What malicious intent could NPCs possibly have? C18.1

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. 🙂

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Chp18. part1

“Is anyone getting married? Congratulations!”

The aunt-nanny’s eyes lit up when Pei Han asked this.

“If you have enough money, there’s a beautiful hall on the top floor with lots of flowers and a notary to officiate the wedding. But if you don’t have money, no problem. There’s a marriage registration area on the touchscreens on the ground floor. It’s free, the two of you just scan a code.”

It seems registering for marriage isn’t difficult.

The group rushed to the hall and, sure enough, found a touchscreen with a marriage option.

Below the screen was a QR code scanner.

The man with the short hair looked at Jiang Jin, then at Ning Ge, “The problem is, we have five men and only two women, what do we do?”

Jing Yao immediately turned to Jiang Jin and asked, “Jiang Jin, I…”

Jiang Jin twirled the gleaming dagger between her fingers and walked straight to Ning Ge.

“Let’s give it a try,” she said.

This was the first time Ning Ge had heard her speak. Her voice was low, with a slight huskiness, but very pleasant.

Ning Ge paused for a moment, then saw Jiang Jin open the marriage registration app, put her hand to the scanner, and scan the QR code on the back of her hand.

A “beep” sounded.

She turned to wait for Ning Ge.

Ning Ge: But we’re both girls, sister?

Nevertheless, let’s try. Ning Ge also put the back of her hand to the scanner.

With another “beep,” a huge red heart popped up on the screen, scattering flower petals and spraying confetti. After a series of animations reminiscent of twenty years ago, two rows of colourful characters finally appeared: Congratulations on your marriage! Happy Wedding!

It actually went through!

So same-sex couples can register too. This is so much simpler.

“Come on,” Owen said, pulling Pei Han’s arm without explanation. “You’re single, right? Let’s have a close relative marriage.”

Ning Ge was confused: a close relative marriage?

Owen explained, “I really am his cousin, blood-related. Otherwise, why do you think he dragged me into the dungeon?”

They successfully registered.

The countdown was ticking away quickly. The short-haired guy quickly scanned his hand, about to turn back and call Jing Yao, when the curly-haired guy hurriedly reached out and scanned his hand, pairing up with him.

This was awkward because Jing Yao was left alone.

Jing Yao laughed angrily, “Fine, no one’s scanning with me. If players are randomly selected and executed, am I the one who’ll die?”

He was right. With players randomly selected, the probability of him and Pei Han, as Alphas, being killed was negligible. The ones in danger were Ning Ge and the others, the difference in numbers was simply a matter of probability.

“Brother Jing, how about we find an NPC to help?” the short-haired man quickly said.

With only three minutes left on the countdown, finding an NPC wasn’t practical.

Ning Ge glanced at the screen again.

Players not being able to pair up was definitely a common occurrence. With only ten minutes left, there must be another way.

There was still time, Ning Ge wanted to try.

She tapped the back arrow on the touchscreen to return to the main interface, then selected divorce.

Just as she was about to put her hand to the scanner, her wrist was grabbed.

Pei Han understood her meaning and pulled her back. “I’ll do it.”

He called Owen over, divorced him first, then selected marriage registration again, gesturing for Jing Yao to come over, and scanned the code on the back of his hand first.

Jing Yao reluctantly put his hand to the scanner.

In a crudely made rainbow petal effect, two Alphas who couldn’t stand each other were happily married.

The bracelet actually vibrated. It listlessly announced: “[Marriage mission complete. May you all live happily ever after.]”

So it really works.

After a chaotic mess of getting married and divorced, it actually passed the test.

The system was satisfied as long as it confirmed that everyone had successfully registered their marriage, whether they later divorced was completely irrelevant.

As soon as the special effects finished, Pei Han immediately clicked the divorce button, ending his ten-second-long marital relationship with Jing Yao.

Owen touched the bracelet. “Is that my mom connected to the other end? My mom’s like that, she doesn’t care if you marry a Tom, Dick, or Harry, as long as you get married.”

“Yeah, yeah, my parents are the same,” Curly said. “I said, ‘Just marry anyone,’ and we’d be divorced in three days. They said, ‘Get married first, then we’ll talk.'”

Owen nodded. “I’m not getting married. If you marry anyone they want today, they’ll definitely be pressuring you to have a baby tomorrow…”

As if in response, the bracelet reacted again.

This time, it really was related to children.

A new task was issued:

[Give your child a head start.]

[Actually, you know that whether they win or lose, their finish line is the same, right?]

Ning Ge: “…”

[Task: Order the best early childhood education chip for your child.

Note: Eight-hour time limit.

Failure Penalty: #]

Two seconds later, it sent another message:

[Okay, the failure penalty isn’t #, I just wanted to try sending #. Penalty: The player who fails to complete the task is executed.]

Ning Ge thought this customer service representative also needed to be dragged out of the bracelet and given a good beating.

Curly looked around, countless hamster wheels were still spinning wildly in the cubicles.

“So the task means we have to work and earn money, right? It said ‘the best early childhood education chip,’ and since it’s the best, it must be extremely expensive.”

