After the Little Crybaby Enters the Nightmare Cycle

Changing the Wish

229’s expression froze. Chi Nan looked at the other person. This was the first time he had seen 229…no, it should be You Yu, showing a look of being overwhelmed in front of people.

Chi Nan held up the cake and didn’t continue to speak, giving this person time to digest his emotions.

A long time passed before You Yu took the plate of cake and silently scraped off the thick cream with a spoon.

It wasn’t until the red velvet cake was revealed that he spooned it into his mouth.

Chi Nan gulped inappropriately.

He asked, “You don’t like cream?”

The spoon in You Yu’s hand paused. “It is greasy.”

You Yu quickly finished eating the cake and threw the cream along with the paper plate into the trash can next to him.

At this point, he received the lagging system notification.

[Dream Maker 229, I am sorry to inform you that even though you have rejected Sleepwalker Chi Nan’s birthday lottery question, a higher authority system administrator has passed the question review. Your rejection is invalid.]

You Yu frowned. [Who is the system administrator with the higher authority?]

[Sorry, the system has nothing to say.]

The system coldly rejected him and disappeared.

You Yu had been working in the Nightmare World for 11 years and there had never been a similar situation. As a dream maker, he always had sufficient authority and freedom. The dream makers were equal to each other and each one was responsible for their own dreams. They never interfered with each other, but this time…

Was it because the other person was Chi Nan?

You Yu was suddenly a bit concerned and even the sweetness in his throat was irritating.

The ignorant Chi Nan stood in front of him and asked, “Are you still eating?”

He looked at the cake still on the table as he spoke.

You Yu temporarily relaxed his expression and smiled as usual. “I don’t need to finish it tonight. I can keep it for you to take away.”

Chi Nan said, “Thank you.” He gulped again.

“What’s next?” At this moment, You Yu raised his head and looked at Chi Nan with a smile. The reveal of his identity was purely accidental, but it didn’t prevent him from observing and enjoying Chi Nan’s choices and entanglements.

Of course, he knew very well that Chi Nan would never show his inner struggle on his face.

Chi Nan was thinking seriously as if he was down.

His lips had just moved when You Yu placed an index finger to his lips and made a ‘shh’ gesture. “Brother Nan, don’t tell me now. How about giving me a surprise when the time comes?”

Chi Nan met his gaze and swallowed the words in his mouth down. “Yet no matter what decision I make, you will know it, right?”

He knew that the sleepwalkers had almost no secrets in the eyes of the dream makers. Their favorability system was open to the dream makers.

You Yu smiled. “I used to think so, but now…it is hard to say.”

The moment he finished speaking, the bell of the clock in the banquet hall rang 12 times. The much anticipated February 29th finally arrived.

“Brother Nan, I will wait for you in the nightmare that follows.”

Chi Nan looked at him. “Okay.”

He thought that this was very good. It would save him from spending favorability to find You Yu. His favorability system wouldn’t be able to make ends meet if it continued like this.

Chi Nan nodded. Then, all the lights of the boarding school turned on at once. The light was so strong that it made people dizzy. There seemed to be bursts of singing outside the window. If they listened carefully, they could hear someone singing the ‘birthday song’ in the distance…

As the light became stronger and the singing got closer, Chi Nan’s five senses seemed to be sealed by something sticky. He had experienced three dreams, so he knew that this was a sign of the collapse of the nightmare.

He simply closed his eyes and calmly greeted the impact of the broken dream.

The first thing to be restored was his sense of smell. The air was filled with the unique iron smell of the train. Then his hearing started to recover and he heard the friction of the train against the rails. Finally, he regained his vision.

Chi Nan opened his eyes. The 10 surviving sleepwalkers were already sitting on the train to the Dawn Base.

Almost all of the people in the team this time were newcomers, so Chi Nan briefly introduced the Dawn Base and the rules of the favorability calculations in less than ten sentences. Then he left the chattering people and found a soft sleeper carriage to lie down in.

He wasn’t sleepy. He just didn’t like to be in a confined space with a large group of people for a long time. He didn’t like noisy atmospheres.

After adapting to the Nightmare World, Chi Nan’s sleeping time was drastically reduced. He lay down for half an hour and couldn’t sleep.

He faced the window of the train and looked at the endless wilderness and flowing night.

The light in the soft sleeper carriage was dim. Chi Nan’s face was half-reflected and half obscured in the window glass.

He looked at himself in the reflection without blinking… To be precise, it was You Yu’s reflection.

229 was You Yu.

He had been occupying You Yu’s body and appeared in You Yu’s nightmare.

Yet for You Yu, Chi Nan was his nightmare, right?

Chi Nan didn’t know what plan You Yu had or how he planned to deal with his body. Now he just felt that the various voices flashing in his head were very noisy. The empty carriages and dark wasteland multiplied this noise.

Chi Nan closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reawakened the system that was implanted in the depths of his consciousness.

“Can I change the wish I’ve already made?”

System: [The sleepwalkers have the right to change their wishes, but they need to pay 200 favorability as a price. Please consider it carefully before making a decision.]

It was expensive and didn’t sound like a good deal, but Chi Nan seemed to have become accustomed to the loss-making business.

He nodded calmly. “Yes, I understand. I’ll come back when I’ve gained enough favorability.”

[I look forward to meeting you.]

The bustling voice in his head disappeared. Chi Nan had already made his decision.

After more than 10 hours of travel, the group finally arrived at the Dawn Base. They were led into the waiting room for the favorability calculation, just like the previous times.

