“What?!”
“You have no idea where 【Old Dream】 is!”
Yue Shi’s expression turned vicious, his gaze as sharp as needles as it pierced into the Faceless Man’s egg-like face.
The Faceless Man seemed to feel the pressure.
He took a small step back and said hurriedly, “I truly do not know His specific location.”
“We only learned of the name 【Old Dream】 and fragments of His history by piecing together bits of information left behind by previous Players in countless game instances.”
The Faceless Man forced his voice back to a steady tone, his attitude sincere and pragmatic.
“The Book of Prophecies guided me to this library, and it guided me to meet you.”
“All of us renegade managers, and all the Players struggling within the game, have only one ultimate goal!”
“And that is to break free from this Supernatural Game Show, to escape this cage—not to go to war with the mastermind behind the scenes.”
“The power of 【Old Dream】 is beyond imagination. We do not wish to, nor do we have the ability to, fight Him. We only want freedom.”
“It’s too late for that now,” Yue Shi said, his face dark.
The Faceless Man felt a massive force seize his throat, lifting his entire body off the ground!
Crackle, snap.
The bones of his cervical spine let out faint sounds of compression.
The Faceless Man clawed at his own neck with both hands, his legs kicking wildly in the air. He couldn't speak; he could only struggle incessantly.
The strength in Yue Shi’s hand gradually increased, his voice sounding sinister. “You know too much, and you look far too strange.”
“I was wondering if you were just bait thrown out to feed me this plausible-sounding information.”
“Looking at it now, you’re just an idiot.”
“There’s no actual benefit in it for me. What makes you think I’d be kind enough to help you lot escape this place?”
Yue Shi had no goodwill toward anyone; he wasn't about to help others for no reason.
The ruler of the Supernatural Game Show was like a dessert emitting a tempting fragrance, and Yue Shi wanted a bite.
Yet after the Faceless Man had talked for so long, the most critical piece of information was missing!
He didn't know where the dessert was kept!
What use was there in keeping him alive?
The Faceless Man’s struggles gradually weakened, his face taking on an abnormal, ashen gray hue.
Just a moment before he was about to suffocate to death, the terrifying force crushing his neck suddenly vanished.
Thud!
The Faceless Man was thrown hard onto the library floor, letting out a muffled groan.
Despite having no nose or mouth, the Faceless Man gasped for air, his chest heaving violently as he made several unseemly sounds.
Yue Shi looked down at him.
“I’ll give you one more chance. You’d better say something truly useful.”
“Otherwise, I’ll let you choose a very undignified way to die.”
The Faceless Man propped himself up with his arms, his gender-neutral voice turning hoarse.
“I have already told you almost everything I know.”
“The power of 【Old Dream】 is far beyond your imagination. It is already quite a feat for me to know this much.”
“Collecting all this information was not the work of one person.”
“It was the result of long-term investigation by all the like-minded partners behind me.”
“Heh,” Yue Shi sneered.
“The result of your hard work doesn’t seem like much.”
“Up until now, besides hiding and running, have you made any actual progress?”
The Faceless Man shook his head. “Don’t underestimate us; our efforts have yielded results!”
“A few years ago, we discovered a loophole—a gap that could bypass the core rules and briefly connect to the outside world.”
“But unfortunately, that loophole was extremely unstable and was self-repairing. It wasn't enough to let all of us escape.”
“Time was tight, and the opportunity was fleeting, so we made a painful decision at the time.”
At this point, the Faceless Man’s mood suddenly plummeted.
“We let a portion of our people leave through the loophole first.”
“We hoped that these partners, having gained their freedom first, would find a way on the outside—either by finding a more stable method or by gathering strength to come back and rescue the rest of us trapped here.”
Yue Shi raised an eyebrow. Why did that sound so familiar?
A familiar figure flashed through his mind.
Hm...
It was his former colleague, Zhong Mo.
“Did those who escaped first ever come back to save you?”
The library fell into a dead silence.
The Faceless Man’s breathing gradually steadied.
He remained silent, his featureless face showing no expression.
However, his entire being was radiating a sense of utter gloom.
The answer was self-evident.
Yue Shi’s lips twitched, but he didn't comment further on this foolish game of trust.
Presumably, the people they had chosen to escape first were those whose strength and character were both top-tier.
But the human heart was the easiest thing to spoil.
He changed the question.
