CH 49.1

“Lin Jue, why are you here.”

Emil spoke cautiously, and a few cards silently slipped from his cuffs and were quietly pinched between his fingers.

But Lin Jue ignored him. His eyes swept over the three of them and finally landed on Bai Lixin.

In the air, a bird flew by.

The cold aura around Lin Jue’s body suddenly disappeared, and he yawned lazily, “Put the cards away. I have just woken up. Don’t mess with me.”

He now had the cool and lazy look from before.

Emil’s hand squeezing the cards stiffened. He flicked his fingers, and the card was immediately tucked away in his sleeve.

“Sorry, I was acting in self-defense,” Emil said, relieving himself of the pressure.

Then, thinking that he would be sharing a room with Lin Jue for the next few days, he subconsciously asked, “Uh, are you so angry whenever you wake up?”

This mood after waking up was so strong that he thought Lin Jue was going to exterminate all the ghosts and monsters on this island and then become the boss himself. Is he going to live with this madman? Wouldn’t it get him killed?

“Why were you guys wandering around here? All the other players had returned, and you were the only ones left.” Lin Jue didn’t answer Emil’s question, and his gaze once again fell on Bai Lixin.

This question was also directed at Bai Lixin.

Bai Lixin silently sized up the sharp young man in front of him in suspicion and replied truthfully, “We got lost and ran into a situation of a “ghost covering the eyes.”

Because the senses are confused in that situation, the person keeps wandering around in the same place. The original exit is covered up, making the person lose their way.

“But thanks to your arrival, the “ghost covers the eyes” was broken.” Bai Lixin raised his hand and pointed a short distance away.

Xia Chi and Emil looked in the direction of Bai Lixin’s finger. They could faintly see several player figures walking along the gaps in the trees.

It turned out they were already this close to the gathering area.

“Pay attention next time.” Lin Jue withdrew his gaze and turned around smartly, moving towards where he had come from without the slightest intention of waiting for the three.

The three looked at each other and no longer hesitated. It was almost noon.

Lin Jue was not walking fast, but he always managed to keep a distance that was neither too long nor too short from them. After walking for three or four minutes, the four of them came out of the apple orchard with its thick branches and leaves.

The other players had already returned.

Bai Lixin silently looked around.

In the morning, he had noticed a few players who looked to be in a pleasant mood. And these few cheerful players made up a team.

Unlike the other slightly nervous players, these five were very relaxed, and they sat cross-legged on the ground in a circle, talking and laughing.

In contrast to them were two other groups of players.

Most of the players in these two groups looked depressed, some with shadows under their eyes.

Lin Jue stood casually, his leather biker jacket reflecting dazzling white spots from the sunlight. The harsh sunlight was just in front of him, and Bai Lixin could only see the thin chin and slightly pursed thin lips under the sunlight.

He didn’t know why, but Lin Jue seemed to be paying a little too much attention to him.

The group of pleasant-looking players had an expression much like Xia Chi’s when he first woke up in the morning, and Bai Lixin walked up to them and asked, “Did you all drink your medicine yesterday?”

The laughter stopped abruptly as the five looked up at Bai Lixin and answered, almost in unison, “How is that possible?”

Bai Lixin was silent, standing still and looking at the group of people.

One of them spoke, “We’re all veteran players, so we know not to touch the medicine in the copies. We don’t know the ingredients of those things. How could we take them?”

They didn’t take any medicine, yet they were still in such a good mood?

Did it have nothing to do with the medicine but with the dream?

Bai Lixin asked again, “Then what kind of beautiful dream did you have last night?”

This time, the group did not immediately retort but looked at each other, and one of them spoke with some hesitation, “Now that you say it, it seems that I had a pretty good dream last night, but I forget what I dreamt about.”

“Me too.”

“I think I had a dream too.”

“Yes, I did, but I forgot what it was about.”

The common denominator for this unusually good mood seems to be the forgotten dreams.

Someone from one of the other two groups shouted, “You guys had beautiful dreams, but I had a nightmare and got up in a wreck.”

Another fatigued man looked up and followed suit, “Me too, it’s been one night but I’m exhausted.”

Several other people with fatigued expressions cast their eyes over. Although they didn’t say anything, they obviously had some bad dreams too.

Bai Lixin turned his head to look at Emil, “And you?”

Lin Jue had gone to the confinement cell, and while he appeared to be fine on the surface, there was some fatigue in his eyes.

He hadn’t slept all night and was here to catch up on his sleep.

Xia Chi was in the same room as him, so he knew what was going on with him.

He knew his own situation, so Emil, the most normal person in the room, was not normal.

Emil’s long, blonde hair was dazzling and warm in the sunlight, and he frowned slightly, “I don’t remember, but I think it was a beautiful dream.”

