Playing the Foolish Beauty in a Deadly Game - Chapter 16: How Could You Be with an NPC?
The system probably wanted to remind of something, producing a faint and meaningless sound of electric current. It sounded like someone had sucked in a breath in anger but ended up saying nothing. Thus, when Yan Ting and his men kicked open the restroom door, they saw the brown-haired man and a female passenger NPC inside, both disheveled, flushed, and sweating profusely. The female NPC, overwhelmed with shame and anger, hastily wrapped clothes around herself: “Are you all crazy? Don’t you know how to knock?”
The brown-haired man, in a fit of frustration, dressed himself while cursing everyone for spoiling his fun. The commotion also caught the attention of other players and NPCs. Already on edge, they breathed a sigh of relief at the misunderstanding, yet were also annoyed at being startled. Doctor player Jun Shuyang seemed to have witnessed something that shattered his worldview: “You, how could you… be with an NPC like that?”
The brown-haired man zipped up his pants and spoke lewdly: “So what? Are female NPCs not women? NPCs are even better; no need to take responsibility.” Their conversation was audible only to the players and Lin Qiao, while other NPCs heard information altered by the game. Essentially, the doctor was accusing the brown-haired man of taking advantage, and the latter retorted that it was consensual. The other NPC passengers were unfazed, as survival in the apocalypse was tough, and some women sought men for protection to live better.
The doctor player was left speechless, his mouth agape, and he stole glances at Lin Qiao. At that moment, Lin Qiao, blushing, apologized: “I’m sorry, I heard crying and thought someone was in danger, so I called for help.”
Upon hearing this, the brown-haired man cursed: “So it was you who spoiled my fun. You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You little hypocrite, pretending to be innocent? Didn’t Yan Ting…”
“Enough,” Yan Ting’s voice was calm but deeper and more authoritative than the brown-haired man’s. His face was visibly stern, and his eyes, unlike those of ordinary people, coldly fixed on the brown-haired man, as if he would snap his neck if he spoke another word. The brown-haired man licked his lips and stopped targeting Lin Qiao, but continued to mutter curses and insinuations.
Perhaps because of Lin Qiao’s “male lover” status, other passengers couldn’t help but whisper among themselves: “He seems innocent, but is he really?” “Probably an act, wasting our worry. Let’s just go back to sleep.” “He meant well; who knew it would be something like that.”
Lin Qiao nervously clutched his sweater and, after hesitating, spoke up: “Someone really is in trouble. I haven’t seen that engineer.” On the surface, he was speaking to Yan Ting, but in reality, he was addressing the players. The players indeed became anxious. Zhong Minglang scanned the area, and at that moment, the engineer player emerged from behind a few passengers, looking much more stable mentally, though still lifeless, which was a significant improvement over his previous paranoid state.
He swallowed and emphasized, “I’ve been here the whole time, nowhere else.” The brown-haired man, growing impatient, spoke rudely to Lin Qiao: “Come on, we don’t have time for your games. Just because you say someone’s in trouble doesn’t mean it’s true. Where is this person, and how do you even know someone is in trouble?”
Lin Qiao couldn’t reveal his identity, but he was certain there was something off about the engineer player. He remembered clearly that Zhu Shaocheng wasn’t in the economy class. Just as Lin Qiao was about to guide everyone to look for clues in the restroom, the bodyguard player, Zhong Minglang, took action first. He entered the restroom, looked around, and then squatted down: “There’s some unidentified liquid here.”
The brown-haired man said, “That could be mine…”
“Shut up, you’re disgusting!” The female lover player clearly realized something was wrong: “With such obvious traces, how could you not notice after being in the restroom for so long?”
There were a few drops of black liquid on the ground, resembling thick asphalt. Zhong Minglang wiped it with a tissue and brought it to his nose; it had a meaty scent, which reminded him of something unpleasant, like the black graffiti. The brown-haired man muttered, “Too caught up in the moment to notice. What the hell is it?”
In Lin Qiao’s mind, the system’s cold voice rang out: [Cockpit.] At the same time, Yan Ting also seemed to realize something and said to the man in black suit behind him: “Go check the cockpit.”
“Sure,” Lin Qiao was satisfied; he no longer needed to find ways to get everyone to check on the captain. The flight attendant player followed the others’ gestures and went along. Soon, she stumbled out, unable to hold back and retched violently. The man in black suit, holding a gun and extremely on guard, announced in a tense state: “There’s a monster on the plane.”
Zhong Minglang immediately followed Yan Ting to the cockpit. Lin Qiao glanced at the engineer player and then pulled the man in black suit beside him: “Could you please keep an eye on that gentleman?”
The man in black suit looked down, raised an eyebrow. Lin Qiao added sheepishly, “Please?” The man in black suit nodded, and Lin Qiao quickly followed Yan Ting. As soon as they entered the cockpit, they smelled a burnt meaty scent. The captain’s body was still in the pilot’s seat, but it had been corroded beyond recognition.
The system indicated that a player was involved in the incident, but the one who died was the captain. Lin Qiao had an unpleasant suspicion that made him involuntarily grip Yan Ting’s fingers tighter. Yan Ting didn’t struggle free; instead, he had no intention of concealing the news. He disposed of the captain’s body, and the players took over the task, searching for clues on the captain’s corpse. They weren’t too shocked, partly because they already knew the plane would have problems, and partly because there was a man in black suit who could fly the plane.
The female internet celebrity observed carefully: “It’s strange; the fatal wound wasn’t from corrosion but from the cut on the neck.” “But it definitely has something to do with the black graffiti. There’s no corrosive liquid on the plane, and the captain didn’t make any noise.” “The question is, if it was the black graffiti, why bother with the cut on the neck?”
Yan Ting had already announced the captain’s death and began organizing a search for the black shadow among the people on the plane. The passengers were terrified and dared not be alone. Everyone knew they couldn’t panic and had to find a way to locate the black graffiti. “With so many of us, can’t we deal with just one of them?”
“How do you know it’s just one?”
“If there were more, would we still be fine? They would have eaten us by now, right?”
Unfortunately, no matter how hard they searched, there was no trace of the black graffiti. The atmosphere grew increasingly uneasy. If they couldn’t find the black shadow, the plane would no longer be safe, which would be a disaster for everyone.
“I know where it is,” the brown-haired man pointed his gun at Lin Qiao, even more arrogantly than when he had falsely accused Lin Qiao of leaking information to the passengers: “You kept saying someone was in trouble, and it turns out someone really is.”
“The black shadows become stronger and darker when exposed to light.”
“Why don’t you strip naked and let everyone shine a light on you?”
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