Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 123

Chapter 123: New Love Academy 1

Only when Zeus came crying to Zhou Zhou and Alvia, he found that reality was completely different from what he had imagined.

The spacecraft Ryan was riding on was urgently summoned from a neighboring planet. On this remote planet, the equipment on the spacecraft was a bit outdated, and without being able to project himself, Zeus could only observe the surroundings through the monitoring system on the spacecraft. Even before the spacecraft landed, he found the two of them.

At this time, Alvia had already withdrawn his barrier. Although there were no overly intimate actions, their tightly clasped hands still didn’t let go.

In Zeus’s eyes, the atmosphere between these two was strange and peculiar. Of course, this wasn’t the main point, the main point was why they were holding hands!

Zeus was shocked.

His first reaction was to rush over and separate them. After a long time of rushing, he realized he couldn’t project himself and couldn’t actually get to them, so he could only stare at them holding hands on the spacecraft.

The angry Zeus deliberately generated a gust of wind several times stronger than usual when the spacecraft was landing. The entire spacecraft descended with white smoke, and Mo Lan and Mo Zhu’s hair was blown into a complete mess. Unfortunately, the target Alvia had short hair, so he wasn’t affected at all.

Ryan parked the spacecraft next to the large spacecraft that Heya and the others had confiscated. After confirming that His Majesty was unharmed, Ryan finally passed out with relief.

The impact of the explosion was not small. Although he survived, he was still injured. He was worried about His Majesty, so he hadn’t received treatment until now. Now that he could breathe a sigh of relief, he finally fainted.

The mercenaries now truly believed that this planet would make people fall ill due to the environment. Look, another one had fainted.

After Heya woke up, he ordered his gawking brothers to go work. The prisoners had all been escorted onto the spacecraft as well. He had specifically cleared the area around Zhou Zhou and Alvia.

Mo Lan saw that they were finally done acting lovey-dovey, so she slowly came back.

It was already morning now. The faces of the Mo tribe members were even clearer in the faint green sunlight. Fortunately, it was daytime, so Heya had developed some immunity and didn’t faint again.

But he still couldn’t help wanting to stay a bit farther away from the Mo tribe members.

Mo Lan invited Zhou Zhou to come play in their tribe. Although this planet was desolate, there were still quite a few interesting and beautiful scenic spots. She wanted to let Zhou Zhou see her homeland.

Zhou Zhou agreed without hesitation.

Originally, Alvia wanted to go with Zhou Zhou, but he was held up by the matters of Alan and Xia Yan, the unruly nobles behind Alan and the remnants of Xia Yan’s forces, as well as the recent turmoil in the country caused by the starship explosion, all needed him to deal with them.

Ryan was still recuperating from his injuries, and Zeus somehow started throwing a tantrum again, acting sullen and refusing to work properly. For the time being, he couldn’t get away.

So he could only watch helplessly as Zhou Zhou happily went around playing everywhere with Mo Lan and the others.

Since the bracelet was on Alvia, he couldn’t go more than fifty meters away from the bracelet’s range, so Zhou Zhou actually asked Alvia for the bracelet and let Mo Lan hold the bracelet to take him around to play all over the planet.

The mercenary group delivered the prisoners to the military on the neighboring planet, and then the military would escort these people to the capital planet to stand trial.

As for the reward they received, the mercenaries purchased commonly used interstellar equipment and daily necessities as per the Mo tribe’s request. When the mercenary group returned, Alvia was also preparing to depart for the capital planet.

Originally, they had planned to patrol this star system, but due to the accident, the patrol had to be interrupted and left to others. He also had to return to the capital planet to handle state affairs.

Aileen, who had been forced to stay on the capital planet, had found it too difficult during this period of time, as she was accustomed to a free and unrestrained life. Dealing with these tedious state affairs on behalf of her nephew couldn’t continue every day, right? So she had to urge Alvia to hurry back dozens of times every day.

The matters here had mostly been dealt with, so Alvia informed Zhou Zhou that they would be leaving soon.

Originally, he thought Zhou Zhou might be sad since he had been following Mo Lan around playing everywhere during this period without thinking about him. When it came time to part, he would definitely be reluctant to leave.

But Zhou Zhou showed no reaction at all.

“In any case, we’ll be able to see each other in the game soon, and Mo Zhu and the others also bought game cabins, so we can all meet in the game.”

