/
Lin Qin, mystified, asks, “the fog… it’s floating closer?”
Something about what Lin Qin said seems to amuse Xü Beijin. He giggles for a while before saying, “yes, the grey fog… it’s rolling towards the Tower.”
Even someone as generally clueless of the world as Lin Qin knows how serious this is.
He asks with a serious tone, “Beijin, there are a lot of… insane people in the grey fog, right?”
“Yes…” Xü Beijin says, sighing, “and, in a sense, the fog is like a bridge connecting the Tower to the Collapsed Nightmares; if the grey fog reaches the Tower, then the madmen inside can just roam right back out into the Tower.”
Lin Qin thinks about it, then comments, “that’s really dangerous.”
Xü Beijin smiles, and reassures Lin Qin, “we still have some time.”
Lin Qin asks, still worried, “stay safe… Do you really have to stay on the top floor? You can’t come back down?”
He is feeling slightly irritated by the whole affair.
That pale face XĂź Beijin had not too long ago is still quite traumatic for him.
He thinks he only feels the safest with Xü Beijin by his own side, yet right now, Xü Beijin has to stay on the top floor to get a handle on everything that’s happening.
He hasn’t seen his Beijin for a day already!
Xü Beijin tells Lin Qin, with a cooing tone, “just wait… wait a bit longer. I’ll be down there soon enough.”
Lin Qin can only go “ok…” Then he asks something else, “why is the grey fog coming here? Is it… because of the Ultimate Nightmare? Would it interfere with what you’re doing?”
Xü Beijin thinks, then explains, “it is related to the Ultimate Nightmare in a sense… but also, not exactly. It’s a failsafe mechanism ‘they’ implemented into the game.
If this were just a simple game, then the grey fog will of course stay exactly where it is all the time, but remember, this is what ‘they’ have implemented to jail and select their prisoners of war.”
Lin Qin gets it, saying, “so it’s something in case we resist?”
“That’s right…” Xü Beijin quietly says, “the longer the Ultimate Nightmare goes on, the more people succumbing, the grey fog will roll closer to the Tower, until… it swallows the Tower up.
It’s the game’s self-destruct mechanism.”
Lin Qin sounds genuinely concerned, “that’s terrible.”
“We just have to finish dealing with everything before the grey fog can swallow every floor up; and at least, in the Ultimate Nightmare, if they successfully pick the choice I want them to, then the game will forcefully disperse the grey fog.”
Lin Qin nods.
Xü Beijin then says, “and outside the Ultimate Nightmare, it’ll come down to us.”
Lin Qin feels touched that it sounds like he’s fighting with Xü Beijin side-by-side, and he says, “of course, Beijin. I’m happy I can work with you.”
Xü Beijin smiles, saying, “it’s because we are special in the Tower…”
Lin Qin doesn’t seem to find the situation tragic at all, instead, he happily declares, “it means we’re destined to be with each other!”
Xü Beijin doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just goes, “right, now I need you to find a book in my bookstore. The one we got earlier… the ‘Update Log.'”
Lin Qin quickly leaves the window to walk to the bookshelves.
While Lin Qin is checking the titles of the books one by one, XĂź Beijin, having nothing better to do, happens to recall something.
“Lin Qin, you’ve always said I felt ‘special’ to you from the beginning,” Xü Beijin asks, “why did you feel that way?”
“I just do,” Lin Qin answers casually.
He can’t explain why he feels like this either, but he just knows, and stubbornly insists that Lin Qin is special, and also, vice versa.
Before Xü Beijin can ask about it again, Lin Qin says, “got it. What do you need this book for?”
XĂź Beijin is quite surprised. Why is Lin Qin able to find a book so quickly in the piles among his bookstore?
As far as he knows, the Fy’ecas strengthened Lin Qin’s physical stats, but then where did this mysteriously accurate intuition come from?
While fascinated, XĂź Beijin thinks he might have a clue.
In the past, Lin Qin was among the few Missiontakers that outperformed everyone else so much the Fy’ecas took him out the Tower; according to NE, Lin Qin merely had his memories wiped, but not his intelligence or way of thinking.
And, XĂź Beijin always had a niggling doubt that Lin Qin is quite tricksy and scheming inside.
Maybe he really is not so innocent in the core?
Acting dumb while faceslapping? Or perhaps, become so wise that every action he takes appears irrational?
Maybe, there are matters that, rather than pure intuition, it’s more a conclusion Lin Qin’s mind already arrives at in the blink of an eye, that Lin Qin himself doesn’t even notice happen?
XĂź Beijin is astonished.
Eyeing the bookshelves in his own bookstore with that in mind, he ponders, perhaps Lin Qin is able to isolate the ‘Update Log’ so quickly among the countless books, is because he’s internally categorised and remembered where every single book is approximately where…
After coming to that conclusion, he’s seeing Lin Qin anew.
Of course, whatever happens, the little apple is already his. He’s his boyfriend, his Lin Qin.
Clever or dumb, he’s still the Lin Qin that has a bunch of drinks in his hands, and clumsily tries to appeal to him.
Rubbing his nose, Xü Beijin finds himself smiling subconsciously watching Lin Qin’s form.
“Beijin?” Lin Qin calls out to Xü Beijin, who’s been quiet for some reason, “what do we need the book for?”
Xü Beijin snaps back to reality, and tells him, “just put it back there. There’s no need to hurry; it’s one of the data ports.”
Lin Qin looks at the Update Log in his hands doubtfully, then asks, “I can put it back where I can easily find it in the bookshelf? Or should I bring it with me after all?”
“Just leave it on the bookshelf. We’ll come back to it at the end,” Xü Beijin replies, “now, it’s time to find the second data port.”
Lin Qin nods and puts the Update Log away, then walks outside of the bookstore.