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Quietly sitting behind the counter, Xü Beijin is observing the stream with a heavy heart that has wandered off somewhere, until the Missiontakers look like they’re taking a move, when he gathers his wits about him.
Furrowing his brows, he sighs inside. Men really do need sleep. Even though in-game, he theoretically needs no more sleep, but prolonged insomnia is still doing a number on his mental state.
He does not dare to fall asleep, however.
He yawns and bitterly chuckles, finding it morbidly humorous that the only monster in the Tower who does not sleep only does so so that others do not enter his Nightmare.
It makes him sound even less human.
He has stood fast for how many years again? Well, since he entered the Tower, at least, right until now. As long as humanity has been trapped in the Tower.
Sleepy… Yes, he really is sleepy.
For so long, he has not enjoyed a warm blanket, homely sleep-ins and pleasant dreams. Not that anyone could experience the last one in the Tower, though.
Xü Beijin’s thoughts are digressing again, and this time, when he turns his attention back on, the boy is already crying in the stream.
When he was distracted, Laoda ‘the brute’ already blurted out, that, “your dad got sentenced to death already, you know?”
Unable to stop him in time, the rest of the Missiontakers can only stand back to observe the boy’s reaction to it.
And… as expected, he cries.
Laosan sighs, mentally exhausted, and says, “this run… might be our last chance in this Nightmare.”
It is run seven already.
Who knows how long this Nightmare could last for?
There is a split second where Laosan is thinking that they counted off eight numbers in their numbering off. Perhaps, the Nightmare only has eight runs, after which, if it does end… Who knows whether it might just be a Bad End or Collapse altogether?
Mu Jiashi slowly nods, adding, “yes. The man in black has been arrested, which means his journey is now complete. There is no obvious danger in this run anymore, but, who knows what the next run of the Nightmare will turn out to be?”
This Nightmare is quite severely crumbled already, though all in all, the greatest danger hid in the fifth and sixth run. If they didn’t acquire any information and restarted twice when the man in black slaughtered indiscriminately, it would truly have been hopeless.
Though as Selfish said, Nightmares do not have any sensible threads of logic; Mu Jiashi’s overt and Laosan’s internal analysis may not serve any purpose whatsoever, but understanding the operations of the Nightmare itself can help them understand and estimate what the Nightmare might look like in further crumbling, and it is also a good way to keep sanity during the endlessly repeating Nightmare.
Not that anyone expected this predicament they fell into, with even Lin Qin now powerless to do anything, though he’s still standing off to the side, looking like he’s daydreaming.
With the man in black gone, there is no hope they can even achieve a Normal End now.
The boy himself clearly refuses the fact that his father has been arrested or even possibly put to death. He just keeps crying and running out of breath. There looks to be no convincing him.
… Yeah, so what if his father was arrested? Can it bring back his dead mother? Can it bring back his family?
It cannot.
The Missiontakers are thinking pessimistically, if there’s anything they can still do to prevent the Nightmare from continuing to crumble.
That is when Ding Yi, who was silent the whole time, or rather, was silent throughout much of the Nightmare, suddenly speaks up, “so, right now, we just need to convince the boy that he should move past this Nightmare?”
Mu Jiashi and Laosan nod simultaneously.
Then Ding Yi nods.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, she kneels in front of the boy, caressing his head gently. The boy hiccoughs, but stops crying. Right now, there seems to be a sort of soothing, reliable strength on Ding Yi.
To the boy, this woman with grue hair almost looks like his dead mother.
The scene makes Mu Jiashi somewhat curious, though.
Since the beginning, the boy has trusted Ding Yi more than anyone else, only willing to talk to her or hide behind her. Well, there is her gender, but isn’t this bonus rather over-the-top already?
Would this Nightmare owner not have interacted with a single soul if there weren’t a female Missiontaker among them?
Or, could it be…
While Mu Jiashi is still thinking, Ding Yi speaks up gently, “did you like mommy?”
The boy is looking at her, all stupefied, before making a big nod and says, his words still broken, “mommy… mommy made tasty food for me, and also, bought things I liked for me. Mommy loved me. So… So Xiaohe also like mommy.”
“Oh, your name is Xiaohe?” Ding Yi says, “Xiaohe… are you having Nightmares that have mommy in them?”
Xiaohe’s mouth twitches. He looks like he is going to cry again, but holds it back and nods slightly, whispering, “mommy… is gone.”
A child of his age already had a vague grasp of the terrifying power of death. He watched with his own two eyes the death of his own mother.
Ding Yi says, “mommy wouldn’t want Xiaohe to have Nightmares. Mommy must wish that, in Xiaohe’s dreams, she would forever be her prettiest, most good-looking selfish.”
Xiaohe blinks. He looks like he does not understand well, saying, “but… I cannot forget,” then, after a brief moment of silence, he says, “1, 2, 7, 4, 8, 6, 3, 5. I still remember it.”
Even Ding Yi falls silent. For a second there, she doesn’t even know how to comfort this little boy.
That string of numbers. The countdown to his own mother’s life.
Ding Yi sighs inside. She embraces Xiaohe, and gently tells him, “your mommy just became a star. Does Xiaohe like stars?”
Xiaohe’s eyes seem to light up a little. He nods, “I like stars! Mommy said, when we go on a trip, we can see stars!”
Ding Yi explains to him, “your mommy has become a star. She will keep shining on you. If you miss mommy, just raise your head and look up at the sky. You will be able to see your mommy, who is now a star.”
“A star…” Xiaohe mumbles, then says, “I also want to be a star.”
Ding Yi is surprised, asking, “what?”
Xiaohe explains, “I want to be a star, so that I can also shine on mommy;” then, he adds, “the bedroom is so dark.”
Ding Yi quietly looks at him.
She is wondering whether, in reality, outside of the Nightmare, outside of the Tower, the boy that was missing according to Dai Wu, perhaps, became a star?
She sighs inside, but smiles on the surface, gently telling Xiaohe, “of course you can, Xiaohe.”
Finally, the boy seems no longer as troubled. He also gathers his courage to show a smile to Ding Yi.
The rest of the Missiontakers soon follow with their own smiles.
While they do not understand how Ding Yi managed to persuade the boy with just a few words, but the result is good, so they couldn’t care less.