Mu Jiashi is immediately backtracking on his own conclusion.

If NE really was on their side, then he should have recovered his sense of self in the first scene he entered.

Yet it was only after three doors that he went into a Nightmare he’s been to.

Is this a… test? Or, is it some kind of restriction NE has to abide by?

But, this is Xü Beijin’s own Nightmare!

Mu Jiashi is very much confused.

Who would be the one to control where the Missiontakers end up after entering doors?

Given this is Xü Beijin’s Nightmare, theoretically, he should have complete control over it.

In fact, after realising the problem surrounding the Tower residents, Mu Jiashi decided to reflect on all his experience dealing with Tower residents in Nightmares.

He has managed to prove to himself that whatever they do, the Tower residents are likely aware, and can exert control.

That is how the Nightmare owner helps to push along their progress resolving Nightmares.

So this time, with Xü Beijin being the owner of the Nightmare, then he should have complete omniscience and omnipotence over it.

Yet this time, there is this contradiction, with him only being able to step into a ‘correct’ Nightmare after three doors. Why, if Xü Beijin can really exert complete control, will he arrange the progression of the Nightmare like so?

NE’s stance is yet to be determined beyond reasonable doubt, but Xü Beijin is definitely on their side, isn’t he? Why would he employ delaying tactics?

Which means, the more likely explanation, is that NE, overseeing the whole Tower, is also exerting influence over this Nightmare.

So quick question… Since when has NE ever directly intervened in a Nightmare? Never, as far as he’s aware!

As every Missiontaker will say, NE is the overseer that reigns above them, coldly but fairly.

While every Missiontaker and also Tower resident would know of it, but they know nothing other than its name and its purpose as the main server running this game.

They do not know its form, its actual abilities, and simply suppose that it is omnipotent in the Tower.

In fact, even its name has only been revealed while being passed around as a rumour from who-knows-where.

So, would NE really participate in any same-old Nightmare so proactively? No.

Mu Jiashi, therefore, can’t help but wonder once again – is there something between Xü Beijin and NE?

Fei was the first to ask, having come around to the possibility after jumping through some logical hoops, perhaps.

When he first heard the idea, Mu Jiashi was dismissive.

But then, when Xü Beijin revealed he knew the exit to the Tower was in the Ultimate Nightmare, and also how to open it up, Mu Jiashi started pondering the question more seriously.

Now, Mu Jiashi concludes, that yes, there must be at least some tangential relationship between Xü Beijin and NE.

It’s difficult to elaborate on that, but simply looking at the Nightmare they’re in──

The grey fog. Where the succumbed go, like a landfill. Can you imagine any simple Nightmare of any simple Tower resident taking place in this?

In what, to the game, amounts to unusable save slots and corrupted memory?

If he didn’t knew this was Xü Beijin’s Nightmare, Mu Jiashi would have assumed this to be NE’s Nightmare instead.

Mu Jiashi is slightly amused by the thought.

Meanwhile, standing at his side, Fei looks confused as ever.

So, after some thought, Mu Jiashi tries to explain all this in a way Fei can understand, “I mean, I’ve once been here. It’s like… reliving my worst nightmare, you know?”

“Nightmare, huh?” Fei, anxious, replies, “all those other scenes we’ve been through have been nightmarish, too.”

Mu Jiashi parts his lips a little, but he can’t think of what to say.

He knows Fei is right.

Soon enough, he puts his emotions aside and says, “let’s go. We’ll have to look for a door here.”

When he understood fully what this so-called ‘Nightmare about Nightmares’ is, he also realised that the key to resolving it wouldn’t lie in the countless ‘little Nightmares.’

The Ending can only lie outside, within the grey fog, where they stood when they entered.

But the question becomes, how to leave these little scenes.

At the same time, Mu Jiashi is also wondering why Xü Beijin’s Nightmare is like this.

Why is his Nightmare… about the Tower itself? Unlike the other Tower residents whose Nightmares are about the Earth, the Apocalypse, or madness.

Scratching his head, he doesn’t know how to make sense of it, so he decides to focus on the scene at hand instead.

Walking along with the crowd, Mu Jiashi also explains what he remembers of this Nightmare to Fei.

This is… in fact, the very first Nightmare he went in after coming to the Tower.

So this is in the far distant past, but Mu Jiashi’s memories of it are far more vivid than usual. Perhaps, it’s because he couldn’t resolve the Nightmare completely back then.

It would niggle at the back of his mind every so often, during periods of downtime, when he would think about if there was something he could have done to resolve it.

This Nightmare stems from an event at the Cangcheng Intercity Terminal. More specifically, on an intercity bus shuttle heading right for the Terminal.

“Cangcheng?” Fei mutters the name of the city, commenting, “it sounds oddly familiar.”

Mu Jiashi is also looking at the electronic display showing the arrivals schedule with some nostalgia. He already forgot the detail that the bus was headed to Cangcheng after all that time.

He never expected he would be able to dig up more idiosyncrasies about this Nightmare; a long time ago, he already tried to look for the Nightmare to achieve a True End, and sever his regrets.

Unfortunately, he never found it again. Then when things got more busy for him, having become a Golddigger, he didn’t have the time anymore.

Now, then, he suspects, the owner of the Nightmare may have succumbed entirely.

So the Nightmare ended up in the grey fog, never to show up in the Tower again.

Would such situations be a rarity? Or something common?

Mu Jiashi can’t help but feel a little sympathy inside.

He thinks he can understand a little, why Xü Beijin doesn’t talk about his Nightmare much.

If that is what his own Nightmare looks like, he would probably also want to avoid the topic.

He can also understand why Xü Beijin wouldn’t want to let others inside, because this is a Nightmare that lives up to its name, more than merely an ‘instance in a game.’

Mu Jiashi sighs heavily, then murmurs, “Cangcheng, huh?”

Mu Jiashi smiles bitterly, nodding and saying, “yeah… We might have been there once.”

He’s hoping that this could help Fei recover her memories a little, but disappointingly, it doesn’t happen so easily.

It seems they would have to revisit their past Nightmares before they can recover their sense of self, which seems unlikely outside of hoping that NE would be kind to them.

And with this situation being what it is, all the utility cards they’ve prepared are probably going to waste…

Mu Jiashi can’t help but shake his head.