Wei Jiayu clearly knew nothing about any of this. To him, the man in front of him was just a lunatic spouting nonsense. When he saw Shen Ji approaching Wen Ruyu, he immediately rebuked him harshly.

"What nonsense are you talking about?! A vengeful ghost? Coming to find him? Do you think we’re three year old children?!"

"Get out!"

"If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police!"

Wen Ruyu’s face grew even paler. His slender body trembled slightly.

Unlike Wei Jiayu, he believed Shen Ji’s words.

After all, the dungeon had already formed.

Yang Ruiqing might not know that someone had tried to kill him. From Yang Ruiqing’s perspective, it would likely seem that the stolen photos and online scams had caused his unjust death.

Naturally, he would not let that go.

If he really had become a vengeful ghost, the first person he would kill would definitely be Wen Ruyu.

And the Shen Ji standing in front of him clearly was not simple.

From what he had just said, it was obvious he knew quite a lot of inside information. Combined with his abnormal strength, even if something dangerous appeared he would likely be able to escape.

Following him seemed like the best choice.

Just as Wen Ruyu trembled as he stood up, preparing to leave with Shen Ji—

Shen Ji lost the last of his patience.

He suddenly yanked Wei Jiayu aside from in front of Wen Ruyu. The strength was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Wei Jiayu was thrown directly into the desk beside him, making a loud crashing sound.

"I don’t have time to waste with you."

After saying that, Shen Ji strode forward and grabbed Wen Ruyu’s slender wrist.

The force of his grip left no room for resistance.

Wen Ruyu had no intention of resisting anyway.

But Shen Ji’s sudden action still startled him. His eyes widened as he instinctively tried to pull his hand free.

However, his strength was far too small.

In front of Shen Ji, he was like a child.

Completely powerless.

Shen Ji gripped Wen Ruyu’s thin wrist and dragged him straight out of the dormitory. His pace was fast as he headed directly toward the stairwell.

Wen Ruyu stumbled from the pull. His steps could not keep up with Shen Ji’s, forcing him to struggle to follow.

He looked fragile.

Helpless.

As if he were being forcibly taken away.

Wei Jiayu had only just recovered when he saw Wen Ruyu being dragged away. He hurried after them to stop it.

But the moment he rushed forward, Shen Ji shoved him back with one hand.

Wei Jiayu’s back slammed hard into the wall.

He collapsed to the ground, the pain leaving him unable to get up for quite a while. In the end he could only watch helplessly as Wen Ruyu was taken away.

He stared at their disappearing figures.

His nails dug deeply into his palms.

His eyes were filled with gloom and helplessness.

He hated it.

Hated that he was weak.

Hated that he could not protect the person he wanted to protect.

Gritting his teeth, Wei Jiayu endured the pain and pulled out his phone, preparing to call the police.

But before he could press the call button—

two figures appeared at the corner of the stairs.

The same two people who had just left.

Wei Jiayu: "…?"

The finger that was about to press the call froze.

Confusion appeared on his face.

He could not understand why they had come back.

Nor could he understand what was happening.

Wasn’t this supposed to be a kidnapping?

Shen Ji did not return because he wanted to.

The moment the two of them reached the stairwell, they saw people coming up from downstairs.

And not just one or two.

A whole group.

If they continued downward, they would run directly into them.

Shen Ji did not want anyone to know that he had taken Wen Ruyu away.

Nor did he want Yang Ruiqing’s attention to lock onto them.

He had no desire to provoke that madman.

No one dared provoke that madman.

Shen Ji made his decision almost instantly.

He pulled Wen Ruyu back upstairs.

Back into Wei Jiayu’s dormitory.

As they passed Wei Jiayu in the corridor, Shen Ji grabbed the back of his collar like dragging a piece of trash and roughly hauled him back into the room as well.

Then he shut the door.

And turned off the lights.

It was already past one in the morning. Most students were asleep. Almost no dorm rooms in the entire building still had lights on.

After Shen Ji switched off the lights, the entire dormitory building lost its only source of light.

The room instantly fell into darkness.

