Extending straight forward, an endless road. It seems that you canât reach the end of the road no matter how far you travel, let alone know where the road leads.
The road Su Zimo saw was a four-lane road that crossed through darkness. It was about the same width as the road outside the shop in Jiangdu, but there was no sidewalk. Only a straight road that seemed endless in the dark. On either side of the road, there were only cheap fir trees pointing up toward the sky, and dim streetlights that appeared only after a long distance.
Su Zimo, who had just entered the nightmare world, stood at the beginning of the road next to a dim street lamp. Behind him was a cliff whose end couldnât be seen.
There were many people standing next to Su Zimo when he entered the nightmare world. He thought he would have to join the team of trainers again this time, but after he saw his surroundings clearly, he found⊠too many people!
There were ordinary office workers, young mothers pushing strollers, middle school students carrying schoolbags, old people with kind appearances, and workers who hadnât yet washed away the dust from the day. He even saw a weird man in a white mask pushing a large cart.
Su Zimo did a rough calculation â there were forty or fifty people standing on the cliff!
Are these all trainers?
âExcuse me, are you all trainers?â A somewhat flustered woman in professional attire turned around and asked Su Zimo. Although her makeup was well done, her age could still be seen from the lines at the corners of her eyes.
Su Zimo hesitated for only a moment, and then a man with a serious expression pulled the woman aside and said in an accusing tone, âDonât just talk casually. Didnât you see the task on your left arm? Few of the people standing here are trainers, donât look for trouble!â
âBut I think that gentleman should be a trainer, so..â The woman said. She looked at Su Zimo with the man, seemingly awaiting his response.
"
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Su Zimoâs thoughts flew quickly. Although he didnât know what the task for this nightmare world was, he was afraid that most of the figures standing on the cliff werenât human.
In other words, as long as he didnât admit it, he didnât have to join the team of trainers. He could just⊠be a bystander?
With such thoughts, Su Zimo didnât respond to the two trainers.
[Open the umbrella and pretend to be non-human. You have to look a little non-human.] The ghost umbrellaâs voice suddenly rang in Su Zimoâs ears.
Open the umbrella? Pretend to be an umbrella man?
Su Zimo didnât really understand the ghost umbrellaâs meaning, but he seemed to have guessed Su Zimoâs doubts and his voice entered his ears again with a chuckle. [I said, this black umbrella itself is part of a ghost tool. Itâs like a storage grid with an umbrella exterior, allowing people to travel with ghosts. Before we left, I brought out the music score and the cell phone.]
Travel with ghosts?
Su Zimo half-knowingly opened up the black umbrella in front of the two trainers, and then felt a gust of cold wind pass by. The eyes of the two trainers in front of him instantly widened, and they turned around and hurriedly rushed away.
From the corner of Su Zimoâs eyes, he could also see a boy in a white bunny hoodie with furry bunny ears on his left, and a girl on the right wearing a white flowing dress and a loose bun on her head.
On the left was Peng Peng and the right was Zhang Xiaoqing.
What surprised Su Zimo wasnât the appearance of the two ghosts, but that Zhang Xiaoqingâs eyes were covered with the âGhost Eyes of the Blindâ cloth strip, which made Zhang Xiaoqing look more like a ghost.
Peng Peng grasped the corner of Su Zimoâs clothes. He showed his grey eyes, seeming like he wanted to put in an effort for the shopkeeper.
Looking at the movements of those hurriedly retreating trainers, Su Zimo could almost imagine that one day in a nightmare world, he would simultaneously encounter some trainers who think heâs a ghost and some who think heâs an allyâŠ
That kind of situation could also be called⊠Sura Field, right? <sup>1</sup>
âLetâs go together.â Another young woman walked over, carefully avoiding every figure.
The trainer was standing a little far away from Su Zimo, but because throughout the entire nightmare world⊠or the entire road⊠there was no other sound, not even the wind, people could be heard very clearly.
The serious man raised his left arm and motioned to the young woman, as if he hoped that the other party could prove his identity.
âAh!â The woman seemed to have thought of something, and quickly said, âOur task this time is to findâŠâ
âYou can write it in the palm of my hand.â The serious man interrupted the other person. âIf a ghost who wants to hide their identity hears our task, itâs very likely to use it to get between us.â
Hearing the person say that, Su Zimo had completely no thought of joining the trainers.
After all, he really didnât know what their task was, and that male trainer obviously had caution that Su Zimo rarely saw in the nightmare world.
But Su Zimo heard the woman say the word âfind.â Combined with the environment of the nightmare world, and the presence of so many insignificant âpeople,â Su Zimo felt that they may have to find a figure with a specific identity.
