Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Spoiled Little Dogs Have the Best Fate.

Ning Rong’s tone was very calm, but the livestream audience was far too nosy, endlessly discussing it.

They practically wanted to analyze one sentence of hers into dozens of different meanings.

[This is Big Sister’s first time sending out a friendship request!]

[At first, I assumed the two of them were in a competitive relationship, but now… being friends isn’t bad either.]

Uncle Zhong coughed lightly.

The young girl’s eyes darted around, looking here and there.

Compared to the two teammates, the other person directly involved reacted rather indifferently. He said casually, “Sure.”

Clearly, he did not take the matter too seriously.

Ning Rong nodded. “Then can I temporarily borrow your skill?”

Everyone: ???

[That’s it? That’s it?]

[I’m actually not surprised at all.]

[Big Sister isn’t Chi Juan. But the love battlefield will probably still happen eventually—just not now.]

Only then did the originally uninterested 01 become somewhat interested.

She said she wanted to be friends with him just to borrow his skill? She did not genuinely want to be friends with him?

The question was, how could a skill be borrowed?

Was it related to her initial skill?

01 touched his chin. “Borrowed means returned?”

Ning Rong answered firmly, “Borrowed means returned.”

The laziness visibly lessened from 01, replaced by a bit more seriousness.

“All right then.”

The moment he gave that approval, Ning Rong’s skill Everyone Wants to Be Friends With Me displayed successful activation and entered a long cooldown period.

After borrowing 01’s skill Key Information, she did not hesitate and directly activated it.

Very quickly, she received the clue—

[Clearance Keyword — Shipwreck.]

01 had been staring at Ning Rong the whole time, so naturally he noticed the subtle change in her expression. He asked, “What was the key information?”

Ning Rong replied, “Shipwreck.”

Shipwreck?

But their current activity range was only around the villa. They could not even see the sea, and there was very little information inside the villa.

How were they supposed to look for clues about a shipwreck…

Just as everyone thought that, the young girl suddenly cried out, “The unlocked map got bigger!”

The scenery that had originally been covered in dense fog and remained locked was revealed one by one before them.

Through the villa’s wide transparent floor-to-ceiling windows, Ning Rong saw the endless blue sky not far away, as well as the deep blue sea.

Suddenly seeing such pure beauty inside a horror game, Ning Rong was also quite surprised for a moment.

The young girl said cheerfully, “Your skill is so useful! Captain’s skill still has more than ten hours of cooldown left. I didn’t expect you could actually copy Captain’s skill.”

Copy?

It was not.

It was merely skill sharing between friends.

But Ning Rong did not take the initiative to explain anything, letting the young girl and the others misunderstand.

Zhou Yujing, however, knew that Ning Rong’s skill had nothing at all to do with copying.

But that was a secret known only to Ning Rong herself, and to him as her boyfriend.

Naturally, others had no right to know it.

Chapter 37 Flirty Puppy Has the Best Life.

Sure enough, after hearing the game's clearance keyword from Ning Rong, Uncle Zhong was clearly surprised.

As expected, a player who entered an A-rank instance before even leaving newbie protection could not possibly be simple.

Of course, the Chi Juan group they met earlier was an exception. That group thought they had entered a B-rank instance and had not prepared for an A-rank one at all.

Uncle Zhong let out a breath and clenched his fist.

"Since the map has been unlocked, let's hurry and search for clues."

Ning Rong and the others had no objections.

【This game is really hard. They actually had to unlock a new map through a keyword.】

【If they hadn't obtained the word "shipwreck" through a skill, who the hell could connect that to a villa?】

【You could say the first unlocked map had absolutely nothing to do with a shipwreck.】

【Isn't that why they say a player's upper limit depends on their skill? With ordinary skills, you'd never survive a game this difficult.】

【Exactly. If they don't cooperate, this game will be very hard to clear.】

【But Big Sister's new skill is really amazing! She directly got the keyword "shipwreck." So cool!】

【Even Porridge approves of the skill. How could it not be good?】

The "Porridge" the audience mentioned was the enthusiastic and lively young girl in 01's team.

As soon as the group left the villa, the sea breeze blew over carrying the salty scent of the ocean, and the whole environment became vivid and bright.

Ning Rong had already gained some understanding of the area around the villa. Earlier, she and Zhou Yujing had searched the swimming pool and the small garden. At that time, she only felt the surroundings were oppressive and cramped. But after the nearby map was unlocked, the field of view suddenly became wide open.

