After the series of impacts, Fatty suddenly felt like it was nothing, even if the patch on his neck had expired.
“Doctor,” Fatty tilted his head to ask, “Is that woman your boss?”
Jiang Cheng applied his own patch and sat down across from Fatty, “Lin Wan Er.”
Fatty thought about it. The name was normal, but her actions… At this point, Fatty shivered, and he asked in fear, “Will she come back after this?”
Jiang Cheng slowly answered, “No. At least not for another month.” He thought about it and then edited himself, “Normally she won’t.” The mention of the woman made Jiang Cheng feel uncomfortable. Fatty could sense that the Doctor was purposely avoiding topics about Lin Wan Er. His eyes darted about.
“Fatty.” Jiang Cheng stood up to interrupt him. “Have you ever wondered what we can gain from the nightmare?”
The abruptness of this question confused Fatty, who was still thinking about Lin Wan Er. He blinked, “What do you mean?”
Fatty was silent. He looked at Jiang Cheng. He knew that once Jiang Cheng proffered such a question, it meant that he already had an answer or a reliable hypothesis.
“Be it the white paper or the newspaper, their uses are limited to the nightmare missions. It’s not hard to obtain them, but there’s only one chance to use them.” Jiang Cheng looked at Fatty, “Isn’t that too harsh?
“In other words, you work so hard to gain these things, but you might still die even if you use all of them, so… why still enter the nightmare realm? The risks are much higher than the rewards.”
Fatty hesitated, “Doctor, it’s not our choice whether we enter the nightmare realm or not…” Suddenly, Fatty paused. He was reminded of the last time the Doctor entered the nightmare realm. As long as one had the newspaper, one could enter the nightmare realm related to its content! Furthermore, one could trigger the mission much earlier than normal.
Fatty finally understood what the Doctor meant. The Doctor’s words were not that accurate. His question was more like, why would people actively enter the nightmare realm?
It had no benefits but to move the nightmare mission initiation time forward. Would someone do something so dumb?
However, people did do that. And what they needed to do was to figure out why.
Fatty narrowed his eyes. These people must have their own reasons, and the reasons had to correspond to the risks they might face! After all, the ghosts were not the only thing that could kill a traveller in the nightmare realm.
“Doctor,” Fatty looked at Jiang Cheng like he had realised something, “Could their goal be collecting the blank papers and newspapers to sell to rich people who might need them?”
Jiang Cheng nodded, “It’s possible, but that can’t be the majority.” Then, Jiang Cheng shared his thoughts. He believed choosing to enter the nightmare realm of one’s own volition might lower the nightmare mission’s difficulty or it might delay the arrival of the next mission. Fatty nodded in agreement.
However, Jiang Cheng didn’t agree with these guesses. He still hadn’t reached the core of the issue.
“Alright, Doctor,” Fatty consoled him, “No matter what it is, one day we’ll figure it out.”
Jiang Cheng raised his head to look at Fatty. With his crooked neck, he looked very funny. Fatty was tickled by him. “Doctor,” He laughed, “Why are you looking at me?”
“I’m sure I’ll figure it out one day,” Jiang Cheng announced, “But whether you can survive until that day is questionable.”
Fatty instantly stopped laughing. Fatty spent the next few days in fear. He was worried that the Doctor’s words might come true. Jiang Cheng also received karma for scaring Fatty.
“Fatty,” Jiang Cheng chewd on the fish expressionlessly, “Did you use the vinegar as soy sauce?”
Similar events caused Jiang Cheng to lose his sleep. He threatened Fatty that if this happened again, he would start purchasing take-outs, and Fatty would have to pay for everything.
“Doctor,” Fatty cleaned the plates as he poked his head out of the kitchen, “You can forget about take-outs. We don’t have the money.”
Jiang Cheng, who was studying one of his patient’s files, shuddered and replied, “Don’t you still have some? I saw a few notes on you last time!”
Jiang Cheng instantly realised something. He asked, “Did those get taken as well?”
Fatty nodded in pain, “I had them in my pocket before Boss Lin came. After she left, I couldn’t find them anymore.”
Chen Xiaomeng and the rest wouldn’t have imagined that Jiang Cheng, who was in his element in the nightmare realm, would have such a limited life in the real world.
“Doctor,” Fatty asked, “After this meal, we’ll have to survive on the frozen food in the fridge. I checked earlier. A lot of them had their expiry dates worn away, so I’m not sure…”
“You can save the trouble,” Jiang Cheng said, “They were already expired when I bought them.”
“Doesn’t Boss Lin give you a salary?” Fatty grumbled.
“She does,” Jiang Cheng answered, “But that’ll not happen until a few days later.”
“Then, what do you normally do at a time ?”
Jiang Cheng thought about it and took out his phone. He made a call, “Pi Wan, please respond if you receive this message.”
Fatty rubbed his tummy and burped blissfully. The table was filled with empty dishes of seafood shells and bones.
The thing that satisfied Fatty the most was the fridge. It was now stuffed with ingredients. They were hauled over from the five-star restaurant kitchen with an order from Pi Wan.
The two went to bed after they had their fill. Fatty slept in the living room, and Jiang Cheng slept in the bedroom.
In his dream, Jiang Cheng dreamed that he slowly stood up and his body uncontrollably walked to the first floor, and a black iron door appeared before him.
As the light shimmered, suddenly, his feet found purchase. In the dark, he could only recognise that he was inside an empty building. He held his breath.
His ears… There were sounds of… waves?