Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 131

Chapter 131: New Love Academy 9

The bell rang urgently and briefly, as if urging, spreading across the campus. All players heard the sound, but not everyone could react to it.

Some players seemed to realize something and wanted to push through the crowd to leave, but unfortunately it was too crowded around them. Countless players were single-mindedly trying to squeeze in, so naturally those going against the flow were drowned out.

Standing outside the crowd, Alvia did not linger and turned to leave in another direction.

This was the third time he had come to the Love Academy, and although the mission was different each time, the map had not changed much, so he quickly found his destination.

Building 2, Room 205.

A few people were sitting sparsely inside. When they saw someone come in, they just glanced casually, but Alvia’s outstanding appearance and aloof demeanor still caused their gazes to linger for a moment.

He sat down by the window, still holding Zhou Zhou, gently stroking the little white furball’s head, while his gaze casually scanned the classroom.

The walls were pure white without a single stain. The blackboard at the front had some faint white eraser marks, as if someone had written something and hastily erased it.

There was also a similar blackboard at the back of the classroom, with a campus scene painted on it, seemingly related to the school anniversary based on the text.

More and more people trickled in. In an unfamiliar place, players wanted to gather more information, and others had the same mindset. The classroom went from initial wariness to becoming noisy.

Some people also wanted to talk to Alvia. Just from the pure white color of the dreammare in his arms, they could tell this player must have considerable abilities.

But his presence was too cold and aloof. It seemed that only that cute little dreammare could find a place within his aura, while others seemed to see the words “Do Not Disturb” from his demeanor.

Players with sense naturally would not try to approach further.

The bell rang three times in total, with a five-minute interval between each ring. After the third ring, the sky outside gradually brightened.

The morning sunlight slowly entered through the windows, making the entire classroom brighter and everyone’s expressions clearer.

As if by instinct, the noise in the classroom became quieter and quieter until it disappeared completely. The players all sat at their desks, glancing at the entrance from time to time.

Soon, footsteps could be heard in the hallway. As the sound became clearer, a woman wearing a black coat walked into the classroom.

The woman mechanically walked up to the podium. The upturned collar of her black coat covered half of her face, and her eyes were dull and lifeless.

She did not look at the players below, staring blankly ahead as if reciting lines word by word: “Today we will look at the first chapter in the textbook, regarding the school’s rules and regulations…”

Ten minutes later, she stopped lecturing. The general content was about attending classes on time, the school’s reward and punishment system, and some common school rules.

That was about it. After she finished speaking, the woman turned and left without any reaction to the others.

Room 205 had thirty sets of desks and chairs, but currently only half were occupied. The other half was unknown, whether there were no other players or if they just did not make it in time.

After the woman left, the players began discussing loudly and noisily.

“I thought we would find some clues here, but this is it?”

“The content she taught didn’t seem problematic.”

“I think the biggest issue was that NPC. It must have been an NPC, right? She looked creepy. Since she hasn’t gone far yet, why don’t we follow her and see?”

This player’s suggestion was quickly agreed upon by everyone, and several players followed her out of the classroom.

Alvia did not move. He was thinking about the information the woman had revealed.

For example, she said there would be punishment for not obeying the rules. So what kind of punishment would players who did not attend class on time face today? And she also mentioned rewards for obeying the rules. Would the rewards be related to the mission and the way to complete it?

Alvia pinched one of Zhou Zhou’s fluffy ears with one hand. The soft, fluffy ear felt velvety and cool, very nice to touch.

The people in the classroom gradually left, leaving only Alvia still playing with the fluffy fur.

Seeing no one else around, Zhou Zhou moved his ear but did not pull it out of Alvia’s hand. “Aren’t we going to find Zeus?”

“He’ll show up on his own eventually.”

Alvia looked at the pale golden rays of light slowly creeping up the walls. The white walls appeared ethereal under the sun’s reflection, and he squinted, then took out two student IDs from his pocket.

They were the belongings of the students he had fished out from the lake.

The metal cards had the students’ portraits and basic personal information printed on them. The backs had intricate patterns of vines and thorns intertwined.

He placed the two student IDs face down on the desk and stared at them for a moment. Then he suddenly swapped their positions and put them together.

The patterns on the back of the two cards were not the same, but when put together they fit perfectly, as if cut from the same metal plate. And in the middle of the vines and thorns that were now joined, there seemed to be a human figure entwined, but the engraving was so small that the human shape was blurred and indistinct.

Come to think of it, they were playing the role of students now, so why didn’t they have student IDs?

