After the Little Crybaby Enters the Nightmare Cycle
Chapter 112

[The system is checking… Sleepwalker Chi Nan’s body has suffered severe damage… Please leave the system crash area immediately… Otherwise…]

[…Otherwise…Chi Nan will enter a death state…]

The system’s warning was intermittently transmitted, like a dying person lying in a hospital bed and struggling to say their last words.

Chi Nan and You Yu quickly exchanged looks. it was beyond their expectations that they could connect to the system that had disappeared for several days.

Chi Nan immediately asked, “Dream maker 229 and I are trapped in a safe passage and can’t leave. Can I ask for help from the system?”

The system fell into a long period of ‘bad signal’ noise and it took a while before it answered.

[The system will do everything it can…to help you and 229 get out of the necrotic loop channel…]

[But due to severe damage to the system…lack of energy… There is no guarantee that effective help can be provided…]

The burn marks on Chi Nan’s body increased and he could even smell something like burning iron on his skin.

Fortunately, he couldn’t feel the pain of being severely burned. He just had to endure the visual discomfort.

“System, can you repair yourself and temporarily restore the use of the safe passage?” Chi Nan tried to ask.

[Sorry… The bug has destroyed the safe passage… The system doesn’t have enough energy to execute the command…]

“Can you help me contact the outside world to request help?”

The system struggled for a while before its voice faded. [Sorry… Since the communication equipment of Zi City has been completely destroyed…the system can’t communicate with the outside world.]

You Yu wondered, “Can you switch to emergency mode to connect to the main system?”

System: [The emergency mode has fully collapsed… Unable to switch modes… Unable to transfer to the main system…]

[I’m very sorry… The Zi City system is in a state of serious collapse… can’t connect to the correct Nightmare World…]

The sound of the system was gradually drowned out by electrical interference.

You Yu looked grim. “We can rely on the residual energy of the safe passage and your identity advantage to access the system. However, now the system has entered ‘local mode’ and there is no way to provide us with more help.”

“Identity advantage?” Chi Nan tried his best to pull his sleeve down in order to cover up the burn marks on his exposed skin.

He didn’t want to see his body melt away.

Contrary to expectations, Chi Nan’s neck also started to show serious burn marks. His originally white skin was like ignited paper. It quickly curled and burst under the flames, turning into thin patches of charred bark. A large area of dark red muscle under the skin was exposed to the air and dense blisters spread along the wounds.

Chi Nan quickly tightened his collar, but You Yu’s gaze had long been focused on his shocking wounds. He didn’t say a word but his gaze was heavy. Chi Nan didn’t understand how to interpret the complicated emotions in the other person’s eyes. He just felt that You Yu’s gaze on him was overwhelming.

“Can you not look at me?” Chi Nan pursed his lips. He seemed a bit aggrieved and a bit sorry. “I don’t want you to see your body like this.”

You Yu didn’t immediately look away and just stared at the rapidly spreading burns on Chi Nan’s body. “Brother Nan, I don’t care what this body looks like.”

“……”

“I care about you.”

Chi Nan was stunned for a moment before saying very quietly, “But I care.”

You Yu’s lips pursed in a straight line and he replied after a moment, “Okay.”

He looked away. He walked to the balcony and threw a pot of mint downstairs. They didn’t hear the sound of the porcelain pot falling to the ground. Instead, a pot of mint fell from the sky onto the edge of the balcony where they were located. The porcelain pieces spilled over the guardrail and the emerald green mint mixed with soil smashed at Chi Nan’s feet.

The whole space had become an endless loop and objects were constantly repeating in 206.

Chi Nan crouched down to pick up the mint on the ground. As he was brushing the dirt off the leaves, his eyes suddenly lit up. A bold, experimental idea flashed through his mind.

Chi Nan called out to the dying system, “Just now, you said that you can’t connect to the right Nightmare World, correct?”

The system made a sound similar to a broken bellows. [Yes.]

Chi Nan wondered, “Then if I ask you to connect to a bug, can you do it?”

System: [Sorry… The system can’t…understand your instructions.]

“Can you help connect us to the ghost tunnel bug?”

According to the information just revealed by the system, the bug of Zi City had cut off its connection with the Nightmare World. This didn’t mean that it had cut off its connection with other bug systems.

If the ‘correct system’ was regarded as a space and the ‘collapsed system’ was regarded as another space, with the two severed spaces unable to be connected, then transmission in the same space seemed much simpler.

The system seemed to be down for a few seconds. [The system can make a connection attempt… Please provide the approximate coordinates for ‘Ghost Tunnel’.]

You Yu quickly reported the copy of the Highway 404 instance.

The system might’ve cleared the record of the ghost tunnel bug at the Dawn Base, but You Yu believed that Chi Nan could reproduce the disappeared record.

[Received coordinates…positioning is a success… The system is trying to connect…]

The system interface showed the icon of being connected. Then it seemed stuck and unable to move. As minutes and seconds passed, You Yu saw Chi Nan’s body that seemed to have no intact skin left and his breathing was suppressed and trembling.

The waiting time was more torturous for him than the process of dying 11 years ago.

“Don’t peek.”

Chi Nan’s voice was as calm as usual, but You Yu heard a bit of a spoiled tone from his tone, although it was most likely his self-righteous fantasy.

“Okay, I won’t peek.”

“Was the command to kill the Lord God issued by the collapsed system, or was it a condition given by the correct system in self-protection mode?” Chi Nan asked You Yu a question as if to pass the long waiting time.

You Yu shook his head with a calm expression. “It is too contradictory. I can’t be sure.”

