Chapter 68: Nightmare

“Really… It’s actually all true!”

After narrowly escaping death, Hu Chen wept and his tears streamed down endlessly.

Not only was it because he had nearly died just a moment ago, and he also now knew that… his girlfriend would never come back ever again.

Hu Chen crawled up from the ground. There were numerous marks left by the ghost grabbing his leg, giving him extreme pain.

But, his heart ached more than the bruises left on his body.

Seeing that Hu Chen was still able to move, Bai Yan immediately said, “Mr. Hu, we need to leave quickly. You are in danger when you’re in this mall! Although the female ghost had disappeared in the meantime, she could easily come back even stronger!”

“Yes, it’s like this? Let’s leave quickly!”

Being almost killed by his girlfriend, Hu Chen now had placed absolute faith in Bai Yan and no longer wanted to settle matters with him.

He only glanced at her for a short while and felt a little sting in his eyes, so he quickly moved his line of sight.

Turning his head to Hu Chen, it appeared that he still hadn’t gone away.

In response, Bai Yan opened his mouth and said some more nonsense, “She is our firm’s spirit medium, who specializes in exorcising ghosts. You don’t need to worry about her, she is extremely capable. She won’t die even if you do!”

“Besides, you are our client. We need to take priority in protecting your safety, that is our responsibility to you. Let’s leave quickly. There’s not enough time to dilly-dally!”

With Bai Yan’s convincing, Hu Chen didn’t look around anymore and immediately ran down the stairs.

When he sprinted until he was outside the mall, Hu Chen’s tense heart was finally able to relax.

Bai Yan fished out his phone and looked at it, half of their task was already fulfilled. He initially thought that it would be difficult to protect the NPC, but he didn’t expect that it would be done so easily.

After making Hu Chen leave, Bai Yan wasn’t concerned about his life anymore.

As long as he was alive when he stepped out of the mall, he couldn’t care less about what he did next.

However, regarding Hu Chen’s future, Bai Yan didn’t think it would have a good outcome.

He didn’t tell Hu Chen the source of this tragedy, so when Hu Chen wasn’t paying attention and was walking along, the flyer-distributing ghost ‘looked’ in the direction where Hu Chen went for a long time.

Heh, it seemed that this ghost remembered him…

Following Hu Chen’s sending away, Bai Yan left the mall, walked to the furthest place the flyer-distributing ghost was and narrated his guess to his phone out loud.

“The cause of death of the four victims was receiving a flyer from the mascot and entering the mall with the said flyer.”

As soon as his voice fell, he could see the return button on the screen.

Despite having this theory early on, Bai Yan’s expression was still a bit bizarre after really seeing what happened back then.

The level was cleared so easily, and the most significant variable was Chu Fu.

Chu Fu, she… Could she be the app’s b*stard?

The female ghost suddenly eased its pulling strength, and there was no way it was due to her finally finding a conscience and letting her boyfriend go. The only possibility was, it was all Chu Fu’s doing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to see what she did.

The more he recalled Chu Fu’s rose-colored lips, the more Bai Yan felt that this woman was cheating the game.

Thinking that Chu Fu might have something effective against the ghosts, Bai Yan began to feel a little restless, wanting to go back to the mall, look for Chu Fu, and determining what her situation was.

However, before he could go back, he saw the flyer-distributing mascot steadily making its way towards him.

Seeing that the flyer-distributing ghost coming nearer and nearer, the corner of Bai Yan’s mouth tugged up. Having no other choice but to abandon the idea of finding Chu Fu, he swiftly pressed the return button and was immediately transported out of the game in the next second.

…

In the real world.

Bai Yan cautiously opened his eyes. His waist wasn’t sore and his legs didn’t ache, this was the first time he felt that this game could be relaxed.

When he returned, he had no idea if Chu Fu was dead or not, so he patiently waited until it was nighttime and tuned into Chu Fu’s live mukbang.

At exactly 9 PM, Chu Fu’s broadcast began on schedule.

Seeing the familiar face appear on the screen, Bai Yan knew that she wasn’t dead, so he closed the webpage and started to wonder if he should contact Chu Fu.

Chu Fu was a bit dim, but he couldn’t stand the fact that she was able to cheat in the game.

The game was already halfway through, and other than Chu Fu, Bai Yan still hadn’t found someone who could be a ghost’s match.

Even in the forum, he also didn’t find someone talking about this sort of ability.

However, the app would have deleted these sorts of posts, so he also couldn’t completely trust the information shared in the forum.

Maybe other people also had such abilities, and it was merely due to his luck not being good. Apart from Chu Fu, he must have missed them?

Bai Yan pondered on it more and sent a cryptic text message to Ye Shangyu, inquiring if she knew about this.

Shortly, Ye Shangyu’s reply arrived. Bai Yan opened it to take a look. Ye Shangyu didn’t explain what was wrong with Chu Fu, but she did advise him to stop keeping in touch with Chu Fu.

“…”

So, what was actually happening?

The current situation was still a bit unclear to Bai Yan, but he still accepted Ye Shangyu’s advice.

