Being an Extra Actor in an Escape Game

Dispensational Rules

Muscular kept trying to get cosy with Shen Ynj.

Though employing the usual honest face and ingratiating tone doesnt seem to really work on this young man with a cold face.

In the end, Muscular is basically out of options, looking awkward while cursing this poker face guy in his mind.

The heck is that attitude! What a poseur!

Perhaps because he has already had achievements in this Nightmare already, Muscular has lost patience in acting. So after a few more failed attempts at starting a conversation, he rolls his eyes and turns away, not talking anymore.

He does look self-satisfied for sure.

Though Shen Ynj still looks the same whether Muscular was appealing to him or treating him coldly. Hes shut him off entirely.

These people arent rare in the Tower either. Some people jokingly refer to them as zombies, because, they look like they have spent too long in the Tower and have lost all the emotions that was part of what made them human.

The zombies always have this poker face, doesnt speak, and are unenergetic. Rather than humans, they more resemble the undead as portrayed in popular media.

Muscular has seen such people, of course, but they normally at least still reacted like normal people would, instead of being like Shen Ynj, even ignoring people actively talking to him entirely.

In fact, though, Shen Ynj is just blanking out subconsciously while his mind is wholly dedicated to a question he can never find an answer to.

He has once seen that commercial complex back on Earth.

Exactly where it was He cant remember. He just managed to dig up some familiar fragments from his entirely decimated memories; or rather, it is more accurate to say that the commercial complex triggered a familiar feeling in him.

Two buildings, a bridge connecting them in the air on the third floor, an open-air underground plaza Just seeing the commercial complex from afar is enough to remind him of its most notable features.

But

He remembers nothing outside of these features.

He is using all his mind to remember, to recall, to dig up the name of the commercial area from his mind; where it was, when he went there, what shops were there.

He thought about it for two whole runs of the Nightmare already, but he could remember nothing.

His memories, just like the apartment unit they were inside in the first hour of the Nightmare, has been locked up. He does not know if he cannot remember because it really was too far ago in the past, or because

Because of something else.

He, or rather, they, the MissiontakersThe humans, all inexplicably appeared in the Tower one day, right? So in theory, there should be a culprit, behind all this shouldnt there?

Thinking this way, Shen Ynjs face turns paler and paler. His poker face, typical of a zombie, is only exacerbating the stiffness and lifelessness.

It is the first time he has realised, his memories may be patchy.

He does not know, really; its just an inkling He does not know if its just him overthinking things right now.

Perhaps, it was just him having walked past the commercial complex that one time, and the rather noticeably prominent structure has left an impression in his mind, which is why he can recall nothing of how and when after-the-fact now.

But, but but, its also possible, that it is the culprit that sent them into this game, who has messed with their memories, right?

Otherwise, how could not a single Missiontaker in the whole of the Tower manage to recall how they were transported here?

Shen Ynj is almost trembling entirely, gritting his teeth, mustering all his courage just to face this possibility head-on.

He never thought so deeply about this before. There are a lot of Missiontakers like him, too, who never dares thinking too much, about why humans went into the game Escape. They do not dare probe too deep, or ask about something as heavy as their future.

Theyve become ostriches(TL: Famous for sticking its head in the dirt, i.e. running away/hiding from problems instead of solving them, which is a myth), become zombies, become anything that could keep their attention away from these terrifying hypotheses. They try their best to live in ignorant bliss.

Some of them are like Shen Ynj, still trudging meaninglessly between Nightmares; some of them are like the Jiang sisters, who just decided to stop one day, and sink deep into gratuitous indulgences.

The Tower Ha. The Tower.

Theyre so cowardly, all of them, that they dont even want to hear a word of all the rumours and conspiracies floating around.

So, when Shen Ynj was so suddenly plunged into the sense ofdj vubrought on by that commercial complexBy this whole Nightmare!His immediate emotional response, was fear.

He doesnt want to know about them He doesnt want to face them!

But his brain is still futilely combing through his memories, only to make him realise for good that his memories are tattered. He finds himself unable to recall his parents, his job, his friends.

They are fragments. Fragments that cannot link up. Fragments that cannot tell him anything.

It, it might just be, because they were so far in the past, right? It cant be It cant be because something has messed with his memories!

Shen Ynjs face is so stiff and frozen right now. He has completely ignored the mans blabbering next to him, because he is face-to-face with something far scarier. A demon. A monster, baring its fangs right at him.

While the two of them are preoccupied with their own thoughts now, they have finished exploring the ground floor of the apartment.

There are no apartment units on the ground floor, as they only begin from the second floor upwards. The ground floor contains the lobby, security, the management offices, and other functional rooms like the electrical room.

After one hour passed since the second run of the Nightmare began and the Missiontakers were allowed to leave their apartment units, the first few Missiontakers to come down to the ground floor has already explored it, but only rudimentarily.

This time, the two of them have discovered something far more interesting in the security office.

Muscular picks up the letter of complaint and smacks it with his curled finger, handing it over to Shen Ynj and ask, look, whats this?

A paper shoved right into his presence makes even Shen Ynj come back to his wits. He takes the piece of paper from Muscular to read.

Meanwhile, Muscular is also now approaching Shen Ynj quietly, planning to sneakily steal the young mans utility card while he is distracted reading.

Most Carddealers work with the Tailors, but not Muscular, because of his utility card, which means he tends to avoid revealing his true appearance anywhere in public.

Therefore, he had to really learn his own techniques for stealing from the ground up.

He has observed this young mans clothing closely, and finally settles on the thick layer of his clothes under the left armpit, because he noticed how, when the young man was walking, his left arm barely moved at all, remaining close to his body the whole time.

This is not the easiest of jobs, but Muscular already has a blade pinched between his fingers. As long as he does not directly cause harm to Missiontakers, then the Server would not have anything to say about his using a sharp blade.

As soon as he slices open the clothes using the blade, while the young man is distracted reading the complaint, he can steal the utility card. Then, he can try to cause this run to end prematurely, and everything will be hidden under the rugs, just like the last run of the Nightmare

Greediness is swelling up in Musculars expression.

Shen Ynj does not notice anything off, as he lowers his head to read the complaint.

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