***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to Zzz for the donation! ^^
***
Ruan Qing was the first to react. His eyes swiftly scanned the scene, taking in everyone’s reactions and expressions before finally settling on a few male students in the crowd.
This wasn’t an accident. It was premeditated murder.
When those boys saw the pool of blood on stage, their eyes gleamed with excitement and satisfaction—one even grinned so wide his face twisted with glee.
Ruan Qing recognized them. They were the earliest victims in this dungeon. Even without knowing the full truth, he could piece it together.
A student’s envy, a teacher’s complicity, a school’s cover-up—all of it had quietly buried a prodigy who should have had a bright future.
Humans could be far more terrifying than demons. Sometimes, all it took was a little jealousy to drive people to unspeakable acts. Yet no one on the field seemed to realize it.
Something felt off to Ruan Qing. From start to finish, no one had uttered the "new student representative’s" name. The dungeon boss’s identity had been erased completely, as if someone had blocked any path to uncovering Him.
Was it… the System?
Suddenly, the space around him twisted imperceptibly. The temperature plummeted, and the entire field radiated danger and malice, as though something dreadful had descended.
Ruan Qing’s hair stood on end. Without thinking, he turned and ran.
In the Nightmare World, manifesting a dead entity made it nearly impossible to eradicate. And he’d just manifested this dungeon’s boss—even if it was merely the System’s avatar.
The System had grown powerful enough to defy the rules. They were no longer allies.
Ruan Qing was beginning to realize the System no longer cared whether he cleared the dungeon. Like the other bosses, he now wanted to trap him here.
Other bosses couldn’t leave their dungeons. Once he escaped, he’d be gone for good—so their desperation to keep him made sense.
But the System had no reason to do this.
He could follow him to any dungeon, even replace the boss outright. There was no need to imprison him.
The System was hiding something from him—and he had to involve him personally.
After surviving so many dungeons together, Ruan Qing knew the System as well as the other knew him. If it were trivial, the System wouldn’t bother lying.
Whatever he was concealing, Ruan Qing likely couldn’t bear to hear it.
Ruan Qing understood white lies, and he could even accept certain deceptions or omissions—but he disliked others making decisions for him.
This round would have to be fought on his own merits.
The space twisted and grew oppressive, then began to fracture the next second, as if a glass mirror had been shattered.
Some students on the playground seemed to sense the danger too, screaming as they scattered in all directions.
Ruan Qing wanted to change the nightmare world, but he was a step too slow. Before he could act, the space split apart, and his vision went dark as he was dragged into one of the fragments.
***
This was a classroom—a university lecture hall, filled with students waiting for the professor to arrive.
"Why am I here? I don’t have class today," one student muttered, standing up and looking around in confusion. He couldn’t understand how, after just falling asleep, he’d woken up in a classroom.
Ruan Qing was seated among them, but he didn’t move recklessly. When the student stood, he glanced over.
He wasn’t the only one. Every pair of eyes in the room turned toward the standing student, their stares unnerving and horrifying.
A few of those gazes held fear—likely dreamers like Ruan Qing, trapped in this nightmare world. The standing student must have been one too.
Another dreamer sitting beside him panicked, reaching out to stop him, but it was too late.
The moment the student left his seat, dark blood gushed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His body convulsed grotesquely before he collapsed, lifeless.
The death sent a deeper wave of terror through the remaining students, but no one dared to run now.
Clearly, the dead student had been a first-timer in the nightmare world. The others weren’t—and this wasn’t their first time witnessing such a scene.
A clock hung on the wall. One minute remained until class began.
The student in front of Ruan Qing seemed to realize he was a dreamer too. He turned around and whispered urgently, "Is this your first nightmare?"
Ruan Qing nodded slightly, his delicate face pale with fear, clearly shaken by what he’d just seen.
The male student spoke quickly, "Listen. A teacher’s about to come in. Don’t look up at him. Don’t let him notice you."
Ruan Qing bit his lip nervously. "What happens if he notices?"
The student smiled bitterly, his expression filled with despair. "You die."
"If he notices you, he’ll ask you a question—and no one has ever been able to answer his questions."
"Fail to answer, and you die."
Ruan Qing nodded, his face pale. His obedient demeanor seemed utterly out of place in this terrifying world.
The classmate beside him froze for a moment, lips parting as if to say something, but in the end, he turned away without a word—because class was about to begin.
And during class, talking was forbidden.
As the bell rang, the sound of unhurried footsteps echoed from the hallway, carrying an inexplicable sense of oppression.
