Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 144

Chapter 144: New Student 4

 

“Such a huge base, it couldn’t have grown legs and walked away, right?”

 

“If we don’t return to the base on time, our scores will be reset to zero. What should we do?”

 

The new students present were at a loss, the field in front of them looked completely natural, with no trace of the base having existed there, as if they had simply taken a wrong turn.

 

Zhou Zhou was certain this was the location of the base, but he didn’t know what had happened that caused the base to disappear in just one week’s time.

 

“First, let’s look for clues. If the base vanished into thin air, there must be traces left nearby.”

 

Zhou Zhou and the others searched the area for clues, and indeed found some threads of evidence.

 

This patch of grass looked completely normal, but the soil was more moist than in other areas.

 

Zhou Zhou crouched down to observe the changes in the soil, while the others searched for other clues and loudly discussed.

 

“Where could the base have gone?”

 

“There are only eleven hours left until the deadline. No matter if it went up to the sky or down into the earth, we have to find the base.”

 

“By the way, how come we haven’t seen any other teams on the way? Otherwise, we could have more people helping to search together.”

 

“They’re probably still trying to earn points. Look, the rankings are changing so quickly. We must have dropped again, huh? No, we actually moved up one spot?”

 

The others quickly opened their neural implants and discovered that their ranking had indeed gone from 15th to 14th, they had actually moved up one spot.

 

“Maybe the team that was ahead of us ran into trouble and sent a distress signal.”After all, as soon as a distress signal was sent, it meant withdrawal, and if no one was left in the team, all their points would be reset to zero.

 

“Thinking about it now, it was wise for us to come back early. What if we also encountered some danger that required sending a distress signal? Then this whole time would have been wasted effort.”

 

“You’re still chatting? Did you find any clues?” Zhao Yijie couldn’t help but ask when he saw his teammates’ lackadaisical attitudes.

 

One teammate raised his hand, showing everyone the paper scraps in his palm: “I found this.”

 

On the paper scrap was the number 4 written, and it looked like there should have been more content after it, with the edge of the paper faintly showing other numbers as well.

 

Guessing that this was probably related to the disappearance of the base, everyone immediately began searching through the grass.

 

After rummaging through and searching everywhere, even ant holes weren’t spared. They did indeed find a few more paper scraps, which when put together only had the string of numbers “4079”.

 

The group stared at these numbers, but didn’t understand their meaning.

 

“Could it be coordinates?”

 

“Coordinates don’t look like that.”

 

“Maybe it’s just some scrap paper carelessly tossed by an instructor or student.”

 

Zhou Zhou pondered the numbers on the paper: “That’s unlikely. These papers appeared after the base disappeared, when all the new students had left for training. So it couldn’t have been from a student. And the paper scraps were scattered in different directions, not in the same direction like they would be if an instructor had just tossed them carelessly. We found some scraps under stones, so it’s impossible they were just casually tossed aside. Someone must have left them intentionally.”

 

“If that’s the case, could it be related to the base’s location?”

 

“How are the numbers 4079 related to the base’s location?” The teammates muttered these few numbers but couldn’t make any sense of them.

 

Zhou Zhou looked down at the string of numbers and suddenly asked, “Could it be a year?”

 

Meng Ziye frowned in thought: “It’s possible. Let’s all think about what happened that year.”

 

The students admitted to the First Military University all had nearly perfect scores in their theoretical courses, so they were very familiar with years when major events occurred. But what happened in the year 4079, they truly had no idea.

 

“I didn’t learn about this year in my history studies.”

 

“Yeah, I haven’t heard of it either.”

 

The new students looked at each other, feeling like they must not have studied hard enough to be unable to recall what happened in 4079.

 

Zhou Zhou looked up at the sky, thinking through the events that occurred in different years. This part of the material, Zeus had personally tutored him on in preparation for the school’s theory exams, as well as to help integrate him into modern society. Through his intensive studies, Zhou Zhou had learned many strange and obscure things.

 

“I remember seeing a report that said in the year 4079, a certain noble who had committed a serious crime disappeared overnight along with his entire manor.”

 

The others immediately became excited: “Doesn’t that sound very similar to our situation? Such a huge base disappearing without a trace. Zhou Zhou, try to remember, did that report say anything about where the manor went, or if it was ever found again?”

 

Although Zhou Zhou had become human, his memory was still excellent. As long as he saw something once, he could remember it. Under his teammates’ hopeful gazes, he slowly said: “Apparently, the noble’s manor was decorated with all kinds of precious minerals, metals, and jewels. To have an escape route, he had spent a huge sum to hollow out the entire area underground. When his corrupt deeds were exposed, he moved the entire manor underground overnight and slowly disassembled and transported it elsewhere.”

