Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Deep Sea Creature 11

This player would have been eliminated long ago if not for having an item, so he has always been resentful towards Kou Li. If he had been killed by skeletons during the instance, he would accept it as his own misfortune. But being forcibly captured by other players as a shield and eliminated, that was very frustrating.

He dragged these people out of the wheelhouse, found some ropes, and bound Wu Yu and Kou Li separately. There were not many other things on the ship, but there were plenty of ropes.

Although he said he would throw all these ten-odd people down, in the end, he untied the others and let them go down themselves. After all, the players could all swim, so they wouldn’t die in the sea for a while, and it would just depend on their luck whether they could find other ships or islands before their health ran out and the countdown ended.

But Wu Yu and Kou Li were different. That player rubbed his fists and palms, giving the two a “kind” smile.

The two were tied up like furry caterpillars, with only their feet able to move a little. The player seemed quite strong, grabbing the rope around Kou Li’s body and lifting him up. Seeing Kou Li’s resentful gaze, he smiled and said, “Don’t worry, your feet can still move, so you can swim a little longer after going down. My name is Lan Te, if you want revenge, you can come find me. I’ll be happy to send you another ride.”

After saying that, he threw Kou Li down, and Kou Li, with his upper body bound, fell into the water in a parabolic arc, splashing up countless droplets.

Wu Yu panicked too, using all sorts of reasoning in an attempt to survive or at least get the ropes untied, but the player didn’t react to any of his words. As before, he threw Wu Yu down as well.

The splash was even bigger this time. Lan Te nodded in satisfaction.

Finally, the ship was quiet, except for the passengers putting on their little dramas. The remaining players all had decent personalities and were open-minded about whether they could pass the instance, so they got along very harmoniously.

“What do we do now?” one player asked. Currently, the mission items were attached to the ship’s captain, and they couldn’t access them at all. Their main quest was basically a failure, and they had no clue about the exit for passing either, so they didn’t know what they were supposed to do next.

Many people looked towards Zhou Zhou, since he had initiated many of the previous actions, so they prepared to listen to what he thought they should do next.

Being looked at with such expectant eyes, Zhou Zhou blinked and said, “Wait.”

Player: …Wait for what?

Alvia guessed Zhou Zhou’s idea and suddenly spoke up to explain, “The plot points for this instance are all triggered or opened after a certain time, so next we just need to wait. Wait for the system to issue more quests or reach other scene points.”

Since they could no longer continue the main quest, the instance wouldn’t let them take it so easy, and might continue to issue quests. Furthermore, the captain who had turned from a skeleton to a human form was rapidly traveling in the same direction, so plot points might also be triggered during the journey, so they just needed to wait for now.

There were passengers in the cabin now, and no one dared go in anymore. Having just had a group of players killed was enough to make them wary, so it was better to just stay obediently on the deck for now.

It was a sunny day today, with very comfortable sunlight and temperature. Their health and countdown hadn’t changed, so they sunbathed on the deck while chatting idly.

The pace of this instance wasn’t fast, and it was the first time they had been so relaxed in an instance. Some players even brought playing cards, and a group of them played cards on the ship.

Zhou Zhou didn’t know how to play cards, so he went to talk to the female player who had been helping him, since he still didn’t know her name.

“Hello, thank you for earlier in the wheelhouse,” Zhou Zhou greeted her as he approached. The female player also wasn’t interested in playing cards and was standing on the deck looking at the view of the sea.

The female player smiled at him, her eyes sweeping over him. “My name is Doreen. Thank you last night for letting us onto the ship too.”

Xue Li had been intending to chat with Zhou Zhou out of boredom when she heard the female player introduce herself as Doreen. She paused, her eyes immediately lighting up.

“You’re Doreen, that Doreen?” Xue Li hurried over with a few small steps, asking excitedly.

Zhou Zhou was confused. Which Doreen? Was this female player famous or something?

Doreen smiled and nodded at the bouncing Xue Li.

Xue Li was flushed with excitement as she looked at Doreen’s auburn hair and beautiful features, stuttering, “But, but your appearance…”

“It’s from an item that can adjust facial features and change hairstyles.”

