Faced with this extraordinary level of confidence, Zhao Sanliang let out an awkward laugh and quickly waved his hands. “No thanks, I couldn’t handle that kind of blessing.”
Su Er swished a slice of fish through some vinegar, intending to eat it directly, but midway, he suddenly put down his chopsticks and brought up the final clue left behind by Gravekeeper’s Servant.
“Red paper, new clothes, and a styled head,” Yao Zhi adjusted his glasses. “Just hearing that line—it has elements of a wedding.”
With the topic shifting, Zhao Sanliang eagerly joined the discussion. “The last line is a bit creepy—‘In the coffin, young men and dancing red sleeves.’ The word ‘coffin’ stands out. Might be related to a ghost marriage.”
“Ghost marriage?” Su Er raised an eyebrow. “Now that’s my specialty.”
Zhao Sanliang silently lowered his head and resumed eating. Yao Zhi, feeling it was his duty as a teacher to correct such absurd notions, opened his mouth—only to swallow his words when met with Su Er’s calm and unashamed gaze.
Just before the atmosphere could freeze completely, Ji Heng finally spoke. “Whatever it is, we won’t know until we enter the dungeon.”
Ghost marriages varied greatly across dynasties and regions, so collecting background info wasn’t particularly useful—it could even skew judgment.
Su Er nodded, then added, “The host suggested I enter the game on the 13th, saying it was an inauspicious day.”
Ji Heng thought for a moment, then surprisingly agreed. “Go along with his suggestion.”
As soon as the conversation turned to the game, everyone found the food suddenly bland.
Zhao Sanliang’s gaze flicked between Ji Heng and Su Er, and after a long pause he asked, “Boss, are you planning to form a team again?”
Ji Heng nodded and looked at him. “When are you entering the dungeon?”
Zhao Sanliang: “The day after tomorrow.”
Ji Heng mused for a second. “If you make it out alive, remember to post a trade listing at the transfer station—buy a team-up item.”
Zhao Sanliang gave a small “oh,” then looked at Su Er with a hint of sympathy. He scooted closer and whispered, “Looks like your chance at a romantic encounter just vanished.”
Su Er: “What do you mean?”
Zhao Sanliang: “Everyone’s curious about your achievement points. I heard a few organizations were planning to use a honey trap on you—thought you’d be easy to bait, being young and all.”
Su Er was surprised. “Would people actually resort to that kind of tactic?”
Zhao Sanliang smiled meaningfully. “Too bad the boss is always around. Even if they had the guts, they couldn’t pull it off in front of him.”
Su Er let out a breath of relief and even sounded grateful. “Dealing with romantic drama is too much of a time sink. School is the priority right now.”
Zhao Sanliang’s mouth twitched as he returned to his seat.
Yao Zhi, meanwhile, gave a nod of approval. “You’re absolutely right.”
There were still nearly two weeks before entering the dungeon. During that time, Su Er lived a very regular life—attending school on time, coming home on time—and the loyal gravekeeper never appeared in his dreams again.
If there was any disruption at all, it was that he often dreamt of snakes. In the dreams, the sky would be filled with a pair of massive, round eyes staring at him, demanding blood to drink.
Su Er wasn’t the type to self-harm to feed a ring. He was just an ordinary student and certainly wasn’t going to buy blood on the black market. The eyes were too bizarre, and he feared that once they grew powerful enough, they might consume him as nourishment.
Neither side was willing to back down. Before he realized it, a strange standoff had formed between them.
Time skipped ahead to the 13th. Su Er had arranged to meet Ji Heng at the transfer station at 8 PM.
Ji Heng planned to use a team-up item.
“Will it work?” Su Er was a bit doubtful.
Ji Heng: “The game previously required entering the dungeon via cards. This time’s different—the stamp was given to you by the host.”
Su Er thought aloud, “So the team-up item might actually work?”
Ji Heng smiled and crushed a bead in his hand. “We’ll know once we try.”
Unexpectedly, the teleportation took far longer than usual. It felt as if there was a break in time. Su Er found himself engulfed in darkness as a notification sounded in his ears:
[In a remote place, a group of people dream of reaching the Free Town. Among them is a family mediator skilled at smoothing things over, a pair of newlyweds deeply in love, two bachelors who can’t find wives, and three long-abused women.
Your identity: one of the bachelors who can’t find a wife. Please locate the stamp to the Free Town as quickly as possible and begin a new life.]
The moment the message ended, Su Er realized he was dressed in rags, slumped in a dark corner, and reeking of alcohol.
Clearly, this instance had assigned roles to the players.
The first thing Su Er did after gathering his senses was check his ring. It was still there.
