Why bother looking at him? He just wanted to listen quietly, whether it’s gossip or complaints, he didn’t want to think.
Ning Su said, “Now everyone has this awareness. If there’s another round, the system should take a different approach.”
Ning Su guessed it.
The third round still took place in the evening two days later.
This night was not as quiet as the previous two.
In the previous two rounds, whether it was the one the players felt guilty for or their loved ones, most would just cry in silence.
And this night was more like a kind of hysteria.
The resentment and hostility in the cabin woke up Ling Xiao.
He sat silently on his bed, looking at the hideous humans in the cabin.
After a while, someone sat beside him.
***
Yun Xiangning pulled a strip of cloth from her body, covered her eyes, and plugged her ears with cotton.
Through the first two rounds, she already knew ghosts that players couldn’t let go of would appear by the bed, tempting players to touch them actively.
So, she covered her eyes and plugged her ears, neither seeing nor hearing.
This was her cautious and safe approach.
She wanted to fall asleep quickly and sleep until dawn for more safety.
The more she thought about it, the less she could sleep.
She drifted into a fitful sleep, accompanied by intermittent dreams.
She experienced nothing but nightmares. As she drifted in and out of sleep, the line between dreams and reality began to blur for her.
This made her fearful and extremely irritated, wanting to tear everything in the nightmare apart.
Only two days left, and she could get out of this instance.
It’s a level four instance, the highest level she had experienced. Fortunately, this instance was not so bloody and terrifying. As long as she persisted for two more days, she could leave.
A level four instance, the points must be quite a lot. She could buy a lot of things for her daughter.
The base did not prohibit players from falling in love and having children, but children born in the base must go through the instance when they reach six years old.
Her daughter was about to turn six, and she must prepare more protective items for her daughter.
Only two days left. No matter what, she must persevere.
The sweat on Yun Xiangning’s forehead increased, her brows furrowed, constantly shaking her head.
Her eyes opened and closed, reality and dreams mixed and overlapped, difficult to distinguish.
Sometimes she saw Xue Wei, who entered the game base earlier than her and had become a famous vice president throughout the base.
At other times, she saw people who entered at the same time as her and those who entered later. Those who were still alive were now well-known figures on the base.
Only she, living in cowardice, was like an ant, unable to even protect her own daughter.
All because of one man.
When Yun Xiangning entered the game base, she was not yet thirty, a dazzling female singer that caught everyone’s attention.
She dared not enter dungeons and was deceived by a man at the entrance of the base. From then on, she followed him to repeatedly explore dungeons for a living.
Initially, she was doing fine. The man treated her well, and she was like a bird in his cage.
She could accept being a bird in this terrifying world; after all, there were many canaries in the real world.
As long as she could survive peacefully.
She didn’t realize that after exploring countless level one dungeons, she had been worn out.
When the man pushed her onto another man’s bed to exchange dungeon maps, she was powerless and didn’t know how to resist.
Time and again, she felt like she was living in hell.
Even more frightening, to keep her bound, the man made her give birth to a daughter with a congenital illness.
With a daughter, she remained an item for the man to trade. If she resisted, the man would brutally beat her frail daughter.
Every time she lay in bed, hearing her daughter’s cries, she wished she could devour the flesh and blood of that man.
Yun Xiangning heard the unbridled laughter of the man again.
“Hahaha!”
“Hahaha, Yun Xiangning, you bitch! You want to escape? Take a look at yourself before you run! Hear that bitch’s crying? If you run again, I’ll let her replace you! Look at how attractive she is; there are many perverts in this base who would love that.”
“Dong Quankun, you beast! I’ll kill you!”
“You beast, don’t even think about touching my daughter!”
Even the weakest person had their own reverse scale. (T/N: It implies a sensitive area or a point of vulnerability that, when touched or disturbed, can trigger strong reactions or resistance.)
Yun Xiangning, though timid, selfish, and cowardly, was willing to sacrifice everything for her frail daughter born with congenital heart disease.
No one can touch her; that’s her reverse scale.
When Yun Xiangning stabbed the knife under the pillow into Dong Quankun’s chest, she realized he had been dead for a while.
When she learned of his death, she laughed for a long time.
However, she still lived in his shadow.
With Dong Quankun gone, other men became more audacious in pursuing her.
She couldn’t escape and had no map for the next instance.
Later, she joined two small guilds and was eventually expelled due to aging and fading beauty.
Desperate and wandering the streets, she saw someone.
He was a man who entered the game base on the same bus, both of them terrified during the ride.
Meeting again, she learned he had become a renowned player in the base, having just cleared a newly opened level six instance.
The level six instance was beyond her wildest dreams.
