Love NPC in Nightmare Game - Chapter 97

Chapter 97: The Real World 1

“Zeus, don’t you feel like something’s off?”

“Hm? Aren’t we out already? What’s the problem?”

Zhou Zhou looked up at Zeus, then down at himself. He was probably no more than one-tenth of Zeus’s height, so why was he so small?

Zeus looked at Zhou Zhou standing on the table with a perplexed expression and almost laughed himself to death.

To prevent Zhou Zhou from being discovered and due to Zeus’s mischievous nature, when taking Zhou Zhou out, he had deliberately shrunk Zhou Zhou down. That way, even if someone passed by, they wouldn’t notice his existence.

Their current location was an extremely remote palace belonging to the imperial family of the Interstellar Empire’s capital. Since the imperial family was scarce in numbers, many palaces were only kept tidy and clean for daily maintenance, and almost no one would come on ordinary days. Therefore, the chances of them encountering others here were extremely low.

Not long ago in the game world, Zeus had said he would take him to experience the real world. Then, a vortex appeared in front of them, and the two held hands and walked into the vortex. The next moment, they appeared here. If Zeus hadn’t said they had arrived in the real world, he might have thought they were still in the game.

Zhou Zhou was only puzzled for a moment before turning his attention to observe his surroundings, as this was the place he had longed to go, the world where Al, Xue Li, and the others lived. He had thought he would never be able to come here, but now he had suddenly come out so easily, and it felt completely unreal.

The magnificent palace was deathly silent. Little Zhou Zhou squatted down, touching the cool table surface. His gaze swept around, noticing the orange-red rays of light shining through the intricate latticed windows nearby.

He didn’t know what this palace was used for, but there was a long table against three of the walls, forming three connected rosewood tables that allowed Zhou Zhou to walk to other places along the tables. He stood up and followed the long table toward the window. The carved patterns in the latticed windows cast different shapes of red glow on the ground, forming a beautiful scene. Countless tiny particles of dust danced and swirled within the projected light.

Zhou Zhou reached out, trying to touch the light and dust. The next moment, his jade-like hand was also dyed orange-red, with a slight warmth.

As if summoned, Zhou Zhou turned his head toward the window, and the fiery clouds covering half the sky appeared before his eyes, intense and splendid.

This wasn’t the first time Zhou Zhou had seen the sunset. In the days and nights of the dating sim game, he would stare at the crimson sunset disappearing, the night falling, and then wait for the next day to come.

The scenery in the game never changed. The crimson sunset had a certain artificial precision and intentionality, but the sight before his eyes was completely different. This was a grandeur that the system could never simulate.

Free and brilliant.

Even though the holographic game looked exactly like the real world, whether in terms of scenery or tactile sensation, making it impossible to tell where one was, at this moment, Zhou Zhou truly realized he had arrived in a brand-new world, a real world that he could see and touch.

Unlike the anxiety and loneliness he felt when he first came to Nightmare City, Zhou Zhou now felt a sense of emotion welling up inside him. So this was the kind of scenery Al and the others saw every day.

Zhou Zhou gazed out the window in a daze, then placed his hand on his chest.

“Zhou Zhou, what’s wrong?” Zeus had long since grown accustomed to all of this, and these ordinary sights failed to arouse the slightest interest in him. He was currently lounging in a chair, swinging his legs back and forth.

Zhou Zhou snapped out of his reverie and happily pointed out the window. “Look at the fiery clouds outside. Aren’t they beautiful? When I saw them for the first time, I felt my heart beating a little faster and even felt moved.”

Zeus glanced at the ordinary sky outside. “…Wake up, Zhou Zhou. That’s an illusion. We’re data, we don’t have hearts.”

Zhou Zhou’s lips curved slightly. He knew that, but when he saw the sunset, he really did have the illusion of being touched deep inside.

Sitting by the window, he quietly watched the golden sun gradually set. Unlike the calmness in the game, as night fell, he suddenly felt a sense of anticipation, anticipating the arrival of tomorrow and the rising of the next sun.

