CNC: Chapter 104

Confession

“Chi Nan? Where are you going?”

Jiang Yu saw Chi Nan suddenly walking toward the end of the corridor without making a sound and asked in a confused manner.

Chi Nan made a ‘shh’ gesture toward her and stopped by the glass door at the end of the corridor. He tried to twist open the door that had been locked by the dream maker.

There was a ‘clicking’ sound and the door was unexpectedly easy to unlock.

“Chi Nan?” Jiang Yu lowered her voice. She was suddenly a bit worried.

Chi Nan seemed a bit absent-minded. “I’ll go out and confirm it.”

He pulled open the door. The cold wind poured in and snow blew in his face.

The Dawn Base seemed to brighten after it was illuminated by the light of the snow.

Chi Nan braved the wind and snow to walk out the window. He stepped on the fine snow and made the subtle sound of snow being trampled on.

The voice that called his name became clearer and clearer, but it still gave people a very distant feeling.

He followed the sound. The snow fell heavier and heavier and the white expanse blocked his vision.

Chi Nan looked back and found that the originally towering base had disappeared behind him, leaving only endless snow and a wilderness that couldn’t be seen.

Chi Nan’s footsteps stopped. He had already lost his way.

Now he could only follow the direction of the voice calling to him.

After walking for around five or six minutes, Chi Nan’s limbs were stiff from the cold. Finally, he saw that there were many people standing on the horizon while holding torches. They were quietly waiting for him like statues in the snowstorm.

Chi Nan, Chi Nan… The sound seemed to be coming from many people at the same time. The distant calls overlapped together and densely lingered in his ears like a whispered curse.

He wanted to find out, but he didn’t stop because of this. He quickened his pace toward the group holding torches until You Yu’s voice was heard behind him.

“Brother Nan, don’t go any further.”

At the same time, You Yu’s hand grabbed Chi Nan’s wrist through his sleeve with some force.

Chi Nan was stunned for a moment. By the time he came back to his senses, the curse-like sound had stopped and there was a cliff two steps away from him.

The cliff was bottomless. The cold wind rolling in with the snow from the bottom of the cliff was like an icy knife scraping at Chi Nan’s face.

“This is the ruined cliff that deals with the energy waste of the Dawn Base. No one knows how deep it is or where it leads,” You Yu explained while looking deeply at Chi Nan. “If you fall, I probably won’t be able to find you.”

Chi Nan looked back and found that the base building that disappeared in the snow had reappeared. The huge silhouette with bright lights was very conspicuous and no amount of snow could engulf it.

“Go back inside. It is too cold outside.” You Yu pulled him back.

Chi Nan turned around again. There was no group with torches on the opposite cliff. Only the silhouettes of countless tall buildings sank into the night.

What happened just now?

You Yu turned to look at Chi Nan from time to time. It wasn’t until he confirmed that Chi Nan’s eyes were gradually focused that he asked casually like it was small talk, “What just happened?”

“I heard someone calling my name the entire time, as if from far away,” Chi Nan answered truthfully. He didn’t intend to hide anything from You Yu.

You Yu paused. “Was it a familiar voice?”

Chi Nan shook his head. “It seemed like the voices of many people stacked on top of each other. It didn’t seem like a sound that humans could make.”

He unreservedly described everything that he had just experienced with You Yu. “I wanted to see what was going on so I instinctively walked out. I’m sorry.”

You Yu frowned for a moment before suddenly asking in a relaxed manner, “Why are you apologizing?”

“The Dawn Base doesn’t allow sleepwalkers to walk around at will, right?” Chi Nan asked. After all, this wasn’t a tourist attraction.

You Yu smiled and didn’t speak. The two of them continued to walk into the building.

Chi Nan didn’t expect that he had already walked so far during the moment he was in a daze.

He didn’t know when the snow had stopped, but You Yu held his hand and didn’t let go.

Chi Nan looked up at the dark night sky with undisguised regret in his tone. “It is a pity that the snow has stopped. Otherwise, I would be able to stay with you in the snow for a while.”

You Yu’s footsteps paused slightly. “Brother Nan, do you still remember?”

“Huh?”

You Yu looked at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile. “As a child, I told you that I wanted to play with you in the snow when I was free.”

There was a moment of silence before Chi Nan lowered his voice. “You know.”

It was a positive tone. He was sure that You Yu knew he was the evil spirit in the Crying Boy.

You Yu smiled and answered him with silence. Chi Nan digested it for a moment before asking, “When did you know?”

“It was when I came out of the ghost tunnel,” You Yu answered truthfully, “I went back to my old house over 10 years ago and saw your painting on the wall. It is because here—”

He pointed to the corner of his eyes and pupils. “I know it is you.”

Chi Nan blinked. “Ah…”

Then he looked up and asked very seriously, “What did I look like?”

You Yu thought about it and the corners of his lips slightly curved. “Cuter than me.”

“…Oh.”

He didn’t know how to react to this person’s evaluation.

“Brother Nan, how much do you remember about this painting?” You Yu put away his smile and asked in a rare serious manner.

Chi Nan shook his head. “I only remember my name. Everyone said I was an ominous forbidden painting that would bring disaster and misfortune to the people around me.”

Chi Nan looked at the shallow footprints in the snow and said in a low voice, “I seem to have affected you too.”

