NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

As soon as I prepared myself, I dashed straight towards the base undetected. Thanks to my skill, those machines did not spot me, even with their magnifying abilities. My two glowing eyes amplified the arcane inside my body.

  If it weren't for these eyes I recently obtained, I wouldn't cruise towards this base without experiencing any problems.

Unfortunately, it took me thirty minutes to arrive at the front's gates. I expected to land in front of the door with less time. But the enhanced machinery and traps laid by these soldiers were incomparable to the ones I had met before.

I scanned the door if it had the ultimate trap set for me. Luckily, my system told me that the door did not have anything special.

  It was just a regular, metallic gate that had a doorknob around my waist. And that handle waited for me to enter this room.

"Now, for the appetizer, I need to open this locked gate," I mumbled to myself, while activating my system.

My system was a reliable tool that I could use to open such things in Code. It all depended at the level of the player's system for the amount of abilities that one could use. And according to its descriptions, systems could unlock anything that those players included in this game.

Although I was not a personnel at this base, I could still enter from the front gates. However, that plan went downwards when a window popped up in front of me.

[Access denied.]

"What?" I gasped, and tried pressing the buttons once again. "This should work, right?"

[Access denied.]

I did not know why, but the gate refused to let me inside the base. This door was the only thing that remained obstructing towards my goal. But without obtaining the access for this entrance, I just had to find another way around.

"If I continued knocking on their front doors, those soldiers inside might notice me. I should keep a low profile and hide myself from them," I thought, and went towards the side.

My eyes looked far and wide, hoping to see any spot I could use to enter the place. After a few minutes of fiddling around the spaces, there were finally vents that I could pass through inside unexposed. And those orifices on the roof connected themselves inside or outside the building. 

I swung my way towards that hole and marked the map for its entry. Before I could enter anything at all, I must know where these outlets would lead me. My plan would become foolish if this hole guided me at the lion's den, unprepared for any combat.

As much as possible, avoiding any battles would help me throughout this journey. I wanted to preserve my strength for a fight against these soldiers.

However, there were multiple pipes I could enter in front of me. After searching for dozens of them, none of those ports would direct me towards somewhere safe. And since I hadn't entered the place yet, my system still processed the building's spaces. Some of those openings would also lead me towards somewhere unsafe and far away from this place.

I couldn't just randomly choose one and hope for the best. If I wanted to breach the player's structure, I needed a plan.

That process took me a few minutes but I never found anything within those times. As luck would have it, something ruined my scheme with those killing intentions glaring in my directions. Even though my eyes didn't catch sight of those figures, my body knew that enemies had already surrounded me.

Within a few moments, rains of bullets emerged from the sky. Those shells went towards my direction, with their speed nearly out matching mine. I could only assume that the soldiers upgraded their guns, since the death game had gone out of hand. 

If those players didn't, these bullets wouldn't scare me. But they did, which those soldiers made a pretty good job out of it.

I instinctively went to the side and evaded most of those gunshots fired at my figure. Thanks to my burning red eyes and experience, those shells did nothing to me but became a nuisance.

However, upon lifting my head, a group of individuals greeted my eyes. I had expected an army, since these soldiers loved flexing their numbers. And since players had the most population in this map, they could outnumber me and kill me with it.

But that did not happen. Judging by the composition of this group, the soldiers might have chosen the elite soldiers to face me. Upon squinting my eyes, those silver and golden badges greeted my sight.

It only strengthened my claim that these soldiers had titles beside their names. It was the same as those elite soldiers I faced back in the dwarven kingdom….However, these players must be stronger than the usual.

These service crew did not give me a break and continued firing everything in my direction. Bullets did not come free, since those guns used the mana of those soldiers. The consumptions of those firearms must have already drained the heck out of those players. 

However, after waiting for a few moments, those soldiers never slowed down. They continued firing their weapons at me as if they were in a target practice field.

Upon a moment, those blaring barrages of bullets came to a halt. My instincts told me that it was time for me to escape. However, the unlit chimneys kindled their fire, with some light rotating from the building. 

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! RAISE ALL DEFENCES! CAPTURE OR KILL THE NPC!" 

The one behind the speakers yelled its orders to hunt me down. I did not know what went wrong with my plan, since I was already close to fulfilling it. 

"Tch. I must have missed something and alerted these players. And now, I'm screwed," I voiced my concerns, and tried looking for a way out.

However, no matter how I twisted the scene, there was no end to this madness. These soldiers kept popping up at every corner, blocking my exit. And I did not know if fighting them would be the wisest choice for my position.

But I was the one who could decide my future. Everything was also against my will, even if I was so close to obtaining it.

Within a few moments, those sets of bullets stopped firing in my direction. Every cell in my body assumed that I could finally run free from this wretched place. But upon peeking from the side, a shadow figure of a boy emerged from the sky. 

That bloke landed on the ceiling, around fifty feet away from me. The mysterious entity had two narrowed eyes leering in my direction, while sharing some killing intentions at me.

"If it isn't Red Riding Hood….The NPC who created the death game. The girl who killed most of the players inside the game. And now has the audacity to ruin the game that my father created for me."  the bloke said, while glaring into my eyes. "We've actually found you loitering around our base. And now, what are you going to do about it?" 

A voice called my attention among the army of soldiers surrounding me. It had a recognizable tone that I had heard somewhere in my life. But I can't just land a finger on that specific identity of that voice calling for me.

As the boy trundled closer, the shadow disappeared, revealing the face and clothing of this soldier. This person in front of me was the striking image of Clement from my dream, which became my living nightmare.

"We have met before, Red. I tried contacting you through your dreams….or consciousness. Since I am a part of this game, I know how to message you regardless of the friend's settings. But this game made it all possible. And now, Code led me to you. Or, should I say you went towards me."

A young boy, older than Clementine, addressed me with my name. Nobody knew my identity except for the people close to me. My eyes widened when I heard my name coming out from Clement's mouth. I automatically walked away but stopped upon realising my position.

Clement wore an golden armour befitting for a knight. He brandished his sword clipped in his hands and aimed it at me as if inviting me in a duel. It did not take me multiple glance to know that Clement was superior to me and Ryoshi combined. 

I did not know if this bloke could even handle Okami and Alice, considering the things Clement had in his sleeves.

According to my system, this soldier was not a player in Code. Clement was actually just an NPC, but acted as a player working for these soldiers. I did not know the reason behind that alliance, considering that these people hated NPCs more than anything in Code. 

But that did not matter for now, considering the stakes stacked upon me.

"I am Clement, son of Asimov.. Some players also call me Hiro, but I would leave that decision for you to decide."