Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Doll’s House 5

“…Little Ming found his dad and mom. He told them that he lived alone in the fridge, and it was really cold, so in the end he put his dad and mom in the fridge he lived in too. The family lived happily together.”

Zhou Zhou finished the first story and looked down at the little kid beside him. The kid was grabbing the edge of the blanket with both hands, hiding half his face under the blanket and only revealing a pair of wide golden eyes.

So cute.

This was the first time Zhou Zhou had seen such a young kid. The kid listened so attentively while he told the story, he was really well-behaved and adorable.

But why wasn’t he asleep yet? Aren’t kids supposed to fall asleep while listening to bedtime stories?

This kid’s eyes were even wider than before Zhou Zhou started telling the story.

But thinking about it, the story he just told was so short, it made sense that the kid didn’t fall asleep. Once he finished telling the next few stories, the kid would definitely be able to sleep.

“Okay, let’s start with the second story now…”

“I think that’s enough.” The little boy couldn’t help but say tremblingly.

He was wrong. He was really wrong. He shouldn’t have stayed to listen to stories. He didn’t want to listen anymore, he was a bit scared.

Zhou Zhou stopped telling the second story and looked at the kid, asking, “Are you sleepy?”

The little boy immediately nodded, giving him the most sincere look.

Zhou Zhou also looked back at him with big eyes. Their eyes were both very clear and bright, and even their eye shapes were quite similar, round and large.

They gazed at each other for a while, neither moving. Suddenly, Zhou Zhou pointed at the kid’s eyes and said, “You’re lying. You’re clearly not sleepy at all, your eyes are so wide open.” Then he gently patted the kid through the blanket. “Don’t worry, after I tell a few more stories, you’ll definitely be able to sleep.”

Little boy: “…”

“The second story is about a kid named Xiao Ming. At midnight, he suddenly wanted to go to the bathroom, so he got out of bed alone and walked out wearing slippers. The slippers were too big, so when he walked, the floor and slippers made a squeaking sound. But gradually, Xiao Ming heard what seemed like another pair of slippers squeaking on the floor behind him, the two sounds almost overlapping. He turned his head to look, but there was nothing there…”

Since all the players were transported to different rooms, and the rooms were soundproof, even if someone was making a huge racket in their room, people outside wouldn’t be able to hear it at all.

So it was completely silent in the room now, with only Zhou Zhou’s voice telling the story. His voice was nice to listen to, with the purity and clarity unique to young boys. But when telling these kind of horror stories, his deliberately lowered voice in the quiet environment made one’s hair stand on end.

That’s how the little boy felt. As the story Zhou Zhou told became more and more eerie, more immersive, even if he buried himself fully in the blanket, he still felt like there was something following behind him, an icy chill.

He pursed his lips, watching Zhou Zhou get really into telling the story, his large eyes already brimming with tears.

“…Xiao Ming immediately ran back to his bed, but the unseen person followed closely behind, even on the bed he could still feel them run up with him. He hid under the covers, and that person stood at the head of the bed, staring at him, waiting for him to stick his head out from the blanket…”

The teary wide eyes immediately started glancing around, afraid someone might also be standing at the head of his bed.

Even though the source of his fear was Zhou Zhou’s story right beside him, the little boy still scooted closer to him, to feel a bit safer.

“…Suddenly, there was a knocking sound at the door. Xiao Ming was afraid, but he knew he had locked the door, so no one could come in. So he peeked through a slit in the blanket towards the door, but saw the door handle slowly turn, and then click, the door opened…”

“Knock knock knock.”

As Zhou Zhou got to this part of the story, there was an actual knocking at the door, causing the little boy to flinch and cling tightly to Zhou Zhou’s arm, tears silently streaming down his face.

It’s okay, it’s okay, this is just a story, and the door is locked. It will only open when he leaves this room. He’s not scared.

The door handle slowly turned, but the room door was locked, and then there was no more movement.

The person outside must have left.

Thinking this, the little boy stealthily peeked his head out from Zhou Zhou’s side, looking towards the door.

“Bang!”

A huge crash, the door panel came flying in.

“Waaah~~~” The little boy was terrified, wailing as he vanished in a poof.

But his crying voice could still be heard all around the room. Not just in Zhou Zhou’s room, all the players could hear the eerie wailing of a child from all directions.

