Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Deep Sea Creature 1

The four of them were sucked into the whirlpool, without even having time to say a word.

When Alvia surfaced from the water, he realized that he was no longer on the lake, but in the middle of a vast ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see.

In the distance, the sky seemed to merge with the sea, and no land or floating objects were visible. It felt like he was the only person in the vast expanse of sea and sky.

Where was Zhou Zhou?

Alvia frowned and scanned the sea surface. Suddenly, a small ripple appeared on the calm water not too far away. A person emerged from beneath the surface, flailing their arms and legs desperately, splashing water everywhere.

At a glance, Alvia could tell it was Zhou Zhou. He immediately swam towards him, but before he could get close, the struggling Zhou Zhou suddenly sank down, leaving only a series of ripples where he had been moments ago.

Just as Alvia thought Zhou Zhou had drowned and was about to dive in after him, Zhou Zhou suddenly resurfaced in the middle of the ripples.

“Cough cough cough~”

He was clutching a piece of wood, coughing violently. The wood was actually the small boat they had been riding in earlier. The simple, plain wooden boat had been torn apart by the whirlpool and ended up in the whirlpool’s center along with them. It seemed this broken piece of driftwood was the only part of the boat that remained afloat nearby.

The rest of the boat was nowhere to be seen.

Alvia swam up to Zhou Zhou, whose curly hair was soaked and plastered to the sides of his pale face. Even his long eyelashes were dripping with water, making him look pitiful.

“Are you okay?” Alvia brushed his dripping wet bangs back from his forehead, revealing his smooth brow and slightly sharp features as he looked Zhou Zhou up and down.

After coughing for a while, Zhou Zhou finally caught his breath.

He couldn’t swim, so when the whirlpool appeared, he could only cling tightly to the boat’s edge and not let go. But he never expected the boat to capsize. When he was struggling in the water earlier, he had unconsciously let go of the piece of wood too.

Fortunately, when he sank down, he noticed the wood was nearby and immediately grabbed onto it, allowing him to resurface.

“I’m okay,” Zhou Zhou shook his head, clutching the wood tightly with both hands.

He looked at Alvia, his gaze moving from Alvia’s slightly sharp features to something floating above his head.

“What’s that?” Zhou Zhou asked curiously, looking at the thing hovering above Alvia’s head. If he were a normal person, being stranded in the ocean, unable to swim, and having almost drowned, he would hardly be this calm. But Zhou Zhou had regained his composure and even had the presence of mind to ask about other matters.

Alvia didn’t need to look to know what Zhou Zhou was asking about since he had also seen the thing above Zhou Zhou’s head.

“A countdown timer and life bar.”

Above their heads, a countdown timer had appeared, starting from 60 minutes from the moment they surfaced.

There was also a life bar above it, which was gradually decreasing along with the countdown.

“If we can’t leave the water within an hour, we’ll be eliminated.”

According to the mission panel, the seawater was radioactive. If they couldn’t find land or a ship within an hour, this mission would be considered a failure.

Zhou Zhou looked around at the endless, calm ocean stretching in every direction, not a ripple in sight, and no sign of anyone else nearby.

“Where are Xue Li and Ke Li? Are they okay?” He was still concerned about the other two, even though they had all fallen into the water together. But in this area, he and Alvia were the only ones present.

“They probably ended up in other places. Don’t worry, they know how to swim,” Alvia said with certainty.

Zhou Zhou was barely managing to stay afloat himself, and he didn’t know how to swim or where to look for the others. Hearing Alvia’s reassurance, he could only nod, wondering how they were going to find the other two later.

“So what should we do now?” Water from his hair kept streaming down his face. He brushed his soaked bangs back like Alvia had, revealing his large, bright, clear eyes without his hair obstructing them.

Alvia glanced at Zhou Zhou’s eyes before looking away. He gazed out at the calm sea and released his spiritual power, sending countless invisible threads spreading out from where he floated.

They kept extending and expanding, stretching farther and farther.

Zhou Zhou seemed to sense something, looking around while clutching the piece of driftwood, but the sea surface remained calm and undisturbed, with nothing to see. Eventually, he gave up.

A minute later, Alvia retracted his spiritual power. In this area, there was only one direction with ships. If he were alone, he could swim there within an hour, but bringing the non-swimmer Zhou Zhou along, they would definitely not make it in time.

