At the instant the library’s glass doors swung shut, the cold, sinister presence controlling Wen Ruyu’s body vanished completely.

Wen Ruyu’s body lost its support. His whole body went limp at once, and he collapsed weakly onto the cold, hard floor.

His pale, slender fingers pressed tightly against his violently pounding heart. His narrow, delicate shoulders rose and fell slightly as he gasped for breath in great gulps. His thin figure looked pitiful beyond words.

But he had no time to steady his heartbeat.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything at that moment.

The instant he realized he could move again, he immediately forced himself up, staggering to his feet and rushing toward the library doors as fast as he could.

He seized the handle with both hands and pulled back with all his strength, but the door was as if it had been welded shut by some invisible force.

It did not budge in the slightest.

No matter how hard he pulled, the door would not loosen even a little. He could not force open so much as a crack.

The players nearby were already stunned senseless. Every one of them stood frozen in place, their faces filled with shock and confusion.

It was as if they could not understand what was happening.

And they truly did not understand.

This NPC had clearly been the one to bring them to the library, so why was he now desperately trying to open the door and get out?

Wen Ruyu had no time to care what the players thought. His eyes were red now as he desperately tugged at the glass doors with all his strength.

But even after pulling until his palms burned with pain, he still could not get the doors open.

His palms were rubbed raw and burning, yet all he could do was stare helplessly at the tightly sealed glass doors in front of him. Fragility and fear were written across his exquisite face, and even his aching hands would not stop trembling.

The doors would not open.

They could not get out.

Wen Ruyu turned to look at the players behind him. His long eyelashes trembled helplessly, and when he spoke, his voice was full of fear, trembling and hoarse.

"I was just now... being controlled."

"It wasn’t me who wanted to bring you here."

Those words struck like a bolt from the blue, exploding over everyone’s heads.

The players’ expressions changed instantly. Their initial confusion turned at once into horror and fear.

"C controlled?" The player who had earlier tried to pull off Wen Ruyu’s mask felt his legs go weak, and even his voice shook uncontrollably.

"Then... then the one who brought us here just now was..."

He did not finish his sentence, but everyone present knew exactly what he meant, and they finally reacted.

The person in front of them was not some key NPC at all.

He was a puppet being controlled by a vicious ghost.

And all of it had been for the sake of luring them back into the library.

Just as the players were drowning in fear, the entire library suddenly crackled, and all the lights abruptly switched on at once.

The pitch black library instantly became brilliantly lit.

Yet this sudden brightness did not bring even the slightest sense of safety. Instead, it made the players look around them in even greater terror.

Before anyone could react, the next second, slow and stiff footsteps echoed through the empty corridor.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The sound was not especially heavy, yet in the dead silent library it was exceptionally clear. One step after another, unhurried and slow, it was coming from the direction of the second floor above, heading down toward the first floor lobby.

At the same time, the air grew colder and colder, as if mixed with some sinister resentment spreading through the atmosphere.

It was a kind of cold that even the lights could not dispel.

A cold that made the hair stand up from the bottom of one’s heart.

Because the sudden brightness had just stimulated his eyes, the tears in Wen Ruyu’s eyes increased by several degrees. He abruptly looked up toward the stairway.

A figure was standing on the stairs.

The figure was tall and slender, with refined, delicate features. His temperament was gentle as the wind, yet there was also something noble and elevated about him, as though he were a young master from a great family.

He was wearing a white shirt. There was not a single wrinkle on it, as if it had been carefully tended to, giving him an immaculate, spotless appearance.

It was as though he were about to go attend some very important appointment.

That person was... Yang Ruiqing.

Wen Ruyu’s eyes widened, and his pupils contracted. The fear in his eyes had reached its peak, and his slender body could not stop trembling.

He even took several steps back instinctively.

He had watched Yang Ruiqing die. He had also seen the miserable state Yang Ruiqing had been in when he died. He knew very clearly that the person in front of him was not Yang Ruiqing.

At the very least, not the living Yang Ruiqing.

Although the players had never met Yang Ruiqing in person, they had seen his photo on the forum. Looking at that familiar face now, they stared with wide eyes in terror.

"Run!"

No one knew who shouted it, but the players snapped back to their senses and immediately scattered in trembling panic.

Wen Ruyu did the same.