Only the faint glow of the streetlamp outside filtered in.

When people are placed in darkness where they cannot see clearly, their nerves instinctively tense.

Other senses become sharper.

Especially hearing.

Soon, chaotic footsteps echoed from the stairwell.

Wei Jiayu had already been furious after being dragged back into the dormitory. Just as he recovered from the pain and prepared to confront Shen Ji—

he heard the footsteps in the corridor.

His heart tightened.

He instinctively fell silent.

The footsteps were messy.

Urgent.

They were heading straight toward their room.

Closer.

Closer.

Finally they stopped outside the door.

The next moment, muffled voices began speaking outside.

A man lowered his voice and asked, "Are you sure it’s this dorm?"

"It should be," a woman replied quietly, confusion in her voice. "Wasn’t the light just on?"

"Maybe they just went to sleep," the man said softly.

"Try knocking."

As soon as he finished speaking, the knocking began again.

Knock knock knock.

This time the knocks were lighter.

But still extremely clear in the silent night.

Then the same man spoke again in a polite and gentle voice.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

"We’re police officers. Please open the door and cooperate with the investigation."

The moment Wei Jiayu heard the word "police," he instinctively moved toward the door.

But Shen Ji immediately grabbed him.

"He’s lying."

Shen Ji spoke in an almost inaudible whisper.

He dealt with the police more often than most people and was very familiar with them.

He was absolutely certain that the people outside were not police.

Wei Jiayu froze.

His eyes filled with confusion and suspicion.

He suspected the man in front of him was the one lying.

Seeing the doubt in his eyes, Shen Ji normally would not bother explaining.

But since he was inside the dorm as well, he forced himself to speak again.

Still in a low voice.

"During routine investigations, police usually work in pairs."

"Unless it’s a large scale operation or an arrest, they wouldn’t deploy this many people at once."

"The ones outside…"

"are not police."

Wei Jiayu had never dealt with the police before.

He knew nothing about their procedures.

Half believing and half doubting, he took out his phone and searched it.

It was true.

His fingertips trembled suddenly.

The people outside the door…

were probably not police at all.

Lin Zhou, standing outside the door, had no idea that he had already been exposed. He continued knocking, this time harder than before.

Knock knock knock.

"Student, are you asleep?"

"Please open the door and cooperate with our investigation."

Lin Zhou even raised his voice slightly, clearly intending to wake the occupants even if they had fallen asleep.

Wei Jiayu’s heart tightened.

If he had been alone, he would not have been afraid.

Even confronting the people outside directly would not have mattered.

But he was not alone right now.

He could not even stop the man beside him from taking Wen Ruyu away.

Let alone face the large group outside.

And those people were almost certainly here for Wen Ruyu.

In the darkness, Wei Jiayu silently looked toward Wen Ruyu.

His gaze finally landed on Shen Ji.

There was urgency and panic in his eyes.

As if asking what they should do.

Shen Ji stared fixedly at the dormitory door.

The door was just an ordinary wooden one. If the people outside decided to break in by force, it would not hold for long.

He immediately looked away and scanned the room.

University dormitories were simple.

Four beds above desks.

A small balcony.

A bathroom.

None of the beds had curtains, making everything visible at a glance.

The only places someone could hide were the balcony and the bathroom.

Shen Ji gripped Wen Ruyu’s wrist and quietly moved toward the balcony.

As he passed Wei Jiayu, he spoke in a cold whisper that only the two of them could hear.

"If you don’t want him to die, don’t expose us."

Wei Jiayu’s eyes widened.

The panic in them grew even stronger.

He could not understand what Shen Ji meant.

Did the people outside intend to harm Wen Ruyu?

Or would the man kill Wen Ruyu himself the moment his presence was revealed?

Wei Jiayu instinctively reached out, wanting to grab Wen Ruyu.

He wanted to ask what the man meant.

He also wanted to stop him from taking Wen Ruyu away.

But he grabbed nothing.

Shen Ji moved extremely quickly.

Pulling Wen Ruyu with him, he stepped through the glass door and onto the balcony.

