Fortunately, the agony lasted only three seconds. Then the flames and green data vanished from Fisherman Uncle's body at the same time. He fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the savagery and resentment on his face rapidly faded.
"Fisherman Uncle, are you back to normal?"
Milly asked cautiously. Fisherman Uncle looked up at her, confusion crossing his face before he remembered what had happened. "I killed people!" he cried in horror. "I actually killed people?"
"You were being controlled. It wasn't your fault."
Milly hurried to reassure him. "If you're back to normal, please help me save the other players and NPCs. Killing won't solve anything."
"I was being controlled? Yes, I was being controlled. I'm not a bad person."
Fisherman Uncle nodded repeatedly. Then, remembering what he really was, he said bitterly, "So I'm just an NPC. An NPC for players like you to amuse yourselves with."
"I'm sorry."
Milly apologized sincerely, then said, "As long as we stop this slaughter, everything will change. The Director of S.W.O.R.D. will save us players and you NPCs."
"The Director of S.W.O.R.D.? Who's that?"
Fisherman Uncle looked bewildered. Clearly, he had never heard the name. Milly said, "You don't even know the Director of S.W.O.R.D.? He's the Savior, the most perfect man in the world. Please help me save everyone."
Fisherman Uncle looked at Milly, deeply hesitant, but ultimately chose to follow her. The reason was simple: he was a good man, and he didn't want to see so many people die.
And so Milly gained her first follower. This was only the beginning. As she continued restoring NPCs to normal, more and more followers gathered around her—not just NPCs, but players too.
"Can we trust these NPCs?"
Of course, things didn't go smoothly all the time. There were plenty