What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C23.2

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Chp23. part2

She wonders where this Wooden Puppet Servant with the flower on its chest is. She’ll have to go find it.

Ning Ge pointed at Pei Han and asked the Overseer, “May I borrow him for a while?”

The Overseer’s old face turned even redder. “Of course. Please, take him as you wish.”

The young men in the room were filled with obvious envy, jealousy, and resentment, all seemingly eager to be “borrowed” by the Viscountess.

Ning Ge led Pei Han away from the sewing workshop.

Standing at the bottom of the stairs outside were the two Wooden Puppets that had just subdued the man.

They looked nearly identical, dressed in the same clothes, with only slight differences in their features. It was impossible to tell which one the “Viscountess” might prefer.

“What did he mean by ‘it has you in its eyes’?” Pei Han pondered. “Concern for you? What if I suddenly attacked you…?”

He casually made a motion as if to grab Ning Ge’s neck.

The two Wooden Puppets, which had been standing motionless, suddenly moved.

Their pitch-black eyes swiveled in unison toward him, and they took a step forward.

Pei Han lowered his hand and smiled. “They both have you in their eyes, huh?”

When he lowered his hand, the puppets stopped, but their eyes remained fixed on Pei Han, the dangerous element. Though expressionless, their vigilance was palpable.

Ning Ge appraised the puppets, then casually walked over and began unbuttoning the uniform of one of them.

Pei Han: “……”

The Wooden Puppets stood motionless, allowing her to do as she pleased.

Inside their clothes, the supposed painted wooden chests, completely empty, without any Iris or anything else.

Ning Ge examined both of them thoroughly but found nothing. She casually rebuttoned their uniforms.

Pei Han looked at her, speechless. “Are you going to strip every single one of them?”

This is starting to feel a bit creepy.

“What else should I do?” Ning Ge asked.

They climbed the stairs together and turned down the corridor. Not far ahead, they saw two more Wooden Puppets standing quietly against the wall.

At their feet lay a man, curled up in a ball.

It was the man who had fought the Wooden Puppets earlier. Now his face was ashen, and he was dead.

It was clear that as soon as he reached the upper floor, the Wooden Puppets had blocked his path again. He hadn’t managed to find his dance partner within the ten-minute time limit.

With him running around so erratically, his unlucky dance partner hadn’t been able to find him either and was probably dead somewhere.

These partner-matching Dungeons were truly treacherous. No one knew what kind of person they might be matched with, and it could really get you killed.

Ning Ge suddenly realized and asked Pei Han, “Can you choose your own partner?”

“Yes,” Pei Han replied casually. “That’s one of the perks of being an Alpha testing Dungeon — you can match partners for yourself and your teammates.”

Being an Alpha had its advantages.

It made sense. Alphas could help test the system and find bugs, which was invaluable to the system. The system would never want them to be randomly matched with unreliable partners, only to be dragged down by incompetent teammates.

Pei Han said, “I wonder where Owen is.”

Owen had probably been matched with a girl. Only girls could move freely in the palace, and for fairness among the teams, dance partners should have been one man and one woman.

As they were speaking, they saw Owen and the young lady in the light blue dress walking toward them from the end of the corridor.

Owen, also wearing a coarse linen shirt, waved cheerfully from a distance, as if two armies had successfully joined forces.

They had also successfully completed their mission.

The young lady’s surname was Su, and she was a middle school geography teacher. Their next mission was to find Teacher Su’s most beloved Wooden Puppet Servant. The two groups temporarily parted ways after successfully reuniting.

Ning Ge continued walking, casually stripping clothes from the puppets she encountered, but still hadn’t seen Iris.

Unfamiliar with the palace, Ning Ge led Pei Han back to the initial dining hall.

In the hall, the room full of Wooden Puppets still stood in orderly rows. Ning Ge unceremoniously checked the chest of each puppet, but found nothing.

Ning Ge’s eyes swept across the table. The ice cream hadn’t melted, clearly having been diligently replaced with fresh servings as soon as the slightest bit softened.