No one answered this question. Alvia stood up, holding Zhou Zhou, and left the classroom. Before leaving, he glanced at the erased marks on the blackboard and then walked out.

After leaving the school building, Alvia was still thinking about the student IDs and the words on the blackboard, but the clues were too scattered to piece together any useful information.

Seeing Alvia’s pensive look, Zhou Zhou swished his tail proudly. He knew everything, so Alvia would never figure out the plot until the very end.

After leaving the school building, Alvia noticed the atmosphere on campus had changed.

Originally, there were many players in this instance, so it was lively everywhere. But now, not only were there far fewer people, but the remaining players also looked visibly panicked.

Had something happened?

Two people came running from not far away, it was Ah Yu and Ah Feng, who had woken up in the same dorm room as Alvia before.

“So you’re here, that’s great.”

The two seemed to have been running for a while, looking out of breath and still panicked.

Perhaps it was Alvia’s powerful aura that gave them a sense of safety. After approaching him, they visibly relaxed a bit.

Before Alvia could even ask, they immediately spilled the beans about what had happened.

Apparently, the four of them had gone to the Arts Building together. After hearing the bell, they guessed they might have to attend classes according to the mission panel’s requirements.

But at the time, it was too crowded, and only these two managed to squeeze out of the crowd. The other two couldn’t make it out, so they split up. These two went to the school building while the other two stayed in the Arts Building to continue searching for clues.

However, when they went back to the Arts Building after class, it was completely empty.

It had been packed just a short while ago, so how could everyone disappear in just ten or so minutes?

They didn’t dare linger in the Arts Building, thinking their other two companions might have gone elsewhere and not necessarily disappeared. So they searched around various places.

But during the search, they discovered that many other players were also looking for their companions.

Their companions had all disappeared too. It seemed that any player who didn’t act according to their assigned role had vanished.

And the number of missing was about half of the total.

“This instance is too unreasonable. We just got here and didn’t even do anything yet, and half the players have been eliminated already. How can we possibly complete it like this?” Ah Yu couldn’t help but complain.

“Why don’t we stick together? After all, there are fewer and fewer people left now, and who knows what’ll happen next.”

“Plus, we wanted to keep searching the Arts Building for clues, but it’s a bit…” Ah Yu felt a bit embarrassed, as it did seem unmanly for two grown men to admit they were scared.

Alvia agreed.

When they arrived at the Arts Building, it was indeed completely deserted.

The previously bustling scene seemed like it had all been just a dream.

It was daytime, yet the empty building was eerily quiet. He didn’t know if it was psychological, but the closer they got, the more of a chill he felt down his back.

That was exactly why Ah Yu and the others didn’t choose to go in alone, instead looking for more people to go in together.

They had originally planned to find more players to go in with them. But the first person they encountered was Alvia, and guessing that Alvia must be a very powerful player, these two invited him along.

Outside, the sunlight was warm and pleasant, but inside the building felt abnormally cold and gloomy.

Ever since entering, Ah Yu and Ah Feng had been extremely vigilant, as skittish as frightened birds.

Zhou Zhou poked his head out from Alvia’s arms and studied the two of them.

They were lying. If this was really their first time here, how could they be acting like this? As players who had experienced so much in Nightmare City, to be so on edge in just an empty building, there had to be something off.

He nuzzled Alvia, trying to get him to notice their strange behavior, but Alvia just petted his head.

Zhou Zhou: ?

I’m not telling you to pet me, I’m telling you to notice these two.

Zhou Zhou’s resentful gaze might have been too obvious, as Alvia seemed to have received the signal and glanced back at the two behind him before casually asking, “This place seems a bit odd.”

“What’s odd about it?”

“There were clearly clues about the deceased involving just the student IDs and this building before, so why didn’t any players come here?”

Ah Yu paused. “But we did come here, didn’t we?”

“There should still be over a hundred players left.”

Ah Feng looked a bit flustered. “Maybe they found other clues and went somewhere else?”

“Is that so?” Alvia didn’t continue questioning further, instead petting the dreammare in his arms.

Ah Feng seemed to want to say something, opening his mouth but stopped by Ah Yu’s gaze.

After that, no one spoke further, and the atmosphere was very stiff.

Zhou Zhou stood up from Alvia’s arms and mouthed, “Why don’t you keep asking?”

A little fox-like creature trying to mouth words looked quite comical, and it was impossible to actually tell what he was saying from the mouth movements.

Alvia smirked, understanding Zhou Zhou’s meaning.

“No need.”

Alvia spoke at a normal volume, and the two looked over at him.

Before they could ask what exactly Alvia meant, a chilly wind suddenly swept through the empty building.