“From the very beginning, the system has tried again and again to wipe out traces of your existence. From this, it can be inferred that the correct system wants to kill the ‘Lord God’ through the hands of the survivors… i.e. kill you and restore some type of order. However, there are always signs that makes me think…”

You Yu paused and stared deeply at Chi Nan. “You and the system are inseparable.”

“Huh?”

“I’m pretty sure you are the dream god.”

You Yu stared into Chi Nan’s green eyes and his tone was low and serious. “Or rather, you are part of the dream god.”

“I just don’t understand why the system is desperately trying to obliterate the existence of the dream god.”

Chi Nan’s green eyes widened. He was about to make a sound when the system connection icon disappeared.

[Sleepwalker Chi Nan, please note…the system has successfully connected to the ‘Ghost Tunnel’ bug… The transfer process requires a lot of energy…but the system is now low on energy…so…]

The system got stuck again for a long time. Chi Nan looked at the pocket watch. It was already 12:15. They had no time.

“How do I help you gather the energy?” Chi Nan asked hurriedly.

The system didn’t beat around the bush. [Please agree and confirm…to transfer your own energy to the system…]

Before You Yu could stop him, Chi Nan replied without hesitation, “Yes, I agree. Confirm.”

“Brother Nan—!”

Chi Nan told him, “Let’s get out of here first. Then we can figure things out about the system and the dream god.”

System: [The energy transfer request from Sleepwalker Chi Nan has been received. Now connecting you to the ‘Ghost Tunnel’ bug.]

The system sounded much more energetic after receiving Chi Nan’s energy.

At the same time, a howling wind blew from all directions. The door of Room 206, which showed no end in sight in the corridor, was blown open from inside to outside. A banging sound was heard that made people feel frightened.

In the room, heavy curtains fluttered in the strong wind. The window glass, which couldn’t be opened or shattered, was easily blown open by the window. The rain outside the window entered the room and quickly soaked the curtains.

Countless 206 rooms were playing the same scene.

[The connection is completed and the passage to the ghost tunnel has been opened.]

Chi Nan and You Yu walked into one of the Room 206s and stood by the window. The fierce wind carried the damp smell of rain to their faces, and outside the window was endless night and rain.

You Yu instinctively looked at the Crying Boy on the wall again. The scenery from the window was exactly the same as the background remaining on the canvas.

Or rather, if anyone looked at the house from the window, then the window frame would look like the Crying Boy painting.

It was just that Chi Nan had one more person by his side.

This time, Chi Nan took the initiative to grab You Yu’s hand. All the skin on his hand had fallen off, leaving dark red muscles and some ashes from burnt skin tissue.

“Are you afraid of jumping down?” For some reason, Chi Nan asked a question that even he thought was superfluous.

His voice was blown away by the strong wind and scattered to the ground.

You Yu laughed carelessly. “Brother Nan, is there any worse situation than our current one?”

There was a hint of a joke in his laugh, as if he was laughing at his incompetence after losing the privileges of the system.

In a sense, the bald man was right when he said that You Yu could do nothing after being stripped of his privileges.

You Yu opened his eyes and jumped from the window into the rain curtain with Chi Nan.

The process of falling was very long. Countless 206s with open windows flew past his eyes in this upside-down posture and the same scene in the room reoccurred, blurring into a yellow spot of light in the rain.

The rain was getting heavier and the weightlessness became wet and sticky. You Yu and Chi Nan’s interlocked fingers were suddenly drenched.

Then, during the fall, Chi Nan suddenly disappeared from his side.

Before You Yu could make a sound, the entire building filled with Room 206s was surrounded by a raging fire that crackled and burned in the damp night.

The flames quickly surrounded him. You Yu closed his eyes and his body fell into a void. The more he struggled, the deeper he fell…until a suffocating sense of nothingness drowned him…

A brief time later, You Yu regained his consciousness and found that he was still lying in his bedroom in the old mansion.

Unlike the repeating Room 206s in the ruined Zi City, the blazing flames engulfed the curtains, carpet…everything in the room. It was the night of his death 11 years ago and the scene he saw from the ghost tunnel.

Yet when You Yu looked at the west wall of the bedroom, the Crying Boy painting had already been caught in the flames. There was the sound of wood cracking and the burned painting fell off the wall into the fire.

“Chi Nan—”

The moment You Yu rushed over, time froze and it seemed like the pause button was pressed on his consciousness.

Everything was being quietly destroyed.

***

“Hey 229, wake up.”

It was 207’s voice. The air was filled with the cheap smell of industrial leather and choking second-hand smoke.

You Yu’s chaotic memories were like waves crashing into his subconscious mind. The sunlight was too strong and he struggled several times to open his eyes.

You Yu soon found himself lying on the steering wheel with his hands on his face.

“Are you okay? You weren’t able to wake up.” 207 sat in the front passenger’s seat and bit a cigarette. Then she saw You Yu’s pale and terrifying face and her casual expression changed. “F*k, what’s wrong with you? Why is your expression so ugly?”

The moment You Yu woke up, he confirmed that he was sitting in the driver’s seat of the EM00404 car, just as when he last woke up from the ghost tunnel.

However, there were only 207, Jiang Yu, Pei Mo, Lu Baizhou, and himself in the car.

“What about Chi Nan?” You Yu’s hand holding the steering wheel tightened and trembled as he was filled with an ominous fear.

207 was stunned. She had never seen her craziest and most playful colleague show this…type of desperate look like the sky was about to fall.

She was stunned for a moment before her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Chi Nan? Who is that?”

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Proofreader: Kat