Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

Biceps is complaining to Baldie right now.

They are walking together on the north side of the ruins, heading due east from the west, passing through the road that cuts straight through the ruins towards that single building.

Biceps actually talks in a manner rather unimaginable from that appearance he is an extremely talkative guy with a quick-fire manner of speech. In essence, his mutterings are complaints directed at Baldie for sharing so much information with the rest of the Missiontakers.

Baldie simply replies with a enough! I didnt tell them the most important piece of information, now did I?

Biceps sounds equally irritated, though, but thats what theyll figure out as the Nightmare progresses anyway! If youre gonna tell them what we knew from the last trip into this Nightmare then tell them every single thing! Half and half and well lose trust with them!

Theyll forget, Baldie says, so thats why I only told them so much. They collect new information, we enjoy the spoils. Hows that sound?

Biceps open his mouth slightly, perhaps in shock, then he pokes at Baldies arm with his elbow, nice one, so you set them up as tool-persons, right?

Baldie says with a cold tone, ha, or what else? This place is way too big. The two of us can never explore everything effectively. Might as well tell them about that now so that they understand this Nightmare and end up helping us.

Theyll forget we hid information from them eventually, anyway.

This is the second time they said theyll forget.

The stream happens to be picking up audio from their scene, because no one else was speaking in the other scenes and so X Beijin chose to listen to the pair of bros.

And this key information just popped up.

What does it mean theyll forget eventually?

Forgetting Is it some mechanism in the Nightmare? A certainty?

The viewers are also engaging in heated discussion, but the brothers keep talking riddles to each other, so while theyre successfully piquing the appetite of the viewers, theyre unable to receive a definitive answer.

So for now, the cute little viewers are rather frustrated.

Soon enough, the brothers stop talking altogether, even Biceps who wouldnt shut up when talking to Baldie. Theyre merely walking along the way, seeing others walk past them every few steps.

In fact, besides the fact about an amnesia, Baldie also kept some things to himself.

For example, the road they are walking through contains the most survivors of the apocalypse, because it leads directly to the lone standing, prominent building, which is somewhere the survivors all seem to assemble.

They wouldnt dare enter the building though, for fear it might collapse at any time, so instead, they set up impromptu marketplaces for trade in hidden corners radiating out from the building, the kind similar to the marketplaces in the Tower.

Baldie and Biceps know that heading towards the marketplaces is the easiest way to find food because theyre the most abundant nearby.

The building, which is at the northeast corner of this whole ruined cityscape, is just north of what was once a major supermarket, so many survivors head there to look for expired but nonetheless edible food. That is also where the brothers are heading for.

In the centre of the ruined cityscape is an amusement park. It might have once been a popular spot for family trips or for couples to have some alone time in private, but it has now become a collection of rubble and dust, and a hiding place for some other things.

That frame of a Ferris wheel that looks like it could fall at any time is also quite a notable landmark, to be honest.

Baldie and Biceps dont dare heading in that direction, though, instead assigning it to Collector, who they despised.

As for Mu Jiashi, who just got dragged in? Too bad he didnt know any other Missiontaker here.

True lone wolves are rare enough in the Tower nowadays, especially while that rumour is still spreading rampantly.

Everyone knows that the priority is to move up the floors right now regardless of the validity of that piece of rumour; they might still be able to make it in time if they hurry, or they risk missing key information entirely.

The Missiontakers all worry that theyll miss out on stuff.

Therefore, they are much more open to forming teams before heading into Nightmares than before. Of course, they would prefer people they already knew; the gap of distrust between unknown Missiontakers has only widened recently.

The plague known as Carddealer has spread. Now, everyone could possibly be a Carddealer.

Not because they plan to deal in utility cards, but for True Ends sake.

That is why there isnt any solid trust in that young man who calls himself a Purveyor of Depleted Cards being an actual Collector. It could be a ploy to lower others guard.

At least, Baldie and Biceps hold significant contempt towards him.

Mu Jiashi himself doesnt care, because he didnt bring a single utility card anyway.

In the last Nightmare he went into, he told a Missiontaker he hadnt a single utility card. It was the truth.

Of course, they reached a True End in that Nightmare, so while he chose not to head for a higher floor, he still got one go at the lottery. He dare say he was rather fortunate as well.

He immediately sold that card he got, though, purchasing some life necessities in its stead, which included the drinks he gifted X Beijin.

Though it might still only be a partial truth when saying he hasnt a single utility card. The more accurate phrase is that he is completely broke he entered a Nightmare so soon after returning to the bottom floor because he had to earn a living.

Sometimes, he would suspect whether he really didnt want to go into Nightmares anymore, because what he is doing suggests he is actually wishing for living well deep down.

In Nightmares, he often questions his choices as if his brain disagrees with himself After that utter defeat on the upper floor, why is he still so serious here, now?

Mu Jiashi is thinking about that with a dejected mindset.

Though he chose to go into this Nightmare with some slight purpose behind it this time around.

He wanted to investigate the female Tower resident who calls herself Su Enya, but hes completely broke. There is nothing he could offer to trade for or buy information he needs, so hes went into this Nightmare to try his luck once again.

It would be remiss not to note how this is similar to his original career as a Golddigger; besides carrying the customers to a higher floor, they, of course, must also scout and gather clues about Nightmares before hand, which themselves would be valuable in the market as well.

Which is still luck-based, of course. So as soon as he came into this Nightmare only to see this unreliable bunch of Missiontakers, Mu Jiashi only feels a hopeless dread.

Maybe he should just stick to idly hanging around. What use is there investigating that woman? Its just another mysterious, paranoid Tower resident

Speaking of which, this Nightmare seems to have gained some reputation among the Missiontakers recently.

Mu Jiashi is thinking about it while the Collector is hopping around with some pure happy energy in his leaps. He seems to be pretty happy with whatever.

Until suddenly, a group of people stops them.

Theyve been walking for about ten minutes or so, and they were slow because they didnt want to miss anything, so theyre just past a kilometre only from the starting point. There wasnt really a road they took, so to speak, because they were basically walking up and down piles of rubble the entire time carefully.

Though theyve reached a rather open, flat area now, with quite a lot of people gathered around, seemingly talking about something.

Mu Jiashi takes stock of his surroundings, and notices a collapsed entry point with what appears to be a ticket reception, and large fencing stretching out from there. Then, he also notices the giant Ferris wheel in the background, and concludes, that this might have been an amusement park.

Amusement parks are usually pretty open spaces that mainly feature small attractions, so while those have been put out of commission or even collapsed of rust all together, the grounds are still pretty recognisable.

And it seems, some group of people have claimed this place for their own.

The group of people that surrounds them ran for the two of them as soon as they saw them, glaring warily and hatefully towards Mu Jiashi and Collector. They did not know the two of them.

So one of them calls out at them, impurities!