What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C1.2

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Chp1. part2

Ning Ge looked up, glanced at the distance again, composed herself, and quickly walked back along the side street.

Ning Ge’s family ran a small inn, usually managed by her brother. This morning, her brother had something to do and asked Ning Ge to help out at the inn temporarily. Having encountered such a strange thing, Ning Ge just wanted to go home immediately.

Home was only a stop or two away, within walking distance.

However, after walking only a few dozen meters, she couldn’t get any further. The frosted glass was real, blocking her way.

Ning Ge reached out and touched it, it was soft.

Ning Ge’s hand broke through that blurry barrier, passing right through it, like shattering a pool of light—a slight ripple, which quickly subsided.

The other side seemed empty.

Ning Ge withdrew her hand, her palm was unharmed.

Without hesitation, Ning Ge plunged her entire body into the barrier.

She easily made her way to the other side.

There was the same small street, and the same convenience store.

Only, she had been walking towards one end of the street, now she was back on the other side.

The same staff was still standing in the convenience store, idly staring out the floor-to-ceiling glass window.

Ning Ge glanced at the oden in her left hand, then at the bracelet in her right, hesitated for a moment, then clutched the paper cup of oden and placed the bracelet on the ground.

After thinking for a moment, she found a small pebble, drew an X on the ground next to the bracelet, and resolutely continued along the side street, passing through the frosted glass once more.

She ended up back in front of the convenience store.

The convenience store cashier covered her mouth, half-closing her eyes and yawning. The black bracelet lay neatly on the ground, with pebbles scattered beside it. A large, faded white X was drawn on the hard pavement.

This was a place with no way out.

Going out in one direction meant returning in another, a never-ending cycle.

Ning Ge picked up the bracelet, thinking, “Strange, it was fine when I came this morning.”

However, upon closer reflection, it seemed not.

Ning Ge suddenly couldn’t remember how she had gotten to the convenience store this morning.

Everything that happened before buying the oden felt like a fleeting shadow, carrying a strange sense of unreality. It wasn’t just this morning, memories from all these years seemed hazy and indistinct.

Even stranger, Ning Ge couldn’t picture her brother’s face in her mind.

She knew she had a relative, her brother, but his face was like something veiled by frosted glass—she couldn’t make it out clearly.

Ning Ge’s hands trembled slightly.

Panic was useless. Ning Ge calmed herself for a moment, tapped the bracelet, and entered her brother’s phone number.

The same cold female voice answered again: “Hello, the number you dialed is not in service…”

She dialled every number she could remember, they were all disconnected.

Ning Ge stood by the roadside, took a sip of the hot oden broth, and composed herself.

The broth, with all sorts of additives, tasted as good as ever, but the world had suddenly turned upside down.

Ning Ge’s family-run inn was on the second floor, not far ahead. According to the player guide on her bracelet, this inn was the check-in point for this dungeon.

The inn had a landline, though it might be a dead number, it was likely a problem with the bracelet, so she could try a different landline.

The bracelet’s rubber band was soft, and Ning Ge gripped it tightly in her hand, hurrying forward to the inn’s building.

The inn was on the second floor, the first floor had only one door and a staircase leading up.

A small sign hung at the entrance—”Nianxin Inn.” The sign was old, the character “Nian” had been replaced, but the new one didn’t match the others and was awkwardly framed by a red border.

It looked like a small, old, unremarkable, and makeshift inn.

Climbing the narrow staircase, she reached the second floor, where a worn-out reddish-brown wooden reception desk stood.

There was no one at the front desk, but a group of about 7 or 8 men and women was gathered outside.

Each person wore an identical black bracelet on their wrist.

Hearing footsteps, everyone turned around, and upon seeing Ning Ge approaching, they all fell silent.

Finally, a young man with granny-grey hair whispered, “This NPC is really beautiful.”

“Keep your voice down. You dare to mess with an NPC? Don’t you want to live?” A man in a plaid shirt nudged him nervously, adding in a low voice, “She’s dressed a bit like a ghost.”

Ning Ge’s dress was a deep, bright red, with a large, flowing skirt and a cinched waist.

She didn’t have the currently trendy light, thin bangs, instead, her hair was cut straight across, falling low over her eyes. Because it wasn’t dyed, it was jet black, making her pupils appear dark and unfathomable.

Her outfit was undeniably black and red.

Ning Ge heard their conversation and glanced at them subtly.

Her look and gaze alone silenced them all.

Ignoring them, Ning Ge walked past them to the front desk, put down her oden, picked up the landline receiver, tucked it over her shoulder, and dialled number after number.

Still all disconnected.

The young man with the dyed green hair approached, leaned on the counter, and said to Ning Ge, “Beautiful lady, we want to book a room.”

The man in the plaid shirt tugged at him and whispered, “Let’s not act rashly, shall we? Brother Pei went upstairs to check the situation. Shall we wait for him to come down?”

Someone in the back of the crowd suddenly interjected, “Wait for Pei Han. He’s an Alpha, listen to him.”

Ning Ge: ? Alpha ?

What’s going on? It was just an infinite loop dungeon. How did it suddenly jump to ABO?

Just then, a man slowly walked down the stairs from the third floor.

Ning Ge looked up and first saw two incredibly long legs.

As if feeling hot, his shirt was casually unbuttoned at the top, the sleeves rolled up halfway, revealing a section of his muscular forearm, his hands in his trouser pockets.

He emerged from the shadows around the corner of the stairs, and Ning Ge saw his eyes.

Those eyes were cold and icy, like someone who had survived blizzards and agonising storms, someone who had crawled out of the deepest hell, radiating an indifference and nonchalance born of a life saturated with death.

Granny-grey hair looked up and asked him, “Brother Pei, the NPC at the front desk…” he stopped abruptly, glanced at Ning Ge, and changed his words, “…uh…the pretty girl at the front desk is here, shouldn’t we get a room first?”

It seemed this man was Pei Han, the one they had just been talking about.

Pei Han paused on the stairs, his gaze sweeping over Ning Ge.

He keenly caught her grip on…

Ning Ge clutched the bracelet tightly, unsure whether to let these people see it.

His gaze swept over the barely visible tape on the bracelet in her hand, then returned to her face.

“What NPC,” he said, “this is a player.”

“A player?” Everyone stared at Ning Ge in surprise.

Someone whispered, “A player who dares to come in dressed like this?”

“Maybe a newbie who was pulled in for the first time?”

“Impossible. Have you ever seen a newbie who has the leisure to buy a cup of oden before reporting for duty?”

The bracelet in Ning Ge’s hand vibrated again.

Everyone else’s bracelets vibrated too, and they all raised their wrists to look.

Ning Ge didn’t need to look because someone had already read the new information from her bracelet.

“All players have arrived at the inn. Welcome, dear! Warm-up task, Please open five double rooms within ten minutes. Penalty for failure, One player will be randomly selected and executed.”