Ordinary Chapter 14: Flowers and Obsessions

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

Bright red flowers bloomed all over the playfield, ordinary people came out somewhat curiously, looking blankly at the sudden appearance of flowers on the ground, whispering to ask their companions what was happening, and soon, some people found that the power was out in the area and there was no signal at all on their cell phones. They were completely isolated from the outside world.

In that instant, everything was in chaos.

“This is a problem.” Jian Nian leaned over the balcony and watched the chaotic crowd, “Panic can cause people to break down emotionally and become more susceptible to these flowers.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, they saw a man come out of the store, clutching a knife in his hand, stabbing it into the abdomen of a man next door in a moment of trance, and there was dead silence for three seconds, followed by a terrifying scream from the people around them. The stabbed man hurriedly struggled out and crawled, only to be held down by the man with red eyes stabbing down repeatedly.

“Kill you! Go to hell!” The man cursed as he stabbed, with a sob in his voice.

Shen Si was familiar with this man, after all, he was an acquaintance from the business downstairs that was owned by his family. The family had small wealth, and when he was ready to buy a house and marry his girlfriend, a fire in the middle of the night burned his entire store to ashes, but the people woke up in time to escape, but his girlfriend was still burned and left horrible scars on half of her arms.

There were rumors in the neighborhood that the person who set the fire was a small-time gangster in the neighborhood, who had molested the man’s girlfriend and was beaten by him, and went to set the fire in revenge after holding a grudge.

The punk was also the one who was held down by the man and stabbed on the ground.

“That’s how it is.” Jian Nian stared at the farce below with a bit of interest in his voice, “Under the stimulation of these flowers, thoughts that are hidden in the heart by moral force will quickly come tumbling out and they act on them.”

“It is a playfield about the truest self.”

At that Bai JunYi frowned slightly, “…Can it be forcibly stopped?”

“Unless you can find a way to get out of here in three hours, when the red flowers turn black, anyone who didn’t take action will die.” Jian Nian took small steps as he paced in front of Shen Si. His hand clenched tightly behind his back, fingertips were tightened into red from the excessive force, “Shen Si what is the most important thing you want to do now?”

“There doesn’t seem to be anything I want to do.” Shen Si replied without changing his face, “There is no urge to do anything either.”

Jian Nian looked at him, and after a moment he turned his head and continued to look downstairs, “…Is that so?”

“I’ll go out and take a look.” Bai JunYi stepped on the flowers and jumped straight down from the balcony, quickly blending into the crowd and was out of sight the next second.

“Then I’ll also go find a way to leave.” Jian Nian stopped looking at Shen Si’s face, “This playfield is too large in scope, violent destruction is not that simple. In three hours’ time, I will find a way to leave. Shen Si you don’t run around, it will soon be a mess down there.”

Shen Si watched him leave, it was not until his figure disappeared behind the wall that he turned his eyes back. His dark eyes did not have the slightest fluctuation, but there was no disgust either.

Xi Luo picked up his cup from the floor, “What’s going on with you two?”

“That’s going on, ex-boyfriend, broke up three years ago.”

“But as I see it,  you don’t seem to hate him.” Xi Luo played with the cup in his hand.

Shen Si slightly narrowed his eyes, “The relationship between people is not just like and dislike, I didn’t break up with him because I hate him.”

The high school student Xi Luo did not quite understand Shen Si’s words, but it was not difficult for him to understand that Shen Si didn’t actually hate Jian Nian, and broke up with him probably for another reason.

The world of adults is really complicated, Xi Lou thought while shaking his head.

On the other hand, Jian Nian was standing on the ground under Shen Si’s home, he leaned against the wall and covered his chest, his heart was pounding, the blood kept rushing to his head. He had experienced this playfield before, when his obsession was all about Shen Si, the playfield didn’t have Shen Si, so he could only dismantle the playfield to vent his anger, but not now, Shen Si was right by his side.

He was afraid that if he was not careful, he wouldn’t be able to control himself and do things that would make Shen Si disgusted.

So he forced himself out of Shen Si’s range, and as long as Shen Si was out of his sight, he could relax a little.

“So who exactly brought this playfield back?” Jian Nian slightly hooked the corners of his mouth, his dark eyes held a shade of darkness, “I can’t thank you enough for making me so miserable.”

After saying that, Jian Nian put down the hand covering his chest. He lowered his head and quickly merged into the crowd, and within a short while he disappeared.

The playfield was getting more and more chaotic, there were people everywhere who were doing whatever they wanted, people who were doing things they would never normally do, and in an instant, there were no sane people to be seen on the whole street.

Blood splashed on the red flowers, the intense crimson mixed together, looking completely indistinguishable.

“A lot of people will be killed and injured, right?” Shen Si muttered.