When night fell, Zeus even took Zhou Zhou up to the roof. The entire palace looked brilliantly lit, as bright as day.

Although Alvia had shut down many unused palaces, the lights from other areas converged, forming a starry array of bright and gentle lights with many exquisite shapes, looking delightful and dazzling.

“Looks good, right?” Zeus said proudly, seeing Zhou Zhou’s unwavering gaze. “I knew you’d like it.”

Zhou Zhou did indeed like it very much, as who wouldn’t like beautiful things?

“Zeus, what is this place? Why is it so huge?” Zhou Zhou had never asked before what place they were in, but now, looking from the roof, he realized the palace complex was enormous. In the distance, he could see many high-rise buildings, so were these palaces someone’s home or a tourist attraction?

It was many times larger than the school in the Dating Sim Academy. It must cost a fortune to buy a house here.

Zeus was too busy showing off and was caught off guard by Zhou Zhou’s question. This was Alvia’s home, after all. If he told the truth, would Alvia lock him in a dark room afterward?

“This is… my friend’s house. Don’t worry, he’s not home right now.”

Zhou Zhou and Zeus were sitting on the roof, except that Zhou Zhou was now very small. A strong wind might have blown him away. Hearing what Zeus said, Zhou Zhou hesitated for a moment before continuing to ask, “Did you tell your friend that we were coming?”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone. No one will discover you’re here.”

Zhou Zhou frowned. Did this mean they had entered someone else’s home without the owner’s permission?

Zhou Zhou stood up. “Zeus, let’s go somewhere else.”

“Why? Don’t you like it here?”

“We came in without the owner’s consent, and that’s not right.”

Zeus had never considered this issue. After all, he could come and go freely in the palace and go wherever he wanted. Alvia wouldn’t stop him either.

“Don’t worry, he won’t mind.” If he knew it was you who wanted to come, he might even be very welcoming.

“Let’s still leave. Once my identity issue is resolved, we can ask the owner’s permission and come back next time.” Zhou Zhou straightened his body and looked up at Zeus, who seemed like a giant.

Zeus thought about it, then suddenly had an idea and said to Zhou Zhou, “Zhou Zhou, do you want to go check out other games?”

“Other games?” Zhou Zhou was taken aback. “You mean games like Nightmare City? Can I go to other games now too?”

“Of course. With me around, you can go to any game you want.” Zeus boasted.

Other games? As an NPC, the appeal of being able to visit other game worlds was considerable. Zhou Zhou immediately nodded.

“Then we should…”

“Zeus?”

Before he could finish speaking, someone suddenly called out Zeus’s name from below.

The two of them were startled and immediately looked down. Little Zhou Zhou quickly crouched down, afraid of being seen by the person below.

Zeus also immediately stepped forward, shielding Zhou Zhou, before looking down.

Down below the palace stood a tall, blond man squinting and looking up at Zeus on the roof.

It was actually Ryan. What was this guy doing here?

Zeus wasn’t afraid of even Alvia, let alone anyone else. He had clearly checked that no one would be here today, but as soon as he finished telling Zhou Zhou, he was proven wrong. Zeus asked irritably, “What are you doing here?”

Looking at Zeus’s arrogant stance on the roof, Ryan didn’t get angry but instead smiled and replied, “I’m out walking my food. But what are you doing standing on the roof?”

Zeus originally didn’t want to answer, but Ryan seemed rooted to the spot, standing there with no intention of leaving. Zeus had no choice but to reply, “Sightseeing.”

The originally bored Ryan, who was just teasing a child, opened his eyes wide in surprise. “You’re sightseeing? You actually go sightseeing? Or did you recently catch a virus?”

He was clearly insinuating that there was something wrong with Zeus’s brain, but if he thought Zeus couldn’t tell!

Zeus got angry. Facing Ryan, he was about to start a stream of beautiful language, but a sidelong glance at Zhou Zhou crouching there cautiously made him swallow the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

“I just want to go sightseeing. You’re in the way, blocking my view.”

