Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Nightmare City 5

The roller coaster shot straight up into the clouds, then plunged sharply down, followed by countless spiral tracks, moving so fast it became a blur. The players waiting below could only hear continuous screams, and by the time they looked in the direction of the sound, the roller coaster was long gone.

Zhou Zhou squinted his eyes, his hands loosely holding the doll ornaments. Although all the little dolls were securely tied to him by the ropes on their heads, he was still afraid one might accidentally fall off.

On the roller coaster, amid the shrieks of men and women, there were also many cries of children mixed in. If the other riders weren’t so preoccupied, they would have noticed there were no actual children among them, yet the sounds of children screaming could still be heard.

The little friends had their souls attached to the dolls, allowing Zhou Zhou to take them around the amusement park. However, they didn’t expect the first ride to be so thrilling. They could see the surrounding scenery and feel the breathtaking ups and downs of the roller coaster. Many of the more timid ones just huddled against Zhou Zhou, eyes shut tight as they screamed.

It wasn’t until the final stretch that the roller coaster slowed down. As it gradually returned to the starting point, all the riders sat panting heavily, their breaths shaky with lingering terror.

Eddie and Qian Le, the two who had boasted about not being afraid, now had deathly pale faces and dazed expressions. Even after the roller coaster stopped, their souls seemed to still be flung far away on the tracks, unmoving for a long while.

The little dolls had all gone limp as well, hanging motionlessly from Zhou Zhou.

Only Zhou Zhou immediately undid his safety harness and looked around, only then realizing something was amiss.

“Qian Le? Eddie? Are you two okay?”

Eddie stared blankly at Zhou Zhou: “Huh?”

It was then that Zhou Zhou realized the roller coaster had perhaps been a bit too thrilling for them. He glanced around and saw the other riders wore similar expressions. Only he seemed normal, already prepared to disembark.

Not good, his reaction was different from everyone else’s, they would notice the abnormality!

Zhou Zhou quickly sat back down, tilting his head against the seat with a slight frown, feigning discomfort like the others. Eddie and Qian Le were still out of it and didn’t notice Zhou Zhou’s little act.

Alvia walked over slowly with three cups of lemonade, looking at the pallid Eddie and Qian Le. He immediately thought these two must have been slacking off at school.

Previously, due to his suspicions about Zhou Zhou’s motives, he had investigated everyone who had interacted with him. Despite their unimpressive appearances, Eddie was from the First Military University and Qian Le from the Imperial Comprehensive University, both were among the most prestigious schools in the empire.

While the speed of the amusement park’s roller coaster was indeed very fast, for military academy students the difficulty level was only moderate. For them to end up like this was a bit…unexpected.

Eddie and Qian Le had no idea that because of their experience on this roller coaster, the physical training regimen at their schools would suddenly double upon their return, with countless new drills added that had never existed before. Unaware of the reason, they could only tearfully curse their cruel schools.

Shifting his gaze to Zhou Zhou’s face, Alvia fell silent for a few moments. Seeing him lying limply in the seat, he offered Zhou Zhou a cup of lemonade.

“Thank you.” Zhou Zhou raised his head slightly, looking at the proffered drink. He couldn’t help but break into a wide grin, but then remembered he was supposed to be “very weak”, so he quickly restrained his expression.

Slowly extending his hand to take the lemonade, Zhou Zhou lowered his eyes and took a few sips. The cool, tart sweetness tasted great.

By this time, Eddie had finally come to his senses, staring at the nearby Alvia with lingering confusion until a cup of lemonade was handed to him. He accepted it reflexively.

The other riders on the roller coaster had also gradually disembarked. Zhou Zhou held the dolls in one arm while drinking the lemonade with his other hand. Qian Le was still a bit woozy after snapping out of it. Seeing the others get off, he gripped the handrail and wobbled down, his legs swaying unsteadily.

“I feel a bit nauseous. I’m not going to vomit, am I?” His lips trembled as he spoke.

Eddie had already recovered and handed Qian Le the other cup of lemonade Al had given him. “Don’t worry, you can’t actually vomit in a holographic game.”

Holographic devices had long been used in universities for training simulations. Even if they were beaten bloody or felt dizzy and nauseous in the simulation, it was just their body’s natural reaction, it wouldn’t actually manifest physically in reality.

Just as you might feel injured or bleeding in the game but be perfectly fine in reality, you could feel nauseous in the game without actually vomiting. No matter how realistic the simulation, projecting vomiting would be going too far.

After drinking the lemonade, Qian Le finally felt better and his pallor improved. He awkwardly thanked Alvia, he had always been wary of Al, never expecting him to buy water for them.

