Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Doll’s House 6

Everyone’s feet were so unsteady that they hurried to grab the nearest object.

The house shook more and more violently, and the tilted angle grew larger and larger.

Zhou Zhou used one hand to firmly grasp the window frame, and the other hand to grab Xue Li, who was about to fall out of the window.

Xue Li had been about to pat Zhou Zhou’s head, but then the sudden shaking caused half of her body to almost fall out of the window. Fortunately, Zhou Zhou caught her in time, and Xue Li also reacted quickly, immediately grasping the closest window frame tightly. Then, during the next tilt to the other side, she slid back into the house and hugged the furniture.

During the shaking, everyone also discovered that only they and the randomly scattered dolls in the room were swaying left and right, while the furniture and other objects remained motionless, allowing them to find something to secure themselves.

The windows on the first floor were large, with a total of six windows on both sides, while the wall surface was very narrow. Many dolls had already flown out of the windows and fallen outside.

“What’s going on?” Ke Li, who had just been kicked down by Xue Li, was now lying on the ground hugging a table leg, and he shouted loudly.

“There’s something outside.” The Sharp family members on the other side could also see the view outside the windows. Outside was a hazy white mist that seemed to be moving, and it could even talk.

During the shaking, Eddie didn’t hold on tight and ended up sliding across the floor to Zhou Zhou’s feet. He quickly grabbed Zhou Zhou’s leg and used it to stand up.

With both hands clinging to the window, he still had the heart to look out left and right at a time like this.

“Come to hell with me~”

Eddie grasped the window tightly with both hands, “That line is too funny, and also, why does it sound so familiar?”

He stretched his head out to see what was outside and finally saw what it was.

“Damn! Ghosts! Huge ghosts!”

The ghosts outside moved a little to the side, and Eddie’s vision was no longer just a hazy mist. The semi-transparent ghosts seemed more transparent as they grew larger, and their forms were gigantic. Compared to them, this house only reached about their waists.

Three large ghosts grabbed the eaves at the top of the house and swayed it back and forth, treating this house like a toy in their hands.

The ghosts’ appearances were also very familiar, they were the three players who died after crushing their egg shells at the start of the instance.

Upon hearing about ghosts, Zhou Zhou also quickly looked out, and at this point, the players were like little dolls that could be held in one hand compared to the ghosts.

“They’re really big, probably a bit difficult to catch,” Zhou Zhou frowned with concern.

Next to him, Eddie looked at him in shock, “Zhou Zhou, we really can’t catch these things. Look at their size, are you going to catch them, or are they going to catch you? Damn, hold on tight!”

The three ghosts exerted force together, shaking the house more and more violently, even tilting it to a 45-degree angle. One of the Sharp family’s young men could no longer hold on and let go, immediately shooting into the corner of the wall.

If it weren’t for Zhou Zhou and Eddie at the left window, who together pulled him back, he would have tumbled straight out of the window.

“Thank you,” the young man said, still shaken.

“Quick, grab onto that cabinet,” Zhou Zhou immediately gave him a push towards the left tilt of the house, letting him hug the cabinet tightly.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Someone fell out.

But not from the first floor, rather from an upstairs window out to the outside.

From the build, it wasn’t the muscular team, so it must have been a player from another team.

After falling out, the player didn’t bother with their own pain and immediately got up and ran towards the house.

The three ghosts simultaneously stopped shaking the house and then floated towards the player together.

The ghosts were simply too big, the player couldn’t outrun them and was caught up to in just a few steps.

One ghost bent down and reached out, scooping the player up from behind with one swoop. The player struggled endlessly in the ghost’s hand but was unable to break free.

“It’s me! Look closely, it’s me!” the player shouted towards the ghost holding them.

It turned out that the ghost holding them was the same teammate who had died earlier, just now an NPC ghost with the same face as their former comrade.

The ghost slowly raised its arm, then opened its mouth and put the player inside.

Since the body was transparent, Zhou Zhou and Eddie watched as the player slid down the ghost’s body until finally disappearing from sight.

“Oh my god, you all better hold on tight. If you fall out, the ghosts will eat you!” Eddie shouted to everyone inside the house.

Originally, they thought the ghosts would continue shaking the house after eating the player, but the three ghosts just stood still, unmoving.

“What’s going on? Did they stop?” Ke Li, who was on the ground and couldn’t see anything, noticed the house had stopped shaking and asked Eddie.

