Go Ask the Dragonfly First

Everything was going so smoothly that it made Zhu Yan afraid.

It was like rain after a drought, coal in the snow—so perfectly timed it was suspicious.

Just when he was worried that Dragonfly might come knocking, Dragonfly announced a store closure due to attacks from the Hunters.

Just when he was concerned the packaging might reveal flaws, Dragonfly called to shift the blame and, in passing, explained all the precautions.

Was he just that lucky, or was there some hidden scheme from Dragonfly?

Zhu Yan put down the phone and thought for a second.

But whatever.

Even with those doubts, given the situation, he could only follow Dragonfly’s instructions.

After all, statistically speaking, Dragonfly’s directions might not be correct, but his own guesses were definitely wrong.

Zhu Yan wasted no more time.

He walked to his desk, counted down to the second-to-last drawer, and pulled it open.

At the very back of the drawer, behind a pile of colorful wrapping paper, were a few black drawstring pouches, each placed in a wooden box.

The fabric of the pouches was thick, and in the center was a gold pattern of an arrow piercing a bird in flight.

The bird’s wings stretched upward, hopelessly shielding its body, looking fragile and unsteady.

The craftsmanship was so fine that the feathers were visible, perfectly matching the extravagant menu.

From that perspective, it didn’t seem like Dragonfly was deceiving him.

Recalling Dragonfly’s advice to “wrap it in several layers,” Zhu Yan took out the only three pouches from the box and layered them tightly around the Changing Menu one after another.

Then he walked to the table where the puppets had been working earlier, bent down, and found an exquisite black wooden box.

“What a production,” Zhu Yan muttered under his breath. “Even a menu has to be this fancy?”

The inside of the wooden box was perfectly sized to hold the menu snugly, and the color of the box complemented the decorations on the menu’s edges beautifully.

Was Dragonfly really helping him?

Zhu Yan raised an eyebrow, closed the box, and put it away.

After what had happened, did Dragonfly not feel even a trace of resentment toward the Hunters?

Zhu Yan made a mental note about this strange Dragonfly.

Once he was done with the urgent task at hand, he would find a way to visit them at Boyang University.

“Delicious Feast,”

Zhu Yan said softly.

The next second.

Zhu Yan steadied himself by pressing against the wall.

Everything went white before his eyes.

When his vision cleared again, he found himself in a hallway lined with white tiles.

The air was faintly acrid, like a mix of blood and gasoline.

Looking around, he noticed a sign on the left wall that read: “Washing Area.”

...

Inside Dorm 303.

A window had appeared in the dorm, right on the wall next the fridge.

Outside, everything was a dim, gray blur, almost invisible.

The players’ screams, rising and falling, mixed into a loud wave of sound, muffled and distant behind the sturdy 15th-level window.

Occasionally, shadows fell from the gray mist, accompanied by sharp screams, flashing past the window.

Qi Yinming paced anxiously in front of the window.

A massive bone claw pressed against the glass, but it only made a faint, almost inaudible thud.

The monster paused for a few seconds, as if realizing it couldn’t break through, then moved its sharp claw away to find another target.

His phone, which had been buzzing with new messages now and then, had gone silent.

Qi Yinming understood.

In a crisis like this, apart from those in safe, fortress-like dormitories with plenty of food and time to slack off, who had time to text?

Yang Zhanbai sat cross-legged in his seat, scrolling through old messages one by one.

“Holy shit, stayed up all night afraid, and what I feared is finally here.”

“I saw a monster!”

“Looking for a teammate, anyone with healing abilities? I’m at Donghua University, cafeteria floor—come to Room 350!”

“These monsters aren’t that hard to kill. I’m level 3 abilities, and I’ve taken out two already.”

“Anyone got a smoke? Need a cig, need a ciiiiig—”

“Is the person above hallucinating?”

...

Yang Zhanbai scrolled through the messages casually. “Someone found a lead from the monsters attacking.”

“This situation seems different this time.”

He glanced around the dorm with mild interest.

Chen Zhaoxing had arranged a row of newly crafted cockroaches along the bed rail and was poking them out of boredom.

“Zhu Zeyu hasn’t replied, has he?” Yang Zhanbai said in an offhand tone.

Qi Yinming sighed in frustration.

“Yeah,” he said, glancing helplessly at Yang Zhanbai, who was washing up with bedhead hair. “Haha, it’s always like this.”

“He disappears in the blink of an eye, busy running off to get himself killed!”

Yang Zhanbai casually ran a hand through his red hair.

“Oh, getting himself killed? Isn’t that just Zhu Zeyu’s usual style?”

He patted Qi Yinming on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll go look for him.”

“Whether he’s alive or dead, alive I’ll drag him back, dead I’ll set up a tombstone. I can always find him.”

With that, he shook his phone. “Let’s go. I’m ready.”

“Xiao Qi, I think the clues other players found can match up with your lead, that Changing Menu thing. Check this out.”

Yang Zhanbai shoved his phone screen in Qi Yinming’s face, showing screenshots of several messages.

“We heard from a level 2 Pseudo-human that high-level Horror creatures are throwing a banquet.”

“It said there might be treasure there, and we guessed it’s a key fragment.”

“@Yang Zhanbai, Boss, do you have any related info?”

Yang Zhanbai flashed a white-toothed grin. “Let’s start by asking around at that print shop on the 90th floor you mentioned.”

Chen Zhaoxing immediately scrambled down from the bunk. “Take me! I want to kill monsters too!”

Qi Yinming glanced at the monitoring mirror.

The corridor had indeed changed.

The floor shifted again. This time, instead of dormitories outside, there were only rows of neatly arranged classrooms.

The classrooms were empty—

Qi Yinming walked over and pressed his ear to the door. Whether it was his imagination, he thought he heard the faint sound of a teacher lecturing.

“Listen, guys,”

Qi Yinming said cautiously.

“Maybe we should keep someone here. Heading out together as a group is too risky, and Zhu Zeyu hasn’t—”

Yang Zhanbai said, “Zhu Zeyu is definitely trying to find the Hunters or get the Key Fragments.”

He recalled what Zhu Zeyu had told him.

Qi Yinming and the others probably didn’t know the secret about the Key Fragments yet, because Zhu Zeyu had only told him.

For now, Zhu Zeyu was coasting, and the first three Key Fragments were all on their side.

Someone like Zhu Zeyu would never act selfishly.

Even if they couldn’t track down that cunning Hunter, they still had a good chance of clearing the level.

“I don’t want to hang back,” Yang Zhanbai said. “It’s not fair for Zhu Zeyu to carry everything alone every single time.”

“Besides, how else are we supposed to grow stronger as a group?”

Shen Zichen has found out the changing passcode for his floor. The Lazy Handicraft Shop is still with him, so we can go ask Dragonfly first.