What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C36.1

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Chp36. part1

Wheat Harvest Game

Ning Ge felt bewildered.

“This happens often,” Pei Han explained patiently. “If you’ve run enough dungeons, you’ll notice the System is quite malicious. With so many dungeons and NPCs needed, it sometimes takes shortcuts, creating NPC faces based on player appearances.”

Pei Han continued, “Since all our data is stored in the System, it’s easy for it to create an NPC that looks exactly like us.”

Ning Ge’s mind was in turmoil.

“So this person who looks just like my brother… isn’t actually my brother?”

And even worse, my brother’s face was modeled after this person named Lu Juan?

It wasn’t just the face—it was the entire appearance, movements, and even the voice, all perfectly replicated.

He now stood outside the Rest Pod, watching Ning Ge and Pei Han with a faint smile. It reminded Ning Ge of the time her brother had caught her reading a novel under the covers with a flashlight late at night.

If Pei Han was right, the System had completely stolen this person’s data.

Her brother was named Ning Juan, and even the character “Juan” in his name belonged to someone else.

Pei Han turned to Lu Juan. “What’s this new hobby of yours? Peeping Tom?”

Lu Juan smiled gently. “I wasn’t planning to look in. I just happened to pass by, and with the door wide open like this, it’s practically inviting people to come in.”

Pei Han glanced at him indifferently and leaned over to close the Rest Pod door.

But Lu Juan kept his elbow propped against the door, refusing to budge.

The two men locked eyes in a silent standoff.

“Pei Han,” Ning Ge called from behind him, “I want to go to sleep.”

With her “brother” standing outside—even if it was just someone who looked exactly like him—Ning Ge didn’t dare be alone with a man in the Rest Pod while he was watching. Especially after she’d just seen them kissing.

It felt like being caught by her parents during an early romance.

Under the gaze of those “brother’s” eyes, waves of guilt washed over Ning Ge.

Pei Han had been ready to force the door shut, but when he heard Ning Ge’s words, his hand froze. After a pause, he said, “Alright. Get some rest. When you wake up, come find me upstairs. We’ll go eat together.”

He slipped out of the Rest Pod.

The space immediately felt much larger with him gone.

Ning Ge crawled to the door and closed it, unable to resist glancing one last time at Lu Juan, who still stood outside.

Lu Juan had already taken a few steps back, meeting her gaze with a smile she had seen a thousand times before.

He looked so familiar, so intimate, down to every hair on his head. Ning Ge thought to herself: This is clearly my brother. This has to be him!

“Weren’t you going to sleep?” Pei Han’s voice came from beside her.

Ning Ge finally realized she was gripping the doorknob, staring blankly at Lu Juan.

She glanced at Lu Juan one more time, then pulled the cabin door shut, straightened her pillow and blankets, and lay down.

Logically, it made perfect sense that Lu Juan and her brother were identical in every way. Her brother was an NPC, essentially a clone of Lu Juan, with all his data perfectly replicated.

But intuitively, every fiber of Ning Ge’s being insisted: This is my brother!

After pondering her brother for a while, another thought surfaced.

If this was true, then even in the Transit Station, she wouldn’t have to worry about players mistaking her for the NPC from the Nianxin Inn.

Since the System generated player avatars based on their appearance, and she just happened to look exactly like the NPC, there was nothing unusual about it.

Only someone like the chubby guy she’d met at the information desk, who rarely ran dungeons, would make a fuss over a player who looked like an NPC.

The Alphas, who could report bugs, were all well-versed in the system’s quirks and wouldn’t suspect her over such a trivial matter.

So that’s why Jing Yao hadn’t reported her so easily back then.

As an Alpha, he must have known the System secretly created NPC faces based on player appearances.

Yet he still suspected Ning Ge and kept testing her.

Ning Ge understood after a moment’s thought.

What truly made him suspicious wasn’t her resemblance to an NPC, but her overly elaborate explanation about the chubby guy’s dungeon and dressing up like an NPC.

As a new player, the most normal reaction would have been bewilderment—”Me, look like an NPC? Impossible!”

Her explanation had been a bit too much.

