Chapter 234 - ’Did I Laugh?

Chapter 234: Chapter 231: ’Did I Laugh?Dong Xue was wearing an oversized hospital gown that even her head almost got covered in. She stood next to a bookshelf, looking intently at a book with her head bowed.

Upon noticing his movement, she turned her head and revealed a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Dong Xue.

The daytime Dong Xue.

Su Ming’an recognized her instantly.

However, unlike the nighttime Dong Xue, this daytime Dong Xue was wearing an excessively large gown that almost enveloped her entire body.

Her skin also seemed darker and rougher, even her hair seemed sparser than at night, her eyes were dull, and she didn’t look as beautiful or charming.

Su Ming’an instantly switched to strategy mode.

Unexpectedly, Dong Xue was the one who initiated the conversation, her voice somewhat low, and her tone quite familiar.

"You came," she said, flipping open the book she was holding to show him, "Come see the Swan Dance I just saw."

Su Ming’an looked over, and the book displayed an image of an actress dancing—the tips of her toes pointed, her posture graceful, with the demeanor of a professional dancer almost leaping off the page, like a pristine swan.

"I hope... after the correction is over and I get out, I’ll be able to learn this dance," Dong Xue eyed the picture in the book with envy. "...I also hope to have a dress of my own, preferably a red dance gown, bright red, backless. They all say this kind of clothing doesn’t suit me, that I can’t wear it, that I should wear long shirts and pants... but I don’t think so."

"Just over three days," Su Ming’an said.

"Yes, just over three days... I will definitely become an ’Excellent Student’." Dong Xue said, "You’ll see that day too, right?"

Su Ming’an was pondering.

He had already discovered that Dong Xue recognized the original identity, the identity he was playing.

"By the way, isn’t your birthday coming up soon?" Su Ming’an suddenly asked.

He wanted to probe the original’s name without alarming Dong Xue.

He saw her expression change in an instant.

Something glistening flickered in the bottom of her eyes, and then, a tear actually fell.

...Su Ming’an had completely not expected that this tentative remark could make someone cry.

"You remember," Dong Xue muttered, tears rolling down her cheeks and dropping onto the ground: "...you actually remember my birthday."

"I wanted to write you a birthday card, just to write a blessing on it and then write our names on it..." Su Ming’an hadn’t finished speaking when he heard Dong Xue shout excitedly.

"Yes, yes, put our names on it, Dong Xue... Dong Xue..." she lifted her eyelids, her gaze drifting, as if she bit him on the face:

"And you, Yang Xia."

Su Ming’an: "..."

Hearing Dong Xue call him like this, it took Su Ming’an a while to recover.

—Is Yang Xia myself?

No, Yang Xia is "she," a virtual woman, while his body is definitely male.

He realized a possibility.

...Dong Xue might have mistaken him for someone else.

It’s not unusual for hallucinations to occur under such high-pressure situations. If Dong Xue put too much of her ideal in her virtual girlfriend, it was possible to mistake him for the fantasized Yang Xia in such a deserted environment.

After all, insanity isn’t rare here.

"Just over three days," Dong Xue closed the book, her eyes filled with hope: "Although everyone says I’m childish, that I have problems, that I’m immature, I’m definitely right... Yang Xia, only you understand me, only you care about me, it’s you who pull me back from the cliff every time, I only have you..."

"Yeah," Su Ming’an said, "You’re not wrong, Dong Xue."

He was just agreeing casually, and was about to continue with something else.

But unexpectedly, at the moment these words left his mouth, he felt an extremely strong dizziness.

The scene before him shattered into fragments like glass, and the surrounding colors smeared abruptly, a sudden wave of nausea rose from the depths of his heart, almost engulfing him.

...What happened?

He clutched at his chest, the glowing orange bar in the upper left corner kept sliding down.

Had he triggered some sort of error in his answer?

He knew, when facing the most crucial NPC in an instance, even a slight slip in words could lead to terrible consequences.

He looked up to see Dong Xue standing before him.

Her face was full of confusion, as if she hadn’t anticipated his response.

"Yang Xia," Dong Xue spoke.

