Translator: Cinder Translations
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"What do you think the nightmares you've experienced really are?" Instead of directly answering Jiang Cheng's question, the middle-aged man looked at him and asked in return.
"They are the past," Jiang Cheng replied. "Real, existing history."
"That door that appears at night must have the ability to distort time and space, projecting us into another period of history in a completely incomprehensible way and giving us new identities."
"But history is destined to remain unchanged. So no matter what we do in the nightmare—whether we live or die, whether we complete the task or not—it won't have any impact on that history."
"After the task ends, all traces of our existence are erased, even for those of us who didn't make it through the door in time to leave."
"Of course, all of this happens in a dream," he paused, "a dream as we understand it."
"Clap, clap, clap!"
The middle-aged man clapped his hands and said with a smile, "An incredible guess!"
Jiang Cheng, however, didn't seem particularly excited. He just calmly stared into the man's eyes. "But I still guessed wrong, didn't I?"
He had accurately picked up on the middle-aged man's choice of words.
An incredible guess.
"If that girl didn't dislike you so much, I would invite you back for a visit," the middle-aged man said with a hint of regret in his tone.
"You just mentioned randomness," he continued. "But if, as you said, it's truly just randomly projecting people into a period of history, why is every nightmare... so dangerous?"
"Let me give you an example. If I drive along a river and occasionally throw a stone into the water, would every stone accurately land in a whirlpool underwater?"
"Isn't that too much of a coincidence?" The middle-aged man picked up a teacup and took a slow sip.
A glint flashed in Jiang Cheng's eyes. "Go on."
"If I were to speculate, nightmares are just nightmares," the middle-aged man said. "They might have been history once, but now, they are merely the shadow of real history in the dark."
"This history has been stripped of light and beauty, leaving only regret, bloodshed, and brutality. And those ghosts are the products born from these nightmares."
"They don't exist in real history. Otherwise, there would be some trace of them in historical records. They only exist in this corresponding, distorted history."
"Every piece of distorted history is an independent nightmare, and every nightmare gives birth to its corresponding... ghost."
Jiang Cheng seemed to realize something. His pupils changed, and the way he looked at the middle-aged man shifted. Just as he was about to speak—
The middle-aged man straightened up, staring into Jiang Cheng's eyes, and slowly said, "So they... are the greatest benefit."
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"Sorry, sorry, I'm late again!"
A wooden door was pushed open, and a figure rushed in, jogging all the way to his seat and sitting down.
This was a rather ancient-looking meeting room. A long, pure black table stood in the center, flanked by two rows of high-backed chairs. The armrests of the chairs were engraved with eerie patterns that seemed to pull you in the longer you looked at them.
On the table stood candlesticks, with pale white candles burning dimly, emitting a lifeless glow.
"Oops, did I delay the meeting?" The last person to enter shivered as he spoke. From his voice, he sounded like a young man, but his face was obscured.
It wasn't due to the lighting, but because he had a stocking pulled over his head, with holes cut out for his mouth, nose, and eyes.
His voice was also oddly high-pitched.
"You actually showed up?" said a woman sitting diagonally across from him.
She was plain-looking, with clothes even more ordinary than her appearance—the kind of person who would disappear into a crowd the moment you looked away.
"Don't be so harsh, Sister Lu!" The man with the stocking on his head giggled mischievously. "Be careful, or you'll never get married."
Feeling the woman's murderous gaze, the stocking-clad man raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I got it. From now on, I'll call you Number 7. Why so serious? You're scaring my little darling."
Then he turned his head to look in another direction, where another person was sitting. "Our little Ran Ran is so much better," he said, squinting. "So adorable."
A cold glint suddenly flashed in the dimly lit meeting room. A finely crafted dagger was unsheathed, and the candle in front of the stocking-clad man was cleanly sliced in half.
The man pursed his lips, and his cheeky voice abruptly stopped.
"Chen Ran, you're not so cute anymore. I used to love looking at your face, but now it's just... meh," the stocking-clad man said, placing his hands on his hips.
"No wonder Sister Lu doesn't like you," he continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Your position as Number 6 is pretty shaky. I'm going to report you to the boss after the meeting."
"Enough nonsense," Li Lu took a deep breath. "We already know everything about this mission. Number 10 has started preparing."
"Why is he also late?" Chen Ran glanced at the door, frowning.
"Hey, don't ignore me!" the stocking-clad man said in a dissatisfied tone. "Look at me, look at me! How about you let me go this time? I'm so bored at home, wearing a mask and taking care of kids. Do you think that's easy?"
"That kid is so sharp. If I'm not careful and get recognized..." The stocking-clad man clutched his chest. "It would be terrifying."
Li Lu and Chen Ran ignored him as he rambled on. They were waiting for Number 10. This mission...
