Su Zimo originally had some new guesses about this nightmare world, but because he heard the trainersâ calls, he felt it didnât matter whether or not his guesses were correct. The probability of finding ghost tools was higher around trainers than in other places, anyway, so he walked down the red staircase without much thought.
Because the entire space was really too red, Su Zimo was more careful than ever when he went downstairs. After all, with the red stairs, walls, and lights, even with the ghost umbrellaâs help, Su Zimo could barely distinguish the edges of each step.
When Su Zimo was halfway there, he heard the sound of fighting from downstairs.
Fighting?
Su Zimo hastened his speed while going downstairs, and then saw the second thing in that red world other than the staircase â a doorway. And it was a doorway without a door. Through the door frame, Su Zimo saw the trainer Du Lei carrying a⌠strange metal bed, swaying it right in front of him.
The weight of the bed didnât appear light, but Du Lei waved it around like a fluffy teddy bear. It could be seen that he used nightmare points to strengthen his body.
Prior to that, Su Zimo had seen people with powerful ghost tools like the snake and the madman. From his face-to-face interactions with them, Su Zimo was certain that the number of times they had strengthened their bodies was limited. They had mainly collected ghost tools. Later, there would be no extra nightmare points around to escape the twentieth nightmare world.
Du Lei looked more like a pure body enhancement type. After all, Su Zimo hadnât noticed any ghost tools on him to assist in combat, let alone something like Liu Xuâs ghost gloves. As long as there was a usable ghost tool on their body, a trainer wouldnât personally fight in a battle so quickly.
âGet out of here!â The metal bed in Du Leiâs hand made a violent sound as it hit the wall, and the two female trainers who Du Lei was protecting escape from the doorway as quickly as possible.
âWhat happened?â As Su Zimo walked down, he happened to meet Xu Yingying and Zhu Zhu who were exiting the doorway. Although the two girls looked a bit panicked, they didnât actually seem too afraid. They could barely stabilize themselves in the red hallway, which, in Su Zimoâs view, was already out of a newcomerâs range of ability.
âA-Yu!â When Xu Yingying saw Su Zimo, her eyes were dazed before recognizing him. Obviously she was also affected by the red environment, but she closed her eyes quickly. That was the fastest way to get rid of the influence for those who had no useful props. âThis apartment isnât right!â
Su Zimo took a few steps forward again, looked into the door straight ahead, and then saw Du Lei using that weird metal bed to press a bloody, long-haired and white robed ghost against the wall, rendering it immobile!
The ghost looked like it crawled out of a horror movie set. Her long hair was draped in front of her, so her face couldnât be seen. The strange white robe was stained with red blood. The figure looked a bit like Zhang Xiaoqing upstairs, but with the fangs and claws it didnât look as intelligent as Zhang Xiaoqing, like a ghost robot with no emotions.
âWhatâs the matter?â Su Zimo saw that Du Lei had more than enough manpower to deal with the malicious spirit, so he didnât intervene. He still felt that this world was a bit strange. In other nightmare worlds, it seemed that only ghost tools could harm malicious spirits. Even the text boxes that Su Zimo could read said so, otherwise there would be no need for a âNightmare Brand Dagger,â a novice weapon that could cause little damage to malicious spirits.
So, would the malicious spirit really be immobilized by the metal bed?
Not to mention that the more Su Zimo looked at the metal bed Du Lei was holding, the more it looked like an operating bed in a hospital⌠No. Operating beds had at least one layer of cushions. This metal bed was more like the plain than ones Su Zimo had seen in TV series⌠or like a mortuary bed.
Su Zimo later realized that the air flowing through the doorway was extremely cold, completely different from the burning sensation caused by the previous illusions. That may also be the reason why the three trainersâ performance in the hallway was much better than Su Zimoâs in the beginning. The cold air wasnât as effective as the ghost umbrella, but it could still provide some relief.
âAs soon as we left the apartment, the door suddenly shut and couldnât be opened. In addition, the task required us to leave the apartment within two hours, so we could only desperately run downstairs.â Xu Yingying closed her eyes while âkindlyâ explaining the second task of this nightmare world. âBut this staircase was nauseating at first sight. We walked with our eyes closed for a long time but could never reach the first floor, and we stumbled many times. When we looked out from the balcony earlier, it was just an ordinary multistoryâŚâ
Xu Yingying was originally wearing very short shorts, but now her exposed legs were already covered with bruises. She seemed to have fallen very roughly.
