34 - Time Flies

Translated by rabbitrisu

Su Zimo considered the possibility of Cheng Yun being possessed by a ghost, but the ‘Cheng Yun’ in the main hall knew too much about his experiences in the nightmare world. If a ghost knew about the tasks and history of the nightmare world, Su Zimo would say that he may have the same cliche ability as Peng Peng.

But the other party recognized Bai Man, Xiao Huo, Jin Lei, and how Cheng Yun behaved in front of other trainers. Wasn’t such a ghost too omnipotent? It would need to have a special ability to read the host’s memories!

But if the ghost was so omnipotent.. wouldn’t he know that Cheng Yun has a sister called Cheng Jingmeng?

It was this huge contradiction that made Su Zimo abandon the idea that he was possessed by a ghost and instead guess that the Cheng Yun they encountered in this nightmare world was another trainer pretending to be him.

The most serious part was that the trainer pretending to be Cheng Yun had his wallet. He had personal belongings that Cheng Yun should never leave. As for what might have happened with them, Su Zimo and Bai Man could only make some horrible guesses.

“Is there really a prop that can disguise people to that degree?” Dr. Jin was shocked. “Although I’ve heard it before…”

“Yes, and still in the hands of a trainer who’s experienced the same nightmare world as me and Cheng Yun.” Bai Man leaned her back against the door behind her. “That was almost a month ago. I remember that it was a novice level that Cheng Yun and I forcibly cleared using props. It wasn’t difficult, but everyone except Cheng Yun and I were inexperienced newcomers, about four or five of them.”

“That person knows about the experiences of Leader Cheng and Miss Bai from that time, so it should be a newcomer who was clearing tasks with you back then?” Su Zimo adjusted the glasses that had slightly fallen on the bridge of his nose. “Is it really a newcomer?”

“…I don’t know.” Bai Man thought for a moment then shook her head, “If the other party really has such a powerful disguise prop, he could pretend to be anyone, even Cheng Yun who he encountered a month ago.”

“I just want to know what the real Cheng Yun is like now.” Bai Man’s tone was a bit pained.

“It’s good that you didn’t stir the grass and startle the snake earlier.” Dr. Jin sighed. “Today I’m sighing too frequently… In short, the Cheng Yun outside is still diligently pretending to be the perfect leader, as if to satisfy his own desire to perform. If he’s really pretending to be in Cheng Yun’s role, then he won’t deal with the trainers for the time being.”

“The trainers this time are also unusual. There’s no benefit to it.” Su Zimo added.

“Little handsome boy, there are benefits.” Dr. Jin tapped Su Zimo’s hair with her cell phone. “Have you heard of treasure killing? The more powerful the trainer, the more hidden treasures may be around them. For the real veterans like Cheng Yun, there will always be bad guys around that want to… eh…”

Halfway through, Jin Lei realized that she seemed to have said something she shouldn’t have, and cautiously looked at Bai Man.

“It’s okay. I just think that it’s a pity if something happened to Cheng Yun, who can help guide other people. Nothing more, nothing less.” Bai Man smiled bitterly. “Let’s go. Staying here too long will cause suspicion.”

“En.” Su Zimo nodded, suddenly thinking that if the pretender’s purpose was to grab treasure, his current state was quite safe.

After the three people pushed open the door, they exited one after the other. All three of them were pushing their expression management abilities to the extreme, trying hard to act indifferently.

“Well? Have you found some new clues?” Seeing the three people return to the hall, Cheng Yun stood up first to meet them. His eyes kept wandering over Su Zimo, looking for anything unusual.

Cheng Yun smiled when he spoke and his tone was very gently, but Su Zimo felt panicked when the other person stood up.

After adjusting his glasses, Su Zimo smiled and sat at his original position without a word. He knew that his current identity was one of the least experienced among the trainers present, so he reasonably gave Dr. Jin and Bai Man the opportunity to speak.

