13 - Team Medal

Translated by rabbitrisu

“What’s hidden inside your heart? Fear? Desire? Children? Fame?”

When the malicious spirit, who was just a child, stared at Su Zimo and asked the question, the sound of ‘Music of the Dead’ in the classroom became more chaotic than before. The continuous noise sounded like a hammer on spikes beating onto Su Zimo’s chest.

At that moment, Su Zimo’s heart filled with many things, wanting to blurt them all out in an instant.

What he wanted was simple. He wanted to live like the other trainers. He wanted not only the 362 days left of his life, but also wanted a longer and more exciting life, so he needed more products. The appeal was no different from the other trainers present; it’s derived from human instincts. Su Zimo was afraid that this time the communication between him and Peng Peng wouldn’t be of any help.

In addition, Su Zimo also wanted to go back to the Su house. To see his grandfather, to see his family, to find out the real reason he became simple after a car accident….

Strangely enough, Su Zimo found that he was able to suppress the need to speak his desires. Whenever he began to be entranced by the sound of the piano, the strange black umbrella in his right hand would make itself known. It brought a chilly feeling, waking people up as if they ate a piece of ice and had a brain freeze.

Su Zimo glanced at the black umbrella with a silver handle in his right hand, then at the sheet music he was holding in his left hand, and moved it to his arms. He then bent down and stretched his hand out to Peng Peng, who had a dazed expression, and invited him unexpectedly –

“Come with me?”

“En?” Peng Peng couldn’t help widening his eyes at that moment, and the color of his pupils even faded.

The ‘child’ may not have thought about that possibility, that someone could retake the initiative and even ask him a question, an invitation…

“This score is not dead.” ¹ Su Zimo glanced down at the sheet music in his arms before looking at Peng Peng again. “It holds too much content, so much that I can’t take it away like other things, so I want to take its creator away instead.”

“Who are you? There’s no one on this floor. Where did you come from?” The innocence and smile on Peng Peng’s face faded somewhat, and the color of the pupils became light and weaker, almost becoming grey.

“Who are you? Is this what you really look like?” Su Zimo didn’t answer Peng Peng and instead questioned back.

“…….”

“The creator of this sheet music yearns for true freedom, so his desire is certainly not to stay here.” Peng Peng’s lack of response was expected by Su Zimo, so he smiled and offered the invitation again, “Follow me?”

Although the development of the matter wasn’t going along with Su Zimo’s expectations, the matter of ‘abducting’ goods was still within Su Zimo’s abilities to handle. ‘Sheet Music of the Dead’ was still not for sale, but its ability to solicit customers had tickled Su Zimo since the beginning.

After all, Su Zimo’s purpose wasn’t just to put goods on the shelf, but to also quickly sell them in the shop.

“There is no way to go.” Peng Peng looked serious, “There is no way to leave from here.”

“I want to try!” Su Zimo looked at Peng Peng seriously, without any falsehood. In his view, Peng Peng and the ‘Sheet Music of the Dead’ were inseparable. Since he could obtain product information about the sheet music, he may be able to bring Peng Peng through the door.

This is also another attempt at an ability.

Looking at Su Zimo’s expression, Peng Peng didn’t know how to answer for a while.

“Boom!”

Before Peng Peng had time to respond to Su Zimo, he heard a loud noise, turned around, and saw Cheng Jingmeng crashing into the invisible ‘air wall,’ looking at him with blood on her head.

“Use each other? Would I be used by you?” Gao Yang sneered behind Cheng Jingmeng, “There’s something you may not know.”

“Things such as team medals are not single-use from the start.” Gao Yang squatted, rattling Cheng Jingmeng’s head and gently brushing the knife along her cheek, and said, “As long as the bound trainer is dead, you can bind the next one.”

Cheng Jingmeng’s body began trembling in an instant.

“What’s more…” Gao Yang laughed smugly. “After the trainer’s death, all the points, enhancements, and even items gained in the nightmare world belong to the captain. Otherwise, how could I say that this thing is very, very… very much precious.”

“You vowed not to kill your teammates!” Cheng Jingmeng’s voice almost cracked with anxiety.

“Who said I killed anyone?” Gao Yang sneered and waved the one star, nightmare brand dagger in his hand. “I sold her soul, but it’s such a pity that it wasn’t worth much. It was nothing. A useless dagger.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Cheng Jingmeng had already given up at that moment, and could only squat there holding her head and screaming desperately.

“Why? Can’t you take it anymore? Don’t forget that you’ll be my teammate until you die. We’ll enter the same nightmare worlds together and share points until either you die in the nightmare world, or maybe until I meet the weapons dealer again.” Gao Yang lifted Cheng Jingmeng’s jaw, “I’m curious if your soul will be more valuable.”

