Chapter 449 - 392: Brianna: That’s Right, Its Name Is ???

Chapter 449: Chapter 392: Brianna: That’s Right, Its Name Is ???

’Why are you waiting for me?’

Brianna wondered in a daze.

’...Who are you?’

’In this world, no one belongs to me. No one is waiting for me.’

’My mother, my lover, my father—they’re all gone.’

’All I have are enemies. But even that’s just my own delusion—they only count as enemies if I take the initiative and go after them.’

’If I were to disappear right now, neither Chaisi nor Fu Tailan would ever think of me again.’

"You don’t know, but in this world, I am the only one who has always been watching you, paying attention to you, waiting for you."

The Host’s voice, both low and gentle, parted the vast, drifting darkness. It was like a hand that couldn’t be batted away, stubbornly gripping Brianna’s mind.

At times, she even felt that she wasn’t the one crawling; she was being pulled forward, bit by bit, by the Host’s voice.

"...Why?" she murmured. "What are you waiting for me to do?"

The Host chuckled. "I’ve waited so long for you... You have no idea how fretful I’ve been, how long I’ve waited to finally get you. I’m so glad, Brianna."

"You didn’t answer my question," Brianna said.

In the boundless, layered, lonely darkness, there was only her and the Host. It was as if, in this one life she lived, the only thing left at the end was this lopsided conversation.

Vulture never appeared—perhaps it dissipated after entering.

But Brianna hoped it had seen the danger and decided not to enter after all. Perhaps there was still a sliver of "human" left in her, because she found herself surprisingly reluctant to see that vulture dissipate in the Black Abyss Belt.

"I can’t even remember for how many years... I’ve been facing a problem I can’t solve."

The Host’s voice was a little different from how it sounded on the radio.

During his broadcast show, he seemed to faithfully play the role of "Host," his voice mellow, gentle, and conventional.

Only now did Brianna realize that his real voice sounded almost like... like it was full of wooden splinters.

As it scraped across her eardrums, there was a faint pain, yet it also faintly scratched an itch she never knew she had. One moment her scalp tingled, the next she was caught between pain and itchiness.

"The Black Abyss Belt," he said, and paused. "...The Black Abyss Belt, the Black Abyss Belt."

"What’s wrong with it?" Brianna asked.

"You can’t cross it, Brianna," the Host said. "I thought for many years, but could never find a way to get through the Black Abyss Belt."

"That can’t be right, can it?"

Brianna was taken aback. "Aren’t you leading me through the Black Abyss Belt right now? And you don’t need to cross it yourself. You infected the Hunters’ phones, so when they returned to the Human World, they took your radio app with them. Besides, you said before that you were inspired by someone else. So others must have crossed the Black Abyss Belt before me, right?"

"Yes... yes. But that’s not what I mean, Brianna."

His voice gently pushed the darkness aside, leading her forward bit by bit.

Brianna thought she heard the faint, illusory sound of rain.

"Only a small number of people can cross the Black Abyss Belt. Humans with strong willpower, once they grasp the method, can leave here completely unscathed... Or people like you, not one of the residents born from a human body, but a person who has completely, wholly transformed into a resident..."

Even though Brianna herself had admitted it once, she still couldn’t suppress her anger. "I am not!"

"Alright, alright, that’s fine too."

The Host laughed hoarsely, as if he was indulging her, willing to go along with anything she said. "The residents, and many more... none of them can cross the Black Abyss Belt. I’ve tried."

’Tried? Did he throw residents in here?’

’What does he mean by "many more"?’

"It’s really troublesome... so troublesome. No wonder the Nest has existed for so long with only Hunters traveling back and forth... And knowledge of the Nest has always been limited to a small group of people..."

As the emotion in his voice grew heavier, the wooden splinters seemed to crack and split even wider, scraping against her ears—Brianna shook her head reflexively.

"What Black Abyss Belt... it should be called the Quarantine Zone," the Host said with a sigh. "Even when fissures occasionally open in the Human World, what’s revealed is the Black Abyss Belt, not the Nest..."

"Fissures?" Brianna was stunned. "What fissures?"

"There has to be a fissure in the Human World for you to crawl through."

The Host chuckled lowly, the wooden splinters in his voice growing sharp. "For so many years, all sorts of problems have blocked my path like stone walls... This is impossible, that’s impossible... But the heavens have truly smiled upon me. Every impossibility became a possibility, one by one. A solution was found for each. Only the final problem—how to cross the Black Abyss Belt—remained unshakable."

Amidst the increasingly clear sound of rain, he sounded like he was about to cry, yet also on the verge of bursting into loud laughter. "And then... I found you, Brianna."

Every time he said her name, Brianna, it was as if he was chiseling her a little more firmly into this physical shell.

"Found... me?"

"You had already received the conscription notice then, but you didn’t know it. The moment you became a contestant in the Nest Dominance Game, you died."

The Host murmured as if recalling a beautiful dream, "When I found you, you were already wearing George Green’s body, walking step by step through the Nest... Behind you, your upper body was extending endlessly... So beautiful. So stunning... It was as if you were dragging behind you a path home that you could never finish, even if you turned back."

Brianna had to choke back a sob.

"I didn’t understand your significance back then, Brianna. I hadn’t yet realized that you were the answer I had been searching for."

"Enough... Tell me," Brianna said, her voice rising. "Tell me, what kind of answer am I for you? What does it have to do with the Black Abyss Belt? What are you going to do with me?"

The Host suddenly fell silent for a few seconds.

