Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Deep Sea Creature 6

“Al, do you, want to wear a hoodie too?” After hesitating for a while, Ke Li still spoke up. Although the couple’s outfit was just something Zhou Zhou said for fun, their group of four people was the only one Zhou Zhou didn’t give Al clothes. Would that make him feel left out?

Alvia didn’t say anything, his eyes devoid of any emotion as he looked towards Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou blinked: “Al, don’t you have any spare clothes?”

His words showed no intention of giving Al one, because in Zhou Zhou’s view, Xue Li and Ke Li had no clothes to change into, so he gave them some. But Al, like him, had other clothes to change into. Did he really only have that one spare outfit?

Alvia then turned his gaze away and put on a windbreaker for himself.

Xue Li saw that Al changed his clothes with great poise, but she didn’t know why. Just now he was laughing happily with Zhou Zhou, but now he couldn’t laugh anymore, feeling the atmosphere was weird. The four of them suddenly fell silent. Alvia turned to talk to Wu Yu and the other players, while Ke Li and Xue Li looked at each other, seeming unsure of what to say.

Zhou Zhou didn’t feel anything was wrong at all. It turned out Al had a lot of clothes. He took out another identical black windbreaker. How many of the same ones did he have? He clearly had clothes, yet he still wanted Zhou Zhou’s hoodie. Zhou Zhou was almost out of hoodies.

Zhou Zhou snorted twice and looked at Xue Li and Ke Li’s heads, asking about what happened after they separated from him.

The countdown on Xue Li and Ke Li’s heads had only half an hour left, and their HP was also only half remaining. When Zhou Zhou asked, Xue Li immediately poured out her grievances.

It turned out that after they appeared at sea, they swam for a while before finding a small boat. However, at first, the two of them didn’t realize that waterlogged clothes would also cause HP loss. They stayed on the boat for a long time before realizing their HP had dropped so much. Only after their clothes dried did their HP stop decreasing.

When they learned that Zhou Zhou and the others used items to fly over, their HP hadn’t decreased much at all. Xue Li was extremely envious and said she would also buy items next time.

“I don’t know if our decreased values will affect clearing the instance,” Xue Li worried.

Ke Li didn’t dare look at Alvia again. Hearing Xue Li’s words, he waved his hand nonchalantly: “Anyway, I’ve already bought revival items, what is there to worry about? And now we’ve regrouped with Zhou Zhou, what’s there to be afraid of?”

Xue Li nodded, that’s right. Even if they were really eliminated, they still had revival items.

Moreover… Xue Li looked around. Most of the players’ HP in the rest area had decreased by more than half, and some had even turned red. Theirs wasn’t that low in comparison.

Outside, the storm was still raging on. The ghost ship sailed on the boundless sea, swaying with the rising and falling waves while making creaking sounds of compressed wood, as if it could be overturned and destroyed by the waves at any moment, striking fear into people’s hearts.

In the middle of the crowd, Wu Yu remained quite calm, reassuring the players. Previously, everyone’s ships had been capsized by the waves, leaving only this one ship. Didn’t that mean the next mission needed to be completed on this ship? Gathering everyone onto one ship made it easier for them to work together and complete the mission faster.

Just a few sentences put the anxious players at ease. Although Kou Li beside him didn’t say anything, he went along with whatever Wu Yu decided, adding to Wu Yu’s persuasiveness in gaining everyone’s trust.

Zhou Zhou was also listening to Wu Yu speak over there. He seemed to think of something and turned to ask Xue Li in a low voice: “Did your mission panel release any other main quests?”

The two shook their heads in unison. Ever since they swam to that small boat, dealing with leaking, various strange occurrences, and then encountering the storm, their mission panels hadn’t released any information.

Zhou Zhou was a bit puzzled. In the crowd, Wu Yu was still speculating what kind of main quest would be issued. Could it be that only he and Al received the main quest?

He looked at Alvia again. Alvia shook his head at him, glancing at the sword tied to Zhou Zhou’s waist, indicating that he shouldn’t mention this.

Zhou Zhou obediently nodded, one hand grasping the sword hilt, carefully guarding the sword.

Night passed quickly. When day came, the dark clouds gradually dispersed, revealing a blue sky. The turbulent sea also returned to calmness.

