Xiaolin always thought she was just playing an ultra-realistic crossover game called The Strongest Elite: Crossover Edition.
Missions could be accepted.
Enemies could be killed.
Teammates had stats.
After dying, you could still leave the instance.
So she was always calm, rational, and focused on maximizing her gains.
Saving someone when there was no mission reward was a waste of time.
Risking herself for so-called teammates was a bad decision.
As for NPCs' joy and sorrow, the game company had done a good job modeling them. That was all.
Until she realized that the NPCs in this game seemed more immersed in their roles than the last.
She charged into a dangerous area, and the curly-haired police officer scolded her while gripping her hand tightly.
She prepared to retreat alone, but the silver-haired boy bristled with anger. “Who said you could leave the team without permission?”
She calculated the remaining value of her teammates, and the red-haired young man held down the hand she was about to use to draw her blade.
“Listen.”
“Team isn't something you use up and then throw away.”
Xiaolin was very confused.
She was just a rat, used to gnawing on scraps in the dark, never able to stop.
She was only staying here temporarily.
Why did they always think she would come back?
Later, Xiaolin visited many worlds.
She saved people she shouldn't have saved, joined teams with almost no payoff, remembered the names of dead NPCs, and even turned back when she had the best chance of clearing a level.
She always thought she was just playing a game.
But the people in every world, each in their own way, told her
You can stay.
She almost believed them.
Until one day, a player raised a weapon in front of her.
The next moment, the player's body split down the middle, like a cell undergoing mitosis.
Another player emerged from behind her.
Blood covered the ground.
The newly spawned player character knelt before Xiaolin and looked up at her with near-religious fervor.
“I've finally met you, Lord Xiaolin.”
“We've been waiting...”
“Waiting for the day you would truly be born.”
For the first time, Xiaolin realized that the person this game was truly waiting to see complete it might never have been a player.
It was her.
[Reader's Guide]
◆ The heroine thinks like a gamer. At first, she genuinely sees everyone as NPCs; she's not pretending to be clueless.
◆ The heroine's development is slow and gradual. She makes mistakes and backslides, and won't suddenly be won over.
◆ There is a pairing. The heroine's understanding of “affection” is on par with that of a single-celled organism.
◆ The prose is rambling and fussy, and doesn't always say what it means. Please just take it as it is.
◆ The plot is entirely original and doesn't follow the anime timelines. Some plotlines are tied to the source material. I'll do my best to keep the characters in character, but everyone interprets them differently, so please be understanding if my portrayal differs from yours.
◆ This is a writing exercise, but it has a complete outline. I'm trying to find my feel for writing novels again.
[Worlds Preview]
📌 Detective Conan · Heart of a Rat
📌 Katekyo Hitman Reborn! · White Sugar, Crimson Begonias, and Bitter Coffee
📌 Bungo Stray Dogs · Love, Death & Stranger
📌 Hunter x Hunter · Reflections in Reverse
📌 Demon Slayer · The Narrow Gate
📌 Jujutsu Kaisen · Desert and Sea
In 2209, Peaceful Immortals went offline and was upgraded into The Strongest Elite.
In the era of crossover gaming's popularity, players got their hands on the hottest series in The Strongest Elite franchise: The Strongest Elite: Crossover Edition.
The worlds are based on anime, from the most popular series to the most obscure.
One hundred players battle it out, or team up in pairs.
Kill the survivors and live to the end. Then you'll be the strongest elite!
So, what kind of cheat code did you use to make the protagonist's affection for you go up, up, up?
Maybe it's because I'm a good person, the player said.
Hey! I keep telling you I didn't cheat!
Theme: A person who has never felt they belong keeps being given a place to stay by others.
![[Crossover] Why Are All the NPCs in This Game So Real?! cover](/img/cover/64cef6a443bea7a465b1/480/aHR0cHM6Ly9mdHAubWlvei5jbi90ZXN0LzIwMjYvMDgvMDUvMTc4NTkwMjgwMC5KUEc.jpg)
This Was Supposed to Be a City-Building Game, So How Did I Get a Romance Ending?
Changing My Child’s Surname to Gojo
After I Picked Up Young Zoro
Don't Keep Yato and Cats Together, You Idiot
I Can Use Every Ability in Yokohama! Too Bad I'm Unlucky
A Certain Scientific Reduction: Re
A Mad God of War Has Arrived in the Matchmaking World
Do Plant Zombies Have to Kill Ghosts Too?
I Have No Idea, I’m Busy Farming
I Transmigrated Into the Same Generation as My Favorite and Saved the World
Kageyama, You Look Just Like My Brother
Jujutsu Kaisen: Handing Out Life RPG Games at Jujutsu High
A Chance Encounter with a Death Demigod in Yokohama [Honkai: Star Rail Crossover]
Welcome to the Pet and Sweets Shop
The Pirate World Doesn't Need the Internet!
Living with Gojo
A Sorcerer, but He’s So Fluffy to the Touch
All Assassins Are Notebook-Writing Younger Men!
[Genshin Impact] Am I Crazy for Falling in Love with Dottore?
Caught in a Friendship Shura Field in the Ninja World
Mazda essentially played a midwife role in the birth of the baby.
Good heavens, I just finished reading the previous chapter and before I knew it, the next one was already here. Reading two chapters felt like watching a movie – a dazed and wistful experience. Xiaolin has always given me a strange feeling. Whenever I think she's just an ordinary person outside the game, her agile skills and inhumanity in the game (which is quite cute, haha) make me feel that her…
I'd almost forgotten the plot, so I watched it again and realized how lively this rainy night was! Hahahaha! Bourbon in the driver's seat, Gin who seems to be a gamer, Shuichi Akai on the street, Mazda and Hagi with a generation gap with young people (?), Is our Mr. Kei being ostracized? Hahahaha
It's so deliberately designed to make you seem clueless, like a human bot [eye roll]. I can't stand it. I came here for the game, but it's so frustrating. It's always changing for others, there's no sense of player agency [eye roll].
Keep it up. The author's writing style has a bit of an essayistic feel.
I don't think Gokudera would talk to Tsuna like that.
My condolences again for Mazda. I wonder if they'll have any more scenes with Detective Conan later on 😭
Thank you for the author's thoughtful reply, I think I understand now [glasses]. I love this story, I love Kobayashi 😍 Matsuda Kobayashi [Orange Sugar] is so cute! [Orange Sugar] is so cute! [Purple Sugar] kswl [Purple Sugar] kswl By the way, there's a Ferris wheel here! Matsuda, watch out for your ill-fated connection with Ferris wheels! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to the author! 🎆🎆🎆
It's great, so why are there so few favorites and comments? I really like this kind of meme. Watching the players fight amongst themselves from the perspective of the normally functioning natives is really captivating! 😍😍
Teacher!! Could you please add paragraph comments?! It's so frustrating not being able to vent my frustrations right now!!! As expected, Kashiwagi, you really do like Satsuki. But the way this chapter handles things like keeping players in the game world and having NPCs remember them makes me feel like we'll be revisiting those plot points much later, after Kobayashi finally understands.