The villa had been built not far from the sea. Nearby were many villas with similar designs. Clearly, this was a seaside villa district.

When Ning Rong looked into the distance, she saw many NPCs sunbathing on the beach, and others swimming in the sea.

A slight smile appeared on Uncle Zhong's steady face.

"NPCs have appeared."

【Not easy. NPCs finally showed up.】

【Honestly, when there isn't a single NPC in the game, the whole atmosphere feels dead and lifeless.】

【Although NPCs sometimes trigger death conditions and take players' lives, when there are no NPCs at all, players probably feel even more terrified.】

Compared with those NPCs, 01 was actually more interested in Ning Rong's skill.

Unfortunately, matters concerning skills were too private. It really wasn't easy to ask. And even if he asked, she might not give a truthful answer.

01 glanced at Ning Rong.

"Are you with the National Team?"

Ning Rong observed the NPCs as she replied,

"No."

"But my boyfriend is."

01 gave an oh.

【Big Sister can't go three sentences without mentioning Puppy. Puppy is visibly very happy.】

【If he had a tail, it would probably be wagging wildly right now.】

【I'm kind of shipping them now!】

Originally, 01 had not been sure of Zhou Yujing's identity, but after meeting Chi Juan on the 2222 timeline, he understood.

After all, those two newcomers who rashly charged into an A-rank instance were extremely conspicuous. Other than them, there probably weren't any others who fit the description.

He did not bring up meeting Chi Juan earlier.

Matters of romance were better handled by the people involved. As a senior, he would not speak carelessly.

At first, he suspected Chi Juan entering the A-rank instance was her personal action. But she had two teammates with her.

Since she had teammates, their leader definitely knew about it.

He personally approved of teammates supporting one another. Every player was important to humanity. If teammates could rely on each other, that was worth encouraging.

But if personal selfish desires were mixed into that behavior, then he did not support it.

01 continued,

"Any interest in joining the National Team?"

Ning Rong asked back flatly, "Are you HR?" Otherwise why ask so many questions?

01 froze slightly, then laughed.

"No, but I can be."

Ning Rong said, "I still have some matters to handle first. After I deal with them, I'll consider joining the National Team."

Hearing that, 01 did not ask further.

The young girl said cheerfully, "Captain, Uncle Zhong, and the newcomer are all in skill cooldown right now. Leave investigating the shipwreck to me! I'm especially good at this kind of thing!"

01 was obviously very confident in her ability.

"Go ahead."

With Porridge handling the investigation, Ning Rong was rarely free for a moment.

She and Zhou Yujing sat on the beach and enjoyed a short period of relaxation.

She watched Porridge in the distance, darting among all kinds of NPCs like a little bird. It was obvious that she was completely in her element there.

Zhou Yujing leaned closer and used his hand to tuck her windblown hair behind her ear.

"What are you thinking about?"

Ning Rong withdrew her gaze and said, "I've changed my impression of the National Team members a little."

There were no shortage of reliable members in the National Team.

It was just that some of the ones she had encountered before had crooked values. But normal people should still be the majority.

The three National Team members before her were clearly determined to help all players in the same instance clear the game together.

They were reliable and had a sense of responsibility.

Zhou Yujing was silent for a while, then said, "Rongrong, Chi Cheng abused his skill False Words in reality, making everyone mistakenly believe I didn't have a girlfriend, and kept trying to pair me with Chi Juan."

"I secretly contacted members of Team 26 before, and got in touch with Team 26's captain. But if I want to report Chi Cheng, I need evidence."

"So before this, I reached a preliminary cooperation with Gu Yu."

"Rongrong, Chi Juan and I have no relationship at all."

Hearing Puppy explain in such a wronged tone, Ning Rong reached out and touched his face.

"I know."

Zhou Yujing covered her hand with his own, the warmth of his palm slowly passing onto the back of her hand. His black eyes stared firmly at her.

"Will you abandon me?"

Ning Rong was slightly stunned, then gave a definite answer.

"No."

Only then did faint smiles spread through Zhou Yujing's eyes. He rubbed lightly against her palm.

【A clingy puppy has the best life.】

【I'm shipping them!】

【Players on the other timelines are going crazy or dying, while these two are dating here! This is insane! Sure enough, anyone who went to the wrong timeline became a little crazy.】

【What nonsense are you saying upstairs? This is clearly clearing up a misunderstanding!】

Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing had only chatted for a short while when Porridge returned confidently.