The ghost ship weathered last night’s storm. Although it kept swaying with the waves, making muffled creaking sounds as if it would fall apart at any moment, it was still sailing normally until daybreak.

As the sky and sea regained peace, the players’ mission panels finally showed some activity.

【Main Quest: Find the most valuable item on this ship.】

When the other players read out their quests, Zhou Zhou and Alvia immediately exchanged a glance.

Xue Li and Ke Li’s mission panels also updated, but the content was different from everyone else’s when they opened them.

【Main Quest: Find the most valuable item on this ship. Completed.】

Xue Li: “……”

Ke Li: “……”

What did they do? When did they complete it? How did they complete it?

The two were utterly baffled, their expressions vastly different from the other players’ pensive or discussive looks.

Alvia guessed what had appeared on their mission panels. Although they were initially split into two groups, they were essentially one team. He and Zhou Zhou completed the quest, so Xue Li and the others also completed it.

The other players’ quests overlapped with theirs, but the item to be found was only one.

They completed the quest, only benefiting those on the same team. If the sword was taken by others, would the completed status remain? Or would it revert to incomplete? There was no way to know for sure.

Alvia didn’t want to use this sword to test people’s hearts because it simply couldn’t withstand such a test. Just Wu Yu and Kou Li alone, he didn’t need to guess what they might do.

Moreover, they found it first to begin with.

If the others discovered the sword on Zhou Zhou was what they needed to find, they probably wouldn’t resolve it amicably…

Alvia glanced down at the ornate, precious sword hanging from Zhou Zhou’s waist. The clothes he wore clashed starkly with this luxurious sword, so it would likely be noticed as abnormal soon. But Alvia only glanced at it and didn’t ask Zhou Zhou to take the sword off.

When Xue Li and Ke Li realized something was amiss and wanted to ask Zhou Zhou, Alvia calmly glanced at the two of them, immediately making them not dare to speak up.

The two were inwardly shocked. The usual Alvia was very low-key. Although they knew his skills were good and he exuded an aura that warned others to keep their distance, they had never felt such an overwhelming presence from him before. Could this guy be some important figure?

No matter how much they pondered, they couldn’t figure it out. After all, in a fully immersive game unrestricted by time and space, it was possible to encounter anyone. Al was probably some kind of nobleman.

However, they did understand Al’s intention. They hadn’t done anything for the quest, yet it was completed. This meant Zhou Zhou and Al had already completed the quest, and they were included as being in the same group by the system.

From the other players’ discussions, it seemed they needed to find some item. Since Zhou Zhou and the others had already found it, if they revealed it, other players would definitely come to contend for it.

Keeping a low profile was wiser. They weren’t newbies or simple hot-blooded youths. After working for a few years, they naturally understood this principle and immediately pretended not to know anything, discussing with Zhou Zhou where to search next.

Most players had already left the captain’s quarters, but Wu Yu and Kou Li didn’t leave. Instead, they headed straight towards Zhou Zhou’s group, smiling in a friendly manner.

“Zhou Zhou, do you want to search with us?” He seemed to think Zhou Zhou’s group had just received the same quest. But these two were among the earliest on the ship, so they might already know what needed to be found.

Zhou Zhou shook his head without hesitation: “No.”

“Then do you have any thoughts on the quest?” Wu Yu’s expression didn’t change at all. In fact, his smile deepened, as if he found Zhou Zhou’s answer childish.

“Ah? No thoughts.”

Wu Yu: “…Then do you know if there are any areas on the ship that are off-limits or particularly dangerous?”

Although he didn’t particularly like these two, Zhou Zhou still seriously pondered it. This ship didn’t seem to have any dangerous areas. Oh right, there was one.

“Don’t go to room 105, there’s no floor inside. When we went in, the floor had collapsed.”

Wu Yu immediately showed a grateful expression: “Thank you so much. Rest assured, if you say it’s dangerous, we definitely won’t go there.”

After that, he left with Kou Li by his side.

It was unknown if they had agreed to search separately. A few players remained in the captain’s quarters to begin their search from here.

Of all the players in the captain’s quarters, it seemed only Zhou Zhou’s group of four was idling and standing in the same spot.

