“...Send me the address.”
Ji Heng hung up the phone. As if suddenly remembering something, his steps paused just outside the door. He was still just a student—he couldn’t bail Su Er out himself.
His eyes swept across the classroom, landing on the rows of young, fresh faces, and finally stopped on Mister Pu Liu. “The cause of death for the previous host remains a mystery. Right now, unity is crucial.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Ji Heng: “Given the current situation, it would be best if the host aligned with the players.”
As soon as he said that, not only Mister Pu Liu, but the surrounding players also caught on to the implication… Su Er had caused trouble and needed someone to clean up the mess.
Ji Heng stepped onto the podium, lowered his voice, and made things clear: “He was arrested in a hotel during a prostitution raid. He needs to be bailed out.”
Even if Ji Heng hadn’t explained, Su Er’s in-game backstory was that both his parents were deceased—naturally, the responsibility would fall on the host. During the training period, it was the teacher’s job to ensure students didn’t get into trouble.
The detention center wasn’t as serious in atmosphere as one might expect.
Su Er had been detained along with three men and two women. All of them had decent mental fortitude and were only concerned about whether the incident would go on record.
“There was no money involved,” said the long-haired girl with a blink.
Chubby guy: “Everything was consensual.”
“……” Su Er: “Please, could you all just be quiet?”
Digging the hole deeper—that phrase had never felt more appropriate than with this group.
The officer taking Su Er’s statement was a gentle older sister. Just hearing her speak calmed people down. Su Er suspected it was some kind of supernatural ability.
“No need to be nervous. We just need to verify a few details.”
Su Er nodded.
“Why were you at the hotel, and why only one room?”
Su Er: “I heard that recently a student died in a hotel room under mysterious circumstances. I was curious, that’s all.”
“During the raid, two people were found tied to the bed, and one was pole dancing with a broom. How do you explain that?”
Su Er sighed: “My powers got out of control. I didn’t do anything, but the room temperature suddenly spiked.”
“I can vouch for that!” the long-haired girl raised her hand. “I felt an overwhelming urge to strip, and he tied me up just in time.”
The officer considered this: “There are precedents of powers going haywire right after awakening.”
Su Er tried to appear harmless and didn’t mention the lingering suspicion he had… That hotel room had felt off.
“It’s your training instructor!” the long-haired girl suddenly tugged on Su Er’s sleeve, excitedly looking toward the door. “Let him bail us all out while he’s here!”
Su Er looked and gave a polite nod and smile: “Hello, teacher.”
“That title is more than I deserve.”
Mister Pu Liu replied coolly. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that one day he’d personally have to come to a police station to bail out a player.
“It’s a misunderstanding,” the officer chimed in helpfully. “These kids who’ve successfully awakened—so long as they don’t commit serious crimes— have promising futures.”
Without a word, Mister Pu Liu filled out a form and hailed a cab, taking the whole group back.
He didn’t speak a single word on the way. Out of instinctive fear of authority, even the usually brazen long-haired girl only dared to whisper. When the car finally stopped in front of the school, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
After exchanging contact info, the other students quickly waved goodbye to Su Er.
Since they weren’t in the same training group, they had every excuse to run off. Now wasn’t the time to talk about loyalty.
Su Er was left behind, forced to walk back with Mister Pu Liu. As they approached the dorm, he spotted a familiar figure standing near a utility pole in the distance. Su Er narrowed his eyes… A savior!
Ji Heng walked over, his shadow stretched long under the streetlight. “Next time you go looking for clues, don’t make such a spectacle of it.”
Su Er nodded in agreement with the excuse. “I got too eager.”
Ignoring their exchange, Mister Pu Liu didn’t speak until they were nearly back at the dorms. “I don’t care what you do normally. I just want results.”
With that, he turned and vanished into the darkness.
The smile on Su Er’s face slowly faded. “He probably knows more than he’s letting on.”
But trust between hosts and players was always paper-thin. There was no way Mister Pu Liu would reveal everything.
Inside the dorm building, it was lively. Laughter echoed from behind every door.
Ji Heng handed Su Er a dorm key. “Training instructors are responsible for nightly check-ins.”
Su Er thought over that comment. There was no way Mister Pu Liu would be doing bed checks himself, which meant he was free to wander at night. But after some thought, he dropped the idea and stashed the key. “I’ll move in and stay with you.”
He looked around to make sure no one was nearby and whispered, “One of the players from the last batch asked to move out before dying. That means this place isn’t exactly safe at night.”
Unfortunately, because of today’s mishap, he’d been dragged off to the station right when things got interesting. Su Er sighed with some regret. “I want to go back to the hotel tomorrow.”
That room still gave him an eerie feeling.
Ji Heng nodded. “We’ll go together.”
After 10:30 p.m., the dorm lights went out one after another. Occasionally, footsteps echoed hurriedly through the hallways.
For the first time in a while, the two of them shared a dorm.
Su Er recalled the last time they’d had a late-night talk like this—it was during the instance run hosted by the little girl. Thinking back, she might have been a brat, but she was at least practical. At least she gave out decent loot.
Ji Heng: “Have you met any other vampires?”
Su Er: “Only one that I’ve actually interacted with. Name’s San Hua.”