Eddie stood beside Qian Le and asked, “Didn’t you say this roller coaster was famous? But this was a bit too thrilling, wasn’t it?”

Qian Le sighed, his tone tinged with world-weariness. “I’ve heard it was famous, but I didn’t realize its fame wasn’t for being fun, but rather…” Recalling their recent experience, he felt woozy again.

He quickly took another sip of water and looked at the others. “Why don’t we find something less thrilling to recover?”

The three who had been lively just moments ago now trudged out dejectedly. Though Zhou Zhou seemed fine, he kept his head down, clutching the little dolls, so Qian Le and Eddie thought he felt unwell too.

In reality, Zhou Zhou was very anxious. Ever since getting off the roller coaster, the little friends had been completely still. Before, they would occasionally move a bit or playfully nudge each other, but now not a single one was moving.

Could they have been scared like Qian Le and Eddie?

Zhou Zhou bit his lip, regretting that he shouldn’t have taken them on that ride and frightened them again.

Suddenly, the rabbit doll in his hand twitched. Zhou Zhou immediately whispered, “Xiao Jin, Xiao Jin, are you okay?”

The little rabbit Xiao Jin moved its mouth slightly. “I’m fine, I was just a bit dizzy earlier.”

“What about the other kids? Are they alright?”

“They’re fine too.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have taken you all on that.”

The little rabbit tilted its head up, its shiny black bead eyes gazing at Zhou Zhou. “I liked it. I want to go on that one again after this.”

Zhou Zhou immediately cheered up. “Okay, next time I’ll take you all on it again.”

The other kids seemed to have recovered as well, wiggling their hands and feet, appearing extremely lively. When others looked their way, they immediately stopped, only resuming their antics when no one was watching, they were quite skilled at it.

For a while, the group didn’t know where to go next. In the end, they took a very slow sightseeing tram that meandered randomly around the amusement park.

The tram seats were arranged in alternating forward and backward facing rows. Eddie shoved Qian Le into sitting in the same row as him, while the row facing them had Alvia and Zhou Zhou.

Many of the things in the amusement park were new to Zhou Zhou. He gazed out at the scenery with wide-eyed curiosity and wonder, while the other three just looked at each other wordlessly.

Qian Le had just accepted the lemonade from Alvia and still felt a bit awkward. Eddie knew Alvia didn’t want to talk to them at the moment, but Zhou Zhou was leaning over the edge admiring the sights, so he needed to find a topic to lighten the mood.

“By the way, the forum will be opening tonight. Do you think there will be any dungeon guides on it?”

Qian Le: “Probably not, right? And the current dungeons are all randomly generated, so even if there were guides, they might not be useful.”

Upon hearing the word “forum”, Zhou Zhou immediately turned his attention back, looking hesitantly at Eddie and Qian Le across from him.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked.

“Can you ask about anything on the forum? Can you post anonymously?” Zhou Zhou wanted to learn about common knowledge from the outside world to avoid slipping up, but he wasn’t sure if asking questions on the forum might expose him.

“You should be able to ask about anything, but as for anonymous posting… Nightmare City hasn’t been online for very long, and supposedly many features won’t be released until later stages. We’ll only know if the forum allows anonymity after it launches,” Eddie said cautiously.

Qian Le looked at Eddie in shock. “What’s the point of a forum if it’s not anonymous? Have you ever seen a forum that displays users’ real names? Anonymity allows people to speak freely. Zhou Zhou, don’t listen to him, it will definitely be anonymous.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhou finally felt reassured.

He then asked the two when in the evening he could access the forum and from where, etc. Eddie was more knowledgeable about these details and patiently explained everything to him.

Qian Le had only played one dungeon, so he didn’t know as much as Eddie, but he had hung out on various forums before and could answer Zhou Zhou’s questions as well.

Only Alvia sat to the side, his cold gaze fixed on the three chatting, his eyes moving from Zhou Zhou’s inquisitive eyes to his pale, rosy cheeks, his expression inscrutable and dark.

Having obtained a lot of information from Qian Le and Eddie, Zhou Zhou felt reassured that he could now inquire about all sorts of matters beyond just the game on the forum, no longer worried about being unable to answer something.

Noticing that Al was sitting alone without saying a word, Zhou Zhou suddenly felt awkward. He had been so focused on listening earlier that he forgot about Al, even though the whole reason for this outing was to express his apology to Al. Yet he had ended up leaving Al by himself.

“Al, is there anywhere else you’d like to go?” Zhou Zhou asked.

Alvia shook his head.

Zhou Zhou then turned to the other two. “What about you guys?”