The hospital gown enveloped her entirely, only exposing most of her head, and when she parted her lips, the collar fluttered slightly.

She looked at him, the blue and white stripes on her seeming to gaze at him too, her fragile, reed-like fingers, the bit of ankle she revealed, all seemed to be watching him, gradually locking him in completely.

"...How could you possibly understand me?" Her eyes grew more bewildered: "As my creation, you’re just my wishful thinking, it’s always been me alone, talking to you.

Your responses have always been cold, how could you possibly say such words that reassure me...

You only make me grow, mature, not be too dependent on you."

The library scene tilted before him.

A vortex filled his entire field of vision, he watched as Dong Xue gradually blurred, saw her slightly reddened eyes, saw the tears in them.

Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

In the upper left corner, the SAN bar had now turned red, a blood-like red, carrying a hint of danger.

points.

...He had never thought that a wrong answer, could bring his SAN points down to this level.

He sat up, only to realize that at some point, he had returned to his bed, in his own room.

The wall clock ticked away, and, as expected, there was another figure sitting beside him.

"...Big brother."

Mo Yan had a sword resting on his knees, he seemed to cherish the blade very much, holding onto it even though it was covered in scratches.

"What time is it?"

"It’s eight o’clock in the evening, big brother, why did you faint again... This has been happening for two consecutive days, each day I find you in bed."

"Did you bring me back here?"

"Not me, it was Number Twenty-Nine, the one called Dong Xue, she carried you back from the library, you were unconscious, she dragged you all the way here, all of us players were stunned, some even took the opportunity to attack you, big brother... trying to kill you... but that white creature appeared yesterday, saved you, then I followed all the way here..."

Su Ming’an sighed.

He didn’t need to look to know that after this, there would definitely be a meme, "Number One Player being dragged limited edition.jpg," popping up in every corner of the World Forum.

He pressed his temples, suppressing the twisting nausea in his field of vision:

"Who wanted to kill me?"

"Number Nineteen... and Twenty-Two."

Su Ming’an nodded, making a mental note.

"But they were all killed by that white creature," Mo Yan appeared righteously indignant, seeming quite angry: "Big brother, I think these people are really disgraceful! It’s laughable... to actually have players attacking you, and in the end, it’s an NPC that saved big brother..."

"They’re already dead?" Su Ming’an closed his eyes again: "That’s too bad."

Mo Yan paused, then caught on to the deeper meaning in his big brother’s words.

"...I still have to go and find a few more," he heard his big brother say.

"Find some more... what?"

"Players to recover Mentality Points," Su Ming’an said. "It’s a bit low... Also, stay away from me and don’t come through this door again. You... remind me of a friend I used to have, and I don’t want you to end up like him."

Mo Yan was startled.

He knew whom Su Ming’an was referring to; the incident was very famous, having shocked the entire forum and elicited widespread empathy.

He himself had been one of them at the time.

He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

In the end, he just scratched his head and smiled, "Haha... How could it be the same? Big brother wouldn’t lay a hand on me..."

He looked straight into his brother’s completely unsettling eyes.

Like prey seeing a hunter, he could feel the dense sensation of cold sweat gradually seeping out from behind.

His body was almost unable to move, as if fixed in place.

He felt an overwhelming fear that rendered him utterly incapable of escape.

"Big brother, you, stop smiling, it’s really scary..."

"Did I smile?" Su Ming’an stretched out his hand, pressed down on the corners of his mouth, and discovered they were indeed turned up, confused for a moment, "...Strange, I didn’t mean to smile."

Mo Yan stood frozen in place.

"...Anyway, it’s almost time to return to the rooms, big brother, I’ll go ahead."

He really couldn’t stay any longer.

The feeling that this big brother gave him now was even stronger than the fear he had felt the day before.

If before it was merely fear, now this big brother sitting opposite him instilled in him a true sense of terror, akin to facing a madman.

As if his throat might be slit at any moment, or his head could be chopped off.

What he was facing was such an extreme fear on the line of life and death.

It had been okay when the big brother was asleep, but once awake, the glance that came his way was like being nailed in place, utterly unbearable to meet directly.

"Don’t come back again."

