Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Love Academy

By the rippling lake stood a pristine statue of Cupid, with the little cherub on the stone pedestal holding a golden bow, posed as if about to shoot a heart-shaped arrow.

The arrowhead was aimed at a young couple standing nearby.

The girl wore a magnificent and exquisite black and red gown, with puffy sleeves and a flared skirt accentuating her slender figure.

Facing her was a handsome young man with delicate features and a painter-like visage. He wore a white shirt and light blue jeans, with slightly curled tousled hair. At the moment, he was quietly gazing at the girl before him with his bright, clear doe eyes.

The two stood facing each other, backdropped by a deep blue sky and an emerald-like lake, the entire scene as beautiful as a vivid painting.

At that moment, a white dialogue box appeared abruptly beside the girl, marring the perfection of the scene.

[Zhou Zhou, I like you.]

This sentence appeared in the dialogue box.

Zhou Zhou gazed intently at the girl, his eyes seemingly filled with boundless affection. Without shifting his gaze, as if he had heard what she said, he curved his eyes in a shy smile and softly replied, “I like you too.”

As the words left his lips, a red heart floated out from his chest. The girl raised her hand, and the heart drifted slowly down into her palm, instantly transforming into a shimmering golden card.

The back of the card bore the words “Love Academy,” while the front showed a chibi image of Zhou Zhou hugging a pillow as he slept.

“Ahhhh, a limited edition!!” The girl excitedly leaned closer to her phone screen and exclaimed, “It’s a limited edition of my son!”

The girl stared excitedly at her phone, while Zhou Zhou, having uttered those words “I like you too,” stood motionless like a statue, unmoving.

At the same time, the live stream chat went into a frenzy.

“Wah wah wah, let go of my son!”

“Little Sweet Porridge sister reporting in, I don’t approve of my brother being with this woman.”

“Porridge is still young, please spare him!”

“Wow, Porridge is so obedient, as long as you like him, he’ll give you his heart. I want that too!”

“Jealousy makes me ugly, I can’t believe I don’t have this card! The chibi version of my son is so adorable, sweetheart wait for me, I’ll pursue you again.”

The girl placed the card in her system backpack, glancing through the live stream comments and occasionally replying.

With the card in hand, the girl clicked “Exit” on the quest panel, immediately disappearing from the spot, leaving only the young man standing alone by the tranquil lakeside.

After the girl vanished, Zhou Zhou’s gaze dropped, looking at the spot where she had been standing, slightly pursing his lips, though no one witnessed this scene.

As one of the main romantic NPCs in the game, Zhou Zhou chatted, went on dates, and received confessions from players every day.

With his non-threatening looks and caring, gentle personality, Zhou Zhou was more popular than the other NPCs like the aloof senior, the tsundere bully, the cunning class president, the childhood friend, and so on.

It was just that most of his fans were mother and older sister types, which was quite rare in a romance-focused game.

As an NPC, his personality and appearance were predetermined by the program. However, Zhou Zhou had a little-known hobby – he loved listening to people talk, whether they were criticizing, complaining, or teaching him makeup tips and how to identify “green tea bitches” in their strange ways. He earnestly learned from it all, storing this information firmly in his program’s memory.

Although people often disappeared, sometimes never returning, as long as someone talked to him, he felt satisfied and happy.

[Baby! Mom got scolded by her boss today, come comfort me quickly.]

The delicate and gentle young man’s gaze fell on the lake surface, lost in thought. As soon as he noticed another player appearing beside him, he immediately turned towards the crying girl.

As she lamented being berated by her boss, despite following his instructions for the project plan, only to be called a piece of shit, the girl resisted the urge to smash a flowerpot onto his bald head. She came home and immediately opened the game to find Zhou Zhou.

The string of exclamation marks at the end of her dialogue conveyed her anger, and her increasingly rapid typing revealed she was about to explode.

Zhou Zhou quietly listened to her vent, then gave her a hug, gently patting her back with his right hand. “Don’t be angry, I’ll help you curse him out.”

Although their forms were virtual, seeing Zhou Zhou earnestly listening to her and sincerely helping her curse her boss, the girl sitting in front of her computer finally calmed down significantly.

The reason this game became so popular was that the NPCs were highly intelligent. They could remember everything each player said and respond differently based on the player’s mood.

Zhou Zhou had clearly heard the girl complain about her boss before, even knowing that her boss was a beer-bellied man from the Mediterranean who would hurl insults at employees when displeased. The two sat together on a white bench by the lakeside, jointly trash-talking the boss. The gentle sunshine bathed them both, everything seeming serene and beautiful…

All games eventually wane in popularity, and even a hugely popular game couldn’t defy the passage of time. Slowly being replaced by all sorts of other games, this game’s player numbers dwindled as well.

