Chapter 3: If You Lean, Don't Fear Your Shadow Being Straight!

At the same time.

On the homepage of an app called "Spirit Disaster Game," a certain livestream was being featured in a scrolling banner.

【Last chance to join the livestream!】

【Final batch of closed beta qualifications being distributed!】

【Unprecedented! Nightmare-level difficulty for a pre-registration instance! A guaranteed death trap!】

The sensationalist title attracted a constant stream of people who owned the software into the broadcast room.

They were all Spirit Disaster players.

They were individuals chosen by the Spirit Disaster Game, capable of entering so-called "instances" to obtain extraordinary powers, but they were also desperate outlaws struggling on the edge of life and death.

After all, if you died in an instance, only your corpse would be transported back to reality once the game ended.

"For real? A nightmare-level difficulty for a pre-registration instance? Isn't that just sending them to their deaths?"

"I’ll bet 100 Disaster Coins that the newbies are wiped out within two hours. Anyone taking the bet?"

"Look down on them, are you? I bet one hour!"

In the livestream’s chat section, many expressed astonishment at this completely unbalanced pre-registration instance.

Normally, pre-registration instances used to acquire player qualifications always had clear hints for survival, belonging to the category of "things that can definitely be done if you give it your all."

Everyone jokingly called them "newbie tutorials."

Instance difficulty was categorized into Easy, Medium, Hard, and Nightmare.

Newbie tutorials were merely at the Easy level.

Nightmare-level instances were things that had a completion rate of less than 1% across the entire Spirit Disaster Game.

To make newbies go through a Nightmare instance...

Just as the chat said—this was a death sentence!

For instance, right now, seeing newbies die as soon as they woke up, people were already burning incense for them and setting up betting pools.

Yet, a small number of people noticed something strange.

"In a sense, the Spirit Disaster Game is a very fair existence; it would never feature a truly unwinnable instance."

"In other words, if they are just using fifty lives to provide some entertainment for everyone, it means the balance of the Spirit Disaster Game has gone wrong!"

"If this is the last batch of closed beta qualifications, will there even be an open beta?"

"We must dig into the essence of the Spirit Disaster Game as much as possible before the open beta! This livestream might be a good opportunity!"

There was no shortage of powerful players in the livestream.

But even these big shots didn't believe a Nightmare-level instance could be cleared by newbies under normal circumstances.

They wanted to find potential issues within the Spirit Disaster Game itself from this final broadcast.

As for the newbies?

No one cared about the life or death of mere pathfinders.

However, there was one freak among these big shots.

Her focus was precisely on the newbies!

To be exact...

She hoped all the newbies would die in the instance.

This strange woman lay on a hammock in her seaside villa, sipping expensive red wine while watching the stream and sending messages to an encrypted chat app—

"The ritual is a success. The special spirit tablet is being carried by a criminal police captain named Li Guoqiang from Mingyang City."

"Don't worry, having paid such a high price to deceive the administrator and modify the instance difficulty, it's impossible for anyone to come out alive. This instance has no real conditions for completion."

"After all the newbies are sacrificed, I will use the special spirit tablet to control Li Guoqiang's corpse and bring the [Advent Object] back to reality."

"May the disaster be eternal."

————

Inside the pre-registration instance.

No one knew this was a sacrificial ritual meant for certain death.

Their current focus was still on the deceased.

"Someone go check... how did he die?"

These people, who were all wary of one another, couldn't help but speak up, trying to huddle together for warmth.

In reality, they were all criminals who viewed human life as worthless; in the eyes of normal people, they were all dangerous individuals one would want to stay far away from.

But here, facing supernatural paranormal phenomena and knowing that a real vengeful spirit was lurking nearby, everyone had become the weakest of prey.

The weapons at their waists or the drugs and dangerous goods in their pockets could no longer provide them with any sense of security.

Those clutching knives even felt the blades in their hands growing as cold as their own moods.

Bone-chillingly cold.

"What kind of stupid talk is that? Why don't you go check? Trying to force us to go to our deaths, huh?" Someone spoke up, cursing and refuting the previous suggestion.

Most people maintained the same attitude.

That's right! Who knew if checking the corpse would cause that ghost to target them?

Except for the woman who had collapsed to the ground with weak legs, everyone else involuntarily retreated a distance.

The situation reached a stalemate once again.

In the crowd, only Wu Wang’s attention was not on the corpse, but on the woman collapsed on the ground.

To be precise, it was on her shadow.

I don't know if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Wu Wang seemed to see the woman's shadow trembling?

Could it be that the "Purple Mood" was leaking electricity?

"Thump!"