Wei Jiayu immediately chased after them.

But the moment he stepped past the glass door—

a faint click sounded from the direction of the dormitory door.

The sound was not loud.

But it was extremely clear.

It was the sound of a lock being picked.

Wei Jiayu’s heart skipped a beat.

His body reacted faster than his mind.

He immediately pulled his foot back and yanked the curtains closed.

The balcony door was a floor to ceiling sliding glass door.

The curtains reached the floor.

In an instant they blocked the entire view of the balcony.

Then he forced the tension off his face and adopted the appearance of someone who had just been woken up.

Looking toward the door, he spoke with irritated grogginess.

"Who is it in the middle of the night?!"

The lock picking sound instantly stopped.

The next moment came knocking again.

Along with the same gentle male voice.

"Hello student, we’re police officers. We’d like to ask you about Yang Ruiqing."

"Please cooperate."

Wei Jiayu walked to the door while turning on the lights.

He opened the door and rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken up.

Even muttering irritably.

"Even if you’re police, you shouldn’t be investigating this late."

The dormitory lights suddenly came on.

Lin Zhou looked at the opened door and the Wei Jiayu standing there. He handed over a police identification card.

"Sorry, student. We had no choice."

Wei Jiayu took it and examined it.

It looked exactly like a real police badge.

If not for what had happened earlier, he might have completely believed them.

But now he did not believe them at all.

Real police would never pick a lock when someone refused to open the door.

These people were fake police.

Wei Jiayu glanced at the number of people outside.

There were more than ten.

He stepped aside cooperatively.

"Come in."

"Hello student. We’d like to ask you about Yang Ruiqing," Lin Zhou said directly.

"We suspect this was a murder."

"Murder?" Wei Jiayu’s eyes widened in shock.

"Wasn’t it a traffic accident?"

"We examined the scene and Yang Ruiqing’s position. The possibility of it being an accident is very low," Lin Zhou said casually, inventing the explanation.

In reality they had never examined anything.

They did not need to.

The dungeon mission itself had already revealed the truth.

Yang Ruiqing had been murdered.

"How could that be…" Wei Jiayu clenched his fists. "Who killed him?"

Lin Zhou watched his expression carefully.

"We suspect it may be related to the person who stole his photos for online scams."

"Impossible!" Wei Jiayu immediately denied it.

"He only stole photos. Yang Ruiqing’s death has nothing to do with him. He is the least likely person to have killed Yang Ruiqing."

The players exchanged glances.

His reaction was far too certain.

Which meant he clearly knew about the stolen photos.

Lin Zhou pressed further.

"You know about this, don’t you?"

Wei Jiayu avoided his gaze.

"I don’t."

"You do."

"I said I don’t know!"

His tone turned cold as he tried to push them out.

"I’ve said everything I know. I want to sleep. Leave."

But Su Xiao had been observing him the entire time.

She noticed something.

Whenever Wei Jiayu spoke, his gaze would unconsciously flick toward the curtains.

What was he looking at?

Was something behind them?

Su Xiao frowned slightly and slowly walked toward the curtains.

Wei Jiayu immediately blocked her.

"What are you doing?"

Now the other players also realized something.

They all looked toward the tightly closed curtains.

Lin Zhou spoke calmly.

"What’s behind the curtain?"

"Nothing," Wei Jiayu said stiffly.

"Then you won’t mind if we check?"

"I mind."

"Even if you’re police, you can’t search someone’s room without a warrant."

Wei Jiayu clearly refused to cooperate.

Lin Zhou frowned and gave Han Yi a look.

Control him.

Han Yi might not be as clever as Lin Zhou, but he had the strongest combat ability among them.

The moment he saw the signal, he grabbed Wei Jiayu and restrained him.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"This is illegal!"

Lin Zhou ignored him.

He walked toward the curtains with steady steps.

Then he pulled them open.

The balcony appeared.

Empty.

There was nothing there.

Lin Zhou checked the bathroom.

It was empty as well.

He returned and shook his head.

Nothing outside.

