Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Ning Shuo had been through eighty or a hundred Scripts by now. Characters he had barely interacted with in the early days had long since faded from memory.

So when he heard the name “Ah Shu,” it did not stir much in him.

It was only when he saw that face that Ning Shuo suddenly found her a little familiar.

He studied her carefully, searching through his memories, and finally matched the face to someone from a certain Hypnosis Experiment. “…Is your husband named Ying Jian?”

Ah Shu’s originally tense expression froze. “You… you know my husband?”

…

The two sides called a temporary truce. Ning Shuo briefly explained the Script with the Dreamweaver. Ah Shu pressed her lips together and said, “In reality, when Ying Jian and I got married, I had only just started working. I was four years younger than him, so I wasn’t that mature.”

After dying and entering the Scripts, even the most sheltered young girl had to grow up.

Ning Shuo sat beside her, his tone as casual as if they were chatting. “What made you choose ‘Ah Shu’ as your codename?”

In a way, the husband and wife were quite in sync.

Ah Shu’s ears reddened slightly. “My husband… always called me that. I liked it. It made me feel cherished.”

“May I ask your real name?”

“Jiang Shu.”

The atmosphere was very harmonious, if one ignored the playing cards in the young man’s left hand and the syringe in the young woman’s right.

The young woman spoke in a soft, gentle voice. “And where is the Player with the codename Number One Swordsman in the World? That’s quite the impressive codename.”

The young man was mild and refined. “You have such a lovely voice. His codename is very chuunibyou.”

“Are you Twins?”

“Not exactly. Maybe clones? I’m not too sure either, but when we’re out and about, we temporarily refer to each other as brothers.”

“I see,” the young woman asked. “Then where is your younger brother?”

The young man replied, “He went to find the Notary Office.”

The harmonious atmosphere stalled for an instant. In the blink of an eye, the needlepoint was blocked by a thin playing card.

Ning Shuo smiled. “Ever since I started exchanging for playing cards as an attack tool, the System raised the price of playing cards to an utterly absurd number. Good thing Ningning has money. I stocked quite a few in my Backpack.”

“Miss Jiang, if you want to find Ningning, you’ll have to get past me first.”

Jiang Shu was panting, and some of the wounds on her body had split open.

A Virtual Screen suddenly popped up before her: [Hello, Player Ah Shu. Testing has confirmed that your Murderer identity has been discovered and successfully confirmed through Accusation. As you are currently in the Arena Preparation Stage, you will not be sent before the Judge. However, your Murderer Mission has failed. Please keep trying.]

Ning Shuo had clearly received the same message.

He held out a hand to Jiang Shu. “Miss Jiang, you no longer have a reason to go over there. Do you need me to help bandage you?”

Jiang Shu’s hand hung at her side, blood running down her forearm. “Since the situation has already been decided, I’ll trouble you, then.”

Ning Shuo bandaged the wound on her arm, his tone as casual as small talk. “You’re from Zone B. Have you ever heard the name Rong Xi?”

After he explained which characters made up the name, Jiang Shu asked, “I haven’t. Is he from Zone B?”

“I’m not sure.”

Jiang Shu understood. “Someone you knew in reality who died?”

Seeing Ning Shuo nod, Jiang Shu said, “Although Zone ABC is the Dead Zone, not every soul who dies in reality enters the System. The souls in Zone ABC are very strange. Some are people who passed away decades ago, and some may be souls who only recently died.”

“I haven’t heard of this Rong Xi you mentioned. Perhaps he’s in Zone B and I simply haven’t heard of him. Perhaps he’s in Zone A or Zone C. But it’s also possible he never entered the System at all.”

“In any case, please accept my condolences.”

Ning Shuo’s expression did not change. He still wore that faint smile at the corners of his mouth. “Thank you. Actually, I’ve already accepted the fact of his death.”

It was just that… he always wanted to ask one more question.
Maybe they would meet again.

Jiang Shu was a doctor herself. She had seen more than her share of partings by life and death. Although the young man looked like he didn’t care, Jiang Shu could still see the sense of loss in him.

So when Ning Wang came back, Jiang Shu quietly shifted over to his side and told him about it.

Looking at Ning Shuo’s inexplicably desolate back as he sat off to the side, Ning Wang thanked Jiang Shu sincerely. She waved it off. “One of my teammates won’t finish their mission for another two days. During that time, I suppose I’m an ‘unregistered resident’ too. I may have to rely on you all for help.”

Jiang Shu pointed at that figure. “Going to comfort him?”

Ning Wang shook his head. “He can regulate himself.”

Xie Ning had never needed comfort from anyone. Even if it came from another version of himself, unnecessary comfort would only make him feel pitied and frustrated.

Besides, right now…

Ning Wang said, “Gege probably wants to do something else more.”

His gaze fell on the corpses strewn across the ground with no one to collect them. As if in answer to his words, Ning Shuo abruptly stood. “What does the Notary Office look like?”

…

The Notary Office was a coffin.

A coffin several meters deep, connected to the ground.

Ning Wang had only just lifted the half-closed coffin lid when 003 poked his head out from inside. “Surprise!”

Seeing that it was Ning Wang, 003 looked rather disappointed. Since it wasn’t 001 this time, he couldn’t even find a chance to chat with someone he knew.

His exaggerated expression faded a little, but he still looked like he deserved a beating. “Here for an Accusation?”

After the Accusation succeeded, 003 said, “In two days, as long as you don’t get killed by the NPCs, you’ll be able to leave.”

Everything in his tone was telling him to hurry up and go.

But Ning Wang didn’t move. His fingers tapped lightly against the back of his hand. “I know you.”

003’s motion of climbing out of the coffin paused almost imperceptibly. “Impossible.”

Even if Ning Wang was gradually recovering his memories, he couldn’t have remembered him so quickly.

Ning Wang was perfectly composed. “Shu Yan, how are you so sure?”

How did he know his name?! Even 001 didn’t know that!

Shu Yan crossed his arms, making an exaggerated gesture of self-protection. “Let me tell you, I don’t know you. 001 told you that name, didn’t he?”

How could he admit it?

With the Main God’s suspicious and stupid nature, if he admitted it, nothing good would be waiting for him.

Anyway, 001 was a Player now. According to the rules, the Main God couldn’t really do anything to him. He might as well dump everything on him.

Shu Yan thought maliciously.

Watching his expression, Ning Wang smiled faintly. “That’s right. Song Zhu told me. Everything I said before was just nonsense.” Like hell it was.

That name had also appeared in his dreams. He just hadn’t been sure which character it used, so he had casually bluffed him.

It was all the same in spoken language anyway. If no one spelled it out, who would know which was which?

Shu Yan had just been about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Ning Wang say pointedly, “Do you think that fragment could be on Mingzhi–in other words, on that Third-Type NPC who appeared out of nowhere?”

Third-Type NPC… Come to think of it, more than half the teams in Zone F seemed to be NPCs.

Shu Yan’s affected expression stiffened. “Hey… You can’t just keep plucking at me because I’m a Joker who can communicate with you normally, can you? What are you even talking about? What fragment?”

Ning Wang stared at him for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “Nothing. Are you leaving?”

“Unless there are special circumstances, a Joker has to wait until the Script ends before leaving.”

Ning Wang nodded, and only then did he leave.

That annoying guy was finally gone. The breath Shu Yan had halfway relaxed, only to have it catch again, finally eased completely. He rubbed the Y-shaped scar on his right wrist, healed over from a burn, and thought that he no longer had any mark left that could shield him from the Main God.