Another loud noise.

This time, it wasn't someone falling, but the sound of almost all the lights in the classroom going out.

Only one spotlight remained, illuminating the podium, and the standing microphone instantly became the focus of the entire room.

Eerily, the light seemed to defy the laws of physics, not scattering at all. Beyond the podium where the microphone stood, even the closest spots remained pitch black, unable to see one's own fingers.

*Rustle, rustle, rustle—*

The sound of clothes rubbing and footsteps began to emerge from the darkness. At first, it was only occasional, but gradually, most people in the classroom began to move spontaneously.

Phototaxis isn't just a trait possessed by moths.

Humans are the same.

In an unknown environment, no one wanted to stay in a place where they couldn't see their own hands; in such a situation, they wouldn't even be able to detect danger approaching.

The podium was large enough to hold about ten people; even if something rushed out of the darkness, there would be enough time to react.

Without a doubt, it counted as a safe zone.

"Bastard! Get the hell out of my way!"

The first angry curse came from the darkness.

*Squelch—*

Accompanied by the subtle sound of a sharp object entering a body, those nearby immediately felt warm, splashing liquid on their faces.

Everyone present understood what that was, or rather, understood what it meant.

Someone had taken action to seize the spot near the light source!

As criminals without a bottom line, as the smell of blood spread through the air, their eyes in the darkness were also tinged with a hint of madness.

That's right, the spot wasn't first-come, first-served!

Only the living were qualified to stand in the safe zone!

"Trying to trip me? Don't bother keeping that leg!"

"You dog-bastard, you're blocking the way!"

"Ah! My hand! Who cut it!?"

Sounds of fighting and screams rose and fell in the darkness.

Various sounds were amplified and echoed back through the microphone, making one's scalp tingle.

The classroom instantly turned into a bloody purgatory, with everyone in their minds only wanting to kill their way to a path of survival.

*Thump—thump—thump—*

However, before anyone could reach the light source, the thumping sounds appeared again. It sounded just like the sound of the first victim hitting the floor.

The key was that there were too many falling sounds!

Far exceeding the number of people being killed!

One after another, people fell to the ground, unable to get back up. There were no struggling movements or painful wails; it was clear they hadn't died from fatal wounds caused by fighting.

Even those who had already had their hands or feet severed and were screaming had gone silent.

The entire classroom instantly fell into a deathly silence, as if a mute button had been pressed.

"Gulp..."

Everyone swallowed their saliva in anxiety.

Almost at the same time, they all stopped moving.

Now, even the most hot-headed person realized something was wrong.

Another death rule had been triggered!

And at least twenty people had died!

About ten seconds passed.

No one dared to make a move, fearing they would also die inexplicably.

The classroom seemed to return to the silence of when everyone was in a deep sleep at the beginning.

Only the occasional sound of breathing, tense to the extreme, let people know that others still existed in the darkness.

"Singing a folk song~ eh eh eh eh~"

"Singing on this side~ come~ echoing on that side~"

At this moment, when heart rates were skyrocketing as if they were about to jump out of their throats, the abrupt singing made everyone feel a sudden, sharp pain in their gut.

The key was that the singing was completely off-key, like demonic sounds piercing the ears.

Even though nothing could be seen clearly in the darkness, everyone turned their gaze toward the source of the sound in unison.

*Tap-tap—tap-tap—*

The rhythmic sound of tap-dancing footsteps rang out from where the singing was coming from, moving forward at a rhythmic pace.

They were even singing and dancing!?

What the hell is this?

Everyone's brains crashed, with only one thought echoing—is this person not afraid of death?

"It's not a ring, it's the brother's entrance!"

As soon as the words fell, they noticed the person had already reached the podium.

As that handsome face with dead fish eyes appeared under the only light source in the room, many who had been spoken to by Wu Wang earlier felt an even sharper pain in their gut.

Why is it him again!

"Buzz—"

Wu Wang tapped the microphone with his hand, and a harsh screech of feedback made everyone cover their ears and frown.

After confirming the microphone was working properly, Wu Wang gave a standard, fake smile like a hotel waiter and said shyly: "Thanks to everyone's kindness for letting me take the mic to speak. I'm a bit embarrassed, so I'll just briefly talk about three points."

Who the hell gave you kindness to let you speak!

Didn't you jump up there all by yourself?

And what the hell are you being shy about!

It’s hard again.

At this point, everyone's fists were clenched tight.

"First, I am not an expert in dealing with ghosts. Second, I believe everyone wants to know how to break the three death rules, so the third point is very important."

"Third, just as I said in my first point, I am not an expert in dealing with ghosts, so I don't know either."

