Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Nightmare City

The first player who saw the resentful woman was about to cry. Just a moment ago, he was happily chatting with others, wondering how many points he would get after leaving the instance. But when he turned around, he was terrified and his soul was shaken.

Isn’t this too much of a “surprise”? Didn’t they clear it? They’re not even allowed to feel good after leaving the instance.

He hugged the closest player’s waist and howled.

The others were also greatly shocked and hid everywhere. The already crowded small wooden shack was shaking.

Hearing the screams, Heya froze, clenched his fists, trying hard not to turn around.

The resentful woman ignored the players’ wails and fear, slowly drifting toward Zhou Zhou’s direction.

The players on both sides immediately made way, sticking close to the walls, wishing they could merge with the shack’s walls.

The small shack wasn’t big, barely accommodating ten players, not to mention the huge Heya inside. But now, a path was cleared for the resentful woman to pass through.

The resentful woman usually drifted very fast in the instance, but now she deliberately drifted slowly, occasionally stopping near a player, staring at them for a while, making the player almost kneel before her.

It was as if she was toying with these players. When she successfully scared someone, she would let out an eerie, sinister laugh that echoed in the shack, driving the players to the brink of breakdown.

The resentful woman then slowly drifted toward Zhou Zhou. But when she passed by Heya, who had his eyes tightly closed and muscles tensed, she stared at him expressionlessly for a while before turning away.

Drifting in front of Zhou Zhou, she had returned to the appearance after he helped with her makeup, making him laugh.

“How did you come here?”

The resentful woman said, “I~ came to find~ you.”

Her shrill, raspy witch-like voice, combined with the implication of those words, gave the players present a feeling of a vengeful spirit seeking retribution.

Zhou Zhou was delighted, perhaps because this was the first time he played a mentor role. He had a good impression of his muse, so he was happy that the resentful woman came specifically to find him and even offered to treat her to a meal.

Neon Green was standing close to Zhou Zhou. Although he felt weak in the knees facing the resentful woman, his curiosity overpowered his fear.

“You, you, no, how did you get out? Is there a bug in the game?”

The resentful woman pretended not to hear him and continued talking to Zhou Zhou.

“Now that~ we’re out~ of the instance, let’s~ exchange~ contact info.”

Without much thought, Zhou Zhou nodded and reported his ID account number. He had already added several people, so when asked to exchange contact info, he knew to report his ID for the other person to search.

A quest panel flickering with a faint silver glow appeared in front of the resentful woman.

A quest panel!!!

Neon Green pointed at the resentful woman’s quest panel in disbelief: “You, how do you also have this! And we can even see it, aren’t you an NPC?”

The players behind also looked over in surprise, eyes wide open.

It was already perplexing enough that an NPC from the instance followed them out, but now she even had a quest panel, though its color was different from theirs. Theirs were pale blue, while the resentful woman’s quest panel flickered with a pale silver glow.

And weren’t quest panels only visible and tangible to the owner? How could they see the resentful woman’s quest panel?

After Zhou Zhou and the resentful woman added each other as friends, she turned to the other players, laughing eerily until they were spooked again. Only then did she slowly answer: “This is a~ secret, you’ll~ find out~ later.”

Other players: …We waited so long just for this?

Neon Green was dying of curiosity. Perhaps sensing that the resentful woman had no intention of harming them now, he took small steps forward and shamelessly said, “Sister, just tell me~”

His face was too thick. To learn the reason from the resentful woman, he even called her ‘Sister.’ The players behind silently mocked him but still pricked up their ears, eager to know as well.

The resentful woman seemed in a good mood and said, “You’ll know~ when you become~ high-level~ players.”

This sentence carried a similar meaning to the previous one, but everyone caught an important piece of information: they would know the reason after leveling up and becoming high-level players.

So, was this a secret known only to high-level players? Or would the gameplay change after reaching a high level?

Everyone guessed in their hearts, but no matter how they asked, the resentful woman didn’t respond.

The small wooden shack finally stopped.

The few players behind immediately rushed out, eager to leave this place. It was too much of a test of courage to be in the same space as the resentful woman.

“Wait!” Neon Green scanned around and asked meaningfully, “Didn’t you guys forget something before leaving?”

“What are you talking about? We have something else to do.” A player was about to walk away.

“If you’ve forgotten, let me remind you. Each person should transfer a thousand points to Zhou Zhou. Remember now?”

They were just trying to avoid paying, which was why they were leaving so quickly. But Neon Green saw through it.

The players only wanted to see if they could get away with not paying. Since Zhou Zhou had Heya behind him, they couldn’t afford to offend them. Now that they were called out, they could only reluctantly open their quest panels to transfer the points.

After scanning their quest panels, these five players found that they had earned seven to eight thousand points from this instance, some even over ten thousand.

Ten thousand points could buy a resurrection item, so they were more willing to transfer the points now.

One player couldn’t help but ask, “Zhou Zhou, can I add your contact info?”

Zhou Zhou had a good personality, was brave, and also thoughtful. If they were in the same team for an instance, they might score high every time.

The other players also looked over, wanting to add him too.

Zhou Zhou was busy receiving the transferred points on his quest panel. Upon hearing the question, he readily replied, “No, I don’t like you guys.”

The few players had sour expressions, originally thinking Zhou Zhou had a soft personality and would definitely add them. But they were rejected instead. They wanted to curse a few words, but with Zhou Zhou’s companions and even the resentful woman staring at them icily, they could only leave dejectedly.