His reaction was even faster than the players’. The instant he saw Yang Ruiqing’s face clearly, he had already instinctively wanted to flee.

Yang Ruiqing stood on the stairs. There had originally been a stiff smile on his face, but when he saw

the fleeing figure, that smile disappeared.

Even his immaculate white shirt began to seep with blood.

Blood completely soaked his shirt red.

He looked like an evil ghost crawling out of hell.

He stared expressionlessly at the figure fleeing in panic. The temperature inside the library dropped sharply again, until the cold air itself seemed about to freeze solid.

Very quickly, the library lobby was left with only Yang Ruiqing’s lone figure. The empty hall was deathly silent, and beneath that silence there seemed to be a danger oppressive enough to destroy everything.

Crackle.

That faint yet piercing sound rang out again. This time it was the sound of the lights going out.

The entire library fell back into darkness.

Danger and terror spread through it.

Because they had been too frightened and panicked just now, the players had fled in all directions, with no time to notice where anyone else was running.

As a result, many of them ended up alone.

For example, the player who had earlier tried to pull off Wen Ruyu’s mask.

That player had run some distance before realizing that no other players had followed him, and he became even more terrified.

He was alone.

Being alone in a dungeon was an extremely terrifying thing.

It was practically the same as drawing an equals sign with death.

That player trembled and wanted to go back to look for the others, but the moment he turned around, he heard those unhurried footsteps.

It was Yang Ruiqing.

Yang Ruiqing had come.

That player’s heart nearly stopped. Terror overwhelmed him instantly. He frantically looked around, then immediately hid in a corner behind the bookshelves in a nearby reading room.

The library’s reading rooms had no doors at all, which gave him not the slightest sense of security, but aside from the reading rooms, there was nowhere else in the library to hide.

He had no other choice.

Because of his extreme fear, his body trembled uncontrollably. Even his teeth were chattering.

But he did not dare make a single sound.

All his attention was fixed on the outside, so he never noticed that behind him, a strange black mist was approaching.

He only felt a cold sensation wrap around his ankle, and in the next second it was as if an icy, bone piercing force had seized it viciously, so strong it nearly crushed his bones.

Not nearly.

It really crushed them.

That sinister cold climbed up through his body, almost grinding all the bones in his body to pieces, especially his right hand.

"Ah!!!"

He endured the excruciating pain of his bones shattering and begged incoherently, his voice trembling so badly it had lost all shape.

"Let me go..."

"I don’t want to die..."

But no one answered him.

In the next second, it was as though something had grabbed his ankle and violently dragged his entire body out.

This time, that player did not even have the strength to scream. His whole body was dragged brutally out from behind the shelves, leaving a trail of blood across the floor.

He wanted to struggle and flee. His one unbroken hand clawed desperately at the ground, yet he still could not stop that horrifying force.

"Help!"

"Save me!"

The player was dragged all the way to the sixth floor by force. Then, from the entrance of the library, there came that familiar and terrifying dull thud, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

The next second, everything returned to dead silence.

The other players hiding in the dark were so frightened they did not even dare breathe. Cold sweat soaked through their clothes, and their hearts pounded so violently it felt as if they might burst out of their chests.

Even without seeing it with their own eyes, they knew what had happened.

That player had ended up just like those before him.

He had fallen to his death.

And the next one to fall to his death would very likely be them.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The footsteps rang out again, unbearably sharp in the empty library, as if every step were landing on people’s hearts and crushing the breath out of them all.

One player crouching in the corner behind a bookshelf began trembling uncontrollably when he heard the footsteps. He accidentally bumped into the bookshelf behind him.

A faint collision sounded.

And that tiny sound exposed him completely.

The footsteps outside stopped.

The air became terrifyingly still.

The player clamped both hands over his mouth. Tears poured down his face wildly, and his pupils shook with terror.

Without any warning.

The next second, his body stiffened. Suddenly no longer under his control, he stood up and began walking upstairs.

His eyes were wide open, full of terror and despair. He desperately tried to regain control of his body, but no matter what he did, he could not.

Another heavy, dull thud sounded.

Another life died in front of the library.

The remaining players were almost on the verge of collapse.

The players listened tensely to the sounds outside, their faces so pale there was not a trace of blood left in them. Cold sweat had nearly soaked through their clothes.

