What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C7.1

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Chp7. part1

Ning Ge paused, then immediately went down the stairs.

The reception desk, which had been empty all morning, was indeed occupied. A young man was taking off his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes slightly closed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

His posture was elegant, his demeanour exceptional, completely out of place with the old-fashioned reception area.

The moment Ning Ge saw him, her mind went blank. The face of her brother, previously blurry in her memory, suddenly appeared clearly.

This was her brother.

She had a brother, she really did have a brother.

Her brother’s name was Ning Juan.

In her memory, they had no parents, her older brother was like a father to her, raising her single-handedly all these years.

Just this morning, before leaving for his errands, he had cooked a pot of fish porridge, telling her to eat well and not always buy oden from the convenience store.

A scene suddenly flashed through Ning Ge’s mind. He was standing at the door, having just changed his shoes, keys in hand, turning back to say to her, “Once or twice a week is fine, but eating that stuff every day is full of additives, it’s unhealthy.”

It didn’t sound like a brother, it sounded like a mother.

Ning Ge stared at him now, desperately suppressing the urge to call him “brother,” her heart filled with mixed emotions.

The map of this place was only so big, there was no place for a home, so these memories were all fake.

Yet, in her heart, they felt incredibly real.

So, her brother was also an NPC, an unawakened NPC?

In any case, now that her brother was here, her NPC identity was about to be exposed.

With her disguise revealed, what Pei Han and the others thought wasn’t important, the key was, if her awakening was exposed, would Pei Han immediately report her as a bug?

Her brother, Ning Juan, heard someone coming down the stairs and looked up.

He saw Ning Ge, he smiled at her, gentle and refined.

“Are you a new guest today? Is there anything I can help you with?” His tone was polite but distant.

He didn’t recognise her.

Ning Ge paused, suddenly realising it might be because of the bracelet.

Whether she wore the bracelet or not made no difference to Pei Han and the others, but to her brother, who was also an NPC, it was a completely different story.

It seemed that because she was wearing the bracelet, he treated her like a player staying at the hotel, completely unaware of her identity.

Ning Ge didn’t speak. Everyone else had come downstairs. Ning Ge heard Granny-grey hair guy mutter, “How do we get the quest guide? Should we ask the NPC?”

Ning Juan seemed lost in a dream, unresponsive to his words, still smiling, and asked again, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Owen greeted Ning Juan and went up to him to strike up a conversation, “We’re a few newcomers and not very familiar with the area. We have nothing to do this afternoon. Are there any fun places to visit nearby?”

The bracelet had already clearly indicated that they should go out and explore.

“A fun place? There’s really nothing fun around here.” Ning Juan seemed to ponder for a moment. “There’s a theater across the street, and they seem to be showing a new play soon. I wonder if that counts as fun.”

Everyone’s bracelets vibrated.

[Hey, we suggest you go check out the theatre.]

Mission successfully received.

Everyone thanked him and went down the narrow stairs together, reaching the small street outside.

It was already noon, and the blazing sun shone on the old sign of the small inn.

The young woman in the suit looked up and suddenly said, “Nianxin Inn, Nianxin Inn, ‘Nian’ means ‘thought,’ could this sign be the anchor point?”

She raised her arm, hesitantly, “Should we scan it and try?”

Pei Han chimed in, “You can try.”

Ning Ge knew he had used up all his scan attempts, so he could only encourage others to try different things.

The young woman mustered her courage, aimed at the sign, and tapped the scan button.

The bracelet displayed a ruthless message: [Not an anchor point. Please keep trying.]

Everyone was a little disappointed.

“It’s okay, we can try many more times. Besides, there’s still time, several hours left,” Ning Ge reassured her, then suddenly remembered something and exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot, I need to go to the restroom first.”

She asked Pei Han for the room key. “You guys go first, I’ll be right there.”

Pei Han held the room key, hesitating for a second. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Ning Ge looked at him speechlessly, the meaning clear, You’re not a girl, and you want to go to the restroom with someone?

It was unclear whether he was worried about her safety or didn’t trust her.

Pei Han finally released the room key and gave it to her.

Ning Ge clutched the room key and ran back upstairs to the second floor.