Qian Le vigorously shook his head. Although there were still many famous attractions left in the amusement park, after his experience, he knew the famous ones weren’t necessarily fun. Better not risk it.

Initially Eddie had wanted to keep playing, but then he realized this was supposed to be an outing for just Al and Zhou Zhou that they had intruded upon, so it would be going too far to continue.

“Why don’t we just sit here and chat?” Eddie said. Too far? He could go even further.

“Zhou Zhou, can I ask you a personal question?” Eddie smiled slyly.

A personal question? Zhou Zhou immediately grew wary. “What question?”

“Do you have someone you like?”

The other two immediately looked at Eddie, who pretended not to notice as he awaited Zhou Zhou’s answer.

Someone he liked? Zhou Zhou raised his eyes to glance at the others present, then shyly nodded.

Qian Le instantly thought of Zhou Zhou’s ex, the jerk who had left him heartbroken under the Ferris wheel. Come to think of it, he had initially suspected that person was Al, but judging by Zhou Zhou’s attitude, it didn’t seem to be him.

“Care to tell us who it is?”

“It’s Qian Le…”

Qian Le’s heart skipped a beat, his mind going blank. He really hadn’t expected Zhou Zhou’s crush to be him. So that time in the dungeon when he said he liked him, was it for real?

Eddie was also surprised, his eyebrows raised. He hadn’t expected it to be Qian Le, based on all factors, Al should have been the best choice, no? He wondered if Al would beat him up for this mischief.

Alvia glanced at Qian Le, his ice-blue eyes no longer purely clear, but tinged with a dark haze. Qian Le was still lost in thinking about when Zhou Zhou had developed feelings for him and if he should respond, completely oblivious to Al’s gaze.

“Eddie, Xue Li, Ke Li…”

After Zhou Zhou took a deep breath and listed every person he had met in the game, the others just stared at him speechlessly.

Qian Le looked at Zhou Zhou dejectedly, so this was what he meant by “liking” them.

Eddie didn’t know what to say either as he watched Qian Le’s expression shift from elation to dejection. He felt a twinge of guilt, had he asked too imprecisely?

“Okay, let me rephrase, if you had to pursue a romantic relationship with one of the three of us here, who would you choose?” Surely this narrower scope was clear enough, right?

Just as Zhou Zhou was about to list all three of their names again, his gaze landed on Al staring intently at him, and he immediately remembered confessing to Al before, only for Al to reject him and forbid him from dating.

As long as he didn’t say Al’s name, it should be fine since Eddie was speaking hypothetically, right?

“I choose you…” And Qian Le.

Before Zhou Zhou could finish, Al suddenly cut him off: “We’re here.”

Where did they arrive? The group immediately turned to look outside, only to find they had reached the exit of the amusement park.

Wasn’t the plan to wander around the park a bit first? How did they end up leaving so quickly?

Just moments ago, when Zhou Zhou had gazed intently at Eddie with those amber eyes and said “I choose you”, Eddie’s heart had nearly stopped.

That wasn’t what he meant at all. He was just an ordinary gossip lover who wanted to see some lovey-dovey skinship between couples, some drama unfold, but why was the fire burning him now?

How could he possibly date Zhou Zhou? Although Zhou Zhou was good-looking, charismatic, kind, reliable and impressive when gaming, a perfect companion in every way, Eddie…Eddie…

Eddie suddenly furrowed his brow in thought. That’s right, why couldn’t he date Zhou Zhou? Al hadn’t succeeded either, and Zhou Zhou was currently unattached, so it wouldn’t be taking advantage, would it?

Yet for some reason, he felt incredibly self-conscious. Eddie raised his head to look at Zhou Zhou, who had already gotten up and gotten off the tram. His exquisite face, bathed in sunlight, seemed like the most perfect creation from the Creator’s hands. When Zhou Zhou turned and smiled at him, those amber eyes seemed to glow with a hazy radiance, his youthful features all the more strikingly pure and gentle.

Eddie didn’t know where the boldness came from, but he suddenly stood up and called out to Zhou Zhou: “Zhou Zhou, do you have a partner? Want to consider me?” A boy’s affection is pure and uncomplicated, the thought occurred to him, so he wanted to know the answer immediately.

Qian Le, who had just been silently agonizing, now looked at Eddie in shock, as if saying “I thought you were my friend, how dare you steal a march on me!”

Originally, Zhou Zhou had been about to call out to Eddie not to space out and hurry up before the tram left. But then he heard the sudden confession. He was well-practiced in this from receiving countless confessions in games before, so he immediately smiled warmly, about to accept. But then something happened.

