Chapter 103: Miss Wanxiang
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lin Wanxiang, Qiu Ren’s good friend in high school and also the only schoolmate who studied at a university near to Qiu Ren’s after they graduated.
Tapir thought she and Qiu Ren would definitely have a lot of common things to talk about.
Unfortunately, when Tapir told Lin Wanxiang why she was here, the answer she got was…
“No.”
Wanxiang immediately rejected Tapir’s suggestion, giving her no room for turning back at all.
“I… just want you… to meet your old friend and… have a chat.”
Tapir looked at this indifferent human girl in front of her in confusion. Her request wasn’t too much… It might not even be a request.
It was simply meeting Qiu Ren and having a chat. They were good friends in the same cla.s.s in high school.
Perhaps Tapir shouldn’t even have to do this. The two of them should have met and contacted each other often as they were studying at universities nearby.
However, that didn’t happen even once. Tapir wasn’t dumb. She just didn’t understand human logic sometimes, but she probably knew why Wanxiang rejected her this time by looking at her indifferent face.
“Is it because of Qiu Ren?”
“…”
Wanxiang pressed her lips gently when she heard this name, as if she didn’t really want to hear it.
“What… did he do?”
In fact, Tapir only had a little information about their relationship in reality. She couldn’t get more detailed information from Fengdu Prison.
“Let me out.”
Wanxiang gave a reply that seemed like she didn’t want to answer the question.
Tapir didn’t make things difficult for this girl on purpose. She could also see the subtle changes on the face of this human girl and knew that she would only answer this question after she left this Nightmare Dungeon.
“After you leave… I hope to continue to maintain… contact with you, just temporarily.” This request from Tapir was accepted by Wanxiang.
She shared her senses with this Lord of Nightmare. When Tapir and Wanxiang established a temporary connection, Tapir let her leave this Nightmare Dungeon.
Wanxiang woke up in the dream-entering device at Yangmei University in reality.
The trauma caused by the death in Battle Royale: Warzone would still be projected in reality.
But as long as the control was adequate, the casualty rate could be reduced to an acceptable level.
However, only students of the Nightmare Purification Major at the three universities could explore this Nightmare Dungeon. Furthermore, they must be students who had absolute confidence in their mental and physical endurance.
The three universities worked together and formed a team for the purpose of “internship,” letting them adapt to the exploration of high-risk Nightmare Dungeons under strict health monitoring.
Not many students applied to join this internship team. First, it was because there were too few qualified seniors. Second, n.o.body would risk their lives for an “internship” in a Level S Nightmare Dungeon.
So, for the seniors of the Nightmare Purification Major, being able to become a member of this team was something they were proud of.
It was worth being proud of in every way. It would be an excellent work experience, or a good resume for the selection of National Dream Makers, that they had started exploring Level S Nightmare Dungeons when they were still studying.
However, Wanxiang didn’t think that this was something she should be proud of. She woke up in the dream-entering device and wiped off the blood from her nose.
After being killed with a headshot in Warzone, the faint pain in her forehead made her extremely tired.
“Your ranking has finally entered the top ten? You’re so strong, Wanxiang…”
“I’m sorry.”
Wanxiang wasn’t in the mood to listen to the compliments from her seniors in her team right now.
After getting down from the dream-entering device to have a body check by the medical staff, she left the dream-entering room and took back her personal belongings.
Tapir watched Wanxiang take out her phone from the bag in her perspective.
There weren’t many extra applications on Wanxiang’s phone. The only third-party app was something like WeChat. When Wanxiang opened her WeChat, Tapir also saw her list of contacts clearly.
There weren’t many people she was chatting with. The latest text came from Wanxiang’s father.
“The Central Research Inst.i.tute has recognized your performance in the Nightmare Dungeon of Battle Royale: Warzone. According to the a.s.sessment of your physical condition by your personal doctor, you can hold on for a while. Xiao Wan, this experience is really important for you to be selected as a National Dream Maker in the future…”
The text message made Wanxiang lie on the table in exhaustion. She rested her head on one arm and used the other hand to touch the screen with her head tilted to the side.
Applying for the internship in Warzone wasn’t her own will. Even signing up to be a Nightmare Maker wasn’t the future she wanted.
It was tough for a normal Dream Maker to be qualified as a National Dream Maker, but there was much greater hope for a Nightmare Dream Maker. After all, it was a profession that traded life for seniority.
Wanxiang’s father was the Director of Ocean Dream Media. One more National Dream Maker in the family would mean an additional quota for a Level A or even a Level S Dream Seed.
Wanxiang didn’t really want to read the text message from her father. She scrolled through her chat records on WeChat and soon found her conversation with Qiu Ren.
The icon of Qiu Ren’s WeChat was a yawning seal. The last time she texted Qiu Ren was ten days ago.
“Are you coming back from Europe? There seems to be a very dangerous Nightmare Seed.”
