S-A9B08F013

The midday sunlight streamed through the shattered dome into the abandoned ruins, making the mysterious symbols on the weathered walls gleam.

A scream tore through that inexplicable tranquility.

In the center of the ruins' great hall, a man lay in a pool of blood, his white lab coat soaked crimson.

In disbelief, the man clutched the wound gushing blood from his neck and glared fiercely at someone beside him.

-Long Aotian!

He stared daggers at him but could not make a sound.

Like every "Long Aotian," this man named Long Aotian was tall, handsome, and arrogant-a bearing born of innate good fortune and unfailing success.

Long Aotian looked down at the man with a contemptuous smile, then turned toward something nearby-

-the Death Instance's miniature livestream camera.

"Are you satisfied with this way of dying?"

Meanwhile.

Countless unseen "viewers" watching their screens with ill intent erupted in excitement.

In a display only Long Aotian could see, comments and gifts flooded past. A metallic voice sounded in his ears: "999 points credited. Congratulations, host. You have become the 99th S-rank user in the history of the Death Instance. Your permissions have been upgraded and will take effect after you leave this instance."

Long Aotian was in an excellent mood.

Although he had been inexplicably dragged into the Death Instance and had to keep entering instances to earn enough points to survive, this world always favored him.

He was currently in a B-rank instance. Even surviving its deadly challenges only earned a clearance reward of 200 points.

But by satisfying the "viewers" and killing off his cowardly teammates, he had already earned over a thousand points in tips alone.

An unwelcome voice suddenly spoke beside him.

"Long, now that you've killed this biologist, how are we supposed to avoid those black shadows tonight?"

The speaker was a woman with dry, yellowish hair. Although she looked utterly haggard, her figure was still attractive. Long Aotian had spared her because she was reasonably pretty-after all, the scenarios those viewers enjoyed often required a woman.

In this instance, "Lost Ancient Civilization," players were assigned one of three roles: "archaeologist," "biologist," or "guide."

Biologists could produce four vials of repellent each day to evade the Shadows patrolling the ruins every night.

Long Aotian was dismissive. "Idiot, didn't you read the community intel? The Shadows here haven't been B-rank threats for ages. A few other tricks are enough to avoid them!"

Then he glanced to the side.

"Besides, we've still got one last biologist here, haven't we?"

The woman followed his gaze.

At the edge of the spreading pool of blood, where sunlight spilled down, a white figure almost blended into his surroundings.

He was a young man wearing a light gray trench coat, tall and slender. More striking still were his short white hair and the pale face beneath it, with its smooth contours and delicate features.

The young man's light-colored eyes resembled glass marbles. At that moment, he was quietly watching the corpse on the ground, unmoved by the slaughter.

-This young man had only appeared today. He said his name was "Li Qing" and that his navigation had failed, which was why he had only just caught up with the main group.

Naturally, Long Aotian disdained the company of a useless fool who couldn't even find the starting point.

Yet the appearance of this beautiful young man had sent his livestream into a frenzy, earning him a flood of tips in an instant.

He had considerable value to exploit. Long Aotian agreed to let him join his team so he could make the most of him before they found the ruins and finished the instance.

The three of them found the entrance to the ruins together and entered a pitch-black underground passage. The system notified them that night had fallen.

One of the rules of "Lost Ancient Civilization": night was when the Shadows hunted. If you did not have a biologist's repellent, do not turn on a light.

Although Long Aotian knew a special method for dealing with the Shadows in this instance, he was not entirely reckless. With two deadweights in tow, he would not act rashly.

The three settled down in a dry clearing.

Ever since the pretty boy named Li Qing had appeared, the woman who had meekly followed Long Aotian around had grown bolder. For the first time, she did not crawl over to sleep beside him.

Long Aotian sneered inwardly and silently held it against her.

The three kept a safe distance from one another. Before long, the underground space fell completely silent, save for their faint, steady breathing.

One person's breathing suddenly disappeared.

Then a rustling sound began.

The woman crept toward Li Qing. Although she made a little noise, it was not enough to wake anyone.

After feeling around for a while, she finally found the small pouch in which the biologist kept his vials.

There were four vials of repellent inside.

She carefully took out all four, hesitated, then gritted her teeth and put two back.

Just then, her keen instincts sent a slight prickle across her scalp.

