“I'm telling you, that specter's claws almost got my neck just now. Luckily, I was quick—”
The player, who had been bragging about his bravery just a moment ago, suddenly felt a chill around his neck. In the next instant, he realized his field of vision had shifted.
Those around him only saw a dark shadow flash behind him and vanish in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, his head slowly slid off his shoulders.
“Ah!!”
“A specter! The specter is back!”
They scrambled, screaming and fleeing in all directions.
But crying out now was clearly too late.
With every step Zuo Lin'an took, he successfully claimed another player's life—taking them down at a rate of almost one per second.
Over the span of ten seconds, he successfully killed ten players.
Midnight on the dot!
Just as Zuo Lin'an severed the tenth person's head, he suddenly plunged into total darkness. By the time he regained consciousness, he had left the dream and returned to his dormitory bed.
He lay in bed in the exact position he had fallen asleep in. He didn't even roll over, let alone twitch an eyelid. Even his breathing and heartbeat remained perfectly steady.
The entire dormitory room was dead silent as Zuo Lin'an slowly drifted off to sleep.
Morning arrived.
Zuo Lin'an slept until he woke up naturally. Hearing noises inside the dorm, he merely rolled over and went back to sleep.
Xu Youyou, on the other hand, sat up to take a look around.
Only Xuan Jingyuan and Gu Hedao remained of the players in their dorm room.
As for the other four, they had completely vanished. Their beds were clean, and all their belongings had been packed back into those massive canvas bags, waiting for the next players.
This morning, neither Xuan Jingyuan nor Gu Hedao tried to strike up a conversation after waking up. It seemed they remained highly vigilant after being attacked by Zuo Lin'an the night before.
Still, this was for the best.
Just as Xu Youyou was about to lie back down, he heard voices outside.
It was the dorm auntie's voice.
“You want to move into this dorm room?”
“Yes, Auntie. There are empty beds here anyway.”
The dorm auntie said, “Alright then, go ahead and move in yourself. Just don't disturb the other students.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The dorm auntie left quickly. Moments later, four people walked in.
Among them were Xuan Er of the Dark Dragon Guard, General Zhang Shenli, Commander Tang Zhen of the Tianlong Guard, and a fourth person who looked familiar, though he couldn't quite place him.
He must have been seen somewhere else before; either way, the man was one of His Majesty the Emperor's guards.
All four of them wore solemn expressions. Upon entering, they glanced at Xu Youyou, who had sat up to observe them, and Zuo Lin'an, who was still lying in bed, seemingly asleep.
In truth, their gazes lingered more on Zuo Lin'an.
Because in last night's Scarlet Dream, it was this very specter Zuo Lin'an, with his blood-red eyes, who had directly forced his way into Academic Building No. 5.
He had completely ignored all the guards they had stationed, slaughtering his way from the first floor to the fifth without any resistance. Not only did he kill several people along the way, but he had also forcefully broken into the heavily guarded Class Two.
Right in front of His Majesty the Emperor, numerous princes and princesses, and the civil and military officials, he had killed Xuan Yi!
In the end, he had even taken Xuan Yi's corpse with him.
To them, this was a blatant slap in the face!
Murderous intent flared wildly in Xuan Er's heart, but he didn't make a rash move. Instead, he averted his gaze.
“Master, we asked around before coming here. Those who hold cards are indeed targeted by specters, especially Ming Ruofeng.”
“He had four cards and was also killed by a specter in last night's Scarlet Dream. Word is, he was killed by a specter with crimson slit-pupils.”
They conversed openly in the washroom area, not even bothering to lower their voices around Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou, who were still in the dorm.
Then again, it made sense.
When players discussed topics related to the dungeon, most NPCs would have these words filtered out. They were likely just used to it.
Xuan Jingyuan asked, “Ming Ruofeng is dead?”
Xuan Er shook his head. “He was killed in the Scarlet Dream, but he isn't dead. I saw him upstairs earlier. He must possess a specter item with a death-substitution effect, though I don't know if it's consumable or permanent.”
Hearing this, Zuo Lin'an, who was lying facing the wall, didn't have any extreme reaction. He merely opened his eyes slowly.
Though he was somewhat surprised, specter items had all kinds of bizarre special effects, so a death-substitution effect was normal.
Furthermore, the fact that he was immune to the repel effect was no longer a secret. Even if Ming Ruofeng spread the word, he wouldn't care.
He was just glad that when he killed Ming Ruofeng, he hadn't said anything that might expose his secrets—like telling him to have a safe trip to the afterlife before he died.
With that thought, Zuo Lin'an closed his eyes once more, intending to go back to sleep.
Just then, Xuan Jingyuan walked out of the inner washroom, having finished washing up.
He stopped near Zuo Lin'an's bed, turning his head to cast a deep, unfathomable gaze at the motionless boy. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
In the end, he left the dormitory without saying a word.
Soon, only Xu Youyou and Zuo Lin'an were left in the dorm.
They sensed the living auras outside moving further and further away until they completely vanished from their perception.
Only then did Zuo Lin'an slowly sit up.
Xu Youyou had already stood up to lock the door and draw the curtains. He then hurried over, sat down next to Zuo Lin'an, and asked eagerly.
“Brother An, how did it go?”
Zuo Lin'an smiled and pulled out a stack of cards.
“Count them.”
Xu Youyou took the cards, beaming with joy.
“Two, four, six... seventeen?”
“Seventeen cards?! That many?!”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “Yes. And now, we need to think carefully about where we should hide these cards and my gold hairpin.”
Xu Youyou rubbed his chin.
“True. You hunted down players with cards and exposed your abilities. Tonight's Scarlet Dream definitely won't go as smoothly as before.”
“And since you've exposed how unique you are, many players will likely target you even during the day. You definitely can't carry these cards and the gold hairpin on you.”
“Even hiding them in a secret compartment of your backpack or between the pages of a book won't work.”
Zuo Lin'an pondered for a moment.
“Do you think we can send them outside the school gates? The players' first main quest is to survive for six full days, and they must remain inside the school during this time.”
“Once they leave the school, their survival quest will definitely fail.”
“Even if they figure out we've hidden things outside, they won't be able to do anything about it.”
“Even in the worst-case scenario, if the Emperor's diehard loyalists don't care about their own lives or whether they clear the dungeon and sneak out of the school to search for them...”
“...the world outside the school is so vast that they wouldn't find anything even if they searched for days.”
Xu Youyou nodded to himself in agreement.
“That's true, but we're currently students as well. We aren't allowed to leave the school, are we?”
Zuo Lin'an frowned. “We can't go out, but the principal should be able to. We can just hand the things to him and have him place them outside the school gates.”
Xu Youyou agreed, “We don't know if it'll work, but we definitely have to try.”
Rate on N.U.
