Chapter Fourteen: NPCs and Voices

Amidst the roar, the runes on the ship’s hull lit up, countless rune chains enveloping the entire vessel, forming a streamlined protective shield. The ship began to move.

It was as if a block of ice had thawed—the once lifeless ship suddenly became noisy with that thunderous sound.

Clack, clack, clack—the heavy footsteps and the clash of armor echoed.

Fang Zheng turned around, his heart racing, and looked excitedly at a figure clad in blood-red armor who had been sitting cross-legged on the deck moments ago but was now walking across it.

The figure muttered hollow, vacant words as it walked: “This year’s spiritual medicine yield is good, just a little more and I can break through…”

Fang Zheng eagerly stepped forward.

“Hey! Can you hear me? Do you understand me?”

The unknown language repeated again in a mechanical monotone: “This year’s spiritual medicine yield is good, just a little more and I can break through…”

“What happened to you before? Why didn’t you move at all?”

“Wait, what are you—” Fang Zheng was abruptly knocked aside by the armored figure as he excitedly blocked its path.

“This year’s spiritual medicine yield is good, just a little more and I can break through…”

Even when a fearsome-looking blocky figure blocked its way, the armored figure did not stop or detour. It continued forward, its feet scraping the deck relentlessly, even though it was unable to advance further.

All the while, it repeated that phrase in the language Fang Zheng could not understand: “This year’s spiritual medicine yield is good, just a little more and I can break through…”

With a “thud,” the armored figure lost its balance and fell to the ground, yet its legs still kept moving forward, the armor scraping the deck with a creaking sound.

Watching this, Fang Zheng fell silent. He looked beneath the deck and saw a bustle of figures, each absorbed in their own tasks.

He observed quietly as they repeatedly spoke certain phrases.

Even when he switched back to creative mode and revealed himself, they gave no response. He placed several blocks in their path, only to watch them collide and fall over.

Suddenly, Fang Zheng understood.

His earlier excitement gave way to despair. “They’re not real people—they’re NPCs, some kind of programmed NPCs maintaining fixed action paths…”

Leaving the ship, gazing upon the countless, sprawling fleet of ships, Fang Zheng felt a profound loneliness and despair welling up from deep within.

“I had foolishly believed this was a world of cultivation.”

“But what if it isn’t? What if this is just a closed-map, large-scale cultivation game world with no true sentient life?”

Loneliness and solitude assailed his soul, leaving him standing there, dazed for a long while.

After a long moment, a bitter laugh escaped from the undying blocky man’s lips: “Ha ha ha… It’s best to think positively.”

At least…

“At least, even if this is just a cultivation game world, it’s far more visually appealing than that pixelated blocky place called MC.”

Looking at the densely packed flying warships, Fang Zheng chuckled. “At least it’ll help pass the time.”

“For example, I could try piloting a flying ship, ha ha ha…”

With that, Fang Zheng looked down at the warship beneath him, now still again. From his creative mode inventory, he pulled out a lever and tried placing and clicking it.

Instantly, the warship, which had been motionless like the others, along with the frozen figures on board, suddenly sprang to life.

And unlike the other ships that slowly accelerated, this one shot from zero to top speed immediately.

Under the translucent protective shield that automatically activated, Fang Zheng watched outside as the ship’s excessive speed stretched objects into noodle-like streaks, glowing with red and blue light.

“It really works…”

“If the rules of different worlds can be somewhat compatible, then those rune chains I previously placed can endlessly emerge.”

“Then there’s no reason why levers and buttons from the MC world can’t work either.”

“There’s no reason they can’t serve as switches, forcibly activating these game props.”

“Ha ha ha!” Fang Zheng let out a bitter laugh.

He forced a smile. “I should have tried putting buttons or levers directly on the gates before, to see if I could open them as switches instead of spending days painstakingly breaking through.”

“Maybe I could even find transport for entering.”

“By the way, where does one control the direction of this flying ship?”

“Can my blocky hands steer it?”

Amid the tide of disappointment, Fang Zheng tried hard to cheer himself up.

“I’m really looking forward to it!”

“If this is a cultivation game world, then since everything is so detailed, there should be some complex plotlines too.”

“Trying out the storylines should be fun.”

“Where exactly are these flying warships headed in this massive city?”

“Ha ha ha…”

“Ha ha…”

“Ah…”

Fang Zheng’s voice grew low.

“If this really is another game world, a cultivation game world with no genuine intelligent life…”

“Then even if I use the thunder to strike the Hell Gate frame again, would it only open portals to other game worlds?”

“In those worlds, can I find players like myself?”

“If I can never meet true sentient beings, will I be stuck playing house with NPCs forever?”

“If that’s the case, how long can I endure?”

The blocky man stood silently before the warship, watching the surrounding streams of light and shadows fly by at incredible speeds, exhibiting blue and red shifts.

He stood there, dazed and empty-headed, lost in thought.

Then—suddenly—Fang Zheng turned his blocky head and tilted it.

“Who’s speaking?”

“The Immortal Realm is sealed, no path ahead remains…”

“The Immortal Realm is sealed, no path ahead remains…”

An ancient, sorrowful voice came from somewhere unknown, growing gradually louder.

Fang Zheng turned his blocky head in puzzlement. “The area around this ship should be a vacuum, right? How can sound carry?”

But then he recalled: “Oh, right—if this is a game world, nothing says sound can’t travel in a vacuum.”

Still, he could not understand the language at all.

“How long will it take me to learn? If I can’t, even playing house with NPCs will be meaningless—I won’t know what they’re saying.”

At first, Fang Zheng paid little mind, but as he listened, he grew curious and then excited.

“This sounds like a living person?” From the tone, he sensed deep sorrow and disappointment.