Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Strands of hair clung to the side of his face, completely ruining his sophisticated, scholarly look.
He was relying purely on his face to pull it off now.
Fearing his glasses might fall off, Ning Shuo had removed them in advance.
Ning Wang knew Ning Shuo wouldn’t sink, but he still instinctively helped him up onto the shore.
An Sheng gave them a hand as well.
Within a few minutes, the “Golden Light Piercing the Cave” vanished. Ning Shuo watched the thickening fog and said, “Go to the Dreamweaver’s place first.”
He leaned lazily against Ning Wang, his posture clearly conveying three things: he was tired, he wanted a back-ride, and they needed to move.
Considering the sickly man had exerted a lot of effort and was injured, Ning Wang carried him on his back. An Sheng carried Shen Xiao, who had passed out from excessive blood loss, and together they headed toward the Dreamweaver’s house.
The closer they got, the thicker the fog became, which inversely proved that something was there.
Ning Shuo told the others to stay close so they wouldn’t get lost. After much effort, they reached the small courtyard, and the thick fog suddenly dissipated.
Upon entering, they were faced with a place resembling a small shop window.
The Clown stood inside, looking at them with a smirk. “Congratulations! My, this time there are…”
He counted heads with a white-gloved finger, marveling, “Six this time? Not bad at all! It looks like we have an All Survive situation?”
The Clown picked up a nearby dagger and said with a giggle, “Whether everyone actually makes it depends on whether your Accusation is successful.”
“A friendly reminder: in this Script, all Players are treated as a single unit during the Accusation phase. If even one Accusation is wrong, the mission fails for everyone!”
The Clown pointed at the two people who were clearly in worse condition before finally pointing at Ning Shuo, saying maliciously, “You, sir, shall be the one to answer!”
Ying Jian wanted to tell Ning Shuo who they suspected the Murderer was, but the dagger was suddenly at his throat. He hadn’t even noticed when the Clown had stepped out of the Notary Office.
“No, no, no. I want that pathetic-looking gentleman to answer,” the Clown said, tapping the flat of the blade against Ying Jian’s chin. “Don’t you speak. I wouldn’t mind giving you a little cut first.”
“The rules tell me that as long as you don’t die, I can make it so you never speak again.”
Silence spread among the players. The Clown turned back to Ning Shuo, pacing around him. “Hmm? Sir, are you dead?”
“Oh, you’re still alive. Why aren’t you speaking?”
“If you don’t make your Accusation soon, the Notary Office will be closing.”
The Clown looked at the sky. “Oh dear, night is falling. It’s almost time to clock out.”
“Chen Sichen,” Ning Shuo suddenly spoke.
Hearing this, the Clown instantly popped up in front of him. “In PvE mode, please state the Murderer’s identity within the Script!”
Ning Shuo said calmly, “The Dreamweaver, Chen Sichen.”
An Sheng looked at him in horror. *Are you crazy?! Isn’t the Dreamweaver dead?!*
While the others retreated in fear, Ning Wang didn’t take a single step back while carrying Ning Shuo.
The Clown suddenly burst into laughter. “Bingo! Accusation successful! Next, Players, please choose whether or not to leave the Script.”
The others looked at Ning Shuo in shock, only to see the two of them already vanishing from the spot.
***
[Congratulations to Player Number One Swordsman in the World for leaving the Script ‘Dreamweaver’s Troubles’. The complete storyline will now be introduced.]
[You are a thief suffering from insomnia and anxiety. One day, you saw a post on social media from a friend who claimed to be from Dreamville, inviting friends with insomnia to visit for a vacation.]
[You were puzzled. Does a place like Dreamville really exist?]
[You asked your friend for more information and promised to bring her a Red Hair Ribbon as a thank-you gift. At dusk, when you arrived at the town according to the address, you found it to be a deserted town.]
[You quickly searched for the address and finally found a post on a small Forum: A case occurred here many years ago. A hypnotist suffered from a mental illness and not only killed a young girl but also went insane, disemboweling her and hollowing out all her internal organs.]
[Before you could finish reading, someone suddenly pushed you from behind.]
[When you woke up again, you had forgotten about the deserted town. You only remembered that you suffered from insomnia and had been invited by a friend to find the Dreamweaver here to solve your problem.]
