What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C21.1

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. 🙂

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Chp21. part1

Pei Han returned alone.

He couldn’t persuade his parents, they refused to leave.

Ning Ge accompanied her mother to the ground floor. She still had a little money left over from loan repayments in her account. The two discussed and carefully selected the supplies they needed to take.

Carrying large bags, the three of them took the elevator together.

The top floor was deserted, and there was no sign of the management office staff. The three of them stealthily slipped out through the small door at the top.

As Ning Ge peeked out of the small door, she heard her mother sigh, “It’s so cold outside.”

But she didn’t hesitate and came out of the Sphere.

Everyone else was still waiting at the top.

When Ning Ge’s mother came out, JJ0043 saw her at a glance and paused.

By the light shining from the small door, Ning Ge noticed his face quickly turn red.

Ning Ge’s mother paused for a moment, then smiled. “So you really were outside the planet.”

They were from the same group of children, they did know each other.

JJ0043 seemed unsure what to do with his hands. He clenched them, put them in his pocket, then, realizing it wasn’t right, stepped forward and took the large bag from Ning Ge’s mother.

“Back then…” he pursed his lips, “I didn’t go to see you register your marriage. Later they said you had a baby… so I thought I’d earn more money and become a cleaner… The cleaners need to have a child, so I figured out how to create a fake child in the management system. After that, I met people from outside the planet.”

He stammered on and on, as if he were giving an interview.

Ning Ge’s mother looked at his face curiously. “You really don’t age when you’re out there. You look the same as before,” she said, touching her own face. “I just…”

JJ0043 immediately interrupted her, “You haven’t aged. You’re still as beautiful as ever.”

His face flushed crimson, impossible to hide. “You mean…you’re coming with us?”

Ning Ge’s mother nodded.

As they chatted, everyone else became like third wheels.

JJ0043 asked, “Shall we leave right away? I have a small boat down there. We can take it to the other side. Our place is in the woods, a bit far, it’ll take over an hour to walk there.”

Ning Ge’s mother was a little taken aback. Over an hour was a huge chunk of their lives, and now they were luxuriously spending it walking.

However, she didn’t say anything, turning to Ning Ge and asking, “When do you plan to leave?”

Ning Ge couldn’t say when they would find their anchor point.

“It’ll be a while, let me take you down first.”

Their place was too far, and Ning Ge had a timed mission to complete, so she couldn’t take them there in time and could only help them down the Sphere.

Ning Ge had thought her mother would see her off when leaving this dungeon, but it turned out she was the one seeing her mother off.

JJ0043 didn’t use a safety rope, but simply grabbed onto the plants on the Sphere’s surface and nimbly climbed down.

Ning Ge and her mother used the rope to descend straight to the bottom.

Sure enough, a small boat was moored on the black water near the large Sphere. Ning Ge helped her mother onto the boat.

Ning Ge’s mother looked up and asked, “Is that your boyfriend?”

She was referring to Pei Han.

Ning Ge also subconsciously looked up, but her gaze froze.

The light from her safety helmet swept across the large Sphere, illuminating a deep, recessed groove on its underside.

What was originally dark was now clearly visible.

The deep trench was completely different from the rest of the place, barren and devoid of vegetation, it contained a row of black-and-white squares. If you considered the black squares as 1s and the white squares as 0s, it was a binary code.

00111001100, 00000000000, 00000000000.

Eleven in a group, three groups in total.

Ning Ge silently calculated in her mind: 460, 0, 0, just like the QR code on the back of her hand. Each digit, converted to two characters, was AA0000.

This was the smallest number, the origin of all the numbers here.

This number belonged to the Mother Sphere—the mother of all the “tadpoles.”

Ning Ge mentally reviewed it.

The health check was a trap, setting a scenario where novice players were destined to die.

The next task provides a clue to “find Mom.” Even without Pei Han’s method of calculating QR codes, a careful observer could notice the similar numbers of women of childbearing age, revealing a pattern in the world’s numbering system.

If she was not mistaken, the skipped exam likely provided a clue to calculating the binary code.

Then the system forces people to have children. Those with children can find high-paying cleaning jobs, step outside the Mother Sphere, and see it.

Further tasks will undoubtedly provide new clues, but Ning Ge, while escorting her mother, inadvertently arrived at this hidden location beneath the Sphere and discovered the Mother Sphere’s number first.

Pei Han was right last time, try to complete the tasks and follow them to find the anchor point.

“Mom,” Ning Ge said, “I think I really have to go.”

