Ordinary Chapter 49: I Am You

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

Although they couldn’t see the dummy following them, Bai JunYi and Jian Nian could still see the dummy behind each other, and the moment of seeing each other’s dummy, they understood what they were.

The self-cognitive birth of themselves, but they couldn’t see themselves. This was the problem of this playfield.

“But I have one more question.” Ning Yangze lowered his head, his voice small, but enough for everyone present to hear, “If even Bai JunYi and Jian Nian can have these dummies, does that mean that all of us present will have such dummies? But, so far, neither Shen Si nor I have one, right?”

Shen Si looked around, and finally, he nodded, “I don’t see any strange dummies following around Team Leader Ning.”

“Neither for Shen Si.” Jian Nian clutched Shen Si’s jacket covering him, “If there was, I would have definitely found it.”

“It’s reasonable that they would all appear.” A voice came from a short distance away, and everyone looked to the side as He Xin approached, holding an umbrella.

Yes, while everyone was getting wet, He Xin came holding an umbrella.

“This playfield doesn’t seem to be the basic playfield that we know, and the way to pass is not to kill ten dummies, but to target the self-born in us.” He seems to find himself holding an umbrella very out of place; he Xin put the umbrella away, stopping in place, “So far there are only two reasons for them not to appear. One is to leave of their own will, and the other is to hide themselves.”

Ning Yangze looked at him, and after a moment, he pointed behind He Xin, “Yours is right behind you, and with two umbrellas.”

He Xin, who couldn’t see at all, took off his glasses. He couldn’t see the road very well in the rain, but he was a bit nearsighted when he took them off, “Is that so? With two umbrellas, to be able to get two umbrellas in this situation, well done.”

Finally, the five people who entered the playfield were considered to have assembled successfully.

In Shen Si’s line of sight, he could see ‘Jian Nian’ walk up to ‘He Xin,’ took the second umbrella from ‘He Xin’s hand, and then honestly nestled under the umbrella. In the moment of nesting under the umbrella, he seemed to see ‘Jian Nian’ close his eyes and gently sigh in relief.

Standing in the rain all the time was still hard, right?

Shen Si didn’t know what mood Jian Nian was in now; after all, he was not Jian Nian. Although he prided himself on knowing him well, ultimately, there were also three years of separation.

Jian Nian’s self-perception of himself seemed to dislike rain even more.

Aware of Shen Si’s sight, ‘Jian Nian’ and he quietly stared at each other for about three seconds, then ‘Jian Nian’ stood up and held up the umbrella to Shen Si about a meter away, handing the umbrella in his hand to him. The rain instantly fell on his body, although it looked no different from earlier, “Here you go.”

Shen Si shook his head, “I don’t want it.”

“Indeed, you never want anything from me.” ‘Jian Nian’ took the umbrella back with a smile on his face, “After all, I don’t have anything but myself. It’s not like I’m afraid of the rain.”

He laughed, then retrieved his umbrella and walked back behind Jian Nian as if he were taking a walk, his whole being presented a feeling that was the opposite of Jian Nian.

Submissive, evasive, and genuinely smiling.

The three people watching the drama from the side looked at each other, and finally, it was Ning Yangze who broke the now bizarre atmosphere.

“Hey, shall we now discuss how to get out of this since this is not the playfield we perceived at the beginning?” Ning Yangze raised his hand, “Killing ten or even more dummies won’t work, right? Because this playfield is not based on that.”

“Although I know it’s important to leave, I’m still going to kill Parasite first.” Bai JunYi’s voice was gentle, “Sorry, is that a problem for anyone? I have an overwhelming obsession with Parasite, and I really can’t help it.”

“And the matter of why one can’t see the dummy one perceives.” He Xin added, “I think this should be the most critical point.”

Shen Si quickly understood He Xin’s meaning, “I know what Team Leader He means. When we can see our own conscious body, then it is likely we’ll find a way to leave this playfield.”

“That’s right.” He Xin nodded, “Except for Mr. Bai, we need to look into this.”

Everyone present tacitly agreed that Bai JunYi would go after Parasite, and they weren’t going to let Bai JunYi make any compromises, letting him do what he wanted. Although Bai JunYi was an S-Rank Survivor, it wasn’t like they couldn’t do anything without Bai JunYi.

They gave Bai JunYi the maximum freedom to pursue all that he was obsessed with.

Step, step. 

Just then, a streak of footsteps sounded, the sound of shoes treading water was so obvious that everyone present noticed, they looked around. In the rain, a large group of dummies slowly approached, some of their looks were recognized, and some were not, but everyone present understood.

The target of this group of dummies was them.

With dull, robot-like faces, they clutched their weapons and approached step by step, and there were probably dozens of dummies around them alone.

