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Fei has guesses for the truth behind this Nightmare, and has made inroads in figuring out what the apocalypse in this Nightmare is.
Though she says that, she still does not yet know what thing, event, or even source of this apocalypse could be. Now she only knows about the apocalypse is not merely a physical one.
Fei’s instincts tell her, for some reason, that this apocalypse, could not simply be the setting of some game.
Perhaps, this is exactly what happened on their Earth, what happened, in the memories they can no longer recall.
And the Tower residents…
Fei is examining XĂź Beijin closely.
She is now questioning, even, if these Tower residents really are mere data points of this game.
Xü Beijin has no idea that Fei is already questioning the Actors’ identities as he watches Lin Qin and Fei leave for the floors beneath the 16th.
Lin Qin actually seemed unwilling to leave, but he probably convinced himself it was more important to get this Nightmare done with.
Before leaving, he told Xü Beijin, “if you really do feel unwell, you must tell me.”
XĂź Beijin continues looking at him.
Then Lin Qin tells him, “I’ll just demolish the building.”
Xü Beijin “…”
Perusing his expression, XĂź Beijin finally confirms that Lin Qin is not just kidding. He is serious.
Xü Beijin gasps slightly, trying to pull off a smile, and reassures him, “don’t worry, I’m feeling fine.”
Lin Qin is eyeing Xü Beijin’s pale face, deep eyebags and parched lips doubtfully; it’s actually no different to how unhealthy Xü Beijin has looked all this time, although it seems like it is Lin Qin’s first time ever realising that.
He nods, seemingly in thought, and says, “got it.”
Xü Beijin “…”
He watches Lin Qin leave, confused as to what he meant he understood when he says he ‘got it.’
Worried, he nonetheless turns his attention back to the stream. He really couldn’t understand what ingenious stroke the little apple brain of Lin Qin’s could have produced.
… It better not be something as dramatic as a virtual monopoly over drinks which indirectly spread rumours of them throughout the bottom floor, he hopes of the little apple.
Just now, when Fei asked Xü Beijin, he also discreetly moved the source of the stream’s audio over to his side, allowing the viewers to listen to his exposition regarding the situation with the building.
Though he didn’t have time to switch the camera view over as well, which kept showing Jiang Shuangmei’s solo adventures.
After stamping her feet and throwing a meaningless tantrum, Jiang Shuangmei calms back down.
Is it that rare to ever have one’s rug pulled out by erstwhile teammates in the game? Of course not!
Her disproportionate anger must also have been because of the influence of ‘The Devil’s Mask’… Yes, it must be!
And now, compared to the fact that Mystic abandoned her, what Jiang Shuangmei is more concerned about is where she took the little girl to. Would it affect the Nightmare in some way or another?
And if she went to the 20th floor like this without Mystic, would any appearance in that photograph be of value?
Jiang Shuangmei cusses, and after some thoughts, decides to skip the middle floors and head directly for the 20th. She suspects the source of Mystic’s erratic behaviour to be caused by something with the photograph.
… She wonders what that something could be.
Another reason is that Jiang Shuangmei is also a bit iffy about exploring the other floors herself. It feels risky.
A few minutes later, Jiang Shuangmei is now on the 20th floor, down from the 31st. The way down is safe, just as Wu Jian said. According to Suits and Teen, this floor should be safe as well.
Jiang Shuangmei decides to play it safe, and carefully opens the door to take a peek first. She finds it entirely empty and quiet. Then she sneaks in.
She is also concerned about the blood Mystic and the others said they saw on the ground of this floor, which they suspect were the blood dumped from elevator Two when Jiang Shuangmei’s group let the blood out from their elevator.
When she turns the corner to the elevator lobby, as she suspected, there is a layer of blood on the ground, coming from one of the elevator doors. Spooked, Jiang Shuangmei then thought of the bracelet on the little girl’s wrist.
If the bracelet really was what Mystic gave the little girl the last run, and if this blood here really was what was left of what the three of them did the last run in elevator Two…
Then why would they have persisted into the second run of the Nightmare?
A somewhat ominous feeling envelops Jiang Shuangmei as she keeps staring at the blood.
She can’t help but ask, if it were her older sister here, how would she have interpreted this?
Jiang Shuangmei admits that she is feeling a bit lost right now. Not just because she is exploring this terrifying building alone, but also because… deep down, she knows, she is truly alone now.
She closes her eyes to try and chase all the pessimistic thoughts away. She then recalls that, apparently, one elevator is stopped on this floor.
Setting her curiosity aside for now, she first goes for the photograph.
She looked around before finally seeing the ‘company group photo’ on the wall. When she saw the photograph, Jiang Shuangmei is positively stunned.
… It really is exactly Mystic and the little girl!
Jiang Shuangmei’s eyes are widened as much as they can.
She is asking why and how. In the first run, it was coincidental that Mystic ended up playing the role of the little girl’s mother, which caused the person depicted on the photograph to change…
But this is already the second run!
What, could Mystic really be the little girl’s mother or something?
This absurd thought occupies Jiang Shuangmei’s mind, but she shakes her head to throw it out.
She is certain that only one possibility lies behind this. The Nightmare is crumbling——unexpectedly, during the second run of the Nightmare.
Another question she has is, assuming Mystic really is playing the role of the little girl’s mother, somehow, then… what about the Nightmare’s owner? Are they really the little girl’s mother, what they guessed?
If the mother really is the Nightmare’s owner, then, what would happen if she saw this photograph, and saw ‘herself’ as this unfamiliar face?
Jiang Shuangmei has a complicated expression imagining what she thinks would definitely be a strange scene.