Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

Rumours

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

Thin doesnt feel like being anywhere near the toilet, so he tries the door looking bored and uncomfortable, only to realise the door is unlocked. Thus, he leaves the apartment unit.

When he reaches the first floor of the Luoke Apartment, he runs into Jiang Shuangmei, currently wailing madly against the entrance of the elevator.

Hes shocked.

Also, while Jiang Shuangmei is inexplicably crying, the elevator door isnt shutting either. It is just staying open, as if it is quietly listening to her cries.

This scene is strange.

Recalling the last run or rather, the two unexpected restarts to the previous runs, Thin falls into thought.

He stands there for a while quietly, but Jiang Shuangmei doesnt look like shes going to calm down any time soon, so he just sighs and leaves her be without a word, and goes upstairs.

He knocks and gets both the teenage girl and Shen Ynj out. As expected, other than Jiang Shuangmei and Thin, who basically opened the door by pure dumb luck, the rest of the Missiontakers are all still quietly hanging out in their apartment units.

This positively malicious setting from the Nightmare surely managed to disgust the Missiontakers.

Theyre cussing at NE as they head down.

The viewers in the stream are teasingly remarking instead,

lol at blaming the game server, its just an AI, AI! go blame the scriptwriters instead

typical bully the weak but spare the strong behaviour

although but, this nightmares setting really is evil

why did the elevator become a woman, by the way? wasnt it a man? or was my memories playing tricks?

X Beijin quietly watches for a short while but decides that the true reason wont elude the viewers for long anyway, so he might as well chime in now

Still, risks are abound, he cant help but think.

He sighs inside before speaking up with a poker face, I suspect that it is because the Nightmare has crumbled, which has caused the penalty for death to be altered.

The viewers are all going ???

X Beijin pauses before explaining, when players died in Nightmares before, it only causes a restart in which the players states are reverted to how they were. This is how it is, normally.

However, in some particular Nightmares, the crumbling of the Nightmare will also cause the fundamental rules of the game to change rules that govern player deaths included. Therefore, death may begin to see other punishments.

By taking that into account, and also the facts that the elevators voice changed from male to female, the inconsolable younger of the twin sisters, and the death of the older sister from before, this conclusion becomes obvious

That is, the older sister has become the elevator.

This is completely unimaginable in real life, of course, but in-game, the players aggregate consciousness can be attached to any object not just their game accounts character, but even traditionally inorganic things like elevators.

X Beijin finishes up, and the stream is all wowie and clapping. They have alleviated the guilt X Beijin is feeling from lying to the viewers somewhat.

He rubs his nose and gives an awkward smile.

The audience takes it as embarrassment for such direct compliments; no one suspects that X Beijin has hidden anything.

X Beijin is still averse to testing the absolute limit that NE will tolerate, so he still does not dare to lay out the exact truth, or question what the world outside the Tower is like. Harmless as the viewers may seem, he is keeping the silence.

While the viewers seem to have accepted the analysis without question, X Beijin changes the topic to say, it seems the Missiontakers are infighting.

Yes, the Missiontakers are having another argument.

They were not on the best of terms thanks to the Carddealer, Muscular, before, but after his exile, the mood has turned for the better already between the rest of them. Yet, that atmosphere has turned sour once again.

The source of the conflict is that Jiang Shuangmei would not let the rest of the Missiontakers go cut off the power in the electrical room.

Thin is furrowing his brows, saying, cutting off the power is what your older sister agreed with us the last run, and he looks like hes not finished, but he does not ask that question in the endWhere is your older sister?

He probably knows the correct answer already; he made a detour to the eighth floor and took a peek at Room 807. It was empty.

Not just Jiang Shuangjie is gone, either. Muscular is nowhere to be found as well. This is making Thin deeply nervous.

He would really prefer leaving the Nightmare now, not just because he and the teenage girl stumbled in here accidentally, but also, because he can feel the initiative in this Nightmare slipping from him entirely.

It seems that for many reasons, they have failed to gather too many crucial information. There is no way they can deal with this Nightmare as it is.

No

Jiang Shuangmeis eyes are swollen. Her voice is clearly parched and it is not difficult to tell she has been crying. There is something to her tone, a resolve that borders on insanity, perhaps, as she begs the rest of the Missiontakers, please let me try! At least give me some time

The teenage girl just coldly asks, what did you find out? She takes a look around and asks, wheres your older sister? Let her speak to us.

Clearly, she isnt interested in conversing with Jiang Shuangmei any further; in the whole Nightmare, Jiang Shuangmei has behaved like nothing more than a shadow of her older sister. She follows around, but she is useless otherwise.

The teenage girl is cold and straightforward like that, but she is shocked by the reaction.

Because, it looks as if some invisible fist has just struck Jiang Shuangmei. She falls to the floor right after hearing what she said. Lying on the ground, she is whimpering once again.

The teenage girl is looking at her oddly with creased brows. Then, she glances at Thin.

Thin sighs to say, her older sister may have

Disappeared?

That unmitigated word makes Jiang Shuangmei shudder again, but she slowly lifts her body up to say, no, I know where she is.

Everyone is shocked to hear that.

Jiang Shuangmei points to the elevator that carried her down.

The Missiontakers are all silent.

Thin is furrowing his brow, asking, how did you know wait, he pauses, before asking, Infocard?

Checking an elevator with an Infocard? That sounds outrageously decadent, but, if it really did confirm that the missing Missiontakers actually ended up as the sentient furniture and facilities, then, thats a whole other issue.

In fact, this would be extremely valuable information!

Proactively harming other Missiontakers is forbidden, not to mention killing in cold blood, but, what if

Thins thoughts are digressing far away.

But then, he sighs.

If they learnt this information a few years ago, or rather, just a few months ago, even, he would have treated it with utmost urgency and reported it to Ding Yi immediately for her to strategically value this information.

They were still competing with other Necessities Merchants back then, both openly and under-the-wraps-ly. Some would always resort to unsavoury tactics. Whether they use it is another thing, but they must have the means to self-preservation.

Though it is different, now.