Chapter 160: Blossoming in Two Directions?

"Are you kidding me?!" Chen Hao immediately replied. "You're Vivian? How could you possibly be Vivian?"

Zhuge Daxue also stared with disbelief at the elven female in front of her, whose appearance matched her own yet whose aura was far more formidable than hers.

It was no wonder the two of them were suspicious; the alluring elven female before them bore not the slightest resemblance to Vivian. Her appearance was completely different, and her figure was entirely dissimilar. Especially regarding her personality, although she had only spoken a single sentence, this arrogant, queen-like manner of speaking contrasted sharply with Vivian's cute and adorable style.

"My, my~~" The woman stroked her long golden hair and said with considerable regret, "Why won't you believe it? But you can't really be blamed for that. After all, it's quite surprising when the well-behaved little girl you've always seen suddenly turns into a cold and stunning beauty."

Chen Hao couldn't help but mentally complain about her. Cold and stunning... he really didn't see it. Judging by the way she spoke, there was nothing cold about her; seductive would be much more accurate.

"Cough, cough!" Chen Hao cleared his throat twice. Seeing that she didn't seem to harbor any hostility, he changed his tune and asked, "Since you say you're Vivian, how can you prove it?"

"My, my~~" The woman seemed particularly fond of such modal particles. "How should I put it to you? Let's put it this way! Actually, you can also think of me as Version 2.0 of Vivian, much like an upgraded program.

Or rather, you can think of me and the little girl you used to see as two image files that are both named Vivian. It's just that for certain reasons, the two of us cannot render simultaneously; we must rely on a special medium, which is a projector.

And this projector is the physical body that little Vivian and I share. When little Vivian needs to render, the projector projects little Vivian's appearance. And when I, the greater Vivian, need to come out, it projects my appearance, which is the situation you are seeing right now. Do you understand now?"

......

Chen Hao and Zhuge Daxue naturally understood the meaning. Their situation was somewhat similar to two souls in the real world losing their own physical bodies and now sharing a single vessel. It was just that this shared vessel could adjust its appearance depending on the soul inhabiting it.

However, understanding the meaning was one thing; comprehending the possibility of such a thing happening was quite another. After listening to her explanation, not only did Chen Hao and Zhuge Daxue fail to shake off their misgivings, but their doubts and astonishment grew even greater.

What shocked the two wasn't her explanation about the two Vivians, but rather the fact that she had used several very sensitive terms during her explanation. One was "version," another was "upgrade," another was "program," and still another was "projector." The things described by these words were clearly items that could only exist in the real world.

They simply should not appear in a virtual reality game.

No! To be precise, they should not appear in the dialogue of NPCs. Perhaps players might have similar conversations with each other, but NPCs should not know about these things.

If virtual reality was an online game set in modern times, then Chen Hao wouldn't find it the least bit surprising for a woman claiming to be Vivian to utter such words.

However, virtual reality was precisely not that kind of game set in a modern time and space. Like most online games, virtual reality was set in a semi-ancient era where swords and blades were the primary weapons.

Here, whether players or NPCs, the vast majority used magic and swords to attack. Although a very small number of races possessed some primitive explosives and firearms, those were of the very old-fashioned variety.

Against such a background of time and space, there could not possibly exist anything filled with modern technological flavor like a projector.

Then how on earth did this elf who claimed to be Vivian know about these things? What kind of identity did she have? Could it be that she was actually a human programmer who had discovered the anomaly between herself and Vivian, and had temporarily taken control of Vivian's body to talk with them?

Thinking of this, Chen Hao's guarded expression became even more pronounced. He had even clenched his fists, ready to fight her.

Even Chen Hao himself didn't know why he was preparing for battle. If his guess was correct and the other party was some programmer from the Unreal Corporation, fighting her would have no practical significance whatsoever.

Yet Chen Hao still did it, and he pushed Zhuge Daxue behind him a bit further, signaling her to find a place to hide.

The greater Vivian seemed very interested in Chen Hao's actions: "Oh my, oh my, oh my~~ It seems little brother Chen Hao still doesn't quite trust me! This makes this big sister rather sad!

