After the Little Crybaby Enters the Nightmare Cycle

Mosaic School (25)

Age wasn’t as easy to change as a room number, but it wasn’t completely out of the question. After all, this was the omnipotent Nightmare World.

He just needed to have enough favorability and changing his age wouldn’t be a problem at all through the emergency wish exchange review mechanism.

After Guo Xian calmed down a bit, he immediately checked the favorability needed to change his age in the system and confirmed that a change of age was within the allowable range of the urgent wish exchange mechanism. This sparked some hope in his heart.

Unfortunately, he had just exchanged favorability for his appearance so the favorability he had accumulated was far from enough.

If he could make a new wish…

Guo Xian’s gaze shifted to Chi Nan and he had a clear view of the items Chi Nan had obtained.

After the little white flower farewell party, Guo Xian walked to Chi Nan’s side. “Do you have time? I want to ask you about something.”

Chi Nan wondered, “What is it?”

“If it is convenient, let’s go outside and discuss it.” Guo Xian gave him a look.

Tang Yu had just walked next to Chi Nan. She heard this and looked at Guo Xian warily. “Can’t you say it directly here?”

Guo Xian didn’t even look at Tang Yu. “It isn’t convenient.”

Tang Yu: “……”

Chi Nan followed him to the corridor. “What is it?”

“Chi Nan, you got the regret medicine previously, right? Can you tell me how you got it?”

Guo Xian had studied the rules for the use of rare items in the Nightmare World. He knew that if he took back his wish with the regret medicine, he would gain back half of the favorability he spent. Half of the favorability he previously exchanged for his appearance combined with his existing favorability was just enough to exchange for a wish to change his age.

He just needed to get the regret medicine and he could avoid tonight’s death rule!

“Please tell me how you got the regret medicine. If I can survive then…in return, I can help you fulfill your next wish…” Guo Xian looked at Chi Nan in an anxious and nervous manner. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, Chi Nan didn’t seem able to receive his sincerity. There were no emotional changes on his face, and Guo Xian couldn’t understand his thoughts at all.

Chi Nan truthfully said, “The regret medicine wasn’t obtained by me. It was forcibly given to me by someone.”

Guo Xian frowned and asked doubtfully, “What do you mean? What about the last pill? You didn’t use it, right?”

Chi Nan nodded. “I threw it away.”

Guo Xian: “……” He couldn’t help feeling that Chi Nan was fooling him.

Guo Xian begged, “Chi Nan, I can grant you any wish as long as you tell me how to get the regret medicine…”

“The person who forcibly gave me the regret medicine is in 211. You can go and ask him,” Chi Nan answered, even though he didn’t think 229 would really give the medicine to Guo Xian.

The doubt on Guo Xian’s face became even heavier. “211? The school infirmary?”

“Yes, it was the school doctor.”

Guo Xian: “……”

“Really.”

Guo Xian gave him a deep look. “Chi Nan, you really are…familiar with the dream maker of this world, right?”

Chi Nan thought for a moment. “I know him, but I’m not familiar with him.”

“Then can you..help me go and ask for it?” Guo Xian suggested cautiously and tentatively.

Chi Nan looked at him and shook his head without hesitation. “No.”

Guo Xian was a person who was well-informed and tactful. He could tell from Chi Nan’s attitude and expression that it was useless to continue asking.

He had to reluctantly nod. “I understand. Thank you.”

Then he walked toward the school infirmary with the mentality of trying everything in a desperate situation.

The door of the school doctor’s office was hidden at the end of the corridor. Guo Xian’s footsteps stopped outside the door. A moment later, the voice of the school doctor whom he had never met before came from behind the door. “The student outside the door, please come in.”

Guo Xian, who had no hope, was startled. His heart felt both surprise and joy. He took a deep breath and carefully pushed open the door of the school doctor’s office.

“Did Chi Nan recommend for you to come here?” The doctor was fiddling with the colorful medicines on the table to pass time. He looked bored and didn’t bother to look at his visitor.

Guo Xian nodded immediately and solemnly said, “Yes, I usually have a relatively good relationship with Chi Nan. He told me that medicine can be prescribed here.”