Watching the young man speak nonsense with a straight face, continuing to tap-dance on the spot, and playing with shadow puppets using the light, his hands, feet, and mouth were coordinated without the slightest conflict.

For a moment, they didn't know whether to call him multi-talented or if they wanted to rush up and stab him twice even more.

But given that the death rule had just been triggered, causing a dozen lives to vanish just like that.

Do less, make fewer mistakes; do nothing, make no mistakes.

At this critical juncture, the criminals still felt that caution was better and didn't dare to act rashly.

They could only let Wu Wang go crazy in front of the microphone.

By the way, they also wanted to observe if the death rule would appear on this attention-seeker.

"Namo Amitabha, Infinite Life Heavenly Venerable, Amen, Allahu Akbar!"

"Light~ the phoenix flying against the wind~ Light!"

Wu Wang continued to talk nonsense and sing.

*Thump!*

As he happened to sing the word "light," the spotlight above suddenly flared, illuminating the classroom as if it were broad daylight.

All the filth that had occurred in the darkness was exposed to everyone's eyes.

Large amounts of blood stained the pristine floor like an abstract painter creating wildly with red pigment. The viscous sensation of it slowly flowing down the steps was like the bright red dripping onto the white cloth in the bathtub in *The Death of Marat*. The scattered corpses looked like abrupt, glaring embellishments on a canvas.

Some had visible fatal wounds, clearly having died in the fighting.

Others, like the first corpse, lay on the ground with expressions of terror, showing no signs of injury.

The dark environment had lasted for ten minutes.

The classroom, which originally held fifty people, now had only twenty-something left.

The frequency of death was exaggerated to the point of being unsettling.

But everyone’s gaze lingered on the corpses for only a moment; more of them cast murderous glares at Wu Wang.

"You, what did you find?"

A burly man closest to the podium walked up with a tough tone.

Lying at his feet were two people with twisted necks who had been strangled to death—these were the burly man's masterpieces in the darkness.

He also asked the question that was in most people's minds.

Why did this young man's crazy, abstract behavior not trigger any death rules?

Unless he had already discovered something to avoid them!

Watching the burly man, who was a head taller than him with bulging muscles like a small mountain, approach him with a sense of oppression.

Wu Wang remained unmoved, only smiling as he said

"I don't really like your tone. I helped all the dogs that liked to bark downstairs at my apartment complex get neutered on New Year's Eve. I suggest you pay attention to your manners."

"Tch, trash! You'll be honest in a minute!"

The burly man disdainfully reached out, trying to grab Wu Wang's neck and force him to submit.

His large palm almost covered the young man's entire face.

So much so that he couldn't see the expression on Wu Wang's face beneath the shadow, which was gradually turning cold.

*Bang!*

A dull thud echoed through the classroom.

Everyone outside the podium showed expressions of disbelief.

An unexpected situation had occurred!

They saw the burly man lying on the ground, eyes rolled back, twitching involuntarily.

His temple was sunken in, clearly having been struck hard by something.

"W-what happened?"

"One punch! He knocked out such a strong man with just one punch!"

Before everyone could recover, they saw Wu Wang pull the microphone from the stand and smash it hard into the sunken temple of the burly man, repeating the action of raising his hand and smashing it down again and again with a blank expression, like he was pounding mochi.

*Squelch, squelch—*

Blood splattered, red and white mixed together.

Now, everyone's attention finally shifted away from Wu Wang's abstract behavior earlier.

They began to notice his own strangeness.

His bare upper body revealed muscles that were tense and sculpted like a statue at the moment of the punch; muscles that hadn't been tempered through thousands of trials wouldn't have such beautiful lines.

The textbook-perfect force-generating technique when throwing the punch pushed his power to the extreme, making people's hearts tremble.

Coupled with the cold ruthlessness when taking a life.

There was no doubt this young man was one of them.

No! He was more dangerous than most criminals!

Because Wu Wang's appearance and behavior were simply too deceptive!

"A straight body doesn't fear a crooked shadow; I've never claimed to be a good person, you know." A voice other than the sound of head-smashing finally came from the podium.

With that, Wu Wang plugged the microphone back into the stand.

Then, he just sat on the podium, squinting his eyes and continuing to observe everyone with a smile.

These people actually hadn't guessed wrong.

He had indeed guessed part of the death rules.

He had even tested it himself.

It was just that the remaining things needed to be tested a few more times to be certain.

As for the test subjects...

Everyone is a buddy, I believe no one here would refuse...

(Not a livestream flow! Not a livestream flow! Wuwuwu)

(End of chapter)