“Still unclear, the ghosts aren’t moving, but they haven’t left either,” Eddie let go and shook out his hands, but his eyes were still fixed on the ghosts outside.

His hands had grabbed the window frame too hard just now, and now he could feel some pain. He watched the ghosts closely, ready to quickly grab something inside the house if they made any movements.

“I’m keeping watch here, you all can rest a bit,” Eddie called out.

The players who had been on the ground got up, and those who had grabbed onto other objects also let go.

A group of them came to the few windows on the left and looked out at the towering three large ghosts, it was truly an imposing sight.

After watching for a while, Ke Li said, “This is the first time I’ve seen such huge ghosts.”

Eddie sighed, “The ghosts are different every time. The ones we encountered last time could possess people. Ghosts really are a specialty product of these instances, but they’re such a hassle.”

Xia Yan turned to look at everyone, “Did they only stop after eating the player?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it seems that the reason these few ghosts were shaking the house was to knock the players inside out. After eating a player, there may be a period of rest before they continue shaking again.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, “They’re going to keep shaking?”

“Yeah, otherwise why would they stop instead of just leaving?” Xia Yan analyzed.

Looking at the three motionless giant ghosts outside, this possibility was indeed very likely.

“So what do we do now?”

Xia Yan shook his head, “There’s no way. It’s not realistic to confront the ghosts directly. We can only hold on tightly to the surrounding objects and try our best not to fall out.”

At this moment, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs as several players ran down in panic.

After giving the dolls to the children, they had agreed with Zhou Zhou and the others to search for clues to an exit upstairs. However, during a violent shake, one companion who didn’t hold on tightly flew out of the window.

Having witnessed the ghosts eating the player, the remaining people immediately ran downstairs, as the first floor was the least shaken during the shaking.

Looking at everyone present, apart from the muscular group where no one had come down, there were currently only thirteen people. The whereabouts of the other team were still unknown.

Now that they had time to catch their breath, everyone had found their positions. Since the furniture on the first floor didn’t shake, some hugged tables, others clocks, and some lay on the ground hugging table legs in various postures.

Eddie had already seen what was outside and satisfied his curiosity. Now the most important thing was survival, so he changed to a more secure position.

“Zhou Zhou, the window is open outwards, and it can’t be closed at all. It’s too dangerous there, you might fall out at any moment. You should find another spot too.”

Zhou Zhou shook his head, “It’s fine, I’ve got a firm grip. And if someone happens to fall here, I can help catch them.”

Although the window was large, it had a cross-shaped frame, so as long as he held onto that part tightly, it should be okay. Eddie nodded, saying nothing more.

During the earlier danger, he had even held onto Zhou Zhou’s leg to steady himself, and Xue Li was the same, if Zhou Zhou hadn’t caught her, she would have really flown out. Unless something unexpected happened next time, there was absolutely no way Zhou Zhou could fall out.

Heya stood not far behind Zhou Zhou, one hand grasping a bookshelf. His strength was great, so one hand was enough to support himself for a long time during the shaking.

Alvia’s standing position was also not far from the two of them, with a chair next to him. Although the chair could be moved around freely, it didn’t budge at all during the house’s shaking, which was perhaps a glimmer of hope left for the players.

The large ghosts suddenly stirred again, and Zhou Zhou, Alvia, Heya, and Xia Yan all looked towards the grandfather clock.

Ten minutes.

It had only been ten minutes since the ghosts ate the player.

The house began shaking again, with the three ghosts swaying it left and right as if playing with a toy. Fortunately, this time they were prepared, and everyone held on very tightly.

Zhou Zhou grasped the window frame, his eyes unwaveringly fixed on the giant ghosts outside no matter how his body swayed.

He really wanted to go out and catch the ghosts, but the ghosts were so huge, how could he possibly catch them?

One look at Zhou Zhou’s gaze, and Alvia knew what he was thinking, but these ghosts were different from last time, there was no way he could catch them.

The tilt angle was even greater this time, going from the previous forty-five degrees to around sixty degrees. Did the tilt increase each time after resting?

“Come to hell with me~”

The large ghosts swayed the house while shouting their lines.

If he wasn’t currently gripping the table leg tightly, Eddie really wanted to mock how ridiculous these lines were getting.

