Volume 1 - CH 3

The second wave of dolls chose Glasses.

Quarrelsome gives an unimpressed smirk, while Glasses can only cuss in turn and run for the streets outside.

Unfortunately, though the first wave of dolls lasts only five minutes, the second lasts a whole ten minutes.

A ten-minute long run is quite difficult for normal humans to maintain, not to mention the subpar living conditions in the Tower means that these Missiontakers aren’t exactly physically fit either (TL: There is a plot hole here that will become evident in… A whole lot of chapters. So spoilers. Living conditions in the Tower should have no effect on the Missiontakers who are essentially frozen in time). They can only slow in pace as the situation allows for temporary respite, so that they don’t tire themselves out entirely.

After Glasses has left, Ponytail and Quarrelsome also leave the store behind, and head right for the bookstore next door.

Meanwhile, Xü Beijin has already been at a standstill with Lin Qin for a while now.

They’re engaged in a fierce staring contest, before Xü Beijin finally says in defeat, “Lin Qin, I will never fight with you. Please just knock it off.”

Lin Qin seems unresponsive, just continuing to stare at Xü Beijin in silence.

Xü Beijin feels like the situation looks slightly more hopeful, and quickly sits straight to say with hope in his tone, “so…”

Lin Qin “Let’s fight.”

Xü Beijin “…”

Why! Why can’t Lin Qin let him go!

Xü Beijin, behind the counter, feels like there is no love in this world anymore. His heart is dead.

When the rest of the Missiontakers knew that the bookstore owner is a monster that never sleeps, they all gave up on entering his nightmare eventually, and by extension, they don’t waste their time talking to him by day either.

Yet life is nothing if not unpredictable, with Lin Qin being the exception. One of them, at least.

Though Lin Qin isn’t interested in his Nightmare, apparently. Instead, in his own words…

Lin Qin “Nobody can beat me in the fight in all of the Tower, but, I’m not sure whether I’d win or lose against you. So, let’s fight.”

That’s it.

In Lin Qin’s world, humans——Or rather, anything that moves, belongs to one of two categories. They’re either things he can win against in a fight, or things he will lose against in a fight. By the way, the number of things in the latter category, is as of yet, still zero.

And somehow, Xü Beijin’s position in his world is an awkward one.

Because Lin Qin, like he said, isn’t sure whether he can win against Xü Beijin in a fight.

Lin Qin hates everything that is vague and unclear.

His world is simple. Anything he can win against are losers, trash he doesn’t have to care about. He can smile at them when he’s happy; he can beat them all up if the Nightmare annoys him to a point…

He can do whatever he wants.

That is why Xü Beijin stands out like a sore thumb in his world.

Xü Beijin, meanwhile, has no idea how he makes Lin Qin feel this way. Nor does Lin Qin know, either, but he knows a simple fact——It’s uncertain? Then they can just fight.

Then is Xü Beijin willing to fight him?

Willing, his arse!

What fighting power does Lin Qin have? What about Xü Beijin himself?

Xü Beijin has a very clear awareness of his own strength. Look at his flimsy little arms and legs. Look at his pale skin. Look at his sleep-deprived heavy eyebags… He knows for certain he can never win against Lin Qin.

… So then why does Lin Qin think he can beat him up at all!

Xü Beijin is going to go mad.

He is actually someone that is acutely adaptable to his surroundings; in other words, he’s a super cowardly chicken. Yet his cowardice would still pale when his life is on the line. Say what? He has to fight with Lin Qin, the battle maniac?

Then, Xü Beijin, will! Never! Ever! Concede!

Xü Beijin thus, expressionlessly, answers, “no.”

Lin Qin makes a weary sigh.

Despite, or perhaps owing to, his immense fighting strength, Lin Qin would never stoop so low as to force someone into something unwilling. So if Xü Beijin wouldn’t relent, then he can only give up… and ask another time.

Ever since they first met in the Tower, this scene has played out countless times already.

Xü Beijin’s head hurts.

He knows that, it’s over this time, then. And yet, the next time… Lin Qin will still invite him to a fight.

Xü Beijin really would prefer to be left alone from Lin Qin.

While they’re both staring in silence, two people walk in from the door. A man and a woman. They’re the two Missiontakers of the three that came to this Nightmare.

They look at Lin Qin with a slightly surprised expression, but the man in question doesn’t feel like explaining himself at all, and is merely leaning on the wall with his arms crossed and with a serious expression.

… Xü Beijin refused his request to fight again, so he’s upset.

He’s used to it, but upset means upset.

The two Missiontakers steer clear of him and instead goes to Xü Beijin.

“Hello, laoban (TL: Literally means ‘owner’ or ‘person who owns this place,’ but would be weird if translated directly since it’s a term of address),” Ponytail looks carefully at Xü Beijin, then asks, “we walked past the Dollmaker’s next door. What happened there? Why is there no one at the counter? The shop looks all ruined too.”