The woman slowly raised her head and met a pair of glass-marble eyes.

She sucked in a breath, almost collapsing onto the ground.

There was no telling how long the young man had been watching. He had not made a sound, and his eyes reflected an inorganic chill in the faint light of the crystals on the walls.

Then he moved!

As the woman waited in terror for him to pass judgment, she instead felt a faint, cool touch on the back of her hand.

Li Qing turned her hand palm-up and placed the other two vials in it.

"You won't make it out with only two vials of repellent," he said softly.

The woman looked at the four vials in her hand, then up at the young man. For a moment, her expression went blank.

Li Qing leaned back against the stone wall behind him, his voice calm.

"There's one hour left until dawn. In another thirty minutes, the helicopter will land two kilometers from the ruins and wait for six hours... If you leave now, you can still make it."

The woman pressed her dry, peeling lips together.

She slowly stood, keeping her eyes fixed on the white-haired young man. She backed away a few steps, then quickly turned and ran.

Li Qing watched her leave, then closed his eyes as though nothing had happened.

A mocking laugh suddenly came from nearby. "Aren't you kindhearted."

It was Long Aotian!

The system had woken Long Aotian the moment the woman began to move.

He had not acted immediately, wanting to see what those two were plotting behind his back.

Instead, he had discovered that the pretty boy had given all his repellent to that stupid woman!

In a place like the Death Instance, where the strong preyed on the weak, only a novice who had never faced anything truly dangerous would be such a bleeding heart.

Li Qing opened his eyes again.

"The fewer people near the ruins, the better," he said.

"Oh?" Long Aotian raised an eyebrow.

So he wants the reward all to himself... That's a little more interesting.

"If possible, I'd like you to leave too," Li Qing added.

"Big words." Long Aotian no longer bothered pretending to be polite. "Once we reach the ruins, you'll see how I deal with you."

Li Qing blinked, unbothered by his provocation, and simply said, "Since you're awake, let's keep going."

Long Aotian glared fiercely at Li Qing's straight-backed figure.

-Just you wait. Once I get the treasure and finish the mission, I'll have six hours before I leave the instance.

-Let's hope your screams earn me even more during those six hours.

With very different thoughts in mind, the two continued onward. After walking for who knew how long, they finally reached the end of the passage and stood before a stone door.

There were no obstacles-at least, everything seemed perfectly smooth to Long Aotian. Li Qing reached out and pushed, and the stone door opened before them.

Amid the rumbling, a metallic smell swept out with the stale air, mingled with an inexplicable briny odor.

"Thank you for bringing me here."

Li Qing suddenly spoke, his cool, clear voice drifting lightly into Long Aotian's ears.

Long Aotian watched in astonishment as Li Qing walked straight past him into the ancient tomb.

...Definitely a novice. So reckless.

Fine. Go ahead and test the dangers for me!

Long Aotian watched with malicious amusement as Li Qing proceeded unhindered, passing all the places where monsters or skeletons might spring out. Gradually, he began to feel that something was wrong.

At last, Li Qing stopped deep inside the tomb, before a towering statue with indistinct features.

Ignoring Long Aotian entirely, he took out a light screen and worked on it. A beam of green light instantly shot from beneath his slender fingers toward the statue.

Long Aotian's pupils contracted sharply!

"System, what's happening?"

No one answered him.

"System! System!!!"

As he called out anxiously, the tomb began trembling in rapid bursts once again, as though someone were stretching after a long sleep.

-The statue! The statue was moving!

-Didn't they say this instance's final boss was dormant and could no longer be awakened by players?!!!

Long Aotian had never imagined he would die in terror and rage.

The last thing he saw was a myriad of Shadows pouring from the Ancient God's statue's mouth and hurtling straight at him.

Standing amid the Shadows, Li Qing turned his head to look at him, the hem of his trench coat whipping in the black tide. His tousled white hair occasionally obscured his eyes, and his white figure, untouched by the darkness, looked as sacred as a deity.

In those half-lidded eyes, something that might have been called "pity" seemed to flicker and vanish.

With a scream, the tomb fell silent once more.

Li Qing returned his gaze to the light screen in his hand.

"Boss awakening protocol successfully activated. Repairs to Instance B1051 complete."

His soft, icy voice echoed through the empty tomb.

"-Reporting administrator: S-A9B08F013, Li Qing."