“Yeah, the game you’re playing. People just don’t realize it yet. Players only see the bad acts and misgivings against NPCs as wrong because the early in-game quests tell them to and because NPCs seem so human. Players are so fully immersed in their fantasy that they forget it’s all scripted. Trust me: I work at a game company, and there is a guy who eats way too many chemically-coated potato chips and never leaves his desk while plugging away at all the potential responses for each NPC. The AI uses a predictive algorithm for the rest, making incredibly real and believable characters, but they’re still just NPCs. They’re still there just for your entertainment, literally designed to be messed with or abused in any way, shape, or form.” Liu vehemently stated her point as if she had a vendetta against AIs and NPCs. And, given her history, he could understand if she did. He knew exactly what it was like to illogically blame something or someone for a tragedy.

He’d have even joined in with her hatred if it had been a long time ago, but his relationship with Dawn, or Xun Guan, or whatever the GM’s name was, had confused him because he had thought for the longest time that she was just a well-programmed AI. He had started to even sympathize and relate to her, making the cognitive dissonance between reality and his emotions even more confusing.

“Well, either way, I’m having fun with the game,” Lucas answered, giving his usual shrug that he gave Xun Guan when she argued seriously with him. He liked the conversation topic since it was interesting and had given him a few ideas, but talking with Liu after seven months still felt a little stiff.

“Ha! You like the game? But knowing you, and knowing that you haven’t picked a class yet, you must have set up a trading empire. That’s so you. I swear, I’ve never met anyone that could be as ruthless in business as you.”

“I wasn’t that bad . . .” he argued, somewhat dismissively. “And there isn’t really a need to build an empire, so I haven’t bothered with it.” He took another cracker, bit into it, and then looked down at it in surprise. This is one of the types I eat most in Hesse, he realized. Then he looked at the wine and thought the same thing. In the game, he had gravitated toward the cabernets and merlots, but in real life, Yu Hua had always preferred a pinot noir.

“You weren’t that bad?” Liu snickered. “Even though dad totally hated you, you ruthlessly pressured him into doing stuff that benefitted Lu-Yu Enterprises. I swear, it was like you had single-handedly resurrected the dowry system and forced him to pay you for the favor of hooking up with his favorite daughter.”