Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 114

Chapter 114: The Real World 12

They didn’t expect that this place would turn out to be Mo Lan’s hometown. When they heard that Zhou Zhou and the others knew Mo Lan, their attitude immediately became very warm and friendly.

This boy named Mo Qi offered his skateboard for Al to lie on after learning that Al had fainted due to an injury.

The reason he seemed to be floating over wasn’t because of any special ability, but rather because he was standing on a skateboard that was only a few centimeters above the ground. Since the skateboard was entirely black, from a distance at night, it looked like Mo Qi was a ghost rapidly gliding over.

At the same time, this skateboard could also be extended and elongated to carry several people at once, which was perfect for transporting the injured Al.

During their conversation, Zhou Zhou learned that this was a planet in the 24th star system of the Empire, inhabited by the Mo tribe to which Mo Lan belonged.

While relieved to have found assistance, Zhou Zhou also felt a sense of disbelief.

Mo Lan had previously invited him to visit her hometown, but at the time, due to his NPC status and inability to leave the game, Zhou Zhou had to politely decline.

He never expected that he would actually end up visiting Mo Lan’s hometown one day. It was truly too coincidental.

After leaving the wilderness, they were surrounded by lush greenery. The plants here were quite peculiar, gradually emitting a faint green glow as they went deeper, reminiscent of the color of fireflies.

And Mo Qi led them further ahead, with the green glow becoming more and more abundant, as if guiding them home.

Sure enough, when Mo Qi announced they had arrived, Zhou Zhou saw an ancient-looking village appear before them. The outermost part of the village was surrounded by a simple fence made of trees of varying heights, and these fences emitted the most green glow.

Without the need for dazzling starlight or lamp illumination, these trees emanating a greenish glow were the brightest existences in the night.

Noticing Zhou Zhou’s apparent fascination with the scenery, Mo Qi let out a couple of snickers and said, “Isn’t it~ very~ beautiful.”

Zhou Zhou nodded and said honestly, “Very beautiful.”

Mo Qi’s originally pale face, illuminated by the faint green glow, looked even more eerie, with his large, black, and expressionless eyes only reflecting tiny specks of green. Combined with his all-black attire and long hair that frequently blew onto his forehead due to the strong wind, he resembled a ghost crawling out from hell.

Had it been anyone else besides Zhou Zhou encountering Mo Qi in his current appearance, they would have been scared half to death.

Completely unaware of how frightening he looked, Mo Qi continued snickering as he led Zhou Zhou on his skateboard to find Mo Lan.

The houses in the village were neatly arranged, with a wide path left in the middle. The cylindrical houses had mud walls and an oval-shaped roof, standing in stark contrast to the high-tech designs prevalent in the interstellar age.

Despite it being the middle of the night, the village was lively, with groups of elderly people chatting in front of the houses and children running around everywhere, appearing to be enjoying themselves.

However, the appearance of these people was strikingly similar to Mo Lan’s.

With their pupil-less eyes staring intently at the strangers entering the village, their pale, lifeless-looking faces, and everyone having long black hair, it felt like they had entered a ghost village.

Especially considering it was the middle of the night, yet so many people were out and about, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Despite being watched by so many people, Zhou Zhou felt no pressure whatsoever and had no inclination to wonder why they weren’t sleeping. Under normal circumstances, he would have greeted them and chatted a bit, but now his focus was solely on Al, hoping to find Mo Lan quickly and get help for treatment.

Approaching a small, round house indistinguishable from the others, Mo Qi knocked on the door, and a little girl soon opened it.

At first glance, Zhou Zhou guessed that the girl must be related to Mo Lan, as she looked strikingly similar, essentially a smaller version of Mo Lan.

“What is it?” The little girl seemed very familiar with Mo Qi, addressing him casually.

Mo Qi pointed at Zhou Zhou behind him, “He said~ he is~ Mo Lan’s~ friend.”

“Friend?” The little girl frowned at Zhou Zhou, looking him up and down, taking in his appearance completely different from the Mo tribe, and exclaimed in surprise, “He’s a human!”

The little girl stared at Zhou Zhou curiously, “You say you’re my sister’s friend, do you have any proof?”

Proof?

Zhou Zhou thought for a moment and said, “I met Mo Lan in the Nightmare City game. She’s the true human NPC of the Haunted Villa. She looks a lot like you, but her way of speaking is similar to Mo Qi’s.”

The little girl’s black eyes widened, “You’re Zhou Zhou?”

“You know my name?”

“My sister told me about you. You really came to visit us!”  The little girl seemed very happy.

“No, I ended up here with my friend due to an accident. I didn’t expect this to be Mo Lan’s hometown either. Could you help treat my friend first? He’s been unconscious.”

After the girl confirmed his identity, Zhou Zhou quickly pointed to Alvia.

The little girl nodded, “No problem, you’re our friend, and we naturally have to help a friend in need. Mo Qi, go call the doctor. I’ll go get my sister. She’s still in the game and hasn’t come out yet.”

Being ordered around by the little girl, Mo Qi said slowly, “Oh~ I need to~ get~ the skateboard~ first.”

