CNC: Chapter 109

Zi City Bug (5)

“It’s not… Why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t have time to do anything…really…”

Pei Mo had seen You Yu’s means during the Highway 404 instance and was even attacked by the other person. Pei Mo had been killed once, so he forgot about his advantage as a member of the hunting party when he saw You Yu approaching him with a knife. He could only retreat while trembling.

“D-Don’t come here… Hey…” As Pei Mo retreated, he accidentally stepped on an upturned steel pipe in the ruins and almost fell to the ground. “Rabbits will bite if they are anxious. You…don’t push me…”

There was no way back. His back was stuck to a wall covered in graffiti as he stared at the knife in You Yu’s hand with horror.

Just like Chi Nan, You Yu had thought of a way to break the situation when he saw Pei Mo. He patiently suggested to the trembling middle-aged man, “Come, do you want to make a deal with us?”

Pei Mo’s eyes were full of horror. “W-What deal?”

He spoke in an inquiring tone, but his face was showing obvious reluctance.

You Yu looked at him from head to toe. “Your Book of Revelations privilege hasn’t been used yet, right?”

“Not yet… Why? Aren’t the rules of this doomsday instance obvious? There is no need to waste a privileged opportunity to get a hint, right?” Pei Mo pressed against the wall and tried to find a sense of security and superiority from his own predator identity. However, he ultimately failed. Facing this arrogant and crazy dream maker, any identity advantage could be turned into a disadvantage in an instant.

You Yu sighed playfully. “Are you naive enough to believe the task released by the crashed system?”

Pei Mo’s face turned pale. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“A dead sleepwalker can regain their life after successfully killing all survivors. This is a false order issued by the system affected by a serious bug.” You Yu looked at Pei Mo and spoke calmly and firmly.

Pei Mo thought about You Yu’s words several times. He immediately got goosebumps and asked suspiciously, “How do you know this?”

You Yu just smiled quietly. Pei Mo made a low ‘ah’ sound as he realized. Then he started sweating.

How could he not know… This terrible guy was a dream maker who could manipulate the system!

“The broken system is just using you as tools to eliminate the survivors who have escaped from its hands.” You Yu easily understood Pei Mo’s fears and concerns and used his own advantages and the inferiority of the other side to crush the defense line in Pei Mo’s heart. “Based on what I know about the system, it is likely to issue an infighting mission to you after you have successfully eliminated the survivors.”

Pei Mo almost stopped breathing when he heard this and the words of rebuttal were swallowed down by him the moment they reached his mouth.

This was indeed very likely based on the perversion of the system and its habit of making rules in the past.

You Yu saw Pei Mo’s wavering mind and continued to stick in the knife. “Or do you have the confidence to kill all the murderers and become the last one to survive?”

“I-I…” Pei Mo looked at his shaking hands and shook his head violently. “What should I do? What do you want to trade with me?”

‘He bit the bait,’ You Yu thought. It was easy to deal with ordinary sleepwalkers like Pei Mo.

“I will guarantee that you can get out of the Nightmare World alive, but only if you activate the privilege of the Book of Revelations, giving us a clue to the game.” You Yu offered Pei Mo a bargaining chip. “This is the best solution for everyone, isn’t it?”

“Can you really guarantee it?” Pei Mo’s tone was skeptical, but he was obviously moved. “I died in the last instance… Can your permissions resurrect a sleepwalker?”

The distorted time in Zi City was different from the speed of the time outside. After Pei Mo left the Dawn Base, he unfortunately entered the Crazy Asylum instance and became the cannon fodder selected by the grim reaper on the first night.

His body wasn’t even cold after his death when he was suddenly dragged to this doomsday city and given the task of hunting and killing survivors.

The system directly announced that once all the survivors in Zi City were killed, they could regain their lives and return to reality.

However, he had always been the target of bullying. He arrived in cold weather and was forced out to patrol by his teammates, who were also hunters. The most unfortunate thing was that he ran across Chi Nan and You Yu, the two bigshots.

Pei Mo was very self-aware and would never dare to fight against Chi Nan’s duo. He knew he couldn’t kill them, so he just planned to quietly hide to the side, watching the two bigshots kill the monsters. Unexpectedly, he couldn’t even hide.

Now, things seemed to have taken a turn for the better. His good fortune was coming.

You Yu told him firmly, “Of course. Don’t underestimate the privileges of the dream makers.”

He added, “I just need to fix the system bug and return everything to normal. Then resurrecting a sleepwalker is just a small effort.”

Chi Nan stood beside him with the cucumber flowers and didn’t speak. He thought that You Yu was really cunning. After all, the deaths in the nightmare instances were just illusions and the so-called resurrecting a sleepwalker was simply a ‘false promise.’

“Not only can you be resurrected, but I will ensure that you won’t starve or freeze during this time in Zi City.” You Yu shook the carp monster in his hand. “The ingredients will be prepared for you and the chef is ready to ensure that every meal is fresh and delicious.”

The conditions he gave were impossible to refuse.

Pei Mo hesitated for a short time before finally nodding. “Okay, deal.”

He had a hunch that if he refused, the terrible dream maker would make him hand over this Book of Revelations privilege by force. It was safer to cooperate obediently.

