Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Love Academy

The two froze instantly, all thoughts in their minds scrambled by that sentence just uttered. The room fell eerily silent for a moment.

“Gulp.” The familiar sound of swallowing came from above again.

Ke Li and Xue Li exchanged glances, slowly standing up, not daring to make a sound. Zhou Zhou, not understanding the situation, also stood up with them.

“Run!”

Xue Li was right behind the door. At the shout, she immediately turned and opened it. This door had already been unlocked a few minutes ago with Zhou Zhou’s help, only needing the handle turned to open.

Ke Li grabbed the still-clueless Zhou Zhou with one hand and Xue Li with the other, rushing out.

The candles on the floor were blown out by their movements, plunging the dorm back into darkness.

Since there were candles, Ke Li had put the flashlight in his pocket. Now with both hands occupied, he had no chance to take it out to illuminate the way. They could only run blindly, hoping to escape the monster as soon as possible.

Zhou Zhou didn’t resist, obediently running with Ke Li while discreetly helping adjust their direction when the other was about to crash into a wall.

Being pulled along by one wrist while running, his slightly curly hair became messy. He looked a bit dazed as he ran and asked, “Where are we going?”

Ke Li didn’t know either. This place was like a maze, he didn’t know where he was, so naturally he didn’t know where to run.

“Of course, we need to find a way to leave this building first!” Xue Li panted in reply.

“Oh.” Zhou Zhou understood.

Xue Li felt like they had been running around for a long time, so the monster should be left behind by now. “Brother, can we, stop, for a bit?”

Ke Li felt tired too. Ever since entering the game, he had been tense without any rest.

“Yeah, let’s, stop for a bit.”

The three of them stopped. Ke Li let go of both hands, bent over supporting his knees to catch his breath. Xue Li also leaned against her chest, gasping for air. Only Zhou Zhou calmly stood by, watching them pant. He tilted his head, observing for a while, then imitated their actions, forcefully exhaling and inhaling. With his messy curly hair, he did look quite similar to the two gasping beside him.

“What is this place?” Xue Li asked.

Ke Li turned on his flashlight and looked around for a moment, realizing it was a large hall with two marble pillars standing on each side. Walking forward a few steps, a dark red metal door came into view. It was slightly ajar, easily opening with a light pull.

A cool breeze blew on their faces. Ke Li said uncertainly, “We… seem to have reached the entrance.”

Although it was also dark outside, unlike the building’s darkness that seemed to merge with the blackness itself, they could still vaguely make out some scenery. They had indeed come out.

Xue Li and Ke Li sat down on a long bench outside to rest, their tense nerves gradually relaxing. Ever since entering the game, they had been on constant edge, finally managing to escape from the man-eating building. Both were utterly exhausted.

“Brother, you were quite impressive, actually managing to lead us out.”

“Really? It was mostly just luck.” Ke Li didn’t know what had happened either, feeling like they had just stumbled out by chance.

“Here.” A bottle of drink was suddenly placed in his hand. In this full-dive game, food had actual flavors, but buying food required points that new players like them had not yet earned.

Thinking the drink was bought with Zhou Zhou’s own points, the two didn’t stand on ceremony and said thanks before opening and drinking it. It tasted sweetly milky. Xue Li’s eyes lit up, “It tastes pretty good. How many points did you spend on it?”

Zhou Zhou shook his head. “It’s free.” This was from the school vending machine, coming out with just a press of a button.

Seeing the two of them drinking, Zhou Zhou thought for a moment before adding, “XX Drink, let you taste the flavor of love.”

In the past, whenever he gave others this kind of drink, he had to say that line. He didn’t know why he had to say it, and it seemed he didn’t need to say it now, but out of habit he still added it.

“Cough cough cough~” Ke Li choked, thinking he had misheard. “What?”

Xue Li burst out laughing. “I didn’t expect you to be so humorous. We’ve mostly recovered now. Thank you. Once we successfully complete this, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Zhou Zhou’s eyes widened, seeming pleasantly surprised. His bright, deer-like eyes gazed eagerly at Xue Li. “Okay okay.”

Ke Li looked at Zhou Zhou, who had been standing by the whole time, and suddenly realized the bench they were sitting on was a two-seater. Being too exhausted, he and Xue Li had simply plopped down earlier. Zhou Zhou could only stand by, even though he appeared younger than them, likely not even twenty yet. Ke Li felt like they were bullying a kid, so he hurriedly stood up to let Zhou Zhou sit and rest.

“No need, I’m not tired.” Zhou Zhou refused.

“Come on, no need to act tough. You should sit since you’re the youngest here. We might need to run again after resting, so best to rest up.” Xue Li said, unable to stop herself from laughing as she recalled her undignified screaming earlier.

Ke Li joined in the laughter. Only Zhou Zhou looked at them with a bewildered expression, not quite understanding why they were laughing, but he smiled along too.

“Alright alright, let’s think about what to do next and how to find the exit.” Ke Li said.

The objective was to find the exit to clear the game, but since the exit wasn’t the entrance of the building they spawned in, it meant the exit was located somewhere inside or outside, greatly expanding the search area. With no clues, it would be difficult to find it within the three-day time limit.

Xue Li muttered a command, and the quest log appeared before her as a faintly glowing blue transparent panel that didn’t illuminate the surroundings. The quest log could only be seen and touched by the user, unable to be used as a prop.

