Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 124

Chapter 124: New Love Academy 2

This was the place where they first met, the same scenario, the same two people, but different from the corridor that had once been swallowed by darkness so that nothing could be seen, it was now extremely bright, with blue patterns painted on the pure white walls, a warm and clean corridor without a trace of shadow.

Alvia’s mouth curved upwards, and he stretched out his hand towards Zhou Zhou.

“Okay.”

When Zhou Zhou took Alvia’s hand, the originally blue zero above his head suddenly turned red, and the number began to rise continuously until it stopped at ninety percent.

“Ah!” Zhou Zhou opened his eyes wide in surprise, and plucked off the suspended number that showed ninety percent from above his head.

Alvia: This thing can be taken down?

Looking at the fresh red number in his hand, Zhou Zhou frowned in distress, “You haven’t done any missions yet, how can your affection level be so high?”

Alvia stared at the number in Zhou Zhou’s hand and suddenly asked, “Why isn’t your affection level for me a hundred percent? Where did the remaining ten percent go?”

Zhou Zhou: ????

This is already very high, isn’t it? Other players have to do many missions to reach eighty percent!

Since he couldn’t break the game rules, Zhou Zhou flipped the 90% over, and at the very bottom there was a small winding key. He wound it for a long time before winding the number back to zero.

Alvia: Why is there a winding key?

“Okay then.”

After putting the number back above his head, Zhou Zhou looked at Alvia seriously, “You should do missions now, your affection level will only increase by doing missions.”

Alvia looked at the number floating above Zhou Zhou’s head, which had changed back to zero, and suddenly reached out and pinched Zhou Zhou’s cheek.

The affection level instantly shot back up to ninety percent.

Zhou Zhou: ……Ahhhh, there’s a bug in the instance!

After searching for a long time and failing to find the source of the problem, it was fortunate that he was the only special case in the instance, otherwise other players wouldn’t be able to do their missions.

Zhou Zhou looked at Alvia apologetically, “In order to ensure fairness in the game, even if you successfully complete this instance, you won’t get any points.”

Alvia didn’t really care, since his purpose in coming here wasn’t really to play the game anyway.

What he cared about most was something else: “How can I get the last ten percent of affection level?”

“You can gain affection levels by doing daily quests.”

“What quests?”

“Take a look at the quest panel, there will be prompts.”

Alvia opened the quest panel, and sure enough, there was information on building up the character.

【Name: Zhou Zhou

Age: 19

Identity: First-year student at the Romance Academy

Personality: Serious and rigorous, lively, strong learning ability

Hobbies: Likes all kinds of food, likes to play around everywhere】

The information was very simple, it seemed that he would have to explore on his own to gain affection levels.

Alvia reached out his hand to Zhou Zhou, “I remember there was a lake near the exit of the previous mission, let’s go there for a walk.”

However, Zhou Zhou suddenly pulled his hand back behind his back, “We’ve only just met, we can’t hold hands.”

Zhou Zhou was earnestly playing the role in the game, but Alvia just pointed to the number above his head and teased, “You can’t hold hands even at ninety percent?”

Zhou Zhou: It seems we can.

Holding hands, they slowly walked towards the lake. Ever since they confirmed their relationship, Alvia had been busy, and Zhou Zhou had been playing, and they hadn’t had time to be alone together.

The two walked in comfortable silence, Alvia looking down at Zhou Zhou. It turned out that even if a couple didn’t say or do anything, just being together felt very reassuring.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhou leaned closer to Alvia and whispered, “There’s a trash can behind us that seems to be following us.”

Alvia was enjoying this time, and without even turning his head, he said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s Zeus.”

Zhou Zhou nodded, “I guessed as much.”

Not far away, a frog-shaped trash can was hiding behind a big tree, and as soon as no one was paying attention, it hopped forward a few steps.

He knew it! These two were holding hands behind his back and didn’t even invite him to play along!

As players passed by, they tried to throw trash into the Zeus-branded trash can, but no matter how hard they tried, the frog mouth wouldn’t open. The players struggled with the trash can for a long time before leaving.

The two in front had already disappeared from sight. Zeus rolled his eyes angrily at the players, and those lifelike frog eyes suddenly rolled upwards, scaring the players.

The scared players ran away, and Zeus quickly chased after them.

Along the way, in addition to the sneaky trash can, many players also turned their gazes towards the two of them.

After all, the time difference between this batch of players entering the instance wasn’t much, and the NPC’s affection levels were basically in the twenty or thirty percent range, so it was very unusual to suddenly see one at ninety percent.

A player with a female NPC stopped the two of them. He looked Zhou Zhou up and down, then saw their joined hands, and smiled at Alvia, “Brother, can you share how you raised your affection level?”

