NPC and the Voice

Amidst the roaring sound, the runes on the ship's hull lit up, and countless Rune Chains enveloped the entire vessel, forming a streamlined protective shield. The ship began to move.

As if ice was thawing, the once deathly silent ship became noisy with this single roar.

Thump, thump, thump. Heavy footsteps and the clanging of armor echoed.

Fang Zheng turned, excitedly watching a figure in blood-red armor, who had been sitting cross-legged on the deck moments ago, walk across it.

As the figure walked, he muttered hollow, vacant words: (This year's spiritual medicine is plentiful, just a little more and I can break through...)

Fang Zheng eagerly walked forward.

"Hey! Can you hear me? Do you understand me?"

An unknown language repeated stiffly, (This year's spiritual medicine is plentiful, just a little more and I can break through...)

"What was wrong with you all before? Why weren't you moving?"

"Wait, what are you do..." Just then, the Block Person, who had excitedly stepped in front of the Armored Figure, was shoved aside by the armored figure.

(This year's spiritual medicine is plentiful, just a little more and I can break through...)

When a Block Person, who looked quite intimidating, stood in the Armored Figure's path, the armored figure didn't stop or go around. He continued his movement, his feet constantly scraping against the deck as if he were still trying to advance, even though his path was blocked.

At the same time, he kept repeating the words Fang Zheng couldn't understand: (This year's spiritual medicine is plentiful, just a little more and I can break through...)

With a "thud," the Armored Figure lost its balance and fell to the ground. However, its legs continued to move forward, the armor on its legs scraping against the deck with a "creak, creak" sound.

Seeing this, the Block Person fell silent. He phased through the deck, looking at the people below who had now become lively, each engaged in their own tasks.

He quietly observed them, watching them constantly repeat certain phrases.

Switching back to Creative Mode to reveal himself, he still couldn't get any response from these figures. He placed a few blocks in their path, only to watch them bump into them and lose their balance, falling down.

Fang Zheng suddenly understood.

His earlier excitement immediately turned to dejection: "They aren't real people. They're NPCs, some kind of NPCs stuck in a fixed routine..."

Leaving the ship and looking at the countless ships spread across the sky, Fang Zheng felt a profound sense of loneliness and despair surge from the depths of his heart:

"I just assumed this was a Cultivation World."

"But, is this not a Cultivation World, but rather a large-scale cultivation-themed game map with no truly intelligent life?"

Loneliness and solitude washed over his mind, leaving Fang Zheng stunned in place for a long time.

After a while, a bitter laugh escaped the lips of the immortal and unkillable Block Person: "Hahaha... It's best to look on the bright side."

"At least..."

"At least, even if this is a cultivation game world, it's much better looking than that pixelated, blocky mess of a world called MC."

Looking at the dense cluster of Flying Battleships, Fang Zheng laughed. "At least it can help me pass the time."

"For example, I could try piloting one of these ships, hahaha..."

With that said, Fang Zheng looked at the battleship below, which had returned to its static state. He took a lever from his Creative Mode inventory, attempted to place it, and clicked it.

Instantly, the battleship, which had been motionless like everything else around it, and even the people on board who were also still, suddenly sprang to life.

And it wasn't like the other occasional moving ships that slowly accelerated. The moment it started moving, the battleship's speed shot from zero to maximum.

Under the ship's automatically activated semi-transparent protective shield, Fang Zheng gazed outward, watching things outside stretch into noodle-like shapes, glowing red and blue due to the ship's extreme speed.

"It really works..."

"Since the rules of different worlds can have some degree of mutual applicability, the blocks I placed before could endlessly generate those Rune Chains."

"Then there's no reason why special items like levers and buttons from the MC world wouldn't work."

"There's no reason they can't act as switches to forcibly activate these game items."

"Hahaha!" Fang Zheng managed a bitter laugh.

He forced a smile. "I should have tried placing buttons or levers directly on the doors before, to see if they could act as switches to forcibly open them, instead of spending days slowly phasing through."

"Maybe I could have even found a mode of transportation to enter through."

"Right, where do I control the direction of this flying ship?"

"Can my block hands control the direction?"

Amidst the overwhelming disappointment, Fang Zheng tried his best to cheer himself up.

"I'm so excited!"

"If this is a cultivation game world, then since everything is so detailed, there should be related complex storylines, right?"

"Trying out the related storylines should be fun."

"Where are these flying battleships heading in this giant city?"

"Hahaha..."

"Haha..."

"Sigh..."

Fang Zheng's voice trailed off sadly.

"If this really is another game world, a cultivation game world completely devoid of normal intelligent life."

"Then, even if I strike the Hell Gate frame with lightning again, will it only open a portal to other game worlds..."

"In other worlds, can I find other players like me..."

"If I can't encounter truly intelligent life, will I just be playing house with some NPCs like this forever?"

"In that case, how much longer can I hold on?"

The Block Person stood quietly in front of the battleship, watching the streams of light that flashed by like shadows, with various things already showing signs of blueshift and redshift.

He just stood there blankly, his mind empty, thinking about who knows what.

However...

Suddenly. Fang Zheng turned his head, tilting his blocky head. "Who's talking?"

(Immortal Realm Blockade, no path forward...)

(Immortal Realm Blockade, no path forward...)

A voice, sounding ancient and sorrowful, came from somewhere unknown, gradually growing stronger from a whisper.

Fang Zheng turned his blocky head, confused. "It should be a vacuum around this ship, right? Sound can travel here too?"

But he immediately remembered. "Oh, right. If it's a game world, there's no rule saying sound can't travel in a vacuum."

However, Fang Zheng couldn't understand what the voice was saying at all. "I still can't understand the language of this world."

"How long will it take me to learn? If I can't learn it, I won't even know what the NPCs are saying, even if I wanted to play house with them."

Fang Zheng didn't pay much attention at first, but as he listened, he started to get confused, then excited.

"This sounds like a real person?" From the tone, he could feel a strong sense of sorrow and disappointment.