“Zhou Zhou, where should we search?” Xue Li asked, blinking her eyes.

Zhou Zhou turned to look at Alvia, who glanced out the window: “Go to the wheelhouse.”

Before leaving, Alvia glanced at the table and noticed that of the three items they had previously left there, only two remained, the cigar and lighter were still there, but the handkerchief was gone, likely taken by a player.

The four of them went to the wheelhouse together. Xue Li, who had been holding back all this time, immediately asked Zhou Zhou how they had completed the quest when she saw no one else was around.

Upon hearing that Zhou Zhou had randomly picked up a sword from the ground and the quest was then completed, she couldn’t help but marvel at Zhou Zhou’s good luck.

“Didn’t you encounter any dangers?” Ke Li asked. Based on previous instances they’d cleared, the process of completing quests definitely had all sorts of troublesome situations waiting for them.

Zhou Zhou immediately said, “Yes, the floor suddenly collapsed. If Al hadn’t saved me, I would have fallen down.”

Xue Li: “Is that the room 105 you just mentioned? It does sound very dangerous. Was there anything else?”

Zhou Zhou shook his head: “Other areas weren’t dangerous, but I saw a lot of interesting things in the other rooms, various clothes, treasures, and even a steak.”

“A steak? There was a steak on the ship?” Xue Li looked puzzled. Since when did instances provide actual food? How humanizing was that?

Just as Zhou Zhou was about to tell Xue Li about that particularly fragrant-smelling steak, they heard screams from outside.

The four turned towards the sound and saw two players rushing out of the passenger cabins in panic. Behind them, a male player was chasing the two like a madman, mouth agape and drooling nonstop.

Before anyone could react, he pounced on one of the players in front. The player screamed and tried to fend him off with their arms, but the crazed male player bit down viciously on the other’s arm. The struggling player’s screams changed pitch.

The other players outside immediately went to pull the crazed player off, while some helped the bitten player up. But when they did, they noticed this player’s state seemed off too, mouth wide open and drooling from the corners, looking at the others supporting him.

Chaos ensued on the deck. Fortunately, some quick-thinking players used the deck’s rope ladders to tie up these two, preventing further victims.

“What’s going on? Zombies?” Xue Li stared out the window in shock. She turned to look at Zhou Zhou but saw he was also staring wide-eyed outside.

The players outside immediately asked the other unaffected player what had happened.

Still shaken, the player shouted loudly: “I told him to just do the quest properly. But no, he had to eat that steak because he was ‘hungry’. And then he turned into that after eating it.”

Xue Li: “……”

So the steak was a trap. She knew instances wouldn’t provide food out of kindness.

“Aaahhhhhh~” More screams came from the passenger cabins.

The players on deck immediately shouted: “What happened again?”

A player still in the corridor, not having entered the room, yelled back: “The floor in room 105 collapsed! Someone fell down! There were a bunch of broken swords below and two players died!”

Ke Li: “……”

Ke Li looked at Zhou Zhou, who gave him an innocent look in return.

“I said not to go to 105. Why did they insist on going in? Besides, when we left, the entire floor had already collapsed with nowhere to stand.”

To prove his words were true, Zhou Zhou turned to Alvia. Alvia didn’t seem concerned by the events outside and was simply gazing at the open sea ahead.

Only when he noticed Zhou Zhou’s gaze did he indifferently turn around: “Mm.”

Xue Li’s mouth twitched, suddenly recalling what Zhou Zhou had mentioned earlier about interesting treasures and clothes. Could those things also be problematic? She had a bad feeling about this.

Wu Yu could no longer smile. Lured by the aroma, they had entered room 106, only for the player who ate the steak to go crazy.

As for room 105 that Zhou Zhou had strongly warned against entering, Wu Yu thought it might contain something. But when they opened the door, the floor inside was intact with no sign of collapse. To prevent any accidents though, he persuaded two players to go in first.

Yet those two died.

Did Zhou Zhou truly mean to warn him out of goodwill? But what he said also didn’t match reality,  he clearly stated the floor had completely collapsed, but the room’s floor was only broken after they entered.

Watching the two players’ HP drop to zero, their bodies gradually turned transparent before disappearing on the spot.

