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Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
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What was supposed to be a five-person gathering had, because of a single forum post, turned into a gathering of five hundred.
No—even more than five hundred.
Not only had players who joined the group dragged along friends and allies, but those who failed to get in also scrambled to extract information from members, desperately trying to become their "plus ones."
Eventually, someone leaked the meetup time and location, and the crowd swelled even further.
Even if some were just there to gawk, such a massive gathering of players was rare. The venue couldn’t even hold them all.
Five hundred players entering the same dungeon wasn’t impossible—each instance had its own capacity. Some could accommodate hundreds, even thousands, while others limited entry to just a handful.
But the item in the high-level players’ possession was key to a ten-player dungeon.
Meaning, at most, they could only bring ten people inside.
How many they could take wasn’t their concern. Their focus had always been on that one player—the high-level one who’d first joined the group chat.
Maybe it started as idle curiosity, or maybe it was his indifferent attitude that sparked their desire to conquer him. But after being played for fools, that casual interest had twisted into something far darker.
No one f*cked with them like this and walked away unscathed.
If he wanted to toy with them, he’d pay the price.
But with so many players in the group chat, identifying him was impossible. Their only option was to summon every last member.
To stop him from hiding behind the crowd again, they positioned themselves near the entrance, eyes locked on every arrival.
They would recognize him the moment he showed up.
Yet even after all five hundred members filed in, their target never appeared.
Three days of frustration had already worn their patience thin. Now, with their prey still missing, their tempers teetered on the edge. Shen Qifeng’s face was storm-dark as he fought to keep his anger in check.
"Could he have given his spot to someone else? Sent a stand-in?"
Today was just a strategy meeting about the dungeon’s changes—not the actual entry. His presence wasn’t strictly necessary.
"Possible." Lin Yan’s fingers twisted through the hair at his temple, his entire demeanor simmering with something volatile and dangerous. The look in his eyes promised violence.
Not only Shen Qifeng and Lin Yan, but even Qin Yulian was in a similarly terrible state, his entire body radiating a terrifying, murderous aura—as if he might draw his blade and kill at any moment.
Clearly, the three of them had been thoroughly played by that damn player.
Lu Xiuyuan, on the other hand, was in a much better state than the other three. Over the past three days, he hadn’t answered a single player’s question, nor had he tried to track anyone down. He remained as composed and aloof as ever.
The only reason he had come at all was to figure out what these three were up to.
Even after three days of observation, he still hadn’t made sense of it.
Hearing Shen Qifeng’s words, he spoke lazily, with an air of detached elegance: "That’s impossible. I had people stationed at the entrance checking every single attendee the moment they arrived."
"Every member from the group is accounted for—no absences, no substitutions."
A player’s account was unique, bound to their soul. Even if they handed their phone to someone else, the system would only display the other person’s account.
No transfers, no impersonations. All they had to do was make each attendee open the group interface to confirm their identity.
The three men frowned at Lu Xiuyuan’s words. If every member was present, with no replacements or dropouts… then where the hell was he?
Had they really been mistaken?
Shen Qifeng turned to Lin Yan, his deep voice icy. "Where exactly did you take this photo?"
"I didn’t take it," Lin Yan shook his head. "I found it in another player’s group chat." If he’d been there in person, he would’ve stopped the kid on the spot—not gotten toyed with like this.
Leaning against the wall, Qin Yulian idly scrolled through his phone, examining the image. "I’ve studied it carefully. If the photos were taken at the same time, then the person in this picture is absolutely the one who joined the group."
"Unless the timestamps don’t match."
The player’s photo metadata could be checked for the exact time it was taken. The real question was—when had Lin Yan obtained his copy?
Lin Yan had seen the photo in a different player’s group. That player seemed to be a first-time visitor to the game’s central hub, snapping pictures everywhere—the boy’s image was just one among many.
After scrolling through his chat history, Lin Yan found the original sender and confirmed the photo’s timestamp.
The two images had been taken almost simultaneously.
The likelihood that the boy in the photo was the same person from their group chat?
Very likely.
But the problem was—he wasn’t among the players who showed up.
Lu Xiuyuan watched the gloomy expressions on the others’ faces with undisguised amusement. Leaning back lazily, he drawled, "Could it be… you accidentally kicked him?"
The three: "…?"
Players who got booted from the chat couldn’t enter the meetup location—the first checkpoint would reject them.
"...No way." Shen Qifeng’s face went blank for a second, his tone so uncertain even he didn’t believe his own words. He instinctively glanced at the others.
