Npc 15

In a warm room filled with the scents of roses and roasted chestnuts, a tall monster tightly wrapped a small lamb in its arms, its crystalline green eyes brimming with mirth.

"Have you made up your mind?" the "Hunter" threatened. "Where does Yanyan hope I should eat first?"

Jiang Yan trembled, his instinctual fear of death choking his throat, rendering him momentarily voiceless.

"Not going to speak?" The Hunter's tone was flippant, yet using such a tone in front of someone about to die only deepened the other's despair.

Jiang Yan thought he wasn't afraid of death, but when the day arrived, he felt the instinctive coldness and shivers all too well.

Perhaps everyone reflects on their lives before dying. The faint scent of roasted chestnuts reminded him of the time his grandmother made roasted chestnuts for him in his childhood.

The kind-faced silver-haired elder sat by the fireplace, peeling the freshly roasted chestnuts for him.

Jiang Yan's grandmother had passed away long ago, so long that he had forgotten her appearance, but he didn’t expect to see her one last time before dying.

"Yanyan?" his grandmother called to him lovingly.

Some people don't just exist in memories; they are etched deep within one's soul. The fading of memories is merely the brain's self-deception.

"Yanyan? What are you thinking about?"

Jiang Yan snapped back to reality, the person in front of the fireplace transforming into a tall man.

The man had black hair and green eyes, with delicate features that exuded youth. Those emerald-like eyes gazed deeply at Jiang Yan with affection.

Those eyes were innocent yet deadly, like the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, exuding a tempting fragrance.

No one could help but marvel at his handsome face; even gods would be overshadowed by his radiance, while simultaneously feeling an unsettling chill.

He was too beautiful—beautiful in a haunting way, beautiful as if he didn’t belong to humanity.

Jiang Yan smiled, "So… I can still see you before I die?"

The Hunter watched the little lamb in his arms, who was crying and struggling to breathe in a fainting state. The inability to peer into the other’s mental world made him feel particularly irked.

His emerald eyes darkened slightly as he spoke, displeased, "663!"

"What is it?"

The personal system that should belong to a real-life NPC was awakened by the system NPC.

If the "punishment" were announced on the game forum, players would undoubtedly be shocked by the scene before them.

The system NPC spoke to the personal system in a commanding tone, "What is Yanyan thinking about right now?"

663 was equally impatient. Logically, the mission should have ended; since his "host" was not in the game lobby, it was outside his working hours.

Disliking overtime was a human instinct, including for real-life systems.

"How would I know? He’s not in the instance right now; I can’t fully share his consciousness," 663 replied curtly.

"Tell me what you can see," the Hunter commanded.

Reluctantly, 663 snooped into the scene in Jiang Yan's mind like a thief.

He saw two men kissing in a retro yet cozy room in front of the fireplace...

663 widened his eyes in surprise. One of them was indeed Jiang Yan, but he couldn't see the other’s face clearly.

Who would have thought that Jiang Yan, usually so pure and unworldly, would indulge in such a romantic scene just before dying?

Indeed, one cannot judge a book by its cover!

"What’s he doing?" After a long pause, 663 finally spoke, and the Hunter urged anxiously.

"He's… kissing someone."

"…………"

The fire in the fireplace suddenly went out, and the entire room felt as cold as an ice cellar.

"With whom?"

"I don't know; I can't see clearly." 663 pondered for a moment. "It might be his second spring."

The Hunter tightened his grip on Jiang Yan's waist, eliciting a pained groan from him.

Looking at the trembling little sheep in his arms, the Hunter’s eyes sparkled with a bloodthirsty light, like a serpent poised to strike its prey.

---

The main system's announcement echoed in the hall:

[Instance: Sheep's Forest, Instance Progress: 100%]

Players paying attention to this instance all paused to listen to the main system's announcement. Inside the instance, while cleaning up Zhou Hao's corpse, Ding Wanyu looked up at the rose-colored sky as he observed Zhou Hao’s “corpse memory.”

[Contaminated Players: Qin Wu, Qin Yang, Shang Gongfang, Fu Lei, Wang Yu]

[Killed Players: Zhou Hao, Xue Dun]

[Main System Reminder: Killed players will die unexpectedly in the real world, which will not affect the progress of the real world. Contaminated players will temporarily be taken over by the main system.]

In the hall, the players were somewhat lamenting that so many people could die in a B-level instance.

Indeed, there were bugs in the main system and the presence of players unfamiliar with the game rules for newcomers, but it was quite rare for a B-level instance to end up with only three delicate women surviving.

Ding Wanyu looked at Zhou Hao's mangled corpse on the ground and was not surprised by this outcome.

He saw in Zhou Hao’s memory how he had dragged Lei Li into a deep alley, ultimately turning the girl into a doll with shattered bones.

He didn’t feel guilty; it was perfectly normal for a young man to act impulsively. He just hadn’t expected to see Lei Li again after re-entering this game, nor the embalmer who was doing her makeup.

Zhou Yun protected Lei Li behind her and said to him, “My wish… is for her to have her wish fulfilled. Do you want to know what her wish is?”

The arrogant young man lost interest in the girl after discovering she had lost her memory, and he cared even less about what her wish might be; he only needed to focus on his own wishes.

