They've arrived.
Ren Yifei and his roommate looked outside and saw that the campus, which should have been dotted with stars, was now filled with a chilling wind.
In an instant, the surrounding environment shifted; the dormitory became a dark sea, and his bed transformed into a boat, a vessel swaying in the wind and rain. A colossal wave, a thousand feet high, crashed headlong into his small boat.
"These are all fake. You don't need to look at anything else. Look here." My roommate appeared on the sea surface at some point. The place where he stood looked like a hole. Through this small hole, you could glimpse the peaceful dormitory on the other side.
But the small window was shrinking rapidly, and my roommate was gradually swallowed by the darkness.
"You just need to believe that you're in the dorm right now, and everything is calm outside." My roommate left me with those words, and then I was completely overwhelmed.
Ren Yifei was naturally unafraid, but at this moment he still showed a stubborn attitude of clenching his teeth: "I know it's fake, it's all fake."
That being said, the towering waves before him were not to be easily ignored; he could even smell the salty tang of the sea in the air. Ren Yifei, his face pale, looked as if he were frozen in fear, staring motionlessly up at the giant waves crashing down like giant hands.
Just as he was about to be killed, he closed his eyes.
His senses of sight, hearing, smell, and even touch seemed to be telling him about his current predicament, but he knew that he must not panic, because the more fearful he was, the stronger his opponent would become.
After 11 o'clock is the time for the "ghost". The "ghost" is a normal person. At this time, the combat value will increase several times. Moreover, the "ghost" can use various hieroglyphs to borrow the power of mysterious beings.
However, Ren Yifei was not afraid. At this moment, he was still an NPC, and the 'ghost' would not dare to kill him; it was just trying to scare him.
With this in mind, Ren Yifei was naturally not afraid at all; he simply feigned a little fear on his face to give the other party some face.
As he expected, the tricks the 'ghost' could use were all just to fool people; once you saw through them, there would be no real harm.
"Who are you?" Ren Yifei asked, looking at the dark sea where the wind was raging even more fiercely. He was speaking as an NPC now, hoping to lower the other party's guard and make them reveal their true identity.
A vortex appeared in the pitch-black night, as if something was about to be born from within it.
"I advise you not to come out. This is a player, not an NPC as you think."
Suddenly, a ghostly shadow appeared on the sea. It had a pair of black wings on its back, half of its body was hidden in the void, and the other half was sticking out, as if it had been watching their performance.
The vortex, which had been spinning halfway through, suddenly got stuck, unable to move forward or backward.
Ren Yifei squinted. His eyesight wasn't the best, but he could still make out a halo around the person's eyes in the darkness, clearly indicating that the person was a player with special items.
This is insane! There's even an item that can instantly reveal a player's identity? Young people don't care about sportsmanship; they rely on their eyesight. But here, he's using money!
"With acting skills like this, you almost lured the 'ghost' into your trap. You are Ren Yifei, the Black Rabbit."
This person who appeared out of nowhere was like a real shadow, able to emerge halfway from any place at any time. He peeked out from a strange spot once again and revealed Ren Yifei's identity in one sentence: "Fine, one Saman escapes, and you remain."
Ren Yifei's smile vanished: "Saman?"
Oh, it's you.
"Who is this?" Ren Yifei straightened up, no longer showing any fear or apprehension. "Hiding and hiding is pointless. Why don't we come out and talk?"
The half-figure disappeared into the void like ripples on water.
"No way, I'm a fake master who can't even kill a chicken. Are you afraid to face me head-on?" Ren Yifei provoked him. At this moment, neither of them cared about the 'ghost' anymore, leaving the vortex awkwardly stuck there.
The shadow reappeared, and an eye with a halo looked at him: "You don't need to provoke me. There's something special about you. Even the authorities are wary of you, so I wouldn't dare treat you as just an ordinary disguiser."
Looking at the halo around the man's eyes, Ren Yifei gave a forced smile: "I've never seen an item like this before, specifically designed to counter the disguise style. A reward from a recent draw?"
There has always been a delicate balance between the player who solves the puzzle and the player who is pretending, and neither of them has ever been able to do anything about the other. However, if there were such a specially designed item, the balance would be broken.
He had reason to suspect that this was a preemptive move by the desolate corner.
"It's determined to ruin the fun of my performance." This scenario really restricts his freedom and prevents him from enjoying himself.
"This is how this place is supposed to be. We are nothing but Gu worms it raises, and it only finds pleasure in killing each other. You actually seek pleasure in a place like this, it's really... um?" The shadow emerged halfway out of the void again and laughed as it looked at Ren Yifei, who was helpless against it. But the smile froze on its face as soon as the corners of its mouth turned up.
"Happy? Keep laughing." Ren Yifei, who had appeared behind him unnoticed, had red eyes and placed one hand on the other's black wings. The third red rope on his wrist had broken. "You don't think you're the only one in the world with this ability to travel through space, do you?"
"Ah—" the shadow cried out in pain as Ren Yifei tore a crack in his Void Wings.
Lazy, a space traveler.
