Volume 3 - CH 41.3

The viewers of the stream do not understand why Xü Beijin is giving camera time to this average-looking young adult, and ask about it in the comment barrage. Xü Beijin then tells them what he thought.

“oh, lotsa possibilities”

“since the detective dalao isn’t here, time for me to shine! hmm… maybe he found some clues?”

“damn, ur an amateur, arent u? Beibei just said he doesnt think he found clues”

“… maybe he’s been to this nightmare before? just like that other missiontaker the last nightmare; he must know about some important clue in the commercial complex to show that expression?”

“maybe… dunno”

Xü Beijin isn’t sure either, but the young man’s look suggests something is going on.

What would that something be, though?

Xü Beijin does not know.

In the stream, the viewers, confused, have already moved on to pastures anew.

“hey, since all the missiontakers are over at the apartment, then can’t Beibei go out for a walk?”

“super big scene this nightmare! we can have a good look around”

“the missiontakers looks like theyll be quiet for a while”

“Beibeibeibei, let’s go out and play!”

Xü Beijin is hesitant, but agrees in the end. The viewers cheer, each more excited than the last. The new viewer is confused and is typing question marks instead, looking quite out of place among the comments.

Hey, you guys, isn’t this the gameplay stream of a horror game?! What do you mean ‘go out and play’?!

Xü Beijin changes the main view of the stream to himself and puts the strange man’s view over at the bottom right in a little window. He stands up, walks out of the bookstore, and shutters the store, then turns to observe the vibrant commercial complex.

This is an area formed by two large, connected buildings. There are four storeys of stores above ground and two storeys underground, then two storeys of parking lots follow.

Other than an access point from the main road, there is also a sky-bridge on the third floor and an open-air plaza on floor B1 that allows for entry into the buildings.

Xü Beijin’s bookstore is over at a corner of the open-air plaza.

It really is an unremarkable, antique bookstore, with dusty glass and cramped interior, scaring off what remained of the few visitors venturing this way.

As soon as he left the bookstore, he can feel the liveliness of the commercial complex. The Server must have worked hard to arrange so many Actors here. There are a dozen people or so already in the plaza.

While it is definitely not comparable to the spectacular carnage such locations see back on Earth, but in the Tower, in a Nightmare, such a crowded, lively and prosperous scene still does make Xü Beijin feel unreal for a moment.

As if, he really was back on Earth.

He slowly trudges along, brushing past the diligent Actors. He walks past bubble tea stores, fried chicken stands, sushi shops, seafood restaurants, hotpot emporiums, ramen places, bakeries… His nose is completely filled with the scent of food.

Practically unable to restrain himself, he runs to queue up at a bubble tea store.

He has no money on him, of course, but being fellow Actors, his coworker generously took his order on the house.

Xü Beijin watches with doggy eyes as the machine seals up the bubble tea bottles with a layer of plastic each. A few minutes later, he receives his bubble tea, and is elated. He’s declaring in his mind now – this Nightmare is now his favourite one, the one and only!

… Well, the one and only he likes after acquiring the streaming system, anyway.

In the past, even if such stores were present in Nightmares he was in, he didn’t dare to step out of a line one bit, worried that the Server would punish him for going OoC. Now, though, being able to check on the other Missiontakers through the stream, he has it much easier.

He is even able to enjoy bubble tea.

In the stream, the viewers appear to be amused.

“well damn, Beibei, you sure are taking it easy”

“milk tea, mah milk tea, i also want milk tea… [thirsty emoji]”

“drinking milk tea in game… why didn’t I ever think of that, oh man, drinking in the game means I don’t grow fat IRL… I’m getting my nutrient pod now”

“nutrient pod! ur a dalao!”

The viewers are excitedly discussing the pros and cons of ways of immersing brainwaves.

According to their discussion, nutrient pods are the best because, through the nutrient mix installed inside, they are able to keep the user’s body sustained and healthy. They could even solve more biological needs as well (TL: Referring to human waste).

Nutrient pod users are also able to experience things almost completely indistinguishable from reality.

Many nutrient pod users can stay a whole day in their pods without any problems.

Then there are the more average game pods; nutrient pods are a high-class variant of those.

Normal game pods, unlike nutrient pods, cannot provide for the user’s needs. Players must disconnect every so often to eat and drink and go to the restroom.

Besides that, game pods also cannot achieve total realism. There is an obvious difference between the senses when compared to reality.

In terms of price, nutrient pods are exorbitant. Game pods are a fraction of that, about the cost of a passion project for an average household, and then there are cheaper products like gaming helmets. Gaming glasses are at the very bottom of the hierarchy.

Xü Beijin drinking his bubble tea in-game has made the audience assume he is using nutrient pods. Xü Beijin himself does not say anything about this, instead, he is quietly observing the viewers’ comment barrage.

Hmm… nutrient pods?

He isn’t even sure how he is really ‘living’ now either.

Thinking so, Xü Beijin’s gaze loses a bit of light. It turns grim; it feels like the bubble tea in his mouth is turning bitter as well.

The viewers are happily chatting away, while Xü Beijin’s mind is drifting; nobody notices, that in the lower right corner of the screen, the young man who looked odd, has already turned around. He is walking back into the living room, no longer looking at that colourful, lively commercial complex.

When he steps into the living room, which just has the night lights on in his case, and appears slightly dim, he stops.

He can feel an intense glare at him, it is coming right at him from the front. It feels cold, malicious, maddening, terrifying. It feels like it wants him dead right this instant.

The brows of the young man in his early 20s twitches. He raises his gaze to look for the owner of this gaze.

His eyes fix onto the peephole on the door.

It would also seem like the peephole is staring right at him.