As Lan Xu’s voice faded, the room plunged into dead silence, the atmosphere inexplicably oppressive—tinged with a strange, almost dangerous undercurrent.
It was as if, beyond the two of them, some other presence lurked in the room, watching this absurd exchange.
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, avoiding Lan Xu’s stare, and pressed his lips together without speaking.
He neither agreed nor refused, seemingly caught in hesitation.
Lan Xu didn’t press him. Instead, he fixed Ruan Qing with an intense, predatory look, waiting with infinite patience for his response.
He was certain the boy’s answer would satisfy him.
Yet, to Lan Xu’s surprise, after a few seconds of silence, Ruan Qing softly refused.
“Thank you, but I already have a partner.”
The moment Ruan Qing rejected him, the suffocating tension in the room inexplicably eased, as if the air had begun flowing again.
Lan Xu’s eyes darkened at the refusal. Finally, he let out a low chuckle, his tone unwavering. “You’ll change your mind.”
With that, he dropped the subject and turned to search the room for clues—their original purpose for being there.
Perhaps to prove his sincerity, Lan Xu made no effort to hide his findings from Ruan Qing. He even murmured descriptions of the evidence and shared his thoughts, as if worried Ruan Qing might miss something.
In reality, the mirrored world was a perfect reflection of reality. Whatever Lan Xu could see, Ruan Qing could see too—albeit in reverse.
But that didn’t hinder Ruan Qing’s judgment. Ignoring Lan Xu, he focused on searching for clues within the mirrored space.
Zhou Jinchen’s room was filled with evidence. The system had left behind almost every possible clue for him.
Just as Ruan Qing had suspected, Ren Yanqing had taken something from the graveyard. The kidnappers had abducted Ren Qing precisely to kill Ren Yanqing and seize that object.
And those men weren’t in their twenties—nor was Ren Yanqing in his forties. Strictly speaking, they were all over two hundred years old.
Two centuries ago, a legend had spread: those who found the “Divine Ruins” would gain immense power—and immortality.
No one could resist the allure of a god’s strength, nor the promise of eternal life. Countless people began frantically hunting for fragments of the Divine Ruins map.
There were ten pieces in total, and only when combined would they form the complete map.
Bloody battles erupted over a single fragment, let alone all ten. In the end, the ten who obtained the pieces decided to journey to the Divine Ruins together.
This was a neighborhood from over two hundred years ago—back then, the area was still a burial ground.
To call it a "burial ground" wasn’t entirely accurate. It was more of a mausoleum, with a massive underground tomb hidden beneath the graves.
The ten men didn’t dwell on why the so-called "Divine Ruins" would lie beneath a graveyard. Once they broke through the earth and saw the exquisitely ornate palace below, they were overcome with excitement.
This had to be the "Divine Ruins."
The ruins were vast, and their ten-man alliance had always been temporary. Staying together might only invite greater danger, so they decided to split up.
Zhou Jinchen was one of those ten.
After separating from the others, he encountered countless horrors within the tomb, surviving near-fatal ordeals before finally escaping.
The terrors he witnessed there shattered his delusions of gaining power or immortality. After leaving, he gradually buried the memories.
But then, strange things began happening to him.
At night, he could no longer control himself. A voice whispered in his mind, urging him to kill every living, breathing thing.
His body also started changing—twisting into something neither human nor ghost. Agony wracked him constantly, pain so deep it seemed to sear his very soul. Unbearable, unstoppable, it tortured him beyond endurance.
In the end, he became a monster—ageless, deathless, and utterly uncontrollable.
He wasn’t the only one. Four others who escaped the tomb suffered the same fate.
All except Ren Yanqing.
Ren Yanqing was different. Though he, too, became immortal, he never turned into a monster.
The others investigated in secret and discovered he had taken something from the tomb—the reason for his immunity.
They never learned what it was. Ren Yanqing buried the truth deep, denying everything—even when confronted, he refused to admit he had ever entered the tomb.
This bred resentment among them.
Why? They had all gone in together, yet only they were cursed as monsters. Why did he alone remain human, living happily while they suffered?
That resentment reached its peak when they learned Ren Yanqing had a "son."
And when they discovered he had built a residential complex directly over the tomb’s ruins, they didn’t hesitate. Posing as construction workers, they orchestrated the kidnapping.
The goal was to kill Ren Yanqing and steal what he had obtained from the tomb.
What happened afterward was the events that unfolded after Ruan Qing entered the game instance. The group failed to achieve their objective and died together in this place that altered their lives and destinies.
…Wait. The tomb… beneath this place?
This residential complex was built directly above the Divine Ruins?
