Npc 64

 Jiang Yan looked at the two people who had suddenly frozen, finding it a bit amusing.

A scene of them spending a night together once suddenly flashed in his mind.

It was in the summer of their third year of college, after Yu Xiu's parents had died in a car accident.

He was worried that Yu Xiu might not be able to handle returning alone to a home without his parents. Yet he also feared that taking Yu Xiu directly to his own home might trigger painful memories if Yu Xiu saw his parents. So, he brought Yu Xiu to the apartment his parents had bought for him.

The same place that had now become his and Yu Xiu's home.

On the first night, he slept in the master bedroom while Yu Xiu slept in the guest room.

On the second night, Yu Xiu said that he had dreamed of his deceased parents the night before and wanted him to stay with him. So, Yu Xiu successfully ended up in the master bedroom, but with a clear boundary between them, neither crossing the line.

On the third night—

That night, the city experienced a once-in-a-decade heavy rain.

The oppressive summer heat and dampness lingered in the room, despite the tightly closed windows, air conditioning, and air purifier.

After showering, he and Yu Xiu lay side by side on the bed, listening to the fine sound of rain and the muffled thunder outside the window.

Suddenly, Yu Xiu turned over and hugged him, pressing close and murmuring in his ear, "If I were to devour you right now, would Yan Yan be angry?"

He didn’t reply, only quietly hugging him back.

What followed felt natural and inevitable, yet he hadn’t anticipated one thing: he had assumed that Yu Xiu must have had a partner before, given how incredibly dazzling he was. But it turned out Yu Xiu was also a “novice” like him, equally inexperienced.

When he grasped his ankle and placed his leg over his shoulder, the usually cheerful, effortless, and carefree Yu Xiu was actually trembling with nerves.

Then, one gentle kiss after another fell upon him, almost reverently.

Yu Xiu was very tender, but for Jiang Yan, it wasn’t exactly a beautiful memory.

Not only were both inexperienced, but by the end, Jiang Yan was left feeling like a battered rag doll. The difference in their physical strength was stark, and it took quite a toll on Jiang Yan’s pride!

Though he rarely cared much for people or things and generally held an indifferent attitude toward the world, this matter of masculine dignity was something Jiang Yan couldn’t help but take to heart at that moment.

He’d thought he would find a chance to redeem himself later, but unfortunately, Yu Xiu turned out to be quite the natural. Once he got a taste, he was like a wild beast who’d been raised a vegetarian but had finally tasted meat; there was no going back.

Jiang Yan at that moment felt that just surviving and not being completely at the mercy of that beast was already good enough; he couldn’t care less about such things!

With that thought, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but glance down at Yu Xiu’s body, a sly smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

If this bastard actually turned into a true one-minute man from now on, it would truly be a miracle!

Ding!

When the countdown on Jiang Yan's personal panel reached [00:00], the rose-colored screen slowly receded.

Jiang Yan rolled off Yu Xiu’s body, wrapped the blanket around himself, and turned to the two "Yu Xius" glaring at him. He said, “I’m going to sleep, don’t disturb me.”

The two “Yu Xius” exchanged a look, then reluctantly lay on either side of Jiang Yan, with Yu Xiu tucking the blanket around him.

Looking at Jiang Yan’s breathing gradually evening out, both of them kissed Jiang Yan gently on the forehead.

Jiang Yan was exhausted.

From last night until now, Jiang Yan hadn’t had a good night’s sleep.

Jiang Yan was really tired—physically and mentally drained!

He was inherently a lazy person, and in his more than twenty years of life, he had never truly "struggled," not even during the middle and high school exams.

Even in games, because of his good luck, he usually drew characters that allowed him to just "lie flat," like “sheep,” “gods,” and so on, characters that required no effort to move.

But in this dungeon, he felt like he had endured all the hardships he had never faced in his life!

So, he had to finish this dungeon immediately!

Thankfully, this wasn't a "timed dungeon," or else, like JianShe Road Private Hospital, where they would need to stay for seven days, he would have to team up with Tao Shi and the others to tear the dungeon apart.

“You really plan to sleep?!”