Zhou Zhou waved through the window of the starship, even though the people below could no longer see him. He continued watching the people on the ground grow smaller and smaller until they left the planet and could no longer be seen.

The starship they were on now was a military vessel. To prevent a similar accident from happening again, the military had dispatched personnel to escort them.

Dozens of starships escorted them back to the capital planet. On this starship where Zhou Zhou and Alvia were, everyone was from the military. Unlike the relaxed atmosphere when they came, the starship was filled with an uncountable number of military officers.

Originally, Zhou Zhou still wanted to chat with these people, but after they learned that Zhou Zhou was actually in a romantic relationship with His Majesty, they also assigned many people to protect him. No matter where he went, there was always a large group following behind him.

These solemn and taciturn military personnel were too diligent in their duties. Even when Zhou Zhou told them he didn’t need protection, they still followed him everywhere.

Zhou Zhou went back to his room, and they stood outside the door, Zhou Zhou went to find Alvia, and they stood behind the two of them, their eyes glued to the pair, at the slightest disturbance, they would immediately surround the two.

Zhou Zhou suspected these people were using their duties as an excuse to watch their gossip because every time he went to find Al, he always felt like these people were more enthusiastic, their eyes brighter than usual.

After leaving the wormhole, Zhou Zhou entered the game without looking back. It had been a long time since he returned to Nightmare City, and after playing for so long, he should get back to work.

Zeus fully agreed. He had already learned that Alvia had actually snatched Zhou Zhou away, so Zhou Zhou would definitely spend less time playing with him from now on. It was better to stay in the game where Zhou Zhou had a lot of work to do, so he wouldn’t think about Alvia.

Returning to his home in Nightmare City, seeing Zeus and the little octopus crying and pouncing on him, Zhou Zhou also felt that he had been gone for too long.

When evening came and a group of little dolls angrily demanded to “judge” him, Zhou Zhou could only appease them one by one.

After accompanying them in playing games for a long time, he finally managed to coax the little dolls. After they left, Zhou Zhou collapsed onto the bed.

“It seems I can’t leave for too long in the future, or everyone won’t be able to find me.”

“That’s right, let’s just stay here from now on. The real world isn’t fun at all, and there are even explosions, it’s too dangerous.” Zeus immediately said.

The little octopus crawled all over the bed, standing on Zhou Zhou’s back as if it had occupied the high ground, raising its tentacles arrogantly at Zeus. After interacting with this octopus for a long time, Zeus understood its meaning, it wanted him to leave Zhou Zhou’s bedroom and sleep outside.

Zeus pouted, then unexpectedly grabbed the boastful octopus and threw it out, accurately tossing it into the fish tank.

Zeus clapped his hands and smiled proudly.

Imitating Zhou Zhou’s posture, he lay on the bed with one hand pinching the short, stout foot of the little bear on the bedside table. On the large bed, a big and a small person laid in the same position. Zhou Zhou closed his eyes for a bit, then opened them again.

It wasn’t time to sleep yet, so he couldn’t fall asleep.

Turning his head, he asked the prone Zeus on the other side: “Zeus, has the instance started running yet?”

Zhou Zhou’s second instance had already been designed before they departed, and he had asked Zeus to launch it afterwards. Without the starnet, Zhou Zhou still didn’t know how effective it was.

“The data is all good, no problems.” Zeus propped his chin with his hand and blinked at Zhou Zhou.

Is that so? He hadn’t seen it yet.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhou suddenly wanted to go into the instance to take a look, not as a player, but as an NPC. Previously, Mo Lan often acted as an NPC character in the instances she designed. According to Mo Lan herself, she had a lot of fun doing it and found it more interesting than being a player.

Moreover, the second instance was adapted from the Love Academy, so it should be closer to the original version that Zhou Zhou remembered from his memories, rather than the version that Xue Li and Ke Li had participated in before.

“What are you talking about?” Alvia suddenly appeared in the living room and walked towards the bedroom.

Zeus jumped off the bed and shouted at Alvia, “How did you get in? You’re trespassing!”

Alvia raised his brows, but before he could say anything, he heard Zhou Zhou speak from the side: “Um, I gave him permission.”

Zeus hugged the little bear and looked at Zhou Zhou with an accusatory expression, he didn’t have permission!

Although he could go anywhere in Nightmare City at any time, Zhou Zhou had never said he would give him permission.

