Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 128
“Heh, you caught that too?”
Maya scratched her head, a touch embarrassed. “To be honest, I’ve cleared five Dreamplays already—I’m not exactly a rookie.”
“I just joined the Nightmare Game recently and pulled in a friend.”
Ethan asked casually, “Two of you?”
Maya furrowed her brow, explaining, “This one’s Prison-themed, so I figured there might be a gender split; that’s why I reached out to a guy friend.”
Ethan didn’t even need his Insight to sense she was holding back.
Maya came off as loud and carefree, all bluster and no filter, but her thoughts ran deep and precise.
Still, he could tell she bore him no ill will—in fact, there was a genuine spark of admiration, whatever Oliver had whispered in her ear.
Like Oliver, she was cautious to a fault, perhaps warier of people than of monsters.
That’s why she’d played the newbie act from the start.
But was it really that straightforward...?
Ethan harbored doubts.
The rest of her story held up without cracks—a fresh Nightmare Game joiner whom Clara didn’t know was perfectly plausible.
Even if her name popped up on the display, Clara wouldn’t recognize her from that alone, and it wasn’t enough to peg her as Julian’s plant anyway.
“Who’s your teammate?”
Ethan had a hunch but needed confirmation.
“Hmm...”
Maya hesitated, her expression wavering before she steeled herself and bit down. “I wasn’t going to say, but this is the first time I’ve seen my cousin rave about someone like that; meeting you, I believe every word now.”
“So I’ll tell you, but afterward, I hope you’ll help us with something.”
Ethan frowned; he was already on a mission here and wasn’t sure he had the bandwidth for extras, so he wouldn’t commit blindly.
“First, what kind of help?”
Maya took a deep breath and met his eyes squarely.
“There’s a guy named Julian in the men’s camp; I want you to team up with us and make sure he dies here.”
Hmm?
Ethan felt a strange twist inside, but his face remained impassive as he asked mildly, “Why?”
A flicker of hatred crossed Maya’s eyes, burning like vengeful flames.
“That man is a devil in human skin, who gets his kicks from ruining lives; my brother once worked as a gardener at his family’s place...”
Ethan then heard a tragic tale from her lips: as a child, Julian had used a shattered antique as bait, weaving a web of lies that turned a housekeeper and gardener against each other.
Both lost their jobs; the gardener’s family managed, finding new work to scrape by.
But the housekeeper’s home was a different story: a brother in school, a mother bedridden with illness.
Without income, she couldn’t cover the medical bills—her mother died in bed, her brother dropped out to work odd jobs.
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