NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

A crashing sound echoed inside the shack. The cotton, wool, and strings stitched around Rumpelstiltskin and Pinocchio exploded into pieces. Those two puppets left Code without saying goodbye to Olivia or me.

Billions of thorns got plucked out from my heart as I finally defeated the two puppets. But Rumpel and Pinocchio were but a pawn to Alice.

Something great was going to happen. And I could feel it…

"You will come to me… eventually?" I murmured.

Those were the last words of Alice, the Princess of Wonderland. Although the words came from her, the vessel Alice used was from Rumpelstiltskin. With all the remaining strength she had, that puppet master relayed her words to me. Although I refused to believe it, her words brought a shiver down my spine.

I could only gulp in defeat as I nudged the door open.

Upon sliding the gates, the vibrant emerald forest welcomed my eyes. It was where Olivia and the others were waiting for me to return. They told me to follow the trail leading to a remote town, where there would be nothing but trees and birds surrounding the place.

As soon as I stepped my foot outside, the road that Olivia mentioned greeted me. The townspeople did not fix the road with cement, but it was enough for me to venture onwards. It invited me to continue forward on the endless journey. Upon arriving at a hazel bark, multiple shacks addressed my eyes.

There were dozens of villagers roaming around the vicinity, but all of them had skinny arms and bodies. It was as if they had not been eating for days. However, if I monitored them closer, there was a hint of fat forming in their arms.

As I glided my eyes at the sides, there were also plates filled with rice and pork that came from freshly butchered hogs. This scene only told me that someone hunted it for them. If I considered the villagers' strength, none of them could handle themselves in the wild. But if someone did this for them, it must have been Red and her companion, Match.

I greeted the passing people while giving them a nod. They waved their hands back and gave me a hello.

Before I could knock on the front door, the gate moved to the side. A figure of a man with a cloaked girl greeted my eyes.

"You're late." Ryoshi raced at me and hid behind my back while pointing at Olivia standing in front of me. "But just in time to save me!"

A couple of empty bottles fell from the table as Ryoshi went to my back. Those flasks did not have the properties of glass, so the exterior part did not leave shards on the ground.

That merchant girl crossed her arms as I met her gaze. But after a few seconds, the girl's orbs rolled on the side, directing her gaze at my best friend hiding behind me. I tilted my head, hoping to find the reason behind her undelighted expression.

"Is there a problem while I'm gone?" I asked.

"None… That guy just drank half of the potion I left on the table. Probably cost around 1 gold coin."

Like a frightening killer owl, I slid my head to the side (at exactly 180 degrees) and flashed Ryoshi a smile. "Care to explain this to me, Hunter?"

"I thought maybe I needed those potions. A-And you can pay for it, right? I know you have the money, Ryo-, I mean, Wolf. But-,"

"Just shut up, Hunter. Olivia, forgive my friend here. I will just pay for everything." I interposed, and faced the waiting merchant girl standing in front of me.

Olivia gave me a nod and issued a command for purchasing the health and mana potions that Ryoshi took from Olivia and me. Although I became broke right now, there was one effortless way to earn some instant cash.

It's what I called, "Devil's Deal".

"Are you… hacking the system?" Ryoshi went to me with glittering eyes while witnessing the numbers go wild in front of us.

It was a forbidden code that the game developers tried to bury. I, who was a reckless player, can't help but use this code for myself.

"You can earn instant cash doing nothing. It's a bug that the game developers left when Alice was still alive," I stated, while fiddling with the binary numbers and things that I knew little about the realm.

Thanks to the limited instructions given to me by the system, I could track down the errors. The entire thing bugged the quest for the hidden quests button.

"What does it mean?" Ryoshi asked.

I answered, "It means that a quest for slaying Alice is still up and kicking. Since I technically killed Alice, she should not appear in the quest. However, because of the game developer's rules, those people cannot lay their hands on Alice or the quest. It resulted in this infinite bug that you could claim."

"Found it!" Ryoshi exclaimed, while waving his window at me. "This window is it, right?"

I gave him a nod. "How did you-?"

"I know simple programming… Well, not simple, but… I usually read books in my free time. And listening to your explanation, I was able to pinpoint the location of…"

"Good for you. You can pay for the goods you stole on your own," I exclaimed, and went on my way inside.

"You're not fair, Wolf! And you know that!" Ryoshi snarled, while handing over the gold coin to Olivia. "You told me this thing could give me one gold coin. Does it have a cooldown? What's the catch? That name, 'Devil's Deal' sounds menacing… and creepy."

"You're a quick learner. So, yeah. It has a catch, and it will electrify your body… around now."

A flash of lightning that came out of nowhere struck Ryoshi. With a dumbfounded expression, my best friend had no other choice but to take the direct hit of the bolt. After a few seconds, the fried Ryoshi fell flat on the ground, with his hair rising upwards.

As soon as Ryoshi regained his consciousness, he stood from the floor. His eyes checked every nook and cranny of the room, trying to find something that wanted to harm his body. After clearing all his doubts, Ryoshi went to me and asked once more.

"You never told me about the electric shock! And where did you learn this from?"

"I told you earlier. But you wouldn't listen. And the cooldown of the coin is every hour, not every day. And don't even bother counting all those gold coins, since I have a lot of them stashed inside my inventory. You could add it up, but it would be useless for our trip," I explained, and shrug off the dirt that came flying to me during Ryoshi's plummet.

After the gold incident, the three of us sat at the table and planned to get down into business. However, there was so much to learn about Olivia. I struggled to believe that this merchant girl worked for Alice.

And judging by the gloomy nature of the town, Olivia had no other choice but to listen to the two puppets. If what Rumpelstiltskin and Pinocchio mentioned were true, these two marionettes saved the townlet from famine and the soldiers entering this place. However, working for them was a grave mistake.

Nobody should listen to that devil, not even the NPCs inside this game.

"Olivia, tell me everything you know about you and this place. If you're telling me that some father that you have told you to believe in me, nobody would believe you. Cut the crap and be honest with me. Don't waste my time, or I will leave this village, with or without helping all of you."

"You can help the village?" Olivia asked, while leaning closer to me.

"Yes. But in one condition. Give me a reason for me to believe you're not working with Alice."

"Man, you really have a grudge against this Alice girl? Did she dump you or anything?" Ryoshi butted in our conversation, while munching something in his hands.

"You know, eating something won't give you nutrients to your actual body. So stop chewing that cookie, or I will send you where the two puppets are right now! And have you paid attention to what I said earlier? Alice is a demon that gained sentience over this game. However, she refused to become a human and yearned to kill anyone and anything in her sight. I was the only one who could stop her wrath. If Alice got out of that prison, we should kiss our lives goodbye and escape this game alive. Before we can even complete Code we would all die because of her."

"Sorry… It's delicious! Ever since that update, I couldn't help but eat everything! I know it's not going to our digestion, but… I kinda miss eating something, you know? And yes, I was listening before. Which is why Olivia is telling the truth."