He understood that he could enter the school infirmary and meet with the doctor due to Chi Nan. Otherwise, he would’ve encountered the closed door like before. Therefore, he exaggerated the relationship between the two of them.

The doctor paused. “Your relationship is relatively good?”

Guo Xian was a bit flustered. “Y-Yes.”

The doctor suddenly smiled. “I can’t just prescribe medicine. I also must check you so that I can prescribe the right medicine.”

“Yes… I understand.” Somehow, Guo Xian felt an unprecedented sense of oppression when facing the gentle and elegant school doctor. Even the air in the office seemed to be drained away and he suddenly had difficulty breathing.

“This student.” The doctor clicked his ballpoint pen and wrote something on the piece of paper. “You regret it, right?”

Guo Xian looked up at the doctor, eyes flashing with excitement. His tone was a bit higher when he spoke, “Yes, I think so…”

The doctor looked at him impatiently and raised his index finger to his lips. “Shh, don’t make a noise.”

It was an understated sentence and action, but Guo Xian was directly frightened and couldn’t make a sound. His entire body froze in place and he was covered with sweat.

“It is up to the doctor to judge what medicine you should take.” The doctor retracted his gaze and turned to open the medicine best. “You can’t go back if you take the regret medicine. You should think carefully and then decide whether to take it or not.”

The doctor wrapped up the pill and wrote the doctor’s instructions: One a day, one day of treatment.

“Come and get the medicine.” After speaking, the doctor turned around, closed his eyes, and rested. His workstation happened to be facing a large window pane. The winter sun was just right and shone warmly on his face.

‘It is just a bit dry,’ he thought.

“Thank you, Doctor!” Guo Xian hadn’t expected to get the legendary ‘regret medicine’ so easily. He had received the most precious treasure. His intuition told him that it was often wrong if it was obtained too easily, but now time was tight and his life was hanging on the line. He couldn’t tolerate too much doubtful thinking.

The doctor didn’t plan to continue caring about this person and just said lazily, “Remember to close the door when you leave. I’m going to rest.”

***

After dinner, the system performed the credits calculation for the day.

Due to the acting class, this day was longer than any of the other days. Chi Nan earned a lot more credits than usual and suddenly got 40 credits.

The female teacher told them, “Congratulations to all students. You have ushered in another exciting boarding school night.”

Everyone: “……”

The group left the cafeteria one after another. Finally, only Chi Nan and the female teacher were left. Chi Nan walked over. “Teacher, can I ask you another question alone? It is about tonight’s school rule.”

The female teacher gave him a stiff look. “Of course.”

“If there is a situation where one’s age can’t be recognized, what will the school do?”

Chi Nan originally thought that the system would read You Yu’s age, but to be cautious, he checked the age identified by the system after class and found it was a series of question marks.

In other words, the Nightmare World’s system couldn’t recognize the true age of Chi Nan’s soul. This made tonight’s punishment rule confusing.

The female teacher froze for a while. “I’m sorry, this question is beyond the outline and I can’t answer it.”

Chi Nan: “……”

The female teacher continued to say mechanically, “If there is a situation that can’t be answered, the actual punishment will rely on the behavior. So please look forward to it.”

“…I understand. Thank you, Teacher.”

In other words, the object of punishment tonight might not necessarily be Guo Xian. It might become…

“This uncle, who are you…?!”

Chi Nan’s thoughts were interrupted by Jiang Liang’s questioning voice. There was a bloated, middle-aged man standing outside Room 205. The bulging beer belly was raised high and he looked greasy and wretched.

“Brother Liang, it’s me.” The middle-aged uncle wasn’t dissatisfied with the other person’s obvious doubts and disgust. On the contrary, there was a bit of joy in his voice.

Jiang Liang was confused. “You? Who are you?”

“Me! Your roommate Guo Xian!” The middle-aged Guo Xian smiled with squinted eyes. His eyes were squeezed by the fatty flesh of his face until only slits were left.

Jiang Liang was stunned. Then he blinked and stared at the greasy uncle outside the door in disbelief. “Guo Xian?”

“Hey, don’t you recognize me?”