“Waaah waaah waaah~”

Many of them had just experienced a creepy child demanding dolls, almost scared to death. Hearing this creepy child’s wails now, they trembled all over. Some of the more timid ones even curled up on the tiny children’s beds, quivering under the covers.

It’s just that covering their heads didn’t cover their feet, and covering their feet left their heads exposed, looking quite comical.

Zhou Zhou stared at the door panel that had flown out, then looked down at the now empty space in the blanket beside him, blinking as he didn’t understand why the kid had disappeared and could hear his crying voice.

Why was he crying? Was he scared and that’s why he cried?

The person outside came in. Alvia saw Zhou Zhou sitting on the small bed covered in a blanket, and noticed a lump in the blanket next to him.

“What are you doing?” Alvia asked as he approached the children’s bed area and stood in front, lifting the blanket off the lump.

The little boy had disappeared too quickly, so the blanket still held a human shape. When the blanket was lifted, there was no one inside, only a fat duck toy.

“Was there someone under the blanket just now?” Alvia asked.

Zhou Zhou nodded: “Yeah, we were about to go to sleep, why did you suddenly come in?”

He even kicked down the door. Seeing the door panel lying on the floor, Zhou Zhou was a bit unhappy. He was about to lull the little kid to sleep, but then Al suddenly kicked down the door with such a loud noise that it scared the kid. The kid not only ran away, but was still crying now.

Zhou Zhou, who cheerfully kept piling on straw and stones, had no self-awareness that Alvia was just the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“Who is it? Is it an instance NPC?”

Alvia had entered several rooms, most of which had child NPCs inside, so the person in Zhou Zhou’s room was most likely also an NPC. But why were they all on the beds?

Now, Zhou Zhou was very sensitive to the word “NPC”. Hearing Al’s question, he suddenly paused and mumbled, “What NPC, there was only me and a little kid here just now, no NPC!”

This was Zhou Zhou’s first time lying, and he immediately became self-conscious, his gaze shifty.

Something was off. Alvia saw through this clumsy way of lying right away. Could there have been other people in the room earlier? But who else could there be?

Without changing his expression, Alvia stared at Zhou Zhou, who anxiously lowered his head, afraid of Al finding out he had just lied.

“Zhou Zhou, are you okay?” More people entered the room, it was Xue Li and Heya.

It turned out Alvia had already entered several rooms. Although they were scattered, they were generally still on the first floor, so after leaving his own room, Alvia ran into Heya and Xue Li.

In Heya’s room, the kid hadn’t come out from under the bed before Alvia broke in and directly gave him the doll, so Heya wasn’t as panicked as last time in the instance.

As for Xue Li, she was completely unharmed and had been ready to leave, but then Alvia came in. They went from room to room next to each other.

And the next one happened to be Zhou Zhou’s room.

Zhou Zhou looked at Xue Li and Heya and shook his head: “I’m fine.”

Alvia still wanted to ask about what happened in the room earlier and why Zhou Zhou had lied, but since Xue Li and Heya had come in, he could only let it go for now.

The only ones left in their team who hadn’t been found were Ke Li and Eddie, so the few of them decided to find them first before discussing further.

“Waaah waaah waaah~”

“What’s going on? Why is there a child crying all the time?” Hearing this sound in the middle of the night, Xue Li couldn’t help rubbing her arm, feeling a bit of an eerie chill.

Zhou Zhou shot an accusing look at Alvia, who had no idea the kid was there and didn’t know that Zhou Zhou’s story and his actions had coincided, scaring the kid into tears on the spot. Alvia looked back at Zhou Zhou in confusion.

Eddie had also come out of his room and waved to the people in the hallway when he saw them.

Only Ke Li was left unfound.

There were many rooms on the first floor, all children’s rooms. The group opened each door to search, finally finding Ke Li in one of the rooms.

He was lying on the small bed, eyes tightly shut, looking completely at peace.

“This…I’m familiar with this situation, leave it to me.” Xue Li rolled up her sleeves and went over, slapping Ke Li awake with two smacks. Eddie looked at Xue Li in shock and instinctively took a step back, what a terrifying way to wake someone up!

Slapped awake, Ke Li opened his eyes groggily. Upon seeing Xue Li, he immediately jumped up from the bed, excitedly saying, “Xue Li, you finally came.”

