Volume 7 - CH 128.2

Lin Qin is surprised.

He looks at Xü Beijin curiously, and asks with doubt in his tone, “really? I thought you never wanted to brawl.”

Xü Beijin says, “you’ve asked to for so long now…”

Lin Qin then thinks about it and clarifies, “I mean actually brawling, though, and not ‘brawling.’”

Xü Beijin “…”

Who cares what kind of brawling you are referring to! Why on Earth is there a mind that operates like Lin Qin’s… He’s not brawling anymore! Damnit!

His ears are red, but he narrows his eyes and expressionlessly averts his gaze as if nothing’s wrong.

Lin Qin is smiling at this sight instead. That’s the Xü Beijin he’s familiar with right there.

A Xü Beijin who would be pissed at whatever Lin Qin said, but then go sulk by himself.

Not far away, A-Two is being “…”

He quietly shifts his legs a little to stay further away from this couple.

Seriously, after all this time stuck in the Tower, it’s been a dog’s age that he’s felt like a cockblocker so obviously…

Soon enough, Xü Beijin calms down and looks over at A-Two, possibly pondering what to say.

Finally, he gives up and tells Lin Qin, “let’s go. You lead us.”

Lin Qin nods and they make a turn in another direction. Then a few moments later, goes through several turns at once.

By this time, the flashing walls of the labyrinth is already confusing A-Two’s senses so much he isn’t even sure if they’re walking in a straight line or making a turn anymore.

Lin Qin, though, still looks serious and unaffected entirely by the strangeness of this place.

A few minutes later, they make another turn, and finally arrive at a relatively open area.

Here, they find someone.

A-Two immediately tries to reconstruct the path they travelled in his mind to establish a map, and moments afterwards, he says, surprised, “is this right at the… centre of the labyrinth?”

Lin Qin replies, “almost, yeah. Slightly south of that.”

Xü Beijin looks over at that person.

A middle-aged man wearing a black suit. While the costume is usually uppity, it is rather worn down, and the man himself is quite unkempt to boot.

Who knows how long he’s been standing here alone, blanking out in silence, just looking at the wall with unblinking eyes.

Though he quickly turns his head around, alarmed at the strangers’ arrival.

A-Two remarks, “we’ve never met him before.”

Then the four of them all go quiet.

The middle-aged man seems wary and also lucid enough, but there’s no hostility. It’s like he hasn’t succumbed to the Nightmare or gone mad in the first place.

But someone who is inside of Xü Beijin’s Nightmare and in the grey fog is by definition succumbed. He is trapped in this Nightmare.

Finally, Xü Beijin speaks up first.

“Dr Chen. We finally meet.”

The rest of them all widen their eyes for a moment.

The middle-aged man does not know why this young man knows him; Lin Qin and A-Two are merely surprised Xü Beijin knows who this man is.

But Lin Qin settles down almost immediately. It is Xü Beijin, after all. Nothing unexpected if he knows anything. In fact, to him, Xü Beijin is almost omniscient.

A-Two is darting his gaze in between Xü Beijin and the middle-aged man, meanwhile.

He’s a Missiontaker from a higher floor who Mu Jiashi called back down from there, so he isn’t someone too familiar with Xü Beijin. In fact, he doesn’t even know about the grand ‘siege’ the Missiontakers put Xü Beijin’s bookstore under. He hasn’t even been through any Nightmares with him as an extra either. At most, he’s heard of rumours surrounding his identity and some riddles from Mu Jiashi.

That’s all. He was a bit aware that they were doing something important in this Nightmare, but he hasn’t steeled his resolve or whatever like the others.

And obviously, he didn’t place Xü Beijin anywhere important in his mind, as usually, that would be meaningless – Tower residents who are trapped all the same as they are, and more restricted in actions, wouldn’t be able to learn anything more than they do now, can they?

Why didn’t they do anything if they did know anything important?

This means that A-Two never really thought Xü Beijin was all that important.

He’d work hard in the Nightmare and resolve obstacles, but expecting Xü Beijin to play an important role was rather unrealistic for him.

That’s why he is astonished to hear Xü Beijin call this new Tower resident ‘Dr Chen.’

He knows who the man is? And before that, also where he is…

This labyrinth…

Suddenly, brilliance strikes A-Two, and he exclaims, “you never lost your memories?!”

He refers to the memories between the Apocalypse occurring and humanity entering the Tower.

The gazes from both A-Two and Dr Chen makes Xü Beijin quiet for a moment. He doesn’t answer A-Two, and merely says,” Dr Chen Simiao. I’m Xü Beijin.”

Chen Simiao is a man who appears to be in his forties. His eyes are calm, and he appears to retain reason.

He still appears lucid, completely, though it wouldn’t explain how he is in this Nightmare, or in the labyrinth.

Chen Simiao finally speaks to ask, “who are you? Why do you know my name?”

Xü Beijin looks at the man, though a question pops into his mind.

Is he the real Chen Simiao, or merely an Actor given the role of ‘Chen Simiao’?

Or, does it really matter, if the Actor has succumbed and let ‘Chen Simiao’ take over him?

Did the real Chen Simiao die at that moment?

Xü Beijin’s thoughts are digressing, which means he answers after a rather notable pause, “Doctor, regarding this labyrinth… I’m afraid I had to come to you, given you’re its designer.”

Chen Simiao’s expression shifts rather dramatically.

And so does A-Two’s, because this is Xü Beijin tacitly admitting that he remembers what happened before humanity has entered the Tower. Otherwise, how could he ever know Chen Simiao, or that he’s the designer of this labyrinth?

He’s barely stopping himself from asking why they’re in the Tower, and why they’re trapped in this seemingly eternal prison.

But he holds himself back, and instead, quietly listens to Xü Beijin and Chen Simiao’s conversation, returning to his usual calm self.

Meanwhile, the other person present, Lin Qin, appears entirely unconcerned whatsoever.

In fact, there’s a vibe like he’d have walked away from this boring conversation a long time ago if it weren’t for Xü Beijin being here.