When Ning Ge climbed the safety rope to the top of the Sphere, Owen had a wild thought.

“The metal Sphere isn’t fireproof, is it? Do you think we can just set it on fire and burn the grass? How long would it take to shovel all that?”

Ning Ge climbed up. “Congratulations, you don’t need to shovel anymore. We’re going to scan the anchor point.”

Everyone: !!!

Once they found the anchor point, they wouldn’t need to shovel grass for the quest anymore. Everyone descended the Sphere together.

Pei Han was right next to Ning Ge.

Ning Ge couldn’t help but ask him, “There’s everything inside the Sphere. The outside looks terrifying. We don’t even know what it is from the inside. If it were you, would you come out of the Sphere?”

Pei Han didn’t even hesitate. “Of course.”

He said, “Actually, even if we leave the Sphere and get outside, we’re still in the dungeon. Leaving the dungeon is the only way out. If we don’t even dare to leave the first level, how can we get to the second?”

The small boat offered the best view, allowing them to photograph the grid in the recess, but it was narrow and could not hold many people and things at once. Everyone descended to the water’s surface and took turns boarding.

Curly Hair, missing an arm, was the first to board. He looked up and muttered, “A row of squares, black and white, what am I supposed to do if I can’t calculate this?”

Owen said, “Even if you can’t calculate it, you’d at least scan something strange, right?”

Pei Han said, “Because the timeline is messed up, we skipped an exam task, it’s probably related to this.”

He thought the same thing as Ning Ge.

The curly-haired guy raised his remaining left arm, scanned it with his hand, and immediately disappeared.

It was indeed the anchor point.

The living person who had just been standing on the boat suddenly vanished, startling JJ0043 and her mother, but neither said a word.

The short-haired guy saw him leave, knew the anchor point had really been found, immediately released the rope, and quickly descended onto the boat, eager to leave this awful place as soon as possible.

Ning Ge also carefully got off the boat.

She quickly hugged her mother.

“If things get bad outside, come back,” Ning Ge’s mother said, then added after a moment’s thought, “Be careful.”

Be careful, just like the words her brother had said when she last saw him at the inn’s front desk.

Ning Ge’s nose stung with tears.

She was about to speak when she heard the sound of flapping wings overhead.

This time it wasn’t one, but two.

Two large birds swooped down towards the small boat simultaneously.

JJ0043, experienced as he was, immediately pulled up the boat’s gillnet to shield Ning Ge’s mother.

“Come in quickly!” he reached out to pull Ning Ge away.

But it was too late.

Both birds had swooped down.

One bird swooped straight at the man with the short-hair, while the other ignored the crowd and went straight for Ning Ge.

It was the bird Ning Ge had teased before, the one she had a grudge against. It descended to Ning Ge’s head, letting out a joyful cry, its large, sharp claws reaching for Ning Ge’s shoulder.

Pei Han, still suspended on the safety rope, suddenly pushed off the Spherical surface and lunged towards them.

Someone was even faster than him.

Jiang Jin was closer to the small boat than Pei Han. Ning Ge saw her swing towards them on the rope, and as she did so, a dagger flashed in her hand, and a pungent smell of blood filled the air.

A large gash appeared on the large bird’s slender neck.

Blood gushed out.

Pei Han arrived too, throwing a punch that struck the large bird in the eye.

Ning Ge heard bones cracking. The large bird, its neck spurting blood, tilted to the side, tumbled and flapped in the air for a moment, and then plunged into the black water and disappeared.

With Pei Han and Jiang Jin rushing to Ning Ge’s rescue, the situation on the short-haired man’s side was dire.

He was aiming at the anchor point, ready to teleport away safely with a single tap, but his hand trembled so badly he couldn’t align it with the square in the groove.

He tapped haphazardly, incompletely capturing the entire area, and tried again, but it was too late.

Having missed the perfect moment to teleport, the large bird swooped down, its long, sharp beak clamping down on his head. With a flap of its wings, it soared back into the air.

The short-haired boy thrashed about, struggling desperately in mid-air. Annoyed, the bird snapped its beak shut, and he froze instantly.

JJ0043 said, “The bird has food, it won’t come back for now. Let’s go.”

Ning Ge glanced at her mother one last time, then tapped the scan button.

The big Sphere, the small boat, and her mother were all gone.

Like her irresponsible father, Ning Ge vanished completely from her mother’s world.

The system should erase her memories soon, from now on, she could truly begin living her own life.