Grabbed by the shoulders again, Xue Li was speechless. Among so many people, only her brother acted like this. What was there to be afraid of? The others had said they all encountered similar situations, with a kid crawling out from under the bed and then leaving after being given the doll. What’s so scary about that? Yet he was scared senseless again.

Ke Li ignored the redness on his face as he said with difficulty, “You don’t understand, I just finished a horror story and was transported away alone, and there was someone under the bed too. I was really scared to death.”

Xue Li asked doubtfully, “When did you start reading horror stories? I didn’t know about that. And why would you read horror novels before playing a horror game? Were you just bored?”

Thinking Ke Li had read a horror story before entering the game, Xue Li was speechless. Didn’t he have any grasp of his own courage? Yet he dared to read horror stories.

Ke Li glanced at Zhou Zhou and saw him also looking at him curiously, completely oblivious that he was the one who had lured him into reading the horror story.

But it was pointless to bring that up now. He could only shoulder it all and regretfully say, “I’ll never read them again.”

In the future, he absolutely absolutely must not approach Zhou Zhou out of curiosity when he’s reading. It was too disastrous.

The six members of their team had all been found. With some time still left before dawn, the group decided to search together for the tree hollow with clues about the exit.

“Zhou Zhou, why do you still have your doll?” Xue Li had wanted to ask earlier, they had all given their dolls to the kid, who then took them away. So why was Zhou Zhou still holding that fat duck?

Zhou Zhou shook his head, looking at the duck in his hand. “The kid left without taking the duck.”

He had figured it out from the others’ conversation earlier, the kid had come to get the duck from him, but he didn’t take it, so he could give it to the kid the next time they met.

The kid’s crying stopped when the group found Ke Li. Zhou Zhou was still looking forward to their next meeting, but the kid who had cried like a teapot had already decided never to see him again.

It was so scary, waaah waaah waaah~

As Zhou Zhou and the other five were searching for exit clues on the first floor, they ran into the four from the Sharp Family coming down from upstairs. Upon seeing Zhou Zhou, they even greeted him.

“Hello, I’m Xia Yan.”

Alvia could tell right away the other party was also using an alias. But why were they actively approaching Zhou Zhou? Based on the Sharp Family’s usual behavior, they must have an ulterior motive for taking the initiative to get close to someone.

“Hello, I’m Zhou Zhou. These are my friends – Al, Heya, Eddie, Xue Li and Ke Li.” Zhou Zhou also smiled and greeted the other party, but he included the group of people behind him when introducing himself.

He liked making new friends. But just now when the other party was saying hello, they only looked at him and spoke to him alone, completely ignoring the others behind him.

Although he often didn’t understand the twists and turns of the human heart, he was sometimes very perceptive.

Xia Yan didn’t get angry. He immediately went with the flow and greeted the people behind Zhou Zhou as if he just hadn’t gotten to speaking with them earlier.

Alvia glanced at him without saying anything. Heya had the same attitude. Only Xue Li, Ke Li and Eddie smiled back in response.

They were actually a bit wary of these few people. After all, when they first entered the game, it was these four people egging each other on that caused the other players to crush the eggs.

Although it could be said they didn’t really do anything, and their behavior wasn’t necessarily wrong, they only said a few words, if they were going to get acquainted with these people, they still needed to be on guard.

“We came down from the fifth floor. The other teams’ players don’t seem to have finished yet. Why don’t our two teams work together to find the exit? This building has many rooms, and it’s very messy inside. There are even random teleports happening. Working together to find the exit could make it quicker.” Xia Yan spoke up.

Zhou Zhou turned to look at his teammates. Xue Li and the others knew what he said was true, this place really was too big. Just the few of them searching wouldn’t be enough in three days. And the tree hollow definitely wouldn’t be in an obvious spot. They might even need some clues to open it. Having more people would be like getting help.

As long as Zhou Zhou agreed, Heya would agree too.

Although Alvia didn’t want to cooperate with people from the Sharp Family, rejecting them now wasn’t a good choice either. After all, they had similarly petty minds, if rejected, who knows what tricks they might play. In the end, he agreed too.

The two teams made ten people in total, searching together on the first floor. They had also discussed teaming up with the remaining players to search for the exit once it was daytime.

Zhou Zhou searched earnestly on the first floor, holding the fat duck toy in one hand. If he encountered dolls lying around, he would stand them upright.

Next to him was Xia Yan. Although they split up to search different areas, Xia Yan eventually made his way over to Zhou Zhou’s side as he searched.