A bone-chilling wind swept through the building at an abnormal speed, invisible to the eye yet omnipresent.

The group immediately fell silent, the piercing cold wind swirling around them like an icy venomous snake coiling around their bodies, making every inch of skin break out in goosebumps.

Something was about to appear!

Alvia and Zhou Zhou both looked up towards the second floor, where a stained glass window made of colorful glass pieces came into view. At the eastward position, it should have projected a dazzling array of colors under the sunlight. But now it looked unusually dim, as if covered by a layer of dust and devoid of light.

Just as the other two people started feeling uneasy, something seemed to be moving on the dim stained glass, so faint that it was like dust being blown by the wind.

Zhou Zhou’s red eyes sparkled as he stared fixedly at the window, as if there was something interesting there.

The dusty patch on the glass slowly swirled and gathered, deepening in color until even the two players could see it.

“What is that?” Ah Yu exclaimed, pointing at the window.

The translucent gray gelatinous mass pulled itself off from the glass, hovering in mid-air, before rapidly expanding and distorting into an enormous, grotesque face. Accompanied by shrieks, it charged towards them.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The two players ran off in fright.

Alvia and Zhou Zhou were unfazed, in fact, their attention was drawn to the two high-pitched shrieking players as they stumbled out of the building.

After the two disappeared, Zhou Zhou turned to the still grotesquely shrieking semi-transparent monster and yelled, “Zeus!”

Seeing the still calm Alvia and smiling Zhou Zhou, the monster dejectedly stopped its movements.

It then slowly shrank back into the form of a small boy.

However, it remained translucent gray.

“Not fun at all, you guys didn’t get scared one bit.”

Zeus looked like a spirit, his transparency allowing the buildings behind him to be seen through his body. From his hair to his skin, everything was a pale shade of gray.

“Because I guessed it was you at first glance,” Zhou Zhou answered honestly.

Having stayed in Alvia’s arms for so long, Zhou Zhou nimbly jumped to the ground with no outsiders around and shook his body before lazily stretching.

Alvia dropped his hands, a hint of regret in his eyes, before looking at Zeus, “So this was your surprise?”

From that casual remark, Zeus sensed mockery.

He floated up from the ground like a real ghost until he could look down at Alvia. “I toned it down because I was afraid you’d piss your pants like those two players, you know?”

These two always bickered whenever they met. Zhou Zhou immediately jumped up to stop them.

After all, they were both taller than him now, and Zeus was even floating mid-air, too high for him to reach.

“Just do the mission already, no arguing allowed now.”

At Zhou Zhou’s words, the two quieted down.

Zeus gave Alvia a look of not wanting to bother with him before floating over to Zhou Zhou’s side, his expression immediately changing.

“Zhou Zhou, you look so cute like this.”

“Isn’t this your doing?” Zhou Zhou blinked his fiery red eyes.

After all, he himself didn’t have permissions in Nightmare City and could only rely on Zeus’s abilities to transform. So this animal form was actually Zeus’s creation.

“It feels different when different people transform. If it was him, he would definitely have a haughty look. See, just like now.” Zeus took the chance to badmouth Alvia.

Seeing Alvia’s resigned expression, Zhou Zhou also found it funny. Zeus really did dislike Alvia a lot. He wondered what Alvia had done when they first met for Zeus to acknowledge him.

After lingering for a bit, the three prepared to do the mission.

Zeus seemed addicted to being a ghost, still not reverting to his original form and instead floating around.

Zhou Zhou walked alongside Alvia in his animal form, which was indeed a novel experience, with the coordination of four limbs and completely different line of sight.

Anyway, Zhou Zhou and Zeus were just here to tag along this time, leaving the completion to Alvia.

They headed upstairs. This building was also composed of classrooms, but the Art Building’s rooms contained easels, paintbrushes, and various stone sculptures.

Alvia entered the first classroom, its walls covered in portraits. Every single one was highly abstract, with eerie lines, blotchy colors, and vaguely recognizable facial features of different shapes.

In any case, Zhou Zhou didn’t understand a single one. Although he had constructed this instance, the scenery details and non-mission-related parts were automatically generated, so he couldn’t tell what these paintings meant.

However, Alvia seemed to be studying them intently.

He observed each painting like a museum visitor, pausing in front of each one until he reached the last, where his expression finally changed subtly.

Bored, Zhou Zhou alternated between watching Alvia and seeing where Zeus was floating, happening to notice Alvia’s slightly raised brow in front of the final painting.

What was it? Did he notice something interesting?

Zhou Zhou immediately craned his neck to look.