The auditorium fell silent for two seconds before the woman’s scream tore through the dim air like a siren.
“Ahhhhhhh—”
The scream had come from the female teacher onstage.
Her forehead slick with cold sweat, she backed away and crouched down, clutching her head. The carefully drawn tail of one eyebrow had already begun to smear.
That single scream was like a stone tossed into water, completely stirring the unease lurking beneath the surface.
The auditorium erupted into chaos. Screams rose and fell, spreading through the enclosed space like a virus.
One parent shot to her feet and charged toward the stage, heedless of the phone that fell from her hand.
Captain Zheng finally realized that something was wrong. He lunged toward Director Jin and shouted, “Stay calm—everyone, stay calm!”
The man’s hoarse roar barely managed to suppress the din.
The mother rushing toward the stage was seized and held back by two uniformed players. She began sobbing and screaming in panic, but the only response she received was the voice coming through the speakers.
The female announcer’s voice still retained its sweet undertone.
But the nasal quality, blurred into an indistinct murmur, had grown heavier. Each word sounded as though it had been fished out of water, wet, icy, and cloyingly sticky.
“No one will enter the auditorium.”
It felt as though someone had forced an entire syringe of thick, icy milk down Zhu Yan’s stomach. He felt like vomiting.
A familiar female voice suddenly rang out beside his ear, carrying its usual cheerfulness.
“Long time no see, my dear [Hunter]!”
“Please select the rule to use this time. Hint—”
Zhu Yan hastily cut off its rambling with action.
He quickly fixed his gaze on the second rule, then bent slightly at the waist, trying to ease the discomfort in his stomach.
“That’s an excellent rule!” the woman’s voice commented. “Give it a try, dear [Urban Legend] sir. This is your rule, so you can decide how it appears.”
“At the same time, we will display the consumption of [Shuddering Delight] for you.”
Zhu Yan said nothing.
He straightened again and looked at the pixels on the short film, blurred into an indistinct mass.
A long red bar appeared in his field of vision, with the tiny words [Shuddering Delight] above it.
“No one will enter the auditorium.”
Onstage, the children had already risen to their feet. Some of them clustered around the teacher in alarm. Above their heads, Zhu Yan manipulated the red letters, making them appear one flicker at a time.
The people stared at them in terror.
“All players will be unable to leave the auditorium.”
The rule displayed this half of the sentence, throwing another bomb into the auditorium.
Director Jin could no longer maintain his composed demeanor. He abruptly rose from his seat, while Jin Rongxu clenched his fists and swiftly drew the Level 13 imitation blade that was on the verge of failing.
The players closest to the outer walls were the first to erupt into panic. They began frantically surging toward the doors.
Many started shouting and ramming their shoulders against the doors—once, twice, and then with their abilities added to the assault.
Yet the doors remained completely unmoved. Not even the hinges made a sound, as though they had already grown into the walls.
“Let me out!” someone shouted in a tearful voice. “Aren’t you people from the Alliance? Open the doors!”
No one answered him.
The Alliance players responsible for maintaining order were also desperately twisting the door handles. One of them even drew a long blade wrapped in blue lightning and hacked viciously at one of the doors.
The lightning struck the door and vanished like a drop of water falling onto a sponge.
The player staggered back two steps, his face turning deathly pale.
“It’s ineffective,” he murmured. “This is a rule. Skill attacks are ineffective against rules…”
Somewhere he could not see, the red bar of [Shuddering Delight] shortened by a small segment. Zhu Yan felt a faint cramp in his abdomen.
The slight pain stirred him to silent laughter in the darkness.
Now everyone was beginning to understand that the [Rule] could not be defied.
If Jin Rongxu’s name appeared within the [Rule] under these circumstances, what would happen?
The [Illusion] seemed quite satisfied with this half of the rule as well.
“Welcome,” the blurred female voice emphasized. “You cannot escape.”
“You cannot esca—esca—escape—”
The red letters onstage changed.
Some new words flickered into existence, and several players had already noticed them.
“Look! There’s a new—new rule…”
The first three words to appear were “Jin Rongxu,” sending a wave of uproar through the people surrounding Director Jin.
Those three words lingered briefly before the rest of the sentence appeared.
“Jin Rongxu must personally go to the dressing room backstage and attack the terrifying creature in this instance. Otherwise…”
Director Jin’s brows drew together deeply.
The stage lights faintly illuminated his grave expression and the subtle rise and fall of his chest. Beside him, Captain Jin was clearly far more agitated.
“A conspiracy!”
Jin Rongxu shouted, his fists clenched tight.
“This is a conspiracy!”
The surroundings fell silent for a moment.
“—It’s Captain Jin’s name!”
Someone in the crowd cried out.
A female player with a ponytail standing beside Jin Rongxu turned her head, her eyes wide.
“Why is the rule targeting Captain Jin?” another player beside her asked, but no one could answer.
Only silence remained.
The player who had previously hacked at the door slowly turned around and tightened his grip on his blade.
His gaze swept over the layers of players blocking the doors and the panicked parents, passed over the motionless cameraman, and finally settled on Jin Rongxu.
“Captain Jin,” he said, a faint glimmer of hope flickering in his eyes.
“Can you open the door?”
Jin Rongxu did not answer.
Zhu Yan could clearly see the tension around his eyes and the flare of his nostrils.
Behind him, the face of the female teacher onstage was becoming just as blurred as the image in the short film.
The red necktie of a child beside her was doing the same.
Zhu Yan frowned slightly. He understood.
These people were being eroded, assimilated into the short film without realizing it.
Perhaps this was how the [Illusion] “devoured” people. But regardless, he had to get Director Jin out before the erosion spread any further.
Taking advantage of the darkness, Zhu Yan strode toward Director Jin and Jin Rongxu.
Behind him, in the darkness, a second voice rang out.
This time it was a woman, apparently one of the students’ parents.
Her voice had turned hoarse from excessive screaming, and every word came out with a rasp as harsh as a blade scraping across metal.
“This is the rule! The rule says that as long as Captain Jin goes to that dressing room or whatever, we can get out!”
“Then make him go! Make him go!”
Zhu Zeyu had already reached Director Jin’s side.
“Director,” he said softly, his voice trembling. “The situation is critical. For now, let Captain Zheng and Deputy Captain Guan take you out.”
“I had a bad feeling earlier, so I had Yang Zhanbai go ahead and get the car ready.”
Director Jin wanted to turn his head, but Zhu Zeyu pressed firmly down on his shoulder.
“Director, you don’t need to worry.”
Zhu Zeyu’s voice trembled even more violently, as though he had made some momentous decision.
“You once gave me the opportunity to advance. I’ll go in with Captain Jin.”
“Even if it costs me my life, I’ll bring him back safe and sound.”
“I give you my word…”
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