663 was shocked. “You sent Tao Shi and the others off with your stuff, and now you’re just trying to buy yourself time to sleep, right?!”

Jiang Yan chuckled lightly. “You’re getting smarter now!”

“I shouldn’t have expected so much from you!” 663 sighed. “I actually expected you to pull yourself together?”

“I’m the dumbest personal system in this world!”

“I won’t expect anything from you anymore. You—”

“Enough!” Jiang Yan interrupted impatiently.

He was dead tired, but this noisy personal system just wouldn’t stop blabbering.

“I’ll finish this game in my own way. Now I need to sleep. Can you shut up?” Jiang Yan’s voice returned to its usual neutral tone, neither happy nor sad.

663 asked curiously, “I really don’t understand what you’re doing! What exactly are you trying to do?”

“You didn’t even get the Mountain God card. How are you going to finish the game? What if a player or NPC with the Mountain God card tries to oppose you, what will you do?”

“And why can you control the Red Ghost Lady?! I didn’t know you had that skill!”

“Not control. We’re friends.” Jiang Yan replied casually.

“Friends?!”

663’s voice rose. “I’ve been a personal system for almost two thousand years, and I never knew real people or NPCs could be friends with system bosses.”

Jiang Yan was getting more impatient. “After being a personal system for two thousand years, you’re still just a low-level one. Have you ever reflected on yourself?”

663: "...."

The two fell into silence for a while.

Jiang Yan said, “I don’t have the Mountain God card, so naturally, I know who has it. As for the Red Ghost Lady, yes, we’re friends, I suppose?”

“But how do you know?” 663 asked, clearly confused.

“I need to sleep now,” Jiang Yan said without answering the question. “Don’t bother me until I wake up. I still have to deal with some visitors later.”

“Visitors? Who?” 663 asked, still puzzled.

Jiang Yan nonchalantly replied, “I don’t know. Who knows who will come?”

663 racked his brain, trying to figure it out.

Jiang Yan lazily yawned, then added, “By the way, I wasn’t trying to mock you earlier. I apologize.”

663 was taken aback. Oh! This guy can apologize?

He answered in a magnanimous tone, “It’s fine! We’re all good! I’m your personal system after all.”

“Yeah, so here’s my sincere suggestion.” Jiang Yan said.

“After working tirelessly for two thousand years and still being a junior employee, are you sure you don’t want to switch games?”

663: ...

Jiang Yan ignored the now-silent personal system and turned over, snuggling into Yu Xiu’s embrace.

He pressed his face against Yu Xiu’s warm chest and nuzzled a bit, his voice weak and raspy as he said, “My back hurts.”

His slightly hoarse voice sounded soft, almost like he was acting spoiled.

The person in front of him pulled him closer into an embrace, while the person behind him snuggled up as well.

“Yan Yan, be good, sleep now.”

Jiang Yan didn’t know who whispered that, but soon, two pairs of warm, long hands appeared at his waist, gently rubbing it without complaint.

He let out a soft, contented sigh, like a cat, then fell into a deep sleep.

Compared to Jiang Yan, who was comfortably lying on a soft, warm bed, nestled in his husband’s arms, the players’ situation was much more miserable!

1. Break the curse with the Flowers on the Red Ghost Lady’s grave and the water from the Fushou Well.

2. Find the Red Ghost Lady’s child.

3. Find the Mountain God.

Compared to the latter two, the difficulty of the first task was clearly much lower.

After all, there seemed to be no clues about the Red Ghost Lady’s child, and as for the Mountain God... previously, everyone had assumed that "Mountain God" should be Jiang Yan, but now they knew that Jiang Yan wasn’t actually the "Mountain God."

So, in order to find the "Mountain God," the players would inevitably have to engage in a "lone wolf kill."

To avoid affecting subsequent tasks, all the players unanimously decided to first cooperate and head to the Red Ghost Lady’s grave, since breaking the curse on their bodies was even more urgent for the "paper-ghost" players.

However, finding the Red Ghost Lady’s grave wasn’t easy!

It was unclear if it had been too long since her death, but even the Red Ghost Lady herself didn’t know the exact location of her grave!