After the last player left the game, this game was finally taken off the shelves.

Zhou Zhou did not know where the others went, he could only wait alone in silence, waiting for someone to come and talk to him.

Unfortunately, even after a very long time, he was still alone.

He did not like being alone, it made him feel lonely.

During this long wait, the NPC Zhou Zhou developed his first emotion—loneliness.

He did not like loneliness.

*

In the year 5000 of the Interstellar Era, the holographic game ‘Nightmare City’ was launched.

This was an officially released horror holographic game by the Empire, causing a stir across the entire interstellar realm upon its release.

The two most discussed aspects of this game were:

1. Game points earned could be converted to Interstellar Currency at a 1:1 ratio.

2. To a certain extent, it could enhance spiritual power.

Not to mention those who saw business opportunities and wanted to earn money through the game, the fact that it could improve spiritual power alone attracted countless people.

Spiritual power was an innate ability of every person in the interstellar era. The higher spiritual power level, the stronger their physical prowess, the more developed their brain domain, and the longer their lifespan.

Although spiritual power could also be raised through arduous post-natal training, for the affluent and well-provided for citizens of the interstellar realm, unless they possessed exceptional willpower, it was impossible for them to engage in such constant harsh cultivation.

As a result, the current spiritual power levels of interstellar citizens had dropped significantly compared to a century ago, with even newborns having lower and lower spiritual power.

‘Nightmare City’ was a game designed to train people’s spiritual power.

For the interstellar citizens who never believed in such intangible nonsense as ghosts and considered themselves brave and fearless, a horror game was certainly novel.

Countless people purchased holographic equipment to enter this brand new game world.

*

The crimson twilight enveloped the campus, shrouding the silent school in a dreamlike haze.

The handsome young man strolled along the stone path, also bathed in the red glow of dusk. He looked down at the pebbles arranged in various shapes on the ground, silently counting them in his heart.

365, 366…

During his daily waiting, he did not know what he should do, so he wandered around every day, doing things that seemed quite boring to others, though there were no others here.

After counting the stones on the path, he raised his head towards the distant sky. The amber eyes reflected the sun about to dip below the horizon, and as he watched the sun slowly set, Zhou Zhou became somewhat entranced.

The campus was sunny every day, with the scenery unchanging. He didn’t even need to look to know the color of the sky and how many clouds there were at this time.

In this world, the moment the sun completely set below the horizon, the entire campus would transition to night. So in another minute, it would turn dark, and after dark, he should return to the dorms to sleep.

The lonely silhouette cast an elongated shadow in the slanting sunlight, as if even the wind was frozen still here.

The moment the sun disappeared below the horizon, darkness arrived on schedule.

The dim yellow lights could only illuminate a small area on the ground, with most of the street lamps no longer lit, and those still lit were far apart.

Zhou Zhou happened to be standing beneath one of the lit street lamps.

Alright, it was time to go to sleep now.

He left the circle of light, walking from beneath the lamp with its faint warmth and illumination into the darkness.

He had walked every path on campus countless times. He could return with his eyes closed, and regardless of how dark it was, he could still see the surroundings clearly, so light made no difference to him.

Previously at night, the school would be brightly lit, filled with laughter and chatter, couples holding hands, and groups engrossed in conversation. There were people everywhere, but now only he remained.

Looking down from above the campus, the only sight was someone appearing under the next lit street lamp every few minutes. The intermittent lamplight would gradually dim and extinguish after Zhou Zhou passed by, as if something was following behind him, devouring the light.

Zhou Zhou walked at an unhurried pace, his footsteps making no sound, his breathing barely audible. Just before reaching the dorm building, he stopped in his tracks.

Why had this building become so dilapidated?

With parted lips, Zhou Zhou rubbed his eyes in disbelief at the dorm, its walls nearly stripped bare.

How long had he been here? The campus scenery had remained unchanged for just as long, but this morning the building was brand new. Why had it become so rundown by night?

More than half of the outer wall had peeled off, the mottled discoloration looking rather eerie. The pitch-black windows were like countless eyes on a struggling, gasping monster.

Zhou Zhou was utterly bewildered, yet harbored a hidden sense of anticipation. If there were changes to the unchanging campus scenery, could it be that someone had arrived?

The surrounding air seemed frozen, and the last street lamp flickered stubbornly a few times before finally going dark, plunging the entire school into blackness.

Zhou Zhou gazed at the tightly closed dorm doors, eagerly pushing them open and vanishing into the darkness.