Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 141

Chapter 141: New Students 1

 

Wilderness Planet.

 

The freshmen of the First Military Academy are undergoing wilderness survival training here.

 

After entering the university, they immediately began intense militarized training. For an entire month, these youthful and energetic young men and women went from being full of admiration and excitement to just being glad to be alive, hoping only that they could successfully complete this final wilderness survival training so they could have a few days of rest afterward.

 

“This week, you will be teaming up with completely unfamiliar teammates in squads of ten. We will assign a squad leader, but teams are allowed to change leaders internally. Additionally, each person has an emergency bracelet, if you encounter danger, you can use the bracelet to call for help, but using it means you will be eliminated from the competition.”

 

At the wilderness base, the instructor was briefing the new students on this mission. Below, all the students had tanned or dark complexions, no matter how handsome or beautiful they might have been originally, this month of grueling training had taken its toll. But the new students’ eyes were determined, and they stood tall with an air of vigor.

 

The instructor nodded inwardly, then continued, “As for how to earn points, we’ll send the details to your neural implants. Some of the plants and animals carry high danger ratings, so while they’re worth more points, I hope you all recognize your own abilities and don’t risk too much for a small gain. Alright, your team assignments have been sent out. All squads need to be ready to depart this afternoon.”

 

The new students at the base began searching for their assigned teammates, since getting to know each other early would allow them to plan and coordinate better in advance.

 

Zhao Yijie, as the leader of Squad 57, had already found eight of his teammates, but was still missing the last one.

 

“Zhou Zhou? He’s in the mech program, but I haven’t heard of anyone by that name in the mech department this whole month.” Zhao Yijie looked at the name list in confusion.

 

Just as he was about to go ask a teacher, an instructor noticed him.

 

“I was just looking for you. We have your remaining teammate here, come get him.”

 

Zhao Yijie had met all the other squad members, so the one with the instructors must be Zhou Zhou. But why would he be with the instructors?

 

Puzzled, Zhao Yijie followed the instructor upstairs.

 

The base covered a vast area. The ground and first floors contained various training rooms, while the second and third floors were student dormitories that hosted students from many schools coming for training each year.

 

The fourth floor housed the instructors’ quarters. Zhao Yijie followed the instructor up to the fourth floor, thinking Zhou Zhou would be there, but the instructor kept going up instead.

 

The fifth floor? Wasn’t the fifth floor the monitoring room? From what he recalled, it was mainly used to monitor the environment and maintain ecological balance, as well as track students’ movements on the planet and control weather conditions. Students generally weren’t allowed in there.

 

But why would this student named Zhou Zhou be on that floor?

 

Puzzled but not daring to ask, Zhao Yijie followed.

 

Yet the instructor’s steps didn’t stop there.

 

The sixth floor!

 

Zhao Yijie’s expression turned to shock. He had no idea the base even had a sixth floor.

 

At this point, Zhao Yijie felt curious about this unseen teammate of his. Just what was Zhou Zhou’s status to be allowed on the sixth floor of the base?

 

The sixth floor wasn’t large, but it was surrounded by advanced surveillance and defense systems. Zhao Yijie could even feel an intense sense of being watched, there were definitely people in the shadows observing their every move.

 

The once-casual instructor now appeared much more serious. He stopped in front of the innermost room on the sixth floor and knocked.

 

Zhao Yijie stared at the instructor wide-eyed. This man, normally unkempt and yelling insults while kicking their butts, was acting so polite! It was practically a miracle.

 

Reading Zhao Yijie’s expression, the instructor could tell the student was inwardly mocking him. Before the door opened, he surreptitiously kicked Zhao Yijie. What kind of look was that, like he was staring at a monster?

 

“Please come in.” A clear male voice came from inside, and the door opened to reveal a young man poking his head out.

 

Zhao Yijie felt dazzled by the sight. The young man appeared around his age, with flawless, porcelain-white skin and soft, exquisite features, beautiful like a doll his younger cousin used to love.