âWe could only open our eyes and lead each other down in turns. After a long time passed, we slightly adjusted to the nausea, but the downward staircase still didnât end, so we could only venture into the door.â
âBecause there wasnât a door panel, we could see that inside seemed to be a morgue-like place. Every time we passed by the doorway, we would shiver from the cold air inside, and become more energetic. And in the middle of the room there was such a metal bed. It was obvious that there was something lying on it, but it was covered with a white sheet. It wasnât a normal place at first glance. And the door seemed to always shop up on every floor with us. We thought it was weird, so no matter how many floors we descended, we never entered.â
âItâs like if we donât go in, weâll never reach the real next floor.â Zhu Zhu, the girl who wore glasses, said with a very pale face.
âSo it turned out like this.â
After Su Zimo understood the situation, he saw Du Lei once again lift the metal bed in his hands and smash it towards the malicious spirit!
âAaahhhhh!â Du Lei seemed to exert all of his strength in that moment. His exposed arms and neck were all visible to the naked eye, and then he smashed the ghost into the wall with all of his strength.
Somehow in an instant, whether it was Du Leiâs strength or some other reason, the malicious spirit turned into ashes when the metal bed hit it!
âSha!â
When Du Lei threw the metal bed aside and yelled, Su Zimo suddenly felt that he and Du Xin might really be related. The two looked like those fitness trainers in the gyms who like to show off their muscles. They were both young, university students, and very muscular.
âI told you that strengthening your body physically would be useful someday!â Du Lei relaxed his muscles and walked in front of Xu Yingying. âItâs rare to meet a ghost I can fight. It was so comfortable.â
Su Zimo listened to Du Leiâs words and found that he had never encountered a ghost who could be defeated by his fists before. That shouldnât be regarded as a ârare encounter,â but rather that something was wrong with the world they were in and the enemies they faced.
This nightmare world, as the name implies, is a nightmare. There was a sense of inherent un-reality.
But in this red hallway, with a ghostâs room, and even the apartment from before, brought with it an even more unreal feeling in the unreal world.
Like⌠a double dream?
Su Zimo thought for a long time before tossing out a word he had vaguely in a sci-fi movie.
After the ghost disappeared, other trainers naturally wouldnât stay in the red hallway for no reason, so they ran into the room full of cold air as fast as they could. The room was actually much simpler than real hospital facilities, with white painted walls and a metal bed tossed to the side.
The only strange thing in the entire room was another double-door opening on the side wall, which looked a lot like the equipment room of a hospital. Su Zimo tried to open the door, but found that it was firmly locked and couldnât be opened. This reminded Su Zimo of the one star ghost tool âProfessional Thiefâs Keyâ that he had seen before. <sup>1</sup> The practicality of such things was actually very high.
[How did the one that was brought in just now die?]
Just when Su Zimo was about to back away and let Du Lei try with brute force, he suddenly heard a clear and audible sound coming from beneath the door.
He immediately hushed the other trainers and listened quietly with them.
[Jumping suicide. There are more and more young people like this now.]
[Isnât it because of the pressure of studying? Depending on the grade, she should be in the same year as my son. Third year, during entrance exams. My sonâs mood also fluctuated badly during that period since he was under too much pressure.]
[I donât know. But some people say it was because of a boy in the same class.]
[Oh my god. If thatâs the case, girls nowadays are too obsessed with love, even jumping off a building for such a trivial matter. Would the parents not also die a painful death?]
[âŚâŚ]
After that, the voices drifted away. In order to find more clues, Du Lei tried his best to ram into it like a rampaging train, but he still couldnât knock the door open.
