Translator: Cinder Translations
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After properly storing the remaining seafood, the fatty washed his hands and shook them dry as he walked out of the kitchen. He sat down on the couch across from Jiang Cheng.
"Doctor," the fatty hesitated before speaking, "You're not busy right now, are you?"
Jiang Cheng was half-reclined in his chair, one hand holding a toothpick as he picked his teeth, while the other hand scrolled through short videos. In one of the videos, a young woman was dancing energetically, which caused Jiang Cheng's face to turn a little rosy.
"At this time, they're all sleeping to maintain their beauty, and the phone isn't going through," he replied casually.
The fatty was taken aback for a moment, and after a few seconds, he realized what Jiang Cheng meant. He quickly clarified, "Doctor, you misunderstood. I wasn't asking about the rich women, I was asking about... about the task."
Upon hearing the word "task," Jiang Cheng showed the bare minimum respect. He thought for a moment, then turned off his phone and set it down on the desk.
Seeing this, the fatty became more formal. He straightened up and leaned slightly forward, saying, "Doctor, it's still the same question from before," pausing briefly, then continuing, "What exactly does the clue refer to? And who does it belong to?"
At the mention of the clue, Jiang Cheng lifted his head, and his gaze toward the fatty changed slightly. When the fatty was being stared at like that, his first instinct was to avoid eye contact, as if afraid of being discovered.
"Go on," Jiang Cheng gestured with a slight lift of his chin, seemingly intrigued. His finger, which had been lightly tapping the desk, stopped.
The fatty pressed his lips together, looking as though he had made a big decision, and his voice dropped in pitch. "I think that since Zhang Yinyin would inspect the body of the woman in the cheongsam, the so-called clue must be something tangible, not just a message."
"And since we had just entered the mission, the clue wouldn't have been found within it. It must have been something brought in beforehand."
He continued to analyze, "That thing wouldn't have been large; otherwise, it wouldn't explain why Zhang Yinyin had to undo the cheongsam to search. Anything that could be hidden in such a tight-fitting cheongsam must be either very small or..."
The fatty suddenly stopped speaking, his expression complicated as he looked at Jiang Cheng, his gaze becoming strange.
"Or very thin," Jiang Cheng naturally picked up where he left off. He leaned back, half of his body sunk into the comfortable office chair.
From the fatty's angle, half of Jiang Cheng's face was hidden in shadow.
"Like..." Jiang Cheng extended his hand to gesture, "About as thin as a newspaper."
Upon hearing this, the fatty's pupils constricted.
Indeed.
Although he wasn't particularly intelligent, he wasn't stupid either.
During the mission, due to the intense pressure, he hadn't had the time to think much, and things that seemed off were easily overlooked.
But after leaving the mission, especially after being awakened by a nightmare this morning, the strange details began to surface in his mind.
The fatty admitted that Jiang Cheng was very clever, but his performance in this task had been too outstanding.
Not only did he control the pace of the mission with precision, but he had also delivered a crushing blow to his teammates on all fronts.
He could tell that people like Zhang Yinyin, Yu Wen, Zhen Jianren, and Luo Yi were all difficult characters, but in the end, they were all wiped out.
Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng, who had carried him through as a burden, had come through unscathed.
It turned out the clue wasn't with them but with Jiang Cheng.
The clue was the newspaper that Chen Xiaomeng had given Jiang Cheng.
Of course, the fatty still didn't believe the story about Chen Xiaomeng giving him the newspaper; it was all just Jiang Cheng's word.
"Doctor," the fatty was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Did you already know that the newspaper was the clue?"
Jiang Cheng picked up his water cup, took a sip, and said something that made the fatty ponder deeply. "If I had known earlier, do you think I would have kept that newspaper on me?"
The fatty furrowed his brow, and after a few seconds, he spoke up. "So..." His voice stretched out long, "Are we involved in this task because of that newspaper?"
The fatty had always been confused about their second involvement in the task.
Now it was clear: no matter how terrifying the nightmare, it always left a way out for the players.
There could never be a situation where death was inevitable in the nightmare.
That was the rule.
But the reality was, within less than 24 hours, they were once again drawn into another nightmare during the second night's sleep.
This contradicted the premise of the task rule, which didn't allow for a situation where death was guaranteed.
Though the injuries would heal after each task, the energy expended could not be replenished.
It was as if they had gone through several days and nights of intense mental exertion, had a brief rest of less than one day, and then were thrown back into another mental storm.
What was more terrifying was that failure in the game meant death.
In the real world, that meant a mysterious disappearance.
No matter how strong a person was, they wouldn't survive the relentless torment of nightmares without enough rest.
Even Jiang Cheng.
The fatty didn't think that with Jiang Cheng's current condition, he would make it through the third task unscathed.
"That newspaper was the key to starting this task," Jiang Cheng's voice was calm and cold. The fatty rarely saw this side of Jiang Cheng.
When he stopped his usual teasing, his face gave the fatty a completely unfamiliar feeling, causing him to involuntarily straighten up. The intense pressure hit him like a tidal wave, making him feel breathless.
"Chen Xiaomeng..." The fatty's face turned red, his breath becoming erratic. "So... that newspaper was a reward from the last task, and Chen Xiaomeng got it."
There was a long pause, but the fatty knew that what he had said was correct.
The next part of the story was simple. As a newcomer, Jiang Cheng didn't know the newspaper's significance, so he kept it close and went to sleep.
But unexpectedly, by accident, this had triggered a new round of nightmares.
Just as Jiang Cheng had said, that newspaper was a key.
But unlike the first time when they passively entered the nightmare, this time, they had actively chosen to do so.
In a way, possessing the "key" gave them control over whether they entered the nightmare or not.
Although the fatty thought about it a lot, thoughts were strange things—once one part of the puzzle clicked, the rest fell into place within a few seconds.
"Doctor," the fatty looked up, bit his lip, and lowered his voice, asking, "When did you realize this?"
Jiang Cheng glanced at him and calmly responded, "What part?"
"The clue..." The fatty involuntarily swallowed and whispered, "The clue wasn't in their hands. It was in yours, the newspaper."
Jiang Cheng leaned back in his chair and seemed to seriously think for a moment before speaking, "Probably the night I realized that someone was sneaking around among us."
"Luo Yi?" The fatty recalled the scene from that night.
(End of the Chapter)
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