The Gravekeeper’s Servant had said it could be retracted at will. Su Er tried ordering the eye to return to his body. The ring resisted at first, but after a few seconds, it slowly disappeared.
“Worth it,” he muttered—at least the trade hadn’t been a loss.
If the ring ever became uncontrollable again, he could just toss it aside.
Su Er stood and began surveying his surroundings. The nearby street was in disrepair, posters were plastered all over the walls, and the passersby were dressed in modest clothing.
After a full scan of the area, he didn’t spot any other players—nor did he see the host.
“Help!”
A wail echoed.
Su Er walked out of the alley and saw a disheveled woman running for her life. The pedestrians on the street only dodged aside; a vegetable vendor guarded her stall carefully, shouting for the woman not to trample her produce.
As she got closer, Su Er noticed the woman wore a name badge.
The woman spotted Su Er as well. She gritted her teeth and ran toward him, stopping her cries for help to avoid exposing her location.
The alley ended in a dead end. Su Er grabbed her and jumped into a garbage bin, slamming the lid shut.
“Shit.” The woman, panting hard, cursed under her breath.
Su Er asked, “What’s going on?”
Since they were both players, it was like a strange kind of reunion in a foreign place.
The woman replied, “The game assigned me the identity of a domestic abuse victim.”
Su Er didn’t remove his hand from his stun baton, clearly skeptical. Most players were decent in combat—how could she be getting beaten?
Inside the dark and filthy bin, the woman pinched her nose and explained, “For one hour every day, my combat ability is nullified. I can only take hits passively.”
Su Er said, “There are plenty of ways to beat the strong with the weak.”
The woman responded, “A previous player tried using rat poison. Thought it would be undetectable. But the next day, she got arrested by the Regulation Bureau and was told she’d be sentenced.”
In this world, the Regulation Bureau acted like the police.
Su Er frowned. “When did you enter the game?”
“Two days ago,” she replied.
Su Er was a little surprised.
Even through the darkness, the woman seemed to understand his confusion. “This time, everyone entered the dungeon at different times. One player came in five days ago. He died yesterday.”
She cursed, “Damn this setting! When I report to the Bureau, they prioritize reconciliation. You can’t get divorced without the approval of a family mediator. But the mediator is also a player, and their character setting says they must keep divorce numbers low for good ‘data.’ Every time I escape, I get dragged back, and then it’s another beating.”
“From prior experience—if I kill my husband, I’ll get caught immediately. No matter what sentence I get, once I spend seven days in prison without completing the mission, it’s game over!”
Su Er said sympathetically, “Sounds rough.”
The woman said, “You’d better get going. According to the game settings, no matter where I hide, he’ll find me.”
Su Er asked, “No other options?”
The woman sighed. “During the daily combat-nullified hour, I’m guaranteed to get beaten. All I can do is drag it out in a constant chase.”
Without hesitation, Su Er stepped back onto the street. Sure enough, a burly man was approaching from ahead, swinging a stick and cursing, asking everyone he passed if they’d seen his wife.
Su Er pretended to be drunk, staggering over, then pointed in the opposite direction. “She ran that way.”
The man started to go the way Su Er had pointed. But then he tripped on a stone, and his stick flew right into the garbage bin with a loud thud.
The woman inside was startled and let out a reflexive scream.
The man’s eyes lit up. He brushed the dust off himself and stormed over, kicking the garbage bin hard. “Stupid woman! Hiding, are you?!”
The woman had no choice but to crawl out. She gave Su Er a helpless look—See? No matter where I hide, he’ll find me.
Luckily, the one-hour period had just ended. The man was about to kick her again when he suddenly felt hungry and barked, “Get back home and cook already!”
The woman breathed a sigh of relief, tidied her hair, and followed him.
Without her long hair in the way, Su Er finally saw the name on her badge: Xia Zhi.
The combined stench of alcohol and garbage clung to him, and passersby instinctively kept their distance.
Su Er, aware of how unappealing he looked, moved to a quieter spot. He watched the bustling street with a complicated expression.
The game had always assigned roles fairly. For example, Wen Buyu hadn’t been strong, but her identity in the dungeon made her the lover of a candidate for Guard Chief, which compensated for her combat shortcomings.
By comparison, Xia Zhi’s role was unreasonably harsh. Meanwhile, Su Er’s role—an unlucky bachelor—was relatively mild.
This didn’t align with the usual game mechanics.
Lowering his eyes, Su Er suspected that more unseen traps awaited him ahead.
Realizing that, he would’ve rather had Xia Zhi’s setting—at least the brutality was upfront. The way things were now, one careless move could trigger a death flag.
“Catch him!”
