Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Nightmare City 13

Zeus knew that Zhou Zhou had bought a house in the game the previous day, but he didn’t expect to be invited by Zhou Zhou even earlier than Alvia.

Being led back home by Zhou Zhou, Zeus was delighted, but whenever Zhou Zhou looked over, Zeus would innocently blink his eyes, fully portraying the appearance of an innocent little kid who didn’t know anything.

Once they got home, Zhou Zhou first found some clothes for the little kid. He didn’t have any children’s clothes, so he could only let him wear some oversized clothes first and buy children’s clothes later.

“What’s your name?” Zhou Zhou asked as he wiped the kid’s hair.

Zeus blinked his eyes. His current appearance wasn’t known to many people, so he could safely show up anywhere, but his name was known to everyone in the empire. If he said it, Zhou Zhou would definitely become suspicious. “My name is Xiao Jing (Little Whale).”

After all, the persona he had created for himself before was that of a whale turning into a human, so calling himself Xiao Jing was appropriate.

Seeing his clueless look, Zhou Zhou was reminded of himself not long ago when he came out of the Love Academy instance, so he patted Zeus’s head. “Xiao Jing, you can stay here with me forever.”

Zeus didn’t expect that the lie he made up casually would hit Zhou Zhou’s soft spot, making Zhou Zhou think that Zeus was also an NPC who had just come out of an instance, knowing nothing after just coming out, wandering alone in the lake. That’s why Zhou Zhou brought him home.

“Really? I can really stay here forever?”

Zeus looked incredulous, but he was overjoyed inside. He had tried several times to get to know Zhou Zhou but missed his chance every time. This accidental avatar allowed him to achieve his goal in one step, not only was he brought home by Zhou Zhou, but he could also live with Zhou Zhou forever.

“Yes, you can stay forever.”

The little octopus wasn’t pleased with Zeus and waved its tentacles vigorously from Zhou Zhou’s shoulder, trying to drive the intruder away. But it was too small, and its waving tentacles just looked cute, posing no threat at all.

“You can play here for a while. I’ll go cook.” Zhou Zhou thought for a moment, then took the little octopus off his shoulder and put it in Zeus’s palm. “You two can play together first.”

It would be dark soon. After dinner, the little kids should be coming. Since they were around the same age, they could play together.

The holographic space of the Interstellar Era had become people’s second spiritual world. In the holographic space, one could not only cook and eat but also experiment with drugs, train physical reflexes, repair machinery, and so on. Any activities that were too expensive or had limited space and tools in reality could be done in the holographic world.

As an official holographic game, Nightmare City synchronized all senses and operations with reality. Many casual players had taken up long-term residence in Nightmare City precisely because of this. Whether cooking or other operations, the synchronization rate with reality could basically reach ninety percent.

Zhou Zhou didn’t want to go out to buy food. He had a home now, so he could cook at home and eat. Although he didn’t need to eat as an NPC, he still ate three meals a day according to the standard.

He bought a cookbook online, carried a bucket of water into the kitchen, and carefully flipped through the various fish dishes in the cookbook.

It was his first time cooking, and with the little octopus and Xiao Jing at home, he had to make sure they ate well. He had caught several fish today, which he could cook in different ways.

After flipping through the cookbook once, Zhou Zhou put it down, full of confidence as he looked at the bucket of fish. He had memorized the entire cookbook and learned how to cook.

Zeus stood in the living room, looking around Zhou Zhou’s home. Although he had known where Zhou Zhou’s house was and what it looked like inside, standing here now, everything felt just right to him.

The only unfriendly one was the little octopus he had put on the table. It had been waving its arms and legs threateningly when Zhou Zhou was around earlier, and now that Zhou Zhou had gone to the kitchen, it was actually calling out in Zhou Zhou’s voice, telling him to leave. Hmph, Zhou Zhou had said he could stay here forever, so he wouldn’t leave.

The little octopus felt that this person was very threatening, even more so than those dolls, so it waved its tentacles fiercely at Zeus, trying to drive him out of the house.

But instead of leaving, Zeus stuck out his tongue and made faces at it, making the pink little octopus so angry that it almost turned into a red little octopus.

“Pff pff pff!” The little octopus used its spit ink skill.

Zeus dodged nimbly, avoiding the red ink attack, and then mocked the little octopus.

The little octopus became twice as angry and spat at Zeus again.

No matter what, Zeus was the creator of Nightmare City. If he got hit by this little octopus’s ink in the holographic world, it would be hilarious.

He easily avoided all the ink while casually cleaning up the red ink the little octopus had spat all over the living room, which was just a wave of his hand for him.

As he dodged, Zeus also taunted the little octopus, finding it quite fun to see it fuming but unable to do anything.

Just as the little octopus realized it couldn’t drive him away and wanted to tattle to Zhou Zhou, thick black smoke suddenly billowed out from the kitchen.

The dense black smoke gushed out from every crack of the kitchen door. Zeus immediately lost interest in bullying the little octopus and ran towards the kitchen.

“Zhou Zhou! Zhou Zhou!” Zeus shouted as he ran. Zhou Zhou had gone to the kitchen to cook, so why was there a fire?

When he opened the kitchen door, he saw Zhou Zhou wearing a frilly apron, holding a spatula, and looking bewildered at the smoke-filled stove, with even a few black streaks on his face.

Zeus immediately turned off the fire, opened the kitchen ventilation, and then tapped a few spots on the wall. With a smooth set of operations, the kitchen was instantly renewed, and even the blackened unidentifiable objects in the pots were disposed of.

Zhou Zhou held the spatula and looked down at Zeus standing in front of him. “But I followed the cookbook. I don’t know why it turned out like this.”

