As for Chang Jianfeng and the others huddled together, they trembled even harder.
They had no idea Che Quan had caused it and thought the final boss had attacked the third floor.
Everyone had already braced themselves for death, their eyes squeezed shut and their bodies rigid as stone.
But one second passed, then two, then three... who knew how many seconds went by, yet there was still no further movement outside the door. Even the screams had vanished completely.
Although they dared not move, much less get up to check what had happened outside, an intense curiosity began to stir in their hearts.
They would never have guessed that all that commotion had happened simply because Che Quan was angry.
The final boss, who had been furiously searching the second floor for her "guests," also stopped short at the noise, something she rarely did.
"She" hurried out of an empty room and looked toward the third floor.
That tremendous noise had come from there-her own territory.
For some reason, "she" hesitated, recalling the pain from earlier, when a single drop of golden-tinged blood carrying an overwhelming threat had burned her and blasted her away.
That gave Che Quan, up on the third floor, a little more time to recover.
In the pitch darkness, the livestream viewers could only hear a sudden, tremendous crash without seeing anything at all, and it was driving every last one of them mad.
[If they don't turn on night mode soon, I'm seriously going to lose my mind.jpg]
[Who made that noise just now? Did the boss come up to the third floor? No, that can't be right. If a monster chase gets triggered, the livestream should automatically switch to night mode. Since it hasn't, that means the boss isn't on the third floor.]
[Then who the hell was it, aaaaah! Did the little beauty and the big shot start fighting?! But they've barely exchanged a word! I haven't even heard a single whisper, come on!]
Fortunately, Che Quan had already switched off the scrolling comments. Otherwise, the billions of comments flooding past would surely have irritated him enough to send him on a killing spree.
His skin hunger syndrome had flared up with unprecedented intensity. The instant after Che Quan threw that punch, his legs went weak, and all the strength abruptly drained from his body.
He stumbled, almost collapsing onto the floor.
Che Quan struggled to keep his balance, but no matter what he did, he could not regain control of his body.
It was as though he lay on a holy bed of silver crosses. Every inch of him trembled with searing heat, and even his bones seemed weak and limp.
All his power seemed to have been sealed away.
Inside Che Quan's body and mind, a fierce craving for skin-to-skin contact continued to boil and surge beyond his control.
Intense humiliation and fury blazed in Che Quan's crimson eyes.
Driven by their owner's violent emotional fluctuations, his beautiful, snow-white fangs rapidly sharpened and lengthened until they were fully exposed.
Reflected in Jiang Cong's eyes, the sight was especially mesmerizing, charged with tension.
Jiang Cong caught Che Quan just as he was about to fall and held him securely in his arms. At the same time, he firmly seized the hand Che Quan instinctively used to push him away, pressing their palms together.
Che Quan's symptoms eased almost immediately.
After that unbearable torment, the brief peace he gained left Che Quan unable to tell Jiang Cong to get lost with the same decisive resolve.
Then Jiang Cong slowly leaned toward Che Quan's ear. The warm breath escaping his lips seemed to brush ever so faintly against the tip of Che Quan's ear.
Che Quan heard Jiang Cong say in a low, magnetic voice, quiet enough for only the two of them to hear, "I told you. You'd need me."
The instant Che Quan heard those words clearly, he clenched his teeth.
Even though this guy called Jiang Cong had helped me, he still pissed me off. Having him hold this over me was downright humiliating. I wish I could make him disappear for good.
Fortunately, the livestream viewers had not seen Jiang Cong gather Che Quan into his arms. Otherwise, who knew what an uproar it would have caused in the comments.
With Jiang Cong easing his symptoms in time, Che Quan's episode was much shorter this time. By the time the boss stormed the third floor, he had already recovered most of his strength.
As luck would have it, Ghost Shadow, who had been painstakingly searching the room on the right, finally found the "thing" Che Quan had requested. He hurried out and respectfully presented it to Che Quan.
After finally getting night mode, the eagerly anticipating livestream viewers were greeted by this utterly incongruous scene. They could not help falling into thought.
[Did I switch to the wrong channel? Has a monster ever happily worked for a player before?]
[Replying to the comment above: never seen it.]
[Okay, okay, okay, I really miscalculated earlier. The little beauty's strength is unfathomable.]
[Here's some tragic news, everyone. I bet everything I owned on the little beauty being the first one eliminated. Who could've imagined there wouldn't be a single casualty in this instance yet? Absolutely terrifying.]
[Hahahahaha, I told you ages ago. Gamblers never end well.]
Inside the instance.
Since the monster had encountered the players she was pursuing, night mode had activated. Chang Jianfeng and the others, who had been hiding in their room all this time, now had a degree of night vision too.
It was enough for them to barely make out their surroundings in the darkness.
Chang Jianfeng was still relatively composed, so he was the first to tiptoe toward the door and try to peer outside through the gap.
When he saw the boss's true appearance, Chang Jianfeng almost screamed in terror. Fortunately, he retained a shred of reason and clamped a hand over his mouth.
Not daring to look again, Chang Jianfeng crawled back to his companions, trembling. Faced with their frightened, bewildered eyes, he could not help swallowing. Using both gestures and words, he carefully told them what he had just seen-
The battered black shoes "Qiao Qiao" wore were the very pair that had appeared repeatedly in the graduation photos. Not only were they dripping water, they were caked with moss and mud, as though she had walked along a riverbed for a very, very long time.
But only after looking farther up had Chang Jianfeng realized the truth.
"Qiao Qiao" had not dirtied her shoes by stepping in mud.
She had drowned.
Most likely, she had died from it too.
Because the current "Qiao Qiao" was swollen beyond recognition, looking for all the world like a hollow sumo wrestler. The skin all over her body had been soaked a ghastly white and looked stretched almost to bursting. Her uneven hair was tangled with algae and aquatic weeds, gleaming with an oily sheen.
Ugly and horrifying.
And whether it was Chang Jianfeng's imagination or not, a thick, murky stench of foul water seemed to hang in the air. He sniffed and immediately felt dizzy and nauseated.
"Cover your mouths and noses, quick!"
Chang Jianfeng hurriedly instructed the others in an extremely hushed voice, then pulled over a scrap of cloth to cover Yuan Zhou's mouth and nose while he remained unconscious.
Then Chang Jianfeng looked toward the door, deeply worried.
It was not just Chang Jianfeng. The others were equally worried and tense.
Although those two players looked incredibly capable, on an entirely different level from novices like them, they still could not suppress their concern.
So Chang Jianfeng, Chen Yuxiang, and Ning Dantong mustered their courage and carefully crept up to the door to watch what was happening outside, ready to go out and help or support the two at any moment.
Before you continue