***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to JustSomeOne for the donation! ^^
***
The live-stream audience erupted with excitement the moment ‘Ruan Qing’ began unbuttoning his clothes—but after just one button, the screen abruptly cut to black.
This time, though, no one assumed the player had died.
[What the hell?! I— I was ready for this! How dare you cut it off now!?]
[Ugh! Of all times for the stream to glitch! How am I supposed to sleep tonight!? (flips table.JPG)]
[The Infinite Horror Game stream never glitches. The boss definitely shut it down. It’s happened before.]
[So damn stingy! It’s not like looking would kill you! T_T I just wanna see my wife undress too!]
No matter how much the audience howled, the screen stayed dark. Only faint, indistinct rustling could be heard—frustratingly ambiguous.
Was it the sound of clothes slipping off? Or something else? The uncertainty had viewers clawing at their heads in agony.
After what felt like an eternity, the stream flickered back to life. The audience perked up instantly, leaning forward in anticipation—
Only to be met with a bloodied hand lunging straight for the screen, grotesque and terrifying.
It was like watching a horror movie at midnight, only for the ghost to lurch out and drag you into the film.
Many viewers froze, their hearts seizing mid-beat. Some toppled backward, their bodies trembling uncontrollably from sheer terror.
Clearly, the scene they’d hoped for was over. Now, the screen showed ‘Ruan Qing’ and Lan Xu locked in a brutal, blood-soaked battle—each desperate to kill the other, yet both holding back.
Lan Xu ached to slaughter ‘Ruan Qing,’ but damaging that body would shatter any chance of dragging its owner out of the dungeon alive. Only clearing the level would let him claim his prize.
‘Ruan Qing,’ too, fought with restraint. The boy still needed this vessel to withstand the corruption of his power. It couldn’t afford even a scratch.
Their deadlock stretched on—until the last sliver of sunlight withered from the sky.
Night fell.
And in this dungeon… the night belonged to the ghosts.
Lan Xu knew this well. But with the Boss residing inside the young man’s body, he couldn’t end things quickly—he could only watch helplessly as time dragged on until midnight.
The moment the clock struck twelve, ‘Ruan Qing’ sensed the dungeon’s restraints on him vanish.
This was the fifth night. By now, the dungeon no longer suppressed vengeful ghosts; they could freely slaughter the remaining survivors—or even weaker ghosts.
‘Ruan Qing’ immediately withdrew from Ruan Qing’s body, using his power to instantly transport the vacant vessel back to the room’s mirror, allowing the real Ruan Qing to return to himself.
Meanwhile, ‘Ruan Qing’—now in his true form—turned to face Lan Xu. His appearance was exactly the shadowy figure Ruan Qing had once glimpsed on the rooftop.
This time, ‘Ruan Qing’ no longer needed to hold back. Neither did Lan Xu.
The two clashed with savage brutality, as if locked in some blood feud.
Any other player witnessing this would have been stunned—how could a mere player match the dungeon’s Boss in combat?
Such a thing was practically unheard of.
Especially in a no-survivors dungeon, where the Boss’s power was supposed to be utterly terrifying.
Yet Lan Xu not only held his own—he even seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
But by now, Lan Xu no longer resembled a living human. Dark, sinuous patterns crawled across his entire body, pulsing with a dangerous, oppressive aura. The sight was deeply unsettling.
To an uninformed observer, both men might have seemed like dual Bosses of this nightmare. Even the live-stream audience, watching intently, began to doubt their own eyes.
Outside, the night grew darker. Ominous black mist writhed in the shadows, slowly devouring the entire neighborhood—as though some unspeakable horror was on the verge of awakening.
But the complex had always been shrouded in gloom. No one noticed the change—not the viewers, not even Lan Xu, whose sole focus was killing Ren Qing.
Ren Qing was strong, yes—but he was merely a fragment of ‘Him’, not an invincible entity.
If Lan Xu could kill Ren Qing before ‘He’ fully awakened, then uncover ‘His’ true name in time… he could still take the boy and escape.
So Lan Xu held nothing back. He recklessly unleashed power far beyond his body’s limits, consequences be damned.
Mid-fight, Ren Qing suddenly sensed something wrong. His eyes locked onto Lan Xu, sharp with suspicion and danger.
This man… didn’t seem like a player at all.
Since inexplicably entering the young man’s body, Ren Qing had learned everything about the Infinite Horror Game—including the existence of NPCs and players.
The person before him wasn’t so much a player as he was something… like himself.
Even their energy signatures were strikingly similar, as if they originated from the same source.
But in this dungeon, only seven individuals should possess the power of a "god."
And the other six had already been killed by him. He was the only one left.
