Jiang Cheng’s theory sounded acceptable. In fact, for the players, his theory should be very good news. However, Fatty didn’t look overjoyed. If anything, he looked like he was frozen solid with fear. Since he interacted with the nightmare, there was an unresolvable question in his mind. Who or what was responsible for the construction and mechanism of the nightmare realm?
Clearly, they had a consciousness. They kept exploring the difference between humans and the anomalies before arriving at a relatively rational red line, and that red line… was the rule!
They ensured that the players, who were on the weaker side, would have the chance to resist the anomalies in a fair environment. That way, they wouldn’t be instantly killed when they encountered the anomalies that were usually far stronger than human beings. From this perspective, the thing that created the rules… should be a human.
After all, the rules were kinder and more accepting to the humans.
However, if the creator were a human, how would he manage to do all these things, and what would his purpose be? What was the goal behind this extremely cruel selection…
Selection… How could the term come to him so naturally? This was not the first time something had happened. He looked at his hands. He suddenly felt like he didn’t know himself anymore. He felt the same way about the Doctor recently. No! Something must be wrong somewhere!
Beads of sweat slid down his cheeks. The fear of this mission and the impending monsters was swept away by a stronger and purer sense of peculiarity. The monsters and creatures were infinitesimally small compared to this feeling. Why? Why was that?
Fatty was frightened by the thought that suddenly bubbled up. He had discussed this with the Doctor before. They both agreed that the rewards were extremely hard to get. Plus, even if one had them, one would only have a smidge of advantage in the nightmare. So… why would so many people willingly jump into the nightmare realm? Some of them even used the newspapers to enter the nightmare before the others. Had they lost their minds?
They couldn’t be. Therefore, the only explanation was they must have gained a lot of benefits from the nightmare realm. The benefits were so good that they were lured to enter the nightmare realm repeatedly.
It was the same for Chen Xiaomeng, Xu Wen and Chen Ran… As for what that benefit was, Fatty had no clue, but he felt that he was close to figuring it out. Very close.
When he recovered, he realised the Doctor was guarding beside him, squeezed between Fatty and the wall. This touched Fatty. The Doctor might have mocked him aplenty, but the Doctor was really kind to him. He had a soft heart.
“Doctor,” Fatty slowly nodded. “Thank you.”
Jiang Cheng widened his eyes. Then, he added in a natural tone, “Chen Ran, what are you doing here?”
Fatty was so scared that he almost jumped out of his skin. Chen Ran was dead, and his bones were munched on until they were gone. Why would he reappear there?
Seeing how scared Fatty was, Jiang Cheng sighed in relief. He silently put down his raised leg. “What were you doing just spacing out?” Jiang Cheng grumbled, “I almost kicked you down the stairs. Do you know that?”
Fatty finally reacted. There was a reason why the Doctor had placed himself between Fatty and the wall. If he didn’t react the right way to the Doctor’s exclamation of Chen Ran, the Doctor would really send him flying down the stairs.
“Doctor, I’ve figured out many things. Listen…”
“Is it related to this situation we’re in?”
“Hmm… Perhaps, but it’s not directly related.”
“Then, I don’t have to hear about it.” Jiang Cheng cut him off and looked down the stairs into the darkness. “We can talk about it after we survive this.”
Then, Fatty followed Jiang Cheng honestly. The two slowly moved down the steps. They walked out of the first stone door, and Fatty’s heart rose to his throat. Jiang Cheng suddenly paused. Fatty bumped into him from behind. “Doctor,” He looked around and whispered, “This place… is so quiet.”
The surroundings were empty. They expected throngs of ‘townspeople’ to surround the windows and doors. However, they were not there. This surprised Fatty, who was prepared to run back up the stairs. Based on the calculation of the time, the ‘townspeople’ should have them surrounded already.
Fatty subconsciously moved closer to the Doctor to pull on him. However, as he touched the Doctor’s body, Fatty was stunned. Then, he started to shiver. Because the Doctor was doing the same, he saw something similar to despair in the Doctor’s eyes…
Fatty immediately went down on all fours. He looked around, but there was mere emptiness around them.
“Doc… Doctor…” Fatty was so scared that even his voice changed, “Don’t scare me. I…”
Jiang Cheng suddenly reached out to grab Fatty’s arm. Then, he moved mechanically towards the entrance. Fatty was confused. However, out of his trust in the Doctor, he gritted his teeth and didn’t make any sound.
They were halfway there when he realised the lobby was not only quiet but also extremely empty. The stone statues were all gone. When they were about 10 meters from the entrance, Jiang Cheng suddenly stopped moving.
Fatty was shaking like a leaf in the wind but he didn’t dare to say anything. Standing there, he could look through the broken windows at the sea and Black Stone Town above the sea. He couldn’t see the ‘townspeople’.
Where had they gone? To the stone plate in the forest?
Fatty believed that was possible. However, as he turned to Jiang Cheng, he noticed the latter’s eyes were fixed on a small empty land outside the cathedral. Today, they were greeted by a rare full moon. The wispy moonlight spread on the ground. It reflected the shadow of some unknown creature.
Its upper body was cylindrical and thick. A smaller sphere bulged out of its lower body…
Then, Fatty watched as the shadow shuddered. With a horrifying sound, the shadow grew a pair of wings on its back.
Jiang Cheng grabbed Fatty and raced towards the forest. The sounds of scratching appeared above their heads. It was accompanied by the flapping of broken wings.
They chased after Jiang Cheng and Fatty.