 

Everyone’s gaze gradually shifted to the ground.

 

“At the time, the truth behind this incident was never uncovered, and many reports defined it as a haunting or supernatural event. It wasn’t until they dug up that entire plot of land that the truth was revealed.”

 

After Zhou Zhou finished speaking, he continued: “Just now, I noticed the soil showing signs of being overturned, so it’s possible the base is right under our feet, and these paper scraps are the clues left for us.”

 

Meng Ziye looked at Zhou Zhou with shining eyes: “Zhou Zhou, how do you know so much, even about reports from a thousand years ago?”

 

Zhou Zhou blinked: “I happened to come across it.”

 

In reality, Zeus had organized and categorized all kinds of reports, and this particular report happened to be in the supernatural news category that Zhou Zhou enjoyed reading the most as inspiration for instances.

 

The others had already rolled up their sleeves, ready to start digging, while Zhao Yijie looked at his teammates speechlessly: “You can’t seriously be thinking of digging out the base with your bare hands?”

 

Even if they dug until the years passed, they would never be able to dig it out.

 

Zhou Zhou: “There should be a mechanism or entrance that can allow us to enter the base.”

 

Everyone began searching again, while Zhou Zhou looked at a large tree not far away. He couldn’t help feeling that this tree seemed out of place.

 

The surroundings were all grassland and shrubbery, with this single large tree standing out prominently. Although such scenes were common on this planet, considering this used to be the location of the base, this unusually thick and lush large tree seemed rather odd. Perhaps some clue could be found from this tree.

 

Zhou Zhou stood under the tree but didn’t notice anything unusual. He circled around the tree a few times and tried scratching at the soil around the base of the tree’s roots, but the soil was too hard to dig into.

 

Dusting off the dirt from his hands, Zhou Zhou began climbing the tree, pressing and feeling around as he climbed.

 

A few girls watching Zhou Zhou from a distance smiled indulgently: “Zhou Zhou is so adorable.”

 

“Yeah, he’s even climbing trees to play.”

 

“I want to pinch his cheeks.”

 

The other two girls looked silently at the last girl, who immediately defended herself: “I was just thinking about it, but I would never actually do it. Is it a crime to just think about something?”

 

“Well, we want to pinch his cheeks too.”

 

“……”

 

Not far away, Duan Yu was also searching for clues, but his gaze couldn’t help wandering over to Zhou Zhou. He looked down searching through the grass for a while, then raised his head to look at Zhou Zhou again.

 

The thick, lush large tree stood there, but the person who had been climbing it was nowhere to be seen.

 

Duan Yu’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately ran towards the large tree.

 

At the same time, several other people also noticed Zhou Zhou’s sudden disappearance and hurried over to the large tree.

 

Zhou Zhou had climbed up to a branch and found nothing unusual, so he continued climbing higher. The tree’s trunk was thick and straight with few footholds. Zhou Zhou grabbed onto the base of a higher branch, using the trunk to push himself up, but his foot suddenly met no resistance beneath it.

 

With no foothold, Zhou Zhou immediately tightened his grip on the branch with his wrists. Before he could even look down to see why he had lost his footing, the branch he was holding onto suddenly vanished into thin air.

 

Then he fell down. It felt like he had fallen into a tunnel, a sloping, curved tunnel that quickly reached the bottom. At this point, Zhou Zhou realized he was inside the main hall of the base.

 

Around him stood more than a dozen new students, staring at him with complicated expressions.

 

“Holy shit! Someone actually made it in. I thought this lame method meant we’d all be wiped out this time.”

 

“Which team are you from? Are you alone?”

 

Zhou Zhou stood up from the ground and looked around at the people nearby. Although he didn’t recognize anyone, their training uniforms clearly identified them as new students. “I have teammates.”

 

As soon as the words left his mouth, a chorus of shouts came from the circular tunnel behind him.

 

“There really is a passage here!”

 

The voices grew louder as Zhao Yijie also came sliding down the tunnel.

 

Followed by the rest of their squad members.

 

Finally, all ten of them appeared neatly inside the base.

 

Realizing they had made it back to the base, everyone was excited. They had thought it would take a long time to find the base, but Zhou Zhou had managed to discover the entrance right away.

 

“Zhou Zhou, how did you find the entrance?”

 

Zhou Zhou: “I stepped into empty space under my feet.”

 

“Well, you’re really lucky. But we’re also fortunate that we’re on the same team. Haha.”

 

The students already inside the base could only stare enviously at this full squad that had not only stumbled upon the base’s entrance but made it back safely.

 

These were all new students who had sent distress signals due to serious injuries during the wilderness training and were disqualified with their scores reset to zero.

