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Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
***
Ruan Qing's expression froze. His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. The bathroom fell into dead silence, broken only by the rapid stream of bullet comments flooding the live chat.
[LMAO wifey finally got exposed! Knew it couldn’t last—the reckoning might be late, but it never misses.]
[Gotta admit, his acting was flawless. Even without reading He Qing’s diary, he memorized all his habits. But let’s be real—his sheer charm was impossible to hide.]
[He Qing or Miao Qing? Surprise! Neither is his real name~]
[We don’t know either! After all his playthroughs, we’ve only got “Qing” to go on. Feels like there’s something shady about his identity… maybe tied to the game itself?]
“When did you figure it out?” Ruan Qing lowered his gaze, his tone detached, abandoning the act.
Anyone sharp would know pretense was pointless now. The moment Lu Xiuyuan uttered “Miao Qing,” his identity was sealed.
“When you took that ‘4444’ call just now.” Lu Xiuyuan chuckled, a thread of admiration in his voice. “You were flawless—even nailed He Qing’s quirks and mannerisms.”
“But…” His tone shifted. “You overlooked one thing. This isn’t a romance world. A dungeon’s final boss never falls for an NPC.”
Not just NPCs—not for any player, either.
Lu Xiuyuan stared down at him, certainty hardening his words. “You’re the one on the bounty list.”
Ruan Qing’s lashes trembled faintly. In the end, he didn’t deny it.
No denial meant confirmation. Satisfied, Lu Xiuyuan reeled in his oppressive aura and stepped back, even pulling the bathroom stall door shut behind him with polished grace.
He knew pushing too hard would only make this one bolt.
But he didn’t leave entirely. Leaning against the outer door, he spoke coolly, “You’ve noticed the dungeons are glitching.”
“Normally, final bosses stay dormant. Players rarely face them directly. Yet lately, they’re waking up—unnaturally.”
Lu Xiuyuan’s intel ran deeper than most players’. He didn’t hoard it. “The bosses are stripping players’ power.”
“To be precise—‘He’ is reclaiming its own strength. Ordinary players? Just collateral damage.”
"And all of this... is because of one person."
Lu Xiuyuan's eyes were fixed on empty air, yet he seemed to see someone standing there. His gaze darkened to a terrifying degree, but his tone remained utterly calm as he spoke softly.
"That person... is you."
As his voice faded, there was no movement from the toilet stall behind him—as if no one was inside at all.
But the stall had only one exit: the door, which Lu Xiuyuan was leaning against. The person inside had zero chance of escape.
What seemed like granted space and freedom was, in reality, a complete dead end.
Ignoring Ruan Qing's silence, Lu Xiuyuan spoke again, his voice gentle and composed. "How about a partnership?"
"If you don't love 'Him,' why not team up with someone?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued.
"You must have noticed when you joined the group—my attitude is different from theirs. I have no ulterior motives toward you. No desires, no schemes. And I’m certainly not the type to force anyone."
"I’m not like them." A trace of disdain colored his words. "I’d never abandon my principles over some man."
"All I want is 'His' power. To become the ruler of this game."
His voice brimmed with unrestrained ambition and arrogance—yet also an undeniable allure. He was trying to persuade Ruan Qing to cooperate.
After what felt like an eternity, a whisper, so faint it was almost inaudible, came from behind the stall door.
"...How would it work?"
Hearing this, Lu Xiuyuan's lips curved slightly. His eyes burned with an aggressiveness that starkly contrasted his composed tone—a domineering intensity that, unfortunately, the person in the stall couldn’t see.
Lowering his gaze, Lu Xiuyuan veiled his expression and answered leisurely, "This dungeon is our best opportunity."
"The boss here must have reclaimed a significant portion of 'His' power. If we work together to seize it, I’ll have a chance to take control of this game."
"And you... will get the freedom you want."
His offer was undeniably tempting. But—
[OH MY GOD, LU XIUYUAN, TURN AROUND AND LOOK! JUST TURN AROUND! YOUR WIFE’S ALMOST FINISHED THE DRAWING! DON’T JUST LISTEN TO HIS FAKE VOICE—YOU KNOW HE’S A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR!]
[Damn old man, you’re rotten to the core. Do you even believe your own words? Once you become the game’s master, you could just go back on your word, and my wife would be at your mercy. Serves you right for getting tricked by your wife.]
[Alright, alright, we get your grand ideals now, but maybe you should turn around and take a look—otherwise, your wife might just run away.]
The toilet stall blocked Ruan Qing’s line of sight, but it also blocked Lu Xiuyuan’s. He had no idea the person inside wasn’t listening to a word he said.
The moment the stall door closed, Ruan Qing pulled a pen from his pocket and silently began drawing a pattern on the wall with his power, not making a single sound.
He didn’t trust Lu Xiuyuan.