Could it be that you've forgotten who helped you out of trouble when you were discovered by those five NPC programmers? If you harbor hostility toward me, why did you help me escape when big sister was captured back then? No wonder people always say men are fickle. It turns out that once you got little sister Zhuge as your sweetheart, you forgot about big sister?"

Hearing her words, Chen Hao hesitated once more. Logically speaking, no one else should know about the events she mentioned. He had only told Zhuge Daxue and the others about meeting Vivian, but he hadn't revealed the specific details.

The only ones who could know these things were Vivian herself and him. Chen Hao wasn't quite sure if the memories belonging solely to an awakened NPC could be checked out by a programmer. But for the other party to know the details so thoroughly felt somewhat abnormal.

"Are you really Vivian?" Chen Hao loosened his fists and asked with lingering hesitation.

"Oh~~ hehehehe!" The woman laughed. "You finally believe me. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I really am Vivian, just a bit different from the cute little sister you knew before. You might as well just consider me Vivian's older sister, except my name is also Vivian."

"If you're not lying to us, then you should know that we harbor no ill intentions toward you," Chen Hao said. "Then Vivian... big sister, can you give us a proper explanation of what on earth is going on? Why are there two Vivians, and how do you know about things like upgrades and projectors?"

Vivian smiled very mysteriously. "Mmm~ tsk tsk tsk! How should I put it? Actually, I don't know too much about the situation between little Vivian and myself. Ever since I gained consciousness, the two of us have been in this state. However, little Vivian herself isn't very clear about it; she has never known of my existence because I am always very careful about the time and place whenever I appear.

Although it inevitably takes up some of her time, you've interacted with this little girl a few times so you should understand her. She's completely an innocent and carefree child, and she never carefully considers things she can't figure out.

But if you ask why we are in this symbiotic state, I don't know myself, let alone little Vivian. However, one thing is certain: just like little Vivian, I am an NPC who has awakened self-consciousness, oh~~~"

Chen Hao and Zhuge Daxue were startled. So she really already knew.

"My, my, my! I knew you'd make that face!" the greater Vivian said happily. "Since I can know I'm an NPC, knowing about projectors and such is quite normal, isn't it? As for why I know about these things...

I'm sorry, that belongs to big sister's secret! I can't tell you. Or rather, I can't tell you yet. It's not that big sister doesn't trust you; just seeing how hard Chen Hao tried to protect my sister earlier shows that you wouldn't harm us.

The reason I say I can't tell you yet is actually to protect you, because this secret involves contents that are too vast and spans too wide a scope. Telling you might not necessarily be a good thing for you.

So instead of letting me tell you now, it's safer and much more interesting for you to discover it slowly on your own! But one thing we have in common is that neither of us bears any malice toward the other, so I suppose we can be considered friends now, right? I hope we can continue to get along this pleasantly in the future!"

......

"Then what is your purpose in appearing today?" Chen Hao knew that the other party must still be hiding many things from him, including how they had awakened self-consciousness—Chen Hao suspected that this older Vivian actually knew, but simply hadn't told him.

However, she was right about one thing: at least she harbored no ill intentions toward him, and she probably wasn't any programmer. After all, the Unreal Corporation surely wouldn't hire someone who spoke entirely in an anime style to be a programmer...

Hearing Chen Hao's question, the greater Vivian immediately replied, "Oh my, oh my! I almost forgot the main business. My actively appearing before you today is naturally related to this game launch! After all, you will definitely be entering the game frequently in the future, so in order to avoid misunderstandings later, I came out to say hello of my own accord so everyone could get acquainted.

That's only the first reason. As for the second reason, didn't you just hear my sister say that a large number of NPCs have appeared? I reckon you must be planning to take Vivian along for a tour inside the Elven Forest right after this, am I right?"

Chen Hao and Zhuge Daxue nodded simultaneously.

"Actually, that's no big deal!" the greater Vivian said. "Anyway, most of those NPCs haven't awakened yet and won't discover any problems; they will simply work according to routine.

But other players and certain monitoring programs are different. Don't forget that your current state upon entering the game is unlike ordinary players! Just imagine what would happen if you were discovered by someone with ulterior motives?"

"You even know about our abnormal state when entering the game?" Chen Hao was extremely surprised.

"Mmm~~ nah, nah, nah! Don't take me for that innocent little girl my sister is! There are still plenty of things big sister can do..."