Volume 8 - CH 143.1

Another Door

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

In the Ultimate Nightmare, it is already generally known that the madmen emerging from the grey fog aren’t as aggressive as imagined.

Though they are squeezing their living spaces tight.

Very few people dare to venture through the fog, so most of them are huddled around where the grey fog still hasn’t intruded.

Many people don’t know the full story behind the grey fog, or what these madmen represent in the fog outside the Tower;

But one, they know Missiontakers have walked into the grey fog and never to return;

And two, there are weird people coming forth from the fog, so they are naturally going to avoid these rolling clouds of doom.

Of course, some, either forced to due to where they’re staying becoming engulfed entirely by the fog so they have to venture out to survive, or simply… having gone insane, have entered the grey fog.

Fewer people are remaining awake in the Ultimate Nightmare now. If Xü Beijin had the presence of mind to check the display on his control panel, he’d realise only about a quarter of people are left. Over three quarters of Missiontakers and Actors have lost their sense of self.

Once, the number stabilised somewhat after rapidly declining;

Then, in a short period of time, the number quickly dropped to a quarter from a third.

There are more and more people succumbing, whether in the very beginning, or those that’ve struggled but still failed regardless.

Having become succumbed in the Ultimate Nightmare, they are completely defenceless against the grey fog.

The mad people emerge from the grey fog, while the newly insane end up swallowed within.

And, besides the grey fog, as time went on, those still remaining also have to worry about the Raining Hellfire now, and the post-Apocalyptic survival awaiting them afterwards.

Even if some aren’t still aware of what the Raining Hellfire is, they’re still worried about the Nightmare possibly crumbling after such a long time.

Everyone is wary and alert.

When Fei and Jiang Shuangmei manage to stumble their way out of the grey fog, they heave a weary sigh. Before they could comment on what they saw in the fog, though, suddenly, the earth beneath them begins rumbling.

Fei yells, “it’s the Hellfire!”

She and Jiang Shuangmei quickly run for the closest building for shelter, and narrowly avoids becoming victims in the Raining Hellfire.

Still shaking, Fei suddenly gets tapped on the shoulder, and she yelps, almost striking her fist out in response before noticing, that it’s Wu Jian.

Wu Jian, Ye Lan and Xie Zhijin are standing next to her, with Wu Jian looking slightly embarrassed.

He clearly wasn’t expecting to spook Fei like that.

Fei takes a deep breath. She really does feel like giving Wu Jian a good pummelling.

Jiang Shuangmei is clearly happy to see them, saying, “you’re here!”

Fei, meanwhile, checks the catastrophic scene outside——It’s literally the Apocalypse. All the normal cityscape has ended up in a ruinous state.

It probably had a slower transition in reality, but the Ultimate Nightmare sped things up. This is what ultimately became of what humanity had to face after the Raining Hellfire.

After staring at it, Fei finds she wants to cry inside a little.

Who could’ve thought? Who could ever have expected such a disaster? Who could have thought… their normal, everyday lives, would just be upended in a single moment?

Irrevocably, irresistably, invariably.

Fei closes her eyes and sighs. She is going to say something to Wu Jian, when she suddenly realises, that it is Xie Zhijin who is standing next to Wu Jian.

She was spooked and wasn’t looking, so she calls out, surprised, “lao-Xie!”

Xie Zhijin opens his mouth, looking utterly baffled, “so everyone knows me, and only I’ve lost my memories?”

He looks like he’s questioning his life choices.

Fei is confused.

Wu Jian quickly explains, “he’s not exactly awake… well, he is. He believes in what I said, but he can’t remember anything from the Tower… I suppose, he’s… insane, but not quite?”

Xie Zhijin is staring at him calmly, saying, “although I can’t remember you now, I’m sure I will, one day.”

Meaning, you better watch out for when he does.

Wu Jian shuts up for good.

Fei also notes that the Xie Zhijin right now, seems slightly more… uh, lively? Than the one she knows.

It makes her think of the changes the Tower and Nightmares end up imposing on people, and she sighs again——It’s quite universal. They’ve generally become much calmer, quieter and gloomier than before the Apocalypse.

Then they exchange information.

Wu Jian’s group was lucky. The grey fog didn’t encircle them.

So they’ve chosen to stay in this area, preparing life’s necessities, food, and water for the next stage of the Apocalypse, the Raining Hellfire and the post-Apocalyptic ruins.

Wu Jian pumps his chest and says, “this will definitely last us for a while, at least we can observe in the meantime.”

A long time has passed since the Ultimate Nightmare began, and they do not know in what direction the Apocalypse is headed for next. So they can only prepare as best they could.

Right now, they’re on the first floor of a newspaper agency. The employees are gone, leaving the empty but sturdy building behind.

Looking around, a few similar structures have survived the Raining Hellfire.

Further out, the smog of dust and ash from the Raining Hellfire makes everything unclear.

Being trapped by the fog and losing their sight, and also not knowing when the grey fog would be approaching them is making the Missiontakers slightly nervous.

Fei tells them, “we walked through the grey fog.”

Wu Jian and Ye Lan quickly perk their ears up.

The three of them have been lucky enough to avoid the fog, and didn’t think of traversing the fog at all.

Hearing that they went through the grey fog is quite the news to them.

Ye Lan asks, “what’s there inside?”

“The city is still there, but it’s all difficult to see in the fog,” answers Jiang Shuangmei, “the rest… you can’t see anything.”

“There’s nothing to be seen?” Wu Jian wonders, “so basically… it’s safe?”

Fei sighs, saying, “no, it’s not.”

“I mean… we literally cannot see them,” adds Jiang Shuangmei, “they are invisible——Invisible doors, we believe.”

Jiang Shuangmei, and later on with Fei, didn’t discover anything in the grey fog at first, until Fei stumbled into what she felt was the form of a door frame.

Then they conclude that there must be some amount of invisible doors inside the grey fog.

“We realised they’re door frames because they’re open,” Jiang Shuangmei sounds irritated, “you might just stumble inside by accident if you weren’t carefully taking stock. Then… you’ll probably be sharing your company with those that have succumbed in Nightmares.”

Jiang Shuangmei’s tone turns slightly sour by the end.

Those who know of her sister’s plight glances a little, but doesn’t say anything.

Xie Zhijin, who doesn’t know about that, looks around, curious, but doesn’t ask either.

And it’s not the right time to dwell on that at all.

“So this means, going through the fog is plausible, but one has to be very careful,” concludes Ye Lan, “ending up inside the doors in the grey fog… who knows what would happen, but safe to say, one less person still awake in the Ultimate Nightmare.”

“It also spells trouble just staying in the grey fog for too long,” suggests Jiang Shuangmei after thinking a little, “with the sense of direction gradually lost inside, it’s possible to end up going in circles inside, and then…”

Fei says, her tone depressed, “you stay, forever.”

Wu Jian can’t help but sigh, and wonder, “why is the grey fog even able to get in the Nightmare? I don’t get it. Is it really just here because there are people who’ve succumbed?”

They have once met similar fog in the Nightmare with the post-Apocalyptic ruins, but that turned out to be marking the boundary to the dream inside a dream, and isn’t actually the grey fog outside the Tower.

Now great, there actually is the grey fog from outside the Tower in this Ultimate Nightmare.

Why, though?

“Even if the madmen are the difficulty of the Nightmare…” Ye Lan wonders, “it must still fit the game’s settings, lore-wise.”

Wu Jian scratches his head at the thought.