***
[Congratulations to Player Ning Banxian for leaving the Script ‘Dreamweaver’s Troubles’. The complete storyline will now be introduced.]
…
Ning Shuo was exhausted to the point of death. He closed the System notification before it even finished playing.
Then, he fell asleep.
The audience went wild.
[Why is the Murderer the Dreamweaver!!?]
[Why-can he fly too-!?]
[That Ning Wang, I’m not seeing things, right!? An NPC from the last Script escaped!?]
[He’s the Number One Swordsman in the World?? What the hell???]
[So! Did you guys see Ning Wang’s dream? He’s Xie Ning! Ning Shuo’s pen name is Ning Xie! They’re either past and present lives, or past and future!!]
[These people have such good luck. Logically, with six people and three rooms, someone should have been asleep, but it just so happened that every room had someone who couldn’t sleep. In the only room where everyone was out, the Half-Immortal woke up just in time.]
[Even though I’m used to it, I still want to laugh.]
[There are threads about this Script on the Forum. It even filters Players to make it easier to extract relevant memories during the hypnosis process and trap them inside.]
[That bug from the last System update was actually meant to guide the NPC to make an Accusation.]
[LMAO, after the update, some other Players tried to copy him. They ended up being cornered by the Clown, who demanded they make an Accusation. They were eliminated on the spot.]
[To be honest, when I saw the Swordsman pick up the Half-Immortal, my DNA was tingling…]
[I feel you, sis!! This is basically a ready-made Narcissus ship…!!]
[Waaaaah, Rong Xi is so pitiful!]
[Ning Shuo is so fucking cold-blooded.]
[Hey you above, did you even understand that hypnosis? Why are you shouting?]
…
It was already ten at night when Ning Shuo woke up.
He was woken up by hunger. As he drifted out of bed like a wandering ghost, Ning Shuo paused.
It smelled quite good.
He swerved into the adjacent cubicle. Ning Wang was flipping through a book with a bowl of noodles sitting in front of him.
Ning Shuo swallowed hard. “Is that for me?”
Ning Wang didn’t even look up. “Who else would it be for?”
“How did you know I’d wake up at this time?”
“I didn’t. This is the third bowl of noodles I’ve bought.”
Ning Shuo’s hand paused as he reached for the noodles. He asked in disbelief, “The five-hundred-yuan-a-bowl kind?”
Seeing Ning Wang nod, Ning Shuo’s hands became solemn as he took the bowl. Watching him slurp the noodles, Ning Wang asked with a hint of amusement, “Were you that tired?”
Ning Shuo replied, “Give me a break. I’m old. I don’t have as much energy as you; it’s normal. So, where did the first two bowls go?”
“Sold them to other Players at a discount.”
Ning Wang asked, “You discovered the Murderer was the Dreamweaver because everyone’s reflection was the Dreamweaver’s face when the Golden Light Piercing the Cave happened?”
Ning Shuo nodded. “When we entered the real world through that door, we knew the world we were in at the start wasn’t real.”
“The world reached through the portal during the Golden Light Piercing the Cave-that was the real one.”
Ning Shuo continued, “The victim wasn’t the Dreamweaver.”
“That fake world simply used the Dreamweaver’s corpse to clear him of suspicion.”
“The person who actually died was that little girl. We had to find the one who killed her.”
“The center of the entire dreamscape wasn’t the Dreamweaver; it was Wanzi.”
Wanzi was the one reflecting that dream. It was precisely because the Dreamweaver killed Wanzi that every Townsperson’s reflection in the water was the Dreamweaver.
Ning Shuo hadn’t come away from the library empty-handed. Besides the numerous psychology books, there was a case about a mentally ill murderer where the killer’s name was Chen Sichen.
There were no photos or other descriptions, but combining all the clues, this person was very likely the Dreamweaver.
Furthermore, there were hidden clues in the Hypnosis Experiment: almost every mention of mental illness referred to a villainous character.
Where did the internal organs go?
Ning Shuo thought of the two jars next to the Notary Office and shook his head. He immediately took a sip of the hot soup, feeling warmth spread through his body. “Once this Script starts its next loading phase, it’ll be over.”
He glanced at his Backpack.
The clue slot was empty. The Remaining Incense had been used up at some point.