She was the real person! Xue Li’s blood rushed, her cheeks flushing red and her heart beating rapidly. She tentatively extended her hand, “Can I shake your hand?”

“Of course. Also, could I ask you to keep my identity a secret?” Doreen’s attitude towards Xue Li was also very warm and friendly, completely different from her bold manner when fighting earlier.

Xue Li nodded vigorously, and after shaking Doreen’s hand, seeing that Doreen and Zhou Zhou still had things to discuss, she left with great satisfaction. The first thing she wanted to do was show off to Ke Li, but since she had promised to keep it a secret, she could only walk back slowly, occasionally sending Ke Li a meaningful smile.

Ke Li: “…?”

What was going on? Why was she kept smiling at him like that?

When Xue Li reacted so strongly, Zhou Zhou realized that Doreen might be a very famous person in the outside world, but he had no idea who she was, so he could only pretend to be calm and wait for her to speak first.

However, Doreen didn’t say anything more about her identity. She only hoped that after leaving the instance, she and Zhou Zhou could add each other as friends and play instances together sometime.

Zhou Zhou immediately agreed. Although he didn’t know what Doreen’s background was, her personality was very good, and he liked this kind of girl a lot.

The two chatted casually, and Doreen also had a good impression of Zhou Zhou. He was outstanding in both looks and intelligence, and he was also very considerate and respectful towards women, making him very comfortable to interact with. She was usually quite busy, so she didn’t have much time to play games. But in any case, she still hoped that when she did play games, there wouldn’t be too many unpleasant or burdensome people around.

Alvia’s position wasn’t too far from the two, and with his good hearing, he heard their entire conversation. Indeed, his guess was correct, Doreen had actually entered the same instance as them, and she seemed to take a special interest in Zhou Zhou.

He looked on with a calm gaze as the two chatted idly. When the topic turned to clothing, Zhou Zhou laughed happily, and Doreen had a smile on her face too. They were both extremely good-looking, one beautifully alluring, the other with exquisite features. With the azure sea as the backdrop, they looked perfectly matched. The other players kept glancing over, since these two made for a delightful sight together.

Alvia’s brows furrowed slightly. What was considered a pleasing scene to others was actually quite an eyesore to him.

“Zhou Zhou.”

Zhou Zhou, who had been chatting, immediately turned his head, giving Alvia a questioning look.

“The captain is going back to rest. Let’s go take a look.”

Look at what? Zhou Zhou didn’t understand the reason, but Alvia had already started walking, so he could only hurriedly apologize to Doreen and then run after Alvia.

Doreen smiled as she watched their retreating figures. Alvia slowed his pace to let Zhou Zhou catch up, then they swiftly entered the cabin together. Her gaze kept shifting between Zhou Zhou and Alvia, and although she hadn’t guessed Alvia’s identity yet, these two were certainly both very interesting individuals.

“Al, what are we looking at?” Zhou Zhou had no suspicions about Alvia’s intentions, glancing around after entering the cabin. He noticed that the captain was actually about to write a ship’s log, so he immediately went to stand behind him and peer over his shoulder.

“The handkerchief on the table is gone,” Alvia said, having already noticed this point earlier but only mentioning it now.

Zhou Zhou had also seen it this morning. With so many people in the cabin last night, he had assumed one of the players had taken the handkerchief.

The two stood behind the captain, watching him write the ship’s log. But they soon noticed an issue after he had only written a few lines.

The first line the captain wrote was the date, and his handwriting was different from the ship’s log they had seen earlier.

The format of that ship’s log was exactly the same as what the captain was writing now, but it didn’t have a date, and the handwriting was also different. Could it be that the previous log was written by someone else?

Zhou Zhou’s gaze swept across the table, even looking through the captain’s body to search for the ship’s log he had read before. He had left it here after reading it, so why was it gone now?

There was nothing in the drawers, and on the table, there was only the log the captain was currently writing, a lighter, and some cigars. Zhou Zhou realized that these three items on the table now could only be seen, not touched.

After finishing the log entry, the captain lit up a cigar and smoked it leisurely. Zhou Zhou and Alvia discussed things while standing behind him.