The footsteps rang out again.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The sound came closer and closer, slowly moving upward from downstairs, each step seeming to land directly on the heart.

Inside the reading room on the third floor, everything was deathly still except for the suppressed, fearful sounds of breathing.

This time, it seemed to be their turn.

Wen Ruyu was among them.

He had run together with most of the others.

Listening to the steadily approaching footsteps, his face was pale to the point of transparency, and his heart pounded uncontrollably.

He knew very clearly that hiding here was only delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, Yang Ruiqing would break through the door.

And when that happened, everyone would die here.

Wen Ruyu took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the fear in his heart. Looking at the player beside him, who was pale with terror, he spoke in a trembling voice that carried a trace of determination.

"I’ll go out and lure him away in a moment."

"You take the chance to find an exit and leave the library."

Wen Ruyu was not trying to play the hero, nor was he acting out of some saintly compassion. It was simply the only option left at the moment.

It would not matter if he died.

As long as a player cleared the dungeon and broke this dungeon’s zero percent clear rate, it would still count as a clear for him.

At that time, he could still revive.

But if both he and this group of players all died here, then they would all truly be dead.

He had to protect this group of players.

Even if only one person cleared it, that would be enough.

When someone says they are willing to lure away the boss in a moment of danger, the players should have been deeply moved and immediately agreed to the suggestion.

But when they realized who had said it, hesitation flashed across their faces. One player lowered his voice and objected, his tone full of disapproval.

"If you go out there, it’ll be a dead end."

"He won’t be lured away by you at all. He brought us here because he wants to wipe us all out."

Tears welled in Wen Ruyu’s eyes. He shook his head slightly, and his trembling voice carried certainty.

"He can be lured away."

"The one who stole his photos and used them for online scams was me. He probably thinks I’m the one who got him killed."

"He should hate me."

The instant Wen Ruyu finished speaking, the entire reading room fell into dead silence.

Every player stared at Wen Ruyu with wide eyes, their gazes full of disbelief.

After going in circles for so long, the actual person who had stolen the photos was right in front of them.

And... did someone who looked like this really need to steal photos?

Even though they could not see his face, their instincts told them that he was probably genuinely very good looking.

Very likely even better looking than Yang Ruiqing.

The audience in the livestream, hearing Wen Ruyu’s words, was equally full of disbelief.

"No, with looks like yours, you stole photos to scam people online? Why do I feel like you’re even better looking than the boss? Do you really need to steal photos?"

"I thought that if someone stole photos and scammed people online until the boss died, that person would at least be some extremely ugly freak. How is he built like this? Even without seeing his face, just that body means he doesn’t need to steal photos, right? Could there be some misunderstanding here?"

"I already felt something was off before. I was wondering why those students were protecting the photo stealing scammer so much. Now I kind of understand why."

"This dungeon has me so confused I could start drinking. It feels like from beginning to end there isn’t a single normal person in it. I honestly can’t even make sense of what I’m watching."

"If it really was him who stole the photos and scammed people online, then he probably really can lure the boss away. Maybe there’s still a sliver of hope."

The other players thought so too. They suppressed the reluctance in their hearts and did not speak up to stop him again.

No one wanted to die.

What was more, this person was only a dungeon NPC.

An NPC’s death would not be true death.

As long as the dungeon restarted, he would be revived again.

But if they died, then they would really be dead.

Only one player frowned, because he felt that something was wrong, and he had sensed a strong dissonance.

They had all seen the boss’s methods of killing.

He could directly control a person’s body and make them fall from a height, or simply tear their body apart.

Just like those two people a moment ago.

But the person in front of them had only been controlled into walking to the library. Not only had he not lost his life, there was not even a small wound on his body.

Was this really... hatred?

Wen Ruyu did not care what the other players were thinking. After speaking, he stood up and prepared to go out and lure Yang Ruiqing away.

But the moment he got to his feet, someone grabbed his wrist and forcibly stopped him.

The one gripping him was the player who had sensed that dissonance.

That player’s lips moved slightly. Just as he was about to voice the suspicion in his heart, the lights in the reading room switched on without warning.

The pale light instantly illuminated the entire reading room, lit up everyone huddled in the corners, and also revealed the doorway to the reading room.

A tall, deathly still figure was standing there quietly.

It was... Yang Ruiqing.

Chapter 36

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