Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Love Academy

On the golden bow and arrow in the statue’s hand, if you look from the front, you see a solid, complete heart-shaped arrowhead. But if you look from behind the statue, the heart-shaped arrowhead is recessed inward.

So in addition to the three heart-shaped gems on the stone pedestal, there should be one more to be inlaid in the heart-shaped arrowhead to make it complete.

Zhou Zhou had always looked at the statue from the front, and the position of the bow and arrow was very high, so he never paid much attention to these details, never expecting that this part was actually a recessed hollow shell.

The three of them discussed for a long time in front of the sculpture. The clues provided by the task panel earlier had no trace of the last gem.

“I can’t think of where the last one is,” Zhou Zhou said with downcast eyes, feeling a bit guilty.

Xue Li patted his shoulder and comforted him, “If it weren’t for you, we would have become ghosts long ago. And you found all the clues before, and discovered the exit too. Now just leave it to us.”

Ke Li: “Yeah, we still have a day and a half left, no rush.”

After reviewing everything again, they still had no clues. The few of them wondered if the last gem might be in the dormitory building, library, or forest, but they just hadn’t discovered it before.

“It would be a waste of time for all of us to look through those places together. Why don’t we go to one place each? That way it will be faster,” Ke Li suggested at last.

They clearly knew where the exit was, just one step away from success, but they had no leads at all, so they could only choose this approach in the end.

However, it was deep at night now, and they only had one flashlight. Two of them would inevitably have to go in the dark, and once there, their vision would be obstructed. Not only would it be inconvenient to move around, but they also wouldn’t be able to see things clearly.

Plus there were the monsters in the dormitory building, the abnormalities in the library, and the ghosts that could appear at any time in the forest, each place was troublesome.

So in the end, they decided to wait until daylight before taking action. At least during the day they could see clearly. If the heart gem was hidden somewhere, it would be easier to find during the day than at night.

Ever since entering the game, they had been busy and anxious without any time to relax. This waiting period until dawn was a chance to rest a bit.

Ke Li and Xue Li sat on the lakeside bench, waiting for dawn.

The bench was designed for two people, so it couldn’t fit Zhou Zhou and that whole group of ghosts, so he dragged the ghosts around the lakeshore.

The ghosts would float to this side for a bit, then under Zhou Zhou’s pulling, float toward that side, looking quite fun.

Ke Li relaxed his body leaning against the bench, listening to the horrifying sounds like background music, feeling like he had really grown up to be able to relax in such an environment.

Xue Li kept turning her head to watch what Zhou Zhou was doing. The flashlight was tied to his wrist, so by using the ghosts he could increase the brightness, making his every move very clear to see.

“Zhou Zhou is really interesting,” Xue Li said, her smile growing bigger as she watched him playing with the ghosts like a kid pulling ghost balloons, thoroughly enjoying himself.

“Yeah, he’s really quite capable,” Ke Li admitted with self-awareness that they had made it this far all thanks to Zhou Zhou.

After responding with that one line, it was a while before Ke Li reacted, putting down the arm that had been resting on the bench backrest and sitting up straight, looking at Xue Li warily, “You, what does that mean?”

Could it be that she’s taken a liking to that kid?

Xue Li gave her brother a disdainful look. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Hey, don’t tell me you have a thing for him.”

“Oh come on, you’re so boring.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“Nothing, I’m just saying if I did have a thing for him, what would you do about it? Zhou Zhou is good-looking, smart, caring and comforting. What a great boyfriend candidate.”

Ke Li couldn’t argue, because she hadn’t said a single thing wrong.

Even though he often complained about Xue Li and the two of them frequently bickered and fought, the thought of Zhou Zhou stealing away his sister still didn’t sit right.

After grumbling for a while, he finally retorted, “He doesn’t even look like an adult. You’re already so old, don’t ruin the future flowers of the nation.”

Xue Li: Smile gradually disappearing.

“Are you saying I’m old?”

“I didn’t say that, I just said he’s not an adult yet.”

“You’re calling me old?!”

“I really didn’t!”

Zhou Zhou swayed the ghosts around, having already decided where to put them in the dormitory. Two by the bedside and bed positions each, then two more by the window and door, with the rest put in the cabinet. That way, every day when he went out, he could bring some with him in rotation.

He had even started thinking about what names to give these ghosts.

Hearing the argument by the lake, he was a bit puzzled, hadn’t they just been fine? How did they suddenly start fighting?