“The God of Light is here, there will be people seriously injured, but no one should really die.” Xi Luo stood behind him, “This is not some kind of ghost type playfield, neither the God of Light nor I seem to be of much use, but in fact, the God of Light’s ability is not just to purify ghosts and monsters, he also has very strong healing abilities. Keeping a few ordinary people alive shouldn’t be an issue for him.”

Shen Si gave Xi Luo a look, “He was that kind even in the unlimited flow world?”

“How is that possible?” Xi Luo frowned slightly, “In that world there were some very cruel playfields, making you kill each other until there were only a few people left before the game was considered over. That place was where being kind meant giving up your life, however, it’s different now. There’s no need to do cruel things anymore.”

Shen Si inexplicably felt that this sentence sounded familiar, and after thinking for a moment he remembered that it seemed he had said the same thing after Bai JunYi’s return.

No more cruel things would happen.

“But.” Xi Luo looked at Shen Si, “Brother, how come you seem to be completely unaffected? Even Jian Nian was controlled for a moment because his obsession was too heavy.”

Shen Si blinked, “…Is self-control really that troublesome?”

“Look at these people.” Xi Luo pointed up the road.

The people seemed to have gone crazy and kept doing messed up things, some were laughing, some were crying, and some leapt from high buildings – as if they were patients in a mental hospital having a mass breakdown.

Shen Si shook his head, “I actually really have no desire to do anything.”

“But all humans have something they want.”

“It’s probably because I’ve already gotten everything I want, I don’t have any obsessions.” Shen Si’s voice was flat, “Isn’t that good?”

Xi Luo looked at Shen Si bewildered, “What’s good about it?”

“There is no expectation, there is no disappointment.” Shen Si’s voice was soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing the air, “People who are not easily satisfied will generally have a hard time.”

And what he liked most was to live a simple and comfortable ordinary life.

… 

“How is the situation now? What did the Inspection Unit say?” Ning Yangze stood outside the playfield and kept asking about the process.

“The Inspection Unit says it still needs time.” Xia Leyu was busy and anxious, “Don’t be so anxious, Team Leader, three S-Rank Survivors are inside, there must be no problem in such a short time!”

Ning Yangze almost threw the file in his hand at Xia Leyu, “What do you mean no problem? We don’t know what kind of playfield this was until now, what if it was a cleared playfield? There are ordinary people inside, a person could trigger a condition in half an hour to clear the field directly. We signed a contract with three S-Rank Survivors, but this is within their capabilities.”

“No one is obligated to put their own lives on the line to save others!”

“I’m the one who said it wrong, don’t be angry, Team Leader!” Xia Leyu tapped away on the keyboard, “The Inspection Unit is also very anxious, there are 10,000 people trapped, the top told them to come up with a conclusion in half an hour, from the team leader to the team members are literally hanging on by a thread to do testing.”

Ning Yangze exhaled, “Okay, the Inspection Unit and we are tough brothers and sisters, how is the installation of the explosion-proof devices outside?”

“It’s all set up.” Xia Leyu gave Ning Yangze an OK sign, “Even if this playfield has an explosion, it will absolutely not hurt the surrounding people!”

“Well done.” Ning Yangze was finally relieved. He frowned at the white walls erected high in front of him, these four walls completely isolated the sound inside, and even though they had no idea what was happening inside, they could only hope that the Inspection Unit was right.

Ning Yangze pressed the call button, his voice serious, “Well? Is it feasible to violently destroy the outside of the playfield?”

“It’s not working at all.” The person on the other side was panting with the sound of explosions coming through, “We used all sorts of methods, even fire and then ice, all useless, not even a scratch.”

Ning Yangze frowned, “Nice work, guys, try again, tens of thousands of people inside are waiting for rescue.”

“Understood.”

Hanging up the phone, Ning Yangze kept walking around, he was waiting for news from the Inspection Unit, only when they knew what kind of playfield it was could they judge the situation inside.

“Team Leader, the news from the Inspection Unit is here!”

“It’s here? Give me a look!” Ning Yangze hurriedly walked over, he squeezed next to Xia Leyu and looked at the message sent from the top with wide eyes, there were only a few words on it.

【Mental type playfield: Flower】

Ning Yangze’s eyes went black, he grabbed his hair and almost wailed out, “It’s a mental playfield? Such a wide range mental playfield? Even if the people are rescued, we will have to arrange psychological treatment for this group of people? Tens of thousands of people ah!”

Xia Leyu, who was not a Survivor, looked at Ning Yangze blankly, “Is it that horrible?”

“It’s not horrible, it’s a psychological shadow that’s hard to be erased.” Ning Yangze’s face was ugly, “But the good thing is, this is not an overly dangerous playfield.”

“…It’s better than dying.”