Ordinary Chapter 52: This is me, and this is you

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

The playfield was huge, and the rain kept falling, which led to a not-so-complicated but deadly problem. Shen Si had not been able to find his cognitive dummy.

Sitting at the stairs of the underground passage, Shen Si looked at the green leaf in his hand, and after a moment he looked at Jian Nian who was sitting next to him, “Aren’t you leaving?”

“Leave?”

“You can already see your own cognitive dummy, just smash him and you can leave from this playfield, it is dangerous to stay any longer, why don’t you leave?”

Jian Nian lowered his head, “What will you do if I leave? You can’t see your own cognitive dummy, let alone break him. I can stay and help you find it, if you are left alone, you will not be able to find it, and may be injured by other dummies, how can I feel comfortable leaving you alone?”

“Worried about me?” Shen Si lowered his head again, “Actually, it’s not necessary.”

“Because it’s not necessary, you don’t worry about it? Even you know that this is impossible.” Jian Nian laughed a little, he lay down on his back, wet water stains on his body instantly soaking the steps, “Or you can pretend that I want to see what your perceived dummy is like, anyway, I’m not leaving.”

Should he say he was capricious or expected this from the beginning?

Shen Si looked helplessly at Jian Nian lying down, and then he looked behind him. At a distance of about two meters from them, Jian Nian’s cognitive dummy was sitting there, keeping a distance from them, but not moving away, just walking down like this, and seemed to have no idea that he would be shattered by Jian Nian.

In fact, Shen Si knew very well that even if they found a way to leave, they would not break their cognitive dummies so easily, because there were still many people spread out in this playfield.

Most of them were members of the Special Unit, and Ning Yangze was the team leader of the Special Unit, and as the leader of the group, Ning Yangze had the obligation to bring out all the people in it.

This playfield wasn’t like other playfields where everyone could leave as long as they passed, this playfield was for individuals; those who succeeded could go out and those who failed would stay. If they couldn’t break their own cognitive dummy for life, then they would also stay in this playfield for life.

Helping them find themselves, break their own cognitive dummy, Ning Yangze would not leave until everyone leaves.

“Hey.” A voice sounded behind him.

Shen Si glanced towards the entrance of the underground passage where Bai JunYi stood waving at them, after making sure they heard him, Bai JunYi ran over, looking relaxed.

“Well?”

“Can’t find it.” Jian Nian sat up, “Shen Si’s cognitive dummy is nowhere to be found. We searched a lot of places and looked at all the locations with lots of plants, but nothing was found.”

“So that’s it.” Bai JunYi sighed, “In that case, Shen Si’s cognitive dummy is the only one from us who we can’t find. There’s no other way, let’s find it together. Ning Yangze and He Xin are helping the remaining Survivors find their cognitive dummies, they will join in when they are done. “

Shen Si twirled the blade in his hand, “Thanks for the trouble, everyone.”

“Wait a minute…” Bai JunYi blinked as he looked at the leaf in Shen Si’s hand, “Shen Si, what’s that in your hand?”

“The leaf of Devil’s Silk Thread.” Jian Nian looked at Bai JunYi, “We met Devil’s Silk Thread on the road, it seemed to be Parasite. He was very weak, and his leaf was taken off by Shen Si after time was suspended. You didn’t finish him off?”

“Already finished him off.” Bai JunYi explained, “I cut off his roots, the body has also died, now he is simply a rootless Devil’s Silk Thread, in other words, just a plant. He will no longer be aggressive, and will probably soon wither because there is no nutrient fertilizer.”

Jian Nian thought about it, he looked at Shen Si, “Are you interested in him, Shen Si?”

“What?”

“Devil’s Silk Thread.” Jian Nian looked at the Devil’s Silk Thread leaves in Shen Si’s hand, “You picked the leaves of Devil’s Silk Thread before, right? We haven’t seen where Parasite’s cognitive dummy is until now, do you think it’s possible for them to be together? Because compared to the fake flowers and plants in the playfield, the Devil’s Silk Thread is real.”

Bai JunYi: … 

There was a full five seconds of silence before Bai JunYi found his tongue, and he tentatively opened his mouth to issue a question, “Jian Nian, you mean to say that because of liking plants, Shen Si’s cognitive dummy is following Parasite’s cognitive dummy?”

“That’s what I mean.” Jian Nian nodded his head, and slightly narrowed his eyes with a little helplessness in his voice, “Have you forgotten? In the mental playfield, Shen Si tried to keep the flowers inside, his interest in plants would not be limited to ordinary plants at all.”

Shen Si looked at Jian Nian, “Hey, I’m still here in person.”

“But that’s the most likely ah.” Jian Nian smiled and came up to Shen Si with a big smile on his face, “Shen Si, even you don’t know what you are interested in, so there’s no other way, we can only look for the most probable place.”

