Playing the Cannon Fodder Wife NPC in a Horror Game - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I’m the cannon-fodder wife NPC in a horror game, and every day I’m responsible for following the BOSS around and carrying out the story.

During the day, I have to act like a loving couple in front of the players.

“This is my Thirteenth Wife. I love her very much.” The Count held me in his arms and deliberately pinched my waist behind my back.

I bit my lip and nodded obediently.

At night, I had to deliberately “run into” the players and cry to them that the Count actually treated me badly.

“Yes, he always beats and insults me. The bruises on my hands are proof of the torment he puts me through.” I cried as I showed them the injuries I had drawn long ago. “Every night, he locks me in the last room on the second floor and torments me. Please help me.”

“But the BOSS said we’re not allowed near the last room on the second floor.” When contradictory rules appeared, the players always looked startled.

“He’s lying to you. If I still haven’t come out after midnight, please go in and save me. I’ll give you a generous reward!”

At that point, there would always be players willing to take the risk for that so-called generous reward.

Not one of them ever made it out alive.

In fact, I hadn’t lied completely.

While they were being devoured and tortured by the eerie things in the room, the BOSS was also torturing me on the other side of the wall.

The wall didn’t block sound. He liked pressing me against it, and however miserable the screams in the next room were, his movements would be just as intense.

“You looked at the second-to-last man on the left a little too long today. What, do you like him?” He bit my earlobe.

“I don’t like him.”

The tentacles extending from his body climbed up my thigh, cold against my skin.

“Betrayers end up the same as the previous twelve.”

I turned around and smiled as I yielded to him. “I won’t. I’ll never betray you.”

If I left you, where else would I find someone who looks so much like my beloved?

Chapter 2

Until that time, when one player made me lose my composure.

Oh my god, he looked exactly like my beloved.

I followed the usual script and cried my way over to him in the middle of the night.

After listening, he smiled. “He treats you badly? Then I’ll help you kill him. Come with me, okay?”

I froze.

Normally, when a dungeon has just begun, players wouldn’t immediately go after the BOSS. Of course, there had been players before who sympathized with me too much and did exactly that, but the outcome was obvious. Every single one of them died horribly.

My Count husband was really strong.

Otherwise, no one would have cleared this instance until now.

I kept crying. “My husband is very powerful. You really shouldn’t…”

But half an hour later, the entire second floor was engulfed in flames, and that player walked out slowly from the fire, tossing several still-twitching tentacles in front of me.

“Your husband is dead. That’s great… ah, no, I mean, I’m very sorry.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

“Don’t believe me? The System announcement is already here.” With that, he showed me the notification panel that only players had.

There, in glaring text, it said: detected that the Horror Castle Instance BOSS has been killed. Congratulations to the player for clearing the dungeon.

I stood frozen in place, and a strange emptiness suddenly opened up in my heart.

The man in front of me sheathed his sword and held out a hand. “Come with me.”

I hesitated.

Although the Count looked a lot like my beloved.

The man in front of me looked even more like him.

Although the Count was good at pleasing me and knew all kinds of tricks.

This man in front of me didn’t seem any worse.

Although the Count was powerful.

This man in front of me was even stronger, since he’d killed him outright.

Although…

There didn’t seem to be anything left in the Count’s favor.

Rest in peace, ex-husband. I’m heartbroken that you’re dead, but people still have to move forward, mm.

I raised my hand, and then something like bullet comments suddenly appeared in front of me.

[BOSS suspected her of disloyalty long ago. This time, he was deliberately pretending to be dead to test her.]

[But BOSS was still seriously injured, and then he was redeemed by our brave precious heroine!]

[After the cowardly female supporting character ran off with the player, she thought the player would really treat her well, not knowing that it was all because of her NPC body. Every time the player got hurt, he came to cut flesh from her. So miserable!]

[Tsk, I still remember how she desperately crawled to BOSS in the end and begged him to save her, only to dirty the precious heroine’s dress. BOSS didn’t even blink before wiping her out completely, body and soul.]

[But does this player look like that? Why does he seem different from what I remember?]

I’m the female supporting character?

Fair enough. I was just a dependent appendage of the BOSS. Before me, there had already been twelve people just like me.

But the players would cut my flesh?

NPC flesh really could help players recover quickly.

At once, I felt the way the man opposite me was looking at me change.

I shuddered all over, withdrew my hand, and pretended to be sad as I sniffled twice. “You know, my husband just died. The first seven days after his death haven’t even passed yet. I can’t betray him.”

“Then after the first seven days, you can?”

“…?”

Was that how the logic worked?

The player seemed to seriously think about it, then turned the few tentacles into black charcoal, put them into a small bottle, and stuffed it into my arms.

“Then just treat this as your husband for now. Keep it with you, and pretend he’s always here. I don’t want to see you cry.”

When he said that, he kept looking at me with a very gentle expression.

Do you understand? It was just like someone who looked exactly like your beloved using an especially gentle look to gaze at you.

At once, the husband I was holding felt a little in the way.

I couldn’t even free up a hand to hug his arm with both hands.

I wiped my tears and nodded at him.

Forget it. If they want to cut flesh, let them cut flesh. To die under peonies is still a kind of romance.

“Ah, the System says the next instance is about to begin, and this place is going to collapse. Let’s go.” He wiped the blood from his hand and took mine, leading me forward.

Tsk, this bottle is too annoying.

So when we passed through the ruins, I “accidentally” dropped the bottle into the rubble. Flames burst up at once and swallowed the bottle with a boom.

Finally, I could hug his arm with both hands, hehe.

It’s just that… why does it feel cold behind me…