After the surprise has come to pass, A-Two thinks and then can’t help but ask the obvious, “but what use would a one millimetre gap have?”

Xü Beijin tries to explain it in simple terms, “for us humans with our physiology, it’s of course useless, but for some, it’s different.”

‘Some’?

The enemy of humanity, ‘them’?

At this point, A-Two is still a little confused by all this. He thinks he knows that humans have built this labyrinth to trap something, but what is that ‘something’?

‘They’ can even pass through cracks a millimetre wide?

It’s unfathomable to A-Two.

Though this also proves that Xü Beijin is really special, to know all this past, and even know how to get them out of this predicament.

Then A-Two can’t help but start wondering why Xü Beijin never did anything in the past.

He has heard that all he does is spend his days in the dingy bookstore he has on the bottom floor. It’s almost like…
There’s something keeping him there.

That’s the thought crossing A-Two’s mind.

It doesn’t sound implausible, given Xü Beijin’s obscene level of knowledge.

Chen Simiao, who probably knows about as much, and the people related to this labyrinth, have all gone quite insane…

But, wait!

Suddenly, A-Two is recalling.

The Nightmare this labyrinth was in, was somewhere in the higher floors that they’ve been to.

They also met many people in that Nightmare, many Actors, indeed. Even if an Actor has succumbed, there are always more to replace them…

But, what about Chen Simiao?

They’ve never met this professor in the Nightmare. Maybe he’s succumbed and no one knows.

Though what about the Nightmare’s owner?

Who is the owner of the Nightmare? Clearly, they’re not succumbed, and the Nightmare hasn’t Collapsed.

But the owner must also know a lot of details, right? Then it doesn’t make sense that they couldn’t learn any such information in the Nightmare back in the Tower.

Unable to find an answer, A-Two decides to ask out loud.

Xü Beijin tells him, “that’s because the owner of this Nightmare is actually the opposite of what you’re picturing. He is simply a bystander that wasn’t involved in this business at all. He might know slightly more than your average clueless passer-by, like knowing humans built this, but he also didn’t know what happened exactly. He only knows, he watched the labyrinth destroyed in all its infamy.
Like those people who died in the madness and Raining Hellfire, they have no idea what’s going on, but they witnessed it all happen.”

A-Two nods, having understood the reason.

So it turns out this Nightmare is a Nightmare of the average Joe. Maybe it’s thanks to this that whatever Actor has this Nightmare didn’t go mad.

It’s almost like a movie, in that regard. A nightmarish movie that took place in reality, that is.

Some kind of disorienting sadness seeps into A-Two’s mind, taking his mind off how Xü Beijin knows so much.

Actually, Xü Beijin is equally shocked right now.

This, being his Nightmare, means he actually has some degree of control over what he chooses to do.

But the information he just passed on, is actually strictly forbidden by NE.

He’s never been able to directly explain Nightmares to others. In the beginning, he’s tried every language trick in the book he can think of, but NE’s restrictions were far too severe, they were debilitating.

He has given up a really long time ago, but NE suddenly did a u-turn on this policy, even letting him just spill the beans on these truth.

Xü Beijin can’t help but lament how fickle fate is.

Then he sighs in his mind and puts the matter aside.

He looks at Chen Simiao, and wonders what he can do to make him open his mouth and tell him where the defect is.

Not that he is completely clueless on where it might be, but he also only has a general area to work with.

Besides, the preconditions for utilising the bug is yet to be in place. Instead of wasting the waiting time scouring every inch of wall there, it’d be more productive to communicate with Chen Simiao, who knew where the defect was, he thought.

Unfortunately, it turned out the professor was a far more obdurate person to work with than estimated.

Observing Xü Beijin’s expression, A-Two asks, “why do you think he wouldn’t answer your question? Do you think… he might not trust you?”

Xü Beijin thinks for a little and then nods, “it’s a possibility.”

“That’ll be easy, then,” A-Two’s tone grows a little less dreary, “Mu Jiashi has a utility card he got from Ding Yi…”

Then he explains the card’s effects to Xü Beijin.

It’s so fitting it shocks Xü Beijin, and he nods, saying, “great. Let’s go look for them.”

Then they leave this slightly open area of the labyrinth. Just before leaving, he tells Chen Simiao, “professor, I hope you would realise something. Humanity was over at that moment, but right now, humanity has another fighting chance.
Do you want to squander that by your own hands this time?”

Watching Chen Simiao’s jaw drop and face sour made Xü Beijin slightly happier.

True, he could have just had the Missiontakers sweep the walls in the area he knew for the defect, but it would have drained time and effort. If Chen Simiao would just tell them, it would save all of that unnecessary expenditure.

Was Chen Simiao really unaware of what his student did the whole time?

No one can answer that besides Chen Simiao himself. And whatever that answer, the past is in the past, and set in stone.

Xü Beijin gives Chen Simiao a final glance, before leaving this place with the other two.

They returned to the original straight path of the middle. Then, they run into Mu Jiashi and the others.