Dust and smoke filled the entire screen, while fine sand came sprinkling down from above.
: Is... is it over?
: I think so...
: That hidden boss was terrifying. Just hearing it scream scared me out of my wits.
: I didn't dare open my eyes at all. I was afraid I'd see Erchui's corpse if I did.
: Is Erchui still alive?
: Probably...
Zheng Xun lay on the ground for a long time-so long that the viewers in the livestream thought he was dead. Only then did he brace his hands against the ground and get up.
"Pfft, cough, cough..."
He coughed twice and waved the dust away from his face. It looked like he had inhaled some.
Zheng Xun climbed to his feet and turned to look for Tao Xueji.
Tao Xueji was trapped beneath two stone slabs. Fortunately, they overlapped to form a triangle and weren't pressing directly on him.
Zheng Xun pulled him out.
"A-am I dead?"
Tao Xueji's eyes widened in disbelief.
That pest Zheng Xun deliberately scared him.
His words made Tao Xueji jump. He hurriedly scrambled up and checked his heartbeat and body temperature.
Thank goodness, he was still alive.
"Um, Brother Xun, my sister-"
"Second Brother."
A huge, brightly colored painting fell from the wall, and a dust-covered figure emerged from behind it.
Though she was covered in dust, her beauty was still apparent.
Tao Xueqing wasn't crying. With dust all over her hair and face, she smiled as brightly as the spring sun.
"I knew you'd come save me."
Tao Xueji, on the other hand, was the one whose eyes reddened as he helped his sister up from the ground.
"I came too late."
Tao Xueqing shook her head and patted her second brother's arm, telling him not to worry about it.
She turned her almond-shaped eyes toward Zheng Xun and smiled.
"Thank you too, Brother Zheng. I know you went through a lot to get onto this hidden route."
Zheng Xun nodded, not the least bit modest.
"That's right. If your brother weren't paying me, I would have run for it."
He was curious, though.
"Could you tell what was happening outside?"
Tao Xueqing nodded, then suddenly lowered her voice and turned away from the camera.
"I was hidden away."
As soon as she said that, Zheng Xun understood.
There was only one person who could have hidden her.
With the hidden level successfully cleared, the surrounding scene changed back to the rooftop.
Liang Queyin was still being threatened by Sister Hong. Judging by her bedraggled state, Little Red Riding Hood had put her through a lot.
"Why don't you just finish me off?!" she said through gritted teeth.
Xiaoyin had disappeared. Zheng Xun looked around but couldn't see her anywhere.
Looking at the loathsome Student Liang, Zheng Xun couldn't muster any interest in destroying her. His task was already over, and he couldn't be bothered to lift another finger.
"Sister Hong, sorry for the trouble."
The boss let out a shriek, bringing her sinful life to an end.
This time, it was truly over.
Little Red Riding Hood returned to Zheng Xun's side and slipped her hand into his warm palm.
Holding her hand with one hand and keeping the other in his pocket, Zheng Xun looked up as the raven-black sky gradually dissolved into silvery-white motes of light.
A shadow appeared silently at his side. Zheng Xun didn't turn around; he knew who it was.
"Thank you."
Xiaoyin was surrounded by a faint halo of light. Color had returned to her face, and she looked no different from when she was alive.
Li Yueying had always been a delicate, gentle girl. If none of this had happened, she could have lived a long, good life.
During the brief time it took for the game scene to fade away, the outside world couldn't hear them speaking.
Zheng Xun didn't turn around, continuing to watch the "stars."
"You don't need to thank me," he said. "If I hadn't been so stubborn about treating you all as virtual characters without feelings, all of this would have ended long ago."
Xiaoyin shook her head.
"That wasn't your fault. I was the one standing in the way."
Her gaze drifted into the distance, as though she were looking back on the past.
"I died after suffering every humiliation, but I didn't want to hurt innocent people. It would have been enough for me to rot here with Liang Queyin, but I didn't expect... a monster like that to take shape. Maybe that's what I'm really like, ugly and strange..."
"So what if you're ugly? So what if you're strange?" Zheng Xun shrugged. "Does looking normal make someone normal? I think everyone's the same. Everyone's strange."
The girl was a little surprised. It was the first time she'd heard anyone say something like that.
"Do I look normal to you? I'm strange too."
Zheng Xun was just like that. He didn't care what others thought of him, and no one could leave a place for themselves in his heart.
Only money could.
He always seemed to be looking far into the distance.
Xiaoyin smiled.
"Then goodbye, strange person. If fate brings us together, we'll meet again."
The motes of light scattered, and everything fell silent.
When light returned, it came from the dazzling lamps inside the White Tower.
Xiao Jun, Cheng Jie, and Li Shuang were gathered together, all looking rather anxious. Cheng Jie in particular kept pacing back and forth.
"They're here!"
Tao Xueji supported his weakened sister, and Tao Xueqing waved at the other three.
Li Shuang burst into tears. Xueqing was her friend, and she had signed up for this life-or-death game for her sake.
Cheng Jie and Xiao Jun visibly relaxed. The two went over and asked how the Tao siblings were feeling.
Zheng Xun was the last to come out. As soon as he landed, he collapsed to the ground, startling the others.
Cheng Jie was closest and caught him at once.
"Zheng Xun? Zheng Xun! Wake up!"