Ryan: “…”

He looked at the huffing Zeus in amusement and shrugged. “Okay, I’m leaving.”

“Goodbye.” Zeus quickly waved goodbye to him, looking like he couldn’t wait for Ryan to leave immediately.

Ryan had originally wanted to say that His Majesty was also in the area, but seeing Zeus’s furrowed brow and cold expression, he closed his mouth again, giving Zeus a meaningful look before slowly walking away.

Zeus kept staring until Ryan’s back disappeared from sight. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Seriously, no one usually came to this place, but today Ryan seemed to have gotten some weird idea into his head.

“Zhou Zhou, it’s okay now. He’s gone.”

Zhou Zhou stood up and looked down, but the man he had heard speaking earlier was no longer visible. “Who was he? Is he the owner of this place?”

“No way, he’s just… a guard!” Although Ryan was the captain of the Royal Guard, apart from that, he also held other important positions and often went in and out of the palace, so Zeus frequently saw him.

Although in the past, Zeus hadn’t cared about anyone except Alvia, and now he had added Zhou Zhou, who even took precedence over Alvia. However, every time Ryan saw him, he would make some cheeky remark, and Zeus wasn’t one to take a loss, so over time, the two had become acquainted.

“Oh.” Zhou Zhou looked curiously in the direction the other person had disappeared. This was the first person he had encountered in this world, though it didn’t really count as the first since he had only heard the voice and hadn’t seen what the person looked like.

“Zhou Zhou, I’m sorry. Usually, no one comes here. I didn’t know why Ryan was wandering around nearby today. He almost discovered you.” Zeus felt a bit regretful. His information hadn’t been complete, and he hadn’t predicted such an unexpected situation.

“It’s okay. After all, I did enter someone else’s home without permission, so I should be the one apologizing. And you took such a big risk to let me out. I’m already very happy today.”

Zhou Zhou wanted to reach out and pat Zeus’s head like he usually did, but his arm twitched as he realized he was now much smaller than Zeus. Stretching out his hand, he could probably only reach Zeus’s feet.

Zhou Zhou: “…”

Zeus looked at the tiny Zhou Zhou and suddenly laughed. “But I did anticipate there might be unexpected situations, so I shrank you down. Ryan didn’t see you earlier.”

Seeing Zeus’s grinning expression after coming out, Zhou Zhou knew that being shrunk was perhaps intentional on Zeus’s part. However, Zhou Zhou also realized that although he had become smaller, it was indeed more convenient to hide.

“Alright, let’s go wander around in other games now. As for the real world, I’ll arrange it again next time and make sure there’s no one else around. Zhou Zhou, what game do you want to go to first?”

“Are there any other games?”

“There are many. There are farming games where each person has a small island in the holographic world, and you can develop your island. There are also battle games that military school students now use for combat and training in this holographic game. There are adventure games where you can explore and hunt for treasure in various places. There are monster-slaying games, dress-up games, dating sims, and so many more, too many to count.”

Zeus counted on his fingers. There were hundreds of millions of games in each category, and they could go to whichever they wanted.

Zhou Zhou was torn. He wanted to go to all of them—to the dating sim to see what the dating games were like in this world, as well as to the other games he had never heard of before.

Zeus: “Take your time deciding. We have plenty of time and can visit them one by one.”

That’s right, they didn’t have to go to just one place. Now Zhou Zhou could go anywhere. Thinking of this, Zhou Zhou immediately said, “I want to go to the dating games first and take a look.”

Zeus smiled. He knew Zhou Zhou’s first choice would be this, since he was an NPC in a dating sim and would definitely be interested in the dating games of the interstellar era.

“Sure, let’s go to the dating games first, and then to the battle games. That’s one of the most popular games among young people nowadays, and you’ll definitely like it too. After that, we’ll arrange the other games. Nightmare City still has something related to you, so tomorrow we’ll take care of that first before playing in the remaining games.”

