Chapter Nine: Awakening

Chen Hao felt a bit disappointed that the NPC girl hadn’t noticed how handsome he looked in that moment. He had expected that this NPC, who might have developed self-awareness, would be dazzled by his heroic display!

Though she didn’t react as he’d imagined, the girl was still quite curious about him. “Who exactly are you? You dealt with those guys so easily! You know, they’ve been chasing me for days, and there were a few times they almost caught me.”

“They came here just to catch you?” Chen Hao was intrigued by her words. Why would these technicians be so intent on hunting down an NPC? Was it truly because she had developed self-awareness? He needed to get to the bottom of this. And how had he entered the game himself? That was a mystery as well.

The girl looked around cautiously. “We’re not safe here. Let’s go somewhere else first.” Without waiting for Chen Hao’s protest, she scooped him up again and soared into the sky. This time, since there was no immediate danger, she didn’t hold him with just one arm as before. Instead, they were face-to-face, held closely together, almost cheek to cheek.

Chen Hao could clearly smell the faint fragrance from her and feel her heartbeat and breath. He was utterly baffled—how could he sense her scent if this was inside a game? No matter how realistic a virtual reality game might be, current technology simply couldn’t simulate smell. Let alone something as subtle as a heartbeat. And even if it could, no game company would bother to give a mere NPC a heartbeat.

He truly had stumbled into something extraordinary! No wonder those five technicians were desperate to catch this NPC girl—such an anomaly was of enormous research value. Her very existence had upended the most basic human understanding; everything happening here defied logic and common sense.

Besides, his own appearance in this world must have been equally unexpected. He hadn’t connected to any game device, yet here he was—a scenario that should have been impossible. In fact, the strangeness of his own situation probably surpassed that of the NPC. No wonder the first thing those people wanted to do upon discovering his anomaly was to capture him.

Sigh... If only he’d realized all this earlier, he never should have revealed his name, let alone mention that he was a technician at Illusion Corp. It would be all too easy for them to find his information now.

He wondered if some company executive or research institute would come looking for him, drag him from his home, and lock him in a dark room for endless experiments. What bad luck! He’d only gone out for a meal and ended up embroiled in something so bizarre.

And then there was that green light he’d seen in the restaurant. He was fairly certain it had something to do with what was happening to him, but what exactly? He wondered if he’d ever have the chance to investigate.

While Chen Hao was lost in these wild thoughts, the NPC girl kept studying him closely. It seemed this uninvited guest in her world fascinated her greatly. To Chen Hao’s embarrassment, she even began sniffing him, just like that kitten that Gu Mengyan kept at home whenever it met a stranger.

Imagine: anyone, held tightly in the arms of such a stunning girl, beautiful and winged, being scrutinized and sniffed so intently—what normal man wouldn’t react? So, to his shame, Chen Hao became aroused.

He pressed against the NPC girl, but she didn’t seem to mind at all; instead, she flashed him a sweet smile. Chen Hao was dumbfounded. She might have self-awareness, but perhaps she didn’t understand what that meant?

Apologizing instinctively, thanks to his upbringing, Chen Hao said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—it’s just that we’re so close. That’s... a natural physiological response.”

But she was not as clueless as he’d thought. Still smiling sweetly, she shook her head. “It’s all right! I don’t mind at all. If you react that way, it means you like me. And if you like me, that means you’re not a bad person who wants to hurt me. So I’m happy!”

“What the hell?!” Chen Hao was stunned. “What kind of crazy logic is that? Do all self-aware computer programs think in such muddled, incomprehensible ways?”

Shaking his head, he decided to set aside that unimportant thought for now. “Could you put me down? We’ve flown far enough that we should be safe. Let’s stop and talk—I’m confused about so many things right now!”

The NPC girl looked around, then nodded. “All right, but just to be safe, let’s stay up in the trees. Those people aren’t limited to the five you saw—they’re hard to count.”

“I’ve run into those strange folks more than once, and they’re always popping up out of nowhere, giving you quite a scare. Many of my companions have already been captured by them.”

“Hm?” Chen Hao caught on to several key points from her words. First, the five technicians he’d dealt with were only a fraction of the group—they must be many more. This made sense, given the size of Illusion Corp and the number of its employees. Those five were clearly not the same level as himself or Gu Mengyan; there had to be more like them.

Second, the girl had mentioned her companions being captured, which meant she wasn’t alone. But did she mean other NPCs with self-awareness, or merely ordinary, scripted programs? That distinction was crucial. One rogue program gaining self-awareness was extraordinary, but not world-shattering. But if many programs had, that would be truly terrifying.

Based on his reasoning, Chen Hao suspected the girl’s companions were also self-aware programs. Now, he needed to find out whether every program in the game had gained self-awareness.

When the NPC girl finally landed atop a tall tree, Chen Hao spoke up. “I still don’t know your name. Um... I already told you mine—Chen Hao, male, twenty-two.”

She laughed again, as if she’d been born with a cheerful disposition. “Hello, Chen Hao! My name is Vivian. Female, twenty-one this year.”

“Vivian... What a lovely name!” Chen Hao said sincerely.

Vivian grinned. “Thank you! I like my name too.”

After their brief exchange, Chen Hao got straight to the point. “By the way, I want to ask—where exactly is this place? Or, what is this place called?”

Vivian seemed puzzled by the question. “Where is this? Huh? You don’t know? This is the Forest of Elves!”

“The Forest of Elves... Of course! Just as I thought.” Chen Hao murmured to himself. Such a name clearly didn’t belong to the real world. As a programmer and player of the game ‘Virtual World,’ he had certainly heard of it.

The Forest of Elves was a location within the game, known in the game’s lore as the largest forest on the Continent of Illusion and the birthplace of the Elven race. Its vastness exceeded any real forest.

Countless elves lived here. And these elves weren’t just the pointy-eared, long-haired kind from Western myths—they included all manner of mythical creatures from around the world, both Eastern and Western.

The Vivian before him resembled an elf from a small Eastern nation.

To clarify further, Chen Hao asked, “So this is the Forest of Elves. Have you ever heard of a place called Earth?”

Vivian pressed a finger to her chin and pouted. “Earth? Never heard of it... Why do you ask? Is it a fun place? Is it more interesting than the Forest of Elves? Are there tasty foods? Do lots of elves live there too?”

Uh... Chen Hao was at a loss. So this girl was quite the playful type! But he realized something else—Vivian had no knowledge of the real world. Did that mean these self-aware programs didn’t even know their world was just a virtual construct...?