Npc 89

Jiang Yan had just spat out the flower petals in his mouth and hadn’t had a chance to steady his breath when, in the next moment, a group of elves surrounded him and began to fuss over him again.

They wiped his body with the juice from flowers, then dressed him in a complex, luxurious, and sacred white veil. After placing a flower crown, filled with gemstones, on his head, everything was finally done—

A beautiful little prince in a wedding dress appeared before everyone.

The manor fell silent for a moment, then erupted in enthusiastic exclamations:

"Oh my God! He is absolutely stunning!"

"I bet, even the archangels beside God can’t compare to our prince’s beauty!"

"He is the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen!"

"Heh!! I envy the King of the Empire!"

"It’s such a shame, our prince is leaving to become someone else’s husband!"

"Yeah! If I had known back in the academy..."

"Shush! Don’t mention the academy!"

"…"

Jiang Yan: "..."

The annoying voice mocked him, "Come on, smile! See, everyone’s praising how beautiful you are!"

"Beautiful my ass!" Jiang Yan gritted his teeth, nearly biting them into pieces.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he must have offended this main system somehow, which was why it was torturing him like this!

Or maybe, this main system was just a pure pervert!

Jiang Yan looked at the white lace gown adorned with pearls and diamonds, and a trace of disdain flickered across his usually calm blue eyes, as if he was on the verge of breaking down.

If it weren’t for that thing, Yu Xiu, turning into pieces in the dungeon, Jiang Yan would have suspected that the guy was deliberately tormenting him with the main system, just to satisfy his own strange fetishes in the game.

Unpleasant memories flashed through Jiang Yan’s mind—

In the bedroom, Yu Xiu held up an unappealing dress, a greedy smile plastered on his face as he closed in on him, step by step: “Just once, Yan Yan, just once! I promise it’s only once.”

Jiang Yan quickly shook his head, shaking off the inappropriate images in his mind.

The annoying voice, 663, sounded in his ears again: “I think you should take a look at your character profile now.”

Reluctantly, Jiang Yan opened his character profile—

Identity: Elf Kingdom’s Little Prince

Gender: Male

Personality: Fragile, Kind

Character Backstory: "Jiang Yan" is the most beautiful little prince in the Elf Kingdom. While studying at the Theological Academy, he met the then Crown Prince of the Empire. The two quickly fell in love, and after the Empire’s Crown Prince became the King of the Giant Kingdom, one month later, they decided to get married… (ps: The little prince’s personality changes drastically before and after graduation).

Personality Change?

Jiang Yan furrowed his brows. Why?

He was about to flip back through the profile, but found that this was all the content of his character profile.

“Is that it?” Jiang Yan looked at the text on the panel in disbelief. “Just this?”

663 replied, “Yep, that’s it.”

“Isn’t this a horror game?” Jiang Yan asked.

How could this character and backstory look like something out of a fairy tale?

“Every dungeon has its own theme, and the backstory and character setup for this dungeon are relatively simple!” 663 explained.

Simple?

Jiang Yan looked at the few short lines on his character profile, and the broadcast from the main system, heard earlier when the player drowned at the bottom of the flower pool, echoed in his ears.

A main task where a player dies immediately upon appearance—Is this simple?

Jiang Yan slightly furrowed his brows and continued asking, “Is there no reason for this personality change? Do I need to act it out?”

As soon as his voice fell, he heard a "ding" sound from his personal panel—

“Ding!”

[Real NPC: Jiang Yan, Dungeon Role: Soon-to-be Giant Bride, Elf Kingdom’s Little Prince]

[Key Line: School]

[Main Task: Play the role of the bride and complete the game’s main quest]

[Side Quest: Explore the little prince's past and understand the reasons behind his personality formation.]

Jiang Yan: "..."

Has the main system recently been writing reading comprehension questions?

Exploring and understanding the little prince’s personality?

What happened to the little prince’s personality?

[Fragile, Kind]

Sigh...

Jiang Yan looked at these four words and sighed helplessly.

It’s fine! This isn’t his first time playing the weak character; he’s quite good at portraying roles like this little sheep.