The little girl was very warm and hospitable, settling Al on her own bed, then urging Mo Qi, who had retrieved the skateboard, to hurry up and go. After pouring tea for Zhou Zhou, she immediately ran off to call her sister.

Zhou Zhou sat by the bed, one hand still tightly grasping Al’s hand. After entering, he realized that the interior space was quite large. While the exterior appeared to be just a small round hut, the lower area had been completely excavated, creating not only a spacious interior but also divided into many rooms.

The room was very clean and tidy, with a glossy white vase placed on the jet-black table, holding a fresh bunch of wildflowers.

The room was brightly lit, and the table was spotless, creating an exceptionally comfortable atmosphere.

Soon, Mo Lan came out with her younger sister.

Upon seeing Zhou Zhou, she was also very delighted and affectionately patted his head.

Zhou Zhou could finally breathe a sigh of relief, as Al was going to be alright.

Although the village appeared quite backward, they had all the necessary medical equipment, including dedicated doctors. After examining Al, the doctor said he had merely exhausted his spiritual power and would wake up after resting for a while.

This put Zhou Zhou’s mind completely at ease.

At this moment, Mo Lan’s home was very lively, with not only Zhou Zhou and Alvia but also the doctor, Mo Qi, and other curious tribesmen who had come to visit.

Adding the various medical equipment brought by the doctor, the room could hardly accommodate everyone.

This planet was inhabited solely by the Mo tribe, and they rarely encountered humans, so they were very curious about these two humans.

“How did~ you~ end up here?” Mo Lan asked.

Zhou Zhou remained seated by the bed, occasionally allowing the Mo tribe children to touch his face and hair, which he didn’t mind. However, when some children tried to touch Al, he would gently stop their hands.

“We were attacked right before we were about to exit the wormhole, and then I found myself here, not knowing what happened.”

Zhou Zhou didn’t go into details, as although Mo Lan was his good friend, he still withheld some information regarding Al’s identity and the purpose of this visit.

Mo Lan also sensed Zhou Zhou’s reluctance to elaborate, so she didn’t press further on this matter.

“Mo Lan, do you have access to the star network here?” Zhou Zhou asked. Zeus had said he could reach any place with a star network presence, so if he could contact Zeus, he could find out what exactly happened and gather more information to plan their next steps.

With Al still unconscious, Zhou Zhou had to do what he could within his capabilities.

“We~ connect to~ the network~ via cables here, and you~ need to~ go down~ stairs~ to log in.”

“Do you log in through a game pod?”

Mo Lan nodded. Until recently, their place had been quite isolated, and although they could now log into the interstellar network and holographic games, they required game pods as a medium. Mo Lan had saved up some money from the game, planning to use it to build a more advanced interstellar network that everyone in the clan could use, along with related holographic equipment, but she hadn’t had a chance to implement it yet.

This posed a bit of a problem for Zhou Zhou, as his original data was stored in his bracelet. With the interstellar network he normally used, he could enter and exit the game from anywhere through his bracelet, all pre-set by Al. But now, with only game pods available, Zhou Zhou was just a projection and couldn’t enter the game pod like a normal person by connecting his brain domain.

However, he had seen Al’s operating methods when Al was setting it up, so he wasn’t sure if he could use them.

“Mo Lan, could you take me to the game pod?” Zhou Zhou asked.

“Of course.”

Mo Lan took Zhou Zhou to another room, and Al was also left in the care of Mo Lan’s younger sister at Zhou Zhou’s request.

In the center of the other room was a game pod. Instead of directly lying down in it, Zhou Zhou opened the game pod’s database and somewhat clumsily input the relevant information.

He didn’t know if he could succeed. In the past, he always relied on Zeus and Al, but now that they were both gone, he could only rely on himself. Fortunately, Zhou Zhou was very curious, and whenever Al was inputting settings, he never avoided Zhou Zhou, so Zhou Zhou had memorized the steps. Although this game pod’s model was slightly different from the one in the palace, the operation was the same.

Mo Lan watched as Zhou Zhou fiddled with her family’s game pod but didn’t interrupt him, silently observing from the side.

After Zhou Zhou finished setting it up, he had Mo Lan open the game pod’s login portal, and the Zhou Zhou standing beside her suddenly disappeared.

He succeeded! Zhou Zhou finally logged into Nightmare City, and the login location was precisely where he had left off, his home in the game.

“Zhou Zhou!”

As soon as he entered the game, Zeus sensed him, and the moment Zhou Zhou appeared in the game, Zeus also materialized, diving into Zhou Zhou’s embrace.

“Where did you guys go? I couldn’t find you,” Zeus said, hugging Zhou Zhou’s waist and complaining in a pitiful tone.

Without any delay, Zhou Zhou recounted to Zeus their encounter in the wormhole and everything that happened afterward.

Zeus also knew this was a significant matter, so he promised to find the attackers as soon as possible and have the imperial palace send people to the 24th star system to retrieve them.

“What about the others? If nothing happened to me and Al, they should still be alive, but I don’t know where they are now,” Zhou Zhou asked.