He heard his big brother say from behind.

Night, eleven o’clock.

Su Ming’an sat on the bed with his eyes closed for three hours.

After waking up this time, more clearly than ever before, he felt something was wrong with himself.

Sitting on the bed, he would hear various strange noises, children’s singing, the ticking of water...

Opening his eyes, he would see a dim expanse in a blood-red vision, twisted black lines snaking toward him, darkness poured out like from a paint can.

One moment he was sitting on the bed, the next he suddenly found himself standing by the desk, holding a surgical scalpel shining with a cold light, his arm covered in fresh blood.

It was like a jammed old movie, with broken film strips; a large chunk would be missing abruptly, and he knew nothing about what had happened in the meantime.

The delayed pain, by this time, burst out all at once.

"Clang—!"

The scalpel dropped to the floor, and he pulled out a Blood Bottle and poured it over his arm, watching as the health bar slowly began to recover.

To stabilize his spirit, he was currently in the Shadow State, with high Mentality Points but very low Health Points.

...Otherwise, with these outrageous forty-odd values, an ordinary player would have gone mad long ago.

He dared not switch to the Bright State.

He feared that once he switched over, his Mentality Points would drop instantly, causing him to lose his sanity immediately.

Unlike any other instance before, this time, the greatest difficulty was no longer death but the madness that even he could not avoid.

During the day, those Players who suddenly fell to the ground, screaming madly, or suddenly attacked others—he still remembered those scenes clearly.

These Players had truly gone mad.

It was said that to maintain stability, others had united to kill these mad Players to prevent them from harming others.

He wondered what these mad Players would become after returning to the Main God Space.

But he knew well, it wouldn’t be anything good.

The psychological organization of the United Group, whose full name he couldn’t recall, was probably having a headache now.

As he thought this, he suddenly felt an even more intense stabbing pain.

He sharply cast his eyes down, only to see that the Blood Bottle in his hand had shattered on the ground at some point, and his right hand, holding the sharp fragments, was writing on his still-unhealed left arm.

Flesh rolled back, bright red filling his entire field of vision.

...His hand, how was it moving on its own...

"Snap!"

He violently threw the fragments in his hand away, took a breath, and pulled out another Blood Bottle to pour over it.

This time, he dared not get distracted in the slightest, not until he saw the wound slowly start to heal, then he finally felt reassured and looked away.

He was panting for breath, feeling his heart beat faster and faster.

...No, he couldn’t continue like this anymore.

He must quickly restore his sanity points, even if it meant breaking down doors, he had to find a chance to kill other Players at night.

His current state wasn’t suitable for facing Lin Jiang, as a moment’s distraction during the fight could cost him his life.

He didn’t know what the criteria for resetting were, but from his experience, resetting wouldn’t restore mental state, the tired would still be tired, and dying once would make him even more exhausted.

He even didn’t know if the aftereffects of resetting would manifest in his sanity points or would be detected...

For the first time, he was scared of resetting.

In such a game instance, he couldn’t rely on his only advantage.

Just like a normal Player with nothing, he felt an unprecedented, helpless inability to start over.

In the midst of extreme chaos, he forcibly calmed himself, thinking of the next strategy.

He needed to kill two Players first to raise his sanity to sixty before facing tonight’s target, Lin Jiang. Only then would he have complete confidence...

"Bang!"

When he heard the sound of the door breaking, he was somewhat slow to react, not immediately understanding what had happened.

Only when he saw a dark-haired girl with blood-red patterns all over her arms and what seemed like rising flames of blood walking in did he realize what was happening.

"Yo, what’s with this state?" Lin Jiang sneered as she looked at him.

Behind her was a corridor deep like an abyss, and beside her were the shattered fragments of a wooden door.

...To have pierced through the wooden door, shattering it, Lin Jiang’s strength had reached a terrifying level.

The reason might be the blood-red patterns on her hands that were twisting as if alive.

Lin Jiang’s current state was completely different from her obsequious demeanor during the day.

It was as if her suppressed combat power had been fully unlocked, and now she radiated a fiery red glow all over her body.

Her face bore a smile, and her arm was already charged with energy.