Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Nightmare City

In the pitch-black alley, Zhou Zhou looked at Al with bright eyes, Al’s solemn promise undoubtedly gave him a great sense of security.

In the two previous instances, whether it was Xue Li or Ke Li, or Qian Le and Heya, Zhou Zhou felt that he needed to protect them.

Only Al, perhaps because of his calm and composed performance in the instance, made Zhou Zhou always feel that he was a very powerful person.

If Al was willing to protect him, then he might really be able to survive safely.

However, he was not someone who would naively spill everything just because someone said a few words to him.

Zhou Zhou squatted there thinking for a while, deciding to first ask tactfully, he looked up seriously and said: “Al, if I find a very abnormal NPC in the game, what should I do?”

Al saw Zhou Zhou lowering his head in thought, and thought he was considering how to organize his words to tell him the whole story from beginning to end, but instead his topic jumped to another dimension.

What does this have to do with an NPC?

Could it be that someone is tampering with Nightmare City? But Zeus’s recent monitoring showed everything was normal, and no problems were found.

Or maybe they used some means to get around Zeus’s monitoring, this possibility could not be ruled out.

Over the past thousand years, Zeus, as the empire’s most powerful artificial intelligence, also had the ability to learn and evolve. No one had ever been able to evade his monitoring before.

But Zhou Zhou’s appearance was already a precedent, proving that Zeus could not find information about him, which meant that Nightmare City still had loopholes that they did not know about.

Thinking of this, Alvia turned his gaze to Zhou Zhou and said sternly: “If there really is such a situation, you can report the abnormal NPC to Zeus, and he will handle it.”

Everyone in the empire knew Zeus, because most of their daily affairs were handled by artificial intelligence, and the overall system for artificial intelligence was Zeus.

Even a few-year-old child knew Zeus very well.

But Zhou Zhou did not know, he did not know who Zeus was, and did not dare ask directly, he could only continue to probe cautiously: “Then after reporting it, how will he handle it?”

“If it’s a general problem without much impact, it can be fixed. If the problem is more serious and the consequences are more severe, the NPC and the instance it’s in will be directly destroyed and rebuilt.” Rebuilding an instance was a very simple matter for Zeus.

Fix it?

Destroy the instance along with it?

Rebuild?

Every word made Zhou Zhou shocked and afraid, he was almost crying, the hope that had just emerged was shattered, but he still didn’t give up, and continued to ask: “Then, can’t it just be left alone, without fixing or destroying it?”

Alvia didn’t understand why, if a problem was found, it should be ignored. He, who was always rigorous in his work and life, immediately said: “When a problem arises, it should be solved. Leaving the problem unresolved will only cause bigger trouble. It should be nipped in the bud before it develops further!”

Alvia said this self-righteously, but in Zhou Zhou’s eyes it was full of killing intent. He was stunned, with only one word circulating in his mind.

Kill, kill, kill, kill…

After Alvia finished speaking, seeing that Zhou Zhou did not continue to ask about this issue, but only stared blankly at him with wide eyes, he couldn’t help but suggest: “Is there something else you want to tell me?”

Zhou Zhou shook his head violently: “No, no, nothing.” He didn’t dare say anything else.

Alvia guessed that Zhou Zhou still had some concerns, while Zhou Zhou just squatted there, not daring to speak, not even daring to shift his gaze.

Afterwards, the two, one standing and one squatting, looked at each other in silence for a long time.

“If…you were threatened, you can tell me,” Alvia said after a long time.

Zhou Zhou, who was threatened and intimidated by the person in front of him, felt extremely wronged. He didn’t expect Al to be like this at all. If he said it was you who threatened me, would he be “nipped in the bud”?

Seeing Zhou Zhou looking pitiful and wronged, Al finally did not force him, shifting his gaze to the crowd outside the alley: “Didn’t you say you wanted to treat me to a meal? Let’s go now.”

“Where shall we eat?” Zhou Zhou looked wary, afraid that Al had already discovered his identity and now wanted to lure him away and kill him.

“Anywhere, you’re treating me, you choose the place.”

Alvia had long known where Zhou Zhou would go for a meal, after all he had only ever gone to one place when treating others, and had never thought of changing it.

Sure enough, after making sure that Al really wanted to eat and not do anything else, Zhou Zhou stood up and followed behind Al.

Although Zhou Zhou should have been leading Alvia to that restaurant, Al took the lead instead on the way there. Zhou Zhou seemed to be trying to hide himself, always staying behind Al, and when there were many people around he would shrink back, as if trying his best to make himself smaller.

Although Al’s dangerous words earlier had made Zhou Zhou fearful, he was the only person Zhou Zhou was familiar with, so when facing the unfamiliar crowd, he would still instinctively seek Al’s protection.

The two maintained this posture and arrived together at the restaurant Zhou Zhou had just left.

Alvia also noticed Zhou Zhou’s abnormality. He was fine in the instance, but now he seemed terrified the whole way, as if afraid of something.

Sitting face-to-face, Alvia couldn’t help but ask: “What are you afraid of?”

