Yang Ruiqing was the recognized campus heartthrob of the university.

Information about him was extremely easy to find.

There were already many posts about him on the school forum.

After searching through the forum for a long time and discovering that Yang Ruiqing often played basketball and liked studying in the library, the players exchanged glances.

Without hesitation, they decided to go to the library first.

It was already very late.

There were almost no people left in the library.

Only the first floor study hall still had its pale white lights on.

That study hall was prepared for students preparing for graduate school exams and civil service exams.

It was open twenty four hours a day, even late at night.

There were still several students studying inside.

Just as Han Yi and the others reached the entrance of the library and lifted their feet to go inside—

a sudden rush of wind sounded behind them.

The next second—

"Bang!"

A heavy impact echoed.

A black shadow smashed onto the ground.

The instant the figure hit the ground, blood splattered everywhere.

The body lay twisted at an unnatural angle.

Its limbs bent into horrifying shapes.

A thick smell of blood spread through the air.

It was the kind of smell that made people want to vomit.

The players had not realized someone had jumped from the building.

The sudden sound caused their bodies to tense immediately.

Their hearts skipped a beat as they instinctively stepped back.

Only when they saw clearly that the thing on the ground was a person did they realize someone had jumped from the building.

The noise of the fall was loud enough to alarm the students in the study hall.

A student sitting near the window saw what had happened and screamed.

"Someone jumped from the building!"

The scream shattered the silence inside the study hall.

Students rushed out.

Among the crowd, a male student stared at the twisted corpse on the ground.

His face was filled with shock and disbelief.

He muttered subconsciously,

"H-How could it be him?"

"Why would he jump?"

Universities had many departments.

Except for shared general courses, students from different departments rarely interacted.

They usually did not know each other.

But this student recognized him.

Seeing his reaction, the others looked confused.

A classmate standing beside him tapped his shoulder.

"You know him?"

"I don't."

The boy shook his head.

Everyone became even more puzzled.

If he did not know him, why did he sound as if he did?

The boy lowered his voice and reminded them.

"Earlier in the library..."

"He was the one who threw Yang Ruiqing's book away."

The reason he remembered him was because he had been there at the time.

The library had closed upstairs, so he had moved to the first floor study hall.

He never expected that in less than half an hour, that person would jump from the building.

After hearing that, several other students who had also been present earlier suddenly remembered.

"It's him?"

"No wonder he looked familiar..."

But earlier that night he had seemed arrogant and aggressive.

He did not look like someone who would commit suicide at all.

Maybe something had suddenly happened.

Unexpected events sometimes appeared without warning.

For example, a sudden family tragedy.

Or overwhelming debt.

But the students quickly stopped thinking that way.

Because another gust of wind suddenly came from above.

This time the sound was even heavier.

"Bang!"

Another body crashed down.

It fell in the exact same place.

It even landed on top of the first corpse.

Yet the fall did not slow down at all.

The person had fallen sideways.

His head smashed directly against the concrete ground.

It twisted grotesquely at an unnatural angle.

Blood instantly spread across the floor.

He died instantly.

Two people jumping from the building in succession made the temperature seem to drop by more than ten degrees.

It was the middle of summer.

Yet everyone present felt a chill run through their bones.

The curiosity and gossip among the students quickly turned into fear.

An overwhelming sense of unease filled the crowd.

Some people even began vomiting.

The boy who had spoken earlier pointed toward the second corpse.

His lips trembled.

"I-It’s him..."

The classmate beside him frowned.

"Who?"

The boy's face was pale.

He spoke with a shaking voice.

"The one who kicked Yang Ruiqing's book."

Once could be coincidence.

But two people who had bullied Yang Ruiqing falling to their deaths in such brutal ways—

that could no longer be coincidence.

The crowd erupted in panic.

Fear spread instantly.

One male student said with a trembling voice,

"It’s... it’s Yang Ruiqing..."

"It must be him."

"He came back for revenge."

Yang Ruiqing had not been dead for long.

The news had not spread yet.

Some students looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"What happened to Yang Ruiqing?"

The boy looked around nervously before speaking in a frightened voice.

"I just received news."