His target character’s affection level was only at twenty percent so far. To increase it to over eighty percent would probably take a very long time. Since someone had already completed the first mission, it showed that there must be some shortcuts to quickly raise the affection level, but he didn’t know if this player would share his experience.

Or maybe it was because his mood was so good, Alvia pondered for a moment, then looked at Zhou Zhou again, “Because of love.”

There was a huge noise from behind, and Zhou Zhou turned to look. The green trash can had fallen onto the ground, and under Zhou Zhou’s gaze, its round body slowly rolled away along the road. It really couldn’t hold it in anymore, had Alvia hit his head today?

Watching the trash can roll out of sight, Zhou Zhou was very puzzled. What was Zeus doing?

The player beside them twitched at the corner of his mouth. To see this handsome man with a cold demeanor suddenly being so… humorous?

If you don’t want to tell me, you can just say so directly. What kind of joke is this? Not funny at all.

The player was dissatisfied in his heart, but seeing Alvia’s unapproachable appearance, he didn’t dare to say it directly and could only smile awkwardly, “I see.”

Zhou Zhou also felt that it was a bit funny for Alvia to say such a thing so seriously, but he still cooperated by shaking their joined hands, “He’s right.”

The player thought it wasn’t interesting and left with his NPC, but he kept pondering on the way, feeling that the NPC seemed a bit different, with expressions and reactions that appeared more realistic.

Looking at his own smiling NPC, the player stroked his chin, thinking for a long time before deciding to try what Alvia said, just in case he really wasn’t lying.

How could he make the NPC feel his love?

The player loudly confessed to the NPC, wanting to gain affection levels this way. The previously always-smiling female NPC’s expression finally changed.

Her smile became a bit strange as she turned her face away, “We’re not that familiar yet, isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to do this? It’s really awkward, I feel like we can’t even be friends now.”

Then the twenty percent affection level above her head dropped to negative twenty percent.

Player: ……. Wuu~ I was deceived.

“To raise affection levels, you have to explore on your own according to the NPC’s preferences. Each NPC has a different personality, so you need to progress step by step.” Now that Alvia was no longer a regular player and wouldn’t get any points even if he completed it, Zhou Zhou simply gave him some tips.

“What if you don’t reach eighty percent?”

Zhou Zhou looked a bit excited and shook his head, “I can’t say that, you’ll find out then.”

Alvia had actually guessed a little. Although the scenery here was set up very romantic, it didn’t change the fact that this was a horror game. From the experience of the cozy cottage, players who didn’t meet the affection level would definitely be punished, it was just unknown what kind of content it would be.

The scenery by the lake was very beautiful, identical to the scene in Zhou Zhou’s memory, the shimmering lake surface, a white statue standing beside it, the deep blue sky and emerald green lake, each color exceptionally rich.

Last time, Alvia had only wanted to complete it quickly, so he had just glanced over the surroundings without feeling any difference from other places. But looking at it now, the scenery here was indeed beautiful, the blending and collision of colors merging into an unforgettable painting.

Or perhaps it was because he had someone to accompany him in viewing the scenery that made the scenery seem even better.

Alvia seemed to have unearthed a sentimental side, and just as he was feeling immense emotion towards the scenery, Zhou Zhou was looking around as if searching for something.

For him, he had seen this scene countless times, and he didn’t have that sentimental streak either.

“Al! There are boats over there, let’s go rowing.” Zhou Zhou pointed to the swan-shaped small boats docked by the lake. Those little boats were all double-seaters, looking very cute and tiny.

Alvia obliged and took Zhou Zhou onto one of the small boats.

There was no propulsion device on the boat, only two oars. Alvia had originally wanted to row with both oars, but Zhou Zhou also wanted to participate, so in the end they each took one oar and began rowing towards the center of the lake.

The little swan just circled around on the lake surface, not advancing in their intended direction at all.

The two stopped at the same time. Zhou Zhou looked at his oar, then at Alvia’s oar, there was no difference between the two oars.

Zhou Zhou: “I don’t seem to be exerting enough force.”

At the same time, Alvia said, “I used too much force.”

The two seated side by side were stunned for a moment, then suddenly both laughed.

After that, they tried for a while, drifting around on the lake surface. Finally, they perfectly coordinated to make the little swan go straight ahead.

The white little swan carrying the two of them danced on the rippling lake surface, the shimmering light on the lake seemingly casting a glow on the two already outstanding individuals, making them look dreamy and beautiful.

Perhaps it was because their vibe was so good that many other players also brought their NPCs to ride the boats.

Soon, there were quite a few small boats floating on the lake surface.

Zhou Zhou and Alvia only came here to play, so their speed wasn’t fast. They advanced slowly across the lake surface, mostly chatting and appreciating the surrounding scenery.