Zeus arranged everything clearly, and when it came to playing, he was the best at it.

“Zhou Zhou, come stand here.” Zeus squatted down and held out his hand, letting the tiny Zhou Zhou stand on his palm.

“Zeus?”

Before Zhou Zhou could walk to the edge of Zeus’s hand, someone called out Zeus’s name from below again.

He didn’t know what was going on with this remote, rarely-visited palace today that kept attracting people to come running.

However, this voice succeeded in making the two of them freeze momentarily. In the next moment, Zeus hurriedly stood up, and Zhou Zhou quickly crouched down.

“What are you doing here?” Zeus was so flustered. Why was he having such bad luck today? First Ryan showed up, and now Alvia too. Did they have nothing better to do than wander around aimlessly?

Moreover, before bringing Zhou Zhou to the palace, he had clearly seen Alvia and Ryan dealing with state affairs. How had they finished so quickly? These two must have been slacking off!

Alvia looked up at Zeus standing on the roof. “You, why are you standing on the roof?”

“Sightseeing.” Zeus used the same excuse he had given Ryan.

“Hm? Sightseeing?” Alvia stared at Zeus and repeated his words in a light tone, but his calm demeanor made Zeus feel very guilty.

This was the expression Alvia had whenever he wanted to lock Zeus in a dark room.

In front of Zhou Zhou, Zeus couldn’t appear too cowardly, so he stubbornly countered, “Is that not allowed? I’ve just liked sightseeing these past few days.”

Alvia’s gaze slowly shifted down toward Zeus’s feet, where the eaves blocked his view of anything.

“I just heard you talking to someone else.”

This was a statement. Alvia seemed convinced that there was someone else here, and Zeus had lied to him. For an AI, or rather, the empire’s central intelligence, it might seem like a small matter for Zeus to lie to him, but it actually posed a great risk.

This was the first time since he had known Zeus that Zeus had lied to him.

“I wasn’t talking to anyone else. I was talking to myself. What about you? Why are you here instead of working?” Perhaps it was the presence of Zhou Zhou crouching near his feet that gave him courage. Although flustered, Zeus dared to question Alvia back.

“The population of the capital planet has been increasing, so starting from here eastward, the land will be taken from the palace and incorporated into the residential area. I came to survey the actual terrain.” Alvia calmly dropped a major piece of news.

Zeus’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re going to take land from the palace? Those old men won’t agree to that.”

“Their opinion isn’t needed. I’ve already issued the order. Construction will begin tomorrow. But you, what are you hiding? Who were you talking to earlier? Is there someone else here?”

Seeing Zeus silently blinking his eyes in an attempt to act cute and get away with it, Alvia wasn’t buying it. His brow furrowed slightly. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll come up there myself.”

Zeus: QAQ

This guy was getting harder and harder to fool. What should he do? Could they still make it back to the game world with Zhou Zhou now? The key was that he needed to make contact with Zhou Zhou, but now Zhou Zhou was a few steps away from him. Because Zeus had shrunk Zhou Zhou down, this distance might take Zhou Zhou a while to cover. Only Zeus could take the initiative to walk over there.

Zeus slowly inched toward Zhou Zhou, considering whether it would be faster to scoop up Zhou Zhou and run or for Alvia to come up. Before he could decide which was quicker, Alvia had already run out of patience.

“I’ll count to three. If you don’t tell the truth, I’m coming up.”

Three counts should be enough time for them to escape. After Alvia caught them later, Zeus would have already sent Zhou Zhou back to Nightmare City, and Alvia would just lock him in a dark room at most.

But why did Zhou Zhou keep moving toward the eaves? Zeus felt anxious but couldn’t open his mouth to stop him.

“Three, two…”

Alvia looked at Zeus, counting down slowly.

“One.”

Just before Alvia was about to come up, a tiny, small voice came from above the roof, a voice that Alvia was most familiar with.

“Al?”