Volume 5 - CH 87.2

That said, since entering the Nightmare, Shen Yünjü’s mind becomes confused even more by something else plaguing him.

While the other Missiontakers are feeling an inexplicable déjà vu, as if they are repeating the actions of some certain people in this Nightmare, Shen Yünjü, instead, feels like… he is repeating something, every single moment instead.

Walking——He was probably walking some time before.

Taking an elevator——He was probably taking an elevator some time before.

Well… Of course he has done something like that. That was daily life.

But… But, why is he concerned about it? What makes him feel this dissonance? What is it, that makes him feel like some part of his memory is trying to imply something?

Finally, he realises, that it is this building.

The moment the third run of the Nightmare started, while the Missiontakers were talking about what happened the last run, just as Fei and Wu Jian were thinking about NE’s unstoppable authority, Shen Yünjü turned his gaze outwards beyond the window.

… The burning city.

He thinks about the citywide inferno, with the charred scent always lingering in his nose. There are broken glass by his feet, a blood-strewn ceiling atop his head. People, people navigated through this building, to escape, but they all died in the end.

He is even more puzzled. Why would he not notice the familiarity this gave him immediately?

… It must be because he did not experience this himself.

It is like, at some moment, like when you were chatting with a friend, your glance over the TV reveals it is currently showing some kind of tragedy.

So you end up remarking to your friend, “oh, so something like that happened,” then, you forget about it. Maybe some time in the future, a suitable trigger word could jumpstart your memory and let you recall the tragedy again.

Now, Shen Yünjü’s memories——His brain, has been retroactively triggered. Something was clicking in his mind, but then again, maybe nothing was clicking.

Maybe he remembered for a split second, and then forgot about it again.

You open your mouth, but forget what words you were going to say; you stand up, but forget what you were about to do next; you open the cabinet, but forget what you were going to grab.

There is a rift in his memories, a rift so utterly astonishing, that reflexively, he closes his eyes, as if it could somehow allow him to ignore and see no evil thing.

No other Missiontaker is paying attention to how Shen Yünjü is looking in the corner, as he is a mere Zombie, which, to the Missiontakers, basically mean they’re dead weights in Nightmares. They’ve just happened to wander into a door, is the consensus Missiontakers have of them.

So, in their heated discussion, they pay no attention to what Shen Yünjü may be thinking about; now, Fei and Wu Jian, the more observant, paranoid ones, are too absorbed in their thoughts as well to notice Shen Yünjü looking odd.

If Fei and Wu Jian knew what he was thinking, they would definitely recall how, in the last Nightmare, the Nightmare with the post-apocalyptic ruins, they had the same ‘rifts’ in memories. An instantaneous sort of forgetting.

Maybe they will even make further deductions from that, and realise that what they have always been a worrywart about has already happened, maybe even a long time ago. But of course, these are mere hypotheticals.

Now, the discussion topic has moved on, to something which also grabs Fei and Wu Jian’s attention.

It is the question of why Jiang Shuangmei ended up with Wu Jian in the last Nightmare.

Suits, looking at Mystic, is trying his best to sound neutral, but his tone still comes off as upfront, “Mystic, the last run, what you did, are you going to explain why you did so?”

Mystic, though, looks at everything oversuspiciously. She almost looks possessed.

Her attention seems to leave her for lengths at a time, until she would suddenly snap back to take in her surroundings carefully, until her attention drifts away again, rinse and repeat. She no different to any other mentally handicapped persons.

Suits’ question manages to cut her stunned state short, as after briefly staring blankly at Suits, perhaps working out what he was talking about, she becomes communicable; it seems all sorts of useless information have filled up her brain, making her unable to focus on anything.

She asks, piecing together words, “what…? Last, run… I did, what?”

Mystic’s words are like a numbing, incoherent murmur.

Suits asks, “where, did you take the little girl to?”

“Little girl…” Somehow, that seems to have been the right word to kick Mystic’s memories into motion. After some silence, she answers, “the 9th floor. I, took her… to 9th floor. Cargo elevator.”

“The 9th floor?”

“There’s a cargo elevator on the 9th floor?”

The Missiontakers are all repeating the keywords in their amazement.

“If so, the whereabouts of the two cargo elevators are clear by now. Only elevator Four remains to be found,” Suits summarises the information, then furrows his brows to ask Mystic, “how did you know the 9th floor… Well, never mind.”

He gives up asking Mystic, realising that, for all practical purposes, Mystic probably can’t explain it at all.”

Suits continues to say, “so it looks like our next goal will be to find the last elevator… Before that, though, we must find the little girl first…”

That is when Teen suddenly interrupts Suits to say, “I know how to solve this Nightmare.”

He sounds confident.

Suits, interrupted, knits his brows openly. Having fallen out publicly, Suits doesn’t need to force himself to tolerate Teen’s temper.

Of course, what Teen said is quite relevant to their common interests, so he does so regardless.

So do the rest of the Missiontakers.