The transfer station, resembling a large train station, was bustling with people.

Ning Ge, this time more experienced, immediately stepped forward to make way for those behind her.

Pei Han, Owen, and Jiang Jin followed.

As soon as they exited the dungeon, their clothes reverted to their pre-dungeon attire, and everyone did the same.

Jiang Jin was dressed very similarly to Ning Ge— a black T-shirt and comfortable grey sweatpants —except she wore high-top boots like Pei Han’s.

Everyone’s bracelets vibrated. Ning Ge checked hers.

[Dungeon Experience Points: +1

Lambda Experience Points: +1

Test Reward Points Allocated, Transferred Points: 200,000.]

“The bug-finding reward has arrived,” Pei Han explained.

Simply finding a bug for the system and the reward is so much.

Owen was very satisfied. “Didn’t do anything, just got 200,000 for free by following you guys, awesome!”

Ning Ge seized the opportunity to ask Owen, “The reward for finding bugs is so high, why not just blind-snipe? What if you get lucky and make a fortune?”

Owen laughed, “Alpha has accuracy requirements for reporting bugs. Reporting incorrectly will deduct achievement points, and in serious cases, it will disqualify you from Alpha, which is not worth it,” he gestured with his chin towards Pei Han, “The top-ranked Alpha players all have a 100% accuracy rate.”

No wonder Jing Yao was testing her, not reporting her easily.

Jiang Jin stepped forward and touched Ning Ge’s bracelet. “Add me as a friend.”

Ning Ge looked down at her bracelet. They could all add friends, but Ning Ge couldn’t find the option to do so.

Seeing Ning Ge’s confusion, Owen smiled, “Only advanced players and above can add friends.”

Oh, I see.

“Are you going out?” Jiang Jin asked Ning Ge.

Ning Ge, of course, wouldn’t go out. “I’m not going out yet, I need to buy something at the convenience store.”

Jiang Jin nodded, still concise, “Wait for me at the convenience store entrance.” She turned and left.

Owen asked Ning Ge, “Are you going to the convenience store to buy clothes? You really should change your outfit, only your shoes are passable.”

“No,” Ning Ge said, “I need to buy something as a gift.”

“A gift?” Owen glanced at Pei Han meaningfully.

Pei Han gestured towards the convenience store, “Shall we go?”

They both looked like they wanted to follow her.

Inside the convenience store was the same old man.

Ning Ge immediately asked, “Sir, do you have wristbands here?”

The old man glanced at her from above his glasses, didn’t speak, stood up, went inside, rummaged around, and pulled out two small plastic bags, placing them on the counter.

The plastic bags contained cloth wristbands, simple in design, one pink and one black.

“120,000 each.”

More expensive than the pants on sale last time.

Ning Ge’s heart was bleeding, but she gritted her teeth and asked, “Are there any better ones?”

“Only these two left. Isn’t that good enough? They’ll never go out of style.”

Ning Ge hesitated.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and take a look? The boutiques upstairs have a lot of different styles of wristbands, but they’re expensive, at least 300,000 to 400,000.” The old man picked up the bag containing the wristbands, intending to put it back.

“Wait,” said the impoverished Ning Ge, “I’ll buy them. I want the black ones.”

The old man put down the black bag. “Black is good, dignified and sophisticated.”

Ning Ge swiped her bracelet with a flourish, picked up the bag containing the wristbands, but didn’t open it.

Owen looked at the wristband in Ning Ge’s hand, then at Pei Han, and asked Ning Ge again, “Are you giving them away?”

“Yes.” Ning Ge stood at the convenience store entrance, not moving.

A moment later, Jiang Jin arrived, carrying a bag.

Ning Ge clutched the wristband, a little nervous. As Jiang Jin drew closer, she said, “I… um… I wanted to give you something.”

Owen’s eyes widened in surprise. He opened his mouth, then glanced at Pei Han.

Pei Han’s face was so cold it could freeze if you poured water on it.

Ning Ge handed the small plastic bag to Jiang Jin. “It’s a wristband. It seems more comfortable if your wrist is injured.”

Jiang Jin hesitated for a moment, then took it.

Ning Ge was a little embarrassed. “It’s just a really simple one, not very nice.”

Jiang Jin opened the plastic bag, took out the wristband, examined it carefully, and slipped it onto her wrist. The black colour matched her black T-shirt perfectly.

“It’s nice,” she said.

“I also have something for you,” Jiang Jin said, handing Ning Ge the bag she was carrying.