 

The instructor nodded at the young man. “This is your squad leader, Zhao Yijie. You can ask him about anything. I’ll head back down now.”

 

With that, the instructor left, his retreating back giving the impression of fleeing the scene.

 

Zhao Yijie hadn’t expected this was his final remaining teammate. Still puzzling over Zhou Zhou’s identity, he felt a bit tense.

 

“So you’re Zhou Zhou? I’m your squad leader, and we’ll be working together this week.”

 

“Okay, please wait a moment.” Zhou Zhou hurried back into the room to grab his backpack, then waved at someone standing in the shadows. “I’m heading out now. See you in a week.”

 

Zhao Yijie could hear Zhou Zhou talking to someone but couldn’t see who it was. He guessed that whoever could access this floor must be some noble or high official, and Zhou Zhou was probably the pampered son of nobility. He even had special privileges exempting him from the earlier training, only joining for the wilderness excursion to put on airs.

 

Unlike the earlier drills, the wilderness training would be ranked, with high-scoring teams earning bonus points. A student’s total points from training, exams, and more would determine which military unit they were assigned to after graduation, with elite units favoring those with the highest scores.

 

Thinking of this, Zhao Yijie’s attitude toward Zhou Zhou became complicated. Zhou Zhou had a backpack and a delicate, effeminate appearance, he looked more like an art student than a mech major.

 

Zhao Yijie sighed, hoping this little rich boy would at least listen. The instructor had clearly brought Zhou Zhou here because of his status, intending for Zhao Yijie to look out for him.

 

As they descended from the sixth floor, Zhou Zhou gazed around curiously, everything seeming novel to him.

 

After a silence, Zhao Yijie figured he should try to gauge the rich boy’s personality since they’d be together for a week.

 

“So your name is Zhou Zhou, right?”

 

Zhou Zhou looked at Zhao Yijie and nodded. “Yeah.”

 

“You didn’t participate in the earlier training?”

 

Zhou Zhou’s expression seemed a bit naive as he answered honestly, “I was in the hospital, so I missed the training. I’ll make it up over the next break.”

 

“I see.” So he hadn’t skipped out of laziness or dislike for hardship, but had been ill. That was understandable, and Zhao Yijie’s view of Zhou Zhou improved.

 

When the squad of ten assembled that afternoon, though all were unfamiliar faces, Zhou Zhou stood out prominently among them.

 

Because his appearance was so striking. In the squad of ten, three were girls and seven were boys. Over this grueling month, everyone had been exposed to the sun and wind daily. Even though the girls had made many preparations for sun protection, they still ended up tanned. So the addition of a pale, delicate little steamed bun like Zhou Zhou stood out prominently.

 

Everyone’s gaze couldn’t help but be drawn to Zhou Zhou. What’s more, Zhou Zhou was highly perceptive, whenever someone looked at him, he would immediately notice and look back, even smiling at them, causing many of the boys and girls to feel embarrassed.

 

The ten of them introduced their names and majors one by one. When it was Zhou Zhou’s turn and he said he was a student in Mech Class 1, a male student from the same class challenged him, saying he had never seen Zhou Zhou in their class before.

 

Zhao Yijie quickly explained that Zhou Zhou had missed the training due to illness and had just been discharged from the hospital today.

 

Several of the teammates frowned as they looked at Zhou Zhou’s frail figure. After all, they wanted to score well in this wilderness survival, so naturally they hoped their team would have as many strong members as possible. Yet despite being in the mech program, Zhou Zhou hadn’t even participated in the training due to illness. He looked like nothing but deadweight.

 

“Were you injured and hospitalized, or did you have some kind of condition?” one of the boys asked.

 

“Duan Yu!” Zhao Yijie’s brow furrowed deeply. Asking about someone’s illness in front of so many people was extremely rude.

