When Muscular just entered Room 807, everything was normal.
The apartment was quiet. Everything was where it was. It did not help him realise that, it was not just the facilities of the apartment, but even all the electronic devices in the apartments, that have gone wrong.
Before, in his own apartment unit, he could feel a gaze, but there was no danger. While this time, with his mind wholly muddled by the valuables that were the utility cards and Lin Qinâs private life, he has gone completely ignorant of what was happening in the Nightmare itself.
It would be hard to pin it down on whether it was his own inherent carelessness and hubris, or the amplified stubbornness and arrogance from the effect of the utility card âThe Devilâs Mask,â but the result was that he was completely reckless when going through Room 807, trying to find at least one utility card.
He was sure it was hidden in this apartment unit somewhere.
A few minutes later, nothing has turned up, and the apartment was in complete chaos. He didnât care to be cautious, unlike when Jiang Shuangjie was when she was searching for her missing utility cards at his apartment, where she was extra careful when touching anything because of wariness for the sentient electronic devices; instead, he wished he could just upend everything.
Wardrobes? Opened wide. Pans and bowls and utensils? Throw them all away, on the ground or wherever, the noises not even fazing him the slightest. The sofa was pushed aside and, when he found nothing, he kicked at the walls and doors and tables and chairs in his rage.
At this point, several shapeless eyes seemed to have opened up in the apartment unit, but Muscular didnât notice them at all.
All until he walked next to the sofa, when the curtains suddenly latched onto his throat.
It took all he had just to finally untangle the curtain, but he knocked the router over as well⊠When, he discovered that, the curtains suddenly stopped acting up.
Muscular is currently standing there with jaws agape, looking at the router, and back at the curtains that were going mad just a mere second ago.
Even if he were retarded he could still figure out the connection between them.
Meanwhile, in the stream, the comment barrage are at it again.
â!!! oh fuck me! its the internet!â
ââŠÂ smart electronicsâ
â?? didnt Beibei say that word earlier? Beibei, did you realise this in the beginning?â
âso basically everything that was acting up, theyâre all Internet-enabled?â
âit isnt exactly just smart electronics either⊠rather, it might be the intranet?â
âthis also explains what the missiontakers were stuck thinking about, right? how the sentient facilities talked to each other⊠they had the internet!â
âwill my own smart furniture have clandestine meetings behind my backâŠâ
âwe do (whisper)â
â⊠my smart air-con would just stop by itself for no reason recentlyâŠâ
âwell duh, he finds it too cold alreadyâ
â⊠shitâ
Then the conversation gets back on track.
âoh right, so Beibeiâs bookstore really is a safehouse, thereâs no internet [laugh_cry emoji]â
âthat means the devices cant reach their sentient claws here⊠I say, didnt that elevator say there were the good and the bad among them?â
âhowd you even tell? no other furniture can talk besides elevators anywayâ
âalso, thereâs no time for players to look for each electronic one by one in such a big nightmare, who knows how many runs itâd even takeâ
âhey⊠if the root cause is the internet, what if they just cut the internet off? would the nightmare end?â
â!! nice!â
âI suggest just going to the electrical room and shutting it down insteadâ
â[laugh_cry emoji] are we playing smartass questions right now?â
XĂŒ Beijin also canât help but try to think along the lines of the simple, drastic solutions proposed by the viewers of the stream, and then concludes that this⊠might actually work?
Itâs definitely not how the True End can be achieved, though. A Normal End is more like it.
Would the Missiontakers be happy with a Normal End?
XĂŒ Beijin rubs his chin, and thinks that Thin and the teenage girl would probably be happy with that.
Since, just like Lin Qin, they stumbled into this Nightmare by accident.
The two of them were apparently snooping outside of his bookstore too, who knows if someone might have sent them⊠XĂŒ Beijin is annoyed just thinking about that.
Heâs not sure about the others. Going after a True End would be the logical aspiration when one enters a Nightmare⊠Or not, perhaps, for people like Muscular.
XĂŒ Beijin just sighs and makes a tired yawn. Heâs a bit drowsy again. Maybe he should go for a walk again, he thinks. He felt more energetic the first two runs; maybe it has to do with his bubble tea.
Almost dozing off, he snaps back to reality when he sees someone enter and spook him awake. He focuses his gaze and sees, yup, itâs a Lin Qin alright.
Lin Qin greets him and hands him a can of drink. XĂŒ Beijin thanks him and takes a few sips. He feels much better.
⊠Then, he finally finds the astonishment he should have felt when this streamlined course of actions was taking place.
What are they doing? Lin Qin is, feeding him drinks?
He looks down to examine this can of⊠apple juice.
XĂŒ Beijin ââŠâ
He is quiet for a moment before asking Lin Qin, âwhere did you get this?â
Lin Qin looks at the drink in his hand and answers, âI went to the tuck shop and the owner gave it to me,â he then looks up at XĂŒ Beijin, asking, ânot sleepy anymore?â
XĂŒ Beijin takes another sip quietly before replying, âIâm better now.â
Lin Qin goes âoh.â
XĂŒ Beijin is looking at him, and canât help but ask, âdid you know thatâŠâ
Lin Qin tilts his head at him.
XĂŒ Beijin continues, âyour nameâŠ?â
âOhâŠâ Lin Qin gives another glance at the apple juice in his hand, and tells him, âI donât mind.â
XĂŒ Beijin ââŠâ
What, he thinks he cared that way about this when he asked him the question?!
XĂŒ Beijin, who actually didnât mind, is now actively aware of this because of Lin Qinâs answer.
⊠So what if he was drinking apple juice! What, youâve got a problem with him drinking apple juice?!
XĂŒ Beijin is speechless.
Lin Qin then adds, â I really donât,â then he furrows his brows and asks, âwhy are you overthinking this?â
XĂŒ Beijin â⊠Iâm not.â
Lin Qin examines him from top to bottom, asking, âreally?â
XĂŒ Beijin looks like heâs going to blow any time soon.
Lin Qin says, âjust drink it. Though Iâm an apple, youâre not actually eating me.â
XĂŒ Beijin is quiet for a moment before repeating, word for word, âyou, are, an, appleâŠâ
âYeah, I am an apple,â Lin Qin takes a seat at the chair next to the bookstore entrance, telling him, âif youâre willing to fight with me, Iâll be anything. Apple, grape, pear, pineapple, orangeâŠâ
As if heâs listing ingredients for a salad, he lists a whole bunch of fruit.
Then he asks XĂŒ Beijin, âwhich one do you like? Iâll give you fruit juice of that flavour later.â
XĂŒ Beijin ââŠâ
He feels like Lin Qin has gone weird.
Really weird.
⊠He was mocking Lin Qin just now! He wasnât praising him!!!