 10, it corresponds to the letter A. So 19 corresponds to the letter J. Get J and J.”

Pei Han used the same method to write down the code for the next two characters: 00000000110, which is 6. Dividing it by 45, he got the numbers 0 and 6.

Then he continued, getting 3 and 1. This is Ning Ge’s “mother’s” identification number: JJ0631.

After decoding the QR codes on them, the first few characters are each person’s mother’s identification number.

“I found it by looking at my QR code. My QR code has my parents’ numbers, JH4213 and JI5096, and then mine, KW9309.”

Pei Han put down his pen, looked up, and found Ning Ge staring at him without moving.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly. “Don’t understand?”

“No,” Ning Ge said, “I’m a little embarrassed to interrupt you, but actually I really need to go to the restroom.”

She had poured way too much water to weigh herself.

Pei Han: “…”

Curly hair was desperate: “Going to the bathroom? Can’t we hold off for now? The countdown can start!”

“No. I can’t hold on any longer.” Ning Ge stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

When Ning Ge returned, Pei Han was still sitting there, lazily twirling his pen in circles, passively slacking off under Curly hair’s pleading gaze.

Ning Ge, after using the bathroom, felt refreshed. She turned the chubby boy’s helmet around, took Pei Han’s pen, and began trying to decode it as he had instructed.

Ning Ge tapped the helmet. “The three squares of this mask are—black—black—black. What kind of mask is it?”

“Black black black?” Pei Han pursed his lips, concealing his smile, and drew on the paper. “…Uh… it’s one black vertical stripe and two white vertical stripes.”

His smile was a little strange. Ning Ge suddenly realized what he meant and looked up at him, glaringly.

But he acted as if he hadn’t said anything, casually looking down at Ning Ge’s paper.

Ning Ge removed the mask from the bottom-right square, yielding the same result as Pei Han’s earlier work—an alphanumeric pattern with the first two letters being J and J.

The difference was the following sequence: 1 and 0.

Then came the numbers 1 and 3.

“JJ1013.”

This was the little chubby boy’s mother’s identification number.

Pei Han stood up, and Curly hair quickly asked, “You really figured it out? What did you figure out?”

“His mother’s identification number. We know who his mother is.” Pei Han turned the helmet. “Let’s go find her now.”

Curly opened his mouth wide, then closed it again, obediently standing up.

While they were talking, Ning Ge stared intently at the string of 0s and 1s she had just written on the paper. After a quick calculation, she finally scribbled ‘JJ9589’ next to it.

“What’s wrong?” Pei Han asked.

“Nothing.” Ning Ge glanced at the newly written number on the paper, put down her pen, pushed back her chair, and stood up.

While everyone else obediently wore helmets and read, the group quietly slipped away.

Ning Ge led them straight to her mother’s glass cubicle.