 

Duan Yu glanced at the others. “I’m just asking. What if his illness was really serious? We all want to do well in this training, but if we have someone holding us back, we’ll constantly have to keep an eye on him in case he collapses. If his health isn’t good, why even come to a military academy? He should just stay home resting.”

 

The last sentence was spoken in a low voice, but everyone still heard it.

 

The others immediately fell silent, since none of them really wanted a sickly member weighing their team down either.

 

Zhou Zhou met their gazes calmly. “I just had an upset stomach last month, which is why I was hospitalized for so long. I don’t have any other conditions, I’m in good health.”

 

Ever since inhabiting this body, Zhou Zhou had undergone several months of rehabilitation. From the initial unfamiliarity, where he couldn’t even walk properly, to now moving freely, it had taken a lot of effort.

 

Originally, Alvia had wanted Zhou Zhou to wait until next year before taking the academy’s entrance exam. But Zhou Zhou was unwilling to waste any more time. While rehabilitating, he also studied diligently. Eventually, he passed the First Military Academy’s exam, and his body had recovered to normal human condition.

 

He successfully left the research institute one week before the start of the semester.

 

Previously, he had only eaten the nutritional meals provided by the institute, all sorts of paste that made him want to cry. As soon as he was discharged from the hospital, he sneaked out with Alvia and gorged himself on delicious outside food.

 

Which resulted in him overeating and getting sick.

 

In the virtual world, Zhou Zhou could eat from morning to night. He thought the same would apply in reality, so he ate his way through street after street until finally collapsing.

 

Despite his adult age, Zhou Zhou’s new body had a digestive system as delicate as a newborn’s. How could it possibly handle ingesting that much food at once?

 

Afterward, he was sent back to the research institute and underwent a series of examinations evaluating his intestines and various organs. It took another month before he was discharged.

 

What Zhou Zhou said was true, but none of the others believed him. Being hospitalized for a month just from an upset stomach?

 

The squad members harbored some resentment toward Zhou Zhou, feeling that having him would definitely drag down the entire team’s score, yet they couldn’t switch teammates.

 

Zhou Zhou, however, didn’t care at all. This was his first time traveling alone, and everything around him seemed extraordinarily novel, he couldn’t take it all in fast enough. Even if he sensed some dislike from the others, that no longer mattered to him now.

 

The squad set out promptly at 1pm. The other squads headed off in different directions, while they entered the jungle as originally planned.

 

Details on the animals and plants worth high points were recorded in their neural implants. Since they hadn’t brought any food or water when departing, their top priority was finding a water source.

 

While the others discussed which direction to head, Zhou Zhou silently listened. When they talked about what prey to catch for food or which high-scoring plants to find, he still just listened silently without offering any opinions.

 

By the time the squad found a water source, night had started to fall. Zhao Yijie decided they would rest there for the night and set out again tomorrow.

 

Some went to hunt for prey, while the rest set up tents and built a fire for cooking.

 

This included the three girls, Zhou Zhou, and a boy named Meng Ziye from the botany department were left behind, while the others went to find food.

 

The remaining five looked relatively frail. Although some were dissatisfied with this division of labor, the girls still did their assigned tasks diligently, with Zhou Zhou and Meng Ziye also helping out.

 

Zhou Zhou didn’t know how to pitch tents, but after watching the two other girls do it once, he got the hang of it. The others didn’t even realize he was clueless at first, by the second and third tents, he had them set up properly.

 

Zhou Zhou also didn’t know how to start a fire initially, only learning after watching Meng Ziye do it once.

 

Though quiet, Zhou Zhou worked swiftly and helped the others, causing the four present to view him more positively.

 

The girls didn’t have any strong dislike for Zhou Zhou to begin with, thanks to his appearance and obedient nature. Now that they saw he was quite capable, their attitudes became more friendly.

 

By the time the tents were set up and the fire started, the other five still hadn’t returned.