“I see you and I are about the same age. How old are you this year?” Xia Yan asked casually as he searched.

“I’m twenty years old.”

Zhou Zhou had been nineteen before. But since learning from Al that one could only date after turning twenty, he aged himself up a year.

“What a coincidence, we’re the same age.” Xia Yan smiled.

Also twenty years old huh? Zhou Zhou suddenly remembered something and, after glancing around to confirm Al wasn’t nearby, lowered his voice to ask Xia Yan, “Can I ask you a question?”

Zhou Zhou’s secretive behavior made Xia Yan a bit puzzled, but he still said, “Of course.”

“Do people nowadays only get to date after turning twenty?”

Xia Yan: ?

Xia Yan was very puzzled why the other party would ask such a question. After thinking for a while, he couldn’t figure out the purpose behind asking this.

“There’s no such rule. According to the Empire’s marriage laws, you can get married at eighteen. There aren’t really any major restrictions on dating either. So could you tell me why you’re asking this question?”

No restrictions, you can date at eighteen!

Al had lied to him.

He said unhappily, “Someone tricked me and said you can only date after turning twenty. Hmph!”

Seeing the other party’s childlike manner, Xia Yan couldn’t help but smile. “Could it be your family? Many noble families have very strict rules nowadays, even restricting when their children can get engaged.”

Zhou Zhou shook his head. “Not family, a friend.”

He didn’t admit to being a noble, but didn’t deny it either. It wasn’t easy to judge from just this.

“By the way Zhou Zhou, which school are you attending now?” If he was twenty, that would be university age. If he could find out which school the other party went to, it would be much easier to look into his identity.

He attends the School of Romantic Love ah.

Zhou Zhou was about to say that instinctively, but then he suddenly remembered that the other party wasn’t talking about the game, but the world outside of it. He had no idea what schools were out there.

Thinking quickly, Zhou Zhou vaguely said, “I…go to a school you don’t know about.”

Xia Yan: …This answer is the same as not answering at all.

Is he being guarded against me? So he doesn’t reveal any personal information at all.

“Zhou Zhou.”

Alvia had come over. Seeing the two happily chatting, he said to Zhou Zhou, “Go search over there. Two people in one area is too inefficient.”

“Oh oh.” Although Zhou Zhou was still angry at Al, hearing that he didn’t have to keep talking to Xia Yan, he immediately walked in the direction Al pointed.

While he liked chatting, this kind of conversation where he might slip up at any moment was too much. Having to think over every sentence was so tiring.

Zhou Zhou headed towards where Ke Li and Xue Li were. After exchanging a glance with Xia Yan, the two of them went their separate ways without another word.

Ke Li was searching near the window, searching while marveling at how big and round the moon outside looked, causing Xue Li to roll her eyes at him repeatedly.

How long was he going to keep praising this one moon?

Noticing Zhou Zhou approaching, he even pointed it out to him.

“Zhou Zhou, look, the moonlight tonight is so beautiful.” If only every instance had a moon like this whenever night fell, then any ghosts or monsters could be seen clearly.

Zhou Zhou looked at Ke Li in surprise, recalling the information he just got from Xia Yan. After carefully considering for a moment, he said, “I like you too.”

Ke Li was still admiring the view outside when he suddenly heard Zhou Zhou say that. He turned his head in a daze. “Is that so? You seem like a good person, I like you too.”

“Oh my god!” The nearby Xue Li, who had been searching for clues, abruptly went over and kicked Ke Li’s butt.

Kicking Ke Li away, she then stood where he had just been standing and asked expectantly, “What about me, what about me? Does Zhou Zhou like me too?”

Zhou Zhou thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously, “I like you!”

How adorable. Xue Li smiled at Zhou Zhou, even reaching out to pat his head.

Al, who had walked over, paused mid-step. He had only heard Zhou Zhou’s last words of “I like.”  Like what? Like who?

Before Xue Li’s hand could reach Zhou Zhou’s head, the moonlight from the window suddenly dimmed.

Since they were standing right by the window, the moonlight shining in dimmed instantly. Zhou Zhou immediately noticed and turned to look outside, but everything was a blinding white haze, objects in the distance were basically indistinguishable.

What was going on?

Before Zhou Zhou could tell the others about this strange occurrence, the entire house began shaking.

A coarse, slow voice came from outside the house.

“Come to hell with me~”