Bai Man wasn’t good at controlling her emotions, so she didn’t speak, only gestured to Dr. Jin with her eyes.

“I think that the room we were in when we came to this nightmare world should be a relatively big clue, since almost every room has something specific to indicate the identity of the owner.” Dr. Jin’s speech attracted everyone’s attention, including the madman’s. Finding new clues was better than doing nothing, after all.

“For example the owner of Bai Man’s room is a chef. Leader Cheng, Master Liu Xu, and Wan Ling-meimei ended up in the room of three maids, and there were three sets of maid costumes in the room. If Leader Cheng is free, you can try it on.” Dr. Jin, knowing that Cheng Yun may be a fake, was able to make fun of him. It was remarkable in Su Zimo’s opinion.

“Du Xin and Xiaomin’s room belongs to the villa’s gardener, Xiao Huo’s was the chauffeur’s room, and Elder Fang Qin’s should be the housekeeper’s. The owner of the room I’m in may be a family doctor.”

“There isn’t a specific feature in Mr. Madman’s room, but we searched for a while and guessed that the owner may be the bodyguard in charge of the villa’s security.” Jin Lei said, temporarily shutting the notepad in her hand. “According to the clues we’ve found, most of the room owners are clearly identifiable, which should have some meaning.”

“Oh!” Dr, Jin, who had analyzed the clues so far, suddenly remembered something. She turner her head to look at Su Zimo, her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Little handsome Su, what was the room you stayed in like?”

“It should be the owner’s bedroom, but most of it had also been turned to ruins.” Su Zimo recalled the room he had been in before, and hesitantly added, “There was photo of a family of three in the room. Although their appearances weren’t clear, it could be seen that there were a young pair of parents and a little girl wearing a tutu. She shouldn’t be older than 10 years old.”

Su Zimo hesitated. Not because he wanted to conceal the information he knew, but because he knew he wasn’t a trainer, so it may not have been necessary for him to appear in the owner’s room. The information the provided may even interfere with the logic of the trainers in front of him.

“The remaining rooms on the third floor look like a study and a playroom. There should be a child in this family.” Dr. Jin seemed to get a good clue. She smiled and opened the notepad again, recording the information that Su Zimo provided.

“Don’t forget that the entire second floor is blocked. Something must have happened in this villa, and it may have something to do with those who have a clear identity here. Although we know about those living on the first and third floors, we don’t know who lived on the second floor.” Su Zimo couldn’t help but remind them.

“Heh!” There was a sudden laugh from the sofa next to him. “We’re actually playing this ghost story like a logic puzzle. This villa is really disappointing. Can’t we have some distinctive nightmare world stuff?”

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The voice of the madman lying there stopped, and suddenly there was the sound of heavy objects falling above their heads. Once again, Su Zimo and the other trainers all felt their scalps tingle with numbness.

“Creak- Creak- Creak-“

Finally, the sound of heavy objects falling above them disappeared, replaced with the familiar squeak that came from upstairs when they walked on the broken wooden floor in the rooms.

“It’s noise from the second floor.” Cheng Yun’s face sunk. No matter how clearly they investigated the first and third floors, they still had to face the problems on the second floor.

“It feels like a giant is walking.” Su Zimo said to himself.

“Why do you say that?” Du Xin looked curious.

“……” Du Xin’s curious eyes looked at him, and Su Zimo was stunned for a minute before explaining. “When we ordinary people walk on the wooden floor, the creaking noise isn’t so loud. So, I felt that the one who was walking on the second floor must be very heavy to make the floor squeak so loudly.”

“That seems right.” Everyone nodded thoughtfully.

The sounds from the second floor lasted for over ten seconds, then the villa settled down again.

“I’m going to the third floor again!” Jin Lei suddenly got up from her chair again. “This villa must have a reason for placing the family doctor’s room on the third floor. The family doctor should have some diagnostic records or something similar according to work requirements!”