 

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhou’s squad was the first to return normally.

 

Squad 57 was the first to return to the base. After a smooth handover, everyone went back to their rooms to rest and freshen up. They wouldn’t be making the top ten anyway, so rather than waiting at the entrance like the others for more teams to return, they might as well rest up first.

 

Everyone was in good spirits, as just being able to complete the training was already impressive. If it weren’t for Zhou Zhou being on their team, they might not have even been able to enter the base.

 

While the others returned to the dormitories to rest, Zhou Zhou went up to the sixth floor, originally intending to see Al quickly, but was told he had already returned to the capital planet.

 

Rationally, Zhou Zhou knew Alvia couldn’t stay at the base for an entire week and would have to return to handle state affairs. But he still felt a tinge of disappointment.

 

The sixth floor had Alvia’s private rooms, which were now also accessible to Zhou Zhou. After quietly washing up and tidying himself, he changed into the new uniform that had been prepared in the room.

 

Although the room was cleaned spotlessly, the empty feeling still made Zhou Zhou feel lonely. He didn’t like being alone.

 

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he opened his neural implant intending to check their squad’s current ranking, but instead noticed a private message.

 

This planet was established specifically for student training, so there were specialized devices shielding neural implants. Only messages sent from the base would be received by students. Of course, once they left this planet, their neural implants would return to normal function.

 

The private message Zhou Zhou received was left by Alvia through the base’s communication equipment.

 

Alvia told Zhou Zhou that he had to return to the capital planet to handle state affairs and instructed Zhou Zhou to return to the school with his squad after completing the training. Alvia said he would visit Zhou Zhou at the school when he had time.

 

As the Emperor of the Empire, Alvia had accumulated a lot of pending state affairs during the time he spent accompanying Zhou Zhou’s recovery and training. Zhou Zhou would also have to return to school.

 

Zhou Zhou was already aware of this, but having gotten used to Alvia’s company during this period, the prospect of spending the next few months alone at school without seeing him felt unfamiliar.

 

However, they could still meet in games.

 

The accumulated fatigue from this period hit Zhou Zhou all at once after the training ended. Rubbing his eyes, he went to rest.

 

A few hours later, the energetic Squad 57 gathered in the base’s main hall.

 

Many new students had assembled in the hall, mostly waiting for subsequent teams to return. However, not many students had returned through that hidden passage.

 

“There are only five hours left until the deadline, but I haven’t seen any other teams return?”

 

“There’s still five hours left, why the rush? Look, there are already so many people back in the hall.”

 

One of Zhou Zhou’s squad members looked around at the increasing number of people and whispered: “I just asked around, most of the people here withdrew midway. Our squad is the first to return.”

 

“Is that so? Do we get bonus points for being the first back?”

 

“I haven’t heard of that.”

 

“How could there be bonus points? If there were, the other teams would have rushed back already.”

 

Zhou Zhou obediently stood to the side listening to his teammates chatting, while Duan Yu dithered about approaching Zhou Zhou, his gaze wandering as if he wanted to say something but felt too shy.

 

“What’s wrong?” Zhou Zhou looked at Duan Yu curiously as he flitted about in front of him.

 

Duan Yu pursed his lips: “It’s nothing, I just wanted to thank you for saving me during the training.”

 

Zhou Zhou felt it was a small matter, not to mention the other party’s predicament was partly his fault. He would have saved anyone else too. “Oh, no need to thank me.”

 

Duan Yu stood in front of Zhou Zhou, looking at the floor, fiddling with the hem of his clothes, but not moving his feet.

 

Zhou Zhou was utterly perplexed. Although Duan Yu could stand wherever he wanted, they were now facing each other, yet he didn’t say a word, appearing rather odd.

 

The other teammates had stopped chatting and secretly watched as the usually arrogant and overbearing Duan Yu displayed a rare awkward demeanor.

 

Duan Yu cleared his throat and quickly glanced at Zhou Zhou: “We’re brothers from now on. Don’t worry, I’ll look out for you.”

 

Having expected him to say something else, the others were utterly disappointed.

 

After spending this period together, everyone knew Duan Yu’s nature wasn’t bad. They squinted at him teasingly: “Zhou Zhou saved your life, shouldn’t you be calling him your boss instead?”

 

“Seeing how red your face is, I thought you were going to offer yourself to repay the life debt. But this is what we get instead.”

 

Their teammates’ teasing made Duan Yu flush with anger, and he raised his fists menacingly. After returning to the base and entering the treatment pod, his injuries would heal in just a few minutes, and the others’ injuries had also recovered, which was why they could now stand so energetically.

 

Duan Yu was only making a threat, as he had gotten along decently with everyone over the past few days and wouldn’t actually attack his teammates now.