Zhou Zhou answered honestly: “Afraid of dying.”

Alvia: “…”

“Why would you be afraid of dying?” Was he facing a life threat?

Zhou Zhou looked at Al with a shocked expression, as if wondering why he would ask such a thing when he was afraid of dying, which was very understandable.

“Because if I die, then there will be no me anymore.”

Seeing Zhou Zhou’s dejected downcast look, Alvia felt he had asked a very stupid question.

He leaned back in his chair, tapped the table surface with his left hand, and said coldly, “Since you’re afraid of dying, then you should try to eliminate those factors that threaten your life, instead of being so frightened and terrified here.”

Zhou Zhou mumbled, “What if I can’t eliminate them?”

Now anyone could discover his true identity and possibly kill him. He couldn’t leave this game world, and he couldn’t find a place to hide. He couldn’t possibly eliminate everyone, and he couldn’t do such a thing anyway.

“Then find someone to take you under their protection.”

“What if I can’t find anyone?”

Alvia frowned slightly, hadn’t he said it several times already?

“I’ve said before, as long as you tell me everything you know, I’ll protect your personal safety.” Alvia repeated it again, but this time his expression showed a hint of impatience. He didn’t understand why, after he had made a clear promise, Zhou Zhou kept rejecting it over and over.

No matter from which perspective, he was the best choice. As long as he was willing to take the other party under his protection, then Zhou Zhou would no longer face a threat to his life.

Could it be that someone had some leverage over him? Family? Friends? Or… a lover?

Just as Alvia was pondering this, Zhou Zhou suddenly said something shocking. “You won’t do.”

Alvia slowly raised his head, his eyes narrowing as if he hadn’t heard clearly, “What did you say?”

Zhou Zhou shrank back a little and said softly, “You really won’t do.” He had already asked earlier, and Al himself had said that if he discovered Zhou Zhou’s true identity, he would hand him over to that Zeus, and then kill him.

After a moment of silence, Alvia let out a cold snort, looking at Zhou Zhou with an icy gaze, “Then who do you think can protect you?”

Zhou Zhou shrugged his shoulders and answered with his head down, “No one can.” No one could protect him, he was different from everyone else, he was an anomaly.

This answer caused the chilling aura around Alvia to weaken a little. Seeing that Zhou Zhou was being stubborn, he could only continue, “Since you don’t want to choose the best solution, then there’s only one option left.”

“What?” Could there really be another way? Zhou Zhou asked curiously.

“Live in the present. Instead of living in terror, waiting for the executioner’s blade to fall at any moment, it’s better to live happily every day, doing what you truly want to do. Even if you really die someday, at least you won’t have any regrets.”

This was the first time someone had talked to Zhou Zhou like this. Before, it was always him listening to others and comforting them.

Carefully pondering these words, Zhou Zhou’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

That’s right, his true identity could be exposed at any time, if he kept living in fear and hiding everywhere, he wouldn’t be happy every day. It was better to live happily in the present. If one day his true identity was discovered and he was killed, he wouldn’t have any regrets.

Besides, as long as he didn’t tell anyone and tried his best to disguise himself, he might not be discovered at all, and could perhaps continue living.

Now all he had to do was live happily every day. As for what would happen if he was discovered, he could worry about that when it actually happened.

There were still so many things he hadn’t done yet. Even if he was killed, he wanted to do the things he wanted before that time came.

After this reflection, Zhou Zhou felt enlightened. Looking at Al, he was no longer afraid. Although Al’s ideology was dangerous, he was a good person who had been helping him all along. If he hadn’t met Al today, he would never have thought of all this on his own.

Realizing that Zhou Zhou had finally returned to his usual self, Alvia also let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

The dishes they had ordered were already on the table, but they had been talking the whole time and hadn’t had a chance to eat yet. Alvia was about to try them. Zhou Zhou had come to this restaurant several times in the past few days, even twice today.

Although Nightmare City had been online for a while, he had only entered two instances so far. After the instances ended, he would log off immediately and had never taken the time to appreciate or explore this city, let alone eat.

The food here could only provide a taste, and couldn’t actually provide any nourishment to the body. Rather than wasting time eating something that couldn’t satisfy his hunger, it was better to supplement with nutrition liquid offline.

But now, listening to the bustling sounds of people around him and watching the flowing blue ocean on the walls, occasionally spending time here might be a nice experience.

Before he could eat, he noticed Zhou Zhou suddenly sitting up straight and looking at him with a serious expression.

What was going on? Hadn’t he recovered yet? Or did he have another question to ask?

“Al!” Zhou Zhou looked at the person across from him, his expression relaxed and bright with a hint of shyness.

“I like you.”

Alvia: “…I know.” Why was he confessing again all of a sudden? Didn’t he already confess in the instance earlier today?

Huh? You know? Why would you know?

Zhou Zhou blinked, never mind, that wasn’t important. He was going to live in the present and do what he wanted to do. Starting today, he was going to pursue many, many romantic relationships.

Alvia was a man, so it should be…

Zhou Zhou leaned forward and asked softly, “Will you be my boyfriend?”