After the Little Crybaby Enters the Nightmare Cycle

Highway 404 (20)

Chi Nan looked at You Yu and waited for an answer.

You Yu restarted the car and drove on the road in an orderly manner, the corners of his lips raised indistinctly. “If they call this emotion ‘like’ then it is so.”

“So you like me?” Chi Nan turned to look at him for a moment.

You Yu seriously thought about it for a moment before smiling. “I like you.”

Chi Nan replied, “Oh.” It seemed a bit hot in the car.

You Yu added, “However, this statement isn’t accurate.”

“Huh?”

“The word ‘like’ is too crude. My interest in you has exceeded my expectations, you know?” You Yu’s voice was low and the usual carelessness that came from deep in his bones had disappeared in an instant.

Chi Nan tilted his head in confusion and continued to wait for his ‘confession.’

You Yu turned the steering wheel and drove the car toward 1st Street.

“I’m not interested in this world but I’m very interested in you. Can you understand this?”

You Yu didn’t notice that the palm of his hand holding the steering wheel was a bit wet as he spoke.

Chi Nan was silent for a long time before nodding, “Oh. For you, my existence is more important than this world.”

You Yu was stunned for a moment before giving a low laugh. “This summary is very good.”

Chi Nan told him, “You are really narcissistic, You Yu.”

You Yu turned his head and gave him a deep look, as if he wanted to see Chi Nan’s soul through the skin. Then You Yu looked away with a smile and stared straight ahead. “Thank you for your evaluation.”

“…You’re welcome.”

At around 3:10, the car stopped outside the door of the Angel Goodnight Bridal Store on 1st Street. Everyone put on sunglasses and walked directly into the bridal store.

The female employee quickly greeted them. “Hello, is there anything I can help you with?”

You Yu showed a standard smile. “Can you help recommend some wedding dresses for us?”

The employee carefully examined the four people from head to toe. “Can I ask, is it the two of you who are getting married?” She quickly noticed the rings on Chi Nan and You Yu’s ring fingers.

Chi Nan: “…..” Was this a serious employee?

Jiang Yu: “…..” As the only woman among the four, she felt a bit speechless. Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t the employee think she was the bride?

Never mind. This instance was a bit weird and seemed to have some private goods from beginning to end.

Meanwhile, You Yu accepted it naturally. “You can say so.”

The employee’s eyes were full of blessings. “The two of you, please come with me. We just happened to have newly arrived clothing and it is very suitable for the two of you.”

In the original plan, the task of attracting the attention of the employee fell on Jiang Yu. Now it seemed that everyone was thinking too much. Jiang Yu and Pei Mo took advantage of the time when Chi Nan and You Yu were dragged to try on clothes to quickly look for clues of the corpse in the store.

After all, trying on clothing was a time-consuming task so they had sufficient conditions to search the entire bridal store.

In order to delay the time, Chi Nan tried on one outfit after another. However, Jiang Yu searched the entire bridal store and found nothing suspicious.

She saw that it was already 3:30 and there was no progress.

Jiang Yu’s wallet was gone or else she would’ve taken out Qu Yijun’s photo to let the employee see if she recognized it. This was better than losing their direction.

Chi Nan was trying on the ninth outfit when he saw through the dressing mirror that a car with the license plate of ‘EM00201’ passed by the window on the street where cars were coming and going.

Chi Nan’s gaze followed the car until it disappeared again at the end of the street.

This was the third time he had seen EM00201 pass by the window of the bridal store through the mirror.

“Chi Nan, are you okay here?” Jiang Yu looked over with a heavy expression and gestured to Chi Nan.

Chi Nan understood and told the female employee, “Sorry, I want to discuss it with my friends before deciding. Can I?”

The female employee’s voice was very gentle. “No problem.”

Jiang Yu saw Chi Nan coming out and immediately frowned while shaking her head. “I have checked it no less than five times. There are no signs that a corpse is being hidden in the store.”

