***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
***
As Ruan Qing's words fell, the air instantly froze. The players' expressions stiffened as well, all of them looking at Ruan Qing with a mix of shock and disbelief.
Help him to what? Physical urges?
Lu Xiuyuan narrowed his eyes slightly at the words, his gaze carrying an indescribable hint of danger. Shen Qifeng and the others reacted similarly.
Lin Yan coldly stared at Ruan Qing and cut straight to the point. "Does that apply only to you, or is it open to anyone?"
"Probably... anyone?" Ruan Qing pressed his lips together, his voice hesitant and uncertain. "I didn’t know him before this."
Silence fell over the scene. The players wore complicated expressions—clearly, no one agreed with his words, nor could they.
After all, just by standing there, this person could stir the darkest desires in people’s hearts. Whether they knew him or not didn’t really matter.
But this was still the most important clue they had so far.
The players had spent a considerable amount of time digging up information about Xiao Mingyu, and by now, it was already late. After a quick meal, the group headed to the study hall Ruan Qing had pointed out.
Perhaps they arrived too early—the study hall was still packed with students, and there was no sign of the male student in question. The players had no choice but to wait.
Time passed slowly. Eventually, most of the students left, and midnight approached.
Finally, footsteps echoed from outside the study hall. Soon, a figure appeared at the entrance.
It was the same male student Ruan Qing had encountered the night before.
The moment he stepped inside, a dozen pairs of eyes locked onto him. Surprised, he glanced at the people staring at him before his gaze settled on a corner of the study hall.
There sat Ruan Qing.
The male student didn’t seem surprised that Ruan Qing had come looking for him. He smiled faintly.
"Good evening. Have you made up your mind?"
His words confirmed his identity. Before Ruan Qing could respond, Lu Xiuyuan stood up with a polite smile.
"Hello, classmate. We heard you know how to survive. Could you share that with us?"
Lu Xiuyuan’s tone was warm and courteous, his demeanor elegant and refined. Yet no one could tell whether his offer to help solve physical needs meant a temporary fix—or a permanent one.
A dead person wouldn’t have physical desires.
The male student didn’t catch the killing intent hidden in Lu Xiuyuan’s words, but he seemed to understand why the study room was so crowded tonight. He glanced sideways at Lu Xiuyuan and said, "Sorry, but I’m not interested in just anyone."
With a light chuckle, he added, "You’re too ugly."
No one enjoys being called ugly, especially when the remark clearly implied that Lu Xiuyuan was offering himself up. The smile on Lu Xiuyuan’s face faded slightly, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
The players’ hearts leapt into their throats, fearing the two would come to blows right then and there.
Fortunately, no fight broke out. After speaking, the male student turned to Ruan Qing and winked playfully. "Seems you haven’t made up your mind yet. See you tomorrow night."
Without so much as a glance at Lu Xiuyuan, he turned to leave the study room.
But the moment he reached the door, a small knife whizzed past his ear and embedded itself deep into the wall beside him. Had it veered even slightly, it would have pierced his skull instead.
At the same time, Lu Xiuyuan’s indifferent voice sounded behind him. "I don’t recall saying you could leave."
The male student paused. His expression unchanged, he studied the knife lodged in the wall before turning back to Lu Xiuyuan. As if hearing something absurdly funny, he burst into laughter.
"My apologies, but no one can stop me if I want to leave."
With a snap of his fingers, the male student vanished into thin air—literally. It was as if he had never been there at all.
The players hadn’t even blinked, yet none could trace how he’d disappeared. Horror flickered in their eyes. Someone capable of that couldn’t be just an ordinary NPC—even if he wasn’t the dungeon’s boss.
A shadow of malice flashed in Lu Xiuyuan’s eyes before his gaze slid toward Ruan Qing, seated in the corner. His dark, unreadable stare carried a hint of danger and hostility.
Ruan Qing: "..."
His long lashes trembled slightly. Pressing his lower lip between his teeth, he lowered his head to avoid Lu Xiuyuan’s gaze.
With their only lead gone just like that, the players exchanged uneasy glances, unsure what to do next.
Ding ling ling, ding ling ling.
A player’s phone rang. The moment the sound pierced the air, the classroom turned several degrees colder.
It was a call from 4444.
By now, everyone knew the ringtone was trouble. All the players were on guard—this time, no one fell under its spell.
But the player didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he instinctively looked at Lu Xiuyuan and the other high-level players, as if waiting for their input.
Lu Xiuyuan lifted his chin slightly. "Answer it."
The incident with Yang Wenju had already proven that whether you picked up the call or not, you’d still be dragged into the nightmare. In that case, a call from 4444 was more like a death omen.
