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Three Groups
Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil
Among the ruins is one single building that still stands, although it is clearly not staying up for long either.
XĂź Beijin is the owner of the bookstore, on the first floor of this building.
This building looks like an office building while his bookstore is more one that seems to sell stationeries and artistic tools, in addition to books.
Still, this store is extremely dilapidated now, not looking much different from that old rundown bookstore in the last Nightmare. And, perhaps, it will be joining the ranks of the rubble outside soon enough.
——Are the conclusions Xü Beijin has drawn after a walk in the bookstore.
Then, he opens the stream.
Once again… This is a Nightmare with a complicated arrangement of scenes.
XĂź Beijin is almost speechless watching the list of scenes that show close to 60 scenes in total. Fortunately for him, this time, the six Missiontakers have been spawned in the same location after entering.
On Xü Beijin’s list of scenes, that location is named ‘Ruins 1.’
Other than that area 1 which is the starting point of the Nightmare, there are also areas 2 through 49. In total, forty-nine different location of the ruins are present.
XĂź Beijin points the stream at the six Missiontakers.
That is when some viewers have rolled in.
“Beibei! yo!”
“long time no see Beibei! i missed you uwu”
“Beibei you haven’t streamed for so long! I thought you were abandoning us forever, sob… stream more, pwease?”
“Beibei, whats this nightmare? spoil it for us before the detective dalao comes!”
“eh? the dalao is absent again?”
“ah… you know, recently… the situation’s a bit worrying”
“did something happen to the dalao IRL?”
“… dont jinx it, nothing we can do, you know how its like”
“yeah, let’s move on, we don’t wanna spoil Beibei’s stream”
Xü Beijin “…”
Please don’t!
Spoil it all you want!
Talk some more! What do you mean by ‘you know how it’s like’?!
XĂź Beijin is swearing inside.
Though all he can do is act as if nothing’s wrong, telling the viewers where he is, while still utterly curious about what the viewers were mentioning just now.
What is ‘IRL’ referring to… something that possibly affected the detective dalao in reality?
That specific word, ‘situation,’ only makes Xü Beijin worried inside.
Clearly, all these viewers in his stream are just normal, everyday citizens. What kind of situation could cause disaster befalling any regular folk the new normal?
Xü Beijin’s first thought, goes to war.
But, war?
When the humans, including XĂź Beijin, entered the Tower, the globe has reached a relatively calm period of development. Actual, heated warfare is rare enough. War is basically a fantasy tale to any regular resident of their age.
Yet, to the audience, that ‘worrying situation’ is like some kind of… usual, accepted part of their lives.
Why is that?
What happened… to the world outside the Tower?
A marked anxiety and worry has filled Xü Beijin’s mind, but he is unable to share it with anyone.
… This time, Lin Qin is absent from the Nightmare.
In fact, Lin Qin seems preoccupied with something. He didn’t maintain daily visits to Xü Beijin’s bookstore.
Speaking of which, since he borrowed that horror novel from Xü Beijin in the beginning, he seems to have developed a deep interest in the books on the shelves of Xü Beijin’s bookstore, so he came to borrow a book every single day. He would finish reading it that day, and come exchange for another one the next day.
Xü Beijin was suspecting if he was doing that only to be able to fight him and was trying to establish common ground by reading on purpose, but after asking about it, Lin Qin’s replies showed that he did actually read the books in detail.
Hmm… A tiger lives within his heart, but he would still delicately smell roses? (TL: Haven’t heard of this saying at all, so I’m offering only the literal translation. I only have a vague guess on what it might mean, which you probably thought of as well)
So, Lin Qin came to the bookstore every day, sitting there, reading for a long while, lasting for over a week. Xü Beijin’s bookstore is usually deserted, and so, they are able to share the space in private all day long. They had reading sessions, with drinks and snacks. They also chatted every so often.
In fact, Xü Beijin even felt out of place when Lin Qin didn’t come to visit regularly these few days.
He’s a bit interested in what Lin Qin is doing, because before he stopped regularly coming, he told Xü Beijin that he had something to do so he might not make it the next few days.
Although Xü Beijin is also thinking that he shouldn’t be so inquisitive about Lin Qin’s own life.
Lin Qin has already made his way into his daily life with the drinks, not to mention the reading sessions. He has become used to Lin Qin appearing in his bookstore, arriving and leaving on time…
Though, sometimes, Xü Beijin can’t help but wonder if any of this brings changes of substance. To the monotonous lives in the Tower, to the workdays in the Nightmare… To everything.
Nothing would change.
Someone new has come to appear in his life. One day, they may leave. Lin Qin approached him because he wanted to fight him, wanting to know about his ‘physical abilities.’
If, one day, he got tired of this, or went up floors, then the accompaniment and the familiarity will be over. XĂź Beijin will always be on the bottom floor.
Besides, Lin Qin is a Missiontaker. XĂź Beijin is an Actor. Missiontakers are unaware of the roles of Actors, merely treating them as game NPCs, as streams of data, but not actual people.
All these pessimistic thoughts would interfere with Xü Beijin’s calm and unchanging life, but he’s already used to being a pessimist, so he’s even able to make self-degrading jokes, like, ‘hey, look, that’s still a friend you get to enjoy for a while, no?’
He never did have a friend in the Tower.
Anyway, while Lin Qin is absent, there is still someone he knows among the Missiontakers.
Mu Jiashi.
Since his last visit, Xü Beijin never saw Mu Jiashi again afterwards. He doesn’t leave the bookstore much, nor did he go to work in the Nightmare for over a dozen days, nor did Mu Jiashi come visit again.
Before, XĂź Beijin was wondering if Mu Jiashi was still interested in his Nightmare, although, right now, it would seem that the passion of this man, having experienced some form of failure on the higher floors, really did burn out.
… Not that he is looking much the part in this Nightmare for now.
Because none of the rest of the Missiontakers, seem even remotely reliable.