35 - Hunting Prey

Translated by rabbitrisu

It was a tragic thing to find a doctor’s note with very important clues, but not be able to understand the legendary messy doctor’s handwriting.

Even though Jin Lei is a doctor – an elite surgeon, even – she still can’t understand the diagnostic records written by the family doctor. The handwriting… It’s too messy!

Su Zimo glanced at it silently, and thought that the work diary was either a bunch of wavy lines that didn’t make sense or a ghost symbol, and he didn’t know whether it was a picture or a word.

“Damn!” Holding the work diary tightly in her hand, Dr. Jin, who has always been intelligent, sat at the dining table and grit her teeth while looking at the horizontal lines of the book filled with hieroglyphics. “I can’t crack it! It’s a mockery of my professional abilities!”

“Dr. Jin, don’t be nervous. It scares Wan Ling-meimei.” Qi Xiaomin soothed her and brought a piece of chocolate for Dr. Jin.

Although they really didn’t feel that a substantial amount of time had elapsed, when they returned to the main hall, they actually felt their stomachs growl as if they hadn’t eaten all day.

“Bang- Bang- Bang-“

“Boom- Boom- Boom-“

“How annoying!” Mr. Madman lay there and rolled his eyes inexorably. “It’s been noisy for hours, can’t it end?!”

“Aren’t you hoping for a nightmarish event to happen?” Xiao Huo rolled his eyes at the madman. “Thinking you do, not thinking you do, who do you think you are! I don’t know which homeless man came out of the park. What big man came here to boast?” ¹

Speaking of being grumpy, this time it was more than Mr. Madman.

“A kid who didn’t graduate from high school is here acting like the eldest brother? You can’t be more confident than me.” The maniac dismissively glanced at Xiao Huo’s red head, red leather jacket, and black leather pants. “Even if I’m homeless, I still have more social experience than you.”

“What’s wrong with not graduating from high school? At least my brother can attend university, and I won’t be homeless during my life!” Despite his baby face, Du Xin still had the special attitude that could kill his family from his high school era.

“I’m too lazy to educate the little fart brat.” ² As the madman spoke, he closed his eyes.

“Aren’t you looking a bit familiar?” Su Zimo looked at Xiao Huo’s red head, and smiled in Du Xin’s direction.

Now Du Xin, who was clean and bald, scratched his head in embarrassment and lowered his head. “Was I not ignorant at that time? Anyway, what the madman said was really not pleasant.”

“At the time, it must have been unpleasant for you to look at me.” Du Xin suddenly turned his head, as if afraid to hear Su Zimo’s response.

“No.” Su Zimo shook his head. “That kind of dressing is just a matter of personal interest.”

“You’ve always been like this…” Du Xin sighed and turned his head to look at Su Zimo. “Obviously a very gentle person, but not easy to get close to. You obviously have a good temper around everyone. In reality, I didn’t have friends to talk with often in the school or even in class. I rebelled at the time, and I felt that I lived in a completely different world than you.”

“It sounds like I’m quite annoying.” Su Zimo took off his glasses and wiped them. His fan-shaped eyelashes fluttered slightly, making him look softer. “I feel a little sorry.”

“I think maybe it was because you hadn’t met any special people at that time?” Du Xin scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed. “I remember before you transferred schools, one time I returned to the classroom after playing kickball and I saw you alone in there. You were chatting with the goldfish you raised. You spoke very seriously, but you were laughing. It was different from usual.”

Su Zimo just smiled normally. He wasn’t actually indifferent. Just like the smile on his face, he was used to not showing too much emotion to the outside world. Having that kind of habit from a young age made it hard to have friends around.

From childhood through university, Su Zimo never seemed to have a goal. He only knew that he was destined to be with the Su family in the future. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Su Zimo felt that if someone knew his thoughts, they would smile and say, “You’re alive but so confused. It’s better to admit your fate. Just forget the three-hundred and something days. Why bother entering the nightmare world again?”

But for Su Zimo, he was a person who looked calm but was emotional in his heart. The most unbearable thing for him was that he didn’t even know what he wanted. He was so confused.

It’s ridiculous.

“Actually, I think that’s very good of Mr. Su.” Qi Xiaomin came over without warning. “I didn’t mean to overhear, but only people like Mr. Su can be called a distant and unobtrusive male god!”

“It’s better to get closer.” Du Xin couldn’t help whispering.

“The young man’s thoughts are quite normal.” Old man Fang Qin next to him smiled and patted Du Xin’s shoulder. “But this young Mr. Su may not be so good up close.”