Looking at Shen Si who was full of helplessness and Jian Nian who was smiling a bit badly, Bai JunYi couldn’t help but sigh with relief. These two people were actually not as stiff as they appeared, and really acted how people who grew up together would. Their relationship was pretty good.

“So we’re going to find Parasite’s cognitive dummy?” Bai JunYi squatted down and looked at them, “If it’s Parasite, I probably know where he’ll be.”

Jian Nian stood up from the ground, “Then let’s go, hurry up and find Shen Si’s cognitive dummy, and get out of here quickly. It’s raining everywhere, and it’s annoying.”

Standing up from the ground, Shen Si put the leaf in his hand back into his pocket, looking rather casual.

Bai JunYi watched his movement, then only spoke, “You’re just putting it in your pocket? Won’t it fall out?”

“No, and it doesn’t matter if it falls out.” Shen Si tidied up his clothes, “I have just seen it, it’s no different from an ordinary one. After picking it off it is the most common plant, if I can take it back then of course it is good, if I can’t take it out then there is no regret. I already have Devil’s Silk Thread in my botanical specimen.”

Bai JunYi smiled and nodded, “Understood, then let’s go find Parasite’s cognitive dummy.”

The mark that was planted on Parasite before was still on him now, the broken-root Devil’s Silk Thread had been under Bai JunYi’s monitoring, but so far he really hadn’t seen Parasite’s cognitive dummy, and the fact that Parasite was still alive also meant that nothing had happened to his cognitive dummy either.

Walking all the way to the location where he had killed Parasite earlier, Bai JunYi looked around.

“It’s around here.”

“Here?” Jian Nian looked at the ground, there was a crack. The ground was almost turned over, but the most eye-catching was the middle of the crack, where a pale person was lying, black jacket was covering that person’s face, and no matter how one looked at it, it should be Parasite.

This was the main body of Parasite that was killed by Bai JunYi.

What a complete lack of disregard.

Shen Si looked around, the sound of heavy rain clattering almost obscured other movements, he lowered his head slightly, a Devil’s Silk Thread slowly creeping up from under his feet. Expressionlessly lifting his foot, before the vine could wrap up on his ankle, he stepped on it, and Shen Si seemed to hear a little very subtle scream.

“So it’s here.” Bai JunYi came over, he pulled out the whole Devil’s Silk Thread from the ground, golden eyes showing a little smile, “Finally found you, Mr. Parasite, you haven’t given up yet?”

“Give up? How can that be?!” The Devil’s Silk Thread wrapped around Bai JunYi’s wrist and kept struggling towards Shen Si, “As long as I can parasitize him! As long as I can parasitize him, I can live! As long as I can turn back the clock, what do you think I’m doing to hold on until now?!”

Bai JunYi clutched the Devil’s Silk Thread in his hand, “Xiao Si will not be parasitized by you so easily.”

“Let go of me!” Parasite roared hoarsely.

Jian Nian stood next to Bai JunYi, glanced at the Devil’s Silk Thread, then looked around, “Not coming out?”

“As far as I know, not only the death of the cognitive dummy will lead to the death of the body, if the body dies, the cognitive dummy will also shatter. In this playfield, the body and the cognitive dummy are one, you are nearby, right? Do you want to watch your essence die?”

The Devil’s Silk Thread wrapped twice around Bai JunYi’s hand, “Cognitive dummy? What’s that?!”

Isn’t this playfield simply the basic playfield that shatters dummies?

Opening his hand, the pitch-black monster burst out of Jian Nian’s arm, then condensed into a wooden hammer in his hand, pointing the black wooden hammer at the Devil’s Silk Thread, Jian Nian slightly hooked the corner of his mouth, “If you don’t come out, I’ll hit him.”

“Can this really force the cognitive dummy to come out?” Bai JunYi was a little uneasy.

“Yes.” Shen Si’s voice was calm as he replied.

Bai JunYi looked at Shen Si. In the rain, Shen Si was quietly standing in place, his half-white hair wet on his scalp, obviously a very wretched look, but because of his beautiful appearance, he appeared to have a strange beauty. His dark eyes had been staring at the Devil’s Silk Thread, his voice was also a little low.

“Parasite’s obsession is in living, and he attacked me because he wanted to live, and the cognitive one is definitely a fake who will do anything to live. So this will force the cognitive dummy to come out, because he doesn’t want to die.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a man slowly walked out from behind the wall, wearing a black jacket with a hood blocking his hair and eyes, he held the wall and walked out slowly, but definitely didn’t take one step closer.

This attire was exactly the same as Parasite’s original body, yes, it was him.

“Finally, he’s out.” Jian Nian smiled, “So, I’ll ask a question, and I’ll let Bai JunYi let him go as long as you tell me the answer.”