The positions of the cigar and lighter hadn’t changed, but they couldn’t be touched now. So perhaps the same principle applied to the handkerchief, whether it had been taken by someone or not, it should also be untouchable now.

And the ship’s log they had seen was clearly not written by the captain. Although it wasn’t clear which log came first, there was definitely someone else who had left a log without a date here. As for why they couldn’t find it now, it was possible that with the captain’s official log present, the two logs couldn’t coexist simultaneously. Or perhaps that log had simply been taken away by someone.

These questions weren’t clear for now, and they could only continue observing to see if more clues would appear.

After finishing his smoke, the captain returned to his bed, seeming to prepare for an afternoon nap. Zhou Zhou and Alvia then left the cabin.

Outside, there was a noisy commotion as a group of idle players on the deck had gathered at the stern, seemingly discussing something.

“What’s going on?” Zhou Zhou immediately went over curiously, he loved watching exciting scenes.

Two players in the center seemed to be arguing, with one speaking up and the other saying there was an issue.

Upon noticing Zhou Zhou approaching, one of the players immediately said, “There’s a player on the sea surface who wants to board the ship, and this guy actually wants to sneak him on board.”

Zhou Zhou looked at them doubtfully, “But didn’t we just make them disembark? And didn’t we agree not to let them on this ship?”

The other player hurriedly explained, “No, no, it’s not that group. It’s my friend, he was on this ship earlier but got thrown off by the skeleton captain. I thought he had been eliminated, but he’s actually still alive. He didn’t do anything wrong and isn’t with Wu Yu’s group either, so just let him on board.”

Zhou Zhou peered down and indeed, there was a man trailing behind the ship, shouting for help with his health and countdown timers displayed. Zhou Zhou had an excellent memory, recalling that this person had come aboard last night and was also an innocent player thrown overboard by the skeleton.

“No, he has an issue,” Zhou Zhou rejected the idea without hesitation after observing the situation.

The player who had initially opposed letting him on immediately agreed, “You don’t know, earlier on the small boat, there were also familiar players who wanted to board, but after we let them on, they turned into ghosts. There were quite a few of us on that boat, and we almost got team-wiped.”

“I’ve encountered that too, but those players who became ghosts didn’t have health bars above their heads, you all saw it. But my friend clearly has them.”

The others also looked towards the man in the sea, who was swimming hard to keep up with the ship while the two values were indeed displayed above his head.

“Zhou Zhou, why do you say he has an issue?” Xue Li asked, as she also couldn’t see any issues with the player in the sea.

“Because his values haven’t changed,” Zhou Zhou blinked, his amber eyes appearing pale under the sunlight, his slightly tilted head giving him an innocent and pure look.

“Not changed? But his health is only half left!” How could that be considered not changing? Many players still didn’t understand.

Zhou Zhou sighed, frowning with his lips pursed in a pouty look like a pufferfish. How could everyone not notice when it was so obvious?

He pointed at the player on the sea surface, “This morning, his values were already half, and after soaking in the sea for so long, there’s been no change at all. That’s definitely an issue. The quest panel also said the seawater is radioactive and staying in for an hour will lead to elimination. But it’s been far longer than an hour since the skeletons went berserk. Doesn’t that indicate a problem? And some of the players who were thrown overboard managed to get back on board themselves, right?”

Zhou Zhou said all that in one breath, his gaze fixing on a few people in the crowd, who immediately laughed awkwardly.

It turned out that when the skeletons had charged onto the deck, besides the player who ran up the mast, there were a few smart players who immediately dropped rope ladders and then clung motionless to them. They only climbed back up after the skeletons had calmed down.

“Although I didn’t see your friend, he should have been eliminated. There were several players who didn’t surface in the sea after being thrown overboard by the skeletons. At least, I didn’t see them,” one of the players who had clung to the rope ladder for a long time said.

The man below was still shouting to be let on board. Zhou Zhou stared at him for a while, recalling the previous “Xue Li” and “Ke Li” encounters. He realized that these ghosts could not only take on the appearances of players but also seemed unable to directly board the ship, instead needing the players’ permission first.