Almost simultaneously, Li Lu and Chen Ran turned to look at the stocking-clad man, as if realizing something. The former even demanded sharply, "Where's Number 10?"
"Oh, oh, I ran into him on the way here. I didn't like the look of him, so I took care of him," the stocking-clad man said nonchalantly. "The Number 10 in my memory wasn't such an idiot. I couldn't stand him."
"You—"
"Relax, relax, I'm leaving now."
The stocking-clad man jumped down from his chair and skipped out of the room.
A breeze blew through, causing the candlelight to flicker slightly. On the back of the chair where the stocking-clad man had been sitting, a silver-embossed number "4" appeared.
---
"Let me ask again, aside from this young man, there are no other newcomers, right?" A man in a white shirt, with meticulously groomed hair, asked.
The man introduced himself as Liu Guo, a rather ordinary name.
"Wahhh..." Jiang Cheng crouched on the ground. "Where is this place? It's so scary. Are you... are you bad people?"
He crouched in the corner, clearly rejecting anyone who tried to comfort him, appearing extremely vulnerable.
"Get up. We're not bad people. We've explained everything to you. If you don't believe us, there's nothing we can do," a young man in a baseball jacket walked over and said reassuringly.
The young man had fine bangs hanging over his forehead, and his side profile looked as if it had been carefully sculpted—the kind of guy who would be popular with girls on campus.
"Banana Wolf, don't touch me!" Jiang Cheng said. "You don't look like a good person. What kind of normal guy would call himself that?" He craned his neck and added, "You and that 'Big Eagle Cutie' over there are in cahoots, aren't you? Don't think I don't know what you're up to."
"How can you say that!" a tall girl said, her voice filled with grievance.
The girl said her name was Hua Luo. She had beautiful eyes, deep-set and wide, and looked like she might be of mixed heritage. She was even taller than Jiang Cheng.
She wore a long dress and pursed her lips, her eyes glistening as if she had been greatly wronged.
Jiang Cheng had been the first to harass her when he entered the mission, clinging to her and refusing to let go. If he hadn't been pulled away, he might have even tried to burrow into her arms. But then...
At one point, the girl couldn't hold it any longer and went to relieve herself behind a corner, lifting her skirt. That's when Jiang Cheng saw something horrifying.
She was standing! To! Pee!
Jiang Cheng felt utterly deceived, and his emotions immediately crumbled.
This mission had come suddenly, and Fatty had stumbled into it in a daze. Fortunately, the first person he saw upon opening his eyes was the doctor.
This mission had a total of 11 participants.
And there were quite a few oddballs among them. Aside from Banana Wolf and Hua Luo, the two most unconventional, there was also a guy with a black stocking over his head.
The stocking-clad man introduced himself as Lu Huaxu, saying he was a veteran extra and that no one needed to remember his face.
Another person chimed in, saying she was also weak but emphasizing that she wasn't a newcomer.
Her name was Yu Lan, and she was a Chinese teacher.
There was also a female student named Chu Jiu. Jiang Cheng had been staring at her the moment he entered, scaring her so much that she immediately hid behind someone else.
"Don't be afraid," a woman with a sleek black ponytail and glasses glanced at Jiang Cheng and said indifferently to Chu Jiu. "You'll be fine."
Chu Jiu seemed to trust her a lot and nodded repeatedly.
This woman was named Chen Yi. She had a unique aura about her and stood at the very edge of the group, her cold eyes scanning everyone.
"Don't you guys think it's really cold here?" a boy in sportswear and sneakers hugged his shoulders and said. "No wonder it's so cold. I'm freezing. Is this a cold storage room?"
His name was Wei Jinting, and he claimed to be a graduate student studying computer science, aspiring to become a programmer who wouldn't go bald before turning 30.
After hearing him speak, Jiang Cheng, still crouching on the ground, craned his neck and smacked his lips. "Bro, I suggest you think it through. Hair transplants aren't that expensive these days."
He glanced at Hua Luo, then turned his head and continued, "Just make sure your preferences don't go off track. Society's pretty open now, and there are a lot of weirdos out there."
Hua Luo: "You're talking about me again!"
"Hey," Fatty said to a shadowy figure in the dark. "Bro, what's your name?"
The man in the shadows raised his head. Half of his face, turned slightly to the side, was unusually pale. Because he was in the dark, his eyes were invisible.
"I don't have a name," the man said in a cold voice. "You can call me... Wu."
"Is he a big shot?" Jiang Cheng blinked.
Fatty licked his lips and said after a while, "Bro, no offense, but that name is kind of pretentious."
As if uncomfortable with the conversation, the man averted his gaze and looked in another direction, where several thick pillars stood, covered in mottled marks.
After a moment—
"Come out," the man said.
Everyone followed his gaze, and a few seconds later, from behind the last pillar... half a body slowly emerged.
(End of the Chapter)
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