Watching Zhou Zhou clinging to the wooden plank, drifting farther away with each gentle swell, frowning as he struggled to paddle back closer with one hand, making no progress despite his efforts since he had no swimming skills, flailing about in the same spot.

It seemed he would have to use another method.

The flight talisman they had bought at the store earlier would come in handy now. Since he had located the direction of the ships, using the flight talisman would get them there in ten minutes, without having to stay in the sea any longer.

Although he didn’t know the purpose of the life bar above their heads, it was better to preserve as much of it as possible.

After explaining his plan to Zhou Zhou, who immediately agreed, since he had been wanting to try out the flight talisman anyway, Alvia took out the flight talismans he had purchased along with Zhou Zhou at the store.

Activating them simultaneously, they took to the air from the sea surface and flew in the direction Alvia indicated.

Seeing Zhou Zhou still clutching that piece of wood as they flew, Alvia asked, “Why are you still holding onto that plank?”

Zhou Zhou instinctively tightened his grip on the wood. “What if the flight talisman fails and we fall back into the sea? How will I stay afloat then?”

Without this piece of driftwood, he would sink to the bottom.

Alvia opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent, turning to look ahead instead.

As they flew farther, Alvia noticed the air’s humidity suddenly increase. The previously cloudless sky began spreading thick, grayish clouds in the direction they were headed, taking on an ominous look as if a storm was brewing.

The clear sky transitioned to an overcast one, accompanied by a light, moisture-laden mist. As they soared through the mist, a chilly wind mixed with dampness hit them head-on. Zhou Zhou squinted and asked, “Al, how much longer until we get there?”

In fact, they were already very close to that ship. Alvia didn’t speak, gazing ahead at the shadowy outline of the ship emerging from the mist.

The black silhouette was immense, it seemed to be a large two-masted sailing ship. Compared to ships from the interstellar era, its style was completely different, appearing to mimic ship designs from thousands of years ago. Its appearance in this environment couldn’t help but raise doubts.

Zhou Zhou saw it too. It was the first time he had seen such a massive ship. His eyes were wide open, staring straight at it.

Alvia used his spiritual power to scan the area again. Aside from this ship that had appeared with the ominous weather, there were no other ships nearby.

They flew through the clouds of mist and landed on the deck of this ship.

The countdown timer above their heads had stopped after they used the flight talisman.

Upon landing, Alvia immediately noticed how dilapidated the ship was. The wooden hull was almost blackened, and the deck made of planked wood was riddled with cracks and breaks everywhere.

Even walking on it, the floorboards beneath their feet creaked loudly.

The ship was eerily silent, one of the masts broken, leaving only the other standing, its crossbeam sails tattered and torn.

Having weathered countless years, the ship had probably been abandoned and left to drift aimlessly due to a lack of maintenance and repairs.

After climbing aboard, Zhou Zhou set down the wooden plank on the deck and looked around at the decrepit ship.

He too noticed how quiet it was, turning to ask Alvia, “Are there any people on board?”

“Anyone? Anyone? People?”

As Zhou Zhou spoke, ethereal echoes resounded all around, as if there were others on the ship mimicking his words and tone.

Alvia’s gaze swept their surroundings. He had just used his spiritual power to scan the area. There was only this single ship drifting in the middle of the sea nearby, with no land or cliffs for hundreds of miles around. And now they stood on the open deck, so where were those echoes coming from?

After hearing it, Zhou Zhou himself felt that something was off. Although he didn’t have spiritual power, his intuition and perception were exceptionally sharp. He couldn’t shake the feeling that those echoes sounded strange, was that really how his voice sounded?

“Hello~” Zhou Zhou suddenly called out loudly again.

The only sounds were the crashing waves churning from the worsening weather. The echoes had disappeared.

An ordinary person would have been chilled to the bone by what just happened, but Zhou Zhou and Alvia remained completely calm. Zhou Zhou even said seriously to Alvia after confirming there was something amiss with this ship, “Don’t leave my side, I’ll protect you.”

The remark made Alvia, who had still been on guard, laugh softly. He replied just as seriously, “Okay, I won’t leave.”