“Ah?” Du Xin was obviously puzzled. “Elder Fang, what do you mean?”

“It’s nothing.” Elder Fang patted Du Xin’s shoulder again, but he didn’t go on. He only turned to Su Zimo with a pointed smile.

The more Su Zimo looked at Elder Fang, the more familiar he seemed, as if he had seen him not long ago. It seemed that Su Zimo had only recently met some unfamiliar people when he attended his grandfather’s funeral. This old man Fang Qin seemed to be one of them.

“Jin Lei, did you find any new clues?” Cheng Yun waited for a while, his fingers tapping anxiously on on of the the water bottles he had distributed, and his tone was as smooth as possible.

It’s been a day since he stumbled upon his discovery, and the fake ‘Cheng Yun’ seemed to be getting more and more calm. It’s just because of Xiao Huo that everyone was also becoming more impatient, so no one felt something was off.

“I used to let you call me by my name, but now I want you to call me Dr. Jin. Are you worried?” Jin Lei spoke with her head down, not even glancing up to see Cheng Yun’s reaction.

“The loss from a task failure is huge.” Cheng Yun settled himself, clutching the water bottle with more force and smiled at Su Zimo. “Mr. Su, the nightmare points for newcomers each time they clear a task is at least 10 points, right? The body-strengthening effect isn’t great. It needs 5 points each, and it must be done multiple times to feel a change. It takes 10 points to bring low-level items out of the nightmare world. It also takes 10 points to cancel the death penalty and clear a task. When you fail, you get 0 points, and you’ll die if you don’t have enough to deduct. This is equivalent to making people constantly choose between living or strengthening themselves, so it’s really difficult during the newcomer period.”

“Yeah. The more people who clear the task, the more points we get, so even if it’s difficult, I still hope that all the trainers will clear the task alive.” Su Zimo adjusted his glasses. “Even if this isn’t enough.”

“But after experiencing the tenth nightmare world, I obviously felt different.” Cheng Yun’s words weren’t finished yet. Qi Xiaomin and Du Xin, two somewhat new trainers from Dawn but who still lacked qualifications, immediately got headaches. Fang Qin and Wan Ling, the non-Dawn trainers, felt curious.

Obviously, after becoming members of Dawn, they have some channels of information to learn what happens after the tenth nightmare world.

“The tenth nightmare world is like a threshold. Most newcomers of the nightmare world fall before the threshold, which is terrible. But most of those who can pass the threshold are experienced trainers who have chosen to strengthen themselves and use props the entire way. They have the ability to forcibly break through ordinary nightmare worlds, and have saved dozens or even hundreds of nightmare points. To experienced trainers, even 5 to 10 points is insignificant.”

“After the tenth nightmare world, the trainer only enters the nightmare world once a month, which is slightly easier than before, and the trainers aren’t as nervous.”

“So from the eleventh nightmare world on, the points you get each time you clear a task is the same as before. It’s like the nightmare points you and I get will be the same after Mr. Su and I clear this task.” Su Zimo didn’t know why Cheng Yun looked at him with a smile on his face. “But if the task is failed, Mr. Su only needs to deduct 10 points, while I’ll be deducted 90% of the points I have!”

“Percentage?” Su Zimo didn’t expect that how trainers used nightmare points would even be changed.

“Yes, and the decimal point will either be removed or rounded off.” Cheng Yun shrugged. “The good news is that the nightmare points needed to take props out doesn’t change. After all, after completing the tenth nightmare world, only especially powerful props will arouse trainers’ interests, and the points needed to take them out are variable. The bad news is that the points needed to strengthen the body becomes 50 points.”

“Ah ah ah, that’s really terrible.” Qi Xiaomin felt the word ‘poverty’ press against her head.

Su Zimo tilted his head. He felt that 90% of the nightmare points wasn’t terrible at all. It meant that no matter how few points a trainer had, as long as it wasn’t 0, so even if it’s only 1 point, they could survive.

“It’s indeed a high deduction, but some trainers have tried it before, and I heard that the strengthening effect is more obvious than the previous times, so it’s not a loss.” Cheng Yun’s emotions had stabilized by then, and he could even relax against the back of the chair. “So you must use your points cautiously. Don’t take everything out. Hamster food is a good habit.” ³

“Of course, the more food, the more the hamster is afraid of dying.” Cheng Yun took a deep breath. “After all, if it fails once, 90% of its points will disappear.”

“It seems that Leader Cheng is a big hamster.” Su Zimo said exaggeratedly. “I don’t know if the trainers who’ve experienced 20 nightmare worlds 20 times will change again. Is it different?”