"Yang Ruiqing was in a car accident on his way back to the dormitory."

"He died on the spot."

The words "died on the spot" hit the crowd like a heavy stone.

They struck the players as well.

The players had not left.

When they heard the name Yang Ruiqing, they had quietly stayed nearby to listen to the students.

When the second body fell, they had immediately split into two groups.

One group went upstairs to investigate.

To check whether someone had pushed the victims.

The other group stayed behind to continue listening to the conversation.

Lin Zhou was among the group that remained.

When the students finished speaking and prepared to leave in fear, he immediately stopped them.

"Excuse me."

"Did those two have a conflict with Yang Ruiqing?"

The student did not recognize Lin Zhou.

He hesitated suspiciously and did not answer.

Seeing this, Lin Zhou immediately took out a police badge and showed it to him.

"We are police officers."

"We suspect Yang Ruiqing was murdered."

"Please cooperate with our investigation."

Dungeon players often carried fake police badges for easier investigations.

Sometimes they were extremely useful.

Just like now.

The students immediately believed him after seeing the badge.

The fear on their faces faded slightly.

They began describing what had happened earlier in the library.

After listening, Sun Xiao widened her eyes.

"You mean someone stole Yang Ruiqing's photos to scam people through online relationships?"

"Yes."

The student nodded and continued.

His tone carried faint dissatisfaction.

"That person liked Yang Ruiqing so much that even his romance scams used Yang Ruiqing's photos."

"But Yang Ruiqing was extremely ungrateful."

"He treated that person badly."

"Those two guys got angry about it."

"So they threw his book away."

Players: "..."

Another student joined in.

"He deserved it."

"Just because he has a handsome face, he thinks he's so amazing."

"Does he ever look in the mirror?"

Players: "..."

The players collectively fell silent.

Their expressions were filled with confusion.

What kind of nonsense was this?

Were they still speaking the same language?

What did it mean that someone used Yang Ruiqing's photos to scam people, yet Yang Ruiqing was the ungrateful one?

Had they not slept enough today?

If someone's photos were stolen for romance scams, most people would call the police immediately.

Yang Ruiqing only had a bad attitude.

Yet somehow he became the one at fault?

At that moment the players who had gone upstairs returned.

Han Yi shook his head.

"No one upstairs."

The players could not reveal their identities.

But that statement exposed nothing, so Han Yi spoke openly.

The students assumed he was simply Lin Zhou's colleague.

Perhaps they had checked upstairs for suspicious people.

After hearing this, one of the students suddenly remembered something.

"I think the library has surveillance cameras."

"If you want to investigate, you should be able to see what happened."

Lin Zhou and the others immediately exchanged looks.

A flash of excitement appeared in their eyes.

Without hesitation they entered the library.

But the moment they stepped inside—

the glass door suddenly slammed shut behind them.

The sound was abrupt and sharp.

The players were startled.

They quickly turned around to look at the closed door.

"Who closed the door?"

Someone asked quietly, sweat already forming in his palms.

"It wasn't me!"

The player at the back waved his hands nervously.

"When I came in, the door just closed by itself."

"I swear no one touched it."

A chill ran down everyone's spine.

If he had not closed it—

then who had?

Something was wrong with the library.

Han Yi's expression immediately turned serious.

He scanned the surroundings carefully.

Everything was silent.

But silence did not mean safety.

"Leave this place first."

Han Yi made the decision instantly.

Nighttime dungeons were always dangerous.

Although this was the first day and the risk level was still low, they would not gamble with their lives.

The safest plan was to return during the daytime.

The other players agreed quickly.

They followed Han Yi toward the entrance.

But the door would not open.

Earlier Han Yi had already forced the door open when he went upstairs.

Now it was not even locked.

Yet it refused to move.

No matter how hard they pulled.

No matter how many people tried.

Even when they slammed their bodies against it—

the glass door did not move.

It was as if it had been welded shut.

"We can't get out."

Han Yi pulled the handle hard before turning back toward the library.

"Let's go to the surveillance room."

The other players did not object.

Since they could not leave, continuing the investigation was better than doing nothing.

The Third University library was enormous.

It had eight floors.

Each floor contained six reading rooms.