Although Eddie found it funny, for the other players who were already panicked, hearing the deafening shrill cries from outside caused their grips to loosen, and they could no longer hold onto the objects.

At this moment, the house tilted to the left, and one player lost their footing, tumbling and crawling all the way to Zhou Zhou’s side, where Zhou Zhou caught their arm.

The tilt angle was so severe that half of the player’s body was already out. Fortunately, the outside was just the ground, so the player was standing directly on it. Zhou Zhou held onto the window frame with one hand and the player’s arm with the other, shouting at them, “Quick, hold on tight!”

If the player grabbed the window frame, they could slide back inside during the next sway, just like Xue Li had done earlier.

But for some reason, the player instead used both hands to hug Zhou Zhou’s arm tightly.

“Don’t let go of me, I’m going to fall out!” The terrified player clung to Zhou Zhou’s arm like a drowning person grabbing the only piece of driftwood within reach, clutching it tightly as one leg also tried to climb back in through the window.

Perhaps sensing something, the ghosts didn’t sway to the right at their previous frequency, but instead all three exerted force in an attempt to lift the entire house.

Xue Li was about to be driven mad. From her position, she could clearly see everything that had just happened. Didn’t this player bring a brain when coming to play the game? If they had just let go of Zhou Zhou and grabbed the nearby window frame, using one hand for support, they could have climbed back in within two or three moves. But instead, they hugged Zhou Zhou’s arm with both hands, making it impossible to use their leg strength.

Their grip was too tight, with fingers even digging painfully into Zhou Zhou’s arm. Zhou Zhou’s pained expression was all too obvious, but he didn’t say a word, only frowning as he tried to pull his arm back.

Xue Li was about to explode with anger. The three giant ghosts had actually lifted the entire house. At this point, the brainless player had missed the best opportunity, their feet were off the ground, suspended in mid-air, clinging even tighter to Zhou Zhou’s hands, pulling half of Zhou Zhou’s body out of the window, leaving only one hand grasping the frame.

“Quick, let go of our Zhou Zhou!” Xue Li shouted while trying to reach the window, but her current position wasn’t good, there was nothing behind her to grab onto, so if she let go, she might just land right on top of Zhou Zhou, and all three would roll out together.

Eddie and Ke Li were lying on the ground. Hearing Xue Li’s angry shouts, they turned to see half of Zhou Zhou’s body hanging out.

“Zhou Zhou, what’s wrong?”

“Zhou Zhou, hold on tight.”

Heya, not far from Zhou Zhou’s position, was already trying to make his way over.

Alvia also saw Zhou Zhou’s current perilous situation, with the panicked player kicking their legs wildly, both hands hugging Zhou Zhou’s arm, even one hand trying to reach further forward to grab onto Zhou Zhou’s back, as if wanting to use Zhou Zhou’s body to climb back up.

Al directly let go, his body immediately dropping to the left. One foot stepped onto the narrow wall ledge by the window, while the other landed right in the center of the cross-shaped window frame. Although the house was still half-tilted, already at least two meters off the ground, Al’s footing was very stable.

Zhou Zhou looked at Al with distress, not understanding what was going on with this player. The window was right there, so why did they keep clinging to him instead, and it hurt so much where they were grabbing him.

Al put one arm around Zhou Zhou’s waist, pulling him back in from outside the window. The player clinging to Zhou Zhou was also pulled back in as a result.

Finally inside, the player let out a small sigh of relief. In truth, they were about to lose their grip too, barely holding on by digging their fingers into Zhou Zhou’s arm and back.

Then they saw the man who had come to rescue them use his free hand to grab their hand from behind Zhou Zhou’s back, prying their fingers open one by one.

“No, I’ll fall!” The player waved their free hand in panic, afraid of having nothing to hold onto.

Al paid no heed, continuing to pry open the hand clutching Zhou Zhou’s arm, finger by finger, blocking every attempt the player made to regrip Zhou Zhou.

In the instant both hands lost anything to grasp onto and they started to fall, Al caught one of their wrists again, lifting their whole body up.

The player’s legs were trembling uncontrollably. Just moments ago, they thought they were certainly going to die, never expecting this man to rescue them in the end.

“I think it would be better if you brought a brain next time you play a game. Goodbye.” Al let go, and the player fell straight out the window to the ground below.

