Super Righteous Player
Chapter 568 - 109 The Misplaced Secret_1

Chapter 568: Chapter 109 The Misplaced Secret_1

——Very strange.

Annan’s keen intuition made him feel that everything before his eyes was imbued with an inexplicable and bizarre sense of discord.

Citizens vanished without warning.

All their belongings disappeared from this world at the same moment, along with them.

Is this the part that the Nightmare has distorted?

"Is it the same outside?"

Annan whispered quietly to Justus.

Although the surroundings were already devoid of people, he still subconsciously lowered his voice amidst the eerie silence.

The strong man nodded seriously.

"I just took a look outside. There’s not a single person on the streets... nor in the neighboring shops,"

Justus pointed to the second floor: "I checked room 201, there was no response from inside when I knocked on the door.

"What do you think, Freyr?"

Justus was clearly just as clueless, slightly nervous.

He lowered his head to look at Annan, earnestly seeking his opinion, "Shall we... break in and check?"

"What about you?"

Annan countered, "What are your thoughts?"

"I’m now wondering... whether this might be a ’Nightmare’?"

Justus frowned slightly.

As a mercenary from the Underground City, he was no stranger to various grand scenes.

Faced with such a mysterious situation without any leads, his first thought was, "Could this be a Nightmare world that has undergone distortion?"

"We’d better confirm each other’s identities first, Freyr."

Justus looked intently at Annan and slowly began, "The three secrets we exchanged years ago... you should still remember them."

...So that was what it was for.

Annan suddenly understood.

But he quickly grew worried.

He could not possibly know Justus’s three secrets.

And the one controlling Justus’s body wasn’t Naifertali who had entered the Nightmare with him.

This was both good and bad.

If Naifertali, being a mere human, didn’t possess the ability to stay conscious in dreams, then Justus could be regarded as the historical Justus... From him, one could uncover many pieces of information, which was undoubtedly helpful for clearing the instance.

——But at the same time, it also meant that what could have been a "teammate’s controllable character" had turned into an uncontrollable NPC.

If he couldn’t answer the question... he might very well be out of the game.

When Justus had patted his shoulder earlier, Annan had felt a fleeting, explosive pain.

If Annan wasn’t mistaken... that must have been Justus’s power cracking his scapula, which he immediately transferred back onto himself.

——And Justus wouldn’t even need to use any Transcendent powers on him.

Frederick’s body was just too fragile.

With neither the level nor the training of a melee profession, his physical condition was too poor... At this distance, Annan suspected that a light slap from Justus would send him spiralling to his death like a helicopter blade.

Yet in the face of this deadly situation, Annan’s expression showed not the slightest panic.

In his eyes, there was no hesitation or fear, just a calm reply, "Of course I remember... how shall we do this?"

"One by one, first round we say our own secrets, second round we say the other’s secrets, to prevent fraud. Then we leave one round just in case. If the answers match, it means this is not a Nightmare... or the people who entered the Nightmare aren’t you and me."

Justus said slowly, "Who goes first?"

"You first."

Annan answered calmly.

——He suddenly realized why the trait of this Nightmare was "replay" just like "Nightmare: Gallery".

The replay trait means that dying inside the Nightmare leads to the loss of all internal memories. It’s like having really experienced a dream... Upon waking from a great dream, only a very feeble impression remains.

If its special nature wasn’t "replay," then the person entering this Nightmare could have simply played through this checkpoint a few more times to completely unearth the secrets of Justus or Frederick.

Conversely...

Since there is such a checkpoint, perhaps one can also interpret it to mean—there actually won’t be death here?

——Because Nightmares are bound to have endings and can definitely be cleansed. Just like how in Mario Maker, no matter how difficult a level is, it must be cleared at least once before it can be uploaded.

An uncleanable Nightmare doesn’t exist because that would mean an endless world within the Nightmare—essentially a "file" of infinite size. That in itself is a bug.