They stood up and joined 01's group, then listened to Porridge report what she found.

Porridge said while panting, "I found out! Half a year ago, a family of three died in the sea. No survivors."

Uncle Zhong smiled.

"What you found out should be more than just that, right?"

Porridge proudly lifted her chin.

"Of course."

She had great confidence in her own abilities.

She did not keep them guessing and said directly,

"I also found out that first, a little girl fell into the sea. Then her older brother, who was closest to her, went to save her. But the waves were too strong, and before long both of them were swallowed."

"After their parents discovered they were drowning, they also jumped into the water to save them."

At this point in the story, the players could already guess what happened next.

01 said lazily, "In the end, only the little girl survived."

Porridge nodded hard.

"That's right!"

Ning Rong continued, "When we met the little girl earlier, she said she had been abandoned by her parents and older brother."

Clearly, the little girl had lied.

But why did she lie?

Was there another possibility—that she had not lied on purpose at all?

Zhou Yujing guessed, "Based on the game's title, could it be that the one with amnesia is the little girl? In order to save her, her parents and older brother died one after another, and in the end only she survived. Because of psychological trauma, she lost part of her memory, causing the shipwreck to become a different story in her mind?"

She did not want to remember that her parents and brother died for her.

So she lost part of her memory, and filled in that missing section herself.

In her memory, she had been abandoned by her parents and brother.

They were the ones who did not want her.

But in that version of memory, her family was still alive. They simply were not by her side. Somewhere she did not know, they were still living well.

Because the incident happened suddenly, the villa still retained the appearance of when the family left.

The children's picture book left open.

The cute swim ring in the pool.

The bedsheets neatly spread on the beds...

It was as if the villa's owners had only gone out for a short while.

But in reality, it had been their final farewell with the little girl.

The instant Zhou Yujing finished speaking, a prompt sounded simultaneously in the minds of Ning Rong and the others.

【Congratulations, players, for completing the main quest and successfully uncovering the story that happened in the villa. Players may choose—

1: Leave the game.

2: Accept side quest—eliminate the little girl's resentment.】

【As expected, after team cooperation, even an A-rank instance isn't that hard.】

【That depends on who is cooperating with whom.】

【Anyone who cooperates with Chi Juan will only get stabbed in the back.】

【What did Chi Juan do now?】

【She has two tokens that can let her return to 2216, but there are three people in her team. Xu Yan still doesn't have a token. Most likely she's going to be sacrificed.】

【There are no other tokens in the 2216 map?】

【Nope. The number of tokens is far fewer than the number of players. In other words, some players are destined to become cannon fodder unless they have reliable skills or strong items.】

01 said lazily, "The random items given after completing side quests in A-rank instances are pretty useful. Want to do it together?"

From what Ning Rong knew, items like the one Chi Juan used last time to directly leave the game were not sold in the shop. They could only be obtained by clearing games.

The further into the game one went, the more useful items could mostly only be obtained from inside the game itself.

She gave a slight nod.

"Okay."

While Ning Rong, Zhou Yujing, and the others stayed behind to do the side quest, a new announcement suddenly appeared on the player forum.

And the one who released the notice was the game itself.

【Dear players:

Hello.

Are you having fun in the game? Are you enjoying yourselves?

The game's third version update will be completed soon.

To make the game more interesting, faction gameplay is now being added.

Blue Faction: Tyrant.

Red Faction: Benevolent Monarch.

Each red and blue side has five Crown Princes. If a Crown Prince dies in the game or in reality, the identity transfers.

If a Blue Crown Prince is the first to complete the Path of Tyranny, the game will fully descend, and every person will become a player, including babies and the elderly.

If a Red Crown Prince is the first to complete the Path of Benevolence, the game will leave this small world and allow this world to return to peace.

Initial Crown Prince selection method: Random.

Among the ten Crown Princes, whoever rises above the rest and is the first to complete the Crown Prince path will receive one chance to have a wish fulfilled.

Detailed gameplay will officially launch in two days.】

【What are you waiting for? Come and enjoy the game together!】

The moment this announcement came out, the entire player forum exploded!

The notice was not long, but within those short hundred or so words, the amount of information revealed was enormous!

It seemed the game was about to undergo a complete upheaval.