“……” Jiang Liang observed carefully for a long time before he could see some facial features that belonged to Guo Xian from the bloated and greasy middle-aged man’s face. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door and motioning for the other person to come in. “What did you do…”

He had heard of people whose hair turned white overnight, but he had never seen someone change like this overnight. It was too miserable.

Guo Xian had just stepped into the dormitory. Before he could close the door, Chi Nan stopped him. “Guo Xian?”

Guo Xian looked back and smiled even more proudly when he saw Chi Nan. “Chi Nan, thank you this time.”

Chi Nan looked at the uncle in front of him. “Did you really get the regret medicine from the doctor?”

“Yes, I got back half my favorability and changed my age. I am now 16.” The amount of favorability he had could only change his age and not his appearance. Therefore, after eating the regret medicine to redeem his wish, he changed back to his original appearance of a beer belly uncle.

“I didn’t expect that it would be so easy to obtain. This dream maker is quite easy to talk to.” Guo Xian grinned at Chi Nan, showing off slightly. “I originally thought I had to rely on you.”

The implication was that this regret medicine was obtained using his own strength. Correspondingly, his promise to fulfill Chi Nan’s wish didn’t count. After all, Chi Nan only played the role of giving a hint.

Chi Nan nodded. “Congratulations.”

He didn’t say much and turned back to his room.

Guo Xian wasn’t accustomed to his indifference and even thought that Chi Nan was jealous that he got the regret medicine so easily. Still, none of this mattered.

The joy of escaping death allowed Guo Xian to ignore all unfriendly emotions.

Soon, the news that Guo Xian’s appearance had changed from a teenager to middle-aged spread through the boarding school. The sleepwalkers heard the news and rushed to find the person whose personality wasn’t very likable. The feeling of disgust and greasiness was multiplied after he became middle-aged. It was no wonder why Guo Xian was willing to waste his favorability to regain his youthful appearance. After all, his current appearance was indeed unacceptable…even if he was 16 right now.

Correspondingly, Guo Xian’s age became the youngest among all of them and Tong Yu would be punished by the school rule tonight.

“This Guo Xian changed his age without saying a word. What will Tong Yu do? He pushed the danger onto a young girl. He isn’t like a man at all.”

“Oh, based on Guo Xian’s behavior of sneakily hiding the clue yesterday, what do you think he can’t do?”

“Poor Tong Yu is going to die in his place…”

Tong Yu, the person involved, was more magnanimous than anyone else. She smiled and said that she was at peace even if the punishment came. Even if she didn’t die today, she might die tomorrow. These 24 hours weren’t bad. She even comforted several girls who had a good relationship with her so that they didn’t waste tears on her.

Chi Nan said, “I don’t think Tong Yu is the one who will violate the school rule tonight.”

Tang Yu wondered, “What do you mean? Is there anyone else older among us?”

Chi Nan told her, “The system can’t read my age.”

Tang Yu was even more puzzled. “I remember you said you are 19…”

Chi Nan was silent for a moment. “Maybe the system is malfunctioning.”

Tang Yu glanced at him and didn’t ask anything else. It was just that after getting along during this time, she intuitively felt that Chi Nan’s inference was correct.

It was soon time to go to bed. Snow was constantly falling outside the window and the white snow blocked their view.

Chi Nan took a hot bath and burrowed into the quilt. The acting class had consumed a lot of his mental energy and he fell into a deep sleep within five minutes.

Tonight, Chi Nan dreamed he returned to the apartment filled with blood and secrets. 229 still looked like the grown-up You Yu. He stood behind a tank of paradise fish and stuck out his head.

He said, “Brother, you took my body.”

Chi Nan looked at him. “I’ll give it back to you.”

229 smiled and didn’t answer. He reached into the tank and caught a paradise fish. He watched it struggle and flutter due to leaving the water. Finally, it lay dying in the palm of his hand.

“I’m not lying to you.”

Chi Nan woke up after saying these words. The sky was bright and the snow outside the window had stopped.

He looked at the time. It was 8:10. He could sleep a bit more…

However, the usual screams from the corridor interrupted his plan to return to sleep. This was followed by rapid footsteps and voices.

“The person who died last night was…”

“It was Guo Xian.”

Jiang Liang’s voice came from the corridor and the surrounding area immediately fell into an eerie silence.

Proofreader: Kat