A flicker of fear passed through the students’ eyes. They immediately bowed their heads, trembling as they sat rigidly in their seats.
Ruan Qing also lowered his head, silently praying that he and the dungeon boss hadn’t been assigned to the same space.
But his prayers seemed futile. The ‘teacher’s’ voice was unmistakably identical to that of the ‘new student representative.’
"Class begins."
After the ‘teacher’ spoke, the student beside Ruan Qing frowned uneasily. Had the ‘teacher’ changed?
Unfortunately, he lacked the courage to look up. Like always, he could only try to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
The ‘teacher’ began the lesson, which sounded perfectly normal—until he stopped abruptly after just three minutes.
He gazed at the students, his tone flat as he announced,
"Now, I’ll call on someone to answer a question."
The class stiffened, their trembling so violent they nearly pressed their foreheads to their desks.
Ruan Qing mirrored them, though he knew it was pointless. No amount of hiding would help.
"Third row, second column." A deep, magnetic voice cut through the room.
Ruan Qing paused. Not him?
Did that mean… the boss hadn’t realized he was here too?
The chosen student stood up mechanically, face drenched in sweat, on the verge of collapse.
The ‘teacher’ seemed indifferent to his terror. He posed his question lazily:
"How much longer do you think you’ll live?"
The class froze. This was the first time they’d ever understood the teacher’s question. It didn’t seem as impossible as the ones before.
The selected student hesitated, weighing his words before answering cautiously,
"...I think… probably not much longer."
"Hmm, excellent." The teacher let out a light laugh, then began clapping gracefully.
"Correct."
As soon as the "teacher" finished speaking, the student suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, as if some invisible force violently snapped his body, his limbs twisted unnaturally before he slowly collapsed to the ground.
In less than three seconds, he stopped breathing.
The classroom was dead silent. The students stared at the contorted corpse on the floor, their eyes blank and fragile.
Even this… could get you killed?
"Next student."
Ruan Qing felt the gaze land on him. His slender, pale fingers tightened around his pen, and he pressed his lips together, all traces of hope vanishing from his heart.
He hadn’t overlooked him—he was making an example out of that student.
And that example… was a warning for him.
This man’s personality was truly vile—or perhaps he had always been this cruel.
"Fourth row, sixth column."
Ruan Qing’s delicate frame trembled slightly before he finally stood up, his face deathly pale, looking fragile and obedient.
The man’s lips curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smirk as he watched the boy who didn’t dare meet his eyes. His voice was deep and elegant, like the low notes of a cello.
"Student, what’s your impression of me?"
Ruan Qing’s lips moved a few times before he finally whispered his answer, his voice trembling with fear.
"You’re not gay."
The man: "……?"
[Pfft—HAHAHAHA! Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, but I can’t help it!]
[Serves you right, LOL! I told you there was no need to keep emphasizing that! Look how awkward this got.]
[Wife knows exactly how to answer—and he’s not even wrong. This is what happens when you keep bringing it up yourself.]
The man’s smile froze, clearly not expecting that response.
He truly hadn’t expected to hear that answer.
The man’s gaze darkened slightly. He pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth before finally uttering a low, quiet sentence.
"Sit down."
The questioning phase was over. The man assigned an in-class assignment: "Praise the Teacher," with a requirement of 3,000 words—and not a single repeated phrase allowed.
The task wasn’t particularly difficult, but 3,000 words was no small amount. The students in the classroom immediately began writing, and Ruan Qing did the same.
But he froze after just a few words—because after giving the assignment, the man had moved to stand beside him, looking down at him from above with a cold, detached gaze.
Clearly, he intended to watch him write.
Ruan Qing’s slender body stiffened slightly. He could only try to ignore the man’s presence and force himself to continue writing.
His language skills weren’t poor; praising someone was hardly a challenge. In fact, he wrote quite well.
But the man didn’t seem to care about the content. Instead, he observed Ruan Qing’s handwriting and remarked flatly, "Your penmanship is a bit unsteady."
As he spoke, he leaned down slightly, reaching from behind to wrap his hand around Ruan Qing’s—the one holding the pen. "It should be written like this."
The moment the man’s hand touched his, Ruan Qing’s fingers trembled, leaving an unintended streak across the paper and ruining its pristine surface.
Noticing this, the man let out a soft chuckle. His deep, inscrutable eyes fixed on Ruan Qing’s profile. "You seem distracted."
"That deserves punishment."
"Now, what should your punishment be?"
Thank you for the chapter!!
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing to much at this "not gay" boss