Pei Han noticed her hesitation. “Eat it if you want.”

Ning Ge:?

“Are you sure I can? How do you know there aren’t any hidden traps inside?”

Pei Han smiled. “Because someone just came out of the rest pod, I specifically chose a Dungeon with SSS-tier living conditions.” He explained, “That means all the players’ food, clothing, and daily necessities are of the highest luxury standard.”

The place was indeed lavish.

Ning Ge was willing to be moved, but her rational mind wasn’t so easily swayed.

She asked warily, “If the living conditions are so luxurious, does that mean we have to make up for it in other ways?”

Pei Han pursed his lips. “Maybe. We might have to… uh… use our brains a little more.”

Ning Ge: “……”

Parched from running all day, Ning Ge tentatively took a spoonful of ice cream.

She froze. “How can it be this delicious?”

She’d never tasted such exquisite ice cream in her life — the perfect balance of milky richness and fruity freshness, both refreshing and decadent.

“Of course,” Pei Han replied. “This is a virtual space. The System can push all sensory experiences to the absolute limit.”

That’s good?

Ning Ge had been so focused on the mission that she suddenly realized Pei Han was right.

It wasn’t just the food. Her clothes were soft and comfortable, the little spoon in her hand had a perfectly rounded arc, and it felt just right—not too heavy, not too light. The chair beneath her molded perfectly to her curves, and the room’s temperature was just right, neither too cold nor too warm.

Even the air smelled fresh and pleasant, carrying the sweet scent of late spring and early summer flowers.

Ning Ge took another spoonful of the world’s best ice cream, then suddenly paused.

She set down her spoon and stood up. “Wait here a moment. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Pei Han asked casually, scooping up a spoonful of ice cream and licking it off.

“We missed two Wooden Puppets,” Ning Ge said as she hurried out. “Remember the two near the dead player? I didn’t check them.”

Ning Ge left the dining room alone and retraced her steps.

The man still lay on the ground, and the two Wooden Puppets beside him completely ignored him, showing no intention of dealing with him.

Ning Ge approached, ignoring the two standing Wooden Puppets and showing no intention of checking their chests.

Iris was certainly not on these puppets.

Ning Ge crouched down and turned the dead man over.

Pei Han had said that even if a player’s bracelet was placed on an NPC’s wrist, it wouldn’t awaken them.

Ning Ge didn’t fully believe him. Who knew if he was deliberately misleading her?

She had once tried putting her own bracelet on her brother and mother, and it had indeed had no effect. But could that be because the bracelet had already awakened her, rendering it ineffective on other NPCs?

She wanted to try using someone else’s bracelet.

It was rare to find a dead player here, just like last time.

Having Pei Han present during this experiment would inevitably raise his suspicions. It was better to come alone.

Ning Ge slid the bracelet off the man’s wrist and examined it. The display showed that this was a beginner player who had entered the Dungeon for the second time.

The only beings nearby were Wooden Puppets, with no NPCs available for her experiment.

Ning Ge stood up, wear his bracelet as she scanned her surroundings. Just as she was about to search for an NPC, the man on the ground vanished into thin air, just like the other corpses in the Dungeon.

Strangely, the bracelet on Ning Ge’s hand also vanished, leaving her wrist bare.

The man’s bracelet had disappeared along with his body.

The bracelets of the dead never remained.

Ning Ge instinctively touched the bracelet on her own wrist. It was still securely in place, as if it had been hers all along.

Could it be because of ‘Lambda’ or something? Is it special?

After standing in thought for a moment, Ning Ge hurried back to the dining room.

Pei Han was eating pudding with a small silver spoon in his right hand, the one adorned with the rose wristband.

More than thirty minutes had already passed. While failing to complete the task wouldn’t matter to Ning Ge, it would mean a whipping death for him. Yet he showed no signs of urgency.

Ning Ge couldn’t help but ask, “Did you find any clues about the puppet?”

After finishing his pudding, Pei Han slowly replied, “No. I was waiting for you to find the clues. Viscountess, I suddenly don’t feel like trying anymore.”

Ning Ge: “……”