[First of all, congratulations to all the sleepwalkers for successfully clearing ‘229 Boarding School.’ The following is the calculation of favorability.]

[The favorability obtained from this instance will be determined by the credits earned by the sleepwalkers at school. There will be no collective bonus points.]

[The semester’s scoring items are announced below. Please check them again.]

[The daily white flower is correctly handed over to the dead classmate. Each person will gain 1 favorability for each day.]

[Discover new school rules every day. Each person will gain 5 favorability.]

[Successfully circumvent the daily school rules and punishment. Each person will gain 10 favorability.]

[229 Boarding School special reward: Find the 20th hidden character whose birthday is February 29th and successfully trigger the hidden plot of the sleepwalker, +50 favorability.]

This special reward confused everyone, while the corners of Chi Nan’s lips moved imperceptibly. This was probably the special treatment that You Yu mentioned before.

After all, he spent 100 favorability to enter the instance. You Yu gave him a discount and returned 50 favorability to him.

[Chi Nan has earned 147 points of favorability.]

[Tang Yu has earned 66 points of favorability.]

[Tong Yu has earned 25 points of favorability.]

……

[The scores of the people who disappeared from the dream instance are cleared and won’t be counted.]

Chi Nan looked at the interface of his favorability system. This time, You Yu finally didn’t pit him and the accumulated favorability finally became 247 points.

This was more than enough to pay for him to change his wish.

Less than five minutes after the favorability was calculated, Chi Nan opened the system interface again.

“Please activate the wish change command.”

The system issued a warning: [Sleepwalker Chi Nan, please note that once the wish change command is executed, you will have 200 favorability points deducted as a price. Please confirm the activation.]

Chi Nan didn’t hesitate. “Continue.”

[Please wait, the system is starting the program…]

[The wish change order has been executed. Sleepwalker Chi Nan’s remaining favorability is 47 points.]

[The wish change order execution: the ‘stop crying’ wish has been removed. Sleepwalker Chi Nan, please make a new wish.]

[This is a warm reminder. Once the wish is established, it can’t be easily changed. Please handle it with caution.]

Chi Nan had already figured it out and he said bluntly, “I want to return this body to its original owner and stay in the Nightmare World in the form of a soul to continue to make wishes.”

The system went offline for a few seconds: [It is detected that your wish contains a great risk.]

“The system told me before that any wish can be fulfilled in the Nightmare World.”

The system: [Okay, the system has submitted your wish and will conduct the wish favorability assessment.]

“Thank you.”

He thought that it was time to return the body now that he had found its owner.

Fortunately, during the period he used it, there were no ugly scars left on You Yu, nor did it grow crooked.

You Yu already had a hunch when he observed Chi Nan asking about the rules for changing his wish.

There was no way for dream makers to interfere with the wish system of the sleepwalkers. They were only responsible for designing the dreams and the distribution of favorability. Still, You Yu wasn’t in a hurry at all.

Even if Chi Nan made a wish that he didn’t want to happen, he could intervene by withholding favorability. Everything was within the scope of his control, except for the pocket watch. This was the exception where he couldn’t find out the truth using his authority…

‘There is nothing to worry about,’ You Yu told himself.

The main system interface said coldly: [Dream Maker 229, please note that Sleepwalker Chi Nan has made a new wish: The body will be returned to the original owner and he will continue to exist in the Nightmare World in the form of a soul.]

You Yu received the message and raised his eyebrow slightly. Did the little evil spirit really want to do this?

Of course, he didn’t want Chi Nan to return his body to its original owner. If he really wanted to come back, the nightmare value he had painstakingly saved over the years was enough for him to gain his body back a hundred times. Now, returning to his body was just an excuse for him to stay in the Nightmare World and not leave.

For You Yu, the value of anything lay in the interest it generated. Chi Nan’s use of his body could maximize the value of his body.

There was no reason why he shouldn’t intervene.

“Has the favorability that Chi Nan needs to exchange for his wish been calculated?” You Yu asked the obvious question.

The system that should’ve answered him was silent and You Yu lost his patience. “Please answer immediately. What is the favorability required for Chi Nan to exchange for his wish?”

The system was silent for a moment: [Please wait, the system is calculating…]

You Yu frowned again. He realized that his mood fluctuations were a bit too rich, perhaps due to the reveal of his identity.

[I’m sorry to inform you that the wish failed during the favorability calculation process…]

[The failure has caused the wish to be unable to continue. In order to protect the rights and interests of the sleepwalker, the system has rejected it…]

[Now Sleepwalker Chi Nan is reconsidering his wish. Dream Maker 229, please wait a bit…]

You Yu’s expression finally changed.

He had lived in his world for 11 years as a dream maker and had seen all types of strange wishes. Yet no matter what, the Nightmare World had always functioned smoothly and normally. There had never been a situation where a failure caused a wish to not continue…

He could only think of one existence that could intervene with the entire wish system: the dream god.

No one had ever seen the so-called dream god, including the dream makers…

He was thinking this when the system’s voice was heard again.

[Sleepwalker Chi Nan has successfully changed his wish. His wish is: to retrieve his memories.]

You Yu suddenly wondered, “How much favorability is needed to exchange for it?”

The system released a string of numbers: [100,000 favorability.]

You Yu froze for a moment. “What?”

He had the illusion that he had seen two more zeros…

The system repeated: [One hundred thousand favorability.]

This time, the system changed to Chinese characters in a friendly manner…

Proofreader: Kat