90 - Blending in Again

Translated by rabbitrisu

“You…”

After seeing the newcomer, Su Zimo’s first reaction was to ask why she was there.

But before he could speak, Su Zimo realized that he hadn’t appeared in front of the trainer in his real appearance before, and when he had spoken earlier, he had deliberately lowered his voice.

“I didn’t expect there would be other people here.” Su Zimo couldn’t pretend to be surprised for too long, so he could only calm his expression, sigh in relief, then say, “I thought I was the only one in this nightmare world. I was shocked, but this isn’t without precedent.”

The trainer on the other side was originally preparing to flee in panic, but after hearing Su Zimo’s words, she showed a dazed expression and stopped a few steps in front of Su Zimo. She leaned toward the light from the flashlight to look at Su Zimo, and her expression gradually softened.

At that time, Su Zimo stretched out his hand to the other person again, and his face showed a kind smile that was meant to comfort others.

“Hello, my name is Ayu. I’m a trainer who’s experienced nightmare worlds seven times and can be regarded as somewhat experienced.” Su Zimo waited for a while, but didn’t see any other trainers behind this newcomer, so he assumed the identity of a trainer again. The smile on his face was very innocent.

“Are you a trainer?” The newcomer across from him was obviously quite new and still didn’t understand the twists and turns of the nightmare world. So, although her expression was still suspicious, her entire body relaxed in front of Su Zimo and she wasn’t as panicked as before.

“I… I’m Lin Xiao, a newcomer.”

Of course, another important reason she relaxed may be because… Su Zimo didn’t look very fierce or hostile. Even with such a dim flashlight, Su Zimo didn’t seem gloomy. He still had a graceful smile and a kind appearance.

People like Su Zimo also had privilege in ghost stories.

“Right, ah.” Su Zimo raised his left arm, which actually had nothing on it. “It needs seven supernatural events, but I still don’t know what those are.”

“Lin Xiao, I really couldn’t tell you’re a newcomer.” Su Zimo looked at the dagger in her hand, pretending to know nothing, “Very few newcomers have weapons as soon as they arrive.”

“This…” Lin Xiao didn’t seem to know how to explain.

“By the way, were you alone when you arrived in the nightmare world?” Su ZImo tilted his head without waiting for her to answer. “Since I met you here, there should be other trainers. We should join them.”

“No! No way!” Lin Xiao suddenly raised her voice and yelled twice, then quickly lowered her voice again. “I’ve met other trainers before, but you’d better not join them.”

“What’s the matter?” Su Zimo was puzzled.

“They… have a problem.” Lin Xiao’s expression was pale. She approached Su Zimo a little and carefully glanced around the wall. “I met a very good middle-aged uncle and four others in a team. There are five people in total.”

“Five people, I didn’t expect so many.” Su Zimo showed a surprised expression, then sighed deliberately. “I’m too unlucky being left here alone, ba?”

“Maybe you’re lucky.” Lin Xiao smiled bitterly, then gradually relaxed. “The four person team has a problem. At first, the newcomer uncle said he wanted to leave and act alone, so he asked me to follow him. I thought it would be too dangerous for the two newcomers to go together, so instead of following him, I went to the library with the four person team.”

“But in the team, only the person who claimed to be the leader spoke to me. The other three hadn’t spoken since they entered the nightmare world. There was no communication amongst the team. There’s a soft and delicate girl carrying two backpacks, one of which is obviously the leader’s. That’s really weird, right?” Lin Xiao was somewhat scared. “And the team members are all devoted and eager to bow down. It doesn’t feel like a leader and trainers, but more like an emperor and…”

“In short, something is very wrong.” Lin Xiao didn’t finish her words. “And I saw that the trainer carrying the two backpacks kept mouthing something to me. She kept repeating the same word. I’m pretty sure she was telling me to ‘run!’

“Then, I snuck away when they went up the corner of the stairs. They didn’t seem to chase me.” Lin Xiao still looked around carefully.

“Being a team means that they should be people who know each other. They acted together after arriving in the nightmare world?” Su Zimo continued to disguise his identity.

“It seems so. And they all wear a team medallion. As long as they wear it, everyone can follow the leader into the nightmare world. The leader called Wu Qing also invited me and the uncle.” Lin Xiao smiled and nodded.

“Impossible.” Su Zimo shook his head. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Maybe, in this kind of nightmare world… there’s too many props, right?” Lin Xiao looked at Su Zimo with some uncertainty. “Maybe there’s something.”

“No.” Su Zimo shook his head, deliberately showing a thoughtful expression. “Are you talking about a medallion that looks like a white button with different numbers of black dots?”

“You know?!” Lin Xiao was taken aback.

