Ultimate Rice System 26 Lilies In The Dark

There were 5 others playing the ball game. They all seemed to be in the second year. As Xin Fan requested to join, they looked at each other and shrugged. They seemed quite nonchalant about the request.

"Wanna let him join?"

"Sure! why not?"

And so Xin Fan easily integrated himself into the group. Xin Fan got the basic gist of the game. There was one person who is 'it'. He would stand in the middle of the circle. There would be a ball. 'It' would run and tackle the person with the ball. If he succeeds, the places would swap. If he fails, he would sit out for the round. The game is played until there is 2 people are left, 'it' and the last players pa.s.sing. The last person pa.s.sing would be the winner.

Xin Fan held the ball in his hand.He bounced it at high speeds. He could see the person in the middle run over to tackle him. He threw the ball at a high velocity at the person next to him. From the sheer force of the throw, the boy was forced back 10 steps.

"What are you doing!"

'Sorry...I threw too hard."

The boy charging at him changed target and tackled the boy to the ground.He did not even have a chance to throw the ball.

"Aha. You are it."

The two swapped position. The one who was tackled went to the middle of the circle with the one who was tackling holding the ball. Just as the match started again, Xin Fan lifted his hands and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"COME AT ME!"

The others looked at him with a confused expression. After all, this was a ball game, not a battle royale. The only time when it is even remotely appropriate was if he was it. After a few seconds of confusion, the game resumed. Xin Fan easily adapted and managed to win most of the rounds. He easily overpowered them with his pure athleticism. Ever so often he would do some strange plays. He would pa.s.s the ball through the legs. He would slam it down and make it bounce high. He would even pa.s.s it by rebounding it off someone. To put it simply, he did things out of the ordinary. Eventually, he decided that he had played enough and walked off by himself. All of what's left was to test his theory.

-

That very night, he crawled out of the window as he did the night before. He was extra vigilant. He was paranoid that he alerted some of the staff the night before. He was almost certain that there would be more people patrolling. However time was not on his side due to a deadline. He only had 12 more days to finish the quest. Knowing full well Chilong was awake, he left a note.

-

Please keep an eye out.

Cover me when I come back

we can fight again

-

Xin Fan, like yesterday, walked through the hallways. Like yesterday, there were teachers patrolling the school grounds. Every so often he would enter a cla.s.sroom and hide in a blind spot until they pa.s.s. Compared to yesterday, there was a lot more teachers pa.s.sing through the hallway. After all, the staff room was just on the top floor of the building. There seemed to be a staff meeting. Xin Fan internally planned to return before the meting was over. Xin Fan quickly rushed over to the gymnasium and hid in a dark corner waiting for the show to start. He brought warmer clothes today. If Chilong was going to be awake anyway, he might as well bring it.

*Bounce*

*BounceBounce*

*Bounce**Bounce**Bounce**Bounce**Bounce*

As expected, there were bouncing again. The sound softly resonated throughout the gymnasium. Xin Fan was waiting. Waiting for something to occur. There seemed to be more shadows tonight. They moved swiftly pa.s.sing an invisible ball around. Then, there was a soft voice. The shadows may be part of one's imagination. However the sound was unmistakable.

"come at me..."

This confirmed Xin Fan's guess. The voice was unmistakably his own. Xin Fan slowly got up from his position and sniffed the air. The stench from the previous night was still there. Xin Fan slowly walked around. He seemed to be searching for the source of the smell. More specifically, he was searching for the source of the smell of flowers. Xin Fan slowly trudged along until his foot hit a small indent in the ground. Xin Fan crawled onto all fours and touched around the floor. Through the faint outline in the darkness, he could barely make the object out. It was a hatch. What he felt as he walked was a small handle. Xin Fan put his hands on the handle and lifted them up with full force. The hatch was not surprisingly very heavy. It took him all his body strength to lift it up. He slowly climbed down.

The area was very dark so Xin Fan lit a candle. Almost immediately, the sound of bouncing stopped. He looked around to see rows of pots neatly arranged in a pattern. In each pot was a flower. The flowers were lilies. Each petal was pitch black with only the stem being white. In the center was a gathering of shadows, imposed by the surrounding shadows.

"No wonder."

Xin Fan recognized the flower. He determined that it was a Shadow Echo Lily. They were a special flower used in many formations. This included the surveillance formation the school used for the fighting room. They grow only in the darkest of environments. They are known to generate illusions based on previous encounters and are a weed in some areas. However judging from the way they are presented, Xin Fan deduced that they are intentionally cultivated by the school.

Huh? Why am I not getting any progress? Didn't I solve the mystery.

Xin Fan reopened up his quest menu.

-

Quest 2: Disprove the 4 school mysteries

Progress: 0%

Reward: Boosting Rice Recipes

Deadline: Before Exam

-

Xin Fan read the quest over and over again until he finally realized his mistake. It was there the whole time. Disprove. He had to disprove the mystery. Xin Fan sighed. He did not really want to talk to Chang Mo again. However there seemed to be no choice. Xin Fan slowly climbed out of the hatch and Exited the gym. The teachers seemed to have left the meeting. There wasn't any teachers on patrol either. Xin Fan rushed back to the dorm and entered through the window. This time, he did not even need Chilong's help. Surprisingly, Chilong was still fast asleep. Had there been someone on patrol, things may have gone awry.

-

The next day, Xin Fan searched around for Chang Mo. He was still very suspicious about him. Xin Fan narrated all his findings. Of course he omitted the part about him leaving at night. Chang Mo personally confirmed Xin Fan's theory by checking out the gym himself. With daylight on his side, they realized that the hatch was in plain sight. It was literally next to the entrance inside the gym.

"So...All this time...It was just Shadow Echo Lilies."

Chang Mo gave off a sigh of relief. Although he was partially disappointed, he was relieved that there was no ghosts. It gave him hope that the other three mysteries all had a logical solution.

[ Quest Completion at 25% ]

Xin Fan returned back to his dorm. In the bedroom, Chilong was reading a piece of paper. Looking at the paper made Xin Fan pause a bit.

"Haha...looks like you want a fight."

Ahh...I forgot to get rid of that.

Xin Fan sighed dejectedly as he followed Chilong to an open field outside the dorm.