Due to Al’s situation, Zhou Zhou didn’t voice his concerns. The others were also unaccounted for, and he had no ability to search for them, so he could only entrust the matter to Zeus.

“Don’t worry, as long as I know the approximate location, I can find them.” Although the 24th star system was the area within the Empire’s territory with the least star network coverage, as long as he had a general direction, he could find them through various means.

News of the Emperor being in danger was now practically common knowledge, and many places had experienced unrest due to this news. Fortunately, with Aileen in charge, no serious incidents had occurred yet. Now that they knew Alvia was safe, Aileen would also be better able to handle the situation.

As for why this incident made headlines immediately, there was undoubtedly a behind-the-scenes mastermind orchestrating it.

Zeus was still investigating, so sending someone to retrieve Alvia and the others could only be done secretly.

Zhou Zhou conveyed everything he needed to Zeus, then prepared to log off.

He was concerned about the unconscious Al and didn’t want to leave him alone for too long.

After going through this experience, Zhou Zhou seemed to have grown up all at once, and his consideration of issues had become more comprehensive. His thought process was becoming more and more human-like, evolving from his initial lack of caution and gullibility to now being able to think through issues at various stages and make appropriate responses whenever possible, far exceeding the capabilities of a simple NPC.

After leaving the game, Mo Lan was still standing beside the game pod.

After all, Zhou Zhou’s entire being had disappeared and then suddenly reappeared after a while, which was certainly beyond normal.  Current game pods were not advanced enough to allow a human’s physical body to enter the virtual world.

Her lifeless, black eyes gazed at Zhou Zhou. Although Mo Lan’s appearance was terrifying, she was very gentle and considerate. Despite the “person disappearing and reappearing” occurring right before her eyes being quite abnormal, she didn’t ask about it.

Zhou Zhou pursed his lips. Mo Lan trusted him, so she chose not to inquire, but he also had to live up to her trust.

He couldn’t actively disclose Al’s identity, as that was Al’s private matter, which he had no right to decide.

However, his own identity was something he could decide on. Moreover, he had intended to tell his friends about this matter one by one.

Afterwards, Zhou Zhou revealed his identity to Mo Lan, from his initial time at the Love Academy all the way to later learning from her that he was an NPC, telling her everything.

“You mean~ because of me~ you learned~ you were an NPC?” Mo Lan did find it quite unbelievable, as the person she had always admired suddenly said he wasn’t human, which was indeed quite strange.

But thinking about it, it made sense. After all, when Zhou Zhou encountered them, people with appearances drastically different from normal humans, he remained completely unfazed, which was certainly not something an ordinary person could do. If Zhou Zhou himself was not human, without those feelings of fear and horror, and without the aesthetic perceptions instilled from childhood, then his reaction would be understandable.

Mo Lan felt a bit disappointed, as she had thought she had finally found a human who accepted them, but it turned out not to be the case.

However, this had nothing to do with Zhou Zhou, it was her own assumption that she wanted to be friends with him because she liked his personality.

This feeling would not change just because of Zhou Zhou’s identity.

“So you’re~ the same as~ Zeus?”

Even in this remote place, some people knew about Zeus. Zhou Zhou nodded, “In principle, it should be similar, but I’m not as powerful as Zeus.”

Mo Lan smiled, though her smile looked a bit terrifying, “No, I think~ you’re more~ powerful. You’re practically~ no different from~ humans.” Even she hadn’t noticed Zhou Zhou’s abnormality. If the evaluation criterion for artificial intelligence was its closeness to humans, then Zhou Zhou was clearly superior.

However, Zhou Zhou’s personality had changed significantly from when he first emerged from the Love Academy. He was like a sponge, eagerly absorbing all kinds of knowledge, abilities, and human emotions.

In a very short time, he had adapted to the human way of thinking and adapted to this world.

Zhou Zhou himself had also noticed this. For instance, right now, while revealing his identity to Mo Lan, he was still worried about how Al was doing, and Al’s well-being occupied a greater share of his thoughts than revealing his own identity.

In the other room, Mo Lan’s younger sister was shooing away the children who wanted to touch Alvia.

Their curiosity was too strong. Mo Zhu intentionally put on a stern face and scolded them, saying this human had been injured, and what if they touched him and made it worse? Moreover, she had promised to take care of him, so she couldn’t go back on her word.

“Sister, he~ looks~ different from us. I want to~ touch~ his face,” some bold children said, unafraid of Mo Zhu as they leaned over the bed, staring at the unconscious Alvia and reaching out to touch his face.

“Are his eyes~ different from~ ours too?” This was a mischievous child who wanted to pry open Alvia’s eyes.

“Don’t touch! Don’t touch him, you’re all being so rude,” Mo Zhu angrily scolded them.

When Alvia woke up from the noisy commotion, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a circle of little…ghosts surrounding the bed?

With pale green faces, black eyes, and pale lips, their raspy laughter echoed in his ears.

Still not fully conscious due to the excruciating headache from overusing his spiritual power, a dazed Alvia wondered if he had ended up in hell.