The two words, strange yet familiar, seemed like a key, unlocking the locked memories, and many images flashed through Xin Meng’s mind.
Gray sky, kindergarten, thick blood, the killer’s sinister smile, and… You Yi…
He stumbled back a step, quickly being supported, and slowly turned his head. You Yi was silently looking at him, those inorganic brown eyes exactly the same as the ones in his memory, seemingly devoid of emotion, yet as if telling a thousand words.
“I…” Xin Meng wanted to speak but found his throat hoarse.
You Yi just looked at him, and after a while, he smiled slightly, “Do you remember now?”
After saying that, he stretched out his long arms and half-embraced him.
Xin Meng stared at him in a daze, “I… I remember when we first met… and also, Simon… is my… real name?”
You Yi raised an eyebrow, seemingly a bit surprised, but after thinking for a moment, he nodded, “That’s right.”
Xin Meng didn’t know what he was surprised about, perhaps it was because… he realized that You Yi hadn’t truly regained his memory.
Indeed, various complex images emerged in his mind. Xin Meng instinctively knew that those were his past, a forgotten past, but for the moment, he couldn’t string them together into a coherent line; he was still far from fully recovering his memory, at most just knowing many things he didn’t know before.
For example—
He and You Yi were not meeting for the first time in the zombie world.
In a certain timeline that he couldn’t recall, in a side quest related to the kindergarten, a perverted killer infiltrated, brutally slaughtering innocent children, and he was one of those fleeing in panic. As a player, You Yi accepted the mission to escort him to a safe location.
On the escape route, he, who had just begun to develop self-awareness, felt immense curiosity and reliance on You Yi, who always protected him behind or in his arms. Even after leaving that side quest, he instinctively chased after one quest after another, eventually moving You Yi to accept his pursuit and become his partner.
And then…
And then what?
He couldn’t remember.
He didn’t know why he had amnesia, or why You Yi didn’t tell him the truth.
“Could it be that I… am an NPC?” Xin Meng looked up at his lover, his innocent and helpless gaze melting hearts.
“…” You Yi ruffled his hair, not responding.
Upon realizing the situation here, Dou Dou and Jie Zi, who had been eavesdropping, became agitated. Dou Dou exclaimed, “How is that possible!”
“You clearly have a player card, how could you be an NPC!” Jie Zi also widened his eyes in disbelief, his muscles trembling in shock.
Just as Xin Meng was about to ask You Yi the reason for his amnesia, he was distracted by Jie Zi’s words and retorted with the same question, “You clearly are an NPC, yet you can get a player card. Why can’t I?”
“That’s different!” Dou Dou shouted without thinking, “We are the workers of this game… uh, uh, uh!”
Before he could finish, Jie Zi quickly covered his mouth, realizing he almost let something slip.
Xin Meng glanced at them lightly, “I know you are staff members, specifically fixing bugs in the game. For work, you occasionally play special NPC roles.”
“How do you know?” Jie Zi looked at him suspiciously, as if seeing him for the first time, “Could it be… could it be that you really are an NPC? But that doesn’t make sense! Even if the NPCs in this game are highly intelligent, they could never be exactly like real humans!”
He and Xin Meng had many “close encounters,” and even when in the same room, he never noticed anything unusual about the other, just that he was slightly calmer than normal. How could he possibly look non-human?
Because he had developed self-awareness.
This was something Xin Meng only answered in his heart and didn’t tell them. After all, the other party had already completed their mission, the source of the bug had disappeared, and they were about to leave for the next game. The truth of the matter and what kind of existence he was had nothing to do with them.
He was too lazy to explain, but it left Jie Zi and Dou Dou even more confused. Throughout this journey, they had cooperated with Xin Meng many times and were very clear about the differences between him and an NPC. Now to say he was an NPC? WTF?
Moreover, he had never heard of NPCs being able to play as players and complete the game!
What was going on?!
Suddenly, Jie Zi’s eyes lit up, and he asked urgently, “Is the bug discovered in the zombie game you?!”
That time he played the role of the villain boss in the game was actually because the system detected a bug occurring inside. He received a mission to fix it, but by then, all the player teams had already entered the game, and he couldn’t kick anyone out. The game was also very special, with no other living characters, only the villain boss could take his place.
After entering the game, he kept looking for the source of the bug but couldn’t find it. Later, he mixed into the player team as the plot developed, doing what the replaced NPC was supposed to do while continuing to investigate, but to no avail.
In the end, the players were about to clear the game, and once they did, he couldn’t stay in the game any longer. He thought this mission was destined to fail, but when he returned to the main god space, he found out that the mission had somehow been completed perfectly, or more accurately— the bug had suddenly disappeared on its own.
He was puzzled, but since it was in the past and the mission was completed, he didn’t pursue it further. Until now, recalling that Xin Meng was in the team at that time, and he was very likely an NPC, it all made sense!
An NPC turning into a player to play the game, could that not be a bug?!
But then why did the bug disappear again?
Could it be…
He remembered that Xin Meng had once said he was slowly losing his memory. Could there be some connection between this?