A shout broke his thoughts. Like a gust of wind, two burly men appeared out of nowhere, one on either side, grabbing Su Er’s arms.
“Take him away!”
Su Er didn’t struggle as he was shoved and dragged off to some unknown location.
No matter how wild his imagination, he hadn’t expected to be taken to the Regulation Bureau.
From the way the office was run and the uniforms looked, it was clear this place was anything but standard. An older woman was sobbing and complaining that a masked man had groped her butt last night as she was closing her stall.
As soon as Su Er walked in, the woman widened her eyes and started swearing.
“It was definitely one of those two!”
Those two?
Su Er looked around and quickly spotted someone else on the far left being questioned—also disheveled and reeking of alcohol. The man turned slightly, revealing his side profile, and Su Er almost burst out laughing—
Ji Heng?
Judging by his appearance, he’d probably been assigned the same single-guy identity as Su Er.
“Everyone in town knows they’re two thugs!” the woman kept accusing. “They can’t get wives, so they’re targeting me now!”
Su Er didn’t bother trying to argue. From the domestic abuse player’s experience, it was clear that in this twisted environment, logic didn’t apply.
In times like this, you just had to save whoever you could.
So he said bluntly, “It was me.”
He confessed so quickly that the crying woman was stunned.
Su Er added, “Sister, you’re still radiant with charm. I was momentarily blinded by desire.”
Since someone took the blame, Ji Heng was naturally released. There was no time for private conversation; Ji Heng was forcibly escorted out.
Separated by just an iron door, Su Er continued professing his love with tearful passion, lamenting their missed connection in youth. His melodramatic confession was so over-the-top that even the Regulation Bureau staff couldn’t bear it anymore and tried to toss him in a dark cell. But before they could, Su Er suddenly slammed his head against the wall and shouted he’d rather die if he couldn’t see “the lady” again.
Because of his absurd behavior, he was eventually thrown out like trash.
Stumbling down the stairs, Su Er continued pestering the woman until he finally spotted Ji Heng and stopped.
“That was impressive,” Ji Heng commented on his performance.
Su Er dropped the lovesick act and asked seriously, “Do you have a place to stay?”
Ji Heng shook his head. If he had money or a house, he wouldn’t have been mistakenly arrested as a vagrant.
Su Er shrugged. “So what’s your plan for tonight?”
Two homeless bachelors, huddling under a bridge for warmth?
Ji Heng calmly said, “First, we find the Host.”
As they walked side by side, the stench Su Er had picked up from the garbage bin lingered. People instinctively avoided them, which conveniently gave them privacy to talk.
Ji Heng said, “If the Host hasn’t shown up yet, it means he’s been given another identity in this world. It’s important we find him.”
Su Er thought Mister Rose (the Host’s usual moniker) had always been lazy. In the last instance, even though the Host had added a “variety show” wrapper, he was still just doing his usual hosting duties.
“I might have a way to find him,” Su Er said, stopping and pulling Ji Heng aside to whisper a few words.
In this town, night fell early. By 6 PM, it was mostly dark.
By 9 PM, the streets were nearly empty.
The silhouette of the Gravekeeper’s Servant glided through alleys and streets like a ghost. Just as Ji Heng had guessed, the Host had a role in this dungeon as well—he was the Mysterious Guide of the Free Town.
Wherever he went, he left behind a stamp.
Some stamps would lead players to their deaths. Others might offer hope.
Trailing behind him was a trainee guide, observing and learning how to properly lead.
“You must remember this always: a guide belongs to the dark,” said the Gravekeeper’s Servant, looking up at the crow perched on a tree branch. “Only in the long, endless night can we move freely. If the townsfolk ever discover us, their desires will drive them to keep us here and steal the stamps.”
“Sir Guide,” the young trainee, who had been listening intently, suddenly stopped. “That… looks like you.”
The Gravekeeper’s Servant paused and looked where the trainee pointed—
Missing Person Notice:
Name: Gravekeeper’s Servant Age: 27
Went missing at the beginning of the month. Crying face. Wore a black trench coat and black pants. Mentally unstable and prone to violence. If spotted, local residents are asked to report immediately to the Regulation Bureau.
The notice had a distorted name and age, printed on torn, filthy paper—looked like it had been pulled straight from a trash bin.
Most notably, instead of a photo, the person who posted it had used a sketch. But the drawing was eerily lifelike.
“Sir Guide?” the trainee asked carefully, clearly wanting an explanation.
As a cultivated and mysterious guide, the Gravekeeper’s Servant stared at the notice for three seconds. Because of his temperament, even the slightest emotional fluctuation made him cry. Tears streamed down his face as he wiped them away, cursing under his breath: “Damn it!”
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