CNC: Chapter 102

“Excuse me… What is the situation now?” Jiang Yu bit the cigarette that 207 handed her and had a bad feeling in her heart.

“I’ll go check.” 207 connected to the backend of the Nightmare system. After a while, she shook her head with a heavy expression. “I can’t find the ghost tunnel mark in the instance. The broadcast just now wasn’t within the scope of the program.”

“No… could it be that another instance was strung together…” She scratched her head irritably.

You Yu connected to the main system and calmly said, “The bug registration manual of the Nightmare World shows that there was once a bug that existed in the form of tunnels in the nightmare instances.”

207 frowned. “A bug? Can it be fixed?”

You Yu shook his head. “The record shows that the tunnel bug is known as the unknown time domain. It is impossible to predict when it will appear, the influence it will have, and the danger it will cause. It can’t be repaired and is listed as one of the uncontrollable, dangerous bugs. The most absurd thing is that the record has a note: No dream maker has personally seen the appearance of the ghost tunnel.”

207 was puzzled. “Isn’t this contradictory? If a dream maker hasn’t seen it appear, how could the ghost tunnel appear in the bugs list? Could it be that it registered and wrote about itself?”

You Yu shrugged. “Possibly.”

207 was dumbfounded. “…Are you serious?”

You Yu nodded. “Maybe the bug is self-aware?”

207: “……”

You Yu added, “There is also a possibility that the dream god entered it.”’

“Hah.” 207 suddenly laughed. “I now wonder if this dream god even exists. After all, no one has seen him before.”

You Yu’s lips curved up. “I’ve never doubted the existence of the dream god. After all, the world is still functioning normally.”

207 shook her head indifferently. “I don’t care about anything else. All I care about now is whether this bug will cause the Highway 404 instance to collapse.”

“It is really hard to say.” You Yu never gave meaningless comfort. He only told the truth.

207 was speechless.

Chi Nan could sense the uneasy atmosphere in the car and sincerely apologized. “Sorry, I was the one who found the bug. If possible, I will do my best to compensate you.”

You Yu glanced at 207 and 207 directly waved at him. “Who is willing to ask your little evil spirit for compensation?”

Chi Nan: “???”

He looked at You Yu doubtfully and You Yu smiled. “It doesn’t matter. It also takes talent to find hidden bugs.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the legendary bug with my own eyes,” You Yu added with interest.

207: “……” This colleague was hopeless so she could only choose to forgive him.

“…I’ll try and see if I can bring it back.” Chi Nan continued to turn the radio FM button, but it was the same broadcast no matter how he adjusted it.

[Dear listeners, it is time for the road condition broadcast: The EM00404 vehicle is approaching the ghost tunnel. The ghost tunnel is 80 km long and the estimated travel time is one hour.]

“Forget it. We have already encountered it so we will go and see what the situation is and find a way to repair it.” 207 had no other way.

Everyone in the back involuntarily straightened their backs and a tense air filled the narrow car.

The most vulnerable Pei Mo wanted to cry at this moment. He had just been immersed in the joy of clearing the dream. Now, a basin of cold water was poured on his head, making him fall from heaven to hell.

Why was he so unlucky that he encountered a legendary bug that was completely out of control? Pei Mo covered his face and suppressed the urge to cry.

“Are you afraid?” You Yu glanced at Chi Nan out of the corner of his eyes and asked.

Chi Nan shook his head before nodding. “I’m afraid of causing trouble for you.”

As he spoke, a long tunnel suddenly appeared in the gray wilderness and covered all of Highway 404.

Everyone held their breaths as You Yu stepped on the accelerator and rushed over at a fast speed. “Hold on.”

The moment the car entered the tunnel, the car fell into an unprecedented, absolute silence.

Silent darkness shrouded them, as if someone had pressed a button that blocked the world. Everyone’s senses disappeared in an instant.

The disappearance of his senses gave You Yu the illusion of dying again. All perception melted and dissolved in the bottomless darkness. His soul turned into foam and was washed ashore by black waves. Once the sun rose, everything turned into nothingness.

‘Do I really exist?” You Yu asked himself again in the nothingness.

People who had died once had a hard time distinguishing the boundaries between existence and nothingness. It was as if they couldn’t properly answer if they were alive or not.