The gap between them was insurmountable.
She walked back to her dark and cramped rented room, seeing her emaciated daughter lying on the damp bed. She finally decided to stand up and fight for her daughter.
She was on the verge of success.
Just two more days.
Two more days, and she could leave, treat her daughter, and save up items for her daughter’s protection.
“Hahaha!” Dong Quankun burst into laughter, mocking her delusions and misery.
As her knife plunged into his chest, and her hand pressed against it, tears rolled down Yun Xiangning’s face.
In her utter despair, Dong Quankun’s laughter abruptly stopped.
A pale and frail hand gently turned his head 180°.
Yun Xiangning was momentarily stunned, and she turned her head to see a familiar young man.
A few days ago, that young man’s clear and tranquil peach blossom eyes looked at her. His gaze, as if understanding everything, frightened her. But now, the same gaze made her heart suddenly beat violently.
Ning Su twisted the head of the dead body, but he was, after all, a corpse, still able to move even after that.
Yun Xiangning reacted, pulled out a knife, and stabbed it into the corpse’s neck.
As she stabbed, she hoarsely wept.
She stabbed the other every time she thought of the times he brought a man over to the house.
She threw his head into the Black River, threw his heart into the Black River, and threw the hands that had repeatedly struck her and her daughter’s faces into the Black River.
Ning Su just watched quietly.
The day Yun Xiangning came to them, asking them to keep it a secret and not to tell anyone that she knew Lin Lin was a corpse.
Pang Yang said she was in a difficult situation.
That night, just before going to bed, Pang Yang, overcome with emotions, revealed why he said she was in a difficult situation and told them everything.
He said he had seen Yun Xiangning, living without human rights in a club before. Previously, Pang Yang thought that living like that was worse than death, but now he knew she might be living that way for her daughter.
Ning Su decided to help her when he heard her shout, “Don’t even think about touching my daughter.”
Yun Xiangning: “Thank you.”
She tightly held the knife, while tremblingly thanking Ning Su.
She thought that, after knowing how cold and selfish she was, no one would help her.
People would just watch her die, just like she watched Lin Lin kill Dong Zhengxuan.
Ning Su: “No need to thank me. I’m not doing it for you.”
He said, “Maybe in this world, there’s more than one girl who yearns to have a brave mother.”
His daughter already had none.
He hoped another girl could still have that.
Why bother looking at him? He just wanted to listen quietly, whether it’s gossip or complaints, he didn’t want to think.
Ning Su said, “Now everyone has this awareness. If there’s another round, the system should take a different approach.”
Ning Su guessed it.
The third round still took place in the evening two days later.
This night was not as quiet as the previous two.
In the previous two rounds, whether it was the one the players felt guilty for or their loved ones, most would just cry in silence.
And this night was more like a kind of hysteria.
The resentment and hostility in the cabin woke up Ling Xiao.
He sat silently on his bed, looking at the hideous humans in the cabin.
After a while, someone sat beside him.
***
Yun Xiangning pulled a strip of cloth from her body, covered her eyes, and plugged her ears with cotton.
Through the first two rounds, she already knew ghosts that players couldn’t let go of would appear by the bed, tempting players to touch them actively.
So, she covered her eyes and plugged her ears, neither seeing nor hearing.
This was her cautious and safe approach.
She wanted to fall asleep quickly and sleep until dawn for more safety.
The more she thought about it, the less she could sleep.
She drifted into a fitful sleep, accompanied by intermittent dreams.
She experienced nothing but nightmares. As she drifted in and out of sleep, the line between dreams and reality began to blur for her.
This made her fearful and extremely irritated, wanting to tear everything in the nightmare apart.
Only two days left, and she could get out of this instance.
It’s a level four instance, the highest level she had experienced. Fortunately, this instance was not so bloody and terrifying. As long as she persisted for two more days, she could leave.
A level four instance, the points must be quite a lot. She could buy a lot of things for her daughter.
The base did not prohibit players from falling in love and having children, but children born in the base must go through the instance when they reach six years old.
Her daughter was about to turn six, and she must prepare more protective items for her daughter.
Only two days left. No matter what, she must persevere.
The sweat on Yun Xiangning’s forehead increased, her brows furrowed, constantly shaking her head.
Her eyes opened and closed, reality and dreams mixed and overlapped, difficult to distinguish.
Sometimes she saw Xue Wei, who entered the game base earlier than her and had become a famous vice president throughout the base.
At other times, she saw people who entered at the same time as her and those who entered later. Those who were still alive were now well-known figures on the base.
Only she, living in cowardice, was like an ant, unable to even protect her own daughter.
All because of one man.