Pei Mo asked Chi Nan anxiously, “Are you sure that there is only one bridal store in Smile Town? Did you miss it? Impossible…”

He had spoken halfway when he met the gaze of You Yu behind Chi Nan. He was so frightened that his voice shook and he politely suggested, “Or should we take a closer look at the map?”

Chi Nan shook his head firmly. “I have confirmed that this is the only store.”

Jiang Yu frowned but in the end, she remained calm and analyzed it again. “According to the meaning of the poem, the direction of the bridal store shouldn’t be wrong. Now the most suspicious point is that the poem mentioned the ‘ring on the girlfriend’s ring finger.’ I remember that Qu Yijun had an engagement ring and this was the fuse behind my character arguing with her… Do we need to find the ring before we can unlock the corpse?”

Pei Mo said, “That is possible…but where should we go to find this ring? Do we need to go to the jewelry store to customize one first?”

Jiang Yu replied, “I can’t remember what style her ring is.”

She shook her head in denial and looked at Chi Nan, who was deep in thought. “Do you have any new ideas?”

Chi Nan looked up. “I don’t think the ring is the point because items aren’t repeated.”

He looked at the ring on his ring finger and was silent for a moment. “The Book of Revelations also mentioned ‘the car accident that made her happy.’ Maybe this is the important hint.”

Jiang Yu frowned. “Isn’t the car accident explaining the cause of my character’s death? My character died in a car accident while transporting Qu Yijun’s body.”

Chi Nan shook his head. “We have already learned the cause of death from the dream after we died. According to the previous three poems, the Book of Revelation shouldn’t repeat the cause of death again.”

“So…you think…” The fog in Jiang Yu’s eyes still hadn’t dissipated.

Chi Nan looked at the dressing mirror not far away. This was the fourth time that the ‘EM00201’ passed outside the door of the bridal store. He looked at You Yu. “Let’s go back to the car.”

You Yu instantly understood his thoughts. “Let’s go.”

Jiang Yu and Pei Mo were still at a loss. They looked at each other in shock before they finally had to follow Chi Nan to the car.

Chi Nan instructed, “Crash into that EM00201 car.”

Everyone: “?”

You Yu told him, “No problem.”

The female employee walked out to send them off. “If the two of you have a chance, then come back and take a look.”

You Yu smiled. “Definitely.” Then he started the car and chased after ‘EM00201’ at an illegal speed of 120 km per hour.

High speed racing in the city made people feel their adrenaline surging. Pei Mo and Jiang Yu instinctively grabbed the armrest of the car and tightened their shoulders. “Chi Nan, what is the situation? Is this an experiment?”

Chi Nan nodded. “As I was trying on clothes, I saw the car with the license plate ‘EM00201’ passing by outside the bridal store at least four times. I suspect that the last sentence of the Book of Revelations ‘a happy car accident’ needs to be created by us to trigger Qu Yijun’s corpse.”

“201 isn’t only the page number in the Book of Revelations but also the license plate number. This should be meaningful,” Chi Nan added.

Pei Mo understood clearly and directly cursed. “This Qu Yijun is too miserable. From the beginning of the instance to the present, she has experienced at least four car accidents…”

You Yu calmly said, “There is no way. There is always someone who has to do the dirty work.”

Jiang Yu was keenly aware of the meaning of You Yu’s words and looked at him through the rearview mirror. “You mean…Qu Yijun isn’t just an NPC?”

You Yu smiled and didn’t answer. He just pressed down harder on the accelerator to chase after ‘EM00201.’

Under the desperate pursuit of the SUV, the ‘EM00201’ car drove through the bustling neighborhood like an outlaw. However, You Yu wasn’t nervous and he seemed to be enjoying the excitement of the speed of life or death.

“Can I drive faster?” He asked for Chi Nan’s advice.

Chi Nan answered, “Feel free.”

You Yu smiled. “Brother, sit down. I’ll show you my skills.”