What exactly was the evidence of being alive? Breathing? A heartbeat? Or the butterfly effect triggered by every move?

His chaotic thoughts washed over his subconscious like waves. You Yu was like a corpse floating on the sea, quietly waiting for the chaos to recede.

This was until a loud human voice awakened his sense of hearing.

You Yu’s vision, smell and sense of touch were restored one by one.

He found himself outside the house where he had been imprisoned as a child. There had been heavy rain on a summer afternoon and the ground was wet and slippery. Aunt Mei was trimming the leaves and thorns of the roses in the yard.

“Aunt Mei?”

As You Yu expected, Aunt Mei was busy trimming the dead leaves and didn’t respond to his voice.

This wasn’t a copy of the dream he made. It was the tunnel bug that brought him into the real timeline.

As mentioned in the bugs list, the tunnel bug was also known as the unknown time domain.

He pushed open the door of the old mansion like a ghost. Bai Yingzhi was sitting in the living room and entertaining a psychic medium as she planned how to use the soul of little You Yu to meet the needs of the evil spirits.

There was the unpleasant smell of burning and blood in the house. You Yu was too lazy to look at their disgusting transactions and went straight to his bedroom on the second floor.

All confusion and doubt disappeared in an instant and he knew precisely his purpose for coming here.

The so-called ghost tunnel didn’t mean that there were many evil spirits in the tunnel. It was that the person who entered the tunnel would become a ghost that crossed timelines.

In this timeline, all his memories hadn’t been manipulated. He just needed to confirm it.

The bedroom door was locked so You Yu gently knocked on it.

Little You Yu’s childish and vigilant voice was heard from inside. “You aren’t Aunt Mei. Who are you?”

You Yu deliberately didn’t speak and little You Yu asked again, “Are you a new doctor/ I don’t want to drink medicine today.”

You Yu spoke softly through the door, “I just want to cover over and tell you how you never have to drink the medicine again.”

Little You Yu didn’t speak and You Yu added, “You can trust me. I believe that you will choose to trust me.”

Little You Yu remained suspicious and asked, “Who are you?”

You Yu knew himself as a child and answered bluntly, “Someone who can help you get out of here.”

There was a moment of silence before little You Yu asked in a cold voice, “What price do I need to pay?”

From an early age, he understood that there was no free lunch in the world.

You Yu took a deep breath and his heartbeat was a bit out of rhythm. He said, “You just have to open the door and let me confirm one thing.”

The moment little You Yu opened the door, You Yu’s gaze followed the direction in his memory to the west wall.

There was a painting on the wall that was covered in the light of overlapping shadows. This was the biggest difference between this whole house and the Nightmare World.

“Can I enter the room?” You Yu sought the consent of little You Yu.

Little You Yu nodded and his eyelashes trembled. “Please come in.”

You Yu approached and found that the teenager in the painting had tears flowing peacefully on his face. His pair of green eyes quietly stared at the world outside the frame, as if he was outside the picture and had no emotion. However, it made the person looking at him perceive their insignificance. No one could turn their eyes away. In this breathless solemnity, they gained a type of redemptive power.

These eyes had a color that didn’t belong to human beings and were full of divinity.

The young man in the painting had two teardrop moles at the corners of his eyes, which were wet due to the tears. This lightened his solemn spirit slightly and gave birth to another unique melancholy.

The eyes were so familiar that You Yu instinctively reached out his hand and tried to touch the teardrop mole of the teenager in the painting.

It was originally like this.

It is you… Brother, you should’ve said it earlier.

The blind little You Yu seemed to sense his movements and warned the impolite guest, “Please don’t touch him.”

You Yu’s hand hung in the air and the corners of his lips were slightly raised. “I’m sorry, I won’t touch your brother.”

Little You Yu’s expression changed slightly but he didn’t continue to focus on this topic. He said bluntly. “Please fulfill your promise and tell me how to leave.”

“Let me ask you first.” You Yu smiled at his childhood self. “Are you afraid of death?”

Little You Yu firmly shook his head. “Death is the value of my existence. I know that Bai Yingzhi gave birth to me in order to offer me to the evil spirits.”