 

However, their words happened to strike some of his hidden thoughts. Duan Yu looked at Zhou Zhou’s exquisite features, recalling how easily he had been defeated by the other and Zhou Zhou’s alertness and keen judgment throughout the journey. He felt Zhou Zhou was perfect in every way.

 

At this point, Duan Yu had long forgotten his initial dislike of Zhou Zhou.

 

Emboldened by the others’ goading and teasing, Duan Yu mustered his courage and confessed his feelings to Zhou Zhou.

 

Caught off guard by the sudden confession, Zhou Zhou looked blankly at the blushing Duan Yu, then coldly and heartlessly rejected him.

 

“Sorry, I already have a partner.”

 

Meng Ziye, who had been very quiet until then, exclaimed in surprise: “Zhou Zhou, you already have a partner?”

 

Zhou Zhou nodded seriously, with a hint of pride in his tone: “Yes, we’ve been dating for a year now.”

 

Meng Ziye: “Is your partner also from our school?”

 

“No, he graduated many years ago.”

 

Meng Ziye: “Graduated many years ago, so he must be quite old.”

 

Zhou Zhou thought about Alvia’s age, not even thirty yet. Compared to his own actual age, if counted, he would be thousands of years old, making Alvia seem so young in comparison.

 

Hearing this, the dejected Duan Yu was suddenly reinvigorated. He had both status and looks, and his abilities were only slightly inferior to Zhou Zhou’s, so he was definitely better than Zhou Zhou’s boyfriend.

 

Moreover, he could see Zhou Zhou every day at school. Zhou Zhou would surely realize he was more suitable than that elderly boyfriend.

 

Having made up his mind to steal Zhou Zhou away, Duan Yu began fantasizing about Zhou Zhou dumping his useless boyfriend to be with him instead.

 

The teammates, not expecting the youthful Zhou Zhou to already be taken, and to be the only one in their squad to have a partner, immediately asked what his boyfriend did and how they had met.

 

Due to Alvia’s special status, Zhou Zhou was vague about his career. But upon hearing they had met in the game Nightmare City, everyone became interested.

 

“I didn’t expect you to be in an online relationship. I want a partner too.”

 

“Nightmare City? I play that too, it’s so hard, dying over and over.”

 

“Yeah, all sorts of weird instances, mind-bending and horrifying. If the game didn’t improve spiritual power, I would have quit already.”

 

“Speaking of Nightmare City, there’s this big player called Zhou Zhou too, the first to reach intermediate level and unlock custom instances.”

 

“I’ve heard of that Zhou Zhou before. That guy’s a real freak, I heard from a friend that the instances he designs sound cute but are actually twisted. Someone even unlocked a hidden instance from his Cozy Cottage instance, and apparently no one has survived that hidden instance.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve played that instance too, it was brutal.”

 

Everyone found a common topic and chatted animatedly until Zhou Zhou feebly interjected: “The Zhou Zhou you’re talking about is me. Cozy Cottage is one I designed.”

 

After a breathless silence, his teammates could only laugh awkwardly and pat Zhou Zhou’s shoulders: “So it was you! I knew the designer had to be a genius to create such novel and exquisite instances.”

 

“Yeah, Zhou Zhou, take me with you next time you design an instance, I want to level up quickly too.”

 

“The instances you design are really valuable. I matched into one once and my spiritual power increased so much.”

 

“You’re really impressive. I play this game to enhance my spiritual power, but many instances are too similar, and the effects diminish later on. I’ll try your instances next time.”

 

Zhou Zhou wasn’t upset or saddened by his teammates calling him a freak. After all, Zeus had said the more people cursed him, the better the instance was.

 

But the current Zhou Zhou did have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. Blinking his innocent eyes, he declared loudly: “Since you all like it so much, I’ll be designing my next instance soon and invite you all for playtesting.”

 

The others’ tears flowed: “……Okay.”

 

With an hour left on the countdown, more new students trickled in through the passage, some severely injured, others looking unscathed, and some who had withdrawn searching for their teammates. The entire hall was in chaos.

 

Aside from the severely injured new students being carried into treatment pods, the others waited in the hall for the countdown to end.

 

The final ten minutes, one minute…the countdown ended.

 

Their wilderness survival training had officially concluded.

 

Since they couldn’t see the top ten rankings on their neural implants, everyone wanted to know which teams had secured the top ten spots. So as long as they could still move, they remained in the hall waiting for the instructors to announce the final results.

 

“First place in this training goes to Squad 57. Second place is…”

 

Wait, Squad 57? That was them.

 

The members of the squads waiting to hear the top ten looked at each other. What did the instructor just say? They were first place?

 

It must have been misspoken.