“Since you don’t know 【Old Dream】’s specific location, you should at least know how to get His attention, right?”
“What kind of act is most likely to draw His gaze?”
The Faceless Man hesitated for a moment, saying uncertainly, “Destruction?”
“Large-scale destruction of game instances, interfering with the operation of the entire Supernatural Game Show... that might trigger an abnormal reaction from 【Old Dream】.”
“Destruction?” Yue Shi repeated softly, the infinity symbols in his eyes flashing for a split second.
“It’s that simple?”
“You should have said so earlier!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yue Shi grabbed the Faceless Man by the shoulder, dragging him along with an irresistible force as he stepped forward.
The library scene before them rapidly faded and peeled away, and the two returned to the eternal, silent darkness of the void.
Countless bubbles shimmered faintly around them.
Yue Shi tossed the Faceless Man aside, who stumbled a few steps before steadying himself.
“What are you planning to do?”
The Faceless Man’s egg-like face turned toward Yue Shi, his voice tinged with a measure of terror.
And... a measure of anticipation.
Along with a bit of excitement he hadn't even noticed himself.
If Yue Shi was strong enough to kill 【Old Dream】, all the Players and managers would be liberated!
Of course, the best result would be for both sides to be severely wounded and perish together.
Otherwise, the Faceless Man feared he would have just escaped Old Dream’s wolf den only to jump into Yue Shi’s snake pit, which would be terrible.
Yue Shi ignored the Faceless Man and didn't look at any specific game instance.
He raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together in a sword gesture before him, a wisp of black light swirling at his fingertips.
“The Tide Rises, the Moon Ascends!”
Boom!
With the void where Yue Shi stood as the origin, an infinite expanse of dark seawater surged out of thin air!
It wasn't the color of any ocean in the real world.
The water was somber and black, as if it had accumulated the filth of countless ages.
The seawater ignored the laws of physics, surging and roiling to form a rapidly expanding black ocean.
It swept out in all directions with startling speed, submerging everything in its path.
Then, in the center of this newly born Phantom Sea, a moon slowly rose.
It was as if it had emerged from the deep sea, or perhaps it had condensed directly out of the void.
The moon seemed so close it was within reach.
Yet when one looked closely, it seemed to be at the edge of the world, cold and detached.
Visible but unreachable, forever impossible to truly approach.
The moonlight wasn't bright or clear; it shone upon the sea, tinting the waves with a sickly, flowing silver-black.
Rather than bringing light, it made the ocean appear even more eerie, a desecration of the natural order.
The moment the seawater had surged out, the Faceless Man had already fled in terror.
He couldn't feel any of the magnificent grandeur of a moon rising over the sea.
The water was deep and gloomy; the moon was dim and dark.
All he saw was pure evil and misfortune!
His intuition screamed frantically, a sense of crisis rooted in biological instinct washing over him.
He absolutely could not touch that water!
The sea seemed filled with endless resentment and madness; even the stray wisps of aura it gave off made the Faceless Man feel as though he were being contaminated.
He couldn't look at the moon, either!
That wasn't a normal moon; it was an incomprehensible malice.
Being struck by that moonlight made the Faceless Man feel as if countless wicked thoughts were eroding his mind.
“Aaaah!”
The Faceless Man screamed, no longer caring about his dignity.
He desperately pushed his abilities to the limit, his long robe enveloping his entire body. Like a startled pig, he fled rapidly from that crazily expanding demonic sea.
He used every means possible to dodge the occasional splashes of spray and the ubiquitous black moonlight.
Yue Shi’s figure had long since vanished from his original position.
Still shaken, the Faceless Man instinctively glanced back, and his heart nearly stopped.
He saw it—there were monsters moving in the water!
At first, they were irregular, massive shadows roaming beneath the surface. Their outlines were blurred and vast beyond imagination.
Then, countless thick tentacles, covered in suckers and scales, suddenly broke through the surface and shot toward the sky!
The Faceless Man ran even faster; that looked like the legendary Deep Sea Kraken!
No, this monster was millions of times more grand and hideous than any kraken.
The tentacles were as thick as mountains and had no fixed form; new tentacles constantly branched and grew from the main body, while others twisted and fused together, letting out non-human, low roars.
As soon as the monster surfaced, it immediately began to execute the task issued by the new Sea God.
Destruction.
The old Sea God’s confidants, Old Turtle and Crab Girl, had already been eaten by the new Sea God.