A small boat quickly overtook Zhou Zhou’s. Their speed was very fast. Originally Zhou Zhou didn’t care, but the youth on that boat suddenly turned his head and made a face at them.

“Your speed isn’t as fast as ours, haha, you two are softie shrimps.”

Zhou Zhou: “Hm?”

Although he didn’t get angry at such childish behavior, his competitive spirit was strong, and he immediately started rowing vigorously forward.

Meanwhile, Alvia coordinated with Zhou Zhou’s rhythm on one side while controlling the direction of the boat on the other, looking completely at ease.

Soon they overtook the other boat. Zhou Zhou looked at the youth with some pride, “I won!”

The youth wasn’t convinced and wanted to overtake them again, but forgot that NPCs wouldn’t actively cooperate with his speed, so their little boat also started spinning in circles.

“Goodbye.” Zhou Zhou waved at the boat behind them, feeling exceptionally happy from this small victory.

Alvia glanced at him, his gaze shifting forward again, “There are still a few boats ahead, want to overtake them too?”

“Yes!”

The originally warm and romantic rowing had somehow turned into a race. After a melee, they even capsized one small boat. The other players only reacted after Zhou Zhou and Alvia had left, weren’t they trying to raise the NPC’s affection level? How did it suddenly turn into a rowing race?

Seeing the NPC’s affection levels remain unchanged or even decrease in some cases, the players nearly cried.

Their next destination was the library. Since he had won the rowing race, Zhou Zhou was walking with a bit of a bounce.

“It went up.”

Zhou Zhou didn’t understand what this meant and asked foolishly, “What went up?”

“The affection level went up.”

It was only then that Zhou Zhou noticed the affection level had become ninety-one percent.

“Really, I didn’t even notice.” He murmured as he touched the number above his head.

Alvia also reached out to touch it. The affection level number appeared semi-transparent, but could be felt as a solid object, even with a hard glass-like texture to the touch.

Why was the affection level made in this form, when it could have just been represented by a virtual number? Why did it have a physical form? Touching the cool number, Alvia couldn’t help but wonder.

“Ah ah, don’t touch it.” Having carelessly allowed the number on his head to be grabbed, Zhou Zhou quickly covered it with his hands, refusing to let Alvia continue touching it.

“Why can’t I touch it?”

“According to the rules, if a player touches this, their affection level will drop.”

Alvia’s mouth curved up slightly, “The affection level is still ninety-one percent.”

Zhou Zhou: ……. So why are you being so smug about it.

The two bickered all the way until suddenly a bell rang out across the campus, the clear sound audible to everyone in the instance scenario.

“It’s time, I have to go.” Zhou Zhou said abruptly.

“What time? Where are you going?” Alvia didn’t understand.

Zhou Zhou: “It’s rest time, I’m a student now so I have to go back to the dorms.”

Even though they had only entered the game not long ago, Alvia had just thought that when he noticed the sky had changed color, from the previous azure to a crimson red. It seemed that time flowed very quickly in this instance.

“I’m going ahead, the dorm supervisor will scold me if I’m late.” Zhou Zhou waved at Alvia, then ran off alone towards the dorm building.

Along the way, other NPCs appeared one after another, their destination the same as Zhou Zhou’s, the dorms.

Alvia followed behind them and discovered that many players also didn’t understand why the NPCs had suddenly left them, so the players trailed after the NPCs too.

However, when they reached the dorm building, there was a man and woman guarding the entrance, both around fifty years old, with stern expressions and wearing blue jumpsuits with armbands that said “Dorm Supervisor.”

They only allowed NPCs to enter the dorm building, strictly prohibiting any players from entering.

The players stood outside, watching as all the NPCs entered the building, and the two dorm supervisors like gatekeepers closed the large door under everyone’s gaze.

“Um, what do we do now?” One player suddenly asked.

The others looked at each other, they didn’t know either.

“Have the NPCs gotten off work? Should we come back tomorrow?” Someone else joked.

Suddenly, a countdown appeared above all the players’ heads, and there was a new message on the quest panel.

【Time remaining until first date: 3 hours】

The previous quest was to raise the affection level to 80% or higher before the first date, and they thought the date time was set by themselves. But now it told them they only had three hours left!

Their affection levels hadn’t reached 80% yet!

And the romance targets weren’t even present, how were they supposed to raise affection?

Gazing at the tightly closed doors of the dorm building, one player said, “It seems we have to go in and find our romance targets, otherwise we won’t make it in time.”

The others immediately agreed, then looked towards the door.

Alvia’s affection level was already high enough, and he didn’t care whether he completed it or not, but he would follow the other players in too, because he had a question he wanted answered.

How many people lived in each dorm room inside?