“Almost.” Qiu Ren added after this message, “I have some trouble here.”
After that, there was nothing.
Wanxiang scrolled up through the chat log with her finger. She and Qiu Ren had actually kept in touch intermittently after graduation.
However, since the day Qiu Ren graduated, or since the day Qiu Ren met Tapir, she and Qiu Ren’s way of keeping in touch had changed. Qiu Ren used to take the initiative to text Wanxiang in the past.
Wanxiang wouldn’t talk to Qiu Ren for too long because she had to study. They basically texted only several times a day, but they still maintained this tacit understanding during high school.
Every day after school, Qiu Ren would send her messages about questions related to the homework to start a conversation. After chatting for a while at night, Wanxiang would end the chat by saying, “I’m going to study now.”
Even though Tapir couldn’t understand some human behaviors, she was in awe of Qiu Ren’s young sentiment of wanting to talk to the girl he liked more when he found his first love.
In the past, this little boy would be so happy that he would reply with a lot of emojis when the girl texted him, “Let’s study together and go to the same university.”
Where did that little boy go?
How did he become a workaholic who dealt with nightmare matters every day?
Ever since Qiu Ren met Tapir, he hadn’t taken the initiative to talk to Wanxiang anymore, making Wanxiang a little uncomfortable. So, after Qiu Ren stopped texting her, she would send him some messages to talk to him about some irrelevant things every other day.
Qiu Ren replied bluntly. This feeling was like two people who were madly in love suddenly separated and lived in two different places. They then gradually had no common topics between them anymore.
Wanxiang didn’t like this feeling, but her personality made her unwilling to ask Qiu Ren for an explanation. Perhaps there wasn’t any reason behind it. She and Qiu Ren weren’t best friends either.
It was normal for them to be like this after they didn’t study in the same school and had fewer common topics.
In fact, she didn’t like the feeling of them drifting apart. In the end, what made Wanxiang decide to stop thinking about it was when her father requested her to join the Alaina Cup and explore that dangerous Nightmare Dungeon as an intern…
There was no one she could talk to… about her fear of Nightmare Dungeons, the helplessness, and the resistance in her mind. So, she sent Qiu Ren a text message. “What kind of a Nightmare Dungeon is Warzone?”
Qiu Ren didn’t reply to this text, not even after the whole week.
It wasn’t that Qiu Ren didn’t want to reply but that he had been swamped lately. He didn’t have time to look at the text messages in reality.
So be it.
This was what Wanxiang thought of Qiu Ren now. So, when Tapir found Wanxiang and wanted her to talk to Qiu Ren, she directly rejected her. The reason why she rejected her wasn’t that she was annoyed; she was just exhausted.
She felt like it would be very, very awkward for her to meet Qiu Ren again. It would be tiring if they didn’t have many common topics to talk about.
Besides, Wanxiang was weary after dying so many times in Warzone. She just wanted to find a bed and sleep.
“What if… Qiu Ren… comes to see you now?” Tapir said another situation.
“For what?”
Wanxiang put down the phone in her hands and rubbed her forehead against her arms. Since her face was facing the table, her voice sounded a little m.u.f.fled.
“I can communicate with you… because I made a deal… with the Lord of Nightmare you contracted. Your Lord of Nightmare… is now talking to my Dream Maker as well. She… seems to have made the same decision as mine. My Dream Maker also agreed.”
Wanxiang yanked her head up, which was buried in her arms. The series of movements had made the hair on her forehead a bit messy.
Wanxiang tidied up the hair on her forehead and made up her mind.
“I’m… going back to the dorm.”
She put her phone into her bag. It seemed that she was planning to go back to the dorm for a rest before she was caught by Tapir.
However, when she came to the building entrance, she found that it had started sprinkling outside the door. The worst thing was, she didn’t bring an umbrella.
Wanxiang looked at the raindrops falling from the sky… She held the strap of her shoulder bag tight and wondered if she should run back to the dorm with such little rain.
And yet, she was too tired. Her body was also very weak because of the torture in the Nightmare Dungeon. She would probably be seriously ill if she ran back in the rain. Then, she would be forced to leave this team, and her father wouldn’t be happy about it.
Anyway, all kinds of troublesome thoughts and results occupied Wanxiang’s mind, making her tired mind and body even more exhausted…
Just as she was about to step forward and walk in the rain, an umbrella appeared above her head. Wanxiang turned to the side… That familiar yet unfamiliar person had suddenly shown up next to her out of nowhere.
“Why didn’t you tell me… you’re raising a Lord of Nightmare, a troublesome chatterbox at that.”
Qiu Ren looked at Wanxiang, whose face was full of exhaustion. When she realized it was Qiu Ren, her sleepy and worn-out expression turned into a shocked one. But it then turned back to the indifferent look of before once again.
“Because you’ve never asked!” Wanxiang said.