Ruan Qing’s heart lurched violently, his hand clutching the documents freezing mid-motion.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the tomb didn’t house a true deity at all—the one buried there was almost certainly the entity mentioned in the instance.
Even if it was a god, it was anything but benevolent or righteous.
After all, in the Infinite Horror Game, no dungeon boss had ever been kind.
Ruan Qing’s fingers tightened around the documents, his slender, pale knuckles whitening from the pressure, crumpling the pages.
Because an even more terrifying realization struck him.
On the seventh day of the instance, this god would most likely awaken.
By then, his chances of escaping would vanish completely.
Lan Xu had reached the same conclusion. The final boss, on its own territory, was virtually invincible—the odds of confronting it head-on and surviving were close to zero.
Their only hope was to clear the instance before the seventh day.
His expression grave, Lan Xu finally turned to Ruan Qing, who stood motionless beside him. "We need to find its name. Fast."
Ruan Qing gave a faint nod, his voice quiet but urgent. "Ren Yanqing’s room. We start there."
Digging into the tomb to find it would be suicide. The records emphasized the tomb’s extreme danger, teeming with unspeakable horrors.
Though Zhou Jinchen hadn’t gone into detail, the fact that everyone who entered abandoned their pursuit of immortality spoke volumes. Whatever lurked there was beyond ordinary terror.
They’d likely die long before reaching it—if they didn’t accidentally rouse it prematurely.
Searching the complex for its name was their safest option.
Among all who have truly encountered 'Him', Ren Yanqing should be the only one.
If anyone knew 'His' name, it could only be Ren Yanqing.
Lan Xu thought so as well. He tucked the spoon into his pocket, cast a casual glance toward a shadowy corner of the room, and then walked out without hesitation.
The moment he stepped outside, a corpse lay sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood.
The body was identical to Lan Xu in every way—the pose, the appearance—down to the smallest detail. The sight was unnerving.
***
It was the fourth day of the instance, and the once-"harmonious" Mingya Building had completely changed. The residents passing by now carried an unsettling air.
Their faces were stretched into grotesque smiles, their lips nearly splitting to their ears—a grin no human could possibly make.
Worse still was the hunger in their eyes, a ravenous greed as if they longed to devour anyone in sight. Yet something held them back, leaving them only to stare with eerie fixation.
The instance’s restraints on the malevolent spirits were weakening. Even in broad daylight, they no longer resembled humans, nor did they abide by the rule of luring victims into their rooms before striking.
It wasn’t hard to imagine what would happen as time passed.
Lan Xu didn’t waste another second. Carrying the spoon—and Ruan Qing inside it—he headed straight for the first floor.
The few powerful ghosts were nowhere to be seen, and the weaker ones dared not approach Building D, leaving it unnervingly silent.
Lan Xu found Ren Yanqing’s room. Confirming the owner wasn’t inside, he pushed the door open and stepped in, then pulled the spoon from his pocket.
He intended to investigate clues together with the young man, just as before.
But this time, the spoon’s reflection showed only himself—the boy’s figure had vanished.
***
Meanwhile, in another room of the complex, stood a slender, beautiful figure.
It was 'Ruan Qing', the one who had just disappeared.
His face was deathly pale, his delicate hands stained with blood, dripping steadily onto the floor.
At his feet lay a corpse—brutally slaughtered.
The entire scene looked exactly like a gruesome crime scene—chilling enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Since the livestream’s perspective followed Ruan Qing’s body, the audience witnessed everything that happened after the others vanished.
[Hiss… this is terrifying. This boss is downright unfair. If you can’t beat him head-on, he’ll just scheme his way through.]
[Now I get why this dungeon has a zero clearance rate. A boss with insane combat skills is bad enough, but when he’s also got brains? Yeah, clearing this is nothing but a pipe dream.]
[No no no, my darling’s gonna die in this dungeon too! Wuwu, please no!]
‘Ruan Qing’ casually glanced at the corpses on the ground, then walked cheerfully toward the bathroom to wash the blood off his hands.
But the moment he turned on the faucet, he sensed something wrong. Instinctively, he looked up.
A mirror hung in front of him—and the reflection inside was staring right back.
His heart skipped a beat. Damn.
Thankfully, he reacted fast. With a flick of power, he slit a small wound into his palm, then held out his bloodstained hand.
Pursing his lips pitifully, he gazed at the reflection with teary eyes, his voice trembling weakly.
“It hurts…”
Yet the figure in the mirror mimicked his exact posture—mouth quivering in the same way, even blinking at the same pace.
‘Ruan Qing’ narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly, suspicion flickering in his gaze.
…No way?
Thanks for the chapter!
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