Knowing the omen of death actually increased the chances of avoiding it.
The other players realized this too. The player immediately answered the call. Just like when Li Yue had received the call, there was a brief silence on the other end at first, followed by strange noises.
Rustling, indistinct sounds—hard to make out. It could have been something crawling, or maybe the chirping of insects. The noise was dense, creeping, sending chills down their spines.
Soon, the sound changed. It turned into something like chewing, mixed with the crunching of bones—as if some beast were feeding.
Just as the players strained to listen, the sounds stopped completely. The call had ended.
This time, there were no footsteps, no screams. The players exchanged confused looks.
"What’s going on? Why wasn’t my voice in it?" The player who had answered the call was just as bewildered. He glanced at the others. "Did I miss something?"
"I didn’t hear you either," Li Yue said after a moment of thought. "Could this mean you won’t die?"
"Possibly." Another player nodded. "I didn’t hear you at all. It’s like you weren’t even there."
The more they talked, the more convinced they became, nearly persuading themselves. Watching them delude themselves, Lu Xiuyuan and the others wore faint smirks, their eyes mocking.
Beside them, Ruan Qing bit his lip before speaking up softly, "...Could it be that he was unconscious before dying?"
The 4444 call only played the sounds of the moment before death. If someone was unconscious by then, naturally, there’d be no voice to hear.
Ruan Qing’s words shattered the players’ last shred of hope. The study room plunged into dead silence, thick with fear and unease.
Deep down, they had considered this possibility—they just didn’t want to believe it. But they had no choice.
The chewing sounds at the end? That was likely the player being devoured by something. Maybe not even his body remained.
Terror flashed in the players’ eyes. Panic and dread gripped them entirely.
"Seems like we’ve hit a dead end with clues," Shen Qifeng broke the silence. He glanced at Lu Xiuyuan and the others, speaking unhurriedly.
"Shall we enter the dream and see?"
The more dangerous the place, the more clues there are. Without venturing into the nightmare, it’s hard to gather more leads.
Lu Xiuyuan had no objections, and neither did the other two. As for the opinions of the other players, they clearly paid them no mind.
But…
Lu Xiuyuan and the others turned their gaze to Ruan Qing, who was sitting in the corner, and frowned.
Ruan Qing shrank back under their stares. Gripping his sleeve, he hesitated before speaking up. “I’ll go in too.”
“Sooner or later, I’ll be dragged in anyway. With more people, there’s at least some support.”
Hearing this, the others looked away, evidently indifferent. And so, the decision to enter the nightmare was settled.
Lu Xiuyuan took out two items—one to induce sleep, the other to attack.
The target of the attack, naturally, was the players themselves. With the nature of the nightmare still unknown, they had to ensure they could wake up.
After adjusting the timing and intensity of the attack, Lu Xiuyuan activated the sleep-inducing item, plunging everyone present into unconsciousness.
The players had accounted for every possibility—except one. No one had anticipated that the nightmares would be separate.
A nightmare forces one to confront their deepest fear, and since everyone’s fears differ, their nightmares would too.
Every player was pulled into a different nightmare. Even Ruan Qing was no exception.
***
Ruan Qing had guessed the nightmares would be separate. In fact, that was precisely why he agreed to enter. He had braced himself to face ghosts—yet what he saw wasn’t a ghost at all.
Before him lay ruins. Skyscrapers crumbled, the earth split apart, and the world itself seemed to collapse into destruction. Despair enveloped everything, as though the apocalypse had arrived.
He stared at the scene in shock, unable to process it.
Why?
Why wasn’t it a ghost? Wasn’t that his greatest fear?
Why was he afraid of this? He had never even seen such a scene before.
Had the nightmare made a mistake?
Clutching his uncomfortably tight chest, Ruan Qing’s beautiful eyes filled with confusion. Almost unconsciously, he took a few steps forward.
However, he didn’t notice the pit right in front of him and lost his balance, falling to the ground.
It didn’t hurt much—almost no different from reality.
Ruan Qing quickly stopped thinking about why that was, because the ground not far from him began to split apart, cracking toward him at a terrifying speed.
Beneath the fissures was a seething, fiery magma.
Ruan Qing’s eyes widened, his pupils shrinking. He immediately pushed himself up and sprinted in the opposite direction.
Just as he ran, a young, desperate cry for help rang out behind him, piercingly clear in his ears.
"Save me… Big brother, please save me."
Hearing the familiar voice, Ruan Qing instinctively turned back.
At the edge of the fissure, a little boy clung desperately to the crumbling ground, his entire body dangling over the abyss. Below him flowed the scorching magma.
That little boy—it was the same one Ruan Qing had failed to save back in the <Horror Cruise> dungeon.