Afterwards, Neon Green also transferred the points and added Zhou Zhou and Qian Le’s contact info. Seeing the remaining people not moving, he sensibly left.

Qian Le got fifteen thousand points and after transferring one thousand to Zhou Zhou, he still had fourteen thousand left, which was way more than what he earned from working a month.

Since the resentful woman had a quest panel, it showed that her identity was not just a simple NPC, but also related to high-level gameplay.

Since she wouldn’t harm Zhou Zhou, and he had to go offline for a while to convert his points into Interstellar currency to pay tuition, with the resentful woman accompanying Zhou Zhou for now, he didn’t need to worry temporarily.

Glancing at Heya, Qian Le said a word to Zhou Zhou before going offline.

After transferring the points, Heya wanted to talk to Zhou Zhou, but the resentful woman was standing beside him, constantly chatting with him about makeup techniques and eighteen hairstyles. He couldn’t get a word in. Moreover, facing the resentful woman, he was still somewhat afraid, so he would have to find Zhou Zhou another time.

Heya seemed to have forgotten his task of following Zhou Zhou at all times. He left with his head down in dejection.

Zhou Zhou chatted with the resentful woman for a long time before noticing someone else was still there.

“Al? You haven’t left yet?” Zhou Zhou asked in surprise.

Alvia: “…Did you forget something?”

Zhou Zhou pondered for a moment before asking curiously with his big eyes, “What?”

Alvia: Can’t you even remember your own words?

Realizing that Heya could no longer continue his stalking task due to guilt, Alvia had to take action himself.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to add my contact info?”

Zhou Zhou was shocked, “Oh right, I almost forgot after chatting the whole time.”

He quickly took out his quest panel and added Alvia’s contact info.

“Al, I’m going to treat my new friend to a meal. Do you want to join us?” Zhou Zhou pointed at the resentful woman beside him as he asked Alvia.

“I don’t like crowded places,” Alvia said, glancing at the resentful woman.

This game was accomplished under his guidance, so he naturally knew the resentful woman’s true identity.

But if Zhou Zhou’s goal was to get close to him, why was he so cold now? In the instance, he had even taken the opportunity to confess his feelings and throw himself at Alvia. Shouldn’t he have asked Alvia out for a meal first after leaving the instance, taking the chance to shorten the distance between them? Why bring the resentful woman along? Could it be that their scheme didn’t only involve him? Were there others?

No, that would be missing the point.

Seeing the two standing side by side, Alvia suddenly understood.

Hot and cold? Close yet distant?

Indeed, a good tactic.

But it wouldn’t work on him.

“Alright then, we’ll get going.” Zhou Zhou was a bit regretful, as he had always wanted to thank Alvia for saving him last time. In this instance, Alvia had also helped steady him when he almost fell.

Since Alvia disliked crowded places, Zhou Zhou would find a quieter place to treat him to a meal alone next time.

The resentful woman looked at Zhou Zhou, then at Alvia, letting out an eerie laugh for some reason.

Waving goodbye to Alvia, Zhou Zhou and the resentful woman left together.

Alvia let out a cold snort watching Zhou Zhou’s back, feeling an inexplicable sense of being used and discarded, but he quickly regained his composure and logged off on the spot.

Zhou Zhou planned to take the resentful woman out for a meal, naturally at the only restaurant he had been to.

After Alvia left, the resentful woman took out a pair of sunglasses from somewhere and put them on, covering her eyes and making her look no different from an ordinary person.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, Zhou Zhou suddenly remembered a serious issue: “I still don’t know your name.”

Wearing sunglasses, the resentful woman laughed eerily and said, “I’m called~ Mo Lan.”

Zhou Zhou also smiled and re-introduced himself, “Nice to meet you, Mo Lan. I’m Zhou Zhou.”

Zhou Zhou found Mo Lan familiar, as she was like him, they both came out of an instance.

He knew he was different from others, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly how, except that he had no home or family, and there seemed to be many other differences.

“Mo Lan, do you have a home? A family?” Zhou Zhou asked.

“Of course~ I do, not only~ family, but also~ many tribesmen,” Mo Lan replied warmly to Zhou Zhou, unlike when facing Neon Green earlier. Zhou Zhou could ask her anything and she would answer.

Different!

But why didn’t he have those?

“Then where is your home? Can you tell me?” Zhou Zhou asked eagerly.

“The Twenty-Fourth~ Star System of the~ Empire.”

Zhou Zhou looked bewildered. What was that place?

“You haven’t~ heard of it before, it’s a~ very remote~ place. Our tribe~ is called the~ Mo Tribe, part of the~ minority groups under the~ Empire.”

According to Mo Lan’s description, the place they were in belonged to a very remote area, and the appearances of her tribesmen were similar to her, pale bluish faces, black sclera, looking like the ghosts described in old tales.

Currently, ninety percent of the Empire’s population was human, but the remaining ten percent belonged to other races with different appearances and customs.

“Then why were you in the instance?”

Zhou Zhou didn’t understand. Mo Lan had a home and family, but why was she in the instance? Why was she staying in the instance waiting for players like him?

“Because~ I’m a high-level player, acting as an NPC~ in an instance~ I created myself.”

Zhou Zhou blinked his big eyes innocently and asked, “What is an NPC?”