I've Become the King of Villains in the Game

"Log off for two days to lay low...? Just to avoid an NPC?!"

Rotten Persimmon's eyes widened.

He was incredibly astonished and found the idea somewhat absurd.

"Big brothers, do you guys know who this NPC is? Did you encounter him during the closed beta...?"

Rotten Persimmon questioned Doghead Gold and Forget No Taboo, feeling there was something amiss.

Doghead Gold pursed his lips, took out his personal terminal, swiped casually, and entered the official forum of "Era of Mystery."

He clicked on the trailer released by Su Keying and opened another window for the "Emerald Town Mysterious Merchant" video, just uploaded not long before, for comparison.

Seeing both Jack and the Black Messenger, whose appearances and auras were strikingly similar, Rotten Persimmon began to speculate.

It wasn't until the trailer showed Jack sprouting black wings on his back, lifting a gigantic fireball into the sky, that Rotten Persimmon instantly thought of himself, being squashed dead by the suddenly appearing Black Messenger.

Those scattering illusionary black feathers, weren't they from those very wings?

"This 'Black Messenger' is 'Jack'?!"

He screamed in his mind.

This was too much of a coincidence!

"Forget No Taboo and I just returned to the Inner City District of Amber City. After the big battle in the square during the closed beta, many of the locals started calling him 'Black Messenger.' Even the renovated square is now known as 'Black Messenger Square.'"

Doghead Gold disclosed this information.

The look on Rotten Persimmon's face grew even darker as Forget No Taboo added:

"The faction we joined just happens to be Jack's 'Circus,' and he has not been at his post for the last two days... so we can almost be certain that this Black Messenger is him."

The leader of God's Love Guild, "Everyone", was speechless.

He silently watched the video.

In fact, he had already seen this trailer a while ago but hadn't thought in this direction. Now knowing that Rotten Persimmon had offended this particular NPC, he was quite annoyed.

"Jack appears in the opening CG of the game and is referred to as the 'Guide of Destiny,' definitely an important character in the storyline..."

Everyone shook his head, his tone slightly reproachful:

"Rotten Persimmon, you've just started in the world, why provoke such an NPC... What started as an account with an advantageous beginning has now become utterly useless!"

Rotten Persimmon stuttered, wanting to speak but lacking the confidence.

Wasn't the advantage of his account based on selling Jack's information to infiltrate the Red Apple Church...? He was already on the opposite side, so there was nothing wrong with that.

This time it could at most be considered an accidental blunder, a bit reckless.

Even the guild leader supported him in the beginning.

But he couldn't voice these thoughts now. Rotten Persimmon could only suppress his frustration, nod his head, and agree to the suggestion of the two closed beta vets—to lay low for a bit and see how things played out in a few days.

But he only agreed verbally. How could an NPC in the game actually stake him out?

That would be too intelligent.

*

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Chen Lun had stayed another week in Emerald Town.

During these seven days, the presence of the "Black Messenger" began to ferment.

As the players from Emerald Town spread his feats, the number of forum posts about the "Black Messenger" increased, and more people became aware of this impressive "Novice Village Guide".
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Cool appearance, high charisma, strong capabilities, also moonlighting as a mysterious merchant selling incredibly sought-after items... Coupled with his pursuit of God's Love Guild players and camping at the Resurrection Point, the stories became more and more exaggerated.

Rumors suggested that this NPC was a disguise of an official game employee who even found "Rotten Persimmon" offline and beat him up in real life.

It was only after the official release denied these claims that players quashed their suspicions. They clarified that "Era of Mystery" was run by a supercomputer core, completely overseeing its development, and that the officials neither would nor could interfere with the in-game process.

Players from other regions expressed great envy because they discovered that not every starting area had a Guide or a mysterious merchant, which was an exceedingly rare occurrence...

Let alone an NPC of the same high quality as the "Black Messenger"—there was simply no second one to be found.

The comment section of these forum posts had been taken over by an army of jealous people.

"I'm laughing so hard! He's just a Novice Village Guide; can't you play without him?! If it weren't so far away, I'd die all the way to Emerald Town... Black Messenger, save me, I really can't play this too-difficult game anymore!"

"What's there to fuss about a mysterious merchant? Posting daily! Those of you who bought Firearm and took off, can't you just send me travel money so I can take a train and lick his boots too... slurp!"

"..."

When bored, Chen Lun would lean against a wall, rest his elbow on his knee, and prop his chin, striking a contemplative pose in front of the players. In reality, he had quietly opened the forum built into the panel, browsing under the radar.

He had read many related posts and nearly spat out from laughing.

A couple of days ago, a bird perched at the Resurrection Point flew over to report that Rotten Persimmon, that brat, had logged on—his Resurrection Cooldown must have ended.

Without a word, Chen Lun flew over and burned Rotten Persimmon to a crisp with a Fire Fist. The shock made the guy log off immediately, not daring to show his face again.

Afterward, Chen Lun found the help-seeking post from that brat Rotten Persimmon on the forum—

"What do I do if I'm camped by an NPC? Waiting online! Urgent! He's at the Resurrection Point waiting for me, I get insta-killed the moment I log in, my brains hammered out. Can't play this game anymore!"

Chen Lun clicked to look through it carefully, noticing hundreds to thousands of comments in the section.