Little You Yu never doubted or had extravagant hopes for his birth and purpose in life.

You Yu smiled and rubbed his head. “No, your death isn’t such a boring thing. It will become the most interesting existence in your future life. You will understand this later.”

‘The person you love the most will live in your body,’ You Yu said in his heart.

Now little You Yu still couldn’t understand so he pursed his lips and didn’t say it.

“Remember, go to Bai Yingzhi’s room and steal her time before the Ghost Festival when you are eight years old.” You Yu continued, “Then tell her personally that you love her and want to go to hell with her.”

“However, it isn’t your hell. It is just her hell.”

Little You Yu was silent for a moment before nodding. “I understand. Thank you.”

You Yu trusted himself. He was about to leave the room when he turned back and said, “There is one more very important thing. Please remember it.”

“What is it?”

You Yu looked at the ‘Crying Boy’ on the wall and his voice was distant and gentle. “Once you are completely free, you must find the brother in the painting. He is very important to you.”

Little You Yu’s expression changed. “Do you know him?”

You Yu smiled. “It is more than just knowing him.”’

Little You Yu had some doubts… and was a bit unhappy. “What do you have to do with each other?”

“For the time being, I don’t want to tell you yet.”

“Oh well, I’ll figure it out for myself. Do you have anything else to tell me?”

“Remember what I want you to remember and do it one by one according to your own wishes. Then… forget about inconsequential things like ‘I.’ Goodbye.”

When he was alone, he stood in a dark and dreary room. You Yu walked out of the room and closed the door.

He let out a soft sigh. The timeline outside the door was distorting rapidly. There was still his bedroom in front of him but fire was rolling up the thick curtains surrounding the room.

The flames spread quickly to the picture frame on the wall and the picture frame made a ‘crackling’ sound in the burning fire.

Little You Yu was lying on the ground with a pale face. He had lost his breathing and heartbeat.

Chi Nan’s soul was liberated from the painting. He crouched down next to little You Yu and reached out to try and hug the corpse that was still warm. However, the moment his fingers touched the other person’s skin, Chi Nan’s soul was quickly sucked into little You Yu’s body.

You Yu, who was teleported from an unknown time realm, witnessed this scene with his own eyes.

He walked over and crouched down. He picked up his ‘self’ containing Chi Nans’ soul from the ground and walked out of the fire.

Chi Nan burst into tears while curled up in his arms and said dreamily, “I’ll wait for you.”

You Yu was slightly stunned. “Okay, it is a deal.”

***

The SUV crossed the tunnel at an unknown time and was parked on the side of a sun-blown, dry wasteland road.

Chi Nan opened his eyes at the familiar smell of industrial leather and dust. He looked around and found that everyone, including You Yu, was still asleep. He was the first to wake up.

The so-called tunnel bug had merely sent him to the night of the fire 11 years ago. This wasn’t new to Chi Nan, who had experienced it once.

Every time he saw little You Yu dying in front of him while he was helpless, Chi Nan always felt a lingering sadness in his heart.

They weren’t memories that made him happy.

The too strong sunlight shone straight through the window. At this moment, You Yu was lying on the steering wheel with his hands on the wheel and he showed no signs of waking up.

This was the first time Chi Nan had seen a sleeping You Yu.

Chi Nana looked closely and saw that this guy’s eyes were shining from the dampness.

Did You Yu cry in his dream?

Chi Nan took out a tissue from You Yu’s pocket and wiped the tear marks of You Yu’s eyes for him. Then after he wiped it a few times, You Yu’s eyelashes trembled and his eyes cracked open.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment in the daylight.

Chi Nan asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”

You Yu stared at him. “I dreamed of you.”

Chi Nan, “?”

You Yu saw his expressionless confusion and smiled. “Brother, I have finally found you.”

As he spoke, he grabbed Chi Nan’s hand to wipe his tears for him.

Almost instantly, two tears rolled down from the corner of Chi Nan’s eyes.

Chi Nan was busy wiping his tears with the back of his other hand. Who knew that before he had time to wipe it more than a few times, You Yu would grab his other hand again?

Then You Yu leaned down and reverently and gently kissed the back of Chi Nan’s hand, which was wet with tears.

Not proofread