Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

When everyone least expects it, Mu Jiashi suddenly speaks up.

With his eyes right on Xie Ji, he asks, youre the first person to see the unidentified object in the world So, what does the object actually look like?

The other Missiontakers are surprised.

They also know Xie Ji was the first person to visually confirm the object, but then in this Nightmare, the Raining Hellfire still happens regardless, so they have largely ignored it afterwards.

Why? Maybe they cared more about the Nightmare itself. Naturally, theyre more concerned about its endings, the truth, the Nightmares owner, etc. So they didnt pay much thought to anything else.

Also, the Raining Hellfire is like some kind of natural disaster. The Apocalypse that humans are entirely powerless against. There is no meaning in knowing more about it.

What, are they going to board some spacecraft and plant nukes on it?

Though that said, here, at least one person has seen it for herself.

Fei and Wu Jian give each other a glance, as they also pay attention to Xie Ji immediately.

They also ignored the question entirely!

Possibly, because they have already heard the astronomy enthusiasts argue about its nature outside the Space Agency, that she thought they didnt have a clear idea what the object looked like either.

The same cannot be said for Xie Ji, of course. She saw it first, so she may know something.

Fei is thinking about it more deeply, too why did they largely ignore this possibly monumental question that should naturally arise?

They entered this Nightmare to investigate and learn the truth about the Apocalypse; why are they ignoring things that are pointing directly at it?

Could it be, that NE is manipulating their thoughts behind the scenes?

Feis face goes rather pale. She bites her lips hard, afraid a terrified scream would explode the moment she relaxed.

Their brains. Their consciousness. Its wide open to danger.

The other Missiontakers like Buzzcut are also looking at Xie Ji, but for different reasons, related to this Nightmare.

After Mu Jiashi asked the question, Buzzcut suddenly realisedthis is the quickest way to confirm who the Nightmares owner really would be back in the Tower!

Only Xie Ji has ever seen what that object looks like; Ke Zhu has never seen it, nor could he ever have seen it.

Theyll be able to identify the true owner of the Nightmare with this.

Even if they both are, theyll at least figure out which is the main consciousness that gave rise to this Nightmare in the first place.

So who is it?

Buzzcut stares right at Xie Ji.

Will she be able to describe the unidentified object?

Of course, the Missiontakers have not seen it, so they wont know if its accurate if she does speak up.

Maybe they can use the large telescope at the Space Agency themselves, but none of them know how to operate such a thing in the first place.

Here, Buzzcut is watching the expressions of Ke Zhu and Xie Ji very closely.

Xie Ji, the focus of everyone present, instead turns to Ke Zhu first.

After a moment of contemplation, Ke Zhu quietly says, dont mind me. If they want to know, then just tell them.

Xie Ji opens her mouth.

But Ke Zhu immediately adds, but I dont want to hear it! I dont want to know!

After yelling, he immediately walks into the library, leaving his fiance alone with a group of strangers.

Xie Ji is shaking, gripping her hand tightly. She wants to stop her fianc, but she couldnt say a word even as he disappeared into the library entirely.

She doesnt seem to comprehend at all, why Ke Zhu is unwilling to admit the Apocalypse is coming;

The same way that Ke Zhu doesnt understand why Xie Ji demands him to acknowledge it.

Whether the Apocalypse comes or not, really, life has to go on. Maybe death would have took everything with it, but parting is itself, a part of the cycle of life.

On this matter, the couple could not be reconciled.

The Missiontakers who are watching the exchange, are once again feeling the rift. A conflicting rift, that seems to be running through the Nightmare. Ke Zhu and Xie Ji are opposite poles of one single magnet. It seems to imply something.

Buzzcut isnt thinking about it too deeply, as he doesnt care about the Apocalypse at all. He hurries Xie Ji along, so, what did it actually look like?

Hes seriously dying to know who the real consciousness behind this Nightmare is, which will hinge on what she says next.

It kind of looks like Xie Ji knows something, assuming Ke Zhu wasnt simply bullshitting them.

Missiontakers are normally this cruel and heartless.

Xie Ji seems to have recovered a little. She takes a deep breath, and her tone sinks.

After her fianc has left, the weakness and loss on her face has all but dissipated. What replaced them would be the confidence and collectedness as expected of Xie Ji, a woman who became an astronomical researcher in the prestigious Cangcheng Space Agency while still in her 20s.

Although there is also a worry in her tone.

She tells them, it was metallic.

Metallic?

Several Missiontakers repeat the phrase subconsciously.

Xie Ji nods affirmatively, and explains, its hard to describe, but the thing resembled a liquid metal like mercury, but the colour was much more on the dark side, which made it hard to distinguish from the dark background of space if it were not for its reflectiveness. Even so, its easy to mistake it for being a faraway, dim star.

That was actually what I thought when I first observed it, until the moment it moved.

It moved so quick that I thought my eyes or the atmospheric scattering was playing a trick on me. I confirmed once again, and it was rediscovered outside the view of the telescope from earlier.

You might not understand how telescopes work, but suffice it to say, the distance traversed was astronomical.

The Missiontakers nod, despite their varying levels of understanding.

Meanwhile, Ding Yi, who had the opportunity to read some analyses on the third floor of the library, asks, would this be proof against what some people speculate, that the object existed in the solar system all along?

Thats right Xie Ji goes a bit quieter as she continues, many of them have only started observing today or yesterday, after hearing about it, and none of them have seen its almost metallic form that my friends at the Space Agency and I did in the beginning again.

She sounds pretty frustrated at this point.