What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C8.2

Hey, first of all, thanks for reading my lousy Machine Translation. To be honest, I’d really like it if you guys corrected the mistakes I made. But please speak nicely and politely. My heart is not strong enough to read your too-harsh comments. Have a nice day. 🙂

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Chp8. part2

Sure enough.

His reaction was the same as his brother’s.

As soon as Ning Ge removed her bracelet, she immediately reverted to her NPC identity. He didn’t recognise her at all, thinking she was just an NPC, not the player he had met a few minutes ago.

Ning Ge turned and closed the door.

“I’m from the Nianxin Inn across the street,” Ning Ge said. “The innkeeper, Ning Juan, is my brother. He’s tall and wears glasses. You know him, right?”

Judging from his expression, the bald man clearly didn’t know.

However, the street was only so long, and he was familiar with all the signs, they were all from the neighbourhood. The bald man smiled. “Yes, yes, the inn across the street. Is there something you need?”

“Well, our inn often gets asked by guests if there are any fun places nearby. My brother especially loves your theatre’s plays and always recommends you to guests. He even said you’re starting a new show soon.” Ning Ge said.

This wasn’t entirely a lie.

Being praised was certainly pleasing, and the bald man smiled broadly. “Yes, our new play is really good, called ‘Sculpting the Heart,’ and we even specially invited a famous theater troupe to perform it.”

Ning Ge silently thought to herself, “They probably just picked up a ‘theater troupe’ from the doorway and only looked at the script for ten minutes.”

Ning Ge continued, “So my brother asked me to come and ask if you have any brochures or flyers for the new play. We’d like to take a copy back and put it at the front desk so we can easily introduce it to customers.”

“Yes, yes.”

The bald man stood up, rummaged through the shelf behind him, and pulled out a stack of brightly colored flyers.

He placed the flyers on the table, looked through them, and said, “Huh, all the old ones are here, but where are the new ones?” Then he slapped his forehead, “Look at my brain, the flyers for the new play aren’t even printed yet.” 

Ning Ge: “…”

Ning Ge: “Why don’t you just tell me what the story of the new drama is?”

“Of course, no problem,” said the bald man. “I wrote the promotional flyer, I’ll write another one for you.” “That would be even better.”

The bald man pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something down.

Ning Ge leaned over to read it.

It really was a typical “wife-chasing-after-the-crematorium” story.

The protagonist is a girl named Shi Yinnian. One day, she suddenly discovers that her husband—the male lead Wei Ersheng—has a white moonlight in his heart, and that she is just a lookalike substitute. After realising everything, she leaves with a divorce agreement.

She was originally a sculptor who achieved fame at a young age. After leaving, her career flourished, and Wei Ersheng regretted his decision.

He suffered all sorts of pain and inner turmoil, finally realising that he actually loved her, and even discovered that Shi Yinnian was the real white moonlight. So he relentlessly pursued her, trying to win her back.

That’s roughly the plot, but the bald man wrote it very roughly.

This definitely won’t do, it’s far from the five-plot-point structure.

Ning Ge pointed to the words on the paper, “So how did the female lead discover that she was a substitute?” 

“She saw the male lead’s diary, it’s all written there,” the bald man said.

Ning Ge immediately picked up a pen and added that sentence, then asked, “How did she develop her career?”

She continued asking questions little by little, adding more plot details. Ning Ge reviewed the entire story and felt it far exceeded the five key plot points.

The bald man looked at the outline on the paper. “Is that enough?”

“You haven’t mentioned the ending yet,” Ning Ge reminded him.

The bald man smiled: “How about we… leave some suspense?”

Ning Ge quickly said, “Some people like tragedies, some only want happy endings. It’s better to be clear, so the audience doesn’t get disappointed.”

The bald man seemed to agree and added the ending as well.

Ning Ge glanced at the countdown timer on her bracelet, picked up the paper, and prepared to leave. “Okay, I’ll take this first. I’ll come back for the promotional materials for your new drama when they’re printed.” 

“Thank you,” the bald man said politely. “You don’t need to come over after it’s printed, I’ll have someone deliver it. Let me see you off.”

Ning Ge said, “We’re all neighbors, no need to be so polite.” She quickly slipped out the door.

As soon as she stepped outside, she put on her bracelet.

The door behind her opened again, and the bald man asked, sounding puzzled, “Huh? Where did she go? Why did she walk so fast?”

Ning Ge was clearly just a few steps away, but once she put on the bracelet, he didn’t recognise her anymore.

Ning Ge smiled, didn’t turn around, and quickly walked back to Pei Han and the others.

They had racked their brains and actually managed to write a full page. The content, however, was rather far-fetched.

Ning Ge held the paper written by the bald man and handed it to Pei Han.

Pei Han glanced at it and immediately understood that this was the real story. He asked, “How did you get it?”

“By tricking, of course.” “Hurry up and copy it,” Ning Ge said.

Only a few minutes left.

Pei Han didn’t ask any more questions and quickly copied the plot onto the paper, as if he were copying homework.

Owen glanced down at the plot. “This is amazing, Ning Ge! How did you manage to trick her? Did you use… a honey trap?”

Before Ning Ge could speak, Granny-grey hair interjected, “Impossible. Last time I was in a dungeon, I tried to flirt with a pretty NPC girl, but she doesn’t do cross-species romances, so I couldn’t win her over at all.”

While Pei Han was busy copying homework, everyone else was also busy. This time, they had all learned their lesson, and everyone gathered around him, diligently writing down the plot points on the paper.

Pei Han finished copying almost right before the countdown ended.

As soon as the countdown stopped, the paper changed.

A red line slowly appeared below each paragraph.

It was as if an invisible hand was grading homework, marking all the plot points they had correctly written.

Even the page they had randomly guessed on before Ning Ge returned had two points answered correctly—” The female lead throws the divorce papers in the male lead’s face” and “The male lead sees the female lead with the second male lead and becomes insanely jealous.”

Some of the plot points written by the bald man were certified as key plot points, while others weren’t, but all five were present.

The ending was indeed very important, it was the last key plot point, making Ning Ge’s special inquiry worthwhile.

The bracelet sent a congratulatory message: [Dear, you’ve completed all five key plot points! Congratulations!]

The bald man also came over, looked at the outline, and nodded. “Not bad. I thought you’d all forgotten.”

He checked his watch. “Then let’s go on stage. The judges are waiting.”

The bracelet’s task followed immediately.

[The moment to showcase your charm has arrived! The performance begins!]

[Task: Perform on stage.

Instructions: Complete within three hours. Don’t forget the five key plot points! You need the judges’ approval to pass.

Failure penalty: All players are eliminated.]

The sales clerk asked, “What does ‘eliminated’ mean?” “

Owen made a throat-slitting gesture.

The bracelet immediately followed with another message: [The role of a deceased actor can be taken over by another actor, good luck!]

Dead actor.

This sentence sent a chill down one’s spine.

This was an urban romance drama, with only two main characters and a simple, everyday plot.

But the bracelet’s meaning was clear: these two people were likely to die on stage.

After their death, other players could take their place and continue playing the roles until the key plot points were completed and the level was cleared.

Pei Han spoke up: “The male and female leads will be played by me and…”

Owen immediately raised his hand.

Ning Ge spoke before him: “I’ll go.”

Pei Han’s gaze fell on her face, “Ning Ge and I will go.”