He would win the game and become an admired figure who could turn the tides at will!

He was meant to be such a figure.

Ding Wanyu took a small step back and accidentally stepped on Zhou Hao’s eyeball left on the ground.

He frowned in disgust but didn’t care much.

What mattered to him now was that boy with blue eyes.

Not only Ding Wanyu, but most players following Sheep's Forest were also looking forward to the “judgment” results regarding Jiang Yan.

After all, there were too many unexpected events that happened to Jiang Yan in this instance, so many that even the main system had multiple bugs, as if it was deliberately bugged just for him.

Yet, despite this stroke of luck, Jiang Yan's mission still ended in failure.

As a result, many players commented that he was "a worthless piece of mud that can't be lifted up!"

They summarized Jiang Yan's performance in the game instance and concluded that he was too passive.

Soon, discussions erupted on the game forums about how they would clear the mission if they were in Jiang Yan's situation.

Of course, some players defended Jiang Yan, as it was a shame that such a beautiful NPC was about to be chopped into pieces.

Everyone eagerly awaited the main system's report on the mission completion status and score acquisition for the players who successfully cleared it, followed by the treatment of the NPC.

[Real NPC: Ding Wanyu.]

[Main Quest "Corpse Driver": No abnormalities detected in character settings.]

[Side Quest "Help the Hunter Retrieve the Stolen 'Rose': Mission Failed.]

[Score Acquisition: 500]

[Real NPC: Jiang Yan.]

Ding Wanyu anxiously awaited the system's verdict, feeling uncertain about why he was so nervous.

Perhaps it was rare to see someone so slow and lazy in this game, making it feel regrettable for him to die?

Ding Wanyu couldn’t help but wonder if he was afraid of death.

Would he, like others, kneel and beg for mercy, weeping and wailing, making himself look pitiful, only to end up as a heap of flesh, a specimen in a specimen room?

Afraid of death?

Jiang Yan once thought he wasn't afraid, but when facing death, he discovered that he could faint from fear.

When Jiang Yan regained consciousness, the black satin blindfold covering his eyes had been removed.

He found himself lying in a spacious and luxurious room, his hands and feet bound to a large, soft bed, facing the "Hunter" sitting at the edge of the bed.

The small wooden cabin in the forest was still too cramped for the "Hunter"; this excessively large room made him appear even more imposing.

The golden candelabrum on the ceiling dazzled Jiang Yan's eyes, and he felt as though the monster in front of him was about to bite off his head.

He was still alive?

Jiang Yan did not feel grateful for being alive; instead, he felt even more desperate inside.

Was this guy planning to torture him to death?

“Awake?” The “Hunter's” voice was icy.

Jiang Yan said nothing, only looked at him with tears in his eyes, his expression blank.

“I thought about it, and if you die, I’d be very lonely,” the “Hunter” said.

Jiang Yan looked at the monster before him in disbelief.

What… did he mean?

A bloodthirsty smile appeared in the "Hunter's" eyes: “Then let’s have someone else die in your place.”

“You can just bite off my head right now,” Jiang Yan said without hesitation.

“A stubborn little sheep.” The “Hunter” chuckled lightly, “You still don’t understand, do you? The game rules are set by me, not you.”

Jiang Yan felt that the system NPC in front of him was very problematic. The rules were established by the main system, and he should be executed by the system NPC, who was the boss of the instance, for failing the mission.

Jiang Yan had seen system NPCs execute real NPCs before, but this “Hunter” was completely different from those system NPCs!

He seemed to possess far too much autonomy.

“Now, let’s find a scapegoat for you.”

The “Hunter's” voice sounded very cheerful: “There are three candidates: your father, your mother, and your husband.”

Jiang Yan felt a bit flustered: “That’s my ex-husband; we’re already divorced.”

“The Hunter”: “…”

“Not important!” The “Hunter” waved his hand lightly, and a white mist appeared before Jiang Yan, revealing the three closest people in his life, standing there looking at him.

“Choose, Yan Yan who will you choose to die?”

The “Hunter” crossed his legs, resting his chin on his hand, watching the little lamb pushed to the brink of despair with great interest.

Tears streamed down Jiang Yan's face: “You said you would kill me.”

“I’ve changed my mind now; hurry up and choose, Yan Yan.” Seeing Jiang Yan willing to die in his place, the “Hunter's” tone was filled with delight.

“I’ll count to three; if you can’t choose, then I’ll kill them all.”

“Three!”

“Two…”

The crystalline tears slipped from Jiang Yan's blue eyes. Just before the last number left the monster's mouth, he trembled and said, “I choose Yu Xiu…”

The smile in the “Hunter's” eyes froze: “... You need to choose someone who is dead, not someone who is alive.”

“Yes.” Jiang Yan closed his eyes, allowing the tears to roll down.

“…………”

The air in the room seemed to freeze, and after a long wait, Jiang Yan still did not hear Yu Xiu's death sentence.

He opened his eyes in a daze and saw the “Hunter” looking at him with an expression of near despair.

Jiang Yan felt he must have been seeing things due to his current state of confusion.

The “Hunter” gazed at him for a long time with that inexplicable look of despair, slowly smiling and saying, “... I know you’re being coy. I’ll give you another chance.”

“No… I chose him.”

“…………”

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