"Ding-dong-"
The sudden mechanical voice broke the stalemate.
"The Good Review Convenience Store will open in three days. Players, please work hard to complete repairs before the store officially opens, giving it a fresh new look and providing customers with a high-quality service experience!" "Attention! This assessment lasts seven days. You must obtain at least 500 positive reviews by the end of the seventh day to pass." "Final reminder! This game does not permit clearing stages through violence. Any player caught doing so will be immediately disqualified!"
The icy voice was sharp and grating. On closer listening, it even sounded vaguely eerie.
Although the rules and objectives had been announced, no one dared speak in the oppressive silence.
Crack.
A small black blur shot past Mo Yu's face.
The glass behind him shattered, scattering shards across the floor.
He tilted his head slightly. A fine cut marked his face, a vivid streak of crimson blooming beside the corner of his eye and lending an unusual brilliance to his cold features.
Only then did the livestream viewers finally get a clear look at his face.
Wispy strands of hair fell over his strong brow ridge. His nose was straight, his lips thin, and a faint chill lingered in the slightly upturned corners of his eyes. His collarbones peeked out beneath the smooth lines of his neck. In that moment, he embodied the aesthetics of violence.
Shen Ru couldn't be bothered to look at the man's face. He simply disliked his attitude. Besides, he hadn't been trying to kill anyone to silence them earlier.
Some people were born with filthy mouths and needed a warning. Others were born busybodies and needed one just as much.
Shen Ru looked at Mo Yu with smiling eyes, his lips curving into a handsome arc. He seemed entirely unbothered by the man's earlier offense, merely parting his red lips to say lightly:
"Just returning the favor."
In the livestream chat:
[???? Why do I kind of ship them?]
[How did my dumb ass mistake him for a delicate beauty? He's clearly a man-eating flower that repays every slight!!!]
[Um... has nobody noticed this guy looks a little like Mo Yu, the leader of the Dark Night Guild...]
[Yes!! I was just about to say that!!! Would the great Mo Yu really come to a beginner instance?]
"Ring, ring-"
An eerie burst of ringing suddenly shattered the already silent space.
The convenience store was small to begin with. The piercing ring surrounded them like a summons to their deaths, leaving them struggling to breathe.
The girl who had screamed earlier was terrified out of her wits. She covered her head and kept trying to squeeze farther into a corner.
Now the lab rat's purpose became clear. Mo Yu signaled with his eyes for the man from earlier to answer the phone.
The man's trembling hand was just about to touch the phone when another pale, delicate hand flashed before his eyes. Then the receiver was lifted.
"Who is it?"
Shen Ru casually held the receiver to his ear. Although the crackling static on the other end hurt his ear, his expression remained indifferent.
He hadn't stopped the others from answering out of concern for their lives. Information always carried risks when relayed through someone else. Since answering and not answering were both dangerous, Shen Ru preferred to be the one in control of the information.
"Tonight... midnight... repairman... wall... beep, beep, beep..."
Shen Ru raised an eyebrow. Someone was coming to paint the walls at an hour fit for the dead. This instance really did have ghosts.
How exciting!
It had been a long time since Shen Ru had felt this invigorated while looking forward to midnight.
After he repeated the call word for word, everyone except Mo Yu went deathly pale.
Especially the man Shen Ru had taught a lesson earlier.
His name was Qi Liang. He had participated in this sort of game three times, making today his fourth.
Players could actually choose an instance's difficulty. That was how he had managed to survive this long.
Clearing a beginner instance earned three days of rest. Naturally, higher difficulties awarded longer breaks.
However, after choosing the same difficulty three times in total, the rest period would gradually shorten.
Once he cleared this instance, his break would drop from three days to one.
But that wasn't the worst part. What truly terrified him was that all instance players recognized midnight to five in the morning as the most dangerous period.
Advanced instances might assign tasks during those hours, but that was absolutely impossible in a beginner instance...
Unless...
Qi Liang stared at the other players in horror, his barely concealed scrutiny threatening to give him away.
There must be an advanced player among us!
The livestream viewers were equally astonished:
[Midnight?? Did I hear that right??]
[Wait... I remember this repair task always taking place during the day? Why is it at night this time?]
[Mystery solved! That guy really is the great Mo Yu!!!]
[Well, damn. Can't tell if these beginners are lucky or unlucky to run into a top player...]
[Heh... let me ask you, have you ever seen a top player dragging dead weight around?]
[Fuck... they're probably done for, then...]
Qi Liang kept the matter of the advanced player to himself. If the expert wanted to conceal his identity, rashly bringing it up might genuinely cost Qi Liang his life.
Although Shen Ru had asked a question earlier that only a beginner would ask, that hardly ruled out the possibility that he was an expert pretending to be new!
Given his skills and his utterly terrifying mental state, there was a very good chance Shen Ru was an advanced player!
As though trying to curry favor or demonstrate his usefulness, Qi Liang eagerly shared what he knew about the dangers of midnight with everyone.
His goal was to leave the expert with the impression that he was selfless and public-spirited.
The girl who had screamed earlier was named Du Xiaomei. Her face turned ashen at his words, and she hurried forward to grab Shen Ru's sleeve. She had seen his skills earlier. He could definitely protect her.
"We're going to die! Please, save me!!"
Shen Ru had little sympathy for others. He loathed being touched and hated trouble even more.
He was especially contemptuous of the weak banding together.
As it happened, this girl embodied everything he disliked.
Before Qi Liang could respond, Shen Ru began laughing for no apparent reason, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He pulled her hand away, and even his icy red eyes rippled with a hint of crimson amusement.
"If you kneel right now and kowtow to me three times, hard enough to hear it, I might consider sparing your miserable life."
The girl sitting by the stairs finally couldn't watch any longer. She stood up and blurted out:
"That's a little too cruel, don't you think? She's a girl, after all."
Shen Ru shrugged and looked at her with amusement. "Then will you take her place? When the repairman comes, I can let her stay inside."
Of course she refused. She backed away, shaking her head. "Why should I?"
Shen Ru immediately nodded in agreement. "Exactly! Why should you? Rather than begging me, you should beg him."
With that, Shen Ru pointed at Mo Yu and teased, "After all, it wouldn't be very good if the lab rat dropped dead before the experiment even started, would it?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than several crisp knocks came from the shattered glass door.
Knock, knock, knock!
Here he comes!
Before you continue