Searching blindly would be impossible.

Lin Zhou looked around the lobby.

Soon he noticed a floor plan of the library on the wall.

The surveillance room was on the first floor.

After confirming the location, the players headed toward it.

But when they reached a corner, Sun Xiao suddenly stopped walking.

She turned around to look at the players behind her.

Her gaze scanned the group for several seconds.

Then her pupils shrank.

Her voice trembled.

"Is... is someone missing?"

The words shocked everyone.

They immediately stopped walking and began counting each other.

When they finished counting, their faces turned pale.

Someone really was missing.

And none of them had noticed.

They had only been inside the library for a few minutes.

Yet someone had disappeared.

Where had that player gone?

Just as Han Yi was about to speak—

a loud crash sounded outside.

"Bang!"

Something had fallen again.

The players' hearts skipped a beat.

They turned toward the sound.

It came from the library entrance.

The glass doors allowed them to see clearly outside under the streetlights.

The bodies outside had changed.

From two—

to three.

The third corpse was the missing player.

"Damn..."

Someone cursed under his breath.

Every player felt their hair stand on end.

"Stay calm!"

Han Yi shouted sharply.

"Panicking now will only get you killed."

He scanned everyone.

"From now on, watch your surroundings."

"And watch the people beside you."

"Even if you feel like you're about to piss yourself—"

"you piss in your pants."

The fear of death hung over everyone.

But they forced themselves to calm down.

The group continued toward the surveillance room.

This time they found it quickly.

Han Yi forced the door open and pulled up the surveillance recordings from earlier that night.

The footage matched what the students had described.

But the video was even clearer.

It showed the obvious hostility of the two students.

It also showed the hostility of the surrounding students.

When Yang Ruiqing entered the library, the camera captured everyone staring at him.

Their eyes were filled with the same hatred.

They all seemed to despise him.

Even the students who had just provided information earlier.

It was a clear case of bullying.

Sun Xiao stared at the footage.

Her face was full of confusion.

"Why?"

"Why do they hate Yang Ruiqing so much?"

Lin Zhou stared at the screen.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

"I'm afraid it has something to do with the person who stole his photos."

While the players were discussing the footage—

none of them noticed black mist slowly spreading along the floor.

It eventually wrapped around the foot of a player standing near the edge of the group.

The player noticed nothing.

The mist crawled upward.

From his leg.

To his waist.

To his neck.

The next second—

it tightened violently.

The player's eyes widened in terror.

But his throat was trapped.

He could not make a sound.

He tried to struggle.

But his limbs were completely frozen.

The black mist dragged him slowly toward the door.

The other players noticed nothing.

Everyone was still focused on the surveillance footage.

Lin Zhou spoke again.

"The problem probably lies with the person who stole Yang Ruiqing's photos."

Sun Xiao hesitated.

"That doesn't make sense."

"If someone stole his photos to scam people, why would everyone support that person and bully Yang Ruiqing?"

"That makes no sense."

"It doesn't."

"But that seems to be the reality."

Lin Zhou recalled the expressions of the two students earlier.

"They genuinely believed Yang Ruiqing was ungrateful."

"They truly believed that having someone use his photos was something he should feel honored by."

A terrifying thought.

The player being dragged by the black mist had already moved halfway to the door.

Just as he was about to be dragged out—

Lin Zhou continued speaking.

"No matter what the reason is, that scammer is clearly a key figure."

"He might be the breakthrough point."

"We should find that person."

The moment he finished speaking—

the dragged player suddenly froze in place.

The black mist surged violently.

Then it poured directly into his body.

His twisted expression stiffened.

His eyes became empty.

His entire body became rigid.

Yet no one noticed.

One player saw him standing near the door but said nothing.

"Let's go."

"Leave the library first."

Han Yi led the group out of the surveillance room.

They planned to search for another exit.

But when one player returned to the main lobby—

he glanced outside.

Then he froze.

Sun Xiao behind him frowned.

"What happened?"

The player pointed toward the entrance.

"The door..."

"It's open."

Everyone immediately looked.

The glass doors that had been tightly shut earlier were now wide open.

As if they had never been closed at all.

Chapter 29

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