8 - Fake Identity

Translated by rabbitrisu

Through the glass partition wall, Su Zimo could see the floor-to-ceiling windows in the classrooms and the nighttime city lights outside.

He was sure that the Deya Training Academy was located in a modern high-rise office building. Not only was the training content varied, but it occupied a large floor space. It was also the main venue for Su Zimo’s second ‘nightmare world.’

Every classroom around Su Zimo was lit up. You could see the words on the blackboard that hadn’t been erased and the various drawings of the students in the art classrooms, but every door was locked except for a classroom in the deepest corridor.

The door with the ‘Music Classroom’ sign was generously open, so even if the sound insulation of each classroom was good, it still allowed Su Zimo to hear clearly.

Before going to the classroom, Su Zimo took off the oversized backpack and pulled a specially designed hidden zipper on it. The black and grey hiking backpack was quickly reduced in size, and there wasn’t such a sense of annoyance when carrying it on his body.

That was a little trick Su Zimo discovered while spending time in the shop.

When Su Zimo was two meters away from the classroom, he heard a small and soft girl’s voice: “Gao Yang, should we close the door?”

“It’s okay, this nightmare world has assigned us advanced tasks. There won’t be any danger until the next task is issued.” Responding to the voice of the young woman, this tone sounded like a large man. “And it’s a bit stuffy in here. I can’t open the window, so it feels a little hot when I close the door.”

“You opened the door just for ventilation?” Then came the voices of some younger children, “It seems that I overestimated the IQ of you adults.

“Little devil, what are you talking about?!” The man named Gao Yang angrily raised his voice.

“I thought you opened the door to ensure our safety.” The child wasn’t scared by the loud volume, their voice was very syrupy and calm. “This is a nightmare world, there is no way for a glass door to stop a malicious spirit from coming in or out of here. Conversely, according to my previous nightmare world, some doors can’t be opened again once they’re closed. By then, are we not self-defeating and have no chance to escape?”

“…….”

The others in the classroom were silent for a while, as if they couldn’t think of anything to refute the child.

“Xiao… xiao didi, I didn’t expect you to be quite so smart. I underestimated you just now.” The young girl with the soft voice from the beginning said, “My name is Cheng Jingmeng and I am Gao Yang’s teammate.”

“Jiejie, my name is Peng Peng.”

Su Zimo, who wasn’t far away, had three names and two notable facts.

One thing worth noting was that the girl named Cheng Jingmeng said that she was another person’s ‘teammate.’ Another noteworthy point was that the boy who claimed to be ‘Peng Peng’ did not say his full name, which was an inspiration for Su ZImo.

No one had spoken of a non-existent rule to ‘prohibit the use of pseudonyms in the nightmare world.’

“You… are you veterans?” There was another man’s voice in the classroom, which sounded true and honest. “The three of us have only experienced the nightmare world once, but we will work hard not to lag behind, so… so…”

The man seemed embarrassed to say the next words.

“Relax, the nightmare points from task clearance is related to the number of survivors, so Gao Yang and I will work hard to help you.” This was Cheng Jingmeng speaking.

“Thank you, thank you!” After hearing Cheng Jingmeng’s ‘guarantee,’ several voices thanked them in unison.

“Don’t take me to be a good person every time.” Senior Gao Yang muttered, “Don’t hide behind me when you have a crisis.”

“But you are amazing.” Cheng Jingmeng’s voice was like the soft and cute goddess sound admired by the boring classmates of Su Zimo’s high school era. The ending sounded slightly higher, giving people a coquettish feeling. “And they’ve only experienced one nightmare world. The nightmare points given by the novice world aren’t enough to offset the death penalty of a failed task clearance. How pitiful!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll listen to you.” Gao Yang seemed to have lost his resistance to the girl’s serious request.

Now Su Zimo outside heard Cheng Jingmeng’s words, and also remembered that Qi Xiaomin, another trainer who he’d met not long ago, had said something similar.

Very similar.

Su Zimo would not assume that the two seniors in the music room were good people.

This time, Su Zimo became more aware of the difference between himself and the trainers. If he chose not to show up in front of them, he would not need to accompany them to play the so-called task clearance game.

But Su Zimo’s problem was that the elevator where he had picked up the black umbrella earlier was unusable just like the one in the previous hotel, and the emergency exit next to it could not be opened, so he was just like the trainers who could only move on this floor.

It’s just that on this floor, apart from the front desk and the music classroom where the trainers were gathered, all the other glass doors were locked. If Su Zimo wanted to continue to collect things, he could only continue to the music room.

In addition, Su Zimo’s other choice was to immediately go back to An Yu Yi Yu, then go to the next nightmare world to find a safe collection opportunity.

If he decided to do this, he would have to wait another forty-eight hours!

The Su family’s grandfather often hung onto the proverb, “Seek wealth and risks.” ¹ Thinking of his grandfather, Su Zimo had a feeling in his mind that he could not waste another forty-eight hours.

So Su Zimo took a breath and began to think about what kind of identity he would appear as in front of the trainers.

