Zhao Zihao?

Who was that?

Wasn’t the last surviving Player Su Xiao?

Before Wen Ruyu could process it, a blinding yet irresistible white light flashed—

And he was already standing in a pure white space.

The settlement space after clearing.

No matter how severely a Player was injured in a dungeon, no matter what mutations had occurred, even if they were clinging to their final breath—

After clearing, they would be restored to the state they were in when they entered.

Wen Ruyu’s blood grew warm again.

His heart resumed beating.

The wound on his wrist vanished without a trace.

His body was fully restored to human form.

He stood before the translucent settlement panel, his delicate face still filled with confusion and disbelief.

Wait.

They actually cleared?

Who exactly was Zhao Zihao?

099 spoke cheerfully, as if it already knew what he was thinking.

"You are a Special Player, dear. You are not counted among the ordinary Players. The system display only shows regular Players."

Wen Ruyu paused.

So that “2” meant that aside from Su Xiao—

There had been another ordinary Player alive?

He had never been included in that count?

For a moment, his emotions became complicated.

He had nearly exhausted everything. He had even threatened Yang Ruiqing with his own life.

He failed to save Su Xiao.

He had even turned into a ghost.

And yet that Player had survived purely on his own ability.

After a long silence, Wen Ruyu finally forced out two words.

"Impressive."

To endure six hours of ghost pursuit—

That went beyond impressive.

That was practically god tier.

099 paused suspiciously. Its tone turned strange.

"Not exactly impressive. His clearance was more… fortunate."

Wen Ruyu: "…?"

099 did not bother explaining. It directly sent him a livestream recording.

The footage showed a dim, cramped monitoring room. Players were watching surveillance screens intently.

The Player in the video was watching as well.

Then suddenly—

He seemed to be controlled by some force.

Strangely, he did not jump from a building.

Instead, he followed the others to Yang Ruiqing’s dormitory.

At the time, Yang Ruiqing had withdrawn from his body in order to control Wei Jiayu to jump. The moment that happened, the Player lost consciousness and collapsed in the dormitory.

He remained unconscious.

From beginning to end, he never woke up.

And then…

The dungeon cleared.

Wen Ruyu: "…?"

That worked?

That could count?

This was no longer mere luck.

Why had the ghosts ignored him?

Wen Ruyu quickly understood.

Because he had been possessed by Yang Ruiqing, residual yin energy remained on him.

And the place he fainted—

Was Yang Ruiqing’s dormitory.

The ghosts feared Yang Ruiqing’s aura. Subconsciously, they treated him as Yang Ruiqing’s prey.

They did not dare approach.

Meanwhile, Yang Ruiqing had been entangled by Chen Ji and Jiang Shengxu. Even after dealing with them, he had been delayed on the teaching building rooftop.

He never realized there was still a living human in his dormitory.

The man had quite literally slept his way to victory.

In a sense—

That was extremely lucky.

So lucky that Wen Ruyu did not know what to say.

They had nearly been wiped out.

He had risked his life.

And that man had taken a nap.

Without a single scratch.

The greatest suffering he endured in the dungeon—

Was probably hitting the floor when Yang Ruiqing left his body.

Wen Ruyu: "…"

His mood grew even more complicated.

He suppressed the strange feeling and opened his Player panel.

Dungeon Settlement:

Dungeon Name: Third University
Dungeon Difficulty: S Rank (Eternal Night Mode SSS Rank)
Player Identity: Special Player
Clear Condition: Break zero clearance rate (Completed)
Final Evaluation: C Rank
Clear Reward: Player Points +1000

The main quest exploration had been low.

And his clearance was barely due to his own effort.

No items were rewarded.

Only basic points.

One thousand points was already generous.

Wen Ruyu sighed silently and sat down on the spot.

After clearing, Players did not immediately return to reality.

They first entered the settlement space.

After settlement, they could choose to return to reality—

Or immediately enter another dungeon.

Most chose to rest.

Players had seven days of rest after clearing.

If they did not voluntarily enter a dungeon within seven days, they would be forcibly pulled in.

Seven days was not long.

But enough.

The settlement space lasted one hour.

If no choice was made within that hour, the Player would be forcibly returned to reality.

