Chapter 182: Xiaoyue! Help Me Up! (2/4)

The situation grew ever more surreal, defying all logic, and the crowd nearly leaped out of their skins in sheer terror.

With something this bizarre manifesting, who could say if even greater horrors lay lurking ahead?

Would they eventually stumble upon a corpse that bore their own exact likeness if they kept playing?

The surrounding atmosphere seemed to curdle with dread; it was no longer just the game, for the entire cybercafe felt shrouded in an eerie, stifling gloom.

As the ambiance within the game deepened into the uncanny, the protagonist, James, drew ever closer to the Otherworld.

"Should we... should we stop watching?" A collective reluctance began to seed itself in the hearts of many.

"No! If we are this terrified just standing here watching the broadcast, think of how frightened the boss must be!"

"Watch a bit longer! The boss is bound to be scared out of his wits!" The disciples from the Shengjing and Xiyi Academies cheered each other on.

"Just one more jump scare! That will surely make him wet his pants!"

"I refuse to believe this kid feels absolutely no fear!" Su Tianji, unwilling to accept defeat, resolved to keep watching.

Right then, they watched as Fang Qi arrived at the far end of the third floor and pushed open a door.

There stood a creature, drenched in blood and crowned with a triangular pyramid for a head, savagely brutalizing two mannequins.

The mannequins contorted their bodies in agonizing, unnatural ways.

Yet at that precise moment, Fang Qi actually slipped into a nearby closet.

The monster in the pyramid head turned, quickly detecting his presence.

Everyone’s heart skipped a violent beat.

It was over.

There was nowhere to run from inside that closet.

They watched Fang Qi snatch a key from the closet, instantly draw the pistol he had scavenged earlier, and charge out while firing wildly.

Fang Qi shot frantically, but the monstrosity seemed utterly immune to pain, acting as though it were entirely immortal as it continued its steady march toward him.

The sheer kinetic force of the bullets did nothing more than slightly impede its advance.

Every pair of eyes widened in astonishment at the spectacle.

What manner of beast was this, to be completely unaffected by bullets?

How could anyone fight such a thing?

The creatures encountered before could at least be slain—even beaten to death easily with a stick—but now, there existed a monster that shrugged off gunfire.

And it was taking the bullets head-on.

Confronted by an adversary against which they were entirely powerless, a profound dread began to fester within the crowd.

"What do you do when you can't beat it? You shut the door behind you, of course!" Fang Qi bolted frantically from the room, his hands trembling as the door slammed shut with a sharp clang.

By the time the monster broke through the door, Fang Qi had long since vanished without a trace.

A collective twitch rippled across everyone’s face: he had mastered the divine art of slamming the door behind him.

At that moment, Fang Qi swiftly exited the game and removed his virtual reality headset.

"Why did the boss stop playing?!"

"Hahaha! The boss is scared!" Seeing how rapidly Fang Qi had logged out, quite a few people burst into satisfied laughter.

"He must be terrified!"

Fang Qi pointed to the time displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen: "It is twelve o'clock. Aren't you all going back?!"

"Going back...?!" So Fang Qi had only logged off because his time was up?

But they had no leisure to indulge their anger now, for a far more horrifying realization suddenly dawned upon them.

Look at the hour. They had just finished watching such a terrifying broadcast, and now they had to walk back. At midnight.

It hadn't seemed like much before the stream, but now...

"Aaaaