The Secret Invitation and the Lingering Pain

No matter how bitter or angry Jiang Yan felt, he could not change the fact that Ye Shengge chose to believe Mu Jinran.

The worst part was that after returning to the dormitory, Jiang Yan found that Ye Shengge refused to acknowledge him at all.

“Mu Jinran really is not a good person. Trust me, I would never lie to you.” Jiang Yan was clumsy with words and did not know how to explain properly. He just repeated the same few phrases over and over, pacing around the dormitory in an anxious frenzy.

Ye Shengge was nearly dizzy from watching him. He eventually turned his head to look at Mu Jinran, who was sitting quietly at his desk reading a book, completely unaffected.

In contrast to Jiang Yan’s impulsiveness, Mu Jinran was clearly much more mature. Even with someone throwing dirt at his face, he remained calm and composed, focused on his own tasks. It was obvious that a person with a clear conscience had nothing to fear.

How could such a reliable and steady person be a bad guy?

“Believe me.”

Jiang Yan had no idea what Ye Shengge was thinking. He was like a large dog with overactive possessiveness, wagging his tail frantically and circling his master, desperate to win back the attention that had been stolen by another dog.

“Alright, alright. You can go back to your own bed and rest now.” Ye Shengge knew that if he did not speak, Jiang Yan would pace under his bunk all day, so he hugged his pillow and kept nodding.

His tone was incredibly dismissive. It was clear he was not taking the words to heart.

But Jiang Yan did not get angry. Instead, he raised an eyebrow triumphantly at Mu Jinran, looking childishly proud as if boasting about being cared for.

He looked incredibly punchable.

However, such a mundane, ordinary scene made Ye Shengge’s mood improve significantly, and his sense of panic began to slowly dissipate.

Only then did he suddenly recall the Luck King’s extreme reaction upon seeing the instruction.

There was definitely something wrong there. There were important clues waiting for him to uncover.

With this in mind, he closed his bed curtains and leaned back against the mattress, tapping into the class group chat which was constantly pinging with notifications. He planned to see if there was any useful information in the chat logs.

But the first message he saw after opening the group made his heart sink to the bottom of an abyss.

Anonymous: [To the several players who leaked game content to the outside world, prepare to accept your punishment at any time.]

Leaking game content…

Ye Shengge suddenly remembered the words he had reflexively blurted out during the police statement, and his whole body tensed up.

Did the several players mentioned in the anonymous message include him? But he had clearly covered his tracks in front of the police afterward. Did that still count as leaking content?

The panic and fear brought by the word punishment were too intense.

Just thinking about how it represented death made a layer of mist quickly gather in the youth’s eyes. The corners of his eyes turned red as he curled up into a small corner, trembling. He looked piteous and helpless, as if hiding there would prevent the anonymous sender from finding him.

Just as his fear reached a peak, another notification rang out.

Ye Shengge looked down and realized it was not a class group message this time, but a private message from a strange, blank account.

There was only a single line of text, but it made his heart race uncontrollably.

– I know you did not mean to say it. If you do not want to be punished, wait for me at the little woods leading to the teaching building tonight at 11:30 PM. Do not tell anyone.

It was from the anonymous sender.

Ye Shengge put down his phone and poked his fluffy little head out like a guilty thief. He reached out to part the bed curtains and peeked at Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan.

[Hahaha, Wife looks like a little hamster stealing food. So cute! My mood gets so much better just by looking at the cute, pretty Wife!] [Same here, but I am grinding my teeth with rage at the thought of Wife being asked out by that pervert tonight.] [Anger +1.] [What should we do? I am so worried that pervert will do something bad to Wife. Wife is so timid and soft; even if he is bullied until his legs shake and he is shivering with fear, he won’t dare to resist, right?]

Since the last time the live-stream was suddenly interrupted, the system had worked on upgrading the live-stream level. The upgraded stream allowed for the option to hide the bullet-chat. The system had asked for Ye Shengge’s opinion, and to avoid being influenced and to focus on the task, the chat was currently hidden.

Therefore, Ye Shengge did not see those face-flushing comments. He stared at Mu Jinran and Jiang Yan and let out a long sigh of relief.

Good. One was reading seriously, and the other had his back to him while playing a mobile game, muttering curses about his teammates being trash.

Everyone was busy with their own things and would not notice his abnormality.

Ye Shengge slowly pulled his head back into the curtains.

He thought about it carefully and felt that the anonymous person asking for a meeting was not necessarily a bad thing. It might even be a great opportunity.

Because it meant the dungeon boss was not going to kill him immediately. He was safe for now.

And to find the anonymous sender hiding in the class, he had to have contact with them. Now that the other party had taken the initiative to offer an opportunity, he would be doing their good intentions a disservice if he did not grab it.

The only downsides were the time—11:30 PM—and the location: the gloomy, terrifying little woods.

Setting aside the issue of sneaking out during sleep hours, the location was the main problem.

Last night, even following behind the high-security Mu Jinran, he had been scared half to death. If he walked there alone…

He might scare himself to death before the dungeon boss even touched him.

Ye Shengge buried his head in his pillow. He thought to himself that such a way of dying would be too embarrassing.

Who says those with a clear conscience do not fear ghosts? He had a clear conscience, yet he was still terrified of a ghost knocking on his door.

Unfortunately, the one who sent the message was the dungeon boss. Otherwise, he might have tried to haggle and see if they could change the meeting spot.

System: [There are no ghosts of the type you fear in this world. If you are afraid, I can censor things for you or open the live-stream chat to distract you.]

If one listened closely, the system’s mechanical voice now carried a hint of subtle helplessness and compromise.

But Ye Shengge did not notice the slight change.

Even so, his eyes were full of trust as he thanked the system in a soft, light voice: “Thank you, System.”

The system lagged for a moment. A few seconds later, the cold, emotionless voice rang out again: “Mn. Sleep for a bit to replenish your energy.”

Ye Shengge nodded obediently and did as the system suggested, lying down on the upper bunk and closing his eyes to sleep.

He thought that after everything that had happened, he would need a long time to fall asleep even with his eyes closed. To his surprise, smelling the faint, cold fragrance on the sheets that was identical to Mu Jinran’s, he quickly drifted off.

But this sleep was not a peaceful one.

Ye Shengge had a nightmare.

In the dream, there were two very large wolves.

They trapped him firmly in the middle, tearing the clothes he was wearing to shreds. They licked him all over his body, with his chest being the primary target. It was as if they considered that spot a supreme delicacy.

The covetous and sticky gaze emanating from the wolves’ eyes felt incredibly familiar to Ye Shengge. But trapped in the dream, he could not remember where he had seen it before.

Seeing the two wolves about to lick further down, Ye Shengge woke up abruptly from the dream in a fright.

Perhaps he had won his game, for Jiang Yan, sitting on the lower bunk on the other side, heard him wake up. He squinted his eyes happily and said with a good-natured smile: “You woke up just in time. Hurry up and get up for lunch.”

Ye Shengge did not care about lunch at all.

His face was pale as he reached out and lightly touched the two small protrusions on his chest. As expected, he felt a wave of unspeakable, aching soreness and stinging pain.

Not only was his chest uncomfortable, but there was also an imperceptible sting on the side of his thigh.

These pains told him that the nightmare he had cast aside last night, as well as the one he had just had this morning, were not dreams at all, but things that had actually happened.