They scrambled up from the ground in horror, sprinting madly in an attempt to get back into the room. But the ghosts reacted swiftly, immediately pushing the house back into its original position just as the player was a few meters away, the giant ghost hand already reaching behind them.

The large ghost scooped them up effortlessly.

And then swallowed them down.

At this point, everyone had another ten minutes of rest time.

“Zhou Zhou, are you okay?” Xue Li immediately ran to Zhou Zhou’s side.

The few others also got up and went over to Zhou Zhou, with Al setting the Zhou Zhou he had been holding around the waist back down.

Xue Li immediately rolled up Zhou Zhou’s sleeve to see the finger marks and speckles of blood on his arm, gasping in shock. Zhou Zhou’s skin was originally very fair and delicate, making the marks stand out even more.

“If that guy wasn’t already dead, I’d really want to go give him a few kicks and slaps,” she gritted her teeth.

Eddie agreed, “Yeah, Zhou Zhou saved him, but he ended up biting the hand that fed him.”

Ke Li sighed, “Although it hurts, thankfully this is just the game world, any marks will disappear once we leave the instance.”

Heya felt very guilty for not protecting Zhou Zhou despite being the closest to him.

This was the first time Zhou Zhou had been injured, and it really hurt. But seeing everyone’s concern, he still shook his head, saying it didn’t hurt.

However, thinking of the earlier player, Zhou Zhou turned to ask the person next to him, “Al, why did you drop him like that?”

Al’s expression was even colder than usual. Hearing Zhou Zhou’s question, he gave Zhou Zhou an expressionless look. “Did you want me to rescue him too?”

With that, he walked off in another direction.

Zhou Zhou stared blankly at Al’s retreating back, feeling that Al seemed angry, but he didn’t know why.

“Zhou Zhou, you can’t possibly think Al did something wrong, right?”

“A guy like that deserved to be thrown out to feed the ghosts.”

Ke Li looked at the dazed Zhou Zhou and asked in puzzlement, “Zhou Zhou, after how that player treated you, you’re not even a little bit angry?”

Zhou Zhou shook his head. Although the other person grabbed his arm and back so painfully, why should he be angry?

The few of them exchanged glances, realizing the issue.

Xue Li slammed the table hard. “Zhou Zhou! Haven’t you heard a saying?”

“What saying?”

“Repay kindness with kindness, and repay evil with justice!”

Eddie also nodded in agreement. “If someone bullies you, you should bully them back. Otherwise, you’ll just be a pushover who keeps getting bullied more.”

“It was right for you to help others, but if the other person is ungrateful, you should get rid of them at the first opportunity.” Xue Li narrowed her eyes menacingly.

Ke Li and Eddie both looked at Xue Li, wondering if she was being a bit too vicious.

Seeing their expressions, Xue Li said exasperatedly, “I’m talking about within the game. It’s not like someone actually dies for real if they die in the game.”

Although Heya was once someone who had hurt Zhou Zhou, he was determined to protect him from now on. When faced with such situations, Zhou Zhou didn’t feel angry, only grateful that it happened to him and he had a chance for redemption. But if the one harming Zhou Zhou was someone else, that would be another matter entirely.

The four of them surrounded Zhou Zhou, talking over each other as they told him he absolutely must not be so saintly, explaining what kind of people were bad, what those people might do to him, and how to deal with bad people when encountered.

Zhou Zhou listened with wide eyes, dazed. This was the first time anyone had told him such things, so that was what qualified as a bad person, to be avoided if possible. And if bullied by them, he had to retaliate.

In just a few short minutes, the door to Zhou Zhou’s new world had been opened…

With only a minute or two left of rest time, Xue Li and the others reluctantly stopped, as this was not something that could be fully explained in one go. They would have to slowly tell Zhou Zhou more in the future.

Zhou Zhou looked at them and suddenly asked, “Then was I wrong earlier to question Al like that?”

Xue Li had the expression of a teacher whose student was catching on. “Yeah, not only did Al save you, but he also helped deal with that jerk. Your tone earlier sounded a bit like you were questioning why he did something bad, so you were definitely in the wrong.”

Zhou Zhou lowered his head in thought for a moment. “Then I should go apologize to him.”

Eddie immediately perked up, giving Zhou Zhou a push. “Quick, go go, he’s probably waiting for you right now. And don’t forget to thank him for saving you too.”

Zhou Zhou nodded and headed in Al’s direction.