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Bonus chapter! Thank you to Min for the donation! ^^
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Ran Jia's voice trembled with despair, her plea for survival laid bare like a drowning person clutching at their last piece of driftwood.
In truth, within the Infinite Horror Game, most players had long grown numb from constantly teetering on the edge of life and death. Such desperate begging typically held no sway.
Yet as Ruan Qing looked into her pleading eyes, he ultimately agreed.
Not out of pity for Ran Jia or her brother, but because the cruise staff had begun their inspections ahead of schedule.
He no longer had time to wait for the man in the suit to return, nor could he search for another player's lodging.
The cruise had allotted roughly two to three thousand guest spots, though naturally, not all were single-occupancy rooms.
During boarding registration, guests could request to room with companions. Those without were assigned roommates by the staff.
Ran Jia and her brother clearly fell into the former category.
Ruan Qing followed Ran Jia to her room. As he approached, he noticed a young man standing by the door, head bowed, his expression obscured.
Spotting Ruan Qing's gaze, Ran Jia quickly stepped forward. "This is my younger brother, Qi Yi."
She turned to the boy. "Qi Yi, this is... the top player."
The introduced youth remained silent, head still lowered as if he hadn't heard.
Ruan Qing paid no mind to his reticence. With a detached glance, he entered the room.
The cabin rooms were uniformly designed—floors three through six primarily held twin cabins, though they could comfortably accommodate four. Some rooms already housed that many; his presence wouldn't stand out.
However, the room only contained two beds.
While each was easily large enough for two, Ruan Qing had no intention of sharing. His eyes landed on the sofa—it would suffice for the night.
What Ruan Qing failed to notice as he walked ahead was the boy behind him.
The moment he stepped inside, Qi Yi's gaze locked onto his reflection in the opposite mirror, unblinking, motionless.
The focus was predatory—a beast fixated on its prey.
With his back turned and the boy's stare indirect, Ruan Qing remained unaware.
The early room inspections drew little protest from the guests. After all, they were merely lottery winners, not the cruise line's true clientele.
Every guest was registered in the ship's manifest, and since Ruan Qing was an unregistered presence in this room, he naturally needed to hide.
The room offered few hiding spots. Moreover, with all cabins having identical layouts, the inspection crew would undoubtedly know every possible hiding place.
Yet Ruan Qing remained calm. With practiced ease, he pulled a white pen from his pocket and began drawing strange patterns on the cruise ship's wall—interlocking concentric circles that spiraled outward from a single point.
As he raised his hand to draw, his sleeve slipped slightly, revealing a slender, pale wrist. Against the ship's muted wallpaper, his hand gripping the pen looked almost ethereally beautiful. The motion also caused his school uniform to ride up, accentuating his delicate frame in a way that stirred an almost irresistible urge... to embrace him from behind.
Qi Yi's reflection in the mirror darkened further, his pupils swallowing light as his gaze grew unnervingly intense—a stare so visceral it prickled the skin.
Still oblivious, Ruan Qing continued drawing, but this time, the livestream audience noticed:
[Why does this Qi Yi seem off?! That stare is creeping me out—is he watching my wife through the mirror?]
[That angle DEFINITELY means he's staring at wifey. But that look... it's terrifying. Like he's seeing a corpse.]
[Agreed. It's murderous—and my wife didn't even do anything to him!]
[Oh no... did my wife just encounter one of those psychos who kill players for fun?]
Ran Jia, however, wasn't looking at Ruan Qing. Her confused gaze stayed fixed on the wall's circles, utterly baffled by their purpose. She studied his movements intently—after all, witnessing a top player's techniques was rare.
At first glance, the doodled circles seemed childish, almost random. Yet the longer one stared, the more they appeared to twist inward, spinning hypnotically. The lines accelerated with each passing second, shrinking, receding—until they vanished entirely.
Along with them... so did the artist.
Ran Jia's eyes widened, her pupils contracting as she instinctively stepped forward. The circles abruptly reappeared on the wall, as if never gone, and the boy remained exactly where he'd been, still meticulously drawing.
Was there something wrong with her eyes?
No, probably not - the pattern itself was the problem.
That intricate design seemed to paralyze her vision, perhaps even short-circuit her optic nerves, temporarily robbing her of true sight.
Ran Jia had barely looked at it for three seconds when the dizzy sensation returned. The wall pattern flickered in and out of visibility, its vanishing area expanding in sync with Ruan Qing's continuing drawings.
