The follow-up to OE that "we" are looking forward to (XII)
【Zhi Shi Grocery Store】Opens today.
But there is no boss.
Unmanned vending machine, mainly self-service.
According to the game mechanism, when a player uploads new products that suit the preferences of a certain NPC, the NPC will come to buy them in an uncertain quantity. If the NPC is wealthy, it is possible that the product he likes will be sold out. In short, the main feature is a random, blind box-opening experience.
However, for Jiang Yuanshi and Z01, who have enough money to spend, this money is icing on the cake. Rather than getting up early to open the store, Jiang Yuanshi would rather sleep, or perhaps it is because of the fatigue and laziness caused by the pressure.
Due to the tension and uncertainty of the previous world missions, Jiang Yuanshi had never had a good night's sleep. His brain was running at high speed every day. According to Z01's records, the longest sleep he had was only more than five hours and one minute.
Even in the previous cyber world, Jiang Yuanshi stayed up all night, and it was a miracle that the pitifully short sleep time did not lead to this human's sudden death.
Oh no, that human is already dead.
But when the soul enters the original owner's body, the host is also equivalent to restoring the physical body. Therefore, Jiang Yuanshi, this human being, is really willing to sacrifice his life for the mission, and even uses and sacrifices himself, as if this is the only thing that makes him valuable.
Perhaps it is because this world is too comfortable, and the host is influenced by the settings of his original body, Sasaron, so the burden of the whole person has gradually been lightened a lot. From time to time, he becomes casual and childish, and the little movements he makes are unprecedentedly cute.
Z01 lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, the time announcement rang in his head.
It's 11 o'clock noon.
But the creature lying on his chest showed no signs of waking up. It just turned over when he poked its face, curled up on its side and continued to sleep. When he looked down, he could see its light-colored, soft, heaving belly.
Z01 took out a handkerchief from somewhere, spread his hands flat and covered the other person's belly, then put his hands back on both sides of his body and continued to lie straight on the bed with his eyes open.
Maybe he should go back to the system hall. Z01 clicked on his attribute column and looked at the money column. It increased by +500 every now and then. It seemed that someone was buying something, but the money came very slowly and was not enough. After calculating the amount of the monster costumes in the clothing store, Z01 planned to find a safe time to go back. After all, the host's attributes had not been improved yet, and it was very dangerous to leave him alone.
But it is strange that there has been no movement in Z01's mailbox so far. There has been no reply to any reports or applications, as if it has cut ties with Chuanshuju.
But that is obviously impossible, because he is not dead yet.
What exactly is death? Z01 has analyzed and calculated it countless times, but he still can't get the answer. He has never died, so he naturally doesn't know, but it is impossible for truly dead creatures to have intersections. Although the hosts are considered dead creatures, their soul consciousness still exists when they come to the Book Bureau, so the answers he gets from them about death are very vague and inconsistent.
After learning that they were dead, some hosts had blank brains, some were terrified, some were relieved, and some complained... But in the end, after going through the mission and even experiencing the beauty of the world, most of them would have one thought - fear.
They began to fear failing the mission, dying again, or being trapped in an endless cycle of death.
Z01 has seen many hosts who regretted their mistakes during missions, and then began to blame the NPCs in the novel world, complaining that they had no self-esteem and were a drag on the team, completely forgetting that the purpose of their own existence was just to carry out the plot.
However, the tasks assigned by the Book Bureau are contradictory in themselves. These worlds on the verge of collapse must continue to operate, while the characters and the plot must not collapse. The outcome of this requirement is nothing more than a repeat of the past. But it can still be successful, as long as the host does not regard those NPCs as living things, abandons himself, and only completes the task, and repairs the world this time, and the next collapse will be left to other systems and the host.
This cycle repeats itself over and over again, and the endings of those novel worlds are very similar to those of the host after the mission fails.
Originally, Z01 would not have had such an idea until he met Jiang Yuan.
A human who seems to be very disciplined and obedient, but in fact always breaks the rules, does not follow the routine, and willfully treats NPCs as living things. But it turns out that those NPCs can really have the opportunity and ending of their own.
Jiang Yuanshi did it, and Z01 believed that this was done with the help of the main god Ysl404. After all, without that god, Jiang Yuanshi would have been punished, backtracked, or even failed directly and fallen into a death loop after breaking the plot.
But the Lord God only helped Jiang Yuanshi to avoid this one item, and the limitations of these tasks were caused by Z01 itself. The Lord God wanted to destroy him, and Jiang Yuanshi was just an unlucky guy who happened to be bound to Z01.
From the initial planning, future direction, and breakthrough, Jiang Yuanshi had to do it all by himself. Jiang Yuanshi did it, even at the cost of sacrificing his soul just to end the tragedy of the world, like a savior, but he himself did not seem to have this awareness.
Z01 once asked Jiang Yuanshi why he tried so hard to save people, but Jiang Yuanshi just replied in confusion: "What reason do you need to save people?"
These are very self-willed words, but the other party is not afraid of death and even looks forward to the end of death.
