Volume 5 - CH 83.3

From the 31st to the 20th floor are the 21st, 22nd and the 24th floors, which the Missiontakers have already visited, so they only need to explore the rest of them.

Jiang Shuangmei is explaining where they will be going to the little girl patiently, and the clever girl asked, “the floors we are skipping, are they because mommy isn’t there?”

“Yes, some gege and jiejie have already checked them out before.”

The little girl nods.

She seems a little shy and mostly keeps to herself, unlike many children who usually acts more spoilt and entitled. It’s been a relief to Jiang Shuangmei as she leads her along.

Perhaps, she thinks, this is deliberately set up by the Nightmare.

If the little girl is a brat, then perhaps the Missiontakers would have had a hell of a time merely trying to interact with such kids.

Though it seems the little girl is much more calm than the Missiontakers described her as the first run.

Jiang Shuangmei discreetly examines her, and notices, as expected, that she is actually holding the bracelet on her left wrist really tightly with her right arm. She is also trembling ever so slightly.

She is still terrified, but she has to look for her mommy.

Jiang Shuangmei can’t help but sigh.

She turns to Mystic, who still looks distracted and in fear of something, as usual. The object of her distraction seems to mainly be the little girl.

Jiang Shuangmei is merely mystified, but if she asked, Mystic would probably tell her some more mystifying riddles, so she decides against it.

Now, they have reached the 30th floor. Jiang Shuangmei is peeking inside, and there doesn’t seem to be any worrying colours or any weird noises.

For safety, she has Mystic keep the little girl by her side and give the floor a broad sweep first. She confirms that there are no dangers; however, there are no elevators on this floor either.

She shakes her head and sighs at the fruitless endeavour, then returns to the stairwell.

… Only, to discover, with her jaws on the floor, that Mystic and the little girl are gone!

She’s absolutely enraged. What in the world is this unreliable Missiontaker ‘from a higher floor’! Where are the two of them?!

Looking at the empty stairwell, she can feel the breeze leaking through the hole in her heart.

Great, now, she has to search alone in this dangerous, insane building.

… Is it a bit too late to rush down the stairs to hug dalao Lin Qin's thighs at this point?!

What in the world is going on with Mystic?!

This is a question that the viewers of the stream can perhaps help answer.

“uhh… whats mystic… doing?”

“she’s not trying to head to the 20th floor with the little girl directly right?”

“a moment of silence for that other missiontaker, oh boy she probably never thought her companion would ditch her lol”

“hsss, if I’m left to this creepy building alone, I might just go die instead”

“why did mystic even do that anyway? theyre going to the 20th floor already, why must she go alone with the little girl?”

“… no idea, or maybe she’s not going to the 20th floor?”

“the little girl is crying so much, poor her”

Right now, the little girl’s pitiful, meek whimpers are accompanying Mystic’s descent through the stairwell. With an inexplicable but unusually adept form, Mystic is holding her and calming her down.

The little girl seems to sense something familiar. She looks confused, whispering, “mo-… mommy?”

Is this woman her mommy?

She is examining Mystic with tearful eyes.

Mystic didn’t react much to being called ‘mommy’ other than her body tensing up a little, but she does not stop.

Finally, they make it to the 20th floor, but Mystic is not stopping.

… In the end, Mystic has made it all the way down to the 9th floor.

Even if it was only descending the stairs, but at the pace she was going, plus the little girl in her lap, Mystic was still terribly exhausted.

The little girl isn’t tired, but she still does not understand why Mystic did that. She was still sobbing earlier, but now she is looking more curious than worried, asking, “where are we going?”

The little girl isn’t calling Mystic ‘mommy’ anymore, because she doesn’t know whether she is her mommy. It feels like it, but she doesn’t know.

The little girl isn’t able to comprehend such contradictory information. Though, subconsciously, she is beginning to depend on and trust the woman a little.

Mystic caresses the little girl on her face, but she still looks somewhat hesitant.

She looks up at the paint indicating the 9th floor.

She actually realised she had a question when the Missiontakers were talking about their last run while in her daze earlier.

Wu Jian said that rubble has buried the staircase from this floor down, and it is impossible to make it back up if they fell.

It seems no other Missiontaker had the same question as she did——What, then, is the situation with the 9th floor?

Perhaps Lin Qin and Fei would have made it down here this run of the Nightmare, but here… Mystic is the first.

She isn’t sure why she needed to come here, even she feels like there should be some clues related to the Nightmare on the 9th floor, even when she had a companion she shouldn’t have abandoned.

It felt like something instinctual was at play, a particular something, that perhaps…

Some kind of pain flashes through her expression.

Some instinctual drive forced her here, even if she does not know where it comes from.

Taking a deep breath, she takes the little girl with her into the 9th floor.

Compared to the higher floors, this floor is much closer to the ground and to the burning city. This floor even had its interior walls equally smoked black. It looks even more desolate and ruined by the apocalypse.

Mystic thinks she can smell the charred scent in the air here.

She lets the little girl down, and holds her hand gently as she explores the floor once, and confirms that this floor seems to be safe.

There is an elevator here, though. A cargo elevator.

Mystic is unable to describe what she is feeling, but something drives her to push the button, and open the cargo elevator.