(Additional update)

 

Cao Qian was right, but some things still needed to be pointed out.

Xing Ye said to Wei Miao, “You can harbour malicious intent toward us, but remember one thing: in this world, malice is also a negative emotion. As soon as you have ill thoughts, you’ll immediately fall into collective imagination, which might lead to unintended consequences.”

This is why Xing Ye dared to team up with other players without thorough investigation. One reason was the lack of time, another was to control his own suspicions, and thirdly, if the other party intended to kill and seize points, it was uncertain who would end up dying.

Wei Miao, holding his stomach, said, “Don’t worry, I don’t have a habit of hunting players. Ugh, I feel a bit nauseous.”

“You’ve turned those six-pack abs into a beer belly; it’s no wonder you feel nauseous,” Guan Ling said, giving Wei Miao’s belly a tap. “You should throw up, or else if you run into danger later, your belly might burst.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wei Miao’s belly immediately inflated like a balloon. Cao Qian gave Guan Ling a hard knock on the back of the head, “Go memorize the multiplication table quickly!”

Fortunately, Guan Ling’s thought was just a flash. After Cao Qian hit him, Wei Miao’s belly deflated.

“Don’t be scared,” Xing Ye, seeing Wei Miao seemingly frightened by Guan Ling’s bad luck, quickly reassured him, “As long as I’m here, nothing will happen.”

He stood upright like a flag. His expression was neutral, neither showing kindness nor malice, seemingly like a person without emotions. But in this world, having no emotions was actually more reassuring.

While Wei Miao recited, “Don’t get angry, life is like a play, we gather because of fate,” he ran to the bathroom to throw up. He had to vomit all the water and other drinks from his stomach to prevent any accident.

Fortunately, as a swimmer, Wei Miao quickly expelled all the water, coffee, cola, hot cocoa, Sprite, orange juice, milk tea, milk, and so on from his stomach.

Guan Ling looked at the well-stocked beverage dispenser and silently marvelled at the company’s good provisions.

Cao Qian gave Guan Ling another tap, and both of them concentrated on memorizing the multiplication table.

Xing Ye frowned, thinking about where the small mirror could be.

Although he had no expression, his mind was constantly preoccupied with Lu Mingze. He felt that the small mirror might be hidden by the world’s consciousness in a special place, waiting for Xing Ye to rescue it. The small mirror had powerful abilities, but they were effective against players and NPCs with normal aesthetics. When facing the world’s consciousness, they might be ineffective.

Xing Ye thought about Lu Mingze helplessly lying on the hospital bed and quietly closed his eyes, trying to clear Lu Mingze from his mind as the four of them walked downstairs together.

Maintaining the formation with Cao Qian leading, Wei Miao closely following her, Guan Ling watching Wei Miao, and Xing Ye bringing up the rear, they arrived on the 26th floor.

They had already searched above the 27th floor when looking for Cao Qian, and there were no abnormalities.

Currently, there were still three players outside: two were following fate, and one was fate-defying. The fate-defying player was Wei Miao’s teammate. According to Wei Miao, they had been teaming up since they met in the first chaotic world, adhering to the principle of self-preservation and not proactively harming others, and had managed to progress through to the present. The other player was reportedly a teacher with a good temper. Wei Miao believed he wouldn’t be controlled by imagination, but Guan Ling was dismissive of this.

The three of them alternated between reciting English and the Analects of Confucius (NT: a collection of sayings and thoughts attributed to Confucius and his disciples), supervising each other, and fortunately, no major issues arose.

They searched all the way to the 20th floor without encountering any abnormalities, forcing themselves to take the elevator each time. The elevator walls were smooth and could reflect shadows. As soon as Xing Ye thought of a mirror, Lu Mingze’s face seemed to appear on the elevator wall, and he quietly closed his eyes.

Xing Ye remained calm and was able to forcefully control his emotions, but the root of his anxiety and worry had not yet been resolved, preventing him from fully calming down.

Repression often makes emotions more frightening when they finally erupt. As the four of them exited the elevator and entered the corridor on the 20th floor, they saw a man in a white T-shirt standing in the hallway.

