That was...

Beneath him, a deathly pale hand emerged through the bathtub, clamped around his neck, and yanked his entire body down!

Splash-

Water sprayed everywhere. The boy's toes rose as his head plunged straight into the tub, scalding water engulfing him in an instant.

Glug, glug. I'm going to die...

Yu Qing struggled. Soon, the hand strangling him became two, black veins bulging across their backs, leaving him no chance to breathe.

But... their grip seemed a little... weak?

Yu Qing shifted his gaze, his crimson eyes darting as he quickly searched for the drain at the bottom of the tub. Yes, it was weak. It didn't even feel as strong as the BOSS's tentacles.

Had he... gotten used to being strangled?

Whoosh-

The drain opened, and the water around him rapidly receded. Yu Qing finally caught a breath.

He gritted his teeth, barely suppressing the urge to curse the BOSS again, and tried to make the pattern on the back of his hand appear, holding it before him.

Because overhead, the thick black hair had turned completely away, revealing long animal fur...

It was a monkey!

It was a woman who had been turned into a monkey!

Then came, "Heehee, heeheehee~"

The bathroom grew brighter and brighter.

A second later, accompanied by those eerie sounds, women in hospital gowns surrounded him on all sides. Every one of them faced him and stared, their faces covered in fur, their eyes as lifeless as ashes.

And now, "Heehee." The first monkey to turn its head gave an eerie smile and raised an axe high!

[Ding-dong-]

Suddenly, a system notification rang through the air, making him shudder.

[Congratulations to streamer Yu Qing for provoking further changes in Xu Han. The NPC's brutality has increased to unprecedented levels. Dungeon difficulty upgraded.]

[Current difficulty: Level 5 (maximum level: 10)]

[Keep up the good work, streamer~]

Level... five?!

As everyone knew, level five was precisely the danger threshold for a Killing Dungeon!

"Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong..."

System notifications kept ringing. The horrifying footage drew more and more viewers into Yu Qing's livestream, the comments scrolling nonstop.

[Ahhhh! I can't watch anymore! I really like this streamer. Please don't die!]

[I've seriously never seen anything like this... This is only the second time this Dungeon has opened. It never spawned anything this extreme before. I... don't know what to expect.]

[Level-five Dungeons are high-risk. Any NPC can break the rules to kill someone. The old rules don't work anymore.]

[Ahhhh, no! I'm saving up Revival Cards for my darling! (Tip points +100000)]

[Oh, please. What's the point? We watch livestreams to see people fight their way through life-or-death challenges. If all he can do is get frisky with the Dungeon BOSS, he won't last long anyway. Boring.]

[Exactly, exactly. I liked watching that at first, but after seeing too much of it, I really started hating streamers who only flirt with Dungeon NPCs. It makes the streamer look idiotic, useless, and hopelessly lovesick, staking their entire survival on an NPC's favor. Why even fucking play?]

[Is he finally going to die? Is he finally going to die? Hahaha, I told you nobody could get out of this Dungeon alive! (Rubs hands in anticipation)]

For the first time, the livestream's viewer count surpassed eighty thousand. Countless eyes focused on Yu Qing, some worried, some disdainful, some excited, and some eagerly awaiting his death.

As the monkey's axe was about to fall, cleaving straight into the boy's forehead, the viewers held their breath. Then came: "How dare you!"

In the darkness, the boy remained unhurried, showing not the slightest awareness that he was about to be killed. He even spoke confidently, glaring angrily at the monkey poised to swing its axe.

With that single sentence, his sheer presence overwhelmed every vicious ghost around him.

The noisy livestream fell silent.

They watched Yu Qing slowly raise his hand. On its back, a pitch-black Red Spider Lily bloomed with bewitching beauty. Even with his neck gripped like this, he could still speak steadily.

"Look. My master isn't done playing yet. He won't let you hurt me."

The Red Spider Lily resembled a tattoo, its blossom dazzling and seductive.

Sure enough, before he had finished speaking, the female ghost's hand gripping the axe began to tremble.

The BOSS was an existence no one in the Dungeon could defy. Every NPC knew this, their fear of him ingrained in their very bones.

Now, not only the monkey holding the axe, but also the other female ghosts preparing to attack stopped moving. They stood rooted in place, cowering as though someone had pressed pause.

It worked!

On-screen, Yu Qing's smile grew even lovelier. Yet the hand around his neck tightened further and further, as if determined to strangle him even if it broke its own bones in the process.

Yu Qing's face gradually reddened, and breathing became difficult.

Yet the system panel clearly displayed, [Stamina: 3/100].

Out of a maximum of one hundred stamina points, he had only three left. He didn't even have the strength to pry the hand away.

Some viewers praised his cleverness, but the danger hadn't passed, and even more continued mocking him.

[What good is being smart? With only three stamina points, he might as well wait to die.]

[In the end, isn't he still relying on the BOSS's mark? He must've done something shameful to stay alive, accepting the BOSS as his master. Tsk. Is he going to make Xu Han his master next?]

[Very likely. I despise him.]

His vision began to blur. Yu Qing had no time to read the scrolling comments. Both hands desperately guarded his neck, yet the smile never faded from his lips. "Xu Han..."

Xu Han's malice had intensified. Having failed before, he was now dead set on killing him!

The hands gripping his neck were a man's hands. They had to belong to Xu Han!

Yu Qing spoke again. Everyone thought that, having guessed the right name, he would surely beg for mercy next. Instead, the boy said, "You... useless... piece of trash!"

The livestream: [!!!]

His neck was practically being snapped. Was he that desperate to die?

"Ngh..."

Sure enough, Yu Qing struggled to breathe as the grip tightened further, but he kept speaking. "You love your... wife... and daughter very much, don't you?"

He demanded, "Was I the one who turned them into this?!"

The hands loosened slightly, and Yu Qing's smile grew wider. "If you want revenge, go after the director! He turned your daughter into a rabbit and forced himself on your wife!"

"..."

"What's wrong? Too scared?"

The hands around his neck loosened more and more, yet still refused to release him. Through his blurred vision, Yu Qing caught a faint glimmer of dark purple light.

His gaze instantly sharpened.

That was...