Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 129

Chapter 129: New Love Academy 7

A group of Zhou Zhou came howling, surrounding Alvia and Zeus in just a few seconds, leaving Zeus with no choice but to cling tightly to Alvia’s thigh as he was squeezed out of space.

“I am Zhou Zhou.”

“No, I am.”

“I am!”

The “Zhou Zhou” argued with each other, their identical faces and expressions giving off an absurd and bizarre feeling, as if they were copy-pasted.

Alvia fended off the “Zhou Zhou” trying to touch him while searching through the crowd.

His ice-blue eyes glanced over each Zhou Zhou’s face and quickly moved on to another person.

Suddenly, he seemed to have locked onto something, a hint of a smile flashing across his eyes as he began to weave through the crowded “Zhou Zhou group”.

Although these people were constantly surging towards him, the crowd was so packed that they had to squeeze tightly together, yet Alvia’s movements were as smooth as flowing clouds and water, effortlessly moving with unimaginable ease.

Zeus was too short, and he knew that if he let go of Alvia’s thigh, he would be drowned by these impostors, so even during Alvia’s weaving, he didn’t let go but clung tightly to him as they walked.

Alvia kept heading in one direction until he stood in front of a particular Zhou Zhou.

“I found you,” Alvia said unhesitatingly as he grabbed the arm of Zhou Zhou in front of him.

The Zhou Zhou he grabbed looked exactly the same as the ones around him, yet Alvia was certain this was the real Zhou Zhou.

Still clinging to Alvia’s thigh, Zeus couldn’t help but want to throw a wrench in the works, straining his neck to ask, “Are you sure? How do you know this is the real Zhou Zhou and not just a random pick? What proof do you have?”

Alvia ignored him.

But the Zhou Zhou he was holding also suddenly asked, “Why do you think it’s me?”

Alvia poked Zhou Zhou’s face. “Maybe because your face looks fatter.”

Zhou Zhou: ????

Zeus: Even as an artificial intelligence that doesn’t understand human emotions, he felt that Alvia really didn’t know how to talk to people.

“I… fat?”

Although Zhou Zhou had no concept of fat or thin, the other people present, the other Zhou Zhou, should all look the same, right? Their physiques should be identical, with no concept of him being a little fatter and the others being a little thinner.

Alvia: “These people must be the molds you left before today.”

That’s right, when designing this instance, he had prepared for himself, so he had left his body data from that time…

Zhou Zhou suddenly realized something.

He slapped his forehead, and all the surrounding impostors disappeared, leaving only the three of them.

“That’s why, I was careless.” Zhou Zhou’s expression was tinged with regret, this time it was his mistake.

Zeus: “What are you guys talking about?”

“If you put that aside, would you still be able to recognize me?” Zhou Zhou looked at Alvia.

“Although everyone here has the same appearance, there will always be one detail on their bodies that’s different. Using the process of elimination, I could naturally find you.”

“Nonsense, there were so many people here just now, at most we could only see up to their shoulders. How could you possibly see any differences?” Zeus finally got a chance to speak.

“I was just talking about ordinary players. To find Zhou Zhou, wouldn’t you only need to take one look to tell the real from the fake?” Alvia looked down at Zeus and asked another question, “You can’t tell?”

“Of course I can tell! Even before those impostors showed up, I already knew where Zhou Zhou was hiding. I even saw Zhou Zhou secretly laughing!” Zeus glared and craned his neck to say. There was no way Alvia could sow discord between him and Zhou Zhou!

Suddenly remembering that he was still clinging to Alvia’s thigh, he quickly let go and jumped to the side.

He even snorted at Alvia, his expression of turning against someone familiar coming all too naturally.

Zhou Zhou guiltily rubbed his nose. When he had first seen Alvia and Zeus surrounded, he had indeed secretly laughed while hiding in the back. He didn’t expect to be discovered.

“But why did you say Zhou Zhou was fat?” Zeus brought up the matter again.

“Oh, it’s because of this.” Zhou Zhou grabbed his own facial features and peeled them off, then tore off his skin.

A player who had just passed by the second floor happened to witness this gruesome scene. After a moment of silence, he immediately turned and ran away.

“It’s because I was wearing this, so my face looked a bit fatter,” Zhou Zhou explained to Zeus.

“So, why did you wear that?” Zeus didn’t understand.

“I was actually planning to scare Al, but it didn’t work at all.”

“Oh, that’s really too bad.”

The two looked at each other and sighed in unison.

Alvia: …I’m really sorry I didn’t get scared.

Zeus took two small steps to Zhou Zhou’s side and grabbed his hand. “Zhou Zhou, I’m holding onto you, so if you need to run again next time, you can take me with you.”

Since there were no more NPC escape projects after this, Zhou Zhou held Zeus’s little hand and led the way toward the stairs.