Leading the group, Cao Qian stopped in her tracks, nearly unable to think. Wei Miao bumped into her and said with displeasure, “Why aren’t we moving…”

When he looked up and saw the man, he was also stunned.

Guan Ling, being closer to Xing Ye, saw that the two were not moving and quickly asked, “What are you looking at…”

Another person’s brain short-circuited.

The reason was simple: the person in the corridor was too good-looking.

He opened the corridor window, and the cool spring night breeze ruffled his hair, adding a touch of tranquility to his bright face. He turned his head toward the crowd and gave a gentle smile.

Cao Qian, Guan Ling, and Wei Miao felt as if they were almost drowning in that smile. How could there be someone so beautiful in this world? In an instant, words like “a beauty that could bring down a city” (NT: Chinese idiom (倾国倾城) to describe an extraordinarily beautiful woman) and “a stunning face” flashed through their minds.

For a moment, they even thought that if this were a monster imagined into existence, it would be quite beautiful to die at his hands. After all, their points were not much—just half of them. If they had to die, so be it.

Only Xing Ye’s face turned grim. He had tried his best to suppress his emotions, but his imagination had still manifested.

“Lu Mingze.” Xing Ye looked at the person in the corridor and said softly.

This was Lu Mingze from his time in America, around 20 years old, with an exceptionally clean demeanour—a cheerful young man. Xing Ye had seen this outfit and style in a photo before. The photo on Lu Dong’s desk was from Lu Mingze’s time in America. Probably because Lu Mingze was not home during that period, Lu Dong would often have a recent photo on his desk, which was not replaced after Lu Mingze returned to China.

“Xing Ye!” Seeing Xing Ye, Lu Mingze waved happily, “I came out of the mirror! It turns out that in this world, you can achieve anything through imagination. I imagined myself walking out of the mirror, and here I am!”

Cao Qian and the others looked at Xing Ye, with Cao Qian’s eyes shining, “Xing Ye, you know this little handsome guy!”

Xing Ye nodded, walked up to Lu Mingze, and looked him up and down for about five minutes before asking, “Until what age did you wet the bed?”

Cao Qian and the others: “……”

Lu Mingze’s handsome face contorted in anger as he gritted his teeth and asked, “Why are you asking this? I don’t know!”

“Of course you don’t know,” Xing Ye said coldly, “Even I don’t know the details, so how could you? You are a manifestation of my personal imagination, so you naturally don’t have the information that isn’t in my mind.”

“Why would you think that?” "Lu Mingze" chuckled awkwardly, “I really did come out of the mirror. Why would you even doubt me? Didn’t you say that the world consciousness only materializes things that are harmful to the players? Could it be that in your imagination, I would kill you with a single stroke?”

Xing Ye replied, “You wouldn’t. Whether you are the real Lu Mingze or just a fabrication of my imagination, you wouldn’t do something so despicable. Even in my mind, I wouldn’t tarnish you in any way.”

“Lu Mingze” looked at him with sorrowful eyes: “Then why do you doubt me? Why would the world consciousness manifest someone like me who would never harm you?”

Xing Ye placed his hand on "Lu Mingze’s" face and said softly, “Because the world consciousness wants us to fall into negative emotions. Time flies, and what could be more heartbreaking than destroying something beautiful?”

As soon as he finished speaking, "Lu Mingze" began to slowly turn transparent.

"Lu Mingze" said to Xing Ye, “So you really don’t want to see me. Then I’ll leave.”

He turned into bubbles like in a fairy tale and gradually vanished into the air.

He did not harm Xing Ye. Lu Mingze was gentle and kind, and even as an imagined version, he could not hurt his teammates.

Yet, seeing him merge into the air and smile sadly before disappearing, the others felt a pang in their hearts.

And Xing Ye watched motionlessly as the person he cared about turned into bubbles and flew away.

He believed that the Little Mirror must be waiting safely and securely somewhere, and he would find a way to escape this world and locate him.

 

Translator : DarNan