The player looked disappointed. He had a good relationship with his friend and had regained hope upon hearing his name called earlier, but those hopes were now dashed.

“What if, what if he has some item protecting him?” the player said unconvincingly, clearly still not giving up hope.

Zhou Zhou looked at him and suddenly said, “Then why don’t you try it? Try calling out to him to come on board.”

What use was just calling out? If they really wanted to let him on board, shouldn’t they drop a rope ladder? The player was puzzled but still followed Zhou Zhou’s request, standing at the edge and calling out his friend’s name, telling him to come aboard.

The “player” who had just been swimming vigorously suddenly stopped, giving the people on the ship an eerie smile before floating up into the air, revealing the ghostly jiojio that had been hidden beneath the sea’s surface.

Who could have expected this ghost’s speed to be so fast that it didn’t even need a rope ladder, immediately flying towards the crowd on board at just those words of invitation?

Most of the players still standing there had experienced several instances before, so their first reaction upon facing a game-spawned ghost was to run first and ask questions later.

The ghost’s health bar disappeared, its previously normal skin tone turned pale, and an eerie smile hung on its lips as it stretched out its hands towards the people on the ship.

Then, this ghost stopped midair, unable to advance further.

Among the players, Doreen and Alvia hadn’t run, as a single ghost wasn’t enough to faze them. Xue Li and Ke Li also hadn’t run, with Ke Li even leisurely yawning, they had already guessed the outcome.

Zhou Zhou hadn’t run either, because he had grabbed the ghost’s jiojio.

Skillfully holding onto the ghost’s jiojio, Zhou Zhou dragged it back, bundling the ghost into a ball and continuing to knead it like a lump of playdough.

The player who had been so reluctant to give up earlier now looked on with a complicated expression as his friend-turned-ghost was played with. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to complain or ask Zhou Zhou to stop.

Noticing his gaze, Zhou Zhou offered the bundled-up ghost to him, “Do you want it?”

The player immediately backed away, “No, no.”

Although it had his friend’s face, they were actually unrelated. He had also been eliminated and turned into a ghost in instances before, after which ghosts could continue watching through a god’s eye view as others cleared the instance. So his friend was probably witnessing this scene right now.

He suddenly felt quite sorry for his friend, but the situation also seemed rather comical. The player struggled not to laugh out loud, or else he would definitely get beaten up by his friend after leaving the instance. Since Nightmare City currently couldn’t be live-streamed, he really wished he could record this segment, he wondered if his friend would share the relevant video with him.

Afterwards, a few more ghosts tried to board the ship by taking on the appearances of players, but the players had realized that Zhou Zhou was an expert at dealing with ghosts. These ghosts’ skills were more convenient underwater, mainly dragging surface players down to the depths, while on the ship they would try to push players overboard. Their only additional skill was transformation, and compared to the ghosts Zhou Zhou had encountered before, they were a relatively simple type.

The ghost ship continued moving across the sea’s surface with no new quests issued or abnormal events occurring. Zhou Zhou simply gathered all these ghosts on board and played with them himself.

Unfortunately, it was daytime, so although the ghosts could appear, each one would turn into foam and disappear after half an hour. Eventually, Zhou Zhou was left with no ghosts to play with.

He stood on the deck, continuing to wait for more ghosts to show up, but none appeared after that, perhaps they had learned there was a ghost hunter on board.

The dejected Zhou Zhou could only go chat with the others. As he approached the area under the mast, he suddenly heard some movement from above.

The broken sail on the mast had already been lowered by the sailors and was now billowing in the sea breeze. On the tattered white cloth, riddled with cracks and holes, there was a conspicuous small patch of pure white.

Others might have assumed it was just part of the sail, but Zhou Zhou saw that small white patch move before slowly inching towards the very top of the mast.

What was that?

Squinting his eyes upwards, with his excellent vision he noticed a hint of pink along the white edge. He immediately thought of the handkerchief that had disappeared from the cabin, which had a pink embroidered pattern on it.

Without hesitation, Zhou Zhou rolled up his sleeves and started climbing up the mast.