Wei Jiayu quietly let out a breath.

Even though he did not know where Shen Ji and Wen Ruyu had gone, he knew he absolutely could not let these people discover them.

These people were definitely not good.

"Now that you’ve checked, please leave."

Han Yi released him.

At that moment Su Xiao suddenly spoke.

"Do you like the person who stole the photos?"

Wei Jiayu froze.

"I I don’t."

But his stuttering voice betrayed him.

He did like that person.

Perhaps not just him.

Even the others they had questioned before probably felt the same.

Which was why they believed Yang Ruiqing should feel honored.

Which was why they thought Yang Ruiqing was ungrateful.

This dungeon was completely insane.

The one committing the scam was loved.

While the real victim was bullied.

No one noticed that a player standing at the edge of the room was staring fixedly at Wei Jiayu.

His expression had become even more twisted and stiff.

The next second—

the player collapsed to the ground.

Thud.

The sudden noise startled everyone.

They looked over and saw the player lying motionless on the floor.

"Dead?"

Han Yi quickly stepped forward and checked his neck.

"He’s still alive."

Just unconscious.

While everyone was confused—

Wei Jiayu’s expression had completely changed.

His face was blank.

He slowly turned and walked toward the balcony.

The players watched in confusion.

He stepped outside.

Onto the balcony.

Then climbed over the railing.

Everyone’s eyes widened.

Someone shouted.

"He’s going to jump!"

Han Yi rushed forward immediately.

But it was too late.

Wei Jiayu had already jumped.

Bang.

The heavy sound of a body hitting the ground exploded in the silent night.

The sound made everyone’s scalp go numb.

The players looked down.

A body lay on the ground.

Dark blood spreading beneath it.

This was the sixth floor.

There was almost no chance of survival.

Wen Ruyu’s face had turned just as pale.

He and Shen Ji had never left.

When Shen Ji heard footsteps approaching inside the dorm earlier, he had wrapped an arm around Wen Ruyu’s waist and jumped over the balcony railing.

But he had not jumped down.

He had caught the lower balcony edge and hung there.

To avoid being seen, he had shifted to the far left side, hiding completely in the shadows.

From inside the dormitory, they were completely invisible.

Unless someone leaned out from outside.

That was why they had not been discovered.

Because Wei Jiayu had jumped without hesitation, Wen Ruyu had not even had time to react.

He had only seen a dark figure falling straight downward.

By the time he realized what had happened, the body had already slammed violently into the concrete.

Blood splattered instantly.

The body twisted unnaturally.

The sight sent a chill crawling up his spine.

Wen Ruyu stared at the figure below.

His pupils shrank.

His face turned completely white.

Even his slender body trembled uncontrollably.

From the sixth floor the ground was far away.

The dim streetlight made it impossible to see clearly.

But he could guess who it was.

Wei Jiayu.

Just seconds ago he had been alive.

Now he was a cold corpse lying on the ground.

Wen Ruyu’s heart pounded wildly.

He could barely breathe.

Instinctively he wrapped his arms tightly around Shen Ji’s neck and pressed himself closer.

As if doing so could give him some small sense of safety.

Shen Ji held the balcony with one hand.

Feeling the trembling body in his arms, he tightened his hold slightly.

Looking down at the corpse below, a trace of darkness and suspicion flashed through his eyes.

He had almost watched Wei Jiayu jump.

His body had been stiff.

His eyes empty.

It had clearly not been voluntary.

He had been controlled.

Something was wrong.

Yang Ruiqing should still be trapped in the library.

At most he could kill the students inside the study room.

He should not have been able to come out yet.

So why…

had he already appeared?

But Shen Ji no longer had time to think.

Because he suddenly felt a chilling gaze.

It was staring directly at him and Wen Ruyu.

The gaze came from—

the corpse below.

Blood continued to flow from the body, staining the ground red.

The corpse lay on its back.

Its eyes were wide open.

Staring upward.

At them.

The next second—

the corpse’s lips slowly curled upward.

Forming a horrifying smile.

Found.

You.

Chapter 32

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