With that thought, Jiang Yan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, his usually indifferent blue eyes were now filled with a pitiful, fragile look.

Jiang Yan tugged at the hem of his dress and lowered his head, nervously responding to the surrounding praises that came like a tide: “Thank you all for your compliments.”

“Shu—”

The surroundings instantly fell silent.

Jiang Yan looked up, confused: “Is there… something wrong?”

“Of course, there’s a problem! I just didn’t expect your voice to be so melodious!”

“Your Highness Jiang Yan! Please forgive us for our earlier rudeness!”

“My goodness! Your Highness, you must come back to the Elf Manor often! We really can’t go without seeing you for too long…”

Jiang Yan listened to the surrounding elves' praises and let out a long breath. However, the next second, he heard a very familiar laugh

“Pfft! Hahaha!!!”

Jiang Yan’s brows involuntarily twitched as he followed the laughter, and sure enough, he found the head with a messy mop of hair and the face he had seen for over twenty years—Jian Hou.

“Hahahahaha! Yan Yan, you’ve got your day now!” Jian Hou laughed so hard he nearly fell over, and while laughing, he fumbled for his pocket: “Where’s my phone? Hahahahaha… I, I need to take a picture of your current look to commemorate this! Hahahaha…”

Jiang Yan: "..."

"Damn it... Why is Jian Hou in this dungeon too!"

I want to die... No! I want this guy to die.

Tao Shi patted Jian Hou, who was laughing so hard he couldn’t straighten up, and reminded him, “After leaving the dungeon, you can search for dungeon recaps on the forum.”

Jian Hou was delighted and stopped his actions: “Really? There's that function! I’m screenshotting this to use as my wallpaper!”

Jiang Yan: "..."

Seeing this, 663 couldn’t help but comfort Jiang Yan: “It’s okay, a lifetime passes quickly.”

Jiang Yan, expressionless: “Thank you.”

The old players circled Jiang Yan, sizing him up, chatting and laughing, but the new players stood off to the side, frozen and motionless.

The image of Zhu Ming being eliminated was still vivid in their minds—the fragrant flowers and the grassy blanket hiding countless eyes beneath it sent chills down their spines.

They now fully understood the rules and nature of this game. The only thing they were sure of was that beneath this dreamlike scene lurked terrifying monsters.

They would die for sure!

The new players stood there, sweating coldly, their breathing cautious.

There was only one exception—a rebellious young boy with colorful braided hair.

“This beautiful bride is a real NPC? Does that mean he's just like us, a real person?” the boy with colorful braids asked his personal system.

“Yes! Yes! And he’s not just any NPC! He’s Jiang Yan!!” the system 832 replied excitedly.

“Jiang Yan? His name is Jiang Yan? He...” The boy with colorful braids stared at the bride in white lace.

“Famous?! Of course! Let me tell you...” System 832 began a long-winded explanation of Jiang Yan’s past.

The light from the Elf Mother Tree circled Jiang Yan, dancing around him. His dark lashes cast delicate shadows over his porcelain-like face, and his blue eyes, hidden beneath fluttering lashes like butterfly wings, shimmered like gemstones.

The boy with the colorful braids was momentarily mesmerized.

“Got it?!”

System 832 finished recounting Jiang Yan’s glorious achievements but saw that his host had no response.

“Host?”

“Huh?” The boy with colorful braids snapped out of his daze.

“Did you hear what I just said?” System 832 asked.

“Yeah, yeah! I heard, he’s very special.” The boy with colorful braids answered dismissively.

“He’s more than special! If he can maintain this state, he’ll be like an immortal ancestor!” System 832 replied excitedly. “If you can get along with him...”

“Get along with him?” the boy with colorful braids asked.

“Right! I want to get along with him.”

Seeing this, system 832 was quite pleased.

Recently, the main system had been acting erratically, randomly pulling a large group of people into the game. This group was certainly passionate, but they had no knowledge nor had they actively made any requests to the gods. Therefore, they didn’t know him.

Hearing other colleagues in the workgroup complain about how these new players were completely stunned when they entered the game, system 832 was relieved.

