Settlement Hall

Wei Lanxing had only seen Shen Ru beat up an NPC. Back then, what had shocked her, besides his clever mind, was his utterly terrifying mental state.

But now...

With these two corpses before her, she had no choice but to reassess the beautiful young man sitting in a pool of blood.

Lanji's Guild Leader and its formidable enforcer had died one after the other in the instance. Shen Ru definitely had some secret no one knew about.

Qi Ning's talent let him see the moments before a person's death. He shared Wei Lanxing's doubts, so he immediately used it to investigate.

But what he discovered left him stunned.

"Shen Ru, do you... have a talent?"

Earlier, when he had watched the young man beat Guan Wenyue during the selection stage, all he had noticed as a bystander was his incredible speed and ruthless, decisive movements.

But witnessing those swift attacks from the dead man's perspective, he sensed a subtle difference.

At his question, Shen Ru looked up at him. His red eyes glimmered in the dim moonlight, and the blood on his cheeks traced the contours of his body down into his collar. He gave a breathtaking smile, his voice brimming with delight:

"I do!"

He had no intention of hiding it, and he couldn't have hidden it anyway.

This livestream wasn't just broadcast to an unknown audience, but also to tens of millions of players in the infinite survival system.

There was nothing wrong with revealing his talent.

If he wanted to distance himself from the Dark Night Guild as much as possible from now on, he needed something to fall back on to keep trouble at bay.

Everyone had to look out for themselves, didn't they?

After speaking, Shen Ru didn't keep looking at Qi Ning. Instead, his gaze shifted to the man beside him.

The man was smiling.

Mo Yu wore an inscrutable smile.

There was no killing intent or malice in it, only excitement and a shuddering thrill buried deep in his bones.

Dangerous and captivating.

Shen Ru simply watched him in silence. Under the moonlight, beside the blood-red pond, amid the sweet, metallic scent of blood, madness and burning intensity spread through their eyes in unspoken understanding.

Instance complete. Closing livestream channel.

Once the livestream ended, Shen Ru was transported straight to the familiar space to await settlement.

This was a reward instance and wouldn't affect his rank, so Shen Ru remained a B-rank player.

Before long, the familiar mechanical voice sounded again:

Player Shen Ru has successfully cleared the Leons' Tea Party instance. Settlement will now begin.

Instance completion reward: 30,000

Player successfully uncovered the secret between the Leons during the instance. Additional reward: 10,000

Livestream audience tips: 3,000. Reward after platform commission: 1,500

Total points earned in this instance: 41,500

Player obtained two S-Rank Cards, five A-rank cards, and three B-rank cards during the instance.

Shen Ru raised an eyebrow. It really was a reward instance. Although his rank hadn't changed, the rewards were certainly generous.

In the previous Newcomer Instance, without unlocking the hidden storyline, even an outstanding performance would only have earned him a single C-rank card.

He gave the cards' functions a quick look. The A-rank and B-rank cards were mostly items for survival and self-preservation, but the last S-Rank Card, Mrs. Leon's Tears, caught his attention.

The official description stated that Mrs. Leon's Tears was a bridge connecting everything.

There was nothing else.

Shen Ru didn't quite understand, but the card was his now. He could study it whenever he liked.

The Living Area.

The words "Livestream ended" appeared in vivid red on the Live Broadcast Plaza's main page.

The image froze on Guan Wenyue's head, split in two, and sparked an uproar in the plaza where players could post comments.

"..."

"Is this newcomer seriously that strong? He took on Guan Wenyue and Xi Rui by himself? Guild Leader Guan died before he could even activate his talent. How fast is this guy??"

"He definitely has a talent. A newcomer awakened one after clearing just a single instance?"

"My friend cleared his first Newcomer Instance with Shen Ru. He said Shen Ru was already showing inhuman speed back then..."

"??????"

"You mean he has an Innate Talent!!!???"

"Exactly! That explains why Mo God thinks so highly of him!"

"Fuck... I always thought he was just a pretty face, delicate and easy to pin down. Now even seeing him smile gives me goose bumps..."

"Fuck, same here..."

The heated discussion continued.

Directly below the Tea Party instance's livestream page were the participating players' names. Only five still glowed. The other eleven had turned dark gray with their deaths.

The surviving players would be ranked according to the points and rewards they earned, as well as how thoroughly they had explored the instance.

During settlement, the names kept changing positions as everyone watched with curiosity and anticipation.

Finally, Shen Ru's name settled firmly at the top.

"!!!!!!!"

"Mo God actually came second!"

"Goddess Wei, how did you end up in third!?"

"..."

Still, after seeing Shen Ru fight, the players were fairly willing to accept the rankings. They grumbled a little but made no further cutting remarks.

The guild points rankings on the right also began reshuffling.

The Dark Night Guild remained firmly in first place.

But the guild rankings below it were completely reordered by this instance.

The Blue Chronicle Guild had dropped from second to fourth.

The Kanghe Guild took second place.

Third went to Qi Ning's Water Mirror Guild.

By default, the system allowed only nine guilds to exist in the infinite survival channel, so players had two ways to establish a guild.

The first was to join a guild they liked, then challenge its Guild Leader once their strength reached its peak. A successful challenge would let them take his place.

The second gave each player one chance per month to challenge the Guild Leader of the lowest-ranked guild. If they won, they could take over.

But the drawback of the second method was that even after a successful takeover, external factors such as member turnover and internal friction made it difficult to consolidate the guild quickly. It could remain in last place the following month, leaving it at risk of another takeover.

Under normal circumstances, most people therefore preferred the first method.

With its Guild Leader dead, the Blue Chronicle Guild now faced this same selection process.

While everyone was still eagerly rewatching the instance, their Light Brain screens suddenly went black, as though a hacker had broken in and instantly crashed them.

Only the words "Connecting..." remained on the displays.

Shen Ru was also in front of his screen. After leaving the Settlement Space, he had spent points on a week in a Presidential Suite. While soaking in the bath, he had opened his Light Brain to search for information about this world. The signal suddenly cut out, leaving only a pitch-black screen and the reflection of his beautiful face, flushed from the steam.

Before the players could recover, a refined, strikingly aggressive face suddenly appeared on their screens.

Mo Yu sat on a soft sofa, his posture elegant and languid, one relaxed arm draped to the side. Beneath the light, he radiated a deadly allure.

A stirring, impassioned symphony poured from the broadcast.

The next second, the man's lips curved upward. He was as ominous as a devil descending upon the human world, yet possessed a dangerous, singular charm.

His smile held genuine delight.

"Mr. Shen, I still owe you a few things. Will you contact me when you see this?"

His low, rich voice, slightly husky, echoed in Shen Ru's ears like a vow that would end only in death.

Shen Ru knew Mo Yu had done it on purpose.