Even a spiteful Nightmare like the Sporogenesis Mill, whose very purpose was to kill the cleansers, ultimately had a correct path.

The truly spiteful aspect of the Sporogenesis Mill was its deceptive difficulty.

It wasn’t that the path to clearance was extremely difficult... but rather, it was labelled as merely "difficult" despite being on the higher end within the Distorted Level Nightmares, and the death penalty was severe. This directly resulted in a lack of information for those trying to tackle the Nightmare.

Setting the maximum clears to "1" took into consideration the possibility that "someone might cleanse this Nightmare". Therefore, the true secrets were concealed, destined to be destroyed as soon as it was cleared once—like a safe that self-destructs after being opened just once.

If the Sporogenesis Mill could really be without a solution, then there was no need for that spider to specifically set up this "nightmare with only a drop of blood."

— Since there was a preparation for an escape, it indicated a lack of absolute confidence.

Considering Frederick’s constitution at the moment... it would be absolutely impossible for him to outrun Justus. The only chance of escape would likely be when Frederick left the house and followed him out.

But that’s still doubtful.

Moreover, once a chase began, it would be extremely difficult to escape a Gold-tier Transcendent in a city devoid of people.

Let it be known... although Justus now has the imposing appearance of a "MT."

In his days at the Bronze tier, Justus’s profession was that of a stealth agent.

So, this must be the inevitable point of the storyline. A conversation that cannot be escaped...

...Where lies my chance of survival?

"Firstly, I possess an extremely strong murderous instinct," Justus said slowly.

Annan raised an eyebrow.

...The Guardian known as "The Unfallen Shield" is actually a born killer?

This indeed was... a secret that surprised Annan.

But how should I respond?

Looking into Justus’s eyes, Annan spoke slowly, "I can gain strength by killing my enemies."

— This was the secret Annan exchanged with Naifertali before entering the Nightmare: Gallery.

It was definitely not Frederick’s secret.

But strangely, in the face of this secret... Justus felt no sense of incongruity.

"Secondly," Justus continued slowly, "you, Frederick... are in an underground love affair with Ingrid."

— Ingrid.

It was the second time Annan had heard this name.

It should be a girl’s name.

Just now, in the CG, Justus had inadvertently mentioned this name when boasting about his strength, but Frederick quickly interrupted him.

Looking at the situation...

Is this girl dead?

Was it a love triangle between the three of them in Class Seven, two buddies paired with a minor character, a girl... and then the girl suddenly kicked the bucket?

Annan quickly pondered in his mind, yet his expression showed no abnormalities.

"Secondly, your teacher, the ’Bone Healer’ Seti, lost his Elemental Power after repairing the Holy Relics," Annan said, revealing the second secret given to him by Naifertali.

But oddly enough, it still met Justus’s requirements.

Justus, as if he hadn’t heard Annan’s words, let out a sigh of relief, and his gaze towards Annan relaxed.

"At least now we can rule out the possibility that one of us is the purifier of the Nightmare... We are still ourselves."

— Bullshit, because both of us are purifiers of the Nightmare. But you’ve bloody lost your memory.

Annan said silently to himself.

However, his face simply wore an expression of agreement, "But there’s still the possibility that ’this is the world of a nightmare.’"

"To be safe, I suggest not treating it as a nightmare... to avoid unnecessary harm."

"Don’t worry, Freyr."

Justus was nonchalant, "With me, you won’t get hurt.

"Let’s go see—this is all someone’s conspiracy."

Having said that, he hesitated no longer.

He strode outside.

Annan, watching his retreating figure, silently followed him.

— It wasn’t an illusion.

He confirmed inwardly.

Although Justus covered it up well, at that moment, a surge of anger rose in his heart— as if something had infuriated him.

But I clearly didn’t say anything wrong.

Could it be that he said something?

...Could it be related to Ingrid?

The less said, the fewer mistakes; the less done, the fewer mistakes.

Annan didn’t utter a word, just pulled down the hood behind him and covered half of his face.

We’ll see how it goes.