Alvia followed one step behind the two of them.

After that, they encountered no more unexpected situations on the next two flights of stairs, and the three of them reached the rooftop smoothly.

In the farthest corner of the rooftop, a glittering golden small box was conspicuously placed there, with no other players or obstacles around it. One only needed to walk over to obtain the treasure chest.

The arrow above the treasure chest kept floating, as if worried the players might be blind and unable to see it.

“Alvia, go get the treasure chest quickly,” Zeus commanded. “You’re the player, so now is your time to act.”

Zhou Zhou held Zeus’s hand to cheer Alvia on, “Go for it~”

Alvia could only walk towards the treasure chest. When he was just a few steps away, he suddenly stopped.

Turning to look at the two with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, Zhou Zhou blinked innocently while Zeus grinned mischievously.

Seeing that Alvia had stopped, Zeus continued to encourage him, “Hurry up, it’s just a few more steps, and we’ll clear the instance soon.”

Instead of moving forward, Alvia took a step back and then changed directions, heading to the right.

After a few more steps to the right, he would reach the edge. Alvia walked straight towards it and actually stepped out over the edge.

The moment he stepped out, ripples began to spread across the rooftop scenery, and then the entire thing shattered.

Although they were still on the rooftop, the overall layout was completely different.

The treasure chest that was originally on the left had moved to the right, and the spot where Alvia had stepped into empty space had become part of the rooftop again.

The treasure chest location they had first seen upon arriving was now suspended in mid-air outside the rooftop.

If Alvia had walked to the original spot, he would have stepped into empty space and fallen off the roof.

If one couldn’t see through the illusion, they would be eliminated.

Zeus looked regretful, “What a pity, we were so close.”

Alvia advanced towards the true treasure chest location, but when he was just one step away, he suddenly stopped again.

As the NPC of this instance, Zhou Zhou’s task this time was to hinder Alvia, but none of that had any effect on Alvia. After seeing through the illusion, there really were no other traps.

“Al, why don’t you go get the treasure chest?” Zhou Zhou asked.

Alvia walked back as he said, “We didn’t come here to clear it anyway. Since we’ve found the treasure chest, let’s leave it to others. Besides, do you want to leave now? Don’t you want to see how the other players clear it?”

Originally, they didn’t have much time left in the game. If they left now, Zhou Zhou would definitely have to go do other things, so they might as well stay here a little longer since the flow of time in instances was different from the outside and allowed them to stay longer.

Zhou Zhou had actually planned to go back and improve the next instance after Alvia left, but since Alvia said that, staying here until the end wouldn’t take too long for them.

So the three of them stayed on the rooftop to watch how the other players cleared the instance.

Some players were eliminated by fake NPCs in a single move, while others had the real NPC’s affection plummet after mistakenly taking the wrong NPC with them.

There were also many players who made it to the top floor only to fall due to the illusion.

They sat on the top floor for ten minutes, but still no one was able to successfully obtain the treasure chest to clear it.

Zhou Zhou frowned in contemplation, “Why hasn’t anyone gotten the treasure chest yet?”

Alvia: “They got too complacent.”

Finally, at the twenty-minute mark, a player succeeded in obtaining the treasure chest.

“Hahaha, I made it, I can finally clear this instance! This instance really tests one’s stamina too much, Zhou Zhou is truly too deviant!”

Zhou Zhou: ???

“Are you talking about me?”

A voice suddenly came from the empty rooftop, startling the player. “Who’s there! Show yourself.”

With a wave of Zeus’s hand, the three of them appeared near the player.

The player retreated several steps, eyeing them warily. He recognized the two people in front of him as another player and his NPC, having gone invisible here to try and steal the treasure chest?

Seeing the player hugging the treasure chest tightly, Zhou Zhou quickly explained, “You’re mistaken, we didn’t plan to steal anything. We just wanted to ask why you cursed at me earlier.”

“Who cursed…at you.” The player froze for a moment, then tremblingly pointed at Zhou Zhou. “You’re Zhou Zhou?”

“Yeah.”

“You designed the Cozy Cottage?”

“Yeah.”

“You also designed this instance?”

“Yeah.”

“F***!”

“Why are you cursing?”

“You…you…” The player pointed at Zhou Zhou, looking like he could pass out from anger at any moment. Zhou Zhou was even worried he might faint.

“What’s wrong with him?” Zhou Zhou asked the two beside him.

Alvia looked at the other player before saying, “You may not know, but you’re quite famous in Nightmare City now.”

Zhou Zhou pointed at himself in disbelief, “Me?”

After reaching the intermediate level, he hadn’t looked at the forums anymore, so he naturally didn’t know that many players were now discussing him on the forums, how he had successfully cleared numerous instances in a short time to reach the intermediate level, and then how deranged he had become at the intermediate level to design two instances that made players curse uncontrollably.

