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It’s working… yes! Xü Beijin is enthused with surprise as he realise he didn’t make the connection in his mind…
He and Lin Qin are exactly like how the Maertons and Fy’ecas were when they first split apart!
Without a physical body to speak of, they’re ghosts wandering in a hollow, simulated network. They, however, still yearn for reality, yearn for a physical body.
They are practically a Maerton as far as definitions are concerned!
The two of them probably don’t fit into ‘human’ anymore, but more like Maerton prisoners of war being held by the Fy’ecas.
So while Xü Beijin helps the Maertons so that humans could be saved, they could also expect to be ‘rescued’ by the Maertons.
They will be able to go back to reality!
XĂź Beijin is really excited about this if nothing else.
So he quickly responds to the delegate, and makes detailed plans for what comes next, and then, he explains it all to Lin Qin.
Lin Qin doesn’t have an opinion on having a cyborg body, it seems——he’s always pretty nonchalant about things.
Instead, he is worrying about something else, “so Beijin, how are you going to do this exactly?” He asks, “is it related to the data ports we’ve been searching for?”
XĂź Beijin nods.
Lin Qin doesn’t understand. The data ports connects this place to the outside… but how would Xü Beijin paralyse the Fy’eca’s network through them?
Xü Beijin is looking outside the Tower through the window, muttering, “be patient… it’s going to be soon.”
The thick fog has enveloped their window for quite some time now, but soon, they will be able to escape. Very, very soon.
Humans in the Ultimate Nightmare, or at least, the ones still awake, are wholly confused.
There are more and more madmen emerging from the grey fog, and some have even stepped outside the boundary of the fog to walk freely.
The fog itself is also expanding, corroding this gargantuan scene – a scene gargantuan enough that many areas are still largely unaffected.
But the mad people are still pouring through doors in the grey fog.
So, so many of them, that there is no end to them in sight.
Ding Yi is standing there, alone, watching this scene, stunned.
In front of her is an unending fog that stretches from her left to her right, and covers the heavens above and the earth below, like it marks the boundaries of the world.
But within the fog, human silhouettes can be seen again and again, like shadows coming to life from fantasy to reality, becoming more and more clear with each passing second.
Then, they walk outside the fog.
Crowds of them, shoulder-to-shoulder, pushing, emerging, like a river rushing for the ocean, like soldiers rushing off to a doomed battlefield.
Nonetheless, they walk.
Ding Yi feels like she’s become a drop of water that’s dropped into them.
All around her are crowds squeezed through the grey fog – from what Mu Jiashi has told her, these people emerging from the grey fog outside the Tower, would all be succumbed madmen.
But honestly, it doesn’t show.
They look unphased, numb, cold. It’s like something has changed them the moment they stepped out of the grey fog.
Ding Yi watches the fog, and the place where she is at, and the expressionless people all around her.
It’s like they can’t see her at all.
But nobody knows if they would suddenly start acting insane. The sheer difference in numbers is enough to make Ding Yi hopeless.
There is no way she can fight back against the horde of insane people. If they want to kill her, or turn her insane as well…
But, they are all just rushing from the grey fog, and then, standing?
Suddenly, Ding Yi recalls a piece of conversation she had, before they entered the Ultimate Nightmare, when they were waiting on the news from XĂź Beijin and other Missiontakers and Actors.
Because Dai Wu and Su Enya were present, their topic largely revolved around the situation surrounding the Tower residents – the Actors.
They mentioned NE, the artificial intelligence of the Tower, and then, someone——
Ding Yi doesn’t remember who exactly, as it was pretty disorderly for a conversation. They were all speaking over each other then, but someone mentioned, “Tower residents should have been NPCs though, right? Isn’t it risky to let players assume their role?”
Ding Yi said something in response, but she doesn’t recall what she said at that point.
In fact, she can’t even rule out if she really heard it, or if she merely imagined it.
The impact that utility card left on her is quite something, after all.
So now, looking at the ‘madmen’ that are just standing around in silence, she asks herself again.
It must be risky to let players assume the role of what should have been NPCs, because players are unpredictable and uncontrollable.
The human players have a lot of restrictions in the game, of course; NE mutes them if they ever try to talk about their roles directly, and they can’t just give whatever information in Nightmares as they want.
But, is this kind of game mechanic really normal?
No. Normally, games cannot possibly restrict players to that degree. They are there to play games, and they are there to feel like they have the freedom to do whatever they want.
Of course, ‘Escape’ isn’t just a normal game, now is it?
It has many quirks, but also, it has many features one might expect. Even bugs. Like NE, the manager of the Tower, seemingly having its own Nightmare.
Somewhat normal game mechanics, and many twisted, unnatural, intentional… ways to restrain players.
Ding Yi has confused herself with all the mess of thoughts.
Looking around once more, at the madmen emerging from the fog, Ding Yi speculates… actually, no. She’s sure, they are there to either kill her or make her join them in madness. But they’re not doing that. They just stand there in silence.
It would imply, they are refusing what the game is assigning for them to do.
They are players——Players who, theoretically, could choose to do what they want to in a game.
But why… why now? Why only refuse now?
Why not before?
Then, Ding Yi realises what’s going on.
Xü Beijin. Xü Beijin now has NE’s authority. He is technically the manager of this game right now. So if he wants, he can definitely relax the restrictions placed on players.
Because NE has transferred its own authority away!
Suddenly, she is filled to the brim with both shock and pleasant surprise.
Just now, she was panicking as she thought she was dead for sure, that the humans still holding on would never survive the madmen’s onslaught.
And she questioned why Xü Beijin didn’t tell them beforehand of this ‘difficulty’ in the Ultimate Nightmare.
Now, she understands——Because, this isn’t much of a danger anymore.
When Xü Beijin has NE’s authority, then, the game has truly become… a game for human players! They are actually players, rather than prisoners of this Tower.
Xü Beijin didn’t tell them about it first, though.
Why? Ding Yi wonders, slightly miffed. Is XĂź Beijin trying to spook and tease them a little?
Though recalling everything the bookstore owner has done, Ding Yi realises… she can’t rule that out.
If XĂź Beijin knew what Ding Yi is thinking about right that moment, he would be speechless.
What in the world? He’s already stretched thin enough as it is to also care about the freedom human players had in the game!
The madmen that don’t attack… are probably the result of NE, hoping to encourage a winner among his players, having toned down the difficulty of the Ultimate Nightmare before going to sleep. A pretty normal thing for him to have done as the game’s Server.
It’s fortunate Xü Beijin doesn’t know that this has become ‘Xü Beijin wanting to spook them because he wants to toy with them a little.’
Still coming off the ecstasy that he, Lin Qin, and humanity may quite possibly, actually escape from the game, he heads off with Lin Qin to look for the last data port.