“I don’t know.” Cheng Yun’s smile tightened this time. “Even Dawn’s information database doesn’t have information about trainers experiencing 20 nightmare worlds. Some people even say that no one can do it. For the 20th nightmare world task, and the people who failed to clear such a task, there’s no information. It seems that the deduction of points doesn’t allow them to survive.”

“Entering the nightmare world once a week, then once a month… Twenty times would be just over a year.” ⁴ Cheng Yun’s brows furrowed. “That is to say, if almost all the trainers who enter the nightmare world live….”

“Okay, let’s not talk about this topic!” Bai Man interrupted Cheng Yun and turned to Dr. Jin, “Jin Lei, Leader Cheng just asked you if you have any new clues.”

“Haha, as far as I know, there are quite a few people who’ve survived for a year.” The madman over there swirled the water bottle in his hand like it was a wine bottle. “It’s a group of unseemly guys like mice. Knowing that no one can pass through the 20th nightmare world, they deliberately began to fail to clear the tasks at the15th, 18th, or even 19th time. Failed nightmare worlds don’t seem to count. They’re just living in failure.”

“But after ten times, isn’t the penalty for failure really great at 90%?” Qi Xiaomin looked puzzled.

“If it’s a hamster, it’s really heavy.” Su Zimo thought of something. “But after so many failures, how many nightmare points would these trainers have? 1 or 2 points? As long as it’s not 0, the deduction for them is insignificant.”

“Hahaha, that’s it. From the beginning, I thought you were smart.” The madman smiled. “There are also legends, terrible things happen when you continue to live like that after a certain number of times. Some of them live like mice. Others… like beasts lurking in the dark, they rely on this method to continue their lives. Then they continue to arm themselves in the dark to make themselves stronger, hoping to challenge the 20th nightmare world.”

“There are no more nightmare points, though. How can they arm themselves and make themselves stronger?”

“Ahhh!” As soon as Qi Xiaomin asked, Dr. Jin suddenly stood from her chair with the work diary and said in a loud voice, “I found a new clue!”

Su Zimo saw that Dr. Jin’s forehead was sweating. She was nervous.

Jin Lei may not have found a new clue, but just didn’t want to continue the topic since Qi Xiaomin asked a deadly question…. how would a trainer with no points become stronger?

Su Zimo bowed his head slightly, feeling that ‘treasure killing’ to seize their belongings was a good explanation.

Armed with strength that’s greater than an ordinary trainer’s, stealing other trainers’ tools… If there were such trainers, then they’re really and beastlike, savage predators like the madman said!

When predators have been around for along time, there will always be information about their appearance or other things. After all, the nightmare world allows for basic things like using cell phones, and those who’ve been robbed from or killed aren’t necessarily dead.

So predators are best hidden in the dark. They need to hide their names, information, even their looks… A tool that can disguise their looks would be a favorite for predators.

Su Zimo’s right hand gently twitched. He knew why Jin Lei interrupted Qi Xiaomi’s words – because Dr. Jin felt that the ‘Cheng Yun’ sitting opposite them was such a predator hiding in the dark.

And the madman… Su Zimo raised his head and looked at the bearded man who was still drinking water over there and showed a thoughtful expression.

“What clue?” Jin Lei successfully focused everyone’s attention on her.

“Hu- Hu-” Jin Lei, who had made a big move but was weak afterward, could only stand there and concentrate her attention on the diary in front of her. She finally sat down with some shame, “It seems I saw wrong.”

“Can you let us have a look too? Dr. Jin, you’re putting too much pressure on yourself.” Su Zimo and Jin Lei were separated by other people, so he could only ask from a distance.

“En.” Jin Lei pushed the diary to Su Zimo, then closed his eyes and started doing mental exercises.

Su Zimo opened the diary with some curiosity, and was startled by the messy and unknown handwriting in front of his face. He flipped through it for a while and found that it was long and thick, and there was a ‘7’ written vaguely on the cover. It seemed to be just one of many work diaries.

It’s like writing a copy everyday.

Wait… everyday?!”

Su Zimo found something wrong and looked at the faintly identifiable number on the cover. He began to check the date in the upper left and right corners of each page of the diary. Since it was a work diary, each page had a date, and because the date format was simple, although there were a few pages that weren’t clear, the results could be obtained by comparing them back and forth.

After determining the dates, Su Zimo began to compare the contents of each page.