It seems that when you don’t fully understand the rules, it’s best to keep quiet.

The more you say, the more mistakes you make.

Ning Ge mentally reviewed all these strange events. As she sorted through them, her thoughts inevitably returned to Pei Han.

She lay perfectly still, hands folded over her chest, gazing up at the ceiling of the Rest Pod.

After a long moment, Ning Ge suddenly raised her hand and pressed two fingers to her lips.

In terms of texture, temperature, softness, and that heart-pounding sensation, this kiss fell far short of Pei Han’s.

Ning Ge silently gave Pei Han’s kiss a high score of 80.

Next time when “Brother” isn’t around, I’ll sneak another kiss from him.

Having made this decision, Ning Ge closed her eyes.

In the Transit Hall, Pei Han and Lu Juan walked single file toward the escalator. When they reached it, Lu Juan stopped and glanced back at Pei Han.

“Leaving,” Lu Juan said.

Pei Han hummed in acknowledgment.

Lu Juan turned and left. Pei Han didn’t look back, but climbed the escalator alone.

Owen was still sitting on the suite sofa, playing games. When he saw Pei Han enter, he smiled. “Just saw her off. You took so long I thought you weren’t coming back.”

Having just killed an enemy, he took a break to glance at Pei Han. “What made you so happy?”

“None of your business.”

Pei Han walked in expressionlessly, picking up the cup on the coffee table and setting it down again, then picking up the game card case and setting that down too. After a moment, unable to resist, he murmured, “We kissed.”

“Things are moving this quickly?” Owen raised an eyebrow, his hands busy with some destructive task. “What about Ning Ge? How did she react?”

Pei Han was stumped.

Owen pressed, “Does our Ning Ge like being kissed? Did she push you away? Slap you?”

He glanced up at Pei Han. “Looks like not. So, was she flustered?”

Pei Han tilted his head, carefully recalling the moment. “She seemed… completely no response.”

“Huh?” Owen looked up.

Pei Han gave him an innocent look: “……”

Inside the soundproof and temperature-controlled Rest Pod, Ning Ge slept peacefully for over ten hours without interruption.

When she finally climbed the stairs to Pei Han’s suite, Owen exclaimed with admiration, “Ning Ge, you’re my hero! I never imagined I’d ever respect someone’s sleeping skills so much!”

Ning Ge was equally impressed.

For every hour she had slept, Owen had spent an equal amount of time gaming. According to Pei Han, Owen hadn’t even moved from his spot since she left.

Only Pei Han maintained a disciplined and healthy lifestyle.

He had a short nap, ate dinner, worked out at the hotel gym, and took a shower, looking fresh and refreshed.

Ning Ge mockingly teased Owen, “You couch potato.”

Owen smoothly retorted, “You Rest Pod sweet potato.”

The two were from the same family and genus, relatives who could never outdo each other in banter.

After Ning Ge finished washing up at Pei Han’s place, the three of them went out to eat.

Next door to the hotel was a wonderful restaurant with fragrant, rich bone broth.

Pei Han treated them. As they neared the end of the meal, he turned to Ning Ge and said, “You can really stay at my place these next few days. Owen and I need to continue running Dungeon.”

Ning Ge was puzzled. “You two are going? Without me?”

“You only need to run a Dungeon every seven days,” Pei Han explained. “Just rest at the Transit Station. There’s no need for you to follow us around.”

He was being strange.

Last time at the Transit Station, he had gone to great lengths to drag her out of her Rest Pod, insisting they form a team. He claimed the dungeon difficulty had increased and he desperately needed a partner.

Now he suddenly didn’t want her along, telling her to stay behind.

Ning Ge said nothing, just staring at him curiously.

Under her dark, insistent gaze, Pei Han felt compelled to continue explaining.

“Every seven days, I have to enter a system-assigned dungeon like everyone else. The ones assigned to me are usually test dungeons. They still offer rewards, but I can’t choose them, and I don’t know their codes or what’s inside.”

Ning Ge understood. “Are you talking about those dungeons where everyone has to be eliminated until only one person survives?”

Owen chuckled. “You mean battle royale?”

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