He always felt that the misfortunes suffered by little You Yu were more or less affected by his own ‘curse.’

“Is that so?” You Yu gave him a deep look before curling up his lips. “I think that the most correct thing Bai Yingzhi has done in her life was to buy the painting and hang it in my bedroom.”

Chi Nan looked over in confusion, but You Yu didn’t plan to explain it. Some things were meaningless to say.

“Have you heard anything about this world before entering the Nightmare World?”

The dream system would clean up the memory of the sleepwalkers who left, but various coincidences that weren’t so coincidental. This gave him reason to doubt whether Chi Nan was related to the entire dream making system.

Chi Nan shook his head. “No.”

“Ah…” You Yu frowned thoughtfully.

“What’s wrong?” Chi Nan keenly discovered that You Yu was somewhat different from before.

You Yu told him, “When I first became a dream maker, I tried to change my wish to find your painting, but the system rejected it.”

He paused, looked at Chi Nan and continued. “The reason is that the system can’t find things that never existed.”

“So the system thinks that ‘I’ don’t exist?”

“At least, it gave me such a perfunctory answer,” You Yu replied, “So I wasn’t sure of your real existence until I later entered the ghost tunnel.”

The existence of this type of thing was actually difficult to define or verify. What was imaginary and what was real? In this world built with dreams, it was difficult to find the answer.

“I was almost fooled by the system.” You Yu pouted.

Chi Nan wondered, “Then why is the system doing this?”

“The only possibility I can think of is that the system is concealing your existence in a negative way. Perhaps it is because you have some type of close connection with this world.”

He was the most senior dream maker in the world and the beginning of his awakening coincided with the birth of the Nightmare World.

Two many coincidences weren’t coincidences.

The two of them happened to walk back to the building where the favorability calculation was carried out as they were talking. Jiang Yu and 207 were smoking in the corridor. They saw Chi Nan coming and the two women gave them inquiring looks.

“What’s going on?” 207’s gaze swept from Chi Nan to the glass door that was locked all year round. “How did you get out?”

Before Chi Nan could open his mouth, You Yu calmly said, “I’m sorry, I forgot to lock the door before.”

Chi Nan realized that he couldn’t speak nonsense and left it to You Yu.

207 raised an eyebrow incredulously. “You can still make such a low level mistake?”

You Yu shrugged. “I’m not a program set by the system.”

207 glanced at him and didn’t ask any further questions.

The group of people went to the Dawn Base and You Yu suddenly stopped Chi Nan. “Do you want to consider staying at the Dawn Base?”

Chi Nan couldn’t react immediately. “What?”

You Yu seemed to be holding back a smile. “If you feel that you can’t get used to living here, forget it. I’ll go back to Zi City with you.”

He threw the choice to Chi Nan.

Chi Nan was silent for a moment before coming to a conclusion. “Due to the binding function of the special item, do you have to stay with me?”

He thought this was the closest answer he could deduce to the truth.

Unexpectedly, You Yu smiled. “Of course not.”

Chi Nan: “…….?”

“Brother Nan, it is because I am chasing you.”

Just then, a train arrived at the station and the sound of ‘bang bang bang’ came from far and near.

However, Chi Nan still heard You Yu’s words clearly. Then he froze as the sound of the train coming over the tracks was heard.

You Yu knew that he heard it and deliberately looked at him for a moment. His gaze left Chi Nan nowhere to hide.

In the middle of the night, the train stopped.

Chi Nan blinked slowly. “However, I’ve never been chased.”

“Coincidentally, I haven’t chased anyone before,” You Yu said.

“Oh.”

You Yu smiled. “Then can I trouble you to get used to it?”

Finally, You Yu and Chi Nan boarded the train to Zi City together.

***

For Chi Nan, this train journey was different from before.

However, he couldn’t tell what was different.

The carriage was filled with the smell of iron and rust. The sound of it going over the rails was endless and it was as monotonous as usual.

However, Chi Nan didn’t want to sleep or go to the dining carriage for a full meal. He just sat quietly in his seat. His back was upright and he was staring out the window in a daze, looking a bit nervous.

You Yu sat opposite him and looked at him with interest. “Brother Nan?”

Chi Nan replied, “Huh?”

You Yu smiled. “Don’t be nervous.”

“Yes.” Chi Nan shifted his gaze to the endless wilderness again. Night shrouded everything. Then after a moment, he whispered, “I am still adapting.”

In the end, Chi Nan probably got used to it a bit and he fell asleep in his seat.

You Yu didn’t disturb him and lightly put a piece of clothing over him.

By the time Chi Nan woke up, the speed of the train had slowed down. Chi Nan knew that it was about to enter the station.

He wrapped his clothes tightly around him and looked out the window as usual.

After a moment, most of the sleepiness on Chi Nan’s face disappeared. He reached out and rubbed his eyes before looking out the window in disbelief.

However, he couldn’t see anything apart from the thick darkness.

The original Zi City was lit up like daytime. At the end of the tracks of eternal night was a sunrise that never fell. Now…

The lights of Zi City had completely disappeared and sank into the night like the wilderness

Not a single light was on even when the train pulled into the platform. It was as silent as a beast hiding and waiting for an opportunity to catch its prey.

You Yu, who was originally sitting opposite him, was also gone.

Proofreader: Kat