He walked towards the bench, intending to go mediate them. Dawn was about to break, and they needed to start looking for that gem.

As soon as he arrived and stood there, the color of the sky began to change, and his vision gradually became clear. The lake surface in front of them, which had been pitch black like an abyss before, revealed its original appearance under the sunlight’s illumination.

The emerald green lake surface was serene and gentle, exactly the same scenery Zhou Zhou saw every day before.

This place hadn’t changed, which made Zhou Zhou very happy. All the other places on campus had transformed overnight, leaving him a bit uneasy.

Seeing this familiar sight now, his heart settled a bit.

The sunlight shone on the lake’s surface, as if a layer of tiny shattered diamonds had been sprinkled over the tranquil waters. The sunlight extended all the way to the group, causing even the two who had been about to fight to stop, gazing at the lake in awe.

Zhou Zhou squinted his eyes a bit. He still preferred daytime, the warmth of the sunlight shining on his body gave a feeling of warmth.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Countless piercing screams suddenly rang out by his ears.

Zhou Zhou couldn’t help but look up, only to find that the ghosts being illuminated by the sunlight were emitting wisps of white smoke, as if being burned and melting smaller and smaller.

The ghosts who had previously only cried out in painful death wails were now all shrieking horribly.

Zhou Zhou ran in panic toward the areas without sunlight, but he was too far from any buildings here.

In the game’s time flow, the sun rose at an extremely rapid speed. In the blink of an eye, the entire campus was filled with sunlight.

He had nowhere to hide.

He watched helplessly as the ghosts shrieked and shrank from being burned, until his two hands held nothing at all.

In the instant the ghosts completely dispersed, something suddenly dropped from the midair where they had been.

Zhou Zhou was still staring blankly at his hands, clenching and unclenching his palms that held only air.

Xue Li and Ke Li, who had run over, were also very surprised, so the ghosts were afraid of sunlight.

“Look at what this is!” Ke Li bent down and picked up a white heart-shaped gem from the ground.

Xue Li hurried over to look and saw it really was a heart-shaped gem, getting very excited too.

“It seems the last clue would be automatically delivered,” she said. The ghosts had surrounded them in the forest on a large scale. If the players weren’t afraid or didn’t bother with the ghosts until dawn, they would discover the ghosts turned into gems.

There might even be a quantity requirement involved, but that didn’t matter now. They had found the last gem and could clear the level.

“Zhou Zhou, Zhou Zhou?” Xue Li called out excitedly.

Zhou Zhou was still looking at his hands. Xue Li had to call a few more times before he looked over at her.

“What’s wrong?” At this point, his face was completely calm, showing no emotion at all.

“Look, we can clear the level now,” Xue Li said, showing him the gem. “Did you already know? Is that why you caught so many ghosts?”

“I…didn’t know. But it’s great that we can clear it,” Zhou Zhou smiled.

Ke Li climbed onto the sculpture and placed the last gem into the recessed heart-shaped arrowhead. As soon as he put it in, the stone pedestal below began twisting and deforming, eventually turning into a gray swirling vortex.

[Player has found the exit. Please escape the campus quickly.]

The task panel finally showed some activity again. Xue Li and Ke Li were extremely excited, never expecting they would succeed so quickly. They must be among the first batch of players to clear the level.

Zhou Zhou watched the two of them standing in front of the vortex, excitedly discussing how many points they could get.

He should probably say goodbye, Zhou Zhou thought. After this, he might never see Ke Li and Xue Li again. But he had been happy being with them.

He would be fine on his own. There would probably be other people coming here later, right?

“Zhou Zhou, let’s go. The clear time might affect our score, so let’s get out of here quickly,” Xue Li said, already prepared to step into the vortex. Looking back, she saw Zhou Zhou standing there with his head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Zhou Zhou shook his head. He wasn’t like them. He had been here ever since he could remember, he was going to stay here forever.

Ke Li was getting impatient. They were about to clear the level; what was this kid dawdling for? He reached out a hand. “Come on, let’s go. We can talk more after we get out.”

Xue Li also extended her hand. “Yeah, I said before I would treat you to a meal, didn’t I? After the score settles and I have money, let’s go eat.”

Zhou Zhou looked at the two outstretched hands, biting his lip tightly as an indescribable surge of emotion welled up inside him.

He took a step forward and grasped their hands.

“Okay.”