The sky hadn’t yet brightened, and the world remained shrouded in darkness, carrying an air of danger and foreboding.
Only the lights in the school building and the restroom were still on.
The restroom, which should have been empty, was now crowded. Four men stood in front of the second-to-last stall, and a tall figure among them was gently knocking on the door.
The knocking echoed through the vacant space, carrying an inexplicable sense of oppression—as if each strike hammered directly into the heart, making it impossible to suppress the racing pulse.
After the knocks faded, there was no response. It was as if the stall was empty.
Lu Xiuyuan didn’t care. He took two steps back, then ruthlessly kicked the stall door.
The door swung inward, and with that kind of force, anyone standing too close inside would’ve been slammed into and injured.
But that was clearly beyond Lu Xiuyuan’s concern.
*"BANG—!!!"
The small latch couldn’t withstand the brute force, and the door crashed violently inward.
Ruan Qing had realized what Lu Xiuyuan intended the moment he heard the footsteps retreating. His eyes widened in shock, and he scrambled back in panic.
But he had been sitting on the toilet lid with his knees hugged to his chest, and in his fluster, he lost his balance.
The men outside wouldn’t give him much time. In the end, he could only brace himself against the lid and frantically spread his legs, straddling it just in time.
Fortunately, his quick reflexes saved him from being hit by the door.
As the door flew open, everyone inside became clearly visible. The next second, the men froze where they stood—even Lu Xiuyuan was momentarily stunned.
The boy perched on the toilet lid was slender and beautiful. His disheveled hair fell away as he looked up, revealing an exquisite, captivating face—pale to the point of near-transparency. His wide, pretty eyes were filled with bewilderment and helplessness.
Trembling slightly from fright, his delicate frame shuddered, and his eyes glistened with tears, making him appear fragile yet irresistibly alluring.
The players’ gazes lingered on those tear-dampened eyes, and suddenly, they weren’t so sure anymore whether Xiao Mingyu’s records of this person had been purely objective. If it were them, they, too, might have documented him in such meticulous detail.
The difference was, they couldn’t have done it with Xiao Mingyu’s detached, emotionless precision.
Because this person’s very existence was a sin—an intoxicating poison, like opium, luring others toward the abyss.
Even if it led to death, they’d embrace it willingly.
Lu Xiuyuan was the closest. He lowered his gaze, looking down at the boy seated on the toilet with an inscrutable expression.
"Come out."
Ruan Qing stared at the group by the door, his delicate, pretty face filled with fear and unease, as if terrified by Lu Xiuyuan. Instinctively, he tried to shrink back.
But the cramped bathroom stall gave him no room to retreat. His back hit the toilet tank, leaving him frozen in place.
Seeing this, Lu Xiuyuan strode into the stall without hesitation. He grabbed Ruan Qing’s wrist and yanked him off the toilet seat.
"Mnh—" Ruan Qing’s eyes widened as he struggled to pull his hand free, but his strength was even weaker than an average person’s—let alone a high-level player like Lu Xiuyuan. He was dragged out of the stall effortlessly.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably, his fragility on full display.
Lu Xiuyuan released him the moment they were outside the stall, his demeanor cold and unfeeling throughout.
…Except for the slight, unconscious softening of his grip at the very end.
In the past, Lu Xiuyuan would’ve flung him to the ground without a second thought.
No—he probably wouldn’t have bothered grabbing him at all.
The boy wore long sleeves, his wrists hidden beneath the fabric. Though Lu Xiuyuan’s hand never made direct contact with his skin, his fingers curled slightly, stiffly, as if recoiling.
Despite the gentler handling, Ruan Qing staggered from the force of his own struggles, nearly collapsing.
A nearby player instinctively reached out to steady him but quickly caught himself, awkwardly retracting his hand.
None of those present could reconcile the pitiful, breathtaking figure before them with the swindler from the diary and photographs.
The face was the same, yet it felt utterly alive—where the photo had shown a lifeless, artificial beauty, the boy now resembled a real flower on the verge of rotting.
Blooming to ruin, a beauty pushed to its limit.
Shen Qifeng frowned, his tone uncertain. "...He Qing?"
Ruan Qing remained silent, lips pressed into a pale line, still shaken. He looked less like a con artist and more like a victim of their bullying—some helpless, pitiable classmate.
Shen Qifeng studied the defenseless boy, a strange, unplaceable feeling rising in his chest.
