The Genius Game - Chapter 39

Seeing that Jian Tanxi remained unmoved, Du Jiaojiao had no choice but to give up.

After a while, she started sobbing again: “Brother Zicheng, where are you? I miss you so much… Everyone bullies me, only you treat me well…”

Du Jiaojiao would pull this stunt from time to time, and everyone had grown immune to it. No one comforted her.

Wang Juanhua currently had the lowest health points at 37. Jian Tanxi asked her, “Teacher Wang, how are you holding up? Do you need healing?”

Wang Juanhua shook her head: “I can hold on for a while longer. Let’s see how things go later.”

“It’s a pity we don’t know what the date is. If we can make it to next month, my healing ability will reset with 5 more uses.”

Qin Man said, “If we encounter other NPCs, we can try asking them.”

“Yeah. I didn’t expect Ding Zelan to be the eldest young master of the Ou family’s fiancée. She seems like a good person, but it’s a shame she’s treated so poorly.”

Qin Man replied, “Indeed. The so-called ‘beloved young miss’ is built upon the blood and tears of others.”

Shen Kexin added, “Thankfully, we’re not part of the beloved young miss’s family. We can leave in a few days.”

Du Jiaojiao stopped crying and whispered a prayer: “Heavens above, earth below, please bless us to complete the mission smoothly and leave this instance.”

Qin Man said, “I think that since there are ways to decrease health points, there might also be ways to increase them.”

Jian Tanxi: “I’ve thought about that too. But we’ve tried eating nutritionally balanced meals specifically during mealtimes, and it didn’t increase our health points. Proper rest doesn’t increase them either.”

Qin Man: “Well, it’s just a hypothesis…”

Shen Kexin said, “Hearing you say that, I also feel that health points must be increasable. It’s just a shame we don’t know how.”

Meng Yuening: “Then over the next few days, let’s all look for ways to increase health points. If anyone finds a method, share it with the others.”

The others nodded: “Okay.”

Although Ou Bao’er was no longer swimming, she still needed to be taken care of.

So, after resting for a short while, Jian Tanxi and the others had to continue looking after her.

Fortunately, nothing else happened for the remainder of the time.

When it was time to sleep, Jian Tanxi and Shen Kexin, who had the highest health points, were assigned to keep watch over Ou Bao’er overnight.

Based on previous nights’ experience, keeping watch would be exhausting, and Ou Bao’er could make all sorts of unreasonable demands at any time to trouble them.

To get through the night smoothly, Jian Tanxi gave Ou Bao’er a sleeping pill.

The sleeping pill would keep her unconscious for five hours, during which both she and Shen Kexin could rest properly.

They had also procured some ginseng slices from the kitchen in advance. When tired, they could put them in their mouths to help them endure.

Moreover, they mentally prepared themselves beforehand: no matter how unreasonable Ou Bao’er acted, they must not get angry.

After staying in Ou Bao’er’s room for two hours, they began to feel drowsy.

At that moment, Jian Tanxi heard some noise outside.

Shen Kexin had fallen asleep, and Ou Bao’er wouldn’t wake up for a while, so Jian Tanxi decided to go out and investigate.

At night, when everyone was asleep, perhaps Jian Tanxi could find some clues to help them clear the instance.

Jian Tanxi walked out into the corridor and noticed someone curled up on the sofa downstairs.

The noise she heard earlier might have been made by that person entering.

By the moonlight, Jian Tanxi looked closely and realized the person on the sofa appeared to be a girl.

Jian Tanxi went downstairs and approached the sofa, finally recognizing that the person was Ding Zelan.

Ding Zelan sniffled, frowning as if she were quite uncomfortable.

Jian Tanxi asked, “Miss Ding, are you alright?”

Ding Zelan was somewhat surprised to see Jian Tanxi and said, “Oh, it’s you, Nanny Jian… I’m fine, but I was forced into the water during the day, and my cold has gotten worse. Now I can’t sleep, so I came to lie on the sofa. Whenever I couldn’t sleep before, I would lie on this sofa and gaze at the moon.”

The dome of this building was transparent, allowing a view of the starry sky outside.

Jian Tanxi said, “This is just a minor illness; a good night’s sleep will fix it. I have a sleeping pill, would you like it?”

“A sleeping pill? Does it work?”

“Yes, it will definitely let you sleep soundly for several hours.”

“That’s great. I’ve been suffering from insomnia lately, and it’s been even harder to fall asleep since I caught this cold.”

Jian Tanxi gave the sleeping pill to Ding Zelan, who took it and promptly fell asleep on the sofa.

Jian Tanxi returned to Ou Bao’er’s room, and no one noticed she had ever left.

The next day, Jian Tanxi and Shen Kexin’s life points had only decreased by 3.

Because Ou Bao’er had slept through the entire night, she hadn’t tormented Jian Tanxi and the others.

Although the sleeping pill only ensured five hours of sleep, sleep has continuity. Having already slept deeply for five hours, one usually continues sleeping and doesn’t wake up abruptly.

Ou Bao’er, having slept well, was in a relatively good mood in the morning. She hummed a tune while having Jian Tanxi comb her hair.

After a while, Ou Bao’er said, “Tomorrow is my birthday. I’m hosting a party at home, and you all must make me look beautiful tomorrow.”

Jian Tanxi and Shen Kexin replied, “Yes, Miss.”

Jian Tanxi asked, “Miss, may I ask what date your birthday is?”