Thus, Chi Nan and You Yu went hunting. They not only brought back fresh meat and vegetables, but also stole a hunter.

You Yu quietly turned around and blinked at Chi Nan, looking like a naughty brother who wanted his older brother’s praise and reward.

***

Pei Mo was a newcomer to being a predator and he didn’t expect that life in the shelter would be so comfortable. Not only was there a warm campfire, but there was also a delicious dinner. It was thousands of times better than the air-dried human flesh pieces in the predator’s gathering area.

Pei Mo carefully washed his hands after a great meal and took out the Book of Revelations that he regarded as a treasure.

He needed information from the Book of Revelations about where the Lord God in the survivors’ mission ‘Kill the Lord God’ was hiding.

All the surviving sleepwalkers gathered around Pei Mo and stretched out their necks to witness the moment of the important clue.

Pei Mo opened the Book of Revelations in a ceremonious manner in front of the campfire and recited, “Dear respected Judge, please tell me where the so-called Lord God is now.”

In the light of the jumping flames, the originally garbled characters suddenly seemed to come to life. They flowed around the paper and recombined to form Chinese characters that everyone could understand.

[‘Lord God’ is hidden among us.]

For an instant, all the sleepwalkers almost forgot to breathe. They looked at each other and the shadows of the group were projected onto the walls by the light of the flames, staggering and twisting. The subtle and cramped atmosphere spread rapidly in the shelter.

Pei Mo took a deep breath and continued to ask, “Can you give me a more detailed hint?”

The Book of Revelations automatically turned two pages without any wind. The characters that couldn’t be recognized were reorganized again.

[Once the moon in the night sky is dyed a different color, Lord God will meet his end.]

“The moon is dyed a different color?” Hei Cha’s heart sank. He instinctively looked at the vent cover on the ceiling of the shelter. The faint green moonlight was split apart by the barbed wire and sprinkled onto his body. “Could it be the green moon…”

Hei Cha realized something and looked at Chi Nan with trepidation and worry. His lips moved, but he didn’t express his doubts in the end.

However, Hei Cha wasn’t the only one who realized the situation. One of the survivors with dreadlocks pointed to Chi Nan and You Yu. “I remember! The moon turned green when their train arrived!”

Questioning and vigilant gazes swept toward Chi Nan and You Yu. Chi Nan looked at the green moonlight, his face as calm as usual. He didn’t speak, as if he was thinking about something.

You Yu was paler than before. His lips pursed in a straight line and gave people a very strong sense of oppression.

“No… I’ve known Chi Nan for a long time… There must be some misunderstanding.” Hei Cha saw that the atmosphere wasn’t right and hurriedly explained, but even he didn’t believe his poor excuse.

Another survivor with a bald head shook his head. “His eyes are the exact same color as the moon and there is the hint from the Book of Revelations. Don’t you think this coincidence is too excessive?”

Hei Cha was anxious and stood in front of Chi Nan. “Impossible. I have known Chi Nan since entering this world and he can’t be the Lord God…”

The people around the flickering fire didn’t listen to Hei Cha’s explanation at all. Chi Nan could clearly feel the doubts, vigilance, and killing intent that were surging in the air.

[Kill the Lord God and sacrifice him to the broken world. All the broken order will return to the right track.]

The task of the survivors was to kill the so-called Lord God.

Now, all types of clues showed that he was the most important character in the mission, the Lord God.

“Hei Cha, don’t be naïve. The Lord God is likely to be a randomly assigned character by the system and it has nothing to do with the past of the person.”

They just had to kill the Lord God to complete the task and escape from this collapsed, apocalyptic world.

“You aren’t allowed to kill my brother.” Rui Rui stood in a corner. It wasn’t known when she grabbed a knife, but she made a posture that she would stab anyone who dared to act against Chi Nan.

“Little girl, you must’ve passed many instances if you could become a survivor. You should know what is the most correct decision. Now we are people on the same boat.” The bald man tried to persuade Rui Rui. Then he found that the little girl showed no reaction and turned to Rui Rui’s mother. “Please discipline your naughty child.”

Unexpectedly, Rui Rui’s mother just sneered and a sharp blade flashed in her hand. “My daughter isn’t wrong. Why should I discipline her?”

The bald man: “……”

Hei Cha stood in front of Chi Nan. He was so anxious that the blood vessels in his neck bulged and his eyes turned red as he spoke to the murderous crowd, “What’s wrong with you? How can you decide to execute someone so hastily?”

The man with the dreadlocks sighed. “I don’t think the current decision is too hasty. You are the one being emotional.”

Just as the two forces were at a stalemate, the silent You Yu suddenly laughed. “In other words, you have forgotten the most important thing?”

Everyone’s eyes shifted from Chi Nan’s body to You Yu, who was standing in the shadows. They saw You Yu raise his thin eyelids, half revealing and half obscuring his eyes. His original obsidian-like eyes had a slightly dark red color, which could easily be detected by the alertness of human beings. They perceived that this was the most primitive and terrifying danger signal.

“The price you pay for killing Chi Nan will be a million times more terrifying than being trapped in Zi City.”

A suffocating sense of oppression quickly filled the silent and cramped sanctuary.

You Yu declared, “If you don’t believe me, then I can let you experience it first.”

Proofreader: Kat