Alvia stood on the deck as the damp, chilly wind continued blowing on the two of them, who were already soaked from falling into the water earlier.

He himself felt nothing, having trained on extremely cold planets before. And this was only a virtual world, no matter how cold, it wouldn’t affect his real body.

But looking at the shivering Zhou Zhou, Alvia noticed Zhou Zhou’s life bar slowly decreasing. Could the cold weather also cause the life bar to drop? Or was it because their clothes were soaked with seawater?

This was a ghost ship.

Alvia had realized it when he saw the ship’s silhouette emerge from the mist. But they had no choice but to land here, since there was nowhere else to go nearby. And their mission this time was likely taking place on this ghost ship.

He had originally planned not to enter the cabins until the next main mission was issued. But now it seemed they had no choice, Zhou Zhou’s life bar was slowly decreasing, and although Alvia couldn’t see his own, his life bar was undoubtedly decreasing too.

“Let’s go to the captain’s quarters first.” Alvia placed a hand on Zhou Zhou’s shoulder and guided him towards the first cabin on the right.

Zhou Zhou obediently followed the lead of the hand on his shoulder.

At the cabin door, Alvia went ahead of Zhou Zhou and opened it.

A whiff of warmth greeted them. Inside was neatly arranged and clean, without a trace of rot or age, it looked like someone had been living here not long ago.

After Alvia entered, Zhou Zhou poked his head in too, curiously looking around.

The interior environment was starkly different from the outside. The blackened, waterlogged hull; the decrepit deck; the tattered sails, everything suggested an ancient, long-abandoned ship. But the captain’s quarters looked brand new, with hardly any dust even on the table.

The inside and outside were like two different worlds. If not for the view from the window confirming their surroundings, one could mistake it for having entered another space entirely.

Alvia had many doubts in his mind, but now was not the time to ponder them. He turned to Zhou Zhou, who was standing by the table examining something, and asked, “Did you bring any clean clothes?”

Zhou Zhou blinked, then nodded. Last night at the store, he had bought plenty of clothes, which like the items, could be freely changed within the instance.

“You should change clothes first, otherwise your life bar will keep dropping,” Alvia noticed the life bar was still slowly decreasing after entering the cabin, just a bit slower than outside.

For an ordinary person, the rate of decrease would be imperceptible. But these two had exceptionally sharp observation skills, able to catch even the slightest changes.

It seemed the climate and clothes were both factors.

The cold climate led to body heat loss, while the seawater was radioactive. Wearing clothes soaked by that seawater essentially meant being corroded by it, naturally causing the life bar to drop.

In this instance, the players’ lives seemed extremely fragile, with any minor anomaly potentially leading to elimination.

Zhou Zhou let out an “Oh” and began stripping off his clothes.

He was only wearing a loose black hoodie on top, making it very easy to remove. Alvia was about to ask him to go change elsewhere when Zhou Zhou had already pulled it off, head still stuck inside.

Alvia immediately turned away, frowning as he stared out the window at the white mist, coldly stating, “Don’t change clothes in front of others.”

Zhou Zhou took out a white shirt and was now buttoning it up. Hearing Alvia’s words, he blankly asked why.

Alvia: “…It’s not very polite.”

As Zhou Zhou buttoned up, he wondered, it’s not like he was changing clothes in front of a girl, what was impolite about it? However, he didn’t understand societal norms, so hearing Alvia say that, he assumed that’s how it was done in the outside world and obediently responded.

When it was time to change pants, he went behind the partition by the bed to change.

Zhou Zhou had bought clothes of various styles this time. When he came out from behind, he was dressed in a black tailcoat suit with a white shirt and a bow tie, looking like a refined noble boy from the Middle Ages.

Hearing the movement behind him, Alvia turned around and caught sight of Zhou Zhou’s outfit, his eyes flashing with a hint of admiration. But then he felt puzzled, “Why are you wearing that?”

If he fell into water wearing this suit, his mobility would be greatly impaired.

“Doesn’t it look nice? I think it really matches the atmosphere of this ship,” said Zhou Zhou. As an NPC from a dating sim game, in addition to romance, he had great fashion sense. Players used to prepare many outfits for him back then, but after Love Academy was abandoned, those clothes slowly disappeared, leaving him with only his initial set.

