Ordinary Chapter 46: Cognitive Dummy

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

Shen Si took a step forward, ‘Jian Nian’ took a step back, he looked cautiously at the rain behind him, trying hard not to get wet, but not to get too close to Shen Si, as if he was a child who was afraid of adults, terrified after getting lost, but would subconsciously follow behind them.

It was true that Jian Nian was afraid of the rain, but does he have such a personality?

So far, Shen Si had met only one dummy Jian Nian, the same one he met at the beginning, and the bead left when he shattered was still in his pocket.

That ‘Jian Nian’ was more in line with the image of Jian Nian in Shen Si’s mind, will be unhappy because he was far away, said some words to try to stay, will follow him, will also try to get closer to him. Although it sounded a little set, but after all, it was a fake, the dummy should be like this.

Shen Si never thought that Jian Nian would look like this. He was also very sure that his memory of Jian Nian was not this image. Shen Si clearly saw him frowning slightly because of the thunder, his pale fingers pinched on the wall as if he was ready to run away quickly in the next second.

The clock behind him emerged, time was suspended, even the rain and air were stopping, Shen Si casually stirred up the rain and walked forward, the moment he reached this Jian Nian, because of the too close distance, Shen Si could even see the ‘Jian Nian’ pupils contracted violently.

He wanted to escape.

The person directly grabbed and smashed back into the wall, ‘Jian Nian’ did not fight back, but obediently smashed him on top, in the moment of impact, Shen Si could hear the sound of porcelain breaking. The touch of the hand was not warm, there was only the cold feeling of glass in low temperature.

It was indeed a dummy, but a different one.

“Jian Nian?” Shen Si decided to test the waters, so he opened his mouth and called out Jian Nian’s name.

The knot in ‘Jian Nian’s’ throat rolled for a moment as he looked into Shen Si’s eyes. In Shen Si’s sight, he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the reflection of himself in those dark eyes, and he just looked at Shen Si, not even bothering to blink.

In this respect, it did look a lot like Jian Nian.

“Time, pause?” Three seconds later he seemed to find his voice, and he spat out the words very carefully, “Have you mastered it? Sure enough, you’ve always been the best one.”

Shen Si looked at him inexplicably, “What?”

“I felt that way in the old days.” ‘Jian Nian’ eyes locked on him, “No matter what you do you can do the best and have a way to get whatever you want, I’m really happy to be with you, that’s why, I want to follow you all the time.”

Not quite the same, this Jian Nian…

If the dummy Jian Nian that he shattered before was shaped according to Shen Si’s memory, his words were hardly out of Shen Si’s imagination, but this ‘Jian Nian’ was different, he said words that Shen Si had not heard and had not searched for in his memory.

This was not at all the Jian Nian of Shen Si’s conception.

Instead, it was more like Jian Nian’s own self-consciousness.

“Do you want to smash me?” Jian Nian’s voice was soft as he leaned against the wall, fully understanding his current situation, “If you want to do that, you can do it now.”

Shen Si subconsciously let go of his hand, he was very confused about the current situation.

“I just want to follow you, even if you don’t want to see me.”

Such words were really strange, making Shen Si take back two steps into the rain. ‘Jian Nian’ seemed to want to follow, but after seeing the rain he retreated, seemed to think and Shen Si was good at a distance, so he also took two steps back. Shen Si slightly lowered his head, he could see ‘Jian Nian’ wrist.

At his wrist was a crack, the mark from smashing him into the wall by himself just now.

Unexpectedly… fragile?

“Who the hell are you?”

“Who am I?” ‘Jian Nian’ pointed at himself for a moment before he laughed in a self-deprecating way, “I’m Jian Nian.”

Shen Si shook his head, “Jian Nian was just sitting over there, and you’re obviously a dummy, and you even said the words for me to shatter, yet you still think you’re Jian Nian?”

“Then who else could I be?” The ‘Jian Nian’ said this, “I am Jian Nian.”

Only Jian Nian would follow behind Shen Si with a sense of worry, full of the desire to get closer but not daring to do so for fear of Shen Si’s resistance. Only Jian Nian would maintain the status quo almost desperately, afraid that if he went further he would make Shen Si leave completely. Only Jian Nian would be obsessed with Shen Si to such an extent.

Restrain one’s self-control, restrain one’s obsession, restrain the idea that he wanted to see Shen Si. Jian Nian had been trying to make Shen Si no longer hate himself. He knew why Shen Si broke up with him.

If he changed, would Shen Si come back?

“He is me.” ‘Jian Nian’ said this, “Of course I am him.”

The next instant, ‘Jian Nian’s’ figure disappeared, he turned into a black light and left in the opposite direction. Shen Si rushed into the rain, he stared closely at getting the black light, as if he wanted to see where he would actually go.