Maybe itâs a certain character, maybe itâs a person, maybe itâs a ghostâŠ
Su Zimo pressed the umbrella down slightly, covering most of his face, while Peng Peng and Xiaoqing quietly guarded his sides. Ghost Umbrella, because of his constitution, wouldnât show up in the nightmare world unless as a last resort.
âCould it be the three of us this time?â The voice of the older woman sounded a little disturbed.
âAnd me.â A man wearing dark sunglasses in the dark night time walked out of the crows. He looked a little delicate based on the exposed half of his face.
The man walked up to the serious man, wrote a few words on this palm, and successfully joined the group of trainers. After that, no one else joined.
That is, shortly after the four people met up, the figures that had been stationary near Su Zimo began to move one by one. Most of the âpeopleâ began to move forward at a fast or slow pace along the road that extended into the unknown.
But there were also some âpeopleâ like Su Zimo and the others, staying near the trainers as if they were observing a rare treasure. They made Su Zimo, who stopped there and didnât move, appear less out of place.
âAccording to the task requirements, itâs better for us to wait here for a while. After all, the people here are gradually scattering. When theyâre in place, weâll look for them slowly.â Although there were only four trainers, the strict man who seemed to be thirty four years old had already taken command of the few trainers.
âWhatever.â The young man in sunglasses shrugged. His face was apathetic as he looked around, and his gaze finally fell on Su Zimo.
When the other party looked over, Su Zimo politely returned a smile.
There was no rule about ghosts laughing.
âWeâll listen to you.â The two female trainers responded, acknowledging the otherâs temporary leader position.
Su Zimo looked at the serious man curiously, and then unexpectedly found a Dawn Organization badge on his chest, which meant that he was a member of Dawn just like Qi Xiaomin and the others.
âYou can call me Old Yan.â This serious and rigorous trainer, just so happened to have the name Yan, but Su Zimo didnât recall much.
âDo you want to hide your name?â The older female trainer was stunned and said, âThen call me Ling-jie. Wang Lingling. I seem to be older than you.â
âHey, we couldnât tell if you didnât tell us.â The man in sunglasses flattered her, but his tone felt mocking. âYou can call me A-Liu.â
âIâm An An.â The younger female trainer also hid her name. âIt seems that no one is a newcomer, so this experience should make us feel at ease. To be honest, in the last nightmare world, I accidentally lost nightmare pointsâŠâ
âItâs okay. Itâs very common to lose nightmare points.â A-Liu smiled again, then walked straight forward. âIâll go ahead and explore the road first, you guys can rest here.â
âThisâŠâ Seeing A-Liu walk forward, the trainers were confused.
âA-Liu, itâs best for trainers to act together in the nightmare world.â Old Yan immediately wanted to stop him, but A-Liu just waved back at him and left on his own.
âForget it, letâs follow him.â Old Yan grit his teeth and gestured for the other two trainers to follow. âWe canât let him be alone.â
Su Zimo, who was following behind them with an umbrella, patted Peng Pengâs head and then invited Zhang Xiaoqing to walk along five or six meters behind the trainers.
Su Zimo found that the people of the Dawn Organization seemed to be like nannies, and he didnât know if that was their acceptance standard.
Although the original Leader Cheng Yun was a fake snake, the reason he wasnât found out in the early stages was because he had totally impersonated Cheng Yunâs words and actions, so Cheng Yun himself should also be a nanny-type trainer.
He could also include Dr. Jin, who took care of the young girl called Wan Ling, Bai Man, who wasnât good at speaking but was dedicated to helping everyone, and Qi Xiaomin, who had offered a helping hand to newcomers many timesâŠ
If it werenât for the questionable existence of the organization itself, Su Zimo would really want to think that Dawn was a collection of legendary nice people.
âOld Yan, the ones behind us⊠why are they following us?â The trainer known as Ling-jie didnât seem to be very experienced, and her tone was slightly panicked.
âItâs okay, the requirement of this task is to find someone, so even if most of those surrounding us are ghosts, they wonât do anything without warning. After all, Iâve never heard of an unsolvable nightmare world.â
âHeh.â When Old Yan said that, A-Liu, who was walking alone in front of them, snorted coldly.
âHowever. Humans shouldnât follow us so closely, so the ones following us should be ghosts and can be excluded from the selection.â Old Yan frowned at A-Liuâs attitude, but still continued to walk forward with the team as he explained. âThe requirements for task clearance arenât hard. Even if we only find one, we should be able to clear it.â
As Old Yan revealed more and more clues, Su Zimo was almost certain that their task in this nightmare world wasâ
Identify at least one âhumanâ among the pedestrians on the endless road.
Translatorâs Notes:
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Footnotes
<ol>This refers to a Buddhist concept, meaning someone is stuck in a bad situation and has to struggle to make their way out of it.</ol>