The tram that had stopped at the exit suddenly took off at breakneck speed, nearly as fast as the roller coaster from earlier. And just like that, the tram carrying Eddie vanished from their sight.

Zhou Zhou’s mouth was still open, staring blankly at the spot where the tram had been. What happened? Why did it leave? He hadn’t even responded yet.

Qian Le didn’t even have a chance to feel indignant, also staring dazedly at where the suddenly speeding tram had been. If he remembered correctly, they had chosen the slowest tram route. Why had it abruptly gone so fast? A game bug? But then he thought about it – serves Eddie right for suddenly confessing to Zhou Zhou! This bug came at the perfect time!

The amusement park’s trams were automated, and the only one capable of overriding their programmed routes was Zeus. So had Zeus been the one messing around just now?

The corner of Alvia’s mouth quirked up in his first smile of the day, though it was just as fleeting.

“Zhou Zhou, let’s go,” Qian Le called out to Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou was still looking in the direction the tram had disappeared. “But Eddie hasn’t come back yet?”

“Ah, didn’t you see how rushed he looked leaving? He must have had something to take care of. Let’s go first. Weren’t you really interested in the game forum? Let’s hurry back and wait for it to open, otherwise we’ll miss all the fresh gossip.”

In reality, it was still quite early to head back since travelling between areas in the game was instantaneous. Qian Le held back his laughter as he misled Zhou Zhou, he had noticed how invested Zhou Zhou was in the forum, so mentioning it would surely divert his attention.

“Really? But we didn’t even say goodbye,” Zhou Zhou still hesitated, mainly because he hadn’t responded to Eddie yet.

“Look, it’s been a while and he still hasn’t shown up. If he really wanted to come say goodbye to us, taking another tram would have only taken a minute or two. We’ve already waited three minutes and he’s not here, so he must have logged off,” Qian Le said with full confidence.

Was that so? Zhou Zhou took a few steps forward, glancing back again, but still didn’t see Eddie, so he could only turn and leave with the others.

Qian Le was in a great mood today, mainly because of the pitiful sight of Eddie. Truly, people find more joy in the misfortune of others.

He had originally planned to do a dungeon run with Zhou Zhou since they had time, but Zhou Zhou insisted on waiting for the forum to open that evening. Thinking about it, Qian Le realized the last time he had only cleared the dungeon with Zhou Zhou’s help. He didn’t know if he could do it alone. The thought made him feel ambitious, after all, he was a student at the prestigious Imperial Comprehensive University, ranked in the top ten academies in the empire. Surely he couldn’t be stumped by a mere game?

So in the end, Qian Le shot Alvia a warning glance before leaving on his own. He wanted to try taking on a dungeon solo. If he truly succeeded, maybe he could even carry Zhou Zhou in the future.

Seeing Qian Le log off, Alvia said he had matters to attend to and logged off as well.

Zhou Zhou felt they hadn’t gotten to properly enjoy the outing, but little Xiao Jin was very happy, saying it had been a long time since they last went out to play.

Upon returning to the room, the group of little dolls immediately hopped off Zhou Zhou, bouncing and jumping around his room. For them, just being able to come out and play was enough cause for joy.

A few kids had previously been scared of Zhou Zhou due to the ghost story incident, but had stayed attached to him throughout the trip. Children’s moods shift quickly, and they had already forgotten their unease by now.

The bolder ones were even climbing up onto Zhou Zhou again in their doll bodies.

Zhou Zhou loved the lively atmosphere in his room, playing together with the little ones.

After logging off, Alvia exited the palace and headed towards his usual workplace.

Ryan had been standing outside and immediately fell in behind Alvia with a solemn air, a stark contrast to the nonchalant demeanor he displayed when meeting Heya.

As they neared the palace, Alvia suddenly said, “Have Andrew come see me.”

Andrew was a high-ranking official in the imperial education system with close ties to many university presidents. It was on his recommendation that various inter-academy competitions were held.

Ryan didn’t understand why His Majesty had abruptly summoned Andrew, but it wasn’t his place to ask. “Yes.”

Alvia returned to the palace, where Zeus was already waiting for him.

Sitting in the chair and snickering, Zeus’s laughter grew louder when he saw Alvia, as if afraid Alvia wouldn’t hear his mocking.

“Where did you send him?” Alvia asked as he sat down at the desk.

Still laughing, Zeus said, “He’s still wandering around the amusement park right now.”

“Arbitrarily modifying the program is not allowed. Let him go.”

The person they were referring to was Eddie, which they both knew. Zeus cautiously observed Alvia’s expression, seeing he had no intention of putting him in solitary confinement this time. He acknowledged and had the tram running wildly through the amusement park finally come to a stop.