Just last night when we were having dinner and chatting, Z01 mentioned this again. Xiaolong, who was immersed in feeding, spread his hands and answered:
"I can't help it. They are so immersive. I can't help but treat them as NPCs. When I play games, no matter how free the game is, I won't hit NPCs. I can't do it unless I hit them by mistake. Sometimes I will be killed by them. Why do you think NPCs have such high combat power? And I didn't do it on purpose. After being beaten, I was arrested and put in solitary confinement. Isn't there an option that I didn't do it on purpose? That's very bad. Then I added this setting when I made the game. However, if you hit an NPC more than five times in a row, you will be arrested."
Jiang Yuanshi choked as he was talking. There was nothing Z01 could do but put down his fork and pass the water over. The little dragon, which was the size of a bottle cap, gurgled for a long time before it came to its senses. It even sprayed small flames that burned Z01's hair. Fortunately, Jiang Yuanshi reacted quickly and slapped it with his two paws.
The fire is out.
“Ouch!”
Jiang Yuan's health decreases by one.
The claw, which had just been applied with the herbs, was gloriously injured again, and Z01 could only apply medicine to the opponent again.
The inquiry ended just like that, but Z01 had already gotten the answer he wanted:
Compared with the purpose of the mission, Jiang Yuanshi cares more about the lives and future of the characters in the world. He regards NPCs as living things, and the same goes for Z01. He would actually be distressed by a system's confession and worried about the other party's mood after rejecting him.
Strange human beings.
At this time, the strange human bit Z01's finger with a groan.
Z01's health points decreased by one. He looked down at the host, who was still asleep. This was probably because Z01 had been tickling the little dragon's belly with his fingers. Even in his sleep, he had to retaliate. After all, it was not good to disturb others' sleep.
Z01 rubbed the teeth marks on his fingertips and looked at Jiang Yuanshi again.
-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.
…………
1 p.m.
The owner of [Zhi Shi Grocery Store] appeared, with black hair, red eyes, red earrings, and daily clothes. A little dragon that looked like it had a bad temper sat on his shoulder. The owner had bandages on his hands and was standing in front of the counter with an expressionless face, looking straight ahead, not even looking at the customers. He just stood there as if he was stuck.
But the little dragon's tail was still sweeping the ground. How should I put it... It looked like it had a really bad temper and was very cute when it was angry.
Z01 stood there for a long time before saying, "Yuanyuan, I'm very sorry. I apologize to you again for my behavior."
Jiang Yuanshi said angrily and expressionlessly: "Oh, I don't accept it."
Z01: “…”
It was really too much to disturb someone's sleep, and he kept tickling the person's belly. The key was that Z01's face was too expressionless, and he looked unapologetic. At least Jiang Yuanshi, who was in a bad mood after waking up, couldn't sense it. Moreover... Jiang Yuanshi pointed at his red belly and said, "It's okay for you to touch it, but how many times did you touch it? Look at my health bar, it's all reduced to 1! My belly is the same! You're about to rub it out! You, a guy who always has only one expression, apologize with some sincerity!"
In the game, the injured parts will turn red and glow. Now Xiaolong's belly is like this. When the lights are turned off, it turns into a firefly in the dark.
Z01: "I can apply the medicine for you."
At this point, Jiang Yuanshi sneered: "Eat and take at the same time, you are dreaming."
Z01: “…” He really doesn’t mean that now.
The little dragon was snorting and sweeping his tail. Even the red earrings couldn't attract his attention. It seemed that he was really angry.
But Z01 is still a system, a mallet, and he said, "But your hand doesn't seem to reach the right spot."
Jiang Yuanshi:)
"So you did it on purpose? You knew I couldn't touch this part of my belly, so you touched this part on purpose, so that when I needed to apply the medicine, you could touch it naturally, right?"
Z01: "...I didn't mean to do that at first, but now I appreciate your reminder."
Jiang Yuanshi: “………………”
For some reason, he became even angrier.
Today, new dialogue appeared for NPCs on the street.
The owner of the newly opened grocery store raised an angry fire-breathing dragon, and gave the owner a new hairstyle on the spot - curly hair.
But the shop owner was not angry. Instead, he was quite happy and kept praising the other party's good craftsmanship.
Wouldn't that be too much of a spoiling of the pet? After all, it's just a pet.
Everyone thought so, but the curly-haired shop owner said, "He is the owner of this shop, I am just his partner."
Oh... that mini dragon is the owner of the store. Even if it is a niche, it is normal for monsters to open a store. Even if it is a mini dragon, if he loves collecting glitters, he might open a store after finding a treasure. It is normal.
Um, partner... huh?
Humans and Dratini?
Could it be that humans dote on their pet dragon too much?
Someone asked this, and then the curly-haired human took out the scroll and enlarged it and posted it at the door of the store.
Still two servings.
[Marriage Scroll]: Main relationship: Partner (temporary)
[Adoption Scroll]: Adopter: Jiang Yuanshi (Mini Dragon) Adoptee: Z01 (Human Hero)
Oh, it’s not uncommon for humans and monsters to get married.
As for adoption...
Wait, who adopts who?
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