Volume 4 - CH 61.1

Mu Jiashi is looking at this worldview-shattering scene while murmuring, “impossible… impossible…”

It is common knowledge that death in the Nightmare causes the run to end and another to begin.

Now, someone is clearly dead in the Nightmare, killed, even, but the run is not ending.

Why?

Compared to the Missiontakers who all seem genuinely or acting genuinely in shock, Xü Beijin is thinking a bit more deeply.

A bit more deeply about what Baldie told him.

In this Nightmare, memory loss causes the Nightmare to restart instead… or, at least, to restart the loop.

With his head quietly throbbing in pain a little, he digs up all the knowledge regarding those necessary, essential conditions from his memories, and realises, these aren’t of any use.

Because, all this time, everyone has come to accept that death leading to restart is a fundamental, unbreakable, essential fact of Nightmares. Death must imply restart. Restart must imply death.

This principle has now been shattered!

Xü Beijin thinks for a while, and feels that, until the Nightmare finally restarts for once, to allow him to verify for himself what conditions lead to the Nightmare restarting, everything he is doing here isn’t particularly meaningful.

This is his usual delay tactic for whatever challenges he came to face these years that are beyond his capabilities.

He is able to throw away the mess of thoughts in his mind thusly, and instead focuses his attention back on the stream, on the reactions of the six Missiontakers present.

The most notable reaction comes from Collector, who is showing an impassioned smile while rubbing his chin to say, “this Nightmare… is really, so interesting!”

Well, duh.

Mu Jiashi just gives him a tired look. This man, aiming to be as dispirited as he can be, is showing an expression that suggests he succeeded.

In the many Nightmares Mu Jiashi has been to, this is the first Nightmare to break the fundamental principle that death must lead to a restart.

He takes a deep breath. He knows this cannot just be some kind of coincidence. There must be unique forces at play.

While thinking so, he forces his gaze to detach from the corpse.

They are already at the base of the building right now, watching the body, and have confirmed his death up close──Well, anything with brains leaking out of their broken skull after falling down a tall building can be assumed dead, can’t they?

Biceps is hesitant, but mentions, when no one else speaks up, “perhaps… Uh, you know, the guy might be dead before he was pushed down the building? It might have been a corpse already?”

Some Nightmares feature already dead corpses, more as background setting instead of actually emphasising their deaths.

Baldie refutes his brother’s claim, though, “look at the blood flowing out of the body, and that oozing brain there; come again?”

The corpse is, quite… fresh.

Almost as soon as the adjective popped into Mu Jiashi’s mind, he felt like throwing up.

Suffice it to say, that, with Nightmares restarting at most 3 seconds post any death, so none of the Missiontakers present have really taken a good, hard look at a corpse for a really, really long time.

Particularly when the corpse is as mangled as this one.

Mu Jiashi averts his gaze once again, and notices Fei’s and Wu Jian’s expression, and his eyes widen slightly.

Among the howling ruins, none of the Missiontakers are looking comfortable; more specifically, they all look as grey and defeated as the collapsed buildings.

Whether it’s because of the death, or the fact that the death is not causing a restart, they can all feel that something is out of place. This Nightmare, seems to defy all previous experience.

Though Fei and Wu Jian are noticeably different in the feelings they exude compared to others.

Not exactly fear, anxiety, or nervousness, but more, an inexplicable… absolute shock, excitement?

To that degree?

True, the Nightmare did not bring forth a restart, but Nightmares are nothing if not full of surprises. Perhaps they are just facing some ridiculous aspect of this Nightmare; perhaps the guy really was dead before he jumped.

Then, there’s the… excitement. What in the world?

Mu Jiashi disses inside.

Then he firmly turns his head around, pretending he didn’t see them acting odd at all. He will remember it, though, even if he can’t just rush over to ask as it is.

There is even a moment in there when he is feeling like the people in this Nightmare, are all kind of interesting.

Collector, a ‘purveyor of used cards,’ a man and a woman who are paranoid, with nerves tensed, and a pair of brothers who’ve been in this Nightmare before, but kept lots of information to themselves… and him.

The next second, he sighs out of nowhere.

Compared to Xü Beijin, whose state of mind defaults to exhaustion, Mu Jiashi’s mood is more of a rollercoaster ride.

He might just pop up for a second, and force his powerful hand down while carrying all the other Missiontakers to victory, before losing all steam all of a sudden and yell about being a ‘useless trash’… Like what happened the last time around.

Just like what he told Xü Beijin, he will have to readjust himself while on the bottom floor. He has been, and is still continuously brought to deeper levels of Hell by that Nightmare he experienced, which destroyed him, but he is not giving up on crawling back out just yet.

And so his thoughts digress, while the rest of the Missiontakers are all silent.

Collector finally breaks the silence with a ‘hmph’ and a smirk, saying, “you guys… how are you all ignoring such an obvious question?”

“What?”

Baldie is on seriously bad terms with this young man with the perpetual smile, so Biceps had to ask instead, in spite of that burning glare from his companion Baldie.

Collector seems to be too absorbed in his little discovery to notice Baldie, though. He says, “that person who pushed this guy down the building,” he says with this nonchalant tone, “as I recall, after we moved in here, nobody has left the building yet, right? So, the person should still be in the building.”

The Missiontakers glance at each other as they realise the truth in the claim (TL: Assuming there is no other exit in this building, of course, but it’s just a small thing).

After this guy fell down the building, the Missiontakers have all gathered near the entrance to the building. Nobody has left, and of course, nobody has walked inside.

Therefore, they’ve assigned Fei to stay and watch the entrance, while the rest of them disperse into the building, heading to different floors and looking for the possible murderer.

While Fei is spared from the physical exhaustion here, but she is still slightly uncomfortable staying with a corpse. She bites her lips and moves a bit further away, while her gaze stays locked on the entrance to the building. She pays no mind to the ruins surrounding her.

She is also in thought.

After her initial shock, she realises, that this Nightmare may actually be the one they’ve been looking for. The… unique, Nightmare.

Among the countless conspiracies circulating the Tower, one of them, in fact, has wide consensus accepting its truthfulness. Or at least, they are all willing to take it as the truth.

That theory being, that there exists an ‘Ultimate Nightmare’ among the countless Nightmares of the Tower. Anyone who wins a True End in that Nightmare, can escape the Tower.

This makes intuitive sense, the same way that games all have main, story missions, which ultimately lead to one last boss. The game, ‘Escape,’ is still fundamentally, a game.

Though that begs the question – which is the Ultimate Nightmare?