When Yun Xiangning entered the game base, she was not yet thirty, a dazzling female singer that caught everyone’s attention.
She dared not enter dungeons and was deceived by a man at the entrance of the base. From then on, she followed him to repeatedly explore dungeons for a living.
Initially, she was doing fine. The man treated her well, and she was like a bird in his cage.
She could accept being a bird in this terrifying world; after all, there were many canaries in the real world.
As long as she could survive peacefully.
She didn’t realize that after exploring countless level one dungeons, she had been worn out.
When the man pushed her onto another man’s bed to exchange dungeon maps, she was powerless and didn’t know how to resist.
Time and again, she felt like she was living in hell.
Even more frightening, to keep her bound, the man made her give birth to a daughter with a congenital illness.
With a daughter, she remained an item for the man to trade. If she resisted, the man would brutally beat her frail daughter.
Every time she lay in bed, hearing her daughter’s cries, she wished she could devour the flesh and blood of that man.
Yun Xiangning heard the unbridled laughter of the man again.
“Hahaha!”
“Hahaha, Yun Xiangning, you bitch! You want to escape? Take a look at yourself before you run! Hear that bitch’s crying? If you run again, I’ll let her replace you! Look at how attractive she is; there are many perverts in this base who would love that.”
“Dong Quankun, you beast! I’ll kill you!”
“You beast, don’t even think about touching my daughter!”
Even the weakest person had their own reverse scale. (T/N: It implies a sensitive area or a point of vulnerability that, when touched or disturbed, can trigger strong reactions or resistance.)
Yun Xiangning, though timid, selfish, and cowardly, was willing to sacrifice everything for her frail daughter born with congenital heart disease.
No one can touch her; that’s her reverse scale.
When Yun Xiangning stabbed the knife under the pillow into Dong Quankun’s chest, she realized he had been dead for a while.
When she learned of his death, she laughed for a long time.
However, she still lived in his shadow.
With Dong Quankun gone, other men became more audacious in pursuing her.
She couldn’t escape and had no map for the next instance.
Later, she joined two small guilds and was eventually expelled due to aging and fading beauty.
Desperate and wandering the streets, she saw someone.
He was a man who entered the game base on the same bus, both of them terrified during the ride.
Meeting again, she learned he had become a renowned player in the base, having just cleared a newly opened level six instance.
The level six instance was beyond her wildest dreams.
The gap between them was insurmountable.
She walked back to her dark and cramped rented room, seeing her emaciated daughter lying on the damp bed. She finally decided to stand up and fight for her daughter.
She was on the verge of success.
Just two more days.
Two more days, and she could leave, treat her daughter, and save up items for her daughter’s protection.
“Hahaha!” Dong Quankun burst into laughter, mocking her delusions and misery.
As her knife plunged into his chest, and her hand pressed against it, tears rolled down Yun Xiangning’s face.
In her utter despair, Dong Quankun’s laughter abruptly stopped.
A pale and frail hand gently turned his head 180°.
Yun Xiangning was momentarily stunned, and she turned her head to see a familiar young man.
A few days ago, that young man’s clear and tranquil peach blossom eyes looked at her. His gaze, as if understanding everything, frightened her. But now, the same gaze made her heart suddenly beat violently.
Ning Su twisted the head of the dead body, but he was, after all, a corpse, still able to move even after that.
Yun Xiangning reacted, pulled out a knife, and stabbed it into the corpse’s neck.
As she stabbed, she hoarsely wept.
She stabbed the other every time she thought of the times he brought a man over to the house.
She threw his head into the Black River, threw his heart into the Black River, and threw the hands that had repeatedly struck her and her daughter’s faces into the Black River.
Ning Su just watched quietly.
The day Yun Xiangning came to them, asking them to keep it a secret and not to tell anyone that she knew Lin Lin was a corpse.
Pang Yang said she was in a difficult situation.
That night, just before going to bed, Pang Yang, overcome with emotions, revealed why he said she was in a difficult situation and told them everything.
He said he had seen Yun Xiangning, living without human rights in a club before. Previously, Pang Yang thought that living like that was worse than death, but now he knew she might be living that way for her daughter.
Ning Su decided to help her when he heard her shout, “Don’t even think about touching my daughter.”
Yun Xiangning: “Thank you.”
She tightly held the knife, while tremblingly thanking Ning Su.
She thought that, after knowing how cold and selfish she was, no one would help her.
People would just watch her die, just like she watched Lin Lin kill Dong Zhengxuan.
Ning Su: “No need to thank me. I’m not doing it for you.”
He said, “Maybe in this world, there’s more than one girl who yearns to have a brave mother.”
His daughter already had none.
He hoped another girl could still have that.