Although he wanted to immediately verify his guess, Xin Meng was actually also confused at this moment. His memory was incomplete; he had recovered some but still lost a large part. Even if he wanted to answer him, his mind was a blank.
The two stared at each other for a long time, ultimately leaving it unresolved.
Dou Dou, curious, didn’t know what the zombie game was or the connection between them, so he leaned over to Jie Zi and asked. Jie Zi roughly explained it to him, and Dou Dou listened in amazement, occasionally stealing glances at Xin Meng with a look of wonder.
After spending so much time together, he had no idea the other was actually an NPC!
Had the NPC become sentient?!
On the other side, Xin Meng and You Yi were not much affected. You Yi quietly asked, “Can’t remember more?”
“Um…” Xin Meng nodded and asked him, “Why do I have amnesia?”
You Yi pressed his lips together but only said, “When you recover your memory, you’ll know.”
Xin Meng didn’t expect him to say that, and he immediately widened his eyes, very dissatisfied, “You actually won’t tell me!”
After saying that, he grabbed his arm, squeezing his wrist as if to show his anger.
You Yi helplessly let him fuss, “You were the one who didn’t let me say.”
“Are you trying to make me go against my vow to you?”
“…”
Now Xin Meng didn’t know what to say.
He couldn’t figure out how he had allowed the other to make such a strange vow. Could it be that the amnesia was something he caused himself?
But why?
He was eager to know the ins and outs, but You Yi remained tight-lipped, and no matter how much Xin Meng pressed, he was instead pinned down and kissed until he was dizzy. Knowing the other had a temperament of being unyielding, in the end, Xin Meng had to give up on the questioning.
He hoped that as You Yi said, he would soon recover his memory, and everything would be revealed.
“What! You still want to continue playing the game?” Dou Dou quickly grabbed him, “Damn, you NPCs are living too comfortably! You can play as a player at will! How did you manage that? Teach me!”
Jie Zi’s mouth twitched, almost unwilling to admit he had such a gaming addict as a work partner, “He doesn’t even know himself, asking is pointless! Don’t be stupid, the mission is complete, we should go!”
But even though he said that, clearly the children had been burned to death, and they had also paid the price of two teammates, yet the exit still hadn’t appeared.
“Is it possible that there’s still a ghost child alive?” Dou Dou looked up at the building in front of them.
“That’s the only possibility left. There might be a ghost child that wasn’t attracted by the flames, or encountered something and couldn’t get down in time…” Jie Zi said up to this point but suddenly stopped. He looked at Dou Dou, who started to look confused, then understood, “Smack!” He slapped his palm!
“Bad! There’s still one tied up!”
After saying that, he and Jie Zi rushed into the building. Xin Meng and You Yi exchanged glances, having an inkling, and quickly followed.
Dou Dou led everyone to a door on the fifth floor, pushed it open, and everything inside came into view.
The little girl in the red dress that Xin Meng had seen at the beginning was tied up with ropes and thrown on the ground, struggling incessantly, making inhuman screeching sounds from her throat.
However, despite the terrifying cries, the little girl had been writhing in the dusty place for a long time. Her originally beautiful and clean red dress and smooth long hair were covered in dust, her fair face was also dirty, her mouth stuffed with a rag, and the most terrifying thing was that her teeth were nowhere to be seen. Her eyes were moist, looking… quite pitiful.
Xin Meng couldn’t help but glance at Dou Dou, who blushed and scratched his head, “I tied her up once at first, but then I let her go. But she was too noisy and kept chasing after me, so I accidentally tied her up again…”
Having regained some memories, Xin Meng wasn’t surprised that the staff had a way to catch monsters in the game. He just nodded lightly and continued to look at Dou Dou, silently asking him how to handle it.
Since they hadn’t caught the flames earlier, it was difficult to kill the opponent. Even if there was only one left, they couldn’t deal with it. Did they have to search the entire building for props?
Dou Dou was also at a loss. He hadn’t expected Li Wenjun to suddenly come up with this, and he was stunned at the time, where could he think of coming to release her…
“You guys found a stick, right? Try it first. If it doesn’t work, then look for something else. Anyway, she’s tied up, so there’s no danger; it’s just a matter of time.” After all, they were colleagues, Jie Zi quickly came over to help Dou Dou out.
The stick Xin Meng had was in his inventory, while You Yi was holding his in his hand, slowly walking towards the little girl.
As soon as the little girl saw the stick, she froze, her body struggling and trying to move back, slowly disappearing from her feet.
“Lucky!” Dou Dou snapped his fingers, “A hit!”
It was also their luck that this little girl in the red dress happened to be the child who was beaten to death in the tool room, and this stick was her nemesis.
The little girl gradually disappeared, leaving behind a newspaper in the place she had originally occupied.
“This should be the last one.” Xin Meng walked over and picked up the newspaper.
The front page featured a photo of the little girl’s funeral.
The text below was quite lengthy, and after Xin Meng read it carefully, he suddenly realized.