The dummy clasped the wall tightly as he raised his head, his dark eyes filled with a gloomy light, “What’s the question?”

“Have you ever seen Shen Si’s cognitive dummy?” Jian Nian pointed at Shen Si, “I think you should understand what I’m asking.”

The cognitive dummy followed Jian Nian’s line of sight and looked forward. The moment he saw Shen Si, Jian Nian very obviously saw the cognitive dummy’s pupils contracted violently and even took a step back subconsciously, and the three people present felt his momentary outburst of fear.

Fear? Of Shen Si?

“Hey, you’ve seen it, right? Say something!”

The cognitive dummy kept gasping in the rain as he looked at Shen Si with wide eyes, then turned and ran towards the outside with the complete look of being scared out of his wits.

“What? He just ran away?” Jian Nian and Bai JunYi looked at each other, they quickly ran in the opposite direction, back and forth, to make sure to catch this cognitive dummy. Shen Si watched their figures disappear in the rain, he tilted his head a little strangely, as if he just reacted.

“That cognitive dummy is afraid of me?” Shen Si reached out to look at his palm, “Why?”

If this playfield was shaping the perception dummy with his own perception of himself, then Shen Si didn’t feel that his perception of himself was a great evil, perhaps at most, he would not care much about the things around him, so he felt that he was a good person.

Why would the perceived dummy of a villain be scared like this?

It looked like it needed to be chased and asked.

Shen Si ran towards the front, where the cognitive dummy had just escaped, and if he wanted to find his own cognitive dummy, now was the only clue.

He just ran out a little, when Shen Si froze and looked around. Both the cognitive dummy and the others had disappeared, it seemed that there was nothing else but the rain.

Where was everyone?

“Jian Nian?” Shen Si walked while looking for them, “Where are you?”

There was no sound, no figure, only the rain echoed with the sound of water droplets hitting the ground. Apart from the echo of Shen Si’s voice, there was no other movement at all.

Cognitive dummies had self-awareness about themselves.

“Mr. Bai? Is anyone there?”

One’s cognitive self could scare other people to that extent, Shen Si never thought of this.

At first, he couldn’t find his own cognitive dummy. Shen Si didn’t feel anything, because in his opinion, he was a person without any desires. He guessed the cognitive dummy made by this playfield was also as boring as him, and even preferred to look around the scenery and enjoy the flowers and plants than figure out the death game.

The thing he hated the most was to talk about the past, and he even resented those who brought up the past.

Such a self was the most normal.

But now it seemed that everything had become different, his own perception dummy didn’t seem to be what he imagined.

Shen Si began to be curious about this matter.

If it was not what he imagined he felt, then what was his cognitive self, in fact, like?

Was it scary?

Crack, as if the sound of something breaking. Shen Si hurriedly looked towards the side, in that moment, the wind carried the sound into Shen Si’s ears.

“What are you running for? Just asking you a question, get your ass over here!”

“Or don’t continue to run, Jian Nian, use a little less force, you held down his arm and it cracked. Cognitive dummies are very fragile.”

It was Jian Nian and Bai JunYi.

Shen Si hurried towards them, just then, he heard a momentary cry of surprise that Jian Nian didn’t suppress. The moment he reached the corner, Shen Si was ruthlessly knocked out, and while he was falling, Shen Si saw the terrified cognitive dummy, whose arm was in a disconnected state, covered with glass cracks.

So that was it, the cognitive dummy broke his own arm to escape from Jian Nian.

“Shen Si! Watch your back!”

His body was still tilting down, behind him was the underground passage, and if hit, he would roll straight down the stairs. Shen Si subconsciously reached out his hand, and immediately after, he felt his wrist being pulled by someone.

A cold, hard touch.

Shen Si raised his head, and saw the person who pulled him. The appearance was the same as his own, water beads down his cheeks, and dark eyes without emotion, but the corners of his mouth tilted up in a smile, only, this smile was not sunny, it was extra dark.

“You have long known yourself, criticized yourself, accepted yourself, so you don’t even need to examine your own heart, look at me well. This is me, and this is you.”

He laughed and let go of his hand, smiling as he watched Shen Si fall, and the next second, his entire body cracked in the air and turned into countless pieces. The pieces rushed into Shen Si’s body in a flash. Shen Si fell down the stairs with inertia, and when Jian Nian and Bai JunYi rushed over, they only saw him falling at the bottom of the underground passage.

Blood was pouring out from under Shen Si’s body and he looked unconscious.

“Shen Si!” Shouted Jian Nian, calling Shen Si’s name.

“It’s a chance!” Parasite broke free from Bai JunYi’s grasp and lunged toward Shen Si on the ground as if he were a kite off a string.

The cognitive dummy’s eyes widened as he sat on the ground, his eyes filled with panic, “Don’t go! Don’t even try! Idiot! You’ll die!”