Chapter Eight Who Are You Really

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As his opponents charged at him, Chen Hao showed no fear. It wasn’t simply because he thought that injuries in a game didn’t matter, but rather because he himself was no stranger to combat skills. Many see children of wealthy families as spoiled, aimless idlers born with silver spoons in their mouths, but Chen Hao was nothing like that. Though he’d grown up with every advantage, he was never a dissolute young master.

His parents had imposed strict discipline from an early age, nurturing him in every aspect—including martial arts. What made it more intriguing was that Chen Hao hadn’t learned his skills from some run-of-the-mill martial arts instructor at a local gym, but from his own father, who claimed the art was a family legacy. This raised some interesting questions. As far as Chen Hao knew, his family’s wealth did not begin with his father’s generation, but dated back many generations. It was quite possible this martial art had been passed down since the family’s earliest days. Could it be that his ancestors made their fortune through martial prowess? Perhaps they once ran a martial arts school or a security escort agency. Chen Hao couldn’t help but wonder, though his father had never given him a straight answer.

Now, facing the five who aimed to capture him, Chen Hao had no intention of surrendering. Even though it was just a game and getting caught would have no real consequences, he was not someone who would let others push him around. His upbringing had taught him never to bow to evil, to fight for justice, to be a courageous, exemplary youth.

So he was fully prepared to fight back. The way his enemies approached convinced him they knew nothing about martial arts, which put him at ease.

Behind him, the NPC girl seemed entirely unperturbed, as if her earlier concern for Chen Hao had completely vanished. She simply watched in silence as the villains rushed toward him.

Just as the first of them reached out to grab him and Chen Hao readied himself to act, the ground suddenly shifted. From the muddy earth, sharp spikes burst forth, stabbing at the attackers with lightning speed. The enemy had no time to react—they were instantly impaled. The spikes entered through their legs and exited from their heads in a gruesome display.

Despite knowing this was just an online game and none of it was real, Chen Hao couldn’t ignore the visceral shock of the scene. He had understood this virtual world was designed to be almost indistinguishable from reality, but he hadn’t expected such extreme, unfiltered violence.

He frowned. “Why... is it so over the top? Could it be a bug from the latest update?”

Suddenly realizing something, he turned to the NPC girl. “Was this your doing? Did you...”

She nodded. “Yes! I’d set that trap for all five of them, but you had to stop, and now I could only use it on one. All my careful preparations wasted, just to save you. Why are you so foolish?”

“Uh...” Chen Hao was left speechless by her reproach, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss, though he couldn’t yet put his finger on it.

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He could only shrug apologetically. “Sorry, but honestly, I wasn’t afraid of them even without your traps. My mind was just a bit muddled at first. I could have handled them on my own.”

“Don’t underestimate them!” the NPC girl exclaimed anxiously. “They’re not as simple as you think!”

While they spoke, the remaining four enemies stood motionless, as if everything happening was precisely as they had planned.

“Hmph. Just as we expected, she’s set up an ambush here,” one of them said.

“Of course. This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with her tricks. If it weren’t for those wings of hers, she’d have been eliminated by us countless times already,” another added.

“Heh, but now we have nothing to worry about. She wasted her trap to save that foolish kid, and after flying with him for so long, she must be exhausted. This time, there’s no way she’ll escape us.”

The last one nodded. “Two birds with one stone: we’ll complete our mission and get an unexpected bonus. I’d say this kid is even more valuable for research than that NPC.”

Their conversation was in no way concealed from Chen Hao, which only made him more puzzled by what they were saying.

From their words, it seemed they’d been hunting the NPC girl for a long time. But why? As a programmer himself, Chen Hao knew it was easy to delete an NPC’s code—just a few keystrokes at a computer would do it. Why go to the trouble of hunting her in-game?

What was stranger still, an NPC should be governed by predetermined behavior patterns, incapable of evading deletion by programmers, let alone setting traps to escape. Even more incredible, the NPC girl had even helped him flee. Since when did NPCs help players?

It finally dawned on Chen Hao what had been bothering him all along: it was the NPC girl herself. Could she be a program that had developed self-awareness?

No way! But it actually seemed possible. Recalling their first encounter, the NPC girl had quietly hidden behind him to observe, clearly curious about him and watching without alerting him. When she judged he wasn’t a threat, she revealed herself, showing no hostility, and even helped him escape when danger approached.

She could set traps in advance, luring her pursuers into ambushes she’d prepared. If not for his own reckless actions, perhaps she could have taken them all out at once.

This was both astonishing and alarming—an AI program with self-awareness. Was something that belonged to the realm of science fiction really happening in reality? Would there be an uprising next, with satellites launching missiles at the earth?

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With this realization, Chen Hao instinctively edged away from the NPC girl, forming a triangle with the three forces present.

Noticing his wariness, the NPC girl grew anxious. “Don’t stand so far away! If they attack, I won’t be able to help you!”

Clearly, she hadn’t realized his caution was directed at her, and was still intent on helping him.

Her reaction stunned Chen Hao for a moment, but then he understood. Perhaps she regarded him as another program, like herself, mistaking him for an NPC. As fellow beings, they would naturally help each other.

Besides, even if a program gained self-awareness, that didn’t necessarily mean it would be hostile to humans. Her actions showed as much—she hadn’t attacked the five programmers outright, only defended herself with traps when they came for her. That was just normal self-preservation.

With this understanding, Chen Hao relaxed, and returned to her side as she had suggested.

“You...” He had just opened his mouth to speak when the four programmers sprang into action, forming a square as they charged toward him and the NPC girl.

Though their formation looked disciplined, to Chen Hao it was riddled with flaws. He barely moved, simply stretched out a foot, and the first programmer to reach him toppled to the ground. Without hesitation, Chen Hao delivered a precise kick to the back of the man’s neck, knocking him out cold.

Though this was an online game, the logic and basic principles remained the same as reality: a blow to the neck would still render someone unconscious.

Strangely, the other three paid no attention to their fallen comrade, acting as if they hadn’t even noticed. Chen Hao quickly realized why—this was just a game, and injuries didn’t matter.

With that in mind, he fought without restraint. Against the remaining three, Chen Hao unleashed his full strength, putting on a dazzling display before the NPC girl, using deft footwork and swift moves to dispatch them in an instant.

He finished with a final pose he thought was devastatingly cool, though sadly it drew neither adoration nor squeals from the NPC girl.

Still, his performance left her astonished. “Who... who exactly are you?!”