Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

Before Shen Ynj has more time to think about it, Mu Jiashi announces, were here. The elevators are working.

They go in and push the button for 11.

That reminds Shen Ynj ofthatNightmare, of an office Tower, with malfunctioning elevators and absolutely unhinged people He glances at Mystic.

She has also been to that Nightmare.

All three of them have been to that Nightmare, where apparently Mystics daughter was in.

And they guessed that Mystic was the game companys employeefrom the Nightmare huh?

Mystic used to work at that game company?

Shen Ynj made the connection quite late.

And, there was that game design document.

Huh, they did end up largely ignoring Mystics past identity on Earth.

She used a utility card, whose price changed her entirely.

And the Nightmare ultimately being her daughters, meant they ended up ignoring Mystics role in the Nightmare. They focused on her daughter about halfway onwards, but not Mystic herself.

Strictly speaking, the Missiontakers didnt have concrete proof that Mystic reallywasthe little girls mother, especially since Mystic behaved even less coherently back then.

Assuming she is, then the clues that point to her past, suggested that, for example, she once left her own young daughter behind on a floor;

While she speaks in riddles, she oftentimes can clue other Missiontakers in through them.

So looking at those facts, Mystic probably used to be a clever and insightful woman. Its just that the utility card has buried all that in her.

And also, that made them forget Mystic had connections to the game company.

They were busy learning about the Apocalypse, about Nightmares, about the Tower, about the grey fog, and this line of thought just sat on the sidelines the whole time.

However, they learned in the end that what was happening to the building was a game prototype based on Mystic and her daughter, which gave rise to that Nightmare her daughter has.

Well, her daughter, whose Actor was unlikely to have actually been that little girl that was once trapped in an office building.

Its quite possible she was an Actor who have lost herself in the little girls Nightmare.

And can he assert that Mystic was the same? She ended up assuming the role of the mother in that game, like the other women in that office building.

Maybe they werent actually mother and daughter, but they both succumbed to a Nightmare.

Their role as Actors and Missiontakers became irrelevant, as they will identify as the character in that plot, and that the plot was what was going on.

There was certainly a mother-daughter pair; the mother worked at the game company, and her coworkers made a game about a mother looking for her daughter in the Apocalypse, basing the main characters off of them.

Shen Ynj is feeling something odd about all this once again.

That office building and the Tower. That game and this game. They were already implying something, but could it be Reality and fiction; the truth and the veil concealing it.

A game that happened in a building Separated close ones the building, the Towers AI, whose purpose was to protect the Towers survivors

A game design document. And another one.

He remembers that, in X Beijins Nightmare, when he revisited the empty and thus safe office space of the floors below, and discovered the game design document, no mention of any building like the Tower was there.

It outlined a game which tasked players with investigating tragedies occurring in the Apocalypse, but didnt actually talk about what the games visuals should look like. It was actually only focused on the games core loop,per se.

And the building, of the little girls Nightmare, was where the game of the mother and daughter took place.

The mother left her daughter behind, trapping the little girl in a building, after the Apocalypse, to look for her mother;

And, that floor the little girl was in, was the mothers last act protecting her daughter.

That floor, was protection.

Every floor in the Tower was entirely safe, under the protection of the AI;

Unless they ventured out into Nightmares, into areas afflicted by the Apocalypse.

Shen Ynj is entirely absorbed in his thoughts, as if becoming emotional has also kick-started his thought processes.

The elevator is still rising steadily; electricity is still available at this point, although it might cut off at any point.

Shen Ynj suddenly calls out, Mystic

She looks at him, bewildered.

Shen Ynj observes the woman who spoke in riddles from head to toe. She was never quite an active player in their team. Shes almost like a mascot.

Mu Jiashi is also curiously looking at him, wondering what Shen Ynj could want to ask.

Shen Ynj asks, do you remember your past? Back on Earth?

Mystic seems surprised hed ask, but she smiles, perhaps meekly, and says, of course. I had a daughter.

No, I dont mean Shen Ynj interrupts her; since that Nightmare, her daughter is all she would talk about, even though there was no definitive proof of such.

Maybe she could be her daughter, but why why would Mystic only recall her daughter at that moment?

Even if her memory was wiped like theirs were, but he cant imagine her daughter not having been born until the Apocalypse occurred. Otherwise, the little girl would still be a one-year-old infant.

Shen Ynj says, your daughter, in the Tower, is already tall as a grown woman.

Mystic doesnt seem to understand.

Though Mu Jiashi is furrowing his brows now. He might have caught on.

Shen Ynj asks, are you really sure, that she is your daughter?

Mystic seems affronted, of course! Of course I am! I have a daughter

Is that Actor really that daughter?

Mystic looks deeply unsettled.

Mu Jiashi asks, what are you really trying to say?

Shen Ynj takes a deep breath and says, I wanted to ask I apologise for being so blunt, but what I really wanted to ask isIf you really are the mother of the little girl, then, I believe you must be an employee ofthatgame company.

Both Mystic and Mu Jiashi widen their eyes in amazement.

The game company! Mu Jiashi says to himself, shocked, I absolutely forgot to consider that

Mu Jiashi himself has been to that little girls Nightmare, but he didnt manage to figure out the real truth behind the Nightmare, or what information there were beneath the 9thfloor.

Fei and Wu Jian told him about it briefly after the Nightmare was over, but they didnt go into detail about Mystics identity and Mu Jiashi didnt think more deeply either.

Even though he did hear about Mystic and her new daughter afterwards, he didnt connect the dots.

Put simply, everything happened much too quickly. There were too much information for them to accept in such a short period of time, and so they couldnt give each piece of detail the detailed analysis due.

For example, to this day, Mu Jiashi still hasnt had the time, to discuss the True End of Su Enyas Nightmare with her.

There should definitely be one,in theory, but they were all busy, so busy trying to learn about the Apocalypse and resolve key Nightmares, that Mu Jiashi completely forgot.

They knew about Mystic finding a new daughter, and how she once abandoned her on an empty floor somewhere, and finally, they reunited here.

But they never saw Mystics daughter themselves, and even though all the relevant information was known, they all ended up ignoring this Actor in particular.

They knew as far as what happened to this mother-daughter pair, but most didnt didnt recall the game companys connection with them.

So when Shen Ynj suddenly brought up the connection Mystic must now logically have with the game company, Mu Jiashi realises the problem, and shoots a gaze at Mystic.

Mystic seems to still be blanking out; before she answers, the elevator door is already open.

Though while shes still recalling, her expression turns subtly more complex.

Do you remember something? Shen Ynj seems more agitated than she is, were you really working for the company?

Mu Jiashi glances at Shen Ynj. The zombie really did become quite overtly emotional in this hospital.

But he doesnt point that out once more. So far, it seems it has been a positive influence more than anything else.

His energised thought processes allowed him to reexamine their experience in that Nightmares building.

And, he also realised the problem surrounding Mystic identity.