These players didn’t even understand the game rules, let alone human speech! All they could do was cry, begging to go home.

As for 832, he felt lucky.

After all, the boy he was assigned to, while a bit rebellious in appearance, had a decent mental fortitude.

In this game, having a decent mental state was already enough to consider him a somewhat decent player! Moreover, this kid’s stats were considered excellent among the new players.

With this in mind, system 832 couldn’t help but feel excited!

Perhaps, he could nurture a big shot out of this kid?!

“I remember you just said that real NPCs in the game have less autonomy than players, right?” the boy with colorful braids asked.

“That’s right!” system 832 eagerly answered.

The boy with colorful braids continued, “So, players can treat real NPCs however they want, but real NPCs can’t do anything that goes against their character design, right?”

“Hmm... theoretically, that’s true,” system 832 said. “But I advise you not to casually offend those real NPCs, because...”

The boy with colorful braids interrupted, asking, “By the way, does the system oppose players dating real NPCs?”

System 832 replied, “Well... the system doesn’t oppose it, but...”

“Then that’s fine!” the boy with colorful braids interrupted again.

System 832 looked at his host, whose gaze was unwaveringly fixed on the bride surrounded by elves, looking like a divine being.

Was that... Jiang Yan?

System 832’s heart skipped a beat.

“Host, you don’t mean...” system 832 stammered.

“I like him!” the boy with colorful braids answered directly, interrupting the system.

“No! He’s acting out a character design, right?” the boy with colorful braids said, stroking his chin and playfully sizing up the fragile little prince. “I like this version of him in the dungeon! Tsk! If he wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t like him!”

System 832: “You, you, you’re crazy!! He’s Jiang Yan! He’s Jiang Yan!!!”

“So?” the boy with colorful braids asked, not understanding.

System 832 was nearly lost for words: “S-so... so that’s Jiang Yan! It’s Jiang Yan!!”

“So what?” The boy with colorful braids asked, puzzled.

System 832 was stunned by the question: “S-so... so that’s Jiang Yan! That’s Jiang Yan!!

The real NPC blatantly favored by the main god! The real NPC for whom the main system opened backdoors! The real NPC who seems to have cheats in hand! The real NPC whom the top-ranked players on the leaderboard are all fawning over!!

And his host... his host just said... what?!

System 832 felt that either his host was crazy or he himself was malfunctioning. Otherwise, how could he hear such an absurd statement from his host?

He must be malfunctioning, right?

Yes, that must be it!

However, in the next second, the words of his host made him wish his central control system would crash on the spot!

The young boy with colorful braids shrugged and said, “If your game prohibits players from dating NPCs, then fine. But I just want to have a relationship with him in this dungeon.”

System 832 was utterly devastated: “...”

The boy with colorful braids paid no attention to his personal system’s emotional turmoil. Right now, his eyes were fixed on the real NPC standing among the crowd, wearing an intricate and sacred white gown, resembling a divine figure.

So what if he’s just a real NPC?

What could someone restricted by the dungeon’s rules even do?

This game is inherently crazy, isn’t it?

“Survival of the fittest” is the fundamental rule of Jian, isn’t it?

As a player, how could he not have control over an NPC? Hah!

The boy with colorful braids glanced disdainfully at the other new players around him, including his own father, all shrinking their necks like quails.

Of course, he was different from these cannon fodder sent to die!

In the future, he would stand at the top of the player leaderboard!

As for Jiang Yan... he would definitely get him!

Just now, judging from the tone of his personal system, this Jiang Yan seemed to be quite extraordinary?

Then he must get him!

When that happens, he would undoubtedly become famous in the game!

Jiang Yan—he would be the first milestone in his path to becoming a king in this game!

Thinking of this, the boy with colorful braids looked at Jiang Yan with an even more greedy and unabashed gaze.

“Achoo!”

Jiang Yan shrugged and let out a small sneeze.

“Are you secretly cursing me?” Jiang Yan coldly questioned 663.

“Heh? Do I even need to do it secretly?” 663 replied.

Jiang Yan: “...”

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