Previously, someone had even posted Zhou Zhou’s appearance on the forum, but since Zhou Zhou himself didn’t respond, many players thought it was fake. After all, how could the person who designed such instances have such an innocent look?

Now this player realized that the leak on the forum was actually true, Zhou Zhou really did look like that!

But more importantly, he had caught Zhou Zhou red-handed calling him deviant. Would he be eliminated?~

Faced with Zhou Zhou’s puzzled look, before the trembling player could open his mouth, Zeus spilled everything to him, including the various comments on the forum and the players’ speculations about him.

“Instance too difficult? I don’t think so. Al cleared the previous instance very quickly, and in this instance, his spiritual power didn’t fluctuate at all. I think this level of difficulty should be about average for ordinary people.”

Zeus: “You’ve got the wrong reference subject!”

“But my next instance is almost ready too. Do I need to scrap and modify everything?” Zhou Zhou muttered to himself.

The player beside them, unable to see Zeus, only heard this sentence from Zhou Zhou and exclaimed in shock, “What? Your next instance is ready too? Isn’t that speed too fast?”

Zhou Zhou gave him an odd look. “As long as the scene and rules are set up, the system can automatically generate it. It only takes about a week to complete one.”

Player: “…” But aren’t instances supposed to be difficult to design? How are you so fast!

The player stood there, unsure whether to go or stay, hesitating for a long time before suddenly taking out pen and paper from his pocket.

“Please give me your autograph!”

Zhou Zhou’s eyes widened in surprise. “What do you need an autograph for?”

The player’s attitude was exceptionally respectful, “Of course it’s because of your devi… Your fame is huge now, and many people in Nightmare City want to do instance missions with you.” After all, the deviant would best understand the deviant’s mindset, so doing missions with Zhou Zhou would greatly increase the clear rate.

Zeus immediately heard the player’s near slip of the tongue and ran over to step on his foot.

Unable to see Zeus, the player only felt a sudden pain in his foot and hopped around gritting his teeth.

“You don’t have to step on me if you don’t want to sign.”

Seeing Zeus trying to step on the player again, Zhou Zhou could only apologize on the child’s behalf, then neatly wrote his own name on the paper.

In the end, the player cleared the instance while limping.

However, Zhou Zhou stood there silently with his head down.

Seeing this, Zeus hastened to comfort him, “Zhou Zhou, don’t listen to what they say. They’re just venting because they can’t clear it.”

Alvia also came over. Although he couldn’t see Zhou Zhou’s expression, he seemed to know what Zhou Zhou was thinking.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhou raised his head, his amber eyes sparkling brilliantly.

“You mean my instances are designed very well? With great difficulty? Very terrifying?”

Zeus: “Um, yeah, something like that.”

Alvia knew Zhou Zhou would have this attitude, he always viewed things from unique angles.

There were five treasure chests, but the players only found two, so in the end, only two players successfully cleared the instance.

Alvia and Zhou Zhou watched until the end. The remaining players either lost motivation or had such low affection that even finding the treasure chests was futile.

Seeing this, Alvia suddenly felt a bit puzzled. He turned to Zhou Zhou and asked, “I get the feeling this instance was a bit too simple.”

Whether in terms of the horror level of the scenes or the difficulty of the tasks, it was not on the same level as Zhou Zhou’s previous small instance scenario.

It didn’t even compare to the previous Love Academy.

Zhou Zhou scurried over to Alvia’s side, seeming quite happy as he tugged at his sleeve, “You noticed.”

“Actually, the difficulty of the instance varies based on the players’ levels and the number of participants. This time, there weren’t that many players who came in with us, and only one-fifth managed to leave the dorms, so the later part of the instance would progress faster with lower difficulty. If there were more people coming in, and the players’ levels were higher, the instance difficulty would be greater as well.”

They were currently standing on the top floor of the library. Zhou Zhou pointed out all the outer scenes through the windows. “Every building, every room could potentially be an important location for the next round. Since the players will definitely exchange information after leaving, if we proceed according to the same process next time, a large number of players would clear it. So we have to change the difficulty level based on the number of players and their score levels.”

“And…” Zhou Zhou took out his quest panel to check. “There will be five hundred players coming in next round with decent levels, so the instance will be quite difficult. Let’s stay and watch another round.”

Zhou Zhou’s eyes sparkled with anticipation, clearly quite excited to discuss his topic of interest.

Zeus wanted to leave since he couldn’t openly appear outside at the moment and would have to find other ways to disguise himself. “Ah? It’s bedtime, why don’t we go back…”

Before Zeus could finish, Alvia pressed his head down and shoved him aside.

“Sure, let’s watch another round.” Alvia’s eyes were full of tenderness.