When Su Zimo thought that Jin Lei had a great idea, a very absurd and shocking thing happened–

Su Zimo watched Jin Lei, who had just stood up from her chair, stagger and fall directly to the ground!

Just as Su Zimo wanted to get up and help, he found that he also began to feel dizzy. His whole body was tilting and swollen as if he hadn’t slept for a month. He fell onto the table.

Before Su Zimo’s eyes could no longer stay open, he vaguely saw Cheng Yun sitting opposite him at the dining table as they all fell asleep without warning.

*

“It hurts.”

When Su Zimo regained consciousness, he felt pain from when his forehead hit the table.

“This is…”

The pain in his head disappeared, but when Su Zimo opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely dark place. The sense of corruption in the surrounding air, and the creaking noise when his hand touched the floor, made Su Zimo remember the scene from when he first arrived in this nightmare world.

Turning on the flashlight on his phone, Su Zimo looked around and found that he seemed to be in a room on the first floor. He could even see a wooden hanger in the room with a yellowing Chef uniform hanging on it.

This was the first room in the first floor corridor!

Rubbing his forehead that still had some pain, Su Zimo walked straight to the door of the chef’s bedroom with his cell phone. After opening the door, he saw the madman and Du Xin coming out from the gardener’s room opposite him.

“Zimo, are you okay?!” Du Xin’s eyes lit up when he saw Su Zimo, and he ran over immediately. It was as if he had a tail wagging behind him. “This is so weird. Obviously we were just in the main hall, why did we go back to the rooms so quickly?”

“You too?”

The door of the large maid’s room opened next to them, and four people, Cheng Yun, Liu Xu, Bai Man, and Qi Xiaomin, came out one by one. The face of each trainer was puzzled.

Four people in the room for three maids?

“Aiya, did Cheng Yun and Liu Xu still come out of the maids’ room? It seems to always be women’s dresses. Will you really not consider wearing the maid outfit?” Dr. Jin stepped down the squeaky stairs. Although her tone was silly, she looked breathless as if she had just ran down the stairs.

“Dr. Jin, are you still on the third floor?” Su Zimo asked. After all, even an outsider like him switched rooms.

“Yeah, in the family doctor’s room at the top of the stairs.” Dr. Jin combed her messy hair and took a deep breath. “What about the others?”

“As soon as we woke up, we were each in a room.” The remaining Elder Fang Qin, Xiao Huo, and Wan Ling also came into the corridor. The old man stroked his beard and frowned. “It seems like there’s something in the villa. I hope we can return to the same room.”

“Most of our rooms were changed?” Jin Lei looked at the notepad in her hand with annoyance. “In this case, the room and trainer who originally matched with it are completely useless. I feel that it doesn’t make sense to record it now. Maybe the same thing will happen again next time.”

“There are worse things.” ‘Cheng Yun’ stretched out his right arm and said in a somber tone. “Although it seems that we were back in a room as soon as our eyes closed, like the whole process only took the blink of an eye, it seems like a day has actually gone by. The time left is only four days… No. It may be much shorter than four days.”

“Every time we return to the room, it’s equivalent to a night?” Su Zimo blurted out.

“It seems so.” Bai Man and Cheng Yun nodded in agreement.

“There’s still good news.” When everyone felt heavy, Jin Lei waved a book in her hand. “I just found this ‘Work Diary’ in the family doctor’s room.”

With that said, Jin Lei opened the diary that was somehow still legible after years of ruin, and stared at it.

As time went by, Jin Lei looked more and more serious. Her eyes became sharper, her breathing became heavier, and the speed at which the turned pages became more and more rapid, almost to the point where she couldn’t have been reading at all.

“Dr. Jin Lei, are you okay?” Bai Man was nervous.

“I…” Jin Lei held the thick diary tightly in both hands, and finally sighed. “I can’t understand the words above.”

“….”

Doctor’s cursive handwriting?