Owen comforted everyone, “Don’t worry, anything that money can solve isn’t a big deal.”

Curly cried, “Come on, bro, if you don’t have money, anything that can be solved with money is definitely a big deal.”

Ning Ge suggested, “Don’t rush to earn money, let’s find out what an early childhood education chip is first.”

After inquiring around, they found out the place selling chips wasn’t far, just a few steps behind the classroom.

It was a small room with a glass door, and a prominent sign hung outside— ‘Early Childhood Education Centre.’

Inside sat an elderly woman, her silver hair meticulously combed and piled up on her head. Her face was covered with wrinkles and faint age spots; she looked to be at least sixty or seventy.

Ning Ge knew that this was actually a baby girl, only six or seven days old, but her life was so fast-paced that her short life was nearing its end.

The old woman answered their questions patiently.

“What is an early childhood education chip? It’s a chip placed in an implantation device by each baby’s bedside after birth. This way, language and general knowledge are implanted into the baby’s brain before they even wake up.”

“You’re asking about the best early childhood education chips? They’re very expensive, and very few people buy them.”

She took out several small boxes from under the counter and opened them one by one to show them.

The boxes contained chips of different colours.

“The cheapest is black, then green, yellow, red, and the most expensive is gold. It has the highest knowledge capacity and the best compatibility with the human brain, making it easier to import.”

Ning Ge suddenly realised that this gold chip was exactly the same as the one in the large bag by her bedside when she first entered the dungeon.

“How much does the best one cost?” Ning Ge asked.

“Normally, rotating the energy wheel costs one coin per rotation. This chip costs 80,000 coins.”

80,000 coins means rotating the wheel 80,000 times.

Ning Ge remembered her ‘mother’ rotating the wheel in the small cubicle.

Even if she rotated it as fast as she could, one rotation would take at least one second. 80,000 rotations would take 80,000 seconds, or 22 hours without sleep.

One hour here is equivalent to five months in normal time. 20-plus hours is ten years in normal time.

She traded the best ten years of her life for the best chip for Ning Ge.

Ning Ge remembered what her mother had said when they met.

She held Ning Ge’s hand tightly, her eyes sincere, and said, “Mommy will work hard and earn money to buy you the best learning chip. Even though Mommy is all alone, I’ll make sure you have the same things as other children, the best of everything.”

Like a little hamster, her long, curly hair flying, she was confined to her small cubicle, using her short life, her most beautiful years, to pedal that broken wheel.

Round and round, round and round.

“What’s wrong?” Pei Han looked down at her.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Ning Ge lowered her head, using the side of her hair to cover her face.

Pei Han reached out, seemingly hesitant, but finally gently patted her back.

“Don’t worry, this dungeon isn’t too difficult, we’ll definitely get out.”

He thought she was worried; he had misunderstood.

Pei Han asked the old woman, “So, once we earn 80,000 coins, we can come back and order the chips?”

The old woman smiled kindly, looking at Ning Ge, then at Pei Han, and then at Pei Han’s hand resting on Ning Ge’s back.

“Actually, you can order first, it’s free.”

Free?!

The old woman continued smiling, “You can order first, and then transfer the money to our early early childhood education center in installments as you earn it.”

Got it. Instalment payments are possible.

That’s much simpler, the task can be completed immediately.

Pei Han immediately said, “Then let’s order now.”

The old woman shook her head, glancing at Ning Ge’s belly, “Not now. When you order, you have to bring your baby.”

Bring your baby?

Everyone: !!! Ning Ge asked, “Do I really have to bring the baby to register the microchip?”

“Of course,” the old lady replied, “Each microchip is registered, the baby’s information needs to be entered into the chip. Isn’t that great? Such an expensive chip won’t get lost.”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “If it’s really inconvenient to bring the baby, you can just give me the baby’s serial number. We’re all connected online, and I’ll find the baby’s information in the management system and enter it directly.”

Pei Han put his arm around Ning Ge’s shoulder, “Does it really have to be a baby? The baby’s still in her belly, can’t we reserve it in advance?”

Ning Ge: Who’s in whose belly??

“No. You can’t buy a chip without a baby. That’s the rule. Besides, without a baby, I can’t process it here at all, the process can’t go through.”

The old lady said to Pei Han with a kind face, “You haven’t even had a baby yet, why are you in such a hurry, father?”

She smiled, but no one could smile.

So this was the trap waiting for them.

Ordering a chip isn’t about money, first, you need a baby.

Everyone was silent after leaving the early childhood education centre.

“That’s too ruthless. First, they pressure you to get married, then they pressure you to have a baby,” Owen said.

Curly-haired guy had a sudden inspiration, “Getting married here is just a matter of scanning a code. Will having a baby be the same? The mother will just scan a code and give you a baby?”

Owen replied, “Don’t dream. I’ve already researched it. The method of having a baby here is the same as in the normal world. The difference is that women can get pregnant anytime, and from conception to delivery, it’s very quick, taking about two hours.”

Everyone stared at him.