Don't Be Afraid, NPCs, I'm a Good Person

Shen Shixu is a veteran gamer who skips story scenes, dialogue, and anything else that gets in the way of fighting bosses. If she sees a health bar, she attacks; if she sees a chest, she loots it. One day, she wins a spot in the beta test for the new single-player game Second Life. She transmigrates shortly after entering the game. And has no idea it happened. Because the game’s System came along too. The player enters the game. The player skips all the background information. The player is amazed by how realistic the game is. The player immediately tries to rob the first NPC she sees and gets hunted by the guards. The player strips the beginner village of every resource and moves on to a new map. The player beats up a rude NPC and gets hunted by the Imperial Guard. The player starts farming. The player gets hooked on farming. The player breaks into a luxurious estate to grab an item and gets hunted by the army. The player furiously dismantles an alien battleship that crashed into her fields. The player makes off with every last piece of loot from the ship. The player starts fishing. The player gets hooked on fishing. The player ventures deep into a certain planet to catch rare fish and gets hunted by a swarm of insects. The player runs across three star systems to escape the chase. The player discovers that a certain insectoid drop can be made into universal bait. The player grabs her weapon, turns around, and charges straight into the insectoid nest. … After journeying across the stars for ages, Shen Shixu finally completes every collection: quests, species, items, food, and more. Only then does she belatedly learn that she has become the galaxy’s notorious Fourth Calamity. Shen Shixu, a player who considers herself perfectly ordinary: Huh? This game has a title system? (Overjoyed) Please note: 1. As above, this is a comedy about a player’s daily antics as a menace. It is not a construction-focused story about summoning players. 2. Contains a few nonhuman elements, including but not limited to tentacles, starfish, and insects. 3. The player has a great deal of freedom, so this may not be suitable for readers with a strong moral compass. 4. The male lead is a background character outside the game and does not transmigrate. He and the heroine are childhood sweethearts and each other’s first love. I won’t spoil the main plot here. ★Coming soon: It Takes Two, But My Teammate Is the Apocalypse’s Villain From the day she transmigrated, a line of text appeared before Ye Muyun’s eyes. [Player 1 has joined. Waiting for Player 2...] Ye Muyun: … What kind of knockoff It Takes Two is this? Ten years later, Ye Muyun is still slacking off every day among the righteous sects when a notification suddenly appears. [Player 2 has joined!] [Starting...] [The game is about to begin. Have fun!] Ye Muyun messages Player 2, but never gets a reply. Could the game have assigned her an NPC teammate? [Beginner Quest: Meet your teammate at the designated location.] Ye Muyun waits for an hour without seeing anyone, then opens the game notifications to see what’s going on. [Player 2 has died. Cause of death: Challenged a boss above their level] [Player 2 has died. Cause of death: Severed their own meridians] [Player 2 has died. Cause of death: Challenged an elite captain above their level] [Player 2 has died...] Ye Muyun: … What a stubborn idiot. After being sealed for fourteen hundred years, Shen Chihan finally manages to shed his corpse and reincarnate. His new body is so weak it makes him want to cough up blood, but that’s fine. He can train it up over time. The more troublesome problem is that his new body occasionally makes him see and hear things that aren’t there. [Player 1 has arrived at the meeting point] [You have died] [You have died] [Player 1 sent an emoji] [You have died] … [Player 1 sent a message: Are you □□?] [Player 1 sent a message: If you suck, don’t play.] [Player 1 sent a message: I could scatter rice on a controller and let a chicken play. It’d still have better moves than you.] Shen Chihan: … Heh. Once I’ve mastered my divine art, I’ll go out and kill this Player 1 at once. Theme: Playing games is a process of healing yourself.