The surroundings became more and more familiar, exactly where he left at the beginning, Shen Si slowed his pace. He was slightly out of breath, holding on to the wall, clutching the stones on the wall. Shen Si walked out of the alley, on the other side of the alley, Jian Nian was still sitting under the awning.

The jacket was over his head, but this time it didn’t cover his face, and he huddled there staring at the sky, his dark eyes reflecting the trajectory of the falling rain.

“When will the rain stop.” He murmured.

Behind Jian Nian, Shen Si could see ‘Jian Nian’ standing there, he and Jian Nian were sitting on the bench, one in front of the other, one high and one low, as if sensing Shen Si’s line of sight, ‘Jian Nian’ turned his head to meet Shen Si’s eyes, under the curtain of rain, Shen Si could not see his face.

Jian Nian was completely unaware of ‘his’ presence and seemed to be completely focused on the rain in front of him.

But perhaps it really was Jian Nian, or maybe.

…

“No!” Wu Qiu let out a deafening scream, “Vice Team Leader Xia, it’s not the same!”

“What?” Xia Leyu who was startled by Wu Qiu’s voice almost jumped up, he rushed to Wu Qiu’s side to calm her down, “Calm down, don’t be nervous, what’s happening? Is there something wrong with the playfield?”

Wu Qiu almost cried out, “This playfield is different, it’s not the playfield we checked before at all, moreover, the message we gave to the team leader will be misleading, what should we do, Xia deputy team leader, I’m so scared.”

Xia Leyu snapped his eyes wide open, “Different? What the hell is going on? You talk to me carefully, don’t miss any details.”

Hastily wiping clean her tears, Wu Qiu put on her glasses, the next moment, Wu Qiu heavily exhaled, although there were still some tears in her voice, but her voice immediately cleared.

“I just checked a lot of information, and it turns out that this playfield and the previous playfield are fundamentally different, although the difference is not very big, but the pass method is different, moreover, there is a very big misunderstanding in it.” Wuqiu drew out a piece of white paper, and then drew a matchmaker. “There are also dummies in this playfield, the dummies are born according to my memory, and the only way to get out is to defeat these dummies.”

Xia Leyu nodded, “And then?”

“And then, completely different from our previous playfield, this playfield will also be born according to their own memories and perceptions of themselves.” Wu Qiu drew another stick person next to the stick person, “Can you understand? This person is his own perception of himself, so he can be said to be exactly himself.”

“Do you mean that this playfield will not only give birth to other people according to memory and perception, but also give birth to itself?”

“Yes, that’s what I mean!” Wu Qiu slapped the table, “Defeating those dummies is not the main purpose of the game at all, the main thing of this playfield is itself, once the villain with self-awareness is killed by others as a dummy, then the master will also die directly!”

Xia Leyu trembled a little, “… According to the group leader as an example, there is group leader Ning’s self-awareness of the dummies. Because there is a difference with and group leader’s cognitive perception, so group leader will kill him as an ordinary dummy, but once the cognitive dummy dies, he will also immediately die?! Then what do I have to do to stop that?”

“Let yourself be killed off.” Wu Qiu crossed the x mark on the second stick figure, “realize the truest self, perceive that there is a self born, and then be the first to take out this self before others take it out, then the playfield is considered to have passed!”

Xia Leyu sat in his seat and was silent.

He was afraid that even Bai JunYi in the playfield now would think that this was still the original playfield, dummies and real people had an unbridgeable gap. Each person’s self-perception and the outside world’s perception of the, were different, and, even if the dummy had self-perception, it was still a dummy.

How about reminding the person inside?

“… Xiao Ying.” Xia Leyu jerked up, “Wu Qiu, can you contact Night now? Find Yang Yi, let Xiaoying try!”

They needed to let them know!

In the playfield, Shen Si walked up to Jian Nian in the rain, and before Jian Nian could be surprised how Shen Si was back, he directly reached out and ripped Jian Nian off the bench of the awning.

“Ugh?” Jian Nian’s eyes widened slightly and he stumbled, but did not do anything to resist.

Shen Si pulled him down, then pointed to his other self behind him, “Do you see this one?”

“Yes, I can see it.” Jian Nian looked at Shen Si a little strangely, his fingers held in vain, his wrists slim and pale, covered with rain, “But why look behind?”

Shen Si put down his hand, “You do not see something behind you?”

“There is something?” Jian Nian looked behind again, and after a moment he shook his head, “No.”

Shen Si looked at Jian Nian’s eyes, in his eyes, there was only an empty station sign behind, nothing else, Shen Si looked there again, in the original place, ‘Jian Nian’ was leaning on the sign as if he was afraid of the cold, as if he was taking shelter from the rain.

With a somewhat subtle sigh, Shen Si pulled Jian Nian straight into the rain.

“Shen Si?” Jian Nian was caught off guard and was poured with rain all over his head, his jacket was also thrown in place, “What’s wrong?”

“Don’t you want to walk with me?” Shen Si tugged him forward. “I’m giving you this chance.”