She couldn’t speak, only pointing in a general direction with her hand—towards a high mountain covered in dense vegetation.

Finding a small grave in such a large mountain was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack!

Cao Youfeng, watching Tao Shi and Yu Jia, who were using a compass and their knowledge of feng shui to deduce the grave’s location, couldn’t help but mutter:

“Such a good ghost marriage dungeon, why does it feel like we’re tomb raiding instead?”

“It’s all that damn Jiang Yan’s fault!” Fang Rui, sitting in a corner, angrily pulled at the weeds around him.

Ling Kang and Jian Hou squatted beside him, looking at the "paper-ghost" body that was slowly being eaten away by the sparks of the curse, both feeling anxious.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t do much at the moment, and just staying out of the way and not holding back the experts was already a good enough contribution.

Hearing this, the black-haired young man, whose body was wrapped in bandages, crossed his arms and leaned back against an old tree, speaking to the three who were still focused on the curse, "Jiang Yan is just playing the game according to his own pace. If you don’t want to follow his rhythm, just don’t listen to him!"

"Don’t listen?! He placed a curse on us! If we don’t listen, we’ll die, won’t we?!" Ling Kang broke down.

Cao Yufeng sneered. "If you tear apart this dungeon world, his curse will be useless, right? The game will end, won’t it?"

Ling Kang paused, clenching his fists in frustration.

Tear apart this world?

What a joke! How could he, a player barely above level A, tear apart an S-rank dungeon?!

Even S-rank players couldn’t do that!

Except for top-tier players, of course.

Ling Kang unwillingly glanced at Tao Shi and Yu Jia, who were discussing the feng shui direction with the compass, then looked at Cao Youfeng, whose face wore a look of disdain.

He couldn’t understand why, even though the three of them could tear apart the dungeon and end this absurd game, they—three top-tier players—were still following Jiang Yan, a mere C-rank NPC’s orders.

After finishing the tasks Jiang Yan gave them, why were they obediently carrying on with the task?

Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng could be excused, as they were clearly protecting Jiang Yan. But Yu Jia, who clearly didn’t like Jiang Yan and had murderous intent toward him, why was he so obediently following Jiang Yan’s commands?

Why?

Why was he also so compliant?

Ling Kang wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand. Tao Shi felt the same confusion.

He didn’t understand why Yu Jia wanted to kill Jiang Yan, nor did he understand why Yu Jia, despite not liking Jiang Yan, was still dutifully following the “tasks” provided by Jiang Yan.

Was it because of the “paper curse”?

Don’t be ridiculous!

As the vice president of the "Puppet Workshop" faction, how could Yu Jia, with his strength, be affected by a curse of this level?

Under a towering ancient tree with dense branches, Yu Jia appeared as small as an ant. He held the feng shui compass and pointed it around. The hair strand that the Red Ghost Lady had given them burned at the center of the compass, turning into a wisp of blue smoke.

“Geng Wu, fire, south.”

“Ding.”

[Item: Divine Staff]

Tao Shi pulled out the "Divine Staff" and waved it in the air. The staff, emitting a golden glow, spun once in mid-air, and then the staff pointed in a particular direction.

“It’s here,” Tao Shi said.

“Found it?!” Cao Youfeng exclaimed, rushing over to Tao Shi’s side.

Hearing this, the other three players stood up and walked over.

“Shall we go now?” one of them asked.

Tao Shi reached out and ruffled the brown, fluffy head of one of the players, “Don’t rush. Let’s rest first.”

The player froze for a second, then took a step back, “Don’t be so disrespectful. I’m your senior.”

Tao Shi smiled and didn’t respond.

“Let’s rest by the tree for an hour first,” Yu Jia said, putting away the compass and addressing Fang Rui and Ling Kang.

They nodded and sat back down.

After all, this mountain had no signs of development. The ancient trees were thick, and the underbrush was a maze of thorns and bushes. There wasn’t even a simple forest path. Looking around, the dense foliage and sharp thorns stretched endlessly.

After a whole night of struggle without rest, and now aimlessly searching through this wild mountain, the three high-tier players could endure it. But the other players, especially the new ones, couldn’t handle it.