 

“I wonder where they went to hunt. In theory, you should be able to find animal tracks not far from the water source. Could they have run into danger?” one of the girls worried.

 

Another girl snorted disdainfully. “Didn’t they say they were very capable? Maybe they caught a big prey.”

 

This girl was also from a combat major. When the tasks were divided, she had wanted to join the hunting group, but one of the male combat students had mocked her, saying she would only slow them down and that girls should do lighter work.

 

She hated remarks like that the most.

 

“Alright, let’s just wait a bit longer. Maybe they just went far away. What if they come back while we’re out looking for them?” the third girl suggested placatingly.

 

The five of them huddled around the fire, feeling warmth on their bodies but growling stomachs. Walking nonstop from 1pm until nightfall, then constant work setting up camp, of course they were hungry.

 

Upon hearing someone’s stomach growling, Zhou Zhou stood up, “Let me try to find some fish from the river nearby.”

 

With that, he headed toward the riverbank.

 

The others looked at each other. How could he possibly see any fish in that darkness?

 

Earlier, when the group made camp, Zhou Zhou had noticed some long, slender plants growing by the water’s edge. He collected these strands one by one, then sat by the fire and began weaving them into a net.

 

The others grew curious and joined in, guessing his intent. With everyone’s combined efforts, the grass strands were quickly woven into a simple net, which Zhou Zhou then placed in the water and staked the two ends to nearby large trees, fully extending it.

 

The river they were at had several branches. Zhou Zhou picked up a stick and splashed the water upstream, driving the fish toward the grass net’s location.

 

When the two girls pulled up the net, they found there were actually several fish inside.

 

“We really caught fish!” Everyone’s eyes lit up. None of them had expected this simple method to actually work.

 

The girl from the combat major swiftly descaled and gutted the fish, cleaning them thoroughly.

 

The fish were already being roasted over the fire, when Zhou Zhou looked towards a spot about twenty meters away and asked, “There’s a rabbit over there, about twenty meters away. Do you want to eat it?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Zhou Zhou nodded. That distance wasn’t too far, and he could hurry back immediately if anything happened, so he went to catch the rabbit.

 

The girl from the combat major, who had already gotten over her initial resentment, immediately followed Zhou Zhou.

 

Soon after, the girl returned carrying a plump gray rabbit, already dead with a knife stabbed into it.

 

Holding the rabbit, she said with some pride, “I caught this one myself. Just one swift shot and I got it.”

 

The other two girls, seeing her smugness, couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, okay, we know you caught it. We’ll be relying on you for dinner tonight. But where did Zhou Zhou go?”

 

The girl walked towards the river with the rabbit, explaining as she went, “Zhou Zhou guided me to catch the rabbit. He said he saw something else edible, so he told me to come back first.”

 

Meng Ziye didn’t join the girls’ conversation but stared intently at the roasting fish, occasionally turning them and sprinkling something on them.

 

When the girl brought back the washed rabbit, he took it and continued roasting it, even adding more firewood because there wasn’t enough fire.

 

Zhou Zhou had spotted a tree bearing edible fruit, with the top portion already ripe and extra delicious-looking.

 

Almost as soon as he saw the fruit, Zhou Zhou started salivating.

 

Since becoming human, Zhou Zhou’s biggest realization was that food in the real world tasted a hundred times better than in virtual reality. Especially after months of eating pastes at the research institute, now everything seemed fragrant to him.

 

Seeing those bright red fruits on the tree and recalling their sweet-tart flavor, he couldn’t resist.

 

The tree was rather tall. Zhou Zhou rolled up his sleeves and climbed up, his rehabilitation over the past half-year allowing him to move this body quite nimbly now. Climbing a tree was no problem.

 

After picking the fruit, Zhou Zhou bundled them in his shirt and happily headed back.

 

When Meng Ziye saw the fruit, his eyes immediately lit up.

