Chapter 5 - Death Penalty 1 (1/2)
”Good morning, brother.”
”Morning.”
”I have breakfast with me,” she said, placing the bowl of soup on the adjustable table on the bed.
”Yu Rou, can I ask you for a favor?” Yuan asked her as he's being fed like a patient in a hospital.
”What is it?”
”I'd like to hear some fairy tales tonight.” His words dumbfounded her, who wasn't expecting such a request.
”Why fairy tales?” She asked in a worrying tone, afraid the illness might have finally messed up his mind.
”I made a friend in the game, and she happens to be a young NPC. I promised her that I'd tell her more fairy tales,” he explained.
”You are telling fairy tales to NPCs? Brother… what are you doing, really?” Yu Rou sighed, thinking how silly he was being.
”Don't let the fact that they are NPCs fool you into thinking that they are not worth your time. They move, think, react, and speak like real Players. You wouldn't know if they are a real Player or not unless you ask them.
”Yeah, yeah. Just don't do anything weird to her, alright?”
”W...Weird? Why would I do anything weird?” Yuan asked.
”Haven't you heard? There have been plenty of perverts getting killed for touching NPCs inappropriately. The penalty for death is extremely harsh in this game from what I heard.”
”Perverts touching NPCs? You can do that in this game?” Yuan lifted his eyebrows in surprise. What a profound game!
”Ah! You're thinking about doing something perverted, aren't you!? Don't even think about it, brother! I prohibit you from doing that as your sister!”
”That only works if you are the older one, no?” He smiled.
”Then… then I will stop taking care of you! Hmph!”
”Aiii… Do you think your brother is some kind of pervert that likes to touch NPCs? Unlike some people, I have morals, you know.” He sighed, and continued to speak, ”Anyway, what is this death penalty, and what happens if you die?” He was more interested in that than the perverts in the game.
”According to those who have died, some became unable to cultivate after death while some have even lost their cultivation base entirely, requiring them to restart from scratch.”
Yuan pondered. ”So you basically have to start from the beginning… That is indeed very harsh for a game.”
”Additionally, some people have already tried to buy new consoles to start fresh but guess what? They still appear in the game with the same character!”
”So we are limited to one character no matter what?” Yuan cannot comprehend the game creators' motive for creating such a system; it's almost as if they want humans to live in another world with life as realistic as possible.
”Ah, brother, it's time for me to go to school. I will pick up some fairy tales on the way home,” she said before leaving.
”Thank you.”
—
”She's not here…” Yuan looked around for a small figure, but Xiao Hua was nowhere to be found. ”I guess she went home.”
He decided to sit down and cultivate to wait for her. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Until night came, Yuan sat there like a stone statue, cultivating and unaware that time had passed by so quickly.
10,000/10,000