Wen Ruyu sat quietly for fifty nine minutes and fifty seconds.

When the final ten second countdown sounded—

He pressed "Enter Next Dungeon Immediately."

Without hesitation.

099 had seen Players stay the full hour to rest or calm themselves.

But it had never seen someone wait the full hour—

Then immediately re enter.

Since the horror game descended, almost no Player entered a new dungeon right after clearing one.

It paused.

"You’re not returning to reality?"

"No."

His voice was soft.

But resolute.

He would rather struggle for survival in a dungeon—

Than return to that suffocating reality.

To face those twisted people.

—

At almost the same moment Wen Ruyu entered the next dungeon—

The Player forum in reality exploded.

A post surged to the homepage at terrifying speed.

Its title was bolded in bright red.

[Holy shit holy shit holy shit!!! Third University — zero clearance rate broken!!!]

The original poster included a screenshot.

The bright 0% clearance rate had turned into 1%.

Within seconds, the comment section collapsed under the flood of responses.

"Fake. That’s photoshopped. What do you gain from spreading fake news?"

"Wait is this real? Those zero clearance dungeons always end in team wipes. Someone actually cleared?"

"Impossible. Absolute nonsense. Even top Players died in there."

"No way. If this were true, the forum would’ve exploded already."

"I just checked. It’s real. It’s actually 1%."

"Which god tier Player did this? Who cleared it?"

A Player who had watched the livestream rushed in to reply.

"It’s real! And you know what? It was cleared under Eternal Night Mode! Survived six full hours! That’s SSS hell difficulty!"

The forum detonated.

"Eternal Night??? The mode where no one survived even an hour?"

"That’s not a top Player. That’s cheating."

"I won’t believe it unless there’s a recording!"

"Who cleared it??"

The commenter stopped replying.

Not because he refused.

Because he genuinely did not know.

He had watched Su Xiao’s stream.

He had assumed she would clear.

He even recorded it.

Then she died thirty seconds before clearance.

He had no idea who survived.

Others were equally confused.

Who the hell was Zhao Zihao?

Soon, a comment rose to the top.

"I know! If it’s not someone with the same name, it’s probably my friend! He told me he entered a dungeon at that time. His avatar is still online! @ZhaoFamilyEldestSon"

The entire forum flooded the tag.

Minutes later, Zhao Zihao finally appeared.

He stared at the overwhelming tags.

Then replied quietly:

"…I actually don’t know."

The comment section: "???"

"Stop being stingy! Share the strategy!"

"You survived six hours in Eternal Night! How??"

Zhao Zihao stared at his screen.

He opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

He truly did not know.

He only remembered watching surveillance footage in the library.

Then darkness.

When he woke up—

He was in settlement.

What Eternal Night?

What clearance?

He had no idea.

As everyone spammed him desperately—

An anonymous Player uploaded a video.

The title read:

"…Um. This is how he cleared."

Viewers clicked.

Then they fell silent.

"…"

"This counts???"

"Go buy a lottery ticket."

"The most dangerous place was the safest?"

"He slept through the dungeon and cleared?"

While the forum marveled at Zhao Zihao’s luck—

A different comment appeared.

"Did anyone watch the Third University stream? That NPC Wen Ruyu was insanely beautiful."

"I saw him. Even with the mask I could tell he’d be stunning. When he took it off—"

"He looked like a divine masterpiece."

Most had no idea what they were talking about.

"What beauty?"

"Post a screenshot."

The Player who uploaded Su Xiao’s recording quickly posted it.

"Where’s the beauty? I watched the whole thing."

"They mean the masked one."

"Are you serious? That’s your beauty?"

"You wasted ten minutes of my life."

The uploader froze.

What?

He replayed the footage.

Dragged the progress bar to Wen Ruyu’s appearance.

On screen—

Was a slightly overweight man.

Thick shoulders.

Short neck.

Ordinary.

Even unattractive.

At the end, when the mask was removed—

The same plain face.

Round features.

Flat nose.

Large lips.

Acne.

Common.

Forgettable.

The uploader stared blankly.

What was going on?

Where was Wen Ruyu?

What had they seen?

Chapter 44

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