“This work diary is different from what I imagined.” Su Zimo turned a few pages to confirm, before saying, “Although I can’t understand the family doctor’s words at all and part of it is blurred from time, the date of each page of the log is barely discernible.”

“Which date can be seen?” Xiao Huo rushed around to look at the diary in Su Zimo’s hand, then covered his forehead in pain and moved away. “God, was this really written by someone from Earth?”

“The family doctor writes a diagnosis log everyday, including weekends and holidays. The ‘symptom manifestations,’ ‘diagnostic results,’ and ‘doctor’s recommendations’ sections in the diary are all very full.” Su Zimo frowned slightly. “The words are in print, so I shouldn’t be mistaken.”

“It should be a fairly responsible family doctor? The patient should be more responsible and needs to focus on care.” Du Xin guessed.

“But the writing on each page is different, which is what I find strange.” Su Zimo said seriously. “I just read the diagnoses from my grandfather’s personal doctor not long ago. Although the doctor also recorded everyday, the content recorded each time was almost the same. Only the details were slightly different. It wasn’t because she was lazy. After all, no matter how serious the illness is, it can’t be different everyday. Not to mention that this family doctor’s work diary is very thick. There may even be many such diaries, indicating that the patient responsible for it must have been ill for a long time.”

Hearing the words ‘personal doctor,’ Du Xin glanced quietly at Su Zimo.

“I don’t understand their handwriting, but I can compare the records on each page as if they were graphics and drawings. I can hardly find words and phrases that look exactly the same. Even the number of words recorded on each page is very different.” Su Zimo spread the diary on the table. “Dr. Jin, does this mean that the contents of each page is completely different?”

“You’re right.” Jin Lei’s expression became serious. “I found a lot of work diaries scattered on the ground in the room on the third floor. Each one was this thick. I just took one copy and looked at it. This family doctor should be responsible for a long-term patient. Their condition wouldn’t change much in a few days or even a few months. Most doctors can only note slight changes based on the previous day, even if they record daily. It’s impossible for ten days of a work diary to be completely different.”

“So the conclusion is…?” Everyone was nervous.

“Two possibilities.” Jin Lei raised two fingers. “One is that the family doctor is just extremely responsible. The other is that the family doctor is just scribbling in the diary every day, and is extremely irresponsible.”

“I prefer the latter.” Jin Lei turned a few more pages. “Because even if this book is filled with terrible doctor’s handwriting, I should still have been able to distinguish some commonly used diagnostic words after working in a hospital for so many years. I really can’t understand any patterns in this diary, though. Most of it looks like wavy lines that the family doctor is randomly making!”

At that moment, Su Zimo’s mind seemed to imagine a family doctor like the madman with a beard holding a wine bottle. He lay on the chair in the room everyday, and he drew wavy lines and ghost symbols in the work diary while smiling and drinking, solving a day’s work in under a minute.

Although it was just Su Zimo’s imagination, it was uncomfortable.

“Is there really such an irresponsible family doctor?” Du Xin couldn’t believe it. “Looking at the scale of this villa, it should belong to a rich family.”

Irresponsible?

Su Zimo looked at the broken vase at his feet, and looked at the text boxes that he was already very familiar with–

[Nightmare Brand Ordinary Vase (No Stars)]

[Sale Price: 1 yuan]

[Description: It’s been wiped down by the maids the entire time, but are the maids lazy now? Why haven’t they come?]

A family doctor who takes care of a chronically ill patient hastily dealt with the work diary, and the maids who were supposed to work hard also slacked off? So what about the other employees in the villa? Do they handle their work the same way? Why is the owner of the villa not in control?

Why would the entrance to the second floor be blocked? What’s the ‘bang’ sound coming from the second floor? Who’s walking on the second floor, making a heavy ‘creak’ sound?

“We have to go to the room and have a look.” Maybe it was because Su Zimo had provided new clues before, but when he spoke again, everyone couldn’t help but focus on the newcomer who had only experienced two nightmare worlds.

As for Du Xin… In his eyes, Su Zimo almost glowed.

Footnotes

<ol>He’s calling him a trash person who’s acting like they’re all that. It’s a typical juvenile insult. Another typical juvenile insult. Hamster food, meaning how they stuff their cheeks with food to keep it safe for later. Trainers will keep their points in reserve until they actually need it to stay alive or take out tools. Had to fix a continuity thing here, author said it would be one week to enter the nightmare world for each of 20 times, but then said 50 weeks, just over a (lunar calendar) year. Author didn’t mention the one-month thing for the 10th-20th worlds in this line, so I added it in to make the math work.</ol>