He Xin frowned slightly because, in his senses, these dummies didn’t attack him at first; their sight was more to his back, behind him, as if… was it the cognitive self dummies?!

The purpose of this group of mechanized dummies was to kill these cognitive born selves?

“Protect the dummies!” He Xin instantly opened his mouth to remind those around him, “We can’t see our dummies; we can only exchange to protect them; if the dummies die, we will die as well!”

Ning Yangze answered, and he quickly ran to He Xin, holding the sword in his hand to block He Xin’s dummies while He Xin moved back to Bai JunYi’s side.

This was a cooperative battle; after it was clear that the current situation was not the end, what they had to do was to protect each other.

If this was in the world of unlimited flow, it would be a very scary playfield because the Survivors in the world of unlimited flow would only ever protect themselves. They would do anything to survive, and it was expected that a large number of people would choose to kill the dummies around them that they couldn’t see to remove the factors that may cause their own death.

But now it was different; they were able to protect their teammates.

The dummies weren’t very powerful; they seemed mass-produced to disrupt Survivor’s props, so they were actually similar to slightly harder glass, but there were just too many of them.

Jian Nian held up a wooden hammer and kept shattering the dummies in front of him, occasionally responding to the others. He spent little effort, as an S-Rank Survivor, Jian Nian dealt with these dummies too easily, but as the rain kept falling, his mood became worse and worse with the rain.

His mood hadn’t been good since he learned about his other self behind him.

He felt irritable and depressed; that sullen feeling kept coming back to him; this feeling was not jealousy; as he quieted his mind to think, he found that this feeling could be fear.

What exactly was it that was being feared?

As an S-Rank Survivor, having spent so many unspeakable playfields in the world of unlimited flow, meeting all kinds of unspeakably disgusting people, Jian Nian had never felt fear. He just wanted to see Shen Si and kept thinking about the days they had spent together.

He was not even afraid of death; what was he afraid of now?

Smashing the dummy in front of him, Jian Nian tugged Shen Si’s jacket with the other hand to prevent it from slipping off his body. Although it was also wet, the jacket still blocked a little water, and at least under cover of the jacket, he could easily see the dummy rushing over.

Just then, Jian Nian heard the sound of breaking from behind him, and the moment he turned around, it seemed that pieces were falling.

By the way, although he couldn’t see it, his perceived dummy should be right behind him, right?

Tick.

A clock floated in the air; time was suspended. Shen Si walked towards Jian Nian’s direction, and at every step, the stopwatch rewound a second, everyone’s actions changing as the clock rewound. Time was turned back. When Shen Si walked to Jian Nian’s side, time flowed again, and the stopwatch moved forward again.

Shen Si grabbed Jian Nian’s hand, and at the moment when Jian Nian was caught off guard, he aimed Jian Nian’s wooden hammer at a location behind him, and with a bang, the bullet was shot out.

The bullet grazed the corner of ‘Jian Nian’s’ coat, instantly shattering the dummy behind him, and the crisp sound of breaking glass rang out.

“The person who needs your protection is behind you.” Shen Si looked at Jian Nian, “But it can’t be helped if you can’t see it, I’ll guard behind you.”

At that moment, Jian Nian suddenly remembered when he was a child, or rather the time before they broke up; it seemed like every time, he stood behind Shen Si because of his health, and Shen Si would take care of everything for him. Whether it was his peers who laughed at him or his family who tried to tell him to go to hell. Shen Si was really a very reliable person, who always seemed to tolerate him before saying no.

Jian Nian suddenly understood why he was afraid and what he was afraid of.

Although he had been trying to change his bad habits and hoping Shen Si wouldn’t continue to hate him, after all, that was the self-perception of himself, his own mind. Jian Nian was afraid, afraid that the perception of himself was still the same as before.

The person who was doing the things Shen Si hated, saying the things that Shen Si hated, and maybe even hypocritically reminiscing.

What if that was the case?

Jian Nian subconsciously grabbed Shen Si’s sleeve; he looked into Shen Si’s eyes, “Shen Si!”

“What?”

He didn’t know what to say. Speaking up in defense or covering it up was too blunt, so Jian Nian slowly let go of Shen Si’s hand, his dark eyes empty.

“Jian Nian?” Shen Si looked at him, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Yes, this is your truest appearance.” ‘Jian Nian’ suddenly spoke; Shen Si looked at him; at that very moment, Shen Si’s afterimage noticed that Jian Nian had likewise raised his head. He looked at ‘Jian Nian,’ Shen Si hurriedly turned back to Jian Nian’s eyes and imprinted the dummy’s figure in his eyes.

Jian Nian, can see it?

“With the disgust of self, worrying whether you will be disgusted by Shen Si, wanting to approach but not daring to do so.” ‘Jian Nian’ approached with his umbrella and said. “This is you, and this is me.”