‘Is it true that you’re really a trainer, but were late due to traffic jams on the road?’ No, the trainer identity is too troublesome for him to retreat at any time.

“There seems to be someone outside the door.”

Just after taking a step forward, Su Zimo heard the voice of the child Peng Peng from the music classroom, which was a bit like Ayuyuyu. Then, the music classroom, which was constantly filled with motion, was silent for a moment, as if you could hear a pin fall on the ground.

Su Zimo knew that he couldn’t wait any longer, so he rubbed his cheeks to make himself look expressionless. Although he couldn’t make the poker face taught by the Su family, this should barely be enough.

Too difficult, and there would be occasions where his flaws could be exposed.

He stood upright, as if he was retrieving the feelings from when he attended the Su family dinners, and began to walk closer to the crowd. He held the black and grey backpack on one shoulder and the umbrella in his hand and walked into the classroom.

There were six people in the music classroom. A pair of a young man and woman sat on soft leather stools by the window. A pretty boy looked curiously at the open glass door. There were also three people standing in the back, looking at their left and right arms from time to time.

But after the little boy said something was moving outside the door, everyone’s eyes were focused in that direction, and their expressions were alert.

They actually heard footsteps!

“The nightmare world released an advanced task. We just completed the task of choosing a classroom. The second task hasn’t been released yet, so there should be no danger.” Cheng Jingmeng murmured a few words while hiding behind Gao Yang, as is comforting herself to not be afraid.

As the footsteps approached, everyone suspected that a terrifying ghost would appear in the music classroom, assuming that the real nightmare world was about to begin.

But at that time, it was a completely strange young man who appeared in front of everyone.

Not only did the other party’s face show no ghostly signs, but their facial features and temperament were very good. Although the person was carrying a shoulder bag that didn’t match the white shirt on his body, his slender and perfect figure brought out a unique aura that made people feel that the other person came out of a painting in the art classroom.

Hmm… In the last nightmare world, when his body was stiff and running violently, Young Master Su hadn’t had the opportunity to show off this posture.

“Who are you? Why are you in the classroom so late?” While questioning them seriously, Su Zimo entered the music classroom from the outside and was ready to dive in and collect.

Relying on the knowledge that the trainers knew nothing about the nightmare world, Su Zimo, who held a black, long-handled umbrella, looked around the classroom, turned his wrist lightly around the black umbrella, and looked at the strangers in front of him with a cautious expression.

“We don’t hold evening training classes here, and I’ve never seen you in the classroom. You are definitely not my students. What do you hope to do by coming here? Did you turn on the lights here?” Su Zimo didn’t wait for the trainers to answer, and asked a series of questions in an attempt to take control from the beginning.

“Didn’t gege come here?”

While most of the trainers were still unclear about Su Zimo’s identity and didn’t know how to respond, the child Peng Peng, who was standing opposite Su Zimo, opened his eyes and raised a rhetorical question.

“……” When Su Zimo saw the child, his eyebrows loosened a little, but he still hesitated before cautiously saying “I left something in the classroom, so I came back to get it. That’s all.”

By the time he said this, Su Zimo had already found his collection target in the music classroom.

“You forgot something?” Gao Yang, who stood near the upright piano, grabbed Cheng Jingmeng and took a step back. While Su Zimo was on high alert, the veterans among the trainers were also observing Su Zimo. After all, they really didn’t know why such a person suddenly appeared in their nightmare world!

At the moment, Su Zimo was still inventing his identity.

The trainers needed to determine his identity.

“……” Su Zimo remained silent and did not immediately respond to Gao Yang’s question.

In the situation of mutual vigilance, the child Peng Peng blinked, then showed a suspicious expression. “Gege, are you the music teacher here? We are all going to sign up to learn piano. A pretty jiejie told us to wait here, so we waited until now. It was dark and Peng Peng was scared!”

Peng Peng’s response was impeccable. The way he communicated with Su Zimo was like the communication between player characters and mission NPC characters in stand-alone games.

In the game, there must be a reasonable connection between the player and the NPC, and their conversations can promote the development of the plot.

The Nightmare World was also a game in the end, so it wasn’t surprising that NPC characters could appear. As for Peng Peng’s ‘pretty jiejie’… there were so many front desks and female teachers in the training institute that it wasn’t a flaw at all.

“Did A-Ling bring you here? Why didn’t she call me?” Su Zimo pretended to be relieved when he heard Peng Peng’s role in the play. “It’s strange to say that there should be someone working overtime on night duty here. Why are there only a few of you on the whole floor?”

“The people here seem to have disappeared suddenly!” Go Yang, who was standing on the side, also began to enter the play, and with exaggerated finger movements, he asked Su Zimo, “Laoshi, has anything strange happened before on this floor or in this training institute?”

Hearing Gao Yang seriously asking him for information, Su Zimo knew that these trainers… really entered the play. ²

Footnotes

<ol>富贵险中求, a proverb meaning that those who want to be wealthy must take risks. All the stuff about ‘plays’ and ‘roles’are how Su Zimo refers to himself pretending to be an NPC and everyone else believing him and going along with it.</ol>