Chi Nan looked out the window. Countless pedestrians and vehicles retreated from his vision like the tide. The lights outside the window blurred into mottled points of light before finally connecting into lines. Countless colored lines floated and flowed in the hazy night.

Chi Nan felt his body becoming light and empty. It was as if in the car moving at high speed, his soul would be thrown out of You Yu’s body due to the inertia.

After all, this body was just a container for him.

An intersection appeared ahead.

You Yu saw that ‘EM00201’ was turning to the right so he turned the steering wheel to the left. Jiang Yu, who was sitting in the back row, was so anxious that she almost cried out. “Why are you turning left? The car clearly drove to the right…”

You Yu didn’t seem to pay attention to her. He continued to quickly avoid other vehicles and people while Chi Nan helped answer for him, “There is no problem.”

He had already noted down the routes in Smile Town and knew You Yu’s plan. At the same time, he had absolute confidence in the operation of the other person so he never felt any doubts.

You Yu circled the car around Smile Town’s 3rd Street and finally moved along the river embankment to Smile Bridge.

A miracle happened. The ‘EM00201’ car was driving quickly across the bridge from the other side!

Chi Nan could now clearly see that there was no one in the driver’s seat of ‘EM00201’. It was an unmanned hearse.

By the time the hearse reacted, it was too late to turn the front of the car. The ‘EM00201’ car sharply turned the steering wheel and rushed straight toward the dark and heavy river under the bridge!

There was a loud bang as the car crashed into the guardrail and fell into the river. It was swallowed up by the night.

Countless pedestrians and vehicles on the bridge stopped to watch the liveliness. At this time, You Yu finally slowed down and drove past the accident scene in a leisurely manner.

Before Pei Mo and Jiang Yu could react, the radio in their car made a static sound.

[Congratulations to the three foreigners for successfully finding ‘Qu Yijun’s corpse’ and obtaining the right to use the important item ‘Qu Yijun’s character resurrection item’ once.]

Jiang Yu, “?” Her intuition told her that what she was expecting and fearing might come true.

[Do you want to use the item?]

The atmosphere in the car suddenly became strange and tense. They all looked at Jiang Yu in unison. This was a decision that only she was qualified to make.

Jiang Yu held her breath and was unable to control her slightly trembling voice. “I will confirm the use.”

[Received. Now the character has entered the resurrection phase. Please wait patiently and welcome the arrival of the new passenger.]

The radio went out and You Yu sighed softly.

“Now you can clear the dream as long as you find the body of Lu Baizhou’s character.”

***

The pungent smell of disinfectant mixed with a damp musty smell persisted all year round in the illegal clinic on the third underground floor.

Lu Baizhou gradually got rid of the control that the anesthetic had on her consciousness. She opened her eyes while laying on the cold operating table.

The operating lights had been turned off and the illegal clinic had completely sunk into the deepest depths of darkness.

She had the illusion that she had slept for a really long time. She struggled to sit up on the operating table and rubbed her temples in a tired manner.

The moment she moved off the operating table, there was a sudden ‘click’ sound from the ceiling of the operating room and a dim incandescent light turned on.

A cold, gray light immediately enveloped the bloody operating room.

Lu Baizhou pulled open the blood-stained white curtain and found a full-length mirror placed in her direction.

She was stunned the moment she saw herself in the mirror and a low cry emerged from her throat.

The person in the mirror had changed from ‘Lu Baizhou’ to the ‘Xu Lantian’ she was familiar with!

She touched the outline of Xu Lantian’s facial features and her fingers trembled uncontrollably. The joy of reuniting after a long absence was mixed with a bit of loss of farewell to the ego. Lu Baizhou whispered Xu Lantian’s name while feeling extremely complicated emotions. “Are you back?”

She waited a moment but didn’t hear another soul in her body respond. She continued to confirm it with some trepidation, “Lantian, are you there?”

Then a familiar voice came from her deadly silent subconscious.

“Baizhou, run quickly, run!”

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