Ji Heng said, "Take some time to learn about the history of vampire identity awakenings."
Su Er turned over. Maybe it was a side effect of his awakened abilities, but even across the aisle in the dark, he could clearly see Ji Heng’s expression—deep eyes, brows slightly furrowed, the look of someone deep in thought.
After a pause, he asked, "You think the players’ deaths were connected to vampires?"
Ji Heng sat up, the blanket sliding off him, as if he was holding something in his hand.
When he opened his palm, Su Er was momentarily dazed. "A silver bullet?"
Back in the Free Town instance, the reward for solving the Stamp Ghost’s death hadn’t seemed too important to Su Er at the time. But seeing the item now stirred a surge of speculation in his heart.
“The note from the Stamp Ghost specifically said this works well against werewolves,” Ji Heng said, closing his fingers around it. “And wouldn’t you know it—my awakened identity just so happens to be a werewolf.”
Su Er rubbed his temples. “That Gravekeeper’s Servant might’ve known something. Shouldn’t have reported him.”
They could’ve struck a deal with mutual benefit—it would’ve been better for development.
“It’s not just vampires I’m suspicious of,” Ji Heng’s gaze darkened. “It’s all the major factions.”
The silver bullet the Stamp Ghost gave clearly wasn’t intended for self-defense—it was most likely meant for dealing with his own kind.
Su Er said, “A bullet alone isn’t enough. We’ll need a gun, too.”
Ji Heng replied, “Wanbaolin is having an auction soon. Not only are there guns, there are plenty of other interesting items.”
Su Er immediately pulled out his phone. The instance had been very well-prepared—it had preloaded all the necessary apps, including one for Wanbaolin.
He opened it and browsed the listings for the upcoming week. Several of the items were clearly targeted at newly awakened identities like theirs.
But looking at the prices, they were well beyond what ordinary people could afford.
“Almost like they're tempting us to steal it,” Su Er smirked. “Wasn’t the last players’ mission literally called ‘Snatch from the Tiger’s Mouth’? Steal any item from Wanbaolin’s auction.”
Looking at it all together, it reeked of a meticulously laid trap.
Still, they had to get their hands on the item. Without the gun, even a silver bullet was useless.
“Let’s watch for a couple of days,” Ji Heng warned. “The auction’s on Wednesday. We’ve got time.”
Outside, heavy clouds loomed, yet not a single drop of rain fell. The air was stifling.
Su Er didn’t sleep soundly. He vaguely heard something fall. Instinctively thinking it was his phone, he reached out, and his fingers touched the cold metal of something else.
Opening his eyes, he saw something glinting like a bead near his shoes in the moonlight. He got out of bed to pick it up. The bead rolled under the bed, and Su Er bent down—only to suddenly meet a pair of eyes staring at him from the gap in the bed frame.
The pupils were too large. The whites of the eyes were clouded and murky.
The pitch-black eyeballs seemed to shift slightly. The sight was terrifying enough to make every hair on his body stand on end. Su Er held his breath and slowly stood back up, pretending he hadn’t seen anything, and lay back down in bed.
He did have another option—he could attack and test the ghost’s strength. But after just one breath, he decided it was too risky.
Buzz.
Ji Heng was woken by his phone vibrating. He glanced at the message: [There’s a ghost under my bed.]
He turned his head, and Su Er mouthed two more words: Mine.
Ghosts were even more cowardly than humans. He guessed only his bed was haunted.
Ji Heng got up to check—there was nothing under Su Er’s bed.
But the moment he turned away, and Su Er leaned down again, the ghost’s eyes were glaring maliciously through the gap.
Su Er shook his head with quiet frustration.
[Come sleep over here.]
After reading the latest message, Su Er thought for a moment, then picked up his blanket and got ready to move. But partway there, he paused, and instead started gently lifting the bedsheet.
The bed frame was made of wood, with evenly spaced slats. Su Er moved with exaggerated care, slowly crawling to the foot of the bed. Even so, there was still a slight rustling sound.
Hearing the noise, the ghost twisted its neck to look.
Two wide, catlike eyes were glaring down at it through the gaps.
“Ahhh!”
The one who let out a duck-like shriek… was the ghost.
To avoid revenge, Su Er didn’t even bother with shoes—he jumped straight into Ji Heng’s bed and let out a long breath.
“Now that felt good.”
Finally, some revenge for a night of being haunted by a ghost.
Ji Heng chuckled. “Congratulations.”
The dorm bed was small. Just turning over made the wooden frame creak. With Ji Heng next to him, Su Er didn’t worry about the ghost anymore and quickly drifted off.
He sprawled, draped his limbs, and rolled around.
Ji Heng was nearly kicked into the corner.
He looked over at the peacefully sleeping Su Er... Yep. His personality wouldn’t let him be at a disadvantage in any environment.
Even in his sleep, he had a strong sense of territory.
Later in the night, Su Er woke up once from thirst. Seeing Ji Heng almost squished against the wall, he felt a pang of guilt and muttered, “I’ll make it up to you with a gift.”
Before long, he closed his eyes again. In a half-dreamy voice, he murmured: “I have an idea…”
He fell asleep before he could finish the sentence.
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