Perhaps it was a warning to others, or perhaps He simply enjoyed slaughter.
In any case, the new Sea God had a worse temper and was utterly mercurial.
Not a single deep-sea supernatural dared to slack off on His orders, fearing they would follow in those footsteps and be eaten as well.
A giant tentacle spanning thousands of meters slammed down onto a nearby pale green bubble.
Squelch.
There was no earth-shattering noise, only a sound like a balloon being popped.
The bubble representing a complete game instance shattered, the town scene visible inside falling apart and turning into countless motes of light, which were instantly swallowed by the surging seawater.
This was only the beginning.
More tentacles, rooted in this ocean, swung and slammed in every direction.
Bubbles were brutally punctured one by one.
Under the Faceless Man’s terrified gaze, the clusters of bubbles were extinguished and shattered in succession.
The ruins of the instances all merged into the sea.
The Faceless Man went cold all over, unable to even think straight.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
It’s over.
Could the partners hiding in those various instances even escape?
...
Bureau headquarters.
Inside a certain mysterious office.
When the Minister walked in, the fujoshi was writing furiously.
Her desk was covered in completed works.
The Minister glanced at them casually.
《Being a Man is Hard, Being a Madam is Harder》
《The Athlete's Love Trap: Reincarnation Art Shocks the Socialite Circle》
《The Minister's Misery》
Wait!
The Minister’s eyes widened.
What the hell was 《The Minister's Misery》?
He quickly flipped the book open and immediately saw: 「The Minister lay on the bed like a discarded rag, staring blankly at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.」
The explicitness of the book and the exaggeration of the plot were simply unheard of!
The Minister’s face turned green.
“You’ve really outdone yourself, writing rag-doll fiction about your own boss in private!”
He squeezed the words out through gritted teeth.
“So what?”
“It’s just private fandom enjoyment; I haven't made the plot a reality.”
The fujoshi spoke with perfect confidence.
Her ability could also interfere with destiny.
Destiny related to sinful connections, Forced Shipping, making R18 doujins and novels a reality.
The Minister took a deep breath, chanting internally:
‘The world is so beautiful, yet I am so irritable. This is not good, not good.’
He decided not to argue with this eccentric woman.
“I don’t care how you mess with outsiders, but can you stop victimizing the members of headquarters?”
“Those are our own people!”
The fujoshi shook her head. “I have always had principles. How could I victimize our own people?”
The Minister laughed in anger. “You have principles?”
“Those devious bottoms in the Action Department, the pig-chaser girls, and those who throw themselves at others... didn't you cause all of that!”
The fujoshi still shook her head. “I can see a target’s true orientation at a single glance; those people have simply dropped their disguises.”
“For certain people at headquarters, I am merely helping them recognize their true selves. Trash and trash should be locked together forever so they don't harm the innocent.”
“Of course, if someone is very dissatisfied with their orientation and feels great pain—provided their character is decent and they’ve never thought of harming the innocent—I am very happy to help them with a correction.”
The Minister’s mouth twitched. “So you’re saying you’re a great person? That I’ve misunderstood you?”
The fujoshi grinned.
“As expected of the Minister, realizing your mistake so quickly.”
“It’s a great virtue to correct one's mistakes.”
The Minister almost keeled over in anger.
The fujoshi pressed her advantage. “Right now, headquarters is being infiltrated by foreign powers until it’s practically a sieve. Instead of dealing with those urgent matters, why are you obsessing over my little hobbies?”
“What do you know!” the Minister snapped.
“So what if we’re infiltrated? Spies have their uses.”
“That Judgment Angel from before was someone the Radiant Church planted. We just gave him a captain title and let him go through fire and water for headquarters, doing free labor for so many years.”
“Dangerous, life-risking tasks can be handed to people like that. It’s quite a bargain.”
The Minister had confidence in his own abilities; spies would never touch real secrets. They were all high-quality workhorses!
The fujoshi didn't even look up.
“As long as you know what you’re doing.”
“I received word that the Radiant Church is setting up some kind of divine descent ceremony.”
“Find some time to deal with it. We can’t let more divine ghosts invade reality.”
The Minister sneered. “It’s been so many years, and those wild boars still want to resist?”
The fujoshi waved him off. “Don’t talk to me about that nonsense. Don’t bother me while I’m creating unless it’s important.”
“I finally managed to draw a Narcissus line for you-know-who...”
Rate on N.U.
