NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

He had the voice of an angel, soothing every cell inside my body. The sense of helplessness crawled inside of my brain, reliving the life of the character I\'m seeing. He had the same charity as I had when Clementine was alive.

The man who I had been portraying all this time reminded me of my past life, a life that I will never forget. The only difference that the guy had was his alive sister, and mine went elsewhere inside this game.

My persona stood and walked towards the fridge. Every step the character took, the man exhaled. Upon sliding the colourless fridge open, there was nothing that could greet my eyes. It was flooding inside and out of the container. The shelves had nothing, not even leftovers, to fill their stomachs. It was only the specs of dust that contained the warm cold storage.

"I promise, Himari. I will get you something to eat," the man said, and sauntered into a room.

Heaving out a sigh, the man returned to his sister, cleaning the room using a broom. Himari, the girl he had talked about, cleared the dust around the house. The sweat drenched her face and continued dripping from her cheeks. But the little girl did not mind.

Himari was a diligent sister that knew how to take care of her brother.

Every step he made, the wooden floor reverberated, a creaking sound inside the constricted room. Even the walls and the ceiling had craters at every side, with the drizzling rain dripping from above.

The droplets continued leaking, but the man paid it no concern.

The bloke arrived in an enclosed room and found a helmet with otherworldly designs. He reached out for the headgear and placed it on his head. The boy went to bed and shut his eyes, waiting for something to happen. With the beeping sound resonating elsewhere, the man zoomed in somewhere beyond the tunnel.

"What is that?" I asked myself, but nobody gave me an answer.

And then I heard a voice. A recognizable sound that appeared before me when Code granted me this system. I could never forget that azure box greeting me with the same vibrating clangs.

[Welcome to Code, Fe-] The video game abruptly cut me off and blackened my view.

My body trembled backwards while trying to put the helmet off on my head. However, when my hands reached for my scalp, nothing covered my hair. I peeled my eyes open and greeted Wolf, spinning his head like a lunatic, more crazed than before.

The player slowly raised his head and blinked a million times. He gasped for air. Upon looking at his state, Wolf looked like he had experienced what I had from that world. That event made me realise I played his role, but knew nothing if I was in the past, present, or future.

"What happened? Why am I inside your memories?" I asked, and glared at him.

I received no answer while observing him kneeling on the ground, not until….

Wolf pulled his body together and stood from the ground. His hands were still resting on his head. Upon rubbing his palm, he told me that something had activated the setting.

"Setting?" I repeated.

"Players can read other player\'s backgrounds," Wolf said, but saw my head tilting on the sides. "It means there\'s a privacy setting there that you left it open, idiot. Nobody knows this but me. Since my Lycanthrope skill allowed me to read someone. Now that we have the same class, you can also dig through my memories, which already happened."

After hearing Wolf\'s explanation, I fiddled with my system and saw the cog shape glued in the corner. I pressed the pocket-size design and marvelled at the different window. It showed advanced things I did not understand.

I looked closely at the words written on each tab. It was what Wolf had mentioned. I was inside the setting and addressed the privacy part, which my system turned that thing on without my prior knowledge. I slid the button towards the left and deactivated the privacy section.

[Do you wish to continue?] the automated voice asked. [If you choose "yes", you will block your history from players. Nobody can read your background until you change the settings. However, this ability cannot guarantee protection from abilities that allow them to read your history. You also cannot look through other player\'s history to make the settings fair. If you choose "no" as your answer, nothing will change. Players could read your history.]

I pressed yes without a hint of doubt.

A "ting" sound came right afterwards, confirming the changes I made. Although I can edit the setting soon, there was a cool-down for the setting change. Within two weeks, I can revert to the privacy setting in its original place.

Wolf widened his eyes as I turned off his source to peer into my mind. He thought I did not want to change it. But since I hated people observing my past, especially Wolf, I needed to turn that setting off. With the phrase "Yeah. You could do that," Wolf regretted what he explained.

The player shrugged his head off and opened his mouth.

"You...do you know how to complete the game?" Wolf voiced his concerns and asked. "What do these four obelisks mean? Why do you need to go to this place? The Dwarven, Wonderland, Dragonewts, and Mainland?"

Among the fragments of my memory, Wolf highlighted the completion of the game. It was the first phrase that the player mentioned to me.

I shook my head in response. "You don\'t need to know."

A growling voice fled from my lips as I threw the penitence\'s blade towards him. With a swift lean towards the side, Wolf dodged my attack. The dagger I threw crashed against the panel behind him, leaving a fissure from where it had landed.

"You\'re aiming for the emerald obelisk, aren\'t you?" He uttered.

Wolf saw right through me. After seeing Clementine die in my vision, Wolf understood a part of me. He knew I killed King Arthur for a war to happen. And now, I need to complete the game. I need to collect all four obelisks, including the emerald one that La Finta has.

Before we could continue our conversation, a whistle resonated right beside me, with a zooming object passing through my eyes. It was at lightning speed that I could not perceive the item that flew through my flank. However, because of my system and my shining right eye, I could discern the attack.

It was a green arrow coming from behind me.

Wolf leaned his body to the left and dodged the arrow in the nick of time. That was what he had thought, but he did not elude the attack entirely. A graze formed on the side of his cheeks, showing the scarlet and pinkish sliced skin. His blood continuously dripped from the cut, tainting his shirt and boots. The attack was not enough to kill him, but endured substantial damage in his health bar.

"It took you long enough to change into that," Wolf exclaimed, and stared into my eyes.

No. Wolf was not looking at me, but at the person behind me.

I swivelled at my rear and greeted La Finta wearing her new battle clothes. Gripped in her hands was an enchanted bow, long enough to cover her entire body. She also had a quiver strapped around her back. The container did not have spare bolts, but she took one from her quiver and fired another dart towards Wolf.

Wolf lifted his hands and attempted to grab and destroy the arrow using his palm. But in a split second, he changed his mind and rolled to the side.

The arrow crashed against the wall and shattered the gates. The ground shook, disrupting our balance. Wolf locked his eyes at La Finta, who was now walking closer to me.

"Thank you for buying me some time to change. I need this outfit for battle," she whispered. "I know someone was inside, but I did not expect a level five player would breach the royal throne. How cunning of you."

Wolf smirked after hearing La Finta\'s comment. He knew it was a sarcastic remark to boil him in rage.

"Nobody can provoke me. Not even you, Grandmother."

La Finta\'s eyes twitched upon hearing her title coming from his lips. Wolf stood up and prepared his beginner\'s dagger in his hands. He may be level five, but Wolf was a veteran on the battlefield.

I would not have dodged that arrow if La Finta directed her attack at me. But Wolf dodged it with ease and without batting a sweat. It was as if he knew the pattern of La Finta\'s attacks.

"May I know the player that I plan to kill?" La Finta asked, and pulled the string from the recurve.

"The name\'s Wolf. And I am here to tell you about Red and the emeral-,"

"Silence!" La Finta cut Wolf\'s sentence. "You plan on taking these emerald obelisks from me?"