“I’ve seen that kind of thing, but it’s not a team medallion.” Su Zimo paused. “I know about that kind of thing, it’s called a slave medallion.”

Su Zimo knew he didn’t need to explain much. The words ‘slave medallion’ were enough to reveal to Lin Xiao what she had almost worn.

The reason Su Zimo told Lin Xiao about it wasn’t because he decided to be a good person on a whim, but because saying those things would make Lin Xiao put down her guard.

Sure enough, after Lin Xiao’s short hysterical laughter, her eyes and expression toward Su Zimo were no longer wary. She angrily confided in Su Zimo. “So the three people behind him aren’t his teammates at all, but slaves trapped by him? If that’s the case, then not even newcomers like me are spared?”

“It’s because only newcomers who haven’t experienced nightmare worlds more than a few times will be fooled.” Su Zimo ruthlessly revealed. “If you really wear the so-called team medallion, then your life belongs to that ‘Leader Wu.’ Then, he could take away your nightmare points at any time, or even kill you. You won’t have the opportunity to strengthen yourself and resist. You’ll always be bound to him in the nightmare world until you die.”

Lin Xiao showed a look of terror again.

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“He thinks you’re a newcomer who doesn’t know anything and can’t resist, so it’s likely that he’ll approach you again. We shouldn’t stay on the lower floors for too long.” Su Zimo spoke, leaving the lecture hall with his back toward one of the supernatural events, not guiding Lin Xiao there at all. “I’ve seen all of this. There’s nothing. We can go directly upstairs.”

“Alright.” At that moment, Lin Xiao wasn’t opposing Su Zimo at all. Instead, she was heartfelt as she spoke, “It’s great to be able to meet other trainers. I couldn’t find the uncle who went off by himself, so I thought I was alone.”

“I didn’t expect the nightmare world to be so strange this time, but since we’ve encountered something like the nightmare world, we shouldn’t be so surprised.” Su Zimo’s smile was bright enough to stun Lin Xiao.

“That’s what I said.” While being fooled by Su Zimo, Lin Xiao followed his steps up the stairs to the third floor. “Ayu, are you also a university student?”

Hearing that Lin Xiao was in the mood to chat, Su Zimo, who had successfully blended in, didn’t answer. He took his flashlight and stepped into the corridor on the third floor. He lowered his voice and said, “There can be a spiritual event at any time, so we should try not to talk. Look around carefully.”

“Ah!!”

Just as Su Zimo finished speaking, the newcomer called Lin Xiao screamed from behind hi. At that moment, Su Zimo also saw a silhouette appear on the stairs to the third floor.

It was the other newcomer in this nightmare world, the middle-aged uncle Jiang Wei.

“I heard voices from downstairs.” Jiang Wei seemed to be relieved after Lin Xiao laughed, then he looked vigilantly at Su Zimo. “Who is he.”

“Uncle, he’s also a trainer, but he wasn’t with us when he arrived.” Lin Xiao said, whispering to Jiang Wei about the team medallions and the slave medallions.

Lin Xiao was also able to trust this uncle who gave her the dagger and sleeping pill.

“Thank you.” Jiang Wei looked at Su Zimo, who was carrying a large backpack. Although he thanked him, he still looked alert.

“Uncle, there seems to be no supernatural events downstairs. Did you find anything happening on the third floor?” Lin Xiao asked quickly.

“I went up using the stairs on the other side. I went to the top floor. I thought I would find something on the roof.” Jiang Wei glanced at Su Zimo. “But the door to the roof was very tightly locked. I couldn’t pry it open, so I checked the third and fourth floors, then found a possible supernatural event in a classroom on the third floor.”

“Spiritual event?” Su Zimo and Lin Xiao seemed to become energetic.

“I kept hearing the sound of reading coming from the first classroom on the third floor. The possibility of it being a supernatural event is very high.” Jiang Wei said, then paused. “But I didn’t know if, after experiencing the supernatural event, the classroom would just disappear and cause the rest of you to fail the task, so I was hesitant to enter.”

“But since Wu Qing is corrupt with something like a slave medallion, I don’t think we need to care about his tasks.” Jiang Wei said, then took Su Zimo and Lin Xiao to the classroom where the supernatural event was.

As soon as he reached the corridor on the third floor, Su Zimo heard the sound of reading that Jiang Wei spoke of. But the reading wasn’t the cute sound from a child, but inaudible muttering. It seemed like a man was making the sound, but what he was saying couldn’t be understood by anyone.

The strangest thing was the wall on the third floor.

The walls weren’t white in any place illuminated by Su Zimo’s flashlight. The walls were messy and drawn on with blue chalk, chaotic and meaningless.

Some people even tried to draw white chalk over the places where blue chalk had been caked on, but in the end, it only made the picture even more weird and depressing.