The six of them sat under a huge locust tree, several yards in diameter, to rest. This game was strange, or maybe people were strange—just moments ago, two opposing groups had been at each other’s throats, but now they were cooperating due to shared interests.

Of course, not everyone could cooperate. There were plenty of backstabbing, player-killing, and treasure-stealing incidents in the game.

However, Tao Shi, Cao Youfeng, and Yu Jia—three top-tier players—had long seen through the game’s nature.

On the surface, they were earning points to exchange for wishes from the main deity, but in reality, they were a group of workers who had signed contracts with the deity, working for them.

Ordinary work exchanged time for money, but in this game that transcended time, they exchanged time for obsession.

Though they often found themselves in hostile situations in the game, with rival guilds competing against each other, their private relationships were actually quite good.

In fact, outside of the game, they considered each other friends, occasionally meeting up for a meal or a drink. After all, “work” was “work,” but life was life.

The fact that they had reached this level meant none of them could be considered normal people. Of course, a group of monsters could only be friends with other monsters.

The first thing Yu Jia did upon sitting down was take out a cigarette from his pocket.

Tao Shi was about to ask for one as well, but suddenly thought of something and quickly stopped Yu Jia from reaching for his lighter.

“What’s wrong? It’s the last one. You still want to snatch it from my mouth?” Yu Jia, cigarette in his mouth, glanced at Tao Shi with a mocking smile.

Tao Shi pointed upward, where the dense canopy of the towering ancient tree formed a giant green lid, blocking out the sky completely. Even though it was noon, not a single ray of sunlight could penetrate.

The only light was from the floating [Divine Staff], illuminating the surroundings.

“This is a deep mountain, smoking here could easily cause a fire,” Tao Shi said.

Yu Jia, feeling confused, replied, “If we burn this dungeon, wouldn’t it be cleaner and quicker? Just end the game directly!”

Tao Shi responded, “Nonsense! You’d be leading the younger players astray. Have you seen the percentage of underage players in the game? Do you have any idea how popular you are? What if some minors in the real world mimic this?”

“Burning the dungeon doesn’t matter, but what if we burn the mountain?” Tao Shi added.

“Heh! Didn’t expect you, Tao Da, to have a sense of social responsibility?” Yu Jia mocked.

“I’ve always had a strong sense of morality,” Tao Shi replied, ruffling his hair.

In the dim, ancient forest, his blue hair stood out, the most eye-catching presence among them.

[Haha! So, the so-called sense of social responsibility means you can’t smoke in front of children, but it’s fine to kill in front of them?]

[Speaking of which, I feel like Tao Da has softened a lot in the past couple of years.]

[Yeah! Tao Da used to storm through dungeons without caring, but now he’s playing it so straight and narrow.]

[When Tao Da first joined the game, he’d cut down a child with a single strike.]

Yu Jia looked at the arrogant person in front of him and said, “So, Tao Da, what about the time when you were still underage and led the way by smoking? How do you explain that?”

“You already said it, that was when I was underage! I was just young and didn’t know better. It was your group that led me astray!” Tao Shi replied.

“Enough already! Just because I smoke doesn’t mean I lead minors astray. Jiang Yan is playing restricted content in the dungeon, yet he doesn’t lead minors astray?” Yu Jia grumbled, but he still put his cigarette back into the cigarette box.

[Hahaha! Yu Da has a mouth, but his actions are very righteous.]

[Jiang Yan says: Don’t CUE me!]

[Jiang Yan asks: How do you know I just entered an adult-only scene?]

[Hehe! This isn’t Jiang Yan’s fault, right? The minors are protected, and we adults also want to see something exciting!]

“Hey, why are you so against Jiang Yan?” Tao Shi casually asked.

The other players turned their attention toward them.

Yu Jia answered, “I’m not against him. Personally, I have no issue with him.”

“Not personally, but it’s about the guild’s business, right?” Tao Shi replied.

Yu Jia didn’t hide it: “Exactly! Your [Dawn Guild] has a mission in this dungeon, and our [Puppet Workshop] naturally has one too.”

Puppet Workshop?

