The hunt begins!

Rumble-

The pitch-black corridor kept shaking. No matter where they ran, death awaited!

Gritting his teeth, Yu Qing pushed himself up. As if struck by an idea, he braced one hand against the wall, but just as he was about to steady himself, another tremendous crash swept past his ear. His hand abruptly lost its support. The wall he had been leaning against...

Had shattered...

His body pitched forward, and an abyss filled his vision. He was about to fall...

Suddenly, an icy hand clamped down on his shoulder. Pale fingers tightened, pulling him back with effortless ease.

Once he was steady again, Yu Qing's pupils widened slightly. Before his heart could even start racing, an old man's deeply wrinkled face filled his vision!

It was the director's face!

The instant those pitch-black eyes fixed on him, suspicion surfaced in them. Yu Qing's fingertips trembled, and he hurriedly concealed his red eyes, assuming an obedient expression, as though everything the director had just seen had been an illusion.

Then the tremors around them gradually stopped. The dim yellow lights came back on, and even the wall that had shattered behind him returned to normal.

The other streamers had already collapsed onto the floor. As they sat there in a daze, they found themselves facing the director's sinister smile. "It's the middle of the night. Everyone... why aren't you in your wards?"

Bzzzt-

The lights overhead flickered again, making the director's smile look even more sinister. "Disobedient patients get locked in the Detention Room and sacrificed to Angel. Would you like to try it?"

They had already seen far too many ghosts that night. His words sent an immediate shudder through them.

Xue Ziyi, who sat in the middle of the corridor, was on his third instance. Under the system's rules, anyone who had entered fewer than five instances counted as a newcomer.

But compared with complete beginners, he had far more experience.

He knew that in instances below level five, NPCs wouldn't kill people indiscriminately as long as they obeyed the rules.

He repeatedly insisted that he had only been sleepwalking, then immediately took his lackey and left the ninth floor, one following the other.

His steps were slow, his retreating figure steeped in resentment.

Their footsteps gradually faded from the empty corridor.

Yu Qing glanced around. Unable to spot Qian Lai, he instinctively checked the livestream chat.

Only after seeing the words "luck god" did his worried gaze finally lower.

Bang, bang, bang!

In front of him, the director finally released him, walked to the crying little girl's door, and knocked hard three times.

Those three knocks alone made the little girl behave at once. Not a sound could be heard from her.

It was as though everything here was under the director's control.

The moment he appeared, the collapsing floor returned to normal, and every noisy supernatural creature fell silent, like... obedient rag dolls.

The echoes from the iron door gradually faded. A cold stillness soon crept in, enveloping every inch of the place once more. Yu Qing turned, following the director with his gaze, just in time to see him reach out and flick a lighter.

Click-

He burned the entire notebook in his hand. The dancing flames reflected in the young man's dark pupils, flickering in and out.

Yu Qing judged that it was probably another diary.

-The director was the person he had seen in the second room!

"Dealing with this stuff is such a hassle." In his line of sight, the director frowned, looking a little impatient. He dropped the burned notebook onto the floor and casually patted Yu Qing's shoulder as he passed. "Xu, my boy."

He'd... mistaken him for someone else?

Yu Qing glanced at his clothes and name badge. So the director relied on these things to identify people too. His heartbeat quickened imperceptibly. "Yes."

"Since you're here, search the rooms here a little more and burn all these patient diaries." As he spoke, the director withdrew his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose as though nursing a headache. "We had them keep diaries to record the process of their transformation. Now that they've been trained into sacrifices, there's no need to keep them."

"Burn them thoroughly. We don't want outsiders discovering them."

The director lowered his head and rummaged through his briefcase, then handed Yu Qing all the spare keys to the ninth floor. "Make it quick!"

"Yes!"

The next moment, donations flooded the livestream once again, sending it into a frenzy.

[OMG, the director handed him the keys himself. What kind of incredible treatment is this?]

[He isn't just handing over keys. He's laying every clue in front of the streamer and saying, "Go on, look! Look!" He's practically forcing clues on him, hahahaha!]

[This is the first time I've seen a streamer explore the ninth floor so openly, without a care in the world. So satisfying! (Donation points +100)]

Then came a string of congratulatory announcements.

[Congratulations to streamer Yu Qing for discovering the key clue "XX's diary." Story exploration progress: 40%]

[Congratulations to streamer Yu Qing for discovering the key clue "XX's diary." Story exploration progress: 45%]

[Congratulations to streamer Yu Qing for discovering the key clue "XX's diary." Story exploration progress: 50%!]

[You have set a new record for the highest story exploration progress in this instance. Reward points +5000!]

[Congratulations to streamers Yu Qing and Qian Lai for completing the "Explore the ninth floor" mission ahead of time. Reward points +500 each. Keep! Up! The! Good! Work!]

The system's voice rang out exuberantly, as though it, too, had never seen results like these before. It even announced the point rewards with dramatic feeling.

Meanwhile, in the gloomy eighth-floor corridor.

The streamer Zhang Yi, who had been forced to leave the ninth floor, clutched the hem of Xue Ziyi's jacket with both hands, trembling nonstop.

The darkness was so thick he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Strange knocking and chewing sounds rose nearby from time to time, each one threatening to shatter the man's fragile nerves.

Zhang Yi was frightened. He wanted to close his eyes, but feared something might suddenly press against him, leaving him no time even to flee.

His emotions churned and swung wildly. Before long, his wide-open eyes were bloodshot.

Suddenly! [Five minutes remain until exploration ends. Streamers who have not found any clues, please hurry!]

"Ah!" Startled by the voice, Zhang Yi cried out instinctively. Within three seconds, tears of despair welled in his reddened eyes.

[Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep...]

The system's countdown grew increasingly urgent. Zhang Yi shuddered violently and suddenly felt a sticky warmth spreading below. He hurriedly grabbed Xue Ziyi in front of him and mustered the courage to speak. "The... the time limit's almost up. The one-hour time limit's almost up!"

"Ziyi, we haven't found any clues! We're going to die!"

Pitch-black darkness already made it easy for fear to take hold, let alone in a life-draining instance where ghosts were real.

Annoyed by his tugging and tormented by the foul stench of urine, Xue Ziyi simply swung his arm. Smack-

He flung Zhang Yi hard onto the floor. Yet Zhang Yi had followed him the whole way, fawning over him like a parasite he couldn't shake off!

Before, Zhang Yi's flattery, praise, and adulation had satisfied Xue Ziyi. Now, they only irritated him!

"Cry, cry, cry. Stop fucking crying!" the man cursed. "Have you forgotten who my boss is? I'm currently the number-one player on the newcomer wealth rankings. With you following me, how could I possibly let you die?"

Perhaps his relentless fawning over the past day and night had finally paid off. Zhang Yi was so overwhelmed with excitement that tears and snot streamed down his face. He nearly dropped to his knees to kowtow to Xue Ziyi.

[Beep, beep, beep... beep, beep, beep...]

[Three minutes remain until exploration ends!]

The system's announcement sounded again. Zhang Yi was just about to urge the big shot in front of him on when he noticed that Xue Ziyi had started moving.

He smoothed his hair and tugged at his garish suit. Now that the director had left, he actually climbed back up to the ninth floor and stopped in front of Yu Qing, who had finished exploring, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

And just then, [Ding-]

Yu Qing stopped in his tracks as the system's clear announcement sounded in his ear.

[NPC Xu Han has successfully awakened. The hunt begins...]