Wu Yu coldly glanced at room 105, unfazed, and continued towards room 104.

Room 104 was normal. Although they found nothing there, nothing strange occurred either, putting the other players slightly at ease.

Room 103 contained various clothing items. Having learned his lesson, Wu Yu originally wanted to stop others from touching the clothes, but swallowed those words.

One player’s clothes were waterlogged from the rain, drying like they were bound to his body, very uncomfortable. He glanced at a female player who had entered with them, previously when players received clothes, they all went to the female players. He didn’t feel right asking for any, but with so many clothes here, changing into one shouldn’t be an issue, right?

Ignoring the others’ gazes, he stripped off his own clothes and found a high-collared knight outfit from the wardrobe to change into. After putting it on, he spent a while admiring himself in the room’s mirror.

It seemed fine. As Wu Yu searched the room, his peripheral vision kept drifting towards the player in the knight outfit.

The player nodded in satisfaction, about to continue searching for the quest item, when he suddenly froze in place, standing motionless.

“Are you okay?” a nearby player asked.

This player wore the knight outfit with a stern expression, eyes not even blinking.

The other player finally realized something was off and gently pushed him.

The knight outfit player maintained a comical pose as he was easily toppled over. As he fell, his body was stiff, retaining that pose before shattering into pieces on the ground.

He seemed to have turned into a fragile statue, the uneven fractures looking like they were made of plaster, only the outer surface retaining color.

The player who pushed the ‘statue’ screamed in horror, looking towards Wu Yu.

Wu Yu’s expression turned ugly, Zhou Zhou hadn’t warned him about any of this.

Cautioning the others not to touch the clothing here, they couldn’t find the quest item and had no choice but to continue forward.

Room 102 contained various instruments, knives and guns/rifles. Touching these would definitely cause something to happen. Seeing a player about to touch a gun on the table, Kou Li immediately warned him. The two always played good cop, bad cop. If nothing was happening, Kou Li’s persona was silent, but he could appropriately threaten disobedient players when needed.

They found nothing of value in room 102 either. The guns looked like ancient models from thousands of years ago, not worth much money. So they continued to the last room.

The warned player couldn’t help flipping off Wu Yu and Kou Li’s backs. These two really thought they were in charge. With a glance around, he took a gun from the table and pocketed it before leaving the room.

Behind him, a few other players noticed the first one took a gun and left normally, so they also quietly took guns and knives.

The boxes in room 101 weren’t locked, traces of Alvia’s forceful entry still present. The players opened the boxes to find them filled with gold coins.

“These must be what we’re supposed to find, right?” One player said excitedly, plunging his hands into the coin pile, feeling the cool hardness of the gold coins. Although he didn’t have this much money in reality, he could experience it in the game.

“Not necessarily.” After the lessons from the previous rooms, Wu Yu was hesitant, what if these were also traps?

He had the players open the other boxes too, instantly filling the entire room with the brilliance of various gems, jewelry, and gold and silver wares.

“Aren’t we supposed to find the most valuable thing? Isn’t this valuable enough? Let’s divide it up.”

A female player calmly checked her quest panel: “The system hasn’t indicated quest completion.”

While Wu Yu was still considering it, the other players swarmed in, some curious to examine the treasures, others thinking these were the required quest items and wanting to take more, filling their pockets and hands with coins and gems. Some even wanted to carry the boxes out.

The female player scornfully watched these people. These were just virtual instance items, not their actual possessions, so why get so excited? She backed away, coldly observing the players excitedly dividing the treasures.

Wu Yu was still hesitant, but seeing the others about to remove even the boxes, he couldn’t stay composed. Exchanging a look with Kou Li, relying on Kou Li’s imposing stature, he tried to make everyone put the items down. He would handle the division, and what if the items were insufficient for the quest requirements?

Room 101 was lively with players divvying up treasures. But the players who had already entered the storage room weren’t so lucky, they had just encountered a swarm of insects from the storage boxes, nearly scared to death.

They hadn’t even gone far when they discovered skeletons everywhere.

Silently reassuring themselves that these skeletons were fake, they continued searching.

Before they could find anything valuable, they saw those skeletons covered in cobwebs, dust, or moss suddenly start moving!