Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

Mu Jiashi has just left X Beijins bookstore, but his steps abruptly come to a stop.

He can see the neighbour opposite the bookstore.

Its a female Tower resident.Thefemale Tower resident.

The resident who was here when he made his way up the Tower; the resident who is now here, after he has come back down.

They are staring into each other through the window.

In the end, Mu Jiashi is allowed into the Tower residents house. He greets her, long time no see.

The woman in the house, with her back right on the wall, quietly mutters, its really been long.

She once saw this Missiontaker on the bottom floor of the Tower. She did again, when she was on a higher floor.

Both times, they looked different from this rather tired, unenergetic man.

She recalls the Nightmare which caused his failure, because she was also in that Nightmare, and interacted with this man On the higher floor, of course.

It was her newly assigned Nightmare as she was assigned to be a different Tower resident after she went up a floor. So that Nightmare was hers.

Mu Jiashi doesnt know, of course, that this Tower resident, or rather, the Actor underneath the identity, is the owner of the Nightmare which caused him to fail utterly.

However, he is still giving her a rather meaningful glance.

In a sense, this Tower resident changed his fate, because she was the one who told him that X Beijin liked drinks. He would not have brought drinks along otherwise and gave it to him. That was how he ended up receiving a clue, setting him off on the journey above.

The floors above

Mu Jiashi is blanking out again involuntarily.

The woman asks, though, are you here to ask about my neighbour again?

Mu Jiashi is silent as he slowly shakes his head, and finally says, no, he does not know what the Tower resident may be thinking, but explains, I have been through some tragedy. You might have heard about it or not, but, Im no longer interested in Nightmares for now.

The woman furrows her brows.

Mu Jiashi continues, in any case, Im still thankful for the information you told me. It indirectly allowed me to head to a higher floor of the Tower

Though then his words trail off, as he cant help but wonder if he is actually thankful, or perhaps, more blaming her for it in the first place?

The woman asks, what is it like on a higher floor?

Mu Jiashi is remembering the dialogue he just had with X Beijin. It was calm,deliberatelycalm, and even slightly self-teasing. He told X Beijin, that it was somewhere not as lively as the bottom floor of the Tower.

Here, though, he answers, it is not somewhere a useless guy like me should be. So, I chose to return to the bottom floor.

There seem to be a particular fixation on his repeated use of the word return.

Thats not what Im asking, she ignores the mans self-degradation, and instead, asks, subtly inquisitive, what Im asking is about the Nightmare. On the higher floor. The one where you failed in.

Mu Jiashi freezes for a moment, as if something sharp just pierced him; a pointed, almost threatening pain and shock has overtaken his mind.

The Nightmare? The higher floor one which caused his failure? This Tower resident

He is staring right into her eyes, and so is she.

Then, he suddenly puts up a poker face and puts his emotions away, asking with a cold but resolute tone, what are you trying to find out?

The failure, the woman says almost in a whispering tone, as if she is afraid someone, or something might hear. She is cautiously asking, about the failure. What actually happened in the Nightmare?

Mu Jiashi replies, the Nightmare defeated me, but I did not actually fail in the Nightmare itself, he stares right into the eyes of the woman, asking, what is it that you know about this?

After returning to the bottom floor of the Nightmare, while he has since gone into a Nightmare, but he never ever told anyone what actually is thefailureitself that caused him to return to the bottom floor.

He keeps telling others that he is a failure, a useless piece of trash, but he never told anyone the truth.

Perhaps a Necessities Merchant as well-connected as Ding Yi might be aware; but this Tower resident? How could she possibly know?!

He did not return to the bottom floor because he got a Bad End in that Nightmare; in fact, he succeeded, with a True End, but, he also failed, because the Nightmare destroyed him.

Not physically, in the flesh, but mentally. He came to face with anightmare, an unfathomable, unacceptable nightmare. So, he was defeated. He failed countless times.

He cannot escape from the nightmare. So, he has succumbed to the abyss.

Mu Jiashi takes a deep breath, trying to suppress his shivering.

His gaze is cold. A reflection of his self that never did disappear fully beneath his new dispirited, hunched lookThe side that belonged to the Golddigger, who once held a record for a one hundred percent success rate on the bottom floor of the Nightmare.

Once again, he asks, what is it that you know?

The woman continues staring at him, until she reveals a mysterious smile.

Then, she says, I fear so many, yet the only exception, would be death.

Mu Jiashis eyes widen greatly.

The woman continues, it seems, you still recall.

Mu Jiashi is silent. His brain has been exposed to too much information. It is basically stuck right now.

The only reason being Why, would this woman, this Tower resident who lives on the bottom floor of the Tower, know about the exact sentence he once heard in the Nightmare on a higher floor???

This makes no sense!

The woman chuckles with a low tone, telling him, my name is Su Enya, she watches Mu Jiashi, visibly distressed and uneasy, and continues, Im afraid I cannot tell you anything else.

Mu Jiashi also watches her for a moment before nodding. He does not ask why he cannot be told anything more. Or, perhaps he knows the reason himself.

He recallsthatNightmare again. About a particular woman within.

Not that he felt anything chemical towards her, but merely, because of who the woman was in the Nightmare, and the events that transpired in that Nightmare.

The sentenceI fear so many, yet the only exception, would be death.Are word-for-word, what the woman once said, that has now once again been told through this female Tower residents mouth.

He thinks he has understood something, but perhaps they are more questions.

Mu Jiashi only quietly says, I see. Goodbye.

He parts ways with Su Enya, and heads home full of bewilderment and worry.

At a corner, he ends up tripping over a Tower resident lying down. He stands back up, still in pain, but apologises while observing the resident.

He looks like a typical vagrant. He is lying on the ground, flat, without so much as a reaction to what he did. His chest is still rising and falling, but his gaze is unfocused. There is a dumb smile on his face. He looks like he is looking at somewhere far, far away.

He is holding a pen in his hand.

Mu Jiashis brows crease as he recalls that book Lin Qin held earlier.

He wonders, if this could be connected.

But then, he realises that this reflexive connection is completely unfounded logically. He saw a book with the image of a pen on its cover, which somehow connects to this Tower resident holding a pen?

He looks at the Tower resident lying flat on the ground for a while, and tries to greet him, but no response comes. He can only retract his gaze and leave this deserted alley.

Over a dozen nights later, Mu Jiashi has left his house. After hesitating for a short while, he chooses to walk into the door of a certain Tower resident. Some time must have passed in the darkness, but to him, he has opened his eyes basically instantaneously.

All he could see, is a field of rubble.

At the same time, X Beijin also opens his eyes somewhere else in the same Nightmare.

He checks out his surroundings, and thinks, right, a bookstore owner he is again.