âWhatâs going on?â Du Lei rubbed his aching shoulder. âEven the wall should be a bit cracked normally. Is this door made of diamond?â
âMaybe itâs a door thatâs not allowed to be knocked open?â Su Zimoâs eyes flicked to the double doors in front of him. âIf this is a world controlled by the ghost Zhang Xiaoqing, then the key to clearing the task should be the red staircase outside. The layout of the room and the sounds we heard just now may be what Zhang Xiaoqing wanted us to hear.â
Su Zimo felt that this building may never have been real, but a world made up by Zhang Xiaoqing, like Zhang Xiaoqingâs⌠dreamland.
Even the apartment at the beginning and Hua Xiaowan sleeping in the apartmentâs bedroom were only part of the dream.
They kept walking down the red staircase, as if walking through Zhang Xiaoqingâs obsessions and dremas. Every room that appeared there may be something Zhang Xiaoqing couldnât let go of.
âEven after she died, do the people in this world still not know why she died? Werenât their pranks discovered by others in the end?â Su Zimo pressed against the door in front, as if pressing down on Zhang Xiaoqingâs scarred heart. The scars were full of anger, disappointment, regret, sorrow, reluctanceâŚ
After talking to himself for a while in the room, Su Zimo turned around and said to the other trainers, âShould we continue downstairs?â
âWill it still be this room downstairs?â Xu Yingying looked a bit scared. âAnd that staircaseâŚâ
âThereâs no other way to go.â Zhu Zhu, who was standing next to her, had a much stronger tone to her voice than before, and Su Zimo shot her a strange look. âThis nightmare world isnât a desperate situation and contains no dead ends. If this is really the world created by Zhang Xiaoqing, then she must have laid out all the clues for task clearance. We just need to find them. Itâll only take a little effort.â
âIâm a screenwriter, and my favorite kind of story is this kind, so Iâve read a lot.â Zhu Zhu noticed Su Zimoâs glance, and her voice became weaker.
After Du Lei tried several times but couldnât break the âdiamondâ door, the team finally gave up on searching for clues in the room. They took a deep breath and rushed back into the red hallway, and went down to the first floor as quickly as they could before the illusions appeared again.
While the other trainers closed their eyes to rest them every so often, Su Zimo had already walked downstairs.
Perhaps it was because they had already cleared the previous room, but this time, a very ordinary wooden door appeared in front of Su Zimo. It looked very old and mottled.
This time the wooden door was hidden. Only a small candle was lit inside, so Su Zimo could barely see through the crack in the door. There were three figures curled up inside with their backs facing him.
[Xiaowan, sheâs dead.] A boyâs voice came from beyond the door.
With just one sentence, Su Zimo knew that the boyâs name was Lin Zhe. The boy who Zhang Xiaoqing had a crush on didnât dare mention her name after death.
The other two figures inside should be Hua Xiaowan and Wen Xiaoyu.
âA-Yu!â Xu Yingying shouted when she finally succeeded at going down the stairs.
Su Zimo immediately hushed them again, gesturing for them to lean over carefully and listen to the sounds from beyond the door. With the experience from the previous room, the trainers gathered around without saying much, leaning against the red wall and closing their eyes, taking a deep breath, and listening quietly.
[Youâve said it many times. This matter isnât our fault after all. Xiaoyu, donât you agree?] It should be Hua Xiaowan who was speaking. It was probably because of her guilty conscience that she asked Wen Xiaoyu next to her for confirmation.
Such a room further confirmed Su Zimoâs guess. If Hua Xiaowan was hiding here, and the one in the apartment bedroom was also Hua Xiaowan, then only a dream could have two Hua Xiaowan appear at the same time.
The scene that Su Zimo was seeing now was probably what happened shortly after Zhang Xiaoqingâs death.
[Sheâs dead! Because of you!] Lin Zhe raised his voice. This boy seemed to have a conscience, but pushed the blame for Zhang Xiaoqingâs affairs onto Hua Xiaowan.
[Itâs so annoying. How many times do you have to say it before you give up? Let me say it again, this matter has nothing to do with us!] Hua Xiaowanâs voice seemed to be squeezed out her throat, making people feel a little uncomfortable.
Footnotes
<ol>Raws said it was a two star tool here, but earlier in the book it was originally called a one star tool. Adjusted for continuity. If anyone forgot what the key does, it can open any non-ghost-related door in a nightmare world, with limitations on the number of uses.</ol>