He paused, his eyes suddenly narrowing, “Why ask me alone? What about you?”

Everyone’s eyes fell on Bai Lixin’s face in unison.

Bai Lixin paused for two seconds, his eyelashes hiding the look in his eyes. “I dreamed of… brother,” he said, his eyes sweeping over Lin Jue, who was bathed in sunlight.

Not only Emil, but even Xia Chi was shocked.

This was the first time he had heard Bai Lixin mention his family, “Brother, so you have a brother!”

“Ahem, not a real brother.” He paused.

Mentally, he added silently, ‘It’s a love brother.’

Xia Chi, “So it was a beautiful dream?”

Bai Lixin, “…It can be considered a beautiful dream.”

Where the crowd could not see, Lin Jue’s hands behind his back trembled a little, and the corners of his mouth hidden in the sunlight enlarged a little.

Emil, “It looks like everyone had a dream at night, but they are very polarized.”

“Both the beautiful dreams and the nightmares are caused by the copy, so the question is whether they are harmful or not. Looking at the behavior of those who had nightmares, I’m afraid it’s not good.”

Bai Lixin, “There is another phenomenon: players who had beautiful dreams forgot what happened in their dreams, but what about those who had nightmares? Do you remember what happened in your dreams?”

The players, who looked depressed, looked at each other.

“I… I remember.” A timid voice rang out.

The crowd followed the voice and saw a young man in a plaid shirt raise his hand, “I think I was picking…apples.”

He looked at the red apples overhead and suddenly exclaimed, “The place was a lot like here!”

Emil, “What’s so scary about picking apples?”

Unexpectedly, another player asked in a trembling voice, “You… you said you dreamt of picking apples?”

“I’m not going to hide it from you. I dreamt about it too.”

The plaid-shirted boy and that player looked at each other, both seeing the deep fear in the bottom of each other’s eyes.

Xia Chi was anxious. He wanted to ask, but when he thought that the others were both level 200+ players, he tugged on Bai Lixin’s sleeve again in a wimpy manner.

Bai Lixin’s expression was a little subtle, “You two, you didn’t dream of picking heads all night, did you?”

Xia Chi’s scalp exploded.

He looked at Bai Lixin’s calm expression and was filled with horror.

What are you talking about, brother?

Picking heads all night? What kind of frightening statement was that?

Unexpectedly, Bai Lixin’s words were like a switch on the two players. They both hugged the trunk of an apple tree in the next moment and began to vomit furiously.

While throwing up, the plaid-shirted player stretched his hand backwards and raised his thumb towards Bai Lixin.

The other vomited while freeing his mouth to speak, “Yeah, that’s… Fuck, I feel sick again! It was so fucking disgusting and creepy.”

The crowd subconsciously looked up at the red apples overhead, “……”

While the nightmares might just be psychological, what did it mean for two people to have the same dream?

Some other players who had nightmares looked to be full of resistance to speak of.

They were extremely reluctant to recall last night’s horrific nightmare, but it was hard to confirm the information.

“I dreamt of churning soy milk all night long.”

“Fuck, I was churning soy milk too.”

Xia Chi instantly made a bad comparison, “Soy milk…wouldn’t be…from brains, would it?”

“Blurgh!”

“Blurgh!”

The crowd: “……”

Come on, two more vomits.

“I dreamt that I was chopping wood…blurgh….no more, I’ll throw up if I say more.”

“I was chopping…wood too, I’m going to throw up too.”

“Chopping wood, add me to the list. Blurgh!”

Xia Chi quietly tugged on Bai Lixin’s sleeve and asked, in a whisper, “Is chopping wood …chopping bones?”

Bai Lixin, “Probably.”

Xia Chi’s pale face expressed the last inquisitive desire of a good student, “Why would chopping bones be chopping wood? Isn’t chopping ribs more appropriate?”

The crowd: “……”

Asking that the academic to get out of the infinite escape game!

Someone dared to ask, and surprisingly, someone actually dared to answer. Bai Lixin seriously thought about it and answered Xia Chi, “Since bones are composed of phosphorus, oxygen, and carbon, they are combustible. In the old days of feudal superstition, ‘ghost fires’ often floated over graves as a result of the long-term oxidation of bones and the spontaneous combustion of phosphorus.”

“So theoretically speaking, bones can be used as fuel. But… bones burn with a high ignition point, and even if they did work as fuel, it would be time-consuming and laborious. There are more practical fuels like wood, carbon, natural gas, etc., and no one would choose bones.”

The crowd: “……”

What kind of species are these two strange creatures who blundered into the high-end copy? They’re engaged in technological exploration at a time like this?

When the priest arrived, he saw nearly ten “good boys” hugging trees and vomiting with abandon.