Ou Bao’er exclaimed, “How dare you! You don’t even know my birthday? You’re an unfit nanny! I’m going to tell Grandpa Butler to punish you!”

Shen Kexin quickly stepped in to smooth things over: “Miss, we remember, Nanny Jian was just joking earlier…”

But Jian Tanxi said, “No, I really forgot. Could you tell me, Miss?”

Ou Bao’er said, “Fine, I’ll tell you, and you better remember it! My birthday is August 1st.”

“Is that August 1st in the Gregorian calendar?”

“Of course! What’s wrong with you, asking so many questions?”

With that, Ou Bao’er pressed the call button, and the butler entered.

Ou Bao’er instructed the butler to take Jian Tanxi away for a lesson, so Jian Tanxi was beaten, losing 10 life points.

Current life points: Jian Tanxi 87, Qin Man 39, Du Jiaojiao 48, Meng Yuening 80, Shen Kexin 97, Wang Juanhua 37.

Though Jian Tanxi had been beaten, she wasn’t the least bit disheartened; instead, she was quite pleased.

Because today was the last day of July.

She didn’t return to Ou Bao’er’s room but went to the nanny’s quarters instead, approaching Wang Juanhua, who had the lowest life points, and healed her.

Wang Juanhua said in surprise, “My life points are still at 37; there’s no need to heal me so soon…”

Jian Tanxi whispered, “No, I must use it now. Because tomorrow marks the start of a new month, and my healing ability refreshes every month, I’ll have five uses again.”

“I see…”

Wang Juanhua’s life points were restored to 100.

Just then, a mechanical voice announced that Qin Man’s life points had decreased by 5, now at 34.

Jian Tanxi asked Qin Man in surprise, “Sister Qin Man, what’s going on? Were you angry just now? But that can’t be right, if you were angry, all players would lose health points, not just you…”

Qin Man smiled bitterly. “I wasn’t angry… I just haven’t been sleeping well at night because I miss Xiao Chen, so my mental state is poor, and it’s affecting my health points.”

“So that’s it.”

Jian Tanxi had almost forgotten about Qu Chen’s existence.

To others, Qu Chen might be insignificant, but to Qin Man, he was extremely important.

These past few days, Qin Man had been suppressing her longing for her child while working on missions with the others, it couldn’t have been easy.

Jian Tanxi asked, “Sister Qin Man, my mind-reading ability can only be used twice a month, and the uses don’t stack. After today, the two chances for July will be gone. Do you want me to read Qu Chen’s mind?”

Qin Man hesitated for a moment before making up her mind. “Alright… It’s no good to keep hanging in suspense like this… I need to know whether he’s alive or dead… Please… go ahead and read his mind…”

Jian Tanxi was also nervous. She tried her best to calm herself down and then activated her mind-reading ability.

After a while, she heard Qu Chen’s inner thoughts: “Mom… Where is Mom… I miss Mom…”

Jian Tanxi excitedly told Qin Man, “Sister Qin Man, Qu Chen is still alive! I read his mind! He said he misses you so much!”

Qin Man was both overjoyed and somewhat sorrowful. “Really? He’s still alive… I wonder if he’s hungry, tired, or if anyone has bullied him… Xiao Chen…”

Jian Tanxi comforted her, “Don’t worry, Xiao Chen is very clever. Besides, with so few people left in the world now, he might not even run into anyone else, so he shouldn’t be in any danger. If he’s hungry, he’ll find something to eat on his own.”

“I hope so…”

Just then, the system voice sounded: “Detected Qin Man’s joy value has increased by 30 points. Heartfelt joy can increase health points. Congratulations on discovering the hidden rule.

Joy points can be exchanged for health points at a 1:1 ratio. That is to say, a total of 30 health points can be exchanged. These health points can be allocated to any player.

This time, the distribution will be handled by Jian Tanxi, who contributed the most.”

Hearing this, Jian Tanxi and the others were overjoyed.

But Jian Tanxi was a bit puzzled. “Why is it that when health points are deducted based on anger value, it’s multiplied by six, but when increasing health points, it’s not multiplied by six?”

The mechanical voice replied, “You should be grateful you even have a chance to increase your health points. Stop nitpicking.”

Jian Tanxi: “…”

At that moment, Qin Man asked, “Wait, I have a question too. Over the past few days, we players have had many moments of happiness. Why is it that only this time we can increase health points?”

The mechanical voice answered, “Only when the happiness reaches a certain level can joy value be calculated and health points increased. Ordinary happiness doesn’t count.”

Now everyone understood.

It had to be heartfelt joy, and the level of joy had to be particularly high.

Qin Man’s joy upon learning that her child was alive came from the depths of her soul, a very intense emotion, so it could be calculated as joy value.

Although they had found a way to increase health points, putting it into practice wasn’t going to be easy.

Jian Tanxi could freely allocate these 30 health points. Currently, there were five nannies in the nanny room, but Shen Kexin was not there as she was taking care of Ou Bao’er.

Shen Kexin had 97 health points, so she probably wouldn’t mind a little more or less.

Therefore, Jian Tanxi directly addressed the others, “Right now, Sister Qin Man has the lowest health points, and these 30 points were earned by her. So, I plan to allocate 20 points to her. Does anyone have any objections?”

No one else objected, except for Du Jiaojiao, who said, “No way! There are only 30 points in total. Why should Qin Man take two-thirds? I propose that she and I split them equally, 15 points each.”