Slowly, from within the darkness, he asked leisurely, "...Are you confused?"

"What?"

"Are you confused? Have a lot of questions? Filled with deep incomprehension?" The Host chuckled lowly and said, "As if... your head is full of question marks?"

???

"So what if I am?"

The Host’s response didn’t provide any answers, only making Brianna more and more confused, more and more bewildered—including his next sentence.

"Excellent," the Host said. "You’re about to reach the Human World. Even the timing of your great confusion is perfect... The heavens truly do favor me. They are always willing to give me the very best... It’s always been this way."

???

???

Amidst the countless questions buffeting her like a turbulent gale, Brianna remembered the most crucial one.

"Where in the Human World will I appear? I don’t want to go to the docks—I can’t go to the docks—"

"Don’t worry... the fissure you’ll be crawling out of is on Kaine Street."

’Kaine Street?’

While Brianna was somewhat relieved, new questions naturally arose. What was so special about Kaine Street?

Or had the "fissure" in the Human World simply happened to appear on Kaine Street?

The sound of a downpour rose from the depths of the Black Sea, and in an instant, it beat heavily against her ears.

No, it wasn’t just the sound of rain.

The vague, mist-like darkness of the Black Abyss Belt suddenly receded from Brianna, replaced by a tumultuous, violent night. A strong wind whipped countless lash-like streams of rain, beating against her so hard and fast she couldn’t even open her eyes.

’Where’s the Host?’

Brianna squinted, forcing her eyes open as she crawled forward bit by bit. The wet, cold, but solid ground was beneath her once more. Enduring the pain from the sharp gravel, she cried out, "What’s going on? Am I really here?"

No one answered her.

In the downpour, Brianna managed to turn over and glance behind her.

This was... this seemed to be an area of old residential buildings. The nondescript apartment blocks stood in the dark night and heavy rain as long, rectangular silhouettes.

Her body was still stretched out long, sprawled on the ground, extending endlessly backward until it disappeared into a large mass of black fog.

Brianna squinted but still couldn’t see clearly. She simply took out her phone and turned on the flashlight.

The white light barely penetrated the rainy night, shrouding the residential building behind her in what looked like a layer of damp mist.

...She hadn’t expected this. The "fissure" the Host spoke of wasn’t a metaphor after all.

There really was a fissure in the building—or rather, it looked as if a fissure had been eroded into it by the black fog.

From that fissure, what was revealed was not an apartment inside the building, but layers upon layers of darkness—the Black Abyss Belt, which felt like it would swallow your very soul if you so much as glanced at it.

’Is this really the Human World? Aren’t buildings like this everywhere in the Nest, too?’

’The Host could be lying to me. Logically speaking, there’s no way I could enter the Human World looking like this—’

Wait.

Lying dumbstruck on the ground, Brianna suddenly understood something she should have realized long ago.

When she was in Jin Xueli’s room and heard her own future voice on the radio, she didn’t hear "Jacqueline’s" voice, but "Brianna’s" voice.

There was nothing strange about that in itself—but at the same time, she also heard background noise and the sound of car horns.

There were almost no cars on the roads of the Nest.

The sound of car horns meant there was traffic. And traffic meant the future Brianna was in the Human World.

What’s more, she had entered the Human World in her own original form.

’Was everything decided back then?’

’Before I even knew I could enter the Human World, my future self had already done it?’

"What the hell is going on?"

Brianna could no longer hold it in. She roared, the rumbling downpour battering her furious shouts, almost seeming to kick up white steam from her voice. "Get out here and tell me! What are you planning? Why did you help me get in?"

I have so many so many so many questions I’m confused bewildered my head is full of question marks question marks question marks question marks

I want answers I need answers if you don’t give me answers I’m going to kill someone

This is torture wanting what I can’t have is torture it’s all question marks torture all these unanswered questions are torture

???

???

wait what is this thing i’m feeling??? it feels very... Nest?? what could be so Nest-like???

mixed in the rain floating in the rain between heaven and earth what is it??? filling the water molecules flowing into the sewers it’s everywhere everywhere everywhere??? what is it i know

It’s the Original Liquid.

The Human World is already soaked in the Original Liquid.

"Everything is going smoothly, Brianna."

The Host’s voice sounded out softly from a parked car not far away.

Brianna whipped her head around.

"All the key players have gathered in Blackmoor City tonight... All the key players, tonight, are trapped in a deep confusion they cannot understand, one for which there are no answers."

Inside the dark car, only the soft blue light of the in-dash screen was visible. The sound of electric current flowed like a river, carrying the Host’s voice and dispersing it between heaven and earth.

"The final target Illusion, ???... has finally been born. When every single one of you—Mai Mingle, Jin Xueli, Chaisi Monroe, Fu Tailan, Brianna, and the Observers... are all steeping in the Original Liquid, tormented by unanswerable questions, battered by incomprehensible phenomena... from within your minds, the Illusion known as ??? was born."

Illusion Report

Dear contestants of the Nest Dominance Game:

This is a mass message.

Congratulations! Through your combined efforts, the final Illusion, ???, has now been born.

The location of its appearance is in the Human World, in Blackmoor City.

Originally clear, real, and objective things will have their forms twisted by ???, be injected with doubt, and have their boundaries blurred...

??? will hammer and shatter the boundary between illusion and reality. It will turn a bottle back into clay, and then mold that clay into a piece of the sky.

From the moment of ???’s birth, all the truths you once knew may be overturned.

In other words, from now on,

the world is once again,

full of possibilities.

Because only those who change the world deserve the right to advance.