She didn’t go back to her room, but went straight to the front desk.

Ning Juan was still sitting at the front desk, head down, seemingly busy with something. Seeing her return, he looked up and smiled at her. “Forgot something?”

He still treated her like a customer.

Ning Ge didn’t answer, quickly taking off the bracelet from her wrist.

Sure enough, as soon as the bracelet came off, Ning Juan paused, seemingly not understanding what had happened, then laughed.

“Xiao Ge? Where have you been playing? When I came in, there was no one at the front desk, the shop was just sitting there, and you didn’t even bother with it.”

It sounded like he was settling a score with her, but there was no hint of blame in his tone.

Ning Ge thought, Brother, aren’t you surprised that I suddenly appeared like this?

She pulled out the player quest guide from the bracelet and held it up to him.

“Brother, look at this.”

Ning Juan looked puzzled, but still looked down at the bracelet in her hand.

“What’s wrong? Why are you showing me a novel?” He looked at it more closely. “A horror novel, no less?”

It turned out that in his eyes, the mission description on the bracelet wasn’t a mission description at all.

Ning Ge recalled that morning, first a jolt like an electric current ran through her body, and then she realised something was wrong with the world.

Ning Ge quickly shoved the bracelet into her brother’s hand, gripping it tightly.

Ning Juan let her do as she pleased, laughing, “What are you doing?”

Ning Ge asked, “Brother, did you feel a kind of electric shock?”

“No,” Ning Juan asked, “What electric shock? What are you doing?”

It didn’t work.

Ning Ge slipped the bracelet onto his wrist.

The elastic band clung tightly to his arm, but Ning Juan still looked confused.

The bracelet had no effect on her brother.

Ning Juan turned his wrist, examining the bracelet, and smiled, “This is a smartwatch, right? Where did you get it? Did you find it? If you want it, I’ll buy you a new one.”

Ning Ge looked at him, utterly desperate.

Even if he was an NPC, even if his memory was unreliable, in Ning Ge’s heart, he was still the brother she had grown up with, relying on each other since childhood.

But she couldn’t wake him up.

Behind her, Pei Han’s voice came from the stairwell, “Ning Ge?”

She hesitated to go downstairs, and Pei Han, whether suspicious or genuinely worried about her alone, came back upstairs.

Ning Ge had no choice but to take the bracelet off her brother’s wrist and put it back on her own.

As soon as the bracelet was on, Ning Juan immediately didn’t recognise her. He looked around, as if searching for his missing sister.

Then, as if suddenly noticing her presence, he asked with some surprise, “This guest, why are you back again? Did you forget something?”

“No. It’s nothing.” Ning Ge was a little sad.

Pei Han’s footsteps grew closer as he ascended the stairs. Ning Ge could no longer speak to her brother and had to turn and walk towards the stairwell.

“Hey, you…” Ning Juan suddenly called out to her from behind.

Ning Ge turned around.

He sat in the old reception desk, in the dim shadows, gazing at her for a moment, perhaps feeling a strange familiarity and warmth towards the girl before him.

As if unable to find the right words, he finally said after a long pause, “…Be careful.”

Just like he often reminded her of that in her memory.

Ning Ge looked at him, her nose stinging, and nodded, “Yes. You too.”

Pei Han had already come upstairs. He glanced at Ning Juan at the reception desk and said to Ning Ge, “Are you done? Let’s go.”

The theatre was just a few steps away, across the street.

It was an inconspicuous, dusty, old-fashioned building, built decades ago.

The theatre appeared to have two floors from the outside. On the second floor, there was a window, and two workers were installing a new sign in front of it, still under construction, they had just finished installing the three red characters for “Grand Theatre.”

The others were waiting for Ning Ge at the entrance.

The theatre doors were tightly shut. Behind the small ticket window sat a ticket seller, clutching a thermos, looking listless and vacant like a caged bird, seemingly oblivious to the group’s arrival.

Owen stepped forward and knocked on the glass window.

The ticket seller listlessly pried open the small glass door. “Twenty yuan per person, no refunds.”

She seemed very unsure about the tickets she had sold.

Just as Owen was about to speak, the door to the “Grand Theater” opened a crack.