Xü Beijin, as required by his role, reads from his script verbatim, “I heard the owner mention that his daughter was missing. So he didn’t have the mind to continue running it even if it was doing ok.”

“His daughter was missing? Did they search for her?”

“I’m not sure. They probably didn’t find her in the end, or he wouldn’t have divorced his wife in the end.”

Afterwards, when Ponytail asks other questions, Xü Beijin would shake his head at all of them to indicate he doesn’t know.

He really doesn’t know.

Actors, like them, can acquire information in the Nightmare depending on two factors. One, is by the level of their role.

For example, the owner of the Nightmare would definitely know the most, and when it comes to extras like Xü Beijin, he’d only be aware of the two basic piece of information that ‘the owner of the Dollmaker’s said his daughter was missing’ and ‘the owner divorced his wife.’

Two, is by the progress the Missiontakers have made through the Nightmare.

If the Missiontakers managed to find additional clues in the Nightmare, like after an exploration of the second floor of the doll store, before returning to Xü Beijin, he may be able to provide more answers.

That is because the Server will provide him with more information.

The game ‘Escape’ is wholly controlled by the Server, a mechanical, robotic artificial intelligence that operates solely by its code. It is in charge of everything from Missiontakers’ exploration of Nightmares to Actors being assigned to and acting out their character roles.

Ponytail, after several questions elicited no answers, knew that this was all the information Xü Beijin could provide at this point. So she falls into thought.

The bookstore falls silent.

Xü Beijin feels a little bit embarrassed and, thinking of something to distract himself with, suddenly remembers something.

His live stream.

He quickly takes a glance——While his own attention is diverted, the screen will also disappear from his sight. When he thought about seeing it again, the light blue screen quickly pops back out into view.

He sees the view still centred on the first floor of the Dollmaker’s. There’s even live comments on the screen. He reads them quickly.

“? whats the host doing? change the screen plz? this empty doll store is boring!”

“And this doll store… Honestly, it gives me the creeps.”

“haha you coward, although im also scared, uwu”

There are several viewers in his stream.

Not that Xü Beijin can talk with them given the three people in front of him. He instead looks at the name underneath the ‘Abandoned Street’ scene on the tools, and changes the scene over to the man.

Meanwhile, Glasses, who has no idea there are several pairs of eyes after him, is gasping for breath after finally losing the dolls. He returns to the Dollmaker’s alone.

It is empty. Unsurprisingly.

After the first wave, Ponytail already asked Quarrelsome if he saw anything outside. He told them about the bookstore, so he knew they were going to go there.

It’s part of what the Missiontakers told them, probably. Those who once challenged a Nightmare will often provide simple, unimportant clues of it to others. For example, in this Nightmare, they all knew the dolls would come to life and chase after them.

They also know that, there is at least one Tower resident in here. The owner of the bookstore, who will provide some information to them.

Yet, according to all the vague information those Missiontakers told them, the bookstore owner’s clues weren’t particularly helpful.

Still, he is the only known source of clues, so they would definitely have headed for him.

Glasses is murmuring to himself now, “it’s going to be the third wave next… There’s just the four of us, so it must be the woman or the maniac…”

While the dolls do give chase to a completely random target, they all know there’s only so many choices, and they rarely go after the same target repeatedly. Therefore, it becomes clearer who they’ll be after next as time passes.

There’s a period between each chase, which shortens over time. Glasses quickly examines the entire first floor.

In a certain corner filled to the brim with boxes for dolls, after brushing all the boxes aside, Glasses has, to his absolute joy, discovered a shut door.

He can’t help but show a smirk, as he continues murmuring, “bunch of dumbasses… The Dollmaker’s had a second floor in the Tower, so obviously there must also have been one in the Nightmare. They only knew to run run run, they don’t even know what’s important!”

He opens the hatch up without hesitation.

The next second, besides the stairs appearing behind the hatch, is a creak——Something opened up.

Glasses gives a reflexive glance behind him, and then freezes up.

In the display cabinet, the little barbie doll, which was always sitting there quietly, has suddenly leapt outside. The creak, was the cabinet being opened.

Glasses’ expression goes blank.

No… No, impossible! That doll, that doll of a little girl, in what he knew, never moved! No Missiontaker said that they have been chased by this doll!

Isn’t that a decoration?! Why is it coming to life!

Glasses has already run for almost ten minutes straight. He can feel his legs all fatigued and aching already. He finds himself unable to take another step; he really wants to just climb right into the stairs behind him, but his fear and exhaustion just make him sit right into the ground.

He can only watch the doll in a red dress walk towards him. He grows cold; the sweat from his forehead flows into his eye. It hurts.

He finally realised, that, with the hatch here and the second floor of the Dollmaker’s in the Tower being so obvious… Why would those Missiontakers that have once been here, never say anything about it?

It’s a trap! A bait to make people do their exploring for them!