His so-called "response" was nothing more than a stalling tactic to buy time.
A psychopath had no concept of keeping promises—going back on their word was just a whim. And this Lu Xiuyuan was the type to casually trick players to their deaths over the slightest disagreement.
Even if, by some miracle, Lu Xiuyuan was telling the truth, cooperating with him would still mean handing over his life.
It went without saying—Lu Xiuyuan would only use him as leverage against the dungeon’s boss. Whether he’d even survive long enough to see the "freedom" Lu Xiuyuan promised was anyone’s guess.
As Lu Xiuyuan finished speaking, Ruan Qing’s final stroke fell into place.
The drawing had drained a significant amount of his energy, leaving his face pale and his body weak.
But there was no time to rest. He slipped the pen back into his pocket, then immediately crouched down. After a silent, steadying breath, he let out a sharp, terrified scream.
"Ah—!"
"What’s wrong?" Lu Xiuyuan’s eyes narrowed at the sound, and he immediately turned to yank the stall door open.
His gaze landed on the pattern drawn across the white wall.
The moment Lu Xiuyuan saw it, his pupils contracted. In the next second, his mind wavered—as if the pattern had eerily come to life, twisting and expanding before his eyes.
But Lu Xiuyuan was no ordinary man. After only a second of disorientation, struggle flashed in his eyes. He was already on the verge of snapping out of it.
Ruan Qing, however, didn’t give him the chance. In that split second of hesitation, he lunged to his feet and drove his knee upward with all his strength—aiming straight for Lu Xiuyuan’s crotch.
The attack on his weakest spot twisted Lu Xiuyuan’s handsome face in agony. His focus shattered again, and the hypnotic effect surged to its peak. His vision filled with the swirling pattern once more before his body stiffened and collapsed to the floor.
Ruan Qing wasn't in much better shape than Lu Xiuyuan. After delivering that kick, he collapsed weakly onto the toilet seat, completely drained of strength.
Had Lu Xiuyuan not fallen for his trick, Ruan Qing would have been utterly at his mercy.
Fortunately, the plan had worked.
Staring at the unconscious man, Ruan Qing exhaled sharply in relief. Once he'd regained enough strength, he stepped over Lu Xiuyuan's body and walked out of the restroom without a backward glance.
This time, he would have to be even more careful—he absolutely couldn’t afford to run into these players again.
***
The sky was already brightening. The university dormitory had long since opened its doors, and students with 8 a.m. classes were trickling out, books in hand.
Ruan Qing stood in a distant corner, watching for a long time—long enough to confirm that the man from that night was definitely not the dorm supervisor.
The real supervisor was someone else.
Pulling his cap lower, Ruan Qing headed toward the dormitory entrance.
At this hour, students were streaming out, with almost none entering. Unsurprisingly, he was stopped.
The one who stopped him was the real dorm supervisor—a middle-aged woman.
She hadn’t paid much attention at first, but when the surveillance system detected a stranger entering the dorm and sounded an alarm, she leaned out of her window, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Student, you’re not from this dorm, are you? What’s your business here?"
Ruan Qing made no attempt to force his way in. Instead, he approached the supervisor’s window and removed his cap, revealing a face so pale it seemed almost translucent. His eyes betrayed unmistakable pain and sorrow, yet his voice remained polite and restrained.
"Hello, my name is Li He. I’m Xiao Mingyu’s cousin."
"I’m here to... collect his belongings."
The dorm supervisor froze for a moment, struck by the young man’s ethereal beauty. After hearing his words, her expression softened with pity. She opened her mouth, then hesitated.
"You... have my condolences."
After a pause, she retrieved the key to Xiao Mingyu’s dorm room and handed it to Ruan Qing. "His roommates have already moved out. The dorm should only have his things left now."
Ruan Qing’s hand faltered slightly as he took the key. "His roommates all moved out?"
The supervisor nodded. She’d been about to say that no one wanted to stay in a dorm where someone had died—it was bad luck—but given who she was speaking to, she bit back the words.
"They moved to Building B."
"Thank you, ma'am." After politely expressing his thanks, Ruan Qing put on his hat and headed toward Xiao Mingyu's dorm—this time without any interference.
Just as the dorm supervisor had said, only Xiao Mingyu's belongings remained in the room.
Ruan Qing quickly sorted through Xiao Mingyu's things, taking everything with him regardless of whether it seemed useful or not.
He had also gone through the diary. As he read its contents, a strange suspicion formed in his mind.
This Xiao Mingyu had deliberately gotten close to the original owner—almost as if he had known he would become the original owner. Only, Xiao Mingyu hadn't managed to wait for him.
No... maybe that wasn't entirely true.
Ruan Qing's slender fingers paused on the diary's final page, where three lines of text were written. Because when read together, the first characters of each line formed a chilling message:
Come find me.