Perhaps Chu Fu truly had the skill to handle ghosts, but he could also clearly see that with Chu Fu’s display of muddle headedness, she still didn’t realize her own ability. It was possible that this ability of hers wasn’t under her control and that there were times it would appear and then disappear after that. The next level was in hard mode. If this ability couldn’t be used in a time she needed it the most, Chu Fu might as well trigger a route to death, and all the people in that level should be buried with her as well.

Moreover, if Chu Fu could handle ghosts, then she can apparently also deal with people. Bai Yan recalled all the horrid things he had done to Chu Fu and got a more intense feeling that he shouldn’t team up with her.

Ye Shangyu only mentioned a sentence about Chu Fu.

But apart from this, this time, Ye Shangyu straightforwardly responded to his invite to be teammates. She set the time, inviting Bai Yan to match in the game next week at 10 PM.

“At night? But after living through numerous levels, the quality of teammates ought to be superb.”

Bai Yan took note of the time, and once the agreed-upon time had come, he pressed the seventh level’s button on the app on time.

Familiar darkness overcame his senses, but when he opened his eyes again, besides the small light in front of him, darkness still stretched over to the distance.

…

“Mom, I miss you so.”

Liu Xiyu held a pillow in her arms and laid on the bed in solitude, not wanting to drift to sleep.

Ever since her mom left, she had no choice but to fall asleep alone.

Although she was already a junior high student and was soon moving onto her third year, her mother’s spoiling and indulging of her was boundless. In fear of her little girl getting scared to sleep alone, she would also accompany her every night when she went to sleep.

If it weren’t for that accident, even if she went off to college, her mother would still sleep with her as long as she softly whispered for it.

But, nothing good lasts forever, and Liu Xiyu’s mom had gone missing not too long ago.

After her mom disappeared, Liu Xiyu only slept alone, only being accompanied by her fluffy pillows.

Liu Xiyu originally thought that she would be afraid, but after some time had passed, she had grown accustomed to it. With only thinking of her mother from time to time, the lone girl laying on the bed can’t help but shed tears of longingness.

Tonight, Liu Xiyu held her worry and longingness for her mother, resting her head on a pillow, unconsciously entering her dreams…

Then, she came to a place she knew well.

She was in her dreams.

Even if she were in dreamland, Liu Xiyu still half-consciously knew about this matter.

Since her mom went missing, this dream had frequently visited her.

At the start, she would pass through a dark garden.

The garden was vast and desolate, uninhabited by anyone. There were no flowers, birds, fish, or insects there. Other than the wretched moss-colored tree, there were no traces of other life forms existing.

Every night, Liu Xiyu would always stroll around this garden, walking involuntarily.

She was timid. Staying in a deathly still garden alone made her very timid.

But in her dreams, she wasn’t in control of her actions.

So, she could only helplessly watch herself walk forward, moving and walking until she roused from her sleep.

However, this didn’t mean that this nightmare was over.

Because, every few days, she would have an identical dream, and every time, she walked farther along before she would wake up.

…Finally, one day, she left the garden.

What appeared before her eyes was a strange-looking building.

A ticket window was conspicuously seen from outside the building and a person wearing a black cap with his mouth concealed by a black scarf was distributing tickets.

A dreadful feeling oozed out of this particular building, making her want to run far away from it.

Unfortunately, her actions inside the dream weren’t her own.

Every time she saw this building, she would blankly watch herself head straight to the ticket counter, receiving a ticket from the black-clothed man. After taking the ticket, she would walk to the building that gave her a bad feeling.

Then, a more terrifying nightmare began.

An extremely frightening voice reached her ears, saying that the only way to leave the building was to crash through the barrier.

As long as she had broken through the barrier, she would be forever free from this hellish nightmare.

Liu Xiyu stood inside the building and saw a black mass of people. Her heart suddenly filled with unease.

Every time she witnessed this scene, she would always be reminded of one thing.

It seemed that every time before, she was also accompanied by numerous people to break through the barrier in her dream.

But, every single person was different each time.

…

Due to being unable to see what was up ahead, Bai Yan swept a glance across his surroundings, confirming that Ye Shangyu had also arrived. Together with the crowd of players who were also standing under the light, they all looked down and read the game rules.

[Successful Matchup]

[Number of Players: 11 players]

[Level of Difficulty: Hard]

[Level Description: The title of this game is ‘Nightmare.’ Breaking through the dreadful cellar and causing Liu Xiyu to wake up would be considered a victory.]

[Backstory: You can control your own language and actions, but you could never control your dreams.

There was a girl who had lost her mom, and every night she would experience the same nightmare.

Today, you, fortunately, entered this girl’s dream and saw her dream world.

So, what would you find in the dream?]

[Game Rules:]

[1. No player is allowed to harm Liu Xiyu. If Liu Xiyu dies, all of the players will instantly lose the game.]

[2. After Liu Xiyu wakes up, press the ‘Return’ button on your screen to leave the game.]

Reading the game’s introduction, all of the players’ first reaction was, ‘Who was this Liu Xiyu?’

T/N: I’m back!!! (Well, sort of) I made a post on Patreon explaining what happened this June, but TLDR: only once a week updates starting July until indefinitely.