She forced herself to look away, and only then did the vertigo begin to subside.
Yet Ruan Qing kept tracing circles across the wall, now incorporating even more grotesque symbols.
The intertwining circles and esoteric patterns formed a discordant yet perversely harmonious tableau - like some profane summoning ritual.
In reality, these were merely hypnotic suggestions. Certain images and designs could reprogram neural pathways, achieving predetermined effects.
With just a faint infusion of power, they might even deceive every observing mind.
The System stared at the emerging mural in shock, recognizing the subtle energy woven into the patterns -
A wisp of... divine power.
[You... can already wield it?] The System's voice held uncharacteristic hesitation.
'This power?' Ruan Qing's tracing finger paused briefly as he responded mentally, tone indifferent.
'Didn't I use it during the <Pen Spirit> instance?'
'That book required power to activate.'
Suddenly the System realized his oversight - the grimoire hadn't channeled the power through him. He'd unconsciously tapped into his own latent divinity to empower it.
All while remaining ignorant of his true nature.
Perhaps he'd suspected his unusual identity even then. Or maybe earlier still.
Infusing the patterns with energy proved exhausting. By completion, Ruan Qing's complexion turned deathly pale, his legs buckling as the pen clattered to the floor.
Bracing against the wall, he examined his trembling hands. His slender fingers tensed, curling slightly -
A simple motion that only intensified their shaking.
...Was it still too much for him after all?
As Ruan Qing struggled to steady his breathing, someone beside him picked up the fallen pen and offered it to him.
It was Ran Jia’s younger brother, Qi Yi.
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze to the pen in Qi Yi’s hand but remained silent, making no move to take it.
Truthfully, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to accept it—he simply couldn’t. Leaning against the wall already drained what little strength he had left. Reaching out now might cause him to lose his balance and reveal his weakness.
Besides, his hand still trembled faintly, uncontrollably.
Fortunately, the low brim of his cap completely hid his pallid face, and the oversized sleeves of his school uniform disguised the shaking of his hands. At a glance, there was no sign of how poorly he was faring.
Yet Qi Yi didn’t withdraw his hand. He stubbornly held the pen out, unwavering, as if determined not to relent until Ruan Qing took it.
One stood there insistently offering; the other merely watched with detached indifference—the tension between them thickening by the second.
Seeing the situation turning precarious, Ran Jia hastily stepped forward, offering Ruan Qing an apologetic smile.
"Big shot, please don’t mind him. My brother just... wanted to help you pick it up."
Beneath his sleeve, Ruan Qing clenched his hand slightly. His strength had returned—but only just enough to keep himself upright. Trying to grasp the pen now would likely send it clattering to the floor again, immediately exposing his frail state.
If these players realized he was weaker than even an ordinary person... the consequences would be disastrous.
In this endless nightmare of a game, the weak had no right to hold the upper hand.
"It’s dirty now," Ruan Qing said flatly.
With that, he brushed past Qi Yi and headed toward the sofa—not sparing him so much as a second glance, as if the mere act of touching the pen had tainted it.
Qi Yi still hadn’t lifted his head, but his grip on the pen tightened abruptly, the force nearly crushing it.
Yet, as though remembering it belonged to the youth, he ultimately loosened his fingers. Only the chilling darkness in his eyes betrayed the storm beneath his calm facade.
Watching this unfold, the live-stream audience shuddered in fear.
[Yikes... Honey, why didn’t you take the pen?! I get you’re maintaining your aloof, untouchable image, but this guy is terrifying.]
[Oh no, oh no—this time, wifey really pissed him off. Maybe just run for it? Something bad’s gonna happen if you stay...]
[Uh, am I the only one who thinks Qi Yi’s got his eyes on our wife for other reasons?]
Ran Jia's body gave an involuntary tremble as she met Qi Yi's gaze. Her lips parted as if to speak, but in the end, no words came out.
The room fell silent once more.
Exhaustion weighed heavily on Ruan Qing - not just physical weakness, but mental fatigue as well. Those few short steps to the sofa felt agonizingly long, and he nearly didn't make it before his legs gave out.
Fortunately, the sofa wasn't too far. Ruan Qing managed to sit down without betraying any sign of his struggle.
He exhaled inwardly with relief, leaning back against the cushions and closing his eyes as he waited quietly for the inspection team to arrive.
The security sweep was being conducted simultaneously across all four floors. It didn't take long before the inspectors reached Ran Jia's room.