Tao Shi’s gaze tightened. What reason did that Guild have to kill Jiang Yan?

Could it be because of the “Shadow Emperor” Sang Luan?

But what reason would Sang Luan have to kill Jiang Yan?

Jealousy?

Was it because Jiang Yan, as a real NPC, attracted too much attention, and Sang Luan was worried Jiang Yan would eventually surpass him?

That didn’t seem right! Based on Tao Shi’s private interactions with Sang Luan, Sang Luan was definitely not such a petty person.

Moreover, Jiang Yan was indeed the most eye-catching real NPC in the past two years, but he wasn’t the strongest or the most outstanding. On the contrary, Jiang Yan’s foundation could be considered very poor!

Not only that, but he also lacked ambition! Jiang Yan would definitely become a high-level player in the future, but based on his basic stats and drive, he posed almost no threat to the “Shadow Emperor” at all.

What reason would Sang Luan have to kill him?

Yu Jia could tell Tao Shi was struggling, so he said, “I know what you’re thinking. Our leader has no issue with him either. But…”

Yu Jia’s eyes darkened: “He must die.”

“Why?!” Cao Youfeng exclaimed loudly.

Yu Jia shrugged: “I can’t say too much about it, but haven’t you [Dawn Guild] held a related collective meeting yet?”

“What related meeting?” Cao Youfeng asked, confused.

“Seems like Black Spade K hasn’t told you?” Yu Jia looked at Tao Shi.

“Sigh! He’s got such bad procrastination. But after this dungeon, you should hold a related collective meeting.”

Tao Shi was now curious: “What’s something I don’t even know?”

Yu Jia smiled: “Don’t rush, I only just found out.”

His gaze turned serious, and he spoke meaningfully, “When you find out, you’ll probably want to kill Jiang Yan even more than I do.”

Tao Shi’s eyes narrowed.

Upon hearing this, Jian Hou, who had been leaning next to Cao Youfeng, subtly tightened his sleeve.

At this moment, Yu Jia’s voice rang out again: “But I’m curious about the personal grudges between those few and Jiang Yan!”

Transparent [Puppet Strings] wrapped around his slender fingers, and his gaze shifted to Jian Hou and the others, his expression full of suspicion. “The Puppet Strings can magnify the greatest malice someone has toward their target.”

“The three of you seem to have a shared malice toward Jiang Yan, and it’s all jealousy!”

At these words, Tao Shi and Cao Youfeng also turned their gaze toward Jian Hou and the others.

“Jealous? Heh! Who in this game isn’t jealous of him?” Fang Rui smiled bitterly.

[This is true.]

[I used to not believe in fate, but after seeing Jiang Yan, I can’t help but lament how twisted fate is!]

[Especially when I was chased all over the dungeon by NPCs, starving and desperate, I thought about Jiang Yan probably living it up in the dungeon! It pissed me off!]

[Let’s be honest! Without the main god, Jiang Yan is just a useless waste!]

“Just because of this, it doesn’t explain the intense jealousy,” Yu Jia said slowly.

After a brief silence, Fang Rui spoke up: “Xiao Ling and I encountered Jiang Yan in a B-rank dungeon before.”

“Back then, Jiang Yan was just an unknown rookie NPC, but his luck was already pretty good. He drew a character like the one he has now.”

Fang Rui would never forget, it was a survival dungeon set in an ancient castle.

It was also Xiao Ling’s first dungeon after joining the game.

At that time, Fang Rui had already been through one or two dungeons and was naturally doing his best to take care of his inexperienced friend.

But for his level at that time, the B-rank dungeon was really quite tough.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just him struggling. The castle had limited resources, and since it was a survival dungeon, all the players and real NPCs inside were living in a harsh, cutthroat environment, just trying to survive.

In that cold, snow-covered ancient castle, players killed each other over resources, while real NPCs tried to maintain their personas while struggling to gather some resources to stay alive.

But there was one exception.

The castle’s master, the blue-eyed countess—Jiang Yan.

“Achoo!”

Jiang Yan, who had been lying on an ornate wooden bed, nestled in his husband’s embrace, sneezed in his sleep.

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