Su Zimo heard about the ‘Team Medal’ for the first time today. At first, he only thought that it was similar to the team function in online games. After hearing the true relationship, Su Zimo could only shudder.

“Rather than finding a teammate, it’s basically raising… animals,” Su Zimo’s good education allowed him to substitute a more elegant word,

“They are all the same.” Peng Peng didn’t display any emotion in his grey eyes. “I was dumb and stupid at first. When I saw children, I was relaxed and relieved, When I heard the sound of the piano, I couldn’t control my mouth. It was hard to think about anything.”

Although Peng Peng didn’t say clearly, Su Zimo felt that he seemed to know a lot of things from the trainers… or his own intelligence.

It was precisely this information that made Peng Peng, who was originally part of the trainer’s team, not make anyone suspicious, but instead regard him as a trainer.

“You kill me!”

The once music classroom was not only messy, but also chaotic. Cheng Jingmeng, who was pushed to the ground again, stretched out her hand to Su Zimo again and shouted hysterically, “You kill me!”

She was begging before for Su Zimo to take other people’s lives and let her go. Now Cheng Jingmeng begged Su Zimo for her life, as if the people behind her were more terrible than the ‘ghost’ in front of her.

Where her voice was still soft at first, all that remained now was just desire for relief.

“You know that doesn’t work.” Su Zimo shook his head gently and sighed. “Even if the task clearance fails, for you, you would only lose something irrelevant.”

Su Zimo’s memory wasn’t bad; he could remember the words Cheng Jingmeng spoke of before, that the nightmare points they had should be more than enough to offset the death penalty of the task failure for the nightmare world.

Even if she got her wish here, the next time she enters the nightmare world, she would still meet Gao Yang again because of the power of the team medal. At that time, Cheng Jingmeng may not even find anyone to call for help.

Cheng Jingmeng knew that Su Zimo was right, so after shaking her shoulders for a while, she gradually calmed down. He didn’t know whether she had really calmed down or if she had slowly given up.

“Next time, don’t believe in other trainers.” Su Zimo actually felt a little strange since Cheng Jingmeng had been in the nightmare world longer than him, but hadn’t managed to understand that basic truth.

It’s really like a pampered little animal.

“Wu-” A low voice cried faintly.

“Ahahahahaha!” Contrary to Cheng Jingmeng, Gao Yang stood behind her and laughed smugly, seeming to mock her for her future path that had been completely tied up.

Although Su Zimo wanted to take away the sheet music, he couldn’t help but frown at Gao Yang’s laughter, and there was a hint of dislike in his expression.

“You don’t like him.” Peng Peng blinked his light grey eyes and said with certainty.

Then, without waiting for Su Zimo to say anything, Peng Peng already ticked his tender little fingers and, in the next second, Gao Yang disappeared from the music classroom!

Where did Gao Yang go?

Su Zimo looked backwards through Peng Peng’s line of sight, and then was surprised to find… Gao Yang was actually tied up in the bed with a pile of syringes!

When Peng Peng reappeared as a child, the ‘person’ in the bed behind him disappeared. Now seeing Gao Yang restrained on the hospital bed, Su Zimo had the strange feeling that the malicious spirit’s position had been filled by Gao Yang.

Gao Yang wanted to use his elevated strength to struggle and open the fragile and slender syringes, but he couldn’t break free. Even more frightening was that the seemingly ordinary ventilator was firmly locked on Gao Yang’s face. Not only was his face red, but he was also not making any noise.

He had finally fainted.

“If one day I can really leave, someone else has to stay.” Peng Peng said to himself, lightly as if he didn’t want Su Zimo to hear.

“……” Looking at Gao Yang who was left in the hospital bed, Su Zimo didn’t hinder him.

He just bent over and reached out to Peng Peng again, saying, “I want to try and take you out of here.”

Looking at Su Zimo’s slender and unblemished white left hand, Peng Peng hesitated for a while before finally stretching out his young and tender hand to hold onto Su Zimo’s finger. Peng Peng’s eyes and expression were still uncertain, as if he couldn’t believe Su Zimo’s words so far, like he couldn’t believe that he could leave here.

“Gege, you really are strange, suddenly appearing here and saying the most impossible things… In fact, if you want anything, you can tell me directly. After all, I couldn’t give you anything you want.” Peng Peng grumbled. Because Su Zimo wasn’t affected by the piano, he wasn’t wrong.

“Actually… I do have something I want.” Su Zimo, who bent down, took Peng Peng’s hand and stood upright. His beautiful, obsidian-like eyes behind thin rimmed frames were slightly crinkled with a smile, and the eyelashes cast a shadow. It wasn’t pretty.

Footnotes

<ol>A pun on ‘Sheet Music (score) of the Dead.’</ol>