The King of Hell came and went (14): The observer

[Wait... this looks like it's actually happening...]

[Huh? No way. Is killing people in this Dungeon Instance really this straightforward and brutal?]

[Shit, we finally get an A-Rank female player this gorgeous, and this is how she dies? What a waste of admission money!]

A blizzard of comments instantly covered An Ya's distraught face in her player livestream.

One little comment flashed past-

[But don't you think the creepiest thing is that nobody's stopping this?]

Inside the dim room.

The glow of the monitor illuminated the director's excited face.

The cameraman dutifully trained his lens on An Ya's and Bai Cha's contorted faces.

At the edge of the room, outside the frame-

Yu Xiaohe stood opposite them in a bloodstained white dress, her long hair loose and her face expressionless, like a genuine departed spirit.

Meng Tian, always so warm and kind, sat with her legs elegantly crossed and her chin slightly raised, enjoying the sight of An Ya's dying struggle with her usual smile.

He Li stared fixedly at the pair, his lips moving rapidly without a sound:

An Ya, An Ya, An Ya, An Ya, An Ya, An Ya...

Li Qing leaned against the wall, taking everything in.

He watched the comments flash through An Ya's livestream, then lowered his eyes indifferently to the white ghostly figure writhing excitedly on the floor.

Creepy...?

Yet nothing before him involved even the slightest intervention by supernatural forces.

-Only human hearts, each harboring its own sinister agenda, yet much the same underneath.

His gaze passed over the struggling An Ya and slowly settled on Yu Xiaohe opposite him.

Without a doubt, if not for the Dungeon Instance's influence, Yu Xiaohe would have been a good person in the conventional sense.

She differed from Gong Yao, another "good person" Li Qing knew. Gong Yao was like a stretch of encrypted code: Li Qing knew how he would act, but could not decipher his motives.

But Yu Xiaohe was different.

This girl's code was simple enough to read at a glance, and the Dungeon Instance's influence had introduced visible disorder into it.

The Administrator's eyes, clear and cold as glass marbles, reflected this changing stretch of code.

Would he witness this clean, immature code gradually becoming identical to the other data...?

Or was there a tiny chance that it might offer him a glimpse of what had once lain behind Gong Yao's encrypted content?

He watched Yu Xiaohe in a trance until a loud crash broke the silence in the room-

"Your young master is back! Have you finished filming?"

Tao Lele's voice cut off abruptly.

In the dim room, several ominous, silent faces turned toward Tao Lele at once.

Tao Lele stood rooted to the spot, chilled to the bone.

Gong Yao strolled past Tao Lele. "Why isn't anyone talking? You-"

When he saw where the camera and lights were focused, his expression changed sharply:

"What are you doing?!"

Gong Yao hurried forward and hauled off Bai Cha, who was exerting every ounce of his strength.

An Ya sucked in a sudden breath, then began coughing violently, sounding as though she were dying.

Gong Yao patted her back, then looked at Bai Cha in disbelief. "Were you trying to strangle her to death?!"

Then he turned to the director. "Director Li, couldn't you see An Ya's neck was about to snap?"

His anger deepened the silence in the room.

Director Li gave a light cough. "I thought that was An Ya's acting..."

Gong Yao said, "Acting-? Couldn't any of you tell she was about to die?!"

Meng Tian came to her senses and gasped sharply.

Then she covered her mouth, looking pitifully vulnerable. "How... how did this suddenly happen?!"

Everyone looked at her with mild surprise.

Meng Tian's face was pale. "I... just now, I felt a chill in the room, and then I couldn't move. It was like something had possessed me!"

He Li snapped out of his daze and immediately agreed. "Yes, yes, exactly! It happened to me too!"

Tao Lele's eyes widened. "Really? That's terrifying!"

Gong Yao neither agreed nor disagreed, turning to look at Li Qing.

Li Qing stood with his arms folded and said nothing.

He knew that, as a B-Rank player, Meng Tian was certainly not as simple as she appeared. Still, seeing her immediately blame everything on something no one could verify left Li Qing rather impressed.

He met Gong Yao's anger-laced gaze with an indifferent expression, as if asking, Is this your first day knowing I won't intervene?

Although Gong Yao no longer remembered the previous Dungeon Instance, he somehow understood what Li Qing meant and froze for a moment.

The next instant, a rustle of clothing suddenly came from behind him.

He immediately turned and saw An Ya tumble off the bed, stagger over to Bai Cha, and seize his collar-

Smack! With a sharp crack, a handprint immediately appeared on Bai Cha's unblemished face, then swelled prominently.

Everyone froze.

Bai Cha's head was knocked to one side, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He put on a pleading expression. "An Ya, I'm sorry. I really don't know what happened just now. It was like I suddenly lost control... Gong Yao, you believe me, don't you!"

An Ya stared at him with hatred. Without saying a word, she raised her hand and slapped him again.

She struck him several times in succession, leaving everyone stunned by her ferocity.

Gong Yao, who was closest, hurriedly grabbed An Ya. "An Ya, that's enough!"

An Ya tore free of Gong Yao like a woman possessed and pointed at Bai Cha:

"You lost control? You looked perfectly lucid when you were strangling me!!"

Meng Tian's voice came from the side. "An Ya, you really have to believe us!"

An Ya shrieked, "Shut up!"

She looked around, spotted the lamp by the bed, and immediately lunged for it. Grabbing it, she swung it down at Bai Cha's head.

Gong Yao tried to pull her back but failed. Only after he roared, "Are the rest of you just going to stand there and watch?!" did Tao Lele snap out of the daze and run over to help him hold Bai Cha up.

Pale-faced, Bai Cha pointed at her with a trembling hand. "An Ya, you're trying to kill me!"

Meng Tian added, "An Ya, everyone was only under a ghost's control just now, but you're deliberately hurting someone!"

An Ya said, "Oh, so now you're talking about deliberately hurting someone? I think you're in league with Bai Cha!"

He Li shouted angrily, "You crazy woman! Don't slander Miss Meng!"

Gong Yao glanced at the chaotic group, forced himself to remain patient, and asked, "Why would Bai Cha try to kill you?"

Bai Cha's face grew even paler.

Indeed, Bai Cha had absolutely no reason to kill An Ya.

His identity had never intersected with An Ya's before, much less involved any grudge. No one knew that better than Li Qing, who could inspect their character profiles.

Then could Bai Cha's hatred for An Ya be connected to his earlier ability to avoid certain death scenes in advance?

Li Qing suddenly recalled the character profile this Dungeon Instance had assigned to "An Ya."

Beautiful and socially adept, An Ya had taken an immediate interest in Gong Yao, a man with both an excellent reputation and considerable wealth. Seeing that he was also open to a casual fling, she had quickly attached herself to this powerful patron on the film crew.

At that thought, Li Qing suddenly spoke.

"Bai Cha," he said, his voice quiet yet clear to everyone in the room, "are you jealous of An Ya?"

A trace of disbelief appeared on An Ya's anger-contorted face. Gong Yao, who was restraining her, was stunned too, staring in bewilderment at Li Qing and his startling question.

Bai Cha, however, whipped his head around and glared hatefully at Li Qing, his entire body beginning to tremble.