A Tailored Rule and a Simulated Reality

However, the professor’s next words immediately dampened everyone’s enthusiasm:

“To add to that, this contest requires teams to be formed across different departments or academic years. This is to foster interdisciplinary exchange and prevent homogeneous competition. Students from the same class are not permitted to form a team. The Academic Affairs Office will verify IP addresses and operation logs, and any detected collaboration will result in an immediate zero score.”

The entire class gasped in unison.

The students, who had just been fantasizing about how to spend their prize money, now looked utterly bewildered.

“What kind of inhumane rule is this?!” A male student in the front row wailed, clutching his head. “I don’t even know all my classmates, let alone people from other departments!”

“The Mechanical Engineering department’s schedule doesn’t match ours at all!”

The classroom instantly transformed into a frantic search party, with students scrambling to flip through their contact lists and post on social media.

A few well-connected individuals were already making calls, while the rest dejectedly glanced around.

As Zhou Yi watched her classmates, their faces clouded with despair, a faint smile slowly blossomed in her eyes.

She hadn’t even had time to fully process the invitation Wu Junzhe had slipped her last night. Yet, at this precise moment, the professor introduced the team-forming rule, and a sudden realization dawned upon her.

Li Yanze, though also from the School of Business, was listed in the system as proficient in programming.

This perfectly aligned with the cross-year competition rule, and his technical expertise could compensate for any team weaknesses. It was a perfect match.

It had to be said, this rule felt tailor-made for her by the system itself.

As long as she could trick… no, successfully persuade Li Yanze to participate, he would be preoccupied with solving problems, sourcing materials, and debugging late into the night. There would be no time left for him to bring water or meals to Su Xiao.

In this way, once he found a sense of accomplishment in the competition and recognized his own worth, that humble unrequited love would reveal its fragile essence.

That was the plan!

However… while helping others, one should also consider the practical benefits, right?

“Xiao Qi, if I win the competition prize money, would it be considered my legitimate income?”

[Of course! The system will not interfere with a player’s legitimate earnings from labor!]

A golden coin-scattering animation suddenly popped up on the virtual interface before her, making Zhou Yi’s eyes gleam with delight.

The campus gossip that had been weighing on her mind was now utterly cast aside, banished to the furthest reaches of her thoughts.

What were a few whispers on the forum? They were utterly insignificant in the face of tangible mission rewards.

She could almost see the long string of zeros following the prize money, sparkling invitingly at her.

As the clinking sound of coins falling into her pocket echoed in her mind, the class monitor suddenly poked their head through the doorway. “Zhou Yi! The Counselor is looking for you!”

“Huh?” She looked up, bewildered. “Why would he be looking for me in the middle of the day?”

Filled with questions, she made her way to the office. The Counselor looked up from a pile of documents, pushing his glasses higher on his nose.

“Zhou Yi, I’ve heard about the campus wall incident.” He paused. “You’ve always been a model student, excelling in both character and academics. But remember, as a student representative, you must be even more cautious in your words and actions…”

Zhou Yi quickly interjected, “Teacher, actually, that junior student was the one who first…”

Before she could finish, the Counselor’s phone suddenly rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, his expression instantly changing. He immediately raised a hand to halt Zhou Yi’s explanation. “Hello? Leader, you’re saying—”

After only two sentences, the Counselor immediately stood up. “I’ll be right there!”

As he passed Zhou Yi, he hastily threw out a single sentence: “In short, be mindful of the impact! I trust you!”

Zhou Yi stood frozen, a hand outstretched in a gesture of helplessness. “No… at least let me explain myself!”

The office door slammed shut, leaving her speechless before the empty seat.

A profound sense of injustice festered within Zhou Yi, yet she couldn’t outwardly express her frustration.

She turned away resignedly, only to see her three roommates peeking curiously from the office doorway.

Xiao Ju immediately pulled her out. “Xiao Yi! The old man didn’t give you a hard time, did he?”

“It’s fine,” Zhou Yi forced a smile. “He just told me to… be cautious in my words and actions.”

The three of them visibly relaxed. Xiao Ju instantly linked arms with her. “Come on, let’s go eat! The cafeteria just opened a new spicy hotpot stall!”

As soon as they stepped into the cafeteria, countless gazes, both overt and covert, swept over her. A few girls openly pointed and whispered.

“Is that her? The one mentioned in the post…”

“No way, she looks so quiet. How could she do something like that?”

“The photos are solid proof, and she’s still pretending to be innocent?”

The rush of malicious stares made Zhou Yi feel a suffocating pressure.

Even though she had told herself not to care, the idle gossip incessantly filtered into her ears.

“Bang!” Xiao Ju slammed her chopsticks loudly onto her tray. “How dare they slander someone like this! I’m going to set them straight!”

Zhou Yi quickly pressed down on her wrist. “Don’t go. Making a bigger scene is exactly what they want.”

“But Yi Yi!” Xiao Xia’s eyes reddened with urgency. “You clearly didn’t do anything… they’re going too far!”

The other roommate also leaned in, chiming in to defend her:

“Exactly! Those people just talk nonsense without knowing anything!”

“Xiao Yi, don’t take it to heart. We all believe you!”

Seeing her roommates’ flushed cheeks and sincere eyes, the knot of frustration in Zhou Yi’s heart suddenly loosened considerably.

“Don’t worry, it’s really nothing.” She gently patted Xiao Ju’s hand. “It’ll be fine once the surveillance footage is retrieved.”

Despite her words, when the distinct phrase ‘acting high and mighty’ drifted clearly from nearby, a definite tightness settled in her chest.

Never mind. She could just pretend to be deaf, couldn’t she?

Unexpectedly, she caught sight of a familiar figure, intimately linked arm-in-arm with a tall male student, passing right by her.

“How about we have sauerkraut fish today?” the male student asked gently, looking down at her.

“Sounds great~” the girl responded with a sweet giggle.

Zhou Yi froze for a moment. She had once eaten in this very cafeteria with that girl.

Yet, she distinctly remembered the girl saying she never ate sauerkraut fish, claiming she detested its taste and would never touch the dish in her life.

A sudden, inexplicable sourness surged within her, and she quickly lowered her head, burying her face in her meal.

She fanned her already reddened eye corners with her hand, then exhaled several times in succession.

‘Get a grip!’ she inwardly chided herself. ‘Why am I getting so sentimental? It’s been so long…’

“Yi Yi?” Xiao Ju noticed her odd behavior and nudged her arm quizzically. “What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing! I just got a bit of spice in my mouth.”

Xiao Ju looked at the tomato scrambled eggs on her plate, her expression a clear question mark. “???”

Although she didn’t quite understand what was happening, she still considerately patted Zhou Yi’s back.

“It’s alright, Yi Yi, don’t take it too much to heart! We all believe you’re not that kind of person. If you’re still upset, we can go and clarify things with the Counselor!”

The two roommates across from them nodded repeatedly. “Exactly! Those people are just jealous because you’re pretty and excellent!”

“It’s not worth getting angry over people like that!”

Listening to her roommates’ heartfelt words, Zhou Yi’s hand, clutching her chopsticks, suddenly stilled.

The noisy chatter of the cafeteria, the aroma of food in the air, and even Xiao Ju’s worried expression as she bit her lower lip—all felt so incredibly real that Zhou Yi almost succumbed to the immersion.

She had almost forgotten that this was a world constructed by a simulator.

The malicious ID spreading rumors on the campus wall, Xu Yao nestled beside the silver-haired male student, and the people pointing fingers at her in the cafeteria—they were all merely characters within the system.

As a player here to complete a mission, was it really worth engaging in internal conflict with these NPCs?