The 'ghost' in mid-air trembled, wanting to leave. Although he was incredibly strong at midnight, these people were the real perverts.
Is this the strength of the players from that desolate corner? I'm scared.
The ghost tried to escape, but Ren Yifei didn't even glance at it. He was threatening the player with a smile: "Tell me where Saman went. Tell me, and I might spare your life."
"Heh." However, this person only glanced back at him, and then, in a moment of desperation, tore off his own wings and fled.
Ren Yifei failed to catch him and watched him fall from the void and land on the sea.
A feather floated on the sea surface, holding him firmly in place.
As the Void Wings completely disappeared, the ghostly player revealed his true form: an ordinary-looking young boy whom Ren Yifei had never seen before.
Only then did Ren Yifei catch a faint, indescribable aroma of old books mixed with the scent of tea. Among the top ten, those embodying the persona of literati and scholars…
"The number one of the top ten... what was it again?"
Qi Ming: ...
It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting.
Qi Ming stood up. Horizontal and vertical lines intersected beneath his feet, and a chessboard appeared in the sky. Ren Yifei was trapped within it, seemingly bound by some special rule.
"I heard you're good at chess, I wonder how good you are at Go?"
Ren Yifei: ...What a coincidence, he's not very good at Go.
In this situation, it seems his opponent is forcing him to stand here and play chess, and he can't leave until the game is finished. He still doesn't know the consequences of losing. Judging from his expression, losing will definitely be very troublesome.
"If you don't fight, you'll be trapped here forever. You have to play this game, whether you like it or not." Qi Ming smirked. Was this top-tier player of the disguise style about to die at his hands?
"Are you very confident in yourself?" Ren Yifei asked.
"My code name is Qiming, Qi as in Go (the game of chess) and Ming as in tea." Qiming answered the question indirectly: Yes, I am very confident.
Ren Yifei frowned. He really wasn't very good at Go; he was practically at a kindergarten level. This guy, however, dared to call himself Qiming, so his skill level had to be at least top-tier amateur.
The odds of winning are very low.
With a sigh, Ren Yifei was about to accept the challenge when a hand reached out beside him: "I'll take your place."
"Saman?" Ren Yifei turned his head in surprise to look at the suddenly appearing Saman. "How did you end up here?"
Saman reached out and removed a speck of dust from Ren Yifei's back: "I've been hiding here, following you."
"What happened?" Ren Yifei grabbed his arm. "Why did you suddenly disappear?"
"A formidable opponent has arrived, so I'm temporarily hiding, concealing myself within a speck of dust. This is a rare item that can be used to protect myself. The only problem is that once I emerge, it will be useless."
Samantha explained with a smile, "I deliberately left this dust on the chair. If I disappear, you'll be the first to find me, and you'll be the first to arrive. By taking this speck of dust with you, you're taking me with you."
"You still have the mind to enjoy romantic moments under the moon?" The single guy opposite him roared in impotence. He waved his hand and said, "I accept your challenge. Even without the Black Rabbit, you're not bad, Saman."
As soon as they finished speaking, the chessboard lines beneath their feet turned from invisible to real, and a huge chessboard actually appeared, with Qiming and Saman standing on either side.
But now that we have the players and the board, where are the pieces?
"No need to rush, the chess pieces are here now." Qi Ming coughed up blood for some unknown reason, and then many people appeared on both sides of the huge chessboard. The people on the left were dressed in white, and the people on the right were dressed in black.
Ren Yifei looked closely and saw several familiar faces, people he had met on the street or in the dormitory.
He looked closely and realized that these people were all students from the school. When he saw a girl in white, his expression changed slightly: "Zhao Rui?"
These people stood there silently, their eyes closed.
"You actually used people as pawns?" Saman's expression darkened. Even if they were NPCs, in this world, they were living, breathing human beings.
Qi Ming noticed that their expressions were off, and was taken aback for a moment before bursting into laughter: "These NPCs are nothing but wax figures driven by programs, deceived by appearances and indulging in shallow human morality. Even without me, you wouldn't go far."
"Since when has low morals become a virtue? If the desolate corner is full of people like you, then I understand why it has to eliminate you all." Ren Yifei flashed around the chessboard, about to rescue someone, but when he reached in, it felt like he was plunging into mud.
It turned out to be a small, isolated space, sealed off, and he couldn't get in.
"Is that so?" Qi Ming said dismissively. "It's a pity it can't get rid of me, and you will all die here today. ...How much longer do you want to watch this show? It's time for you to come out."
Ren Yifei turned his head and found that there were many players watching the show with their arms crossed on the dark sea. The scents of sandalwood, wine, and flowers were present. The closest scent to him was a kind of minty aroma that seemed to be chilled.
"You think you're the hunter, but you don't realize that the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
Qi Ming then looked at the others: "Kill any one of them and you'll gain immunity. But if you kill both of them, this massacre will end here. How about it? Shall we do it?"
The wind blew across the sea, and the black vortex in mid-air trembled and disappeared completely: This world belongs to me, but also to you. I'm sorry to have bothered you. Farewell.