He had forgotten to buy new clothes in Nightmare City until last night, when someone posted a video on the forum, reminding him to change outfits to avoid being recognized.

Alvia was speechless and could only go change clothes himself.

Zhou Zhou watched his back as he left, suddenly asking, “Need any help?”

Alvia’s clothes looked difficult to change out of, especially the inner layers, which were probably clinging to his body after being soaked in seawater and would be very troublesome to remove.

Alvia paused, then flatly said, “No need.”

Zhou Zhou didn’t insist after being refused. He walked over to the table, gazing indecisively at the ship’s log placed on it.

He had wanted to take a look earlier but thought it might not be proper to read it without permission.

However, it seemed there was no one else on board besides the two of them.

“Al, can I take a look at the ship’s log?” Zhou Zhou called out.

“Go ahead, we might as well see if there are any clues in there,” Alvia said while changing clothes. The ship’s log was crucial for every vessel, perhaps they could discover what this ship had been through, or why the interior was so starkly different from the exterior.

Though the log on the table was already half-filled, it seemed to have been in use until very recently and was well-preserved.

Zhou Zhou picked it up from the table and started reading from the first page. He couldn’t understand any of the navigation details, weather, or tidal information. But at the bottom of each page, there were short diary-like entries written by the logger.

Like what was eaten that day, seeing dolphins at sea, missing home, etc. – all very concise notes. Sometimes there was nothing much to write, so it would just say something like “the sunset was beautiful today.”

The smooth, clear blue writing captured little glimpses of life’s precious moments. Zhou Zhou read carefully, not skipping any content, even the data he couldn’t comprehend.

Alvia had also changed into a new outfit, except when he came out and Zhou Zhou lifted his head at the sound of footsteps, he saw Alvia was wearing an identical outfit to his previous one.

Did he buy multiples of the same style? Zhou Zhou stared at him in puzzlement, finding it strange why he would insist on changing into an identical set.

Alvia paid no mind to Zhou Zhou’s curious gaze, walking over to change the subject, “Did you find anything?”

Zhou Zhou shook his head, “Nothing.”

“What era is this ship from?”

Zhou Zhou blinked, “I don’t know.”

Alvia frowned at him, “The ship’s log should have dates on every page.”

Zhou Zhou thought for a moment, then flipped back through the earlier pages, scanning from top to bottom and left to right without missing a section.

“There are no dates.”

How could a ship’s log not have dates? Alvia took it from Zhou Zhou’s hands and flipped through the pages himself, indeed finding no dates marked anywhere.

Alvia gazed pensively at the log in his hands. This ghost ship was already quite bizarre, but now with not even the time being identifiable, he didn’t know if the dates had been intentionally removed or if there was an issue with the log itself.

“Thump ~ thump ~ thump ~”

A series of dull impacts resonated in their ears. Zhou Zhou immediately looked up, the low thumping sounds echoing through the entire cabin with no discernible source.

Alvia set down the log and said to Zhou Zhou, “Let’s go check it out.”

Opening the door, the cold wind rushed into the cabin. Zhou Zhou shrank back before following Alvia outside.

The thumping persisted, and Alvia quickly pinpointed the source after stepping out.

He walked slowly to the ship’s railing and leaned over to look down.

Zhou Zhou climbed onto the railing and looked down too.

Down below were Xue Li and Ke Li.

The two were submerged in the seawater, looking worse for wear. Ke Li was vigorously pounding on the hull below, trying to get the attention of anyone aboard. Since Zhou Zhou and Alvia had used flight talismans to reach the ship directly, while they had no such items and failed to find a way up after swimming around the edges for a while, this was their attempt to signal those on board.

Xue Li looked up and spotted Zhou Zhou and Alvia, immediately waving at them excitedly.

Alvia’s expression remained indifferent as he gazed impassively down at the two below.

Zhou Zhou gripped the railing with one hand while waving back at them with the other.

“Zhou Zhou, drop a rope down so we can climb aboard!” Xue Li called up.

Ke Li had also stopped pounding, craning his neck upwards with an expectant look.

Zhou Zhou just stood there, his exquisite features displaying only bewilderment and doubt. He suddenly turned to Alvia and asked, “Why don’t they have a life bar or countdown timer?”