 

Thinking he must also love these fruits, Zhou Zhou generously offered him a few. But Meng Ziye declined the ripe ones, instead wanting only the unripe fruits that had fallen when Zhou Zhou shook the branches while climbing.

 

“These fruits are incredibly sour before ripening. Since we’re just roasting meat, it might feel a bit greasy. Adding a bit of sourness from the fruit can balance it out.”

 

Meng Ziye seemed very knowledgeable about making food taste better. Zhou Zhou immediately moved closer to learn various cooking methods from him, the two hitting it off over their shared interest.

 

In the pitch-black jungle, the group sat around the fire chatting animatedly as they waited for the food to finish roasting.

 

Meanwhile, the others weren’t so lucky.

 

After the five boys left, they quickly found tracks of potential prey and began tracking it. Unexpectedly, they then discovered a Zerohorn beast. Though low in attack power, the Zerohorn offered high points and delicious meat.

 

In this wilderness training, they weren’t meant to bring all prey back. Once a designated target from the handbook was captured or killed, its points would automatically be added. So the prey was mostly for their own consumption.

 

Spotting the Zerohorn, the boys immediately abandoned tracking their previous prey to pursue this instead.

 

However, the reason these beasts had low attack power yet high point values was because they were incredibly fast and intelligent.

 

Sensing it was being hunted, the Zerohorn immediately fled. Just when the boys felt pursuit was futile and prepared to give up, it reappeared, boldly stopping in front of them to leisurely graze on tender grass, swishing its tail back and forth.

 

Whenever they caught up, the Zerohorn would lead them on a merry chase, speeding up when nearly caught, then stopping to eat when it put too much distance between them.

 

After being toyed with this way several times, the freshmen belatedly realized a mere beast was playing them. Furious yet unable to actually catch it, they didn’t know what to do.

 

“What now?” They had wandered quite far, not only failing to catch the Zerohorn but also missing their chance at other prey for the night.

 

Zhao Yijie watched as the Zerohorn leisurely strolled up to them again. “Let’s give up. With our speed, there’s no way to catch it. Plus it’s already dark, the forest is dangerous at night. The others are still waiting for us to bring back food. We’ll look for prey again on our way back.”

 

The five headed back, now as dejected as they’d been confident earlier, silently keeping alert for any other potential food sources.

 

Perhaps their luck was poor, as the only thing caught on the return was a small rabbit, not enough to feed ten people.

 

“We’ll make do tonight and set out early tomorrow to find more food,” Zhao Yijie said, spotting the distant firelight, they were almost back to their camp by the water source.

 

As they approached the campsite, the cheerful laughter of the boys and girls reached their ears.

 

Duan Yu, already in a foul mood from their night’s failure, sneered at the sounds of merriment. “Listen to them, chatting and laughing around the fire while we busted our asses trying to find food. They probably think this is a picnic. Lucky them. Since they’ve got energy to waste joking around, we’re not sharing the rabbit. We’ll eat it ourselves, we’re the ones who’ll have to earn points this whole next week anyway.”

 

Zhao Yijie’s brow furrowed deeply. “Enough. If we hadn’t gone chasing that Zerohorn, we’d have brought food back sooner.”

 

“We only went after the Zerohorn to get a better score, not fool around like them,” another boy muttered.

 

With just one rabbit, there definitely wasn’t enough for ten people. The only option was for those who worked harder to eat more, then set out early tomorrow to find more food. Zhao Yijie had no other choice, he resolved to eat less himself so the others who had ventured out could have more. They would be the main point-earners going forward.

 

“Alright, I’ll talk to the others when we get back.”

 

Duan Yu: “You should have done that from the start.”

 

The other two boys said nothing, only exchanging inscrutable looks with Duan Yu and Zhao Yijie when the decision was made.

 

Their plan sounded good, until nearing the camp and catching whiffs of delicious roasting food from the campfire.