Ren Qing’s eyes darkened. No matter who this person was, no one would take the boy away from him.
Trying to kill him to clear the dungeon? Dream on.
With a furious leap, Ren Qing unleashed his full power, attacking Lan Xu with reckless abandon. The two clashed once more, their battle erupting into a chaotic frenzy.
Their movements were too fast to follow—only the terrifying energy radiating from their fight hinted at the sheer horror of their strength.
The live-stream audience had assumed this would end in the dungeon boss’ victory.
Yet, in the end, it was Lan Xu who stood standing.
His condition was dire—barely recognizable as human—but he was still on his feet.
Meanwhile, Ren Qing lay motionless in the distance, the dark mist around him thinning, as if on the verge of dissipating entirely.
This round belonged to Lan Xu.
As he watched Ren Qing fade away, a flicker of triumph flashed in Lan Xu’s eyes—along with something darker, more possessive.
Excitement.
The boy would soon be his.
With Ren Qing gone, nothing would stand in his way.
All he had to do was take the boy back to his own dungeon.
Then, no one—not even the game’s main system—could ever take him away.
A wave of satisfaction washed over Lan Xu as he wiped the blood from his lips and turned to leave.
As for the live-stream viewers?
They had long since figured out Lan Xu’s true identity—the moment he went toe-to-toe with ‘Ruan Qing.’
He was none other than Lan Yu, the number one ranked player on the leaderboard.
[HOLY SH*T!!! I can’t believe I’ve been watching the top-ranked player clear a dungeon this whole time!!!]
[Why do all the bigshots love using alt accounts?! Now I’m gonna be paranoid about every "mediocre" streamer—what if they’re another hidden OP monster?!]
[Is this what the number one player looks like? With strength like this, who even needs clues? He just bulldozed the dungeon boss!]
[No one cares about the dungeon clues anymore? Our wife is already investigating Ren Yanqing’s room—he’s probably about to find a major lead.]
[Who cares about clues now? I just wanna— Wait, wait! Look at the ground! The boss seems… off?]
After Ren Qing’s body collapsed, the dark mist shrouding him began to dissipate.
But the dispersal lasted less than a minute before new tendrils of shadow surged from the gloom, swarming toward him with frenzied intensity. In the blink of an eye, his form grew more solid.
Then something worse happened.
A terrifying, overwhelming presence erupted from beneath the earth—a force so potent it sent Ren Qing’s body levitating midair as the darkness plunged into him.
The mist thickened to horrifying levels, blotting out the sky, smothering all light. The entire neighborhood drowned in an abyss, as if time itself had frozen.
This was no ordinary fog. It pulsed with a suffocating malevolence, a weight that crushed the lungs and strangled hope. Standing before it felt like gazing up at some colossal, primordial horror—a thing that rendered all resistance meaningless.
Like ants trying to topple a mountain.
Lan Xu had stopped running the moment the shadows began converging. He whirled around, eyes locked on Ren Qing.
He’d assumed Ren Qing couldn’t die while the mist persisted.
But this… this was different.
It was helping him.
Without hesitation, Lan Xu lunged forward, desperate to interrupt the process.
A dungeon’s final boss, unrestrained within its own domain, was near invincible.
If 'He' fully awakened inside Ren Qing—if It took control—there’d be no chance left. Not for him, and certainly not for the boy.
Lan Xu had never cared about clearing dungeons. Death meant nothing to him; a spare life was just another expendable tool, and points were trivial when you had endless reserves.
Hell, this wasn’t even his real body.
But for the boy?
Failure here meant forever.
Even if the young man had a life-saving clone, there was no way he could escape this dungeon.
Because even if he fled to a dungeon of his own, 'He' had a thousand ways to ensure the boy could never leave.
Unless the young man cleared the dungeon.
Only by clearing it would the Game’s Main System intervene—extracting him from the dungeon.
The Main System was the only force capable of opposing a dungeon’s supreme boss… but it would only act if the rules were broken.
In other words, unless the boy cleared the dungeon, 'He' could keep him effortlessly. The Main System wouldn’t lift a finger.
'He' must not be allowed to awaken within Ren Qing’s body!
But it was already too late.
'He'… had woken.
As the black mist dissipated, Lan Xu caught sight of the man’s striking features and immediately leaped back, putting distance between them. His eyes burned with wariness and dread.
‘Ren Qing’ no longer resembled Ruan Qing in the slightest. Instead, he was a handsome man draped in flowing black robes.
'His' gaze was icy as he looked down at Lan Xu, a faint smirk playing on his lips. “You’re welcome to visit again,” he said, voice languid yet edged with menace.
“Though next time… I’d prefer you wait for an invitation.”