Earlier, Zhou Zhou was still stunned by the sudden smoke from the pot catching fire, and he didn’t hear Zeus calling his name from outside. From the moment they met until now, he hadn’t told Zeus his name, yet Zeus called him so naturally.

After the disastrous kitchen accident, neither of them remembered this detail, so the matter of Zhou Zhou’s name was simultaneously overlooked by both of them.

Seeing Zhou Zhou’s dejected look, Zeus asked, “Was this your first time cooking?”

Zhou Zhou nodded. Back in the Love Academy instance, he had only heard others talk about cooking various dishes and snacks at home, but the school didn’t have the relevant equipment. Moreover, after coming out of the instance, he had always eaten at restaurants, sometimes forgetting that not eating didn’t really affect him.

Now that he had his own home with others living there, he wanted to eat proper meals every day, but he messed up the first time he tried cooking.

“Sorry, I don’t seem to have learned how to cook yet. Let me look at the cookbook again.” Zhou Zhou picked up the cookbook again, his focused look like he was studying some profound academic subject.

This time, he spent even longer looking at it than before. After he finished, his determination returned, and he solemnly told Zeus, who was still standing there, “I can do it this time.”

But when Zeus saw Zhou Zhou put the struggling, dripping wet fish into the oil pot, he knew Zhou Zhou still couldn’t do it.

With swift hands, Zeus grabbed Zhou Zhou’s sleeve and said, “Let me do it instead.”

The five or six-year-old boy stood on a stool, cooking seriously and properly, while Zhou Zhou felt embarrassed standing behind him, trying to help.

By the time the fish was done, all Zhou Zhou had done was plate the dishes.

Zeus had a much better aptitude for this than Zhou Zhou. Although he wasn’t very interested in eating, his brain stored all kinds of recipes, and he could cook with his eyes closed. Since Zhou Zhou liked to eat, he could make different dishes every day.

Zeus made several fish dishes, including steamed, braised, and sweet and sour, all fragrant and visually appealing. Just looking at the table was a treat.

Zhou Zhou sat at the dining table, gazing enviously at the dishes. “Xiao Jing, you’re so amazing.”

Zeus’s chubby face was full of pride. “That’s nothing. If you like eating, I’ll make it for you every day.”

Zhou Zhou tasted a bite and found the flavor remarkably similar to, or even better than, the restaurant he often went to, making him look at Zeus differently. “It’s better than what I’ve eaten before. You’re really amazing. Have you learned cooking before?”

The first part made Zeus even more proud since he had followed that restaurant’s recipes. But the latter part made him unable to maintain his smug little expression.

He had told Zhou Zhou that he was a merman from the Deep Sea Creature. How could a merman from the bottom of the sea know how to cook?

“Well, I used to like eating, so I learned to cook myself. I’ve learned a lot.”

Such a little kid learned to cook on his own?

Zhou Zhou: “Do you have family?”

Zeus shook his head. As an AI, how could he have family?

Zhou Zhou patted Zeus’s head again. “From now on, this will be your home.”

Zeus’s piercing black and white eyes were clear and pure as he nodded heavily. “Mm!”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “Then I’ll do the cooking from now on.”

Zhou Zhou smiled too, picturing the black lump in the pot from his own cooking attempt, and said to Zeus, “Then I’ll trouble you for the next few days. But I can’t let you do it all the time. Can you teach me?”

Zeus: “Sure, sure.”

The atmosphere between them was harmonious, except for the little octopus furiously eating fish on the dining table. Zhou Zhou, he’s a bad guy. Don’t be fooled by him.

After eating, Zhou Zhou went out to buy Zeus some clothes that fit him, leaving the little octopus behind so Zeus wouldn’t be bored.

As soon as Zhou Zhou left, the adorable and lovable Zeus immediately plopped onto the sofa, propping his head up with his hand and lazily telling the little octopus, “You heard it, right? I’ll be living here from now on. Zhou Zhou is number one, and I’m number two. You’ll have to listen to me.”

Suddenly remembering something, Zeus squinted at the little octopus with a smile. “The captain will be online tomorrow, so you can leave me and Zhou Zhou’s home then.”

The little octopus was about to be angered to death by Zeus and started spitting at him again.

Now that Zhou Zhou wasn’t home, Zeus didn’t need to pretend to be a good kid anymore. With a casual wave of his fingers, the ink in midair vanished.

“Blehblehbleh, can’t spit on me, can’t spit on me.” He was someone who could even talk back to Alvia, so why would he be afraid of a little octopus?

Little Octopus was almost driven to tears by him. This guy was even more annoying than the plush toys.

Just as the little octopus was thinking this, the row of dolls on the bedside also started moving. They had eaten their afternoon meal and had come to play at Zhou Zhou’s home again.

“Zhou Zhou, are you home?” Xiao Jin possessed the white rabbit doll and called out as he skillfully hopped off the bed.

The other kids also jumped off the bed and then walked out of the bedroom in their small doll bodies.

But when they came out, they met Zeus lounging on the sofa.

Zeus had known about the existence of these spirit tribes all along and knew that they came to find Zhou Zhou every day. Initially, he had wanted to use that little bear doll to get to know Zhou Zhou, but they had beaten him to it.

Thinking of this, Zeus glared at those little dolls, his gaze gradually turning hostile. Moreover, he remembered that rabbit. The spirit kid was called Xiao Jin, which sounded similar to his current name.

The little dolls hadn’t expected there to be someone else at Zhou Zhou’s home, especially a kid who looked about the same age as them. Was it too late to pretend they were really just dolls?

Knowing they couldn’t be seen by others, the little dolls fell to the ground, pretending to be movable dolls.

Zeus: “…Don’t pretend. I know you guys pester Zhou Zhou every day.”

His tone was sour.