After re-reading the quest details, Xue Li noticed an oversight. “The name of this quest instance is called ‘Love Academy’, so I think we should start from there.”

“Romance? It can’t possibly mean for us to pursue a romance with that monster, and then have it show us the exit, right?” Ke Li joked casually.

Xue Li’s eyes lit up. “Hmm~~~” This drawn-out hum conveyed a tone of epiphany and surprise.

“I’m not going! Are you my real sister, trying to push your brother into the fire pit?” Ke Li protested, clutching the door tightly.

“Wasn’t it your suggestion? Just give it a try.” Xue Li pushed Ke Li towards the door with both hands on his back.

“Why don’t you go? What if I get eaten by the monster?”

“If you get eaten, then after the game ends I’ll give you half my points. Plus I’m your only sister, can you bear to see me get eaten by the monster?”

“I can bear it!”

They bickered back and forth until finally deciding to play rock-paper-scissors to determine who would go in.

Even in the interstellar era, this game stood the test of time.

With Zhou Zhou holding the flashlight to provide lighting, the two put out their hands together.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

The two scissor hands wavered in the light for a moment.

Both felt some regret at ending up with the same move. Just as they were about to go another round, an open palm slowly extended over, joining the two “scissors.”

Seeing the belated Zhou Zhou who had put out “paper,” Xue Li felt a bit helpless. “Zhou Zhou, Ke Li can go, we’ll just wait out here.”

The dim white light of the flashlight made his skin look even paler. His clear eyes were full of seriousness, his gentle face that of an innocent youth carefully raised in a protective environment. The two of them could handle it, but sending Zhou Zhou in made them feel guilty.

“Yeah, Xue Li eats so much every day and never exercises. In this game she can treat the running as training, woo~”

The flab around Ke Li’s waist was pinched hard, making him yelp in a higher pitch. This game really felt too realistic, even the sense of pain was so vivid.

“I don’t eat that much.” Xue Li gritted her teeth. Insulting her looks in front of a decent-looking guy, was this really her brother?

Zhou Zhou still had his soft pale hand extended. “I’ll go.”

“It’s so dark in there, and there’s a monster. You shouldn’t go,” Xue Li coaxed. Normally she was the one being coddled at home, but facing the younger and innocent Zhou Zhou, she instinctively learned how to coddle others.

“I can pursue romance,” Zhou Zhou said honestly, thinking for a moment before adding, “I’ve done it many, many times.” It should be more like very, very, very many times…

Could Zhou Zhou be some kind of Casanova?

But he looked so naive, like he could be lured away with just a piece of candy. Pursue romance? And many times? Who would believe that?

Being a single dog who had never dated before, Ke Li inwardly grunted, certain this was absolutely impossible.

Zhou Zhou looked soft, yet his attitude was very resolute. Ke Li scratched his chin. “Why don’t we all just go in together?”

Xue Li: “I was only joking. How could we possibly pursue a romance with a monster? We should go look for clues elsewhere.”

“I’ll help you find the clues.”

With that, Zhou Zhou went inside. Seeing there was no time to stop him, Ke Li could only quickly hand him the flashlight. Xue Li also called out from behind, “We’ll wait for you at the entrance, you have to come back out!”

“Okay!” Zhou Zhou smiled with pursed lips, this being the first time someone said they would wait for him, previously it had always been him waiting for others.

Once out of the two’s vicinity, the smile on his face slowly faded as his gaze lowered, hiding his expression.

He had seen the content on that blue light panel.

【Instance Name: Love Academy】

【Quest Details: Find the exit and leave the school within three days.】

If Ke Li and the others found that exit and left the school, would they never come back again?

And if they couldn’t find the exit, would they stay here forever?

Gripping the small flashlight, Zhou Zhou tilted his head slightly upwards. He knew that strange creature was now on the third floor.

But if they stayed here like him, would they also feel lonely and unhappy?

Halfway up, he suddenly heard screams from above and immediately put aside all his thoughts, quickening his pace upstairs.

Kou Li felt the monster was targeting him. His spiritual power was quite decent, able to keenly sense the monster following him this whole time. In a panic, he shouted and screamed in an attempt to scare it off, but to no avail.

It was pitch black ahead, but he could sense the monster was right above his head.

“Damn it! Damn it!” He cursed, regretting why he had come to play this damn game. He had originally thought he could just play games to earn money, never expecting to experience something like this.

A faint light suddenly appeared in the darkness. Kou Li immediately ran towards the source.

Upon getting closer, he realized it was a scrawny youth who even had a flashlight in hand.

The near-exhausted Kou Li squinted his eyes and shouted at the other: “Help me.”

Just as he approached, he snatched away the flashlight and pushed the youth to the ground in one motion.

With the light and the youth’s delay, he should be able to evade the pursuing monster.

This was just a game, not real death. Any means was permitted. As Kou Li ran, he thought that even if eaten by the monster, it would only mean a game over, no big loss.

In that brief instant, he saw it clearly, that youth looked like a wealthy family’s child, unlike himself still in debt.

Zhou Zhou sat on the ground, tilting his head to calmly watch the other run off with the flashlight, which belonged to Ke Li. He needed to get it back.

The monster swam across the ceiling like a fish, no longer pursuing further. It stopped above Zhou Zhou’s head, the black crevice constantly churning as if being squeezed out of the ceiling to slowly form a bulge, the rift in the middle growing wider.

Accompanied by transparent drool dripping down, it suddenly stretched out, opening its huge maw towards Zhou Zhou.