He pulled out a coin, flipped it into the air, and caught it deftly before glancing at the result.
It landed heads up.
There was nothing wrong with him, and this wasn’t an illusion or a dream—so the problem had to be the person in front of him.
Shen Qifeng gripped the coin and glanced at the others.
Lu Xiuyuan lightly rubbed his fingertips, his deep eyes carrying a hint of danger. No one could tell what he was thinking as he turned to Ruan Qing with a gentle, polite smile.
"Sorry for startling you."
"We’re not bad people. We’re just missing a teammate and were worried about him."
As he spoke, Lu Xiuyuan tilted his chin toward the player Ruan Qing had knocked out in the bathroom stall.
No one believed Lu Xiuyuan’s words—at least, the other players didn’t buy a single syllable. The boy had dodged the door, but the unconscious Yang Wenju wasn’t so lucky, taking the full brunt of the impact.
Still, the other players finally caught on after hearing Lu Xiuyuan’s explanation and rushed into the stall to help Yang Wenju out.
Only when they lifted him did they realize something was wrong. Yang Wenju’s face was twisted in agony, his forehead slick with sweat.
That wasn’t the expression of someone in physical pain—it was the look of someone facing their worst fear, exactly like Li Yue’s state during his nightmare earlier.
But Yang Wenju hadn’t received a death call.
The players tried to reassure themselves—maybe it was just the pain from being hit by the door. Yet the next second, wounds began appearing unnaturally on Yang Wenju’s body. Crimson blood soaked his sleeve, and a trickle of red seeped from the corner of his mouth. There was no more room for denial.
Even without a death call, falling asleep or losing consciousness would drag you into that horrifying nightmare.
Suppressing their terror, the players tried to wake him, but no matter how hard they shook him, he wouldn’t stir.
Ruan Qing knew immediately what was wrong—this player wasn’t just knocked out. He’d been hypnotized.
Hypnotized.
The hypnosis was keeping him unconscious. Realizing this, Ruan Qing quickly undid the hypnosis.
This time, Yang Wenju finally woke up, his eyes filled with the same terror as Li Yue’s. He even lashed out instinctively at those around him.
Luckily, the player beside him reacted fast enough to dodge.
Yang Wenju stared at the changed surroundings, slowly realizing he was awake. Gasping for breath, his face was pale with lingering fear. "...That was terrifying."
"In the dream... nothing worked."
The players’ hearts sank, and they stared at Yang Wenju in disbelief. "What did you say? What do you mean we can’t use them?"
"In the dream, you can’t use items, your physique is just like an ordinary person’s, and you’re forced to face whatever you fear the most." Yang Wenju’s eyes were red, his voice trembling slightly.
"If you’re afraid of ghosts, your dream will be full of ghosts. If you fear monsters, your dream will be monsters."
"We’re going to die in this dungeon."
A chill ran down the players’ spines as they listened to Yang Wenju’s words, their hearts plunging into despair.
If everything was stripped away in the dream—no items, no combat skills—then no matter how strong a player was in reality, it wouldn’t matter.
Even high-level players were no exception.
The players instinctively glanced at Lu Xiuyuan and his group. Seeing no trace of fear on their faces, they felt slightly reassured—but only slightly.
This dungeon was too hopeless, with almost no chance of clearing it. It seemed they had made a terrible mistake.
A player wearing a hat forced a smile, trying to comfort Yang Wenju. "If we can’t fight in the dream, then we just won’t fall asleep."
His words sounded simple, but no one took them seriously.
The dungeon lasted seven days. It was impossible to go without sleep for that long—realistically, they only had three or four days.
If they couldn’t clear the dungeon in that time, they would probably die here.
Lu Xiuyuan, seemingly unshaken by fear, showed no change in expression after hearing Yang Wenju’s words. He smiled faintly and turned to Ruan Qing. "You got the '4444' call too, right?"
"Want to look for clues with us?"
Ruan Qing lowered his eyes, avoiding Lu Xiuyuan’s gaze. His long lashes fluttered like wings, casting delicate shadows under his eyes—an image of quiet helplessness.
"...Okay."
Hearing Ruan Qing’s voice, Yang Wenju jerked his head up. His eyes widened in shock. "It’s you!!?"
Even with his back turned, Yang Wenju instantly recognized the man who’d knocked him out—the swindler who’d dragged him into this nightmare. Furious, he stood up and stormed toward Ruan Qing.
Thank you for the chapter!!
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