The chat grew anxious too.
: What's wrong with God Zheng? Is he hurt?
: Call an ambulance, quick! Why is everyone just standing there watching?!
: Is he exhausted? After running it so many times, even an iron man would collapse.
The camera focused on Zheng Xun's face. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead, and his lips were pale. He looked terrible.
"Quiet."
The noise around him was too much. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Zheng Xun frowned and snapped at them with his eyes closed.
"He's tired," Xiao Jun concluded after looking at his complexion.
Only then did the others relax.
The instance had been successfully cleared, so, as usual, it was time for the rewards.
Since the only players in the instance on the final run had been Zheng Xun, Tao Xueqing, and Tao Xueji, the rewards belonged to the three of them.
Tao Xueji's gift box was the smallest, but he didn't care. Saving his family was more important than anything else.
Tao Xueqing's was slightly larger than her second brother's, and Zheng Xun's reward was still the largest of the three.
Once they had claimed their rewards, the players could leave the White Tower on their own.
"I'll call a car to pick us up," Cheng Jie volunteered. "But what about Zheng Xun? Should we call an ambulance?"
"Oh, and his reward. We need to take it with us too," Li Shuang reminded them.
"No need."
Someone suddenly interrupted, and everyone turned to look.
The largest gift box had already been opened. A certain player's head was buried inside the enormous box, with half his body sticking out.
"I'll walk out myself."
: Erchui, hahahahahaha.
: I'm dying, my reward is mine to carry.
: Only a reward can summon a conscious Erchui.
: This instance wasn't easy. The rewards should be pretty generous too, right?
: No need to guess. Erchui's going to open everything anyway.
Zheng Xun rummaged around inside. There really were quite a lot of rewards this time.
Ten packets of Strange and Bizarre medicine. Its name was "Strange and Bizarre," and it could be used on both NPCs and players.
Large-capacity stamina potion × 20.
Disposable defensive shield × 3.
Teacher's pointer × 1.
Security guard's enamel bowl × 1.
: What kind of random junk is all this?
: The medicine and stamina potions make sense, and a shield is a shield, but what are those last two pieces of junk?
: Those two are treasures. Things used by instance NPCs can all be used as weapons. I remember a player got a spittoon once. It could grow and shrink, and it never missed when he used it to smash monsters in the game.
: Doesn't look as good as the Little Red Riding Hood instance. Didn't he get a subordinate last time?
: Probably couldn't get one this time. Those bosses all looked pretty weak, unless it was the hidden boss.
Zheng Xun tossed all the assorted items on top out of the box. Thinking it was empty, he prepared to take his rewards and leave.
But his leg accidentally brushed against it, and the gift box tipped over. A painting fell out.
It was a pencil portrait of Li Yueying from the waist up.
"Zheng Xun, you dropped another one behind you," Cheng Jie said. Then he stepped forward and looked down curiously. "What's this?"
With a pile of things in his arms, Zheng Xun also turned around.
The two crouched down facing each other.
"A picture frame? What's it for?" Cheng Jie asked.
"I don't know." Zheng Xun reached out and tapped the frame's glass with his index finger.
Tap, tap.
With a whoosh, a huge, multicolored thing burst out of the portrait. The gust swept past the two onlookers, sending them pitching backward uncontrollably.
"Ow!"
"..."
The things in Zheng Xun's arms scattered all over the floor. He covered his forehead and was about to see what the thing was when he heard a very loud, very unpleasant cry-
"Zheng Xun!"
Zheng Xun jumped.
Cheng Jie got a clear look at the thing in front of them.
"Fuck, isn't that the hidden boss?"
Li Yueying's words, "If fate brings us together, we'll meet again," played over and over in Zheng Xun's ears.
If fate brings us together, we'll meet again.
You didn't say I'd be meeting your dark side!
Even now, Zheng Xun still couldn't figure out where the eyes, nose, and mouth were on this huge, multicolored mass. He could only tell from the white bedsheet draped over it that it roughly resembled a ray.
When Zheng Xun didn't say anything, the multicolored thing started crying.
"Boo-hoo, Zheng Xun, it's me, Xiaoyin! Don't you recognize me?"
"You're..." Its crying made Zheng Xun's head buzz. "You're the one from the hallway?"
"No, no, I'm not an ugly thing like that," it said, though it had some nerve calling something else ugly. "I'm a gift from the White Tower, custom-made just for you."
"A knockoff?"
"I'm high-quality! Now I'm angry!"
Zheng Xun thought it over. He had destroyed the boss from the instance that hurt people. This new reward was probably a version the White Tower had copied from its data.
He didn't know whether something had gone wrong with its personality settings, producing such a silly, stupid multicolored thing.
"Xiaohua..."
"I'm Xiaoyin!"
Zheng Xun resisted associating this thing with Student Li.
"Listen, Xiaohua, you're the last reward?"
"Yes! Starting today, I'm your subordinate, and you're my master. Whatever you need, Master, you can come to me anytime! And my name is Xiaoyin."
"Okay, Xiaohua. I got it, Xiaohua."
"..."
Zheng Xun turned the constantly protesting multicolored thing into data and stored it in his bracelet, then stuffed the entire pile of rewards inside as well.
After doing all that, he finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell completely asleep.