Volume 6 - CH 93.2

When Xü Beijin is heading towards Su Enya’s, he has imagined several possibilities.

For example, she didn’t have anything special to note, and was simply transported back to the bottom floor. Maybe she was just unlucky.

Or, she knew nothing at all worthwhile, regarding the Apocalypse, the Tower, or her Nightmare.

She might believe her Nightmare is a simple Nightmare, regardless of what implications the electronic appliances coming to life carries. Su Enya doesn’t necessarily have to know either, does she?

Yet, the moment he is allowed into her house, and sees the eyes of the woman, Xü Beijin knows that, he is wrong.

The female Actor clearly knows things.

They stare at each other in silence for a while.

Finally, the woman is the one to break the silence, greeting him, “I’m honoured you’re visiting.”

Xü Beijin still stares at her quietly.

She then mutters, “you would not believe what happened to me… even if you are also an Actor.”

Xü Beijin looks at her, and asks, “what was your new Nightmare after you got to a higher floor?”

The woman smiles, but it looks somewhat odd. She says, “I feel like fate is sometimes… against me, you know? On the bottom floor, the Nightmare has plagued me for so long. After I finally managed to break free of it, I had a new Nightmare…

A new one that explained why my old Nightmare was like that… It explained everything. That is how I realised, that all those Missiontakers, were dumbasses.”

Xü Beijin furrows his brows slightly; there is a hypothesis his mind is starting to form.

The woman continues looking at him with this strangely piercing gaze as she says, “you should have asked, how I went to a higher floor, and why I ended up coming back down.”

Xü Beijin already has some thoughts, but he complies with what the woman asks regardless, “so? How?”

“I did not end up on a higher floor by helping facilitate a True End in my old Nightmare,” the woman giggles strangely and tells him, “I knew there was this other Nightmare and what its True End was all about. I also knew its owner had become insane.

So I managed to fool the Missiontakers into thinking that I was the owner of that Nightmare all along, and I helped them find a True End there; they thought I was that little girl’s mother… Ha. They had ‘gullible’ written all over their dumb faces.

I didn’t know if the Server would accept this subterfuge, but… I succeeded.”

Xü Beijin is pretty stunned.

That’s how she went to a higher floor?

And… could Su Enya actually be referring to the Nightmare he took advantage of mere hours earlier? The coincidence is strong with this one.

Somehow, after the Nightmare owner has gone insane, Su Enya managed to take advantage and even trick the overseeing entity itself, several years ago. About the same time as the Missiontakers gave up on his Nightmare.

What a fantastical tale it ended up turning out as; he never could have imagined there was so much more drama taking place in the Tower back then.

And that was one Su Enya alone. Could other Missiontakers and Actors have pulled similar, unfathomable, legal, or downright illegal tricks? And all that, only so that they could get to a higher floor.

But then, with Su Enya already having cheated her way to a higher floor, why did she end up back here? Did the Server realise her deception?

He asks curiously, “so why are you back down here now?”

“Because of that Nightmare,” the woman’s voice starts trailing down in tone, “that Nightmare… let me understand everything. I thought, I should let others know that truth as well. I tried to clue them in, but they didn’t understand.

But… the Server did, and came for me. Maybe I pushed my luck too far, or overdid it; as punishment, the Server dumped me back down onto the bottom floor, but… I can’t stand it! Why! Why must we remain trapped in this damned Tower?! We don’t deserve any of this!”

Of course not… Xü Beijin reflexively concurs with her in his mind, of course they do not deserve to be locked up here.

He is speechless for now, having finally understood what happened to Su Enya.

Then, slowly, he opens his mouth, to ask, “that Nightmare you had… could it have had something to do, with the Space Agency?”

He can see extreme astonishment and also fear manifest themselves on her expression.

Su Enya’s lips are trembling madly. She is forcing herself onto the wall even harder, asking, “how, how do you know?! Who… who in the world are you?!”

Xü Beijin does not answer immediately. Instead, he smiles and tells her, “I do not want to explain in detail. I… I simply know about that Nightmare. That’s all.”

Su Enya is glaring warily at him.

Xü Beijin says, “if I wanted to go after you at all, NE would be onto you right about now, no? Trust me.”

Su Enya replies, “I trust no one.”

“… I see.”

Though Su Enya then follows up, “I need no trust, but, I need, I need you to help… Help me… Help the Missiontakers realise the truth. Make them, enter that Nightmare.”

Xü Beijin is surprised. Moments later, he asks, “why would you want the Missiontakers to know the truth?”

Su Enya bitterly replies, “because I know about it. I am tortured, I am in deep agony. Why should they enjoy a happy, blissful ignorance while I suffer so?” There is a gloomy glint in her eyes as she says, “I must make them know, what that truth is.”

Xü Beijin furrows his brows.

Su Enya then adds, “and I know a lot of people who really want to know the truth,” she sniggers to say, “and their wish shall be granted; is that not a good thing?”

Xü Beijin looks like he wants to say something.

Su Enya holds basically the opposite opinion as he does; recently, he’s also been considering letting the Missiontakers in on the truth… Not simply knowing the truth about Actors, but also the Apocalypse, and what lies behind the Apocalypse – what actually caused them to end up in the Tower in the first place.

He wasn’t planning to achieve any of that by letting Missiontakers into that particular Nightmare; in fact, he didn’t even know Su Enya ended up being the Actor who owned that Nightmare up there.

Unlike Su Enya, he harboured no dark intentions, revenge or otherwise.

He is merely wondering, instead, if it is possible, for them to escape the Tower?

… Also, NE punished an Actor by dumping them back to the bottom floor? Has there ever been such a development? And for her to coincidentally have been Xü Beijin’s past neighbour too?

Once again, Xü Beijin is entertaining the idea of something having happened to NE.

The same way the mysterious rumours sowed anxiety in the Tower before, this Actor who suddenly returned to the bottom floor of the Tower, who claims to want to expose the truth to all Missiontakers… is what she said genuine?

Could she be simply coming up with an excuse to convince Xü Beijin?