Pouting, Zeus suddenly shouted, “You’re bullying me! Wah wah wah~”

He then ran off and disappeared.

Zhou Zhou didn’t even have time to react and stared puzzledly in the direction Zeus had disappeared. “What’s wrong with him?”

Alvia shrugged. “Maybe it’s because you didn’t give him permission.”

“But, he didn’t ask for it either.” It was Alvia who had actively requested room access, so Zhou Zhou gave it to him. And did Zeus really need permission? Hadn’t he always been able to freely enter and exit?

“Never mind, children grow up and have their own little thoughts.” Not mentioning that the “child” he spoke of was already over a thousand years old, Alvia turned his head and smoothed out the mess Zhou Zhou had made of his hair on the blanket. As he did so, he asked, “What were you talking about just now?”

“I want to go into the instance as an NPC.” Zhou Zhou looked eager to try, as it had been a long time since he had done his original profession.

“As an NPC?” Alvia’s hand paused on Zhou Zhou’s head as he pondered, then said, “Why don’t you take me with you?”

“Have you finished your work?” Zhou Zhou posed a soul-searching question.

Alvia smiled bitterly. “At least let me rest in the evenings, don’t you want me to accompany you?”

Of course not.

Zhou Zhou suddenly thought of something and exclaimed happily, “Why don’t you be the player, and I’ll be the NPC? In the instance, players and NPCs need to be paired up, so we can go in together.”

“What kind of instance is it?” Alvia hadn’t heard Zhou Zhou mention what his second instance was about, so he still didn’t know that this instance was actually the new version of the Love Academy.

Zhou Zhou didn’t say, insisting that Alvia go in and see for himself, which piqued Alvia’s curiosity instead.

According to the usual convention, players would need to find the instance entrance on the map. But as the designer of the instance, Zhou Zhou still had some special privileges. After setting it up in the quest panel, both he and Alvia were directly transported into the instance.

An azure blue sky, emerald green lawn, and various colorful and gentle scenes that looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale appeared before their eyes.

Alvia immediately recognized this as the instance setting of the Love Academy, although it was somewhat different from the instances he had entered before. The scene was indeed set up according to the Love Academy.

This was the second instance Zhou Zhou designed?

Looking around, he was currently in front of the school building directly across from the main gate, with quite a few people around.

Only these people were all paired up, one player and one who should be an NPC. The NPCs all had percentage values displayed above their heads, some high and some low.

The players seemed to be doing quests. Some walked side by side chatting with the NPCs, while others helped the NPCs hold umbrellas or carry their book bags.

In any case, the players all appeared exceptionally attentive towards the NPCs, and the NPCs’ values above their heads also changed according to the players’ actions.

How was this, it seemed a bit like a dating sim game?

However, since the Love Academy was originally Zhou Zhou’s home turf, restoring it didn’t seem to be a problem.

【Instance Name: New Love Academy】

【Quest Content 1: Find the person you like and work hard to increase their affection for you.】

【Quest Content 2: Please raise their affection to 80% or above before the first date.】

Looking over the quest panel, Alvia pondered where to go to find Zhou Zhou. It didn’t seem to provide any hints, so he could only try his luck.

Alvia noticed that there were also many single NPCs on campus. These NPCs had not been paired up yet, with their values all at zero. Their values would only change after being selected by a player.

Avoiding three NPCs who tripped in front of him, two who asked him for help, and one who scolded him for not wearing the school uniform, Alvia still hadn’t found Zhou Zhou.

The Love Academy’s map setting was quite large and could accommodate at least hundreds of players at once. The number of NPCs was even greater, so it seemed rather difficult to find Zhou Zhou among them.

He had originally planned to use his spiritual power to search, but he couldn’t use it at all here. The quest panel had even sent him a warning message.

However, this message somehow sounded like it was in Zeus’s tone. Could that brat be intentionally causing trouble here?

Scanning the surroundings, he didn’t notice anything unusual. Alvia suddenly turned and headed towards the dormitory building.

The brand-new dormitory building looked bright and clean. Alvia went straight upstairs, where there weren’t many people. A few scattered players seemed to be searching for some clues.

Walking up the stairs to a certain floor, Alvia turned the corner and saw a familiar figure.

The NPC with an affection value displayed above his head winked at him: “Hello there, want to date?”