Given the clues presented in the Nightmare, Xie Ji is a central figure to the Nightmare, and even the first person to ever observe the object causing Raining Hellfire. That seems far too significant a role.
It feels like this entire Nightmare has been formed revolving around her.
The problem is, this Nightmareâs owner is a man.
Could it really be what Wu Jian is suggesting? The exceeding trauma of Xie Jiâs death has caused Ke Zhu to dream but wholly from Xie Jiâs perspective? Itâs not completely unreasonable.
Fei kept getting a feeling that, for a Nightmare owner, Ke Zhu would be quite out of place, though.
She thinks about it, shaking her head, and finally says, âin any case, letâs hurry to the Museum.â
Wu Jian says, though, âwhen weâre there, itâll be barely 10 minutes to the hour I think. Itâs almost going to be the Raining Hellfire.â
âIf we happen to be on the busâ scheduled arrival, itâll save a bit of time riding. RegardlessâŠâ
Fei bites her lips. If they donât make it to the Museum in time when the Raining Hellfire strikes, and they died without shelter, theyâd end up like He ShujĂŒn.
But she has chosen to the face the actual truth. And, she trusts Mu Jiashi.
So she says, âletâs go thenâŠâ
Wu Jian nods sombrely, not saying another word.
Fei then turns to Mr Suicide and tells him, âweâre going to the Museum, but if we donât make it⊠You can get off at the library.â
Mr Suicide looks at her, and says, âIâll stay with you guys.â
Fei is slightly surprised, but then, thinking about Mr Suicideâs quirky desire for death, he might actually want to die in that Raining Hellfire.
So she leaves it at that, and asks Wu Jian, âyou brought your Infocard, right?â
âJust one,â Wu Jian then asks, âwho do you want to use it on?â
Fei seems to hesitate, and finally says, âXie Ji. If she doesnât end up being the owner, then it must be Ke Zhu.â
Wu Jian nods.
So they quickly start making their way across the city to the Museum.
The viewers of the stream are watching their actions, and they comment,
âman, who is the owner of this nightmare even?â
âthe owner: letâs play hide and seek [doge emoji]â
âbut it looks to be KZâ
âeh? but I think xie ji sounds more likely⊠like, the whole nightmare is about herâ
âhere we must be wary of the evil scriptwriters intentions! maybe they want you to suspect that XJ is possibleâ
âHas everyone else noticed the three major conflicting points in this Nightmare so far?â
âthree?â
âdetective dalao! im sitting comfortably, so please begin your performance!â
â*quietly perks up ears*â
âConflict #1: The arguing couple. Both options have qualities that do not match.
Though it is likely this is referring to Xie Ji and Ke Zhu.
Conflict #2: The belief in the Raining Hellfire. Some people buy it completely, some people dismiss it entirely â even in the academic circle. There is no middle ground, either. Both sides are completely rooted in their beliefs.
Even when there are evidence and proofs to the one side, they still prefer to argue verbally; and for that matter, we have never seen any of the proofs directly, like any photograph of that objectâŠ
Which certainly makes me wonder what that object might be.
Of course, itâs a foregone conclusion that it exists, and it would cause a massive disaster, but with how vague everyone is referring to it⊠itâs like this is a topic to be avoided, or possibly, the Nightmareâs owner has zero detailed knowledge on it.
We must keep in mind that Nightmares form based on the Nightmare ownerâs memories. What they do not know, they cannot make it up, and the Nightmare cannot feature it.
This is why it is more likely for Ke Zhu to be the Nightmare owner. Which brings me toâŠ
Conflict #3: The clues in the library. If it is more likely that Ke Zhu is the Nightmare owner because of the lack of knowledge or detail on the object, then how are there all these detailed magazines and publications on the third floor in the library?
So the only possible explanation I can think of, is that after Xie Jiâs death, he finally abandoned his stubborn demeanour and, in a suffering of pain, hopelessness and unnatural calmness, studied all of that, everything that had to do with astronomy there.
What he learned has been reflected in his Nightmare as the complete, legible publications.
This is an explanation, but just like the explanation the two Missiontakers there have come up with, this is unsubstantiated. We may have found a way to rationalise everything, but it may have simply been the piece of fabric with the wrong colour that we used to patch up a hole in a piece of clothing.
Going with that piece of fabric analogy, what happened to tear the hole in the clothes itself, is also a matter worth considering.
But first, an offhand mention to Occamâs razor is due. Explanations that hinge on the fewest assumptions are preferable. So here, our piece of fabric is the least amount of things that must have happened, in my opinion, to give rise to this argument for Ke Zhu to be the Nightmare owner. But in fact, there may be other explanations, one that doesnât even require us to fix an imaginary âhole in the clothing,â that is much simpler, much more elegant, to the question.
Why I am saying that, is because of the possibility that Xie Ji is the Nightmareâs owner herself. She would fit a lot of the usual characteristics we expect, for example, her link to all but one scene in this Nightmare. It would also be natural to expect her knowledge to be reflected in the magazines and journals in the library.
Besides that, we already know from the discussions of the astronomy enthusiasts that her initial attitude towards the unidentified object is to avoid talking about it. Even if she came out to break the news later, it is only because circumstances, that being that other people are also observing the object, has forced her hand.
This means that it is completely reasonable to expect her to subconsciously refuse to detail the unidentified object, just like how she thinks about it by default, and explains the objectâs lack of presence in the whole Nightmare.
Why we are not going with this razor-sharp explanation is only due to one fundamental issue, which I will term Conflict #4: The players are adamant that the Nightmare owner is a man.
PhewâŠâ
The wall of text from the detective dalao has finally made it through the screen. The viewers have all had to manually pause to read it all.
Although in the middle of that, XĂŒ Beijin has switched the cameraâs view.
Well, with Fei, Wu Jian and Mr Suicide heading off to the Museum, their perspective is likely going to be uneventful for a while, so itâs understandable⊠What is strange is where XĂŒ Beijin has changed his view to.
The viewers are watching with great bafflement.
Itâs the intersection right outside of the library, where neither Missiontakers nor mad people can be seen.
And yet, just off the side of the road, a box truck is parked there.
Authorâs note: The science fiction novel mentioned in part 2 of this chapter, refers to the Hitchhikerâs Guide to the Galaxy.