Volume 6 - CH 96.1

Museum

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

Disappointingly, Fei found the bookstore deserted, and the bookstore owner she wanted to meet was not there.

Sighing, she left the bookstore.

In fact, the stores next to the bookstore were also empty.

The dolls in the Dollmaker’s already had a layer of dust on them. A doll of a little girl in a red dress is staring out at the empty streets outside with lifeless, plastic eyes.

The Missiontakers continue to the north, perhaps for hundreds of metres, but they do not find anything.

Yet, what they do not know is that, the viewers in the stream are already having a field day.

“that doll…!”

“was it the first nightmare Beibei streamed? that one?!”

“fuck me, did you see the doll with the red dress?! what the fuck is with this nightmare! this is madness!”

“I’m also in shock… does this Nightmare incorporate elements of other Nightmares? But Beibei, you said your Nightmare was related to Nightmares, so I actually pictured this as your Nightmare instead…”

“Uh, so I have two lines of thought. One, it’s coincidental, which is pretty much a non-option; two, isn’t the game’s backstory about an Apocalypse? Perhaps that links up these Tower residents’ Nightmares?

Their Nightmares would all be based on their experiences through the Apocalypse, and with their past shared under the same, common background. Some have more limited Nightmares that spanned only a small area, that wouldn’t reveal much of the background.

Others had large Nightmares, that might occasionally envelop where other people had Nightmares of the Apocalypse.

But of course, that doesn’t mean they will replicate others’ circumstances in the Nightmares, or the ones in their experience of the Apocalypse. Each Nightmare is based solely on the Nightmare owner’s memories, after all.

That is why there is nobody in the Dollmaker’s or the bookstore, and only the scenes remain; the Dollmaker and xiao-Chun wouldn’t necessarily appear here.”

“i see!”

“got it! I actually understand!”

“this is an interesting worldview! so like, in this nightmare, clues for other nightmare could actually be found? assuming the nightmare covers big enough”

“now im more curious what Beibeis nightmare is; related to nightmares, but not the kind that is this…?”

“I also wanna know if the nightmare only had this specific scene inside? maybe if we’re lucky all the nightmares we’ve seen with Beibei could be linked up?”

“I’m doubtful… The Dollmaker’s is already astonishing enough!”

The viewers continue their happy discussion.

They remembered the first Nightmare where they met Xü Beijin very well. Even for viewers who haven’t been there for it, the four original viewers’ discussions clued them in quickly enough.

Thanks to their God’s eye view, the audience already know about the peculiarity of this Nightmare, but the Missiontakers haven’t.

Fei, Mu Jiashi and Mr Suicide haven’t been to Wu Shen’s Nightmare at all, and thus missed the chance to uncover a secret here.

But with the setting of this Nightmare being so grand, they still have enough time.

Mu Jiashi is looking up at the sky every so often. He seems agitated.

Fei asks, “what is it?”

Mu Jiashi says vaguely, “looking for… signs, in the Nightmare.”

Fei’s eyes widen slightly, but she stops asking. She doesn’t want to know too much about this Nightmare yet; not just for avoiding forming predispositions, but also because… she has some slight anxiety and fear towards this Nightmare.

… Because she already knew that this is the Nightmare which defeated Mu Jiashi; when Mu Jiashi talked about this Nightmare, his vague attitude and general unwillingness to answer has hinted her thus.

But what could actually have been in this Nightmare that could impact Mu Jiashi so deeply?

He’d call himself useless, trash and brand himself a loser, but when Fei and Wu Jian were back on the bottom floor, and have heard of his past exploits here, they were put off by it.

This Missiontaker whose reputation still managed to precede him on the bottom floor after years, would feel defeat and more importantly, self-denigrate because of one single Nightmare?

What actually happened?

What kind of failure had him almost ‘killed,’ so to speak?

Fei is definitely curious what Mu Jiashi went through in this Nightmare, but she also doesn’t want to ask directly.

At an intersection where the traffic lights have stopped working, Fei comes to face the dysfunction of societal order during an Apocalypse in full.

She wants to cross the street, but she is still worried about sudden oncoming cars.

That is when some deranged fellow suddenly rushed out from a store on the intersection, yelling as he went, as he crashed into the Missiontakers on purpose and does absolutely nothing else other than head-butting them. It’s like he means to chase them away right this instant.

Mr Suicide has his arms opened wide in excitement, calling out, “come! Kill me!”

The madmen is still adopting the stance to headbutt Mr Suicide, who tumbles over, and then sighs, disappointed.

Fei also got knocked over onto the ground, and Mu Jiashi pulls her back up, before glancing at the madmen and checking the store he rushed out from.

“Baldie’s Haircuts?” He mutters with a strange tone.

Fei’s mouth is twitching. Looking at the madmen, she says, “it’s true… they’ve gone mad.”

She reflexively recalls what she went through in the last Nightmare.

Mr Suicide seems unhappy, calling to them, “boring! Let’s just leave.”

The madmen continues glaring at them with fearful, even hateful eyes, before retreating back into the salon he rushed out from.

The Missiontakers continue forward, before coming to a stop and looking at each other, baffled.

They can see a lively and even crowded hotpot store that is right there by the street. Business is booming.

Many people are waiting for seats, and the amount of smoke rising in the establishment must be obscene. The boiling hotpots are emitting so much steam that the customers’ faces are all obscured. They all seem pretty preoccupied with eating.

And it seems that they are eating, in a mechanical, uncaring manner.

Meanwhile, the people waiting outside with the numbered slips in their hands look absolutely impatient. They can see a boy smushing his face against the glass window to watch the people eating hotpot. It looks like he would start drooling the next second.

Normally, this scene wouldn’t be too out of place, but when the entire block is so quiet, the liveliness surrounding this hotpot place is quite unexpected.

Fei, mystified, asks, “have they gone insane, or… not?”

Mr Suicide, still yet to encounter death at all in this Nightmare, is behaving quite normally right now.

He makes a cynical remark, “of course they are; what they are doing is not the societal norm here, so to those ‘normal people,’ what are they but insane?”

Mu Jiashi glances at him, thinking, what a petty view of society, and in this context, too.

From a practical standpoint, he says, “let’s go inside and check it out. There’s at least people there.”

They head towards the strange hotpot store.