The priest NPC was frozen in place, his face ugly.

—

In the live broadcast room.

[Awesome, worthy of being God Xin, another day of arrogance. Even though we are only at level 72, we didn’t wimp out against the veteran players at level 200, giving us lowly players’ face!]

[Is that how bullying works? Bai Lixin is too bad it’s only been a few days and he’s climbed to the 72nd floor. I don’t think I’ve seen any live streams of him during this period, how did he get up there?]

[Was there some kind of hidden copy? Or maybe there was some kind of MVP lottery and he got some kind of performance points that sent him straight to the 72nd floor?]

[Seeing them throw up makes me want to throw up. Family, which one of you saw what happened last night? I’ve just begun watching this copy from the beginning and my whole being feels sick.]

[I’m not going to lie, I didn’t finish watching until the end. This copy is a bit scary. This is the first time I’ve ever watched an S-class copy live, and I’m floating. If it weren’t for chasing after God Xin, I wouldn’t even go into this kind of live room.]

[You are all chasing after this player called Bai Lixin? I was wondering why there were suddenly so many viewers for this S-class copy. Do you see the words [Restricted level] in the top right corner? With these words, it means that there will be some uncomfortable scenes in it. If you can’t accept it, don’t watch it in the end. It will have a psychological shadow and affect your own clears.]

[No, no, no, I want to see it. I can’t believe in this crap game, but I definitely believe in God Xin. No matter how scary things are, God Xin Shen will always play beautifully.]

[Yes, yes, God Xin Shen is also my pacifier. I’m always less scared when clearing a copy after watching his live stream.]

[However, when will these players find out that what they do at night is not a dream?]

[I’m so conflicted. I want them to find out in a hurry, but I don’t want them to find out at the same time.]

—

When the priest brought the players back to the Red Apple House, half of the players were listless.

The expressions on the other half of the players were no better.

Can it still be called dreaming when you have a collective nightmare?

Were they really dreams? Or did they unconsciously do something at night that they subconsciously took as a dream?

Shit, did they really…

Pick heads, chop up bones, and churn brains?

Countless thoughts floated through the players’ minds, and everyone’s faces were blue and purple.

Seeing the players’ faces getting ugly, the priest’s face turned even uglier, “Anyone who dares to throw up will be locked up in the confinement room tonight!”

It was almost in one of the player’s throat and when he heard these words, his throat went “gurrup”.

The crowd: “……”

Can you stop being disgusting here?! It’s disgusting enough as it is!

The food was still plentiful, but the players had no appetite.

They stared at the dishes on the table, and their stomachs turned over like a river.

Look at this apple. It’s big and round.

What? Is it an apple?

Blurgh!

Look at this orange juice. It’s yellow and translucent.

What? Is it juice?

Blurgh!

It was a good meal, but everyone hardly moved their chopsticks.

Only two people seemed unaffected.

One was a handsome young man in a white knitted jumper, and the other was the bullish-looking Vice President of the Sand Sea Guild, Lin Jue.

The two ate bite after bite, their chopsticks flying elegantly across the table.

How on earth were these two still managing to eat?

Were they still human?

The meal ended hastily, and the priest smiled as he swept away the incident from earlier.

After the meal, the priest paused and took them to the third floor, “I was supposed to take you to listen to music this afternoon to cultivate your emotions, but you are in a very wrong state today, children. The Red Apple House is the most peaceful abode in the world, and you, as the chosen children, are the most fortunate ones. Neither I nor my guests want you to be harmed in any way.”

The priest walked to one of the rooms, took a slab of pills from it, and walked over to the few who looked the most depressed.

The priest gave a pill to one of them. His voice was gentle but the content was unmistakable, “Drink this medicine, it will make you all well. You are all my most cherished children, and seeing you suffer is a hundred times harder for me than it is for you.”

Was the medicine in a copy something that could be taken indiscriminately?

The player was very resistant and waved his hand to say no as he braced his trembling body.

The smile on the priest’s lips slowly froze, “Behave, child. I’m going to count to three, and if you don’t eat, you’re going to the confinement cell.”

Player: “……”

Unidentified medicine and a room full of ghosts, which one to choose?

He was already exhausted now. If he went to the confinement room for a night, it was not certain that he could make it to tomorrow, let alone clear the copy successfully.

Just when the priest counted to one, the player quickly picked up the medicine and swallowed it in one gulp.

A smile appeared in the priest’s eyes, “Good boy, go and get a good night’s sleep.”

One by one, the priest handed the pills to the few people who didn’t look too good.

When he reached Bai Lixin, the latter gave him a faint smile.

The priest moved past Bai Lixin and moved on to the next player.

In a few minutes’ time, everyone was given medicine except Bai Lixin and Lin Jue.