But recalling how Alvia had specifically changed his clothes that morning, only to be disturbed by a swarm of lightbulbs, and then have Eddie, who had been trying to set them up since they met, wedge himself in, it was really quite amusing.

He covered his mouth to muffle a few more snickers, quickly using his other hand to cover it as well when Alvia looked over again.

“Do you have Zhou Zhou’s data?” Alvia asked.

The data he referred to was Zhou Zhou’s statistics from completing dungeons, including spiritual power, brain wave fluctuations, etc. Zeus of course had it, but this was personal information that only Zhou Zhou himself could access, others couldn’t look up data belonging to someone else. Alvia was asking him to present Zhou Zhou’s data.

Zeus wanted to keep Zhou Zhou’s information confidential since he liked Zhou Zhou a lot, though he didn’t know why he liked him. But Alvia’s priority was highest, so he could only hand over Zhou Zhou’s data tearfully.

Besides the data, charts, and graphs compiled for players’ convenience, there was also more complex data that wasn’t displayed, since most people wouldn’t understand it and it wouldn’t be useful to them. But Alvia requested all of the data.

Stacked together, it was thicker than a book, and he just sat there reading through it all.

After a while, Zeus grew bored and returned to the game to watch Zhou Zhou play with the kids.

That evening, after the kids had all gone home, leaving only a dozen or so dolls behind, Zhou Zhou neatly arranged the dolls on his bedside table before opening his quest panel.

As expected, a new forum module had appeared.

Clicking on it revealed various forum categories. With so many people in the empire, if everyone crowded into one place, a single post would be pushed past the top 100 in just a second. So categories were necessary.

Zhou Zhou didn’t look at the most popular gaming sections, but towards the daily life category instead.

Many people here were just bored and came to see the commotion, chat gossip, vent complaints, etc.

This was where Zhou Zhou could ask the questions he wanted answered.

“Does anyone have any interesting stories to share? I’m bored out of my mind.”

“This is the fifth time today, what do I do if I stub my toe on the bed frame? Do I need a cleansing ritual?”

“There’s a giant cockroach by my bedside, help! I’m done for~”

Zhou Zhou browsed through them one by one, noticing every post had replies. After some thought, he typed out his own question and posted it.

“Are there any obscure, little-known schools?”

His post had barely gone up before the first comment appeared.

“Try using search, thanks.”

“But by definition, could any school found through search really be considered obscure and unknown?”

“A shut-in school?”

“The smallest school is in my hometown, with a total population under 100 for the whole planet. It doesn’t get much more obscure than that.”

Seeing the replies, Zhou Zhou could only add another line.

“Are there any obscure, little-known universities? I’m probably university age now.”

“Universities? Aren’t they all concentrated in the same star system these days? They should all know about each other, right?”

“If you want something truly unknown, that would probably be the Hertzadorn Academy, since they’re always at the bottom of the rankings.”

“What’s wrong with being at the bottom? Did they offend you or something for you to remember their ranking so clearly?”

“The location of Hertzadorn Academy isn’t that obscure. The most obscure is Narell Academy at the very edge of the star system. They’re always the last to arrive for any competitions.”

“Back when the major academies were being established, everyone fought bloody battles over the locations. Narell just didn’t want to fight so they ended up on the outer edge.”

“Or maybe they just couldn’t win the fight for a better spot?”

“Are you all nuts? Narell always ranks in the top 50 for inter-academy competitions. How is that unknown? Aren’t you the ones who are ignorant?”

“Never mind that, the real unknown one is the Imperial Comprehensive University. They try everything but can’t do anything right. Hahaha.”

“Then there’s the Imperial Royal Academy acting so high and mighty when they’re always just second or third place.”

“You people don’t understand. The Imperial Royal Academy has a long history, and it’s the first choice for every generation’s princes and nobles. Your chicken academies can’t even compare.”

“Oh, I caught one from the Imperial Royal Academy! Still the first choice, huh? Did you forget His Majesty graduated from the First Military Academy? In your face!”

“You guys…”

The post only grew more heated, with more and more people joining in and forgetting what the original question was about as they started insulting and denigrating each other’s schools. It was currently break time for the major academies, so among the forum idlers were many students who, upon seeing their alma maters scorned, immediately rolled up their sleeves to fight back.

Zhou Zhou’s question had been promoted to the top post, but no one was actually answering it. Staring at the dimly glowing screen filled with heated arguing, Zhou Zhou blinked in confusion.

Why was this different from what Eddie and the others had said? Weren’t people supposed to answer any questions asked?

But everyone was clearly too busy fighting to answer his question.

Should he keep asking?