Lin Yan’s expression mirrored Shen Qifeng’s. "Probably… not?"
The three exchanged looks, hesitation and doubt flashing in their eyes, their faces twisting into complicated grimaces.
Because they’d been forcing themselves to tolerate the chat’s nonsense, they’d developed a hair-trigger temper—any minor annoyance led to instant kicks. Over those three days, they’d removed at least a fifth of the group’s members.
But they only kicked people who asked stupid questions!
As a high-level player, surely… surely he wouldn’t have been one of those idiots, right?
Shen Qifeng wasn’t sure. Lin Yan wasn’t sure. Qin Yulian wasn’t sure.
After a heavy silence, the three opened the group chat, ready to comb through the list of banned players.
The group had been muted at midnight the day before, so no new messages were flooding in—but three days’ worth of chatter was more than enough to sift through. Tracking down every kicked member wouldn’t be easy.
Yet none of them complained. They started checking, one by one, without a word of protest.
Lu Xiuyuan didn’t get it. This level of obsession—if he didn’t know better, he’d think they were tracking down some runaway lover who’d stolen their baby.
Still, their determination only deepened his curiosity. Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to help.
With Lu Xiuyuan pitching in, progress sped up. Soon, they’d compiled a list of every removed player, along with their final messages before getting kicked.
Most of the comments were pointless. Some were downright brain-dead—like asking if they had girlfriends, or if they’d ever date a man.
Clearly, some players thought flirting with high-level veterans was a shortcut to survival.
The Infinite Horror Game had no shortage of such opportunists, so the questions weren’t surprising—just badly misdirected.
These men weren’t the type to carry deadweight just because someone was pretty. Needless to say, they’d booted those players without hesitation.
However, aside from these overly obvious and idiotic comments, the rest of the messages revealed nothing—making it impossible to determine who it really was.
They would have to meet in person to find out.
Kicked and voluntarily exited players were still on record, meaning they could be reinvited. The three men turned their eyes to Lu Xiuyuan.
Though the group was currently full, its capacity could be upgraded, or some members could be removed—but only the group owner had that authority.
Lu Xiuyuan had no objections, though he didn’t fully comply with their suggestions. Instead of kicking anyone, he increased the group’s member limit and reopened the entry requirement.
He left the condition unchanged—only high-level players could join—then reinvited all previously kicked members.
This way, if anyone rejoined, it would have to be that high-level player, and no information would leak.
Yet, ten minutes passed without a single acceptance. Whether the person wasn’t checking their phone or simply had no intention of rejoining was unclear.
Exchanging glances, the three decided not to wait any longer and began investigating the list of kicked players.
It wasn’t difficult. Most of the removed players had still shown up at the meetup location—they just couldn’t get in.
Meaning, their target was likely right outside. All they had to do was instruct the ID checkers to let those players in.
Since Lu Xiuyuan had arranged the security team, the others looked to him again.
With a faint smirk, Lu Xiuyuan sent a message to the entrance staff, ordering them to allow the previously excluded players inside.
***
As it turned out, Ruan Qing was among those barred from entry. He never expected being kicked from the group would disqualify him from attending the meetup, leaving him utterly exasperated.
I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
Instead of leaving, he lingered outside, planning to question participants once the event ended.
But before that could happen, another batch of players was suddenly admitted.
Too focused on observing the crowd, Ruan Qing hadn’t checked his phone—so he missed the group invite entirely.
Still, he immediately noticed the new arrivals.
Positioned near a corner, he couldn’t quite hear what was being said up front or grasp the full situation.
He thought for a moment, then stopped someone nearby who was about to enter. Lowering his voice politely, he asked, "Excuse me, could you tell me what’s happening inside?"
The person he stopped initially seemed annoyed, but upon hearing the pleasant, melodic voice, they immediately looked up at the figure blocking their path.
Unfortunately, the stranger was completely concealed beneath a black cloak, revealing nothing of their appearance. Still, the listener’s tone softened unconsciously.
"They’re calling in players who were kicked from the group chat."
Then, offering a guess: "Might be looking for someone specific? I’m not really sure."
Looking for someone? Ruan Qing’s heart dropped, a cold dread settling in his chest. He realized now—those men hadn’t been fishing randomly.
They were here for him.
He had no intention of waiting around any longer. He turned sharply, ready to leave.
Yet after only a few steps, he froze.
Three figures stood ahead, blocking his path—the very same three who should’ve been inside conducting their search.
The three he’d spent days deceiving.
Oh man you are fucked. Good luck. Thank you for the chapter!!
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