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The Latest with Lin Qin
Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil
Before Xü Beijin has been summoned into the Nightmare, Lin Qin has not visited Xü Beijin’s bookstore for days in a row.
He had something he had to do, he said.
Lin Qin did not tell XĂź Beijin what it was, but it was actually related to XĂź Beijin.
Not long before that, he had just warned the two Missiontakers who had been subordinates of Ding Yi not to pry on Xü Beijin’s bookstore, and told them to spread the news to the rest of the Missiontakers of the bottom floor──Especially those powers that be.
At first, it played out like Lin Qin wanted it to, but as time passed, especially, when two other certain rumours began spreading through the Missiontakers like wildfire, something has changed subtly.
The change being, that Missiontakers on the bottom floor were growing restless for Xü Beijin’s Nightmare once more.
Not because of Lin Qin recent actions, but just simply for the fact that this Tower resident has never once opened up his Nightmare.
Rumours that Xü Beijin’s Nightmare is what is effectively the Ultimate Nightmare has never stopped; even some Missiontakers on the higher floor still believe it to this day.
Because XĂź Beijin never did sleep for so many years, though, most Missiontakers have put the thought aside.
But… They might be coming back, ever stronger, to try again this time.
That was what Lin Qin heard about, when a few days ago, the two ex-subordinates of Ding Yi came to him and told him first. They had finished dealing with the fallout of Ding Yi’s departure and were heading up to higher floors themselves. They told Lin Qin about this change in mentality and what things were happening right then.
Lin Qin once warned them about spying on Xü Beijin, so they thought Lin Qin must like Xü Beijin──Or at least, consider him an important person to him.
So they were using this to garner a small favour from him, allowing him to notice that XĂź Beijin was already being noted by others before he would discover it on his own later.
This was also, in their mind, a loose end they had to tie up before leaving the bottom floor.
After that, Lin Qin, who has been living a hermit’s life all this while with Xü Beijin, left that small zone of comfort for a while, to deal with all these fixed gazes on them──Lin Qin thought that spying on Xü Beijin is the same as spying on him.
Lin Qin was pretty irritated as well, especially as he has already warned some Missiontakers, including those who Missiontakers in positions of power who have been on the bottom floor a very long time.
This time, those people were still opportunistic, hoping that pulling together enough stray Missiontakers could force Lin Qin to give up on protecting XĂź Beijin, so that they could try and force him to open up his Nightmare.
Of course, they wouldn’t employ means nearly as savage as that Missiontaker in the past, but inflaming other Missiontakers to probe him would certainly not be out of the question.
Ding Yi’s ex-subordinates told Lin Qin about their plans, so Lin Qin paid a personal visit to all of them to smother those restless flames one by one.
He didn’t care about whether their interest was in Xü Beijin’s Nightmare or in the relationship between he and Xü Beijin.
He just knocked them all down a peg.
Well, he says ‘knock,’ but as Xü Beijin instructed, he refrained from employing physical force. At worst, he just, snapped a table or two in half… and so.
It took a few days, but Lin Qin finally confirmed to his satisfaction that these restless Missiontakers have all wisely given up on their schemes.
They admitted as well that they were actually planning to instigate a mob of Missiontakers to gather on Xü Beijin’s bookstore, like a few years back, to force his Nightmare to open.
Lin Qin merely smirked dismissively at the preposterous idea, asking them in turn, “the power to open the Nightmare still lies within his hands. Didn’t you know that?”
It goes without saying that only when XĂź Beijin himself volitionally, voluntary enters a state of sleep, can the Missiontakers visit his Nightmare that night through his teleportation door.
Simply knocking him out cold does not work.
If a Tower resident is unwilling to let others into their Nightmare, no amount of coercing will work.
The person that Lin Qin was warning also replied with a deferential posture, “yes, yes, we know now… we understand completely.”
Understood, that, in this damned hellhole of a structure that is the Tower, how utterly devastating it is to actually possess fighting strength as much as Lin Qin has.
While both fear and greed flashed through the person’s mind, they ultimately abandoned the thought.
Everyone knows that Lin Qin is beyond control──Save for that person he holds dearly for now… Look, how many people have he personally paid a visit to for his sake by now?
The problem, is that if the Missiontakers really went after the Tower resident, and angered Lin Qin beyond redemption, Lin Qin might really end up a tyrant of the Tower.
They did not want all their toil and sweat building their business gone overnight, so they gave up on going after Lin Qin entirely.
Before Lin Qin left the Missiontaker, though, they were quick to scratch other’s backs, saying, “dalao, you know, actually, we… although we’re interested in that person’s Nightmare, but we all know, that…
That person, he never sleeps. We weren’t planning on wasting our efforts, so we just thought about it, and we didn’t do anything, but… I know that, some people, you know…
Eh, how should I say it? Those Missiontakers that were all indulging in raves before, they have now also ‘woken up,’ saying they want to see the higher floors and leave the Tower.
Here’s the thing… someone seems to have gathered them all up, not that long ago; you might not have heard about it… Now, they seem to have designs on that person’s Nightmare…”
The person is saying with quite the greasy, ingratiating tone, “you see, you might want to deal with them before that comes to pass?”
Lin Qin furrows his brows looking at him, and asks directly, “do you simply not want them to be anymore, or merely not want them working with each other?”
The person is having cold sweat. His mouth trembles, but no words come out.
Of course there is no way they want them grouping up! They don’t even want to see them waking up! Just keep partying on forever… wouldn’t that be nice?
How many are the Necessities Merchants’ life blood that hinges on them!
Lin Qin just says with an irritated tone, “don’t take me for some fool you can sway easily.”
The person almost chokes on his saliva.
Lin Qin pauses, and recalls what XĂź Beijin told him before with a rather complicated feeling.
In fact, if XĂź Beijin did not tell him not to agree to others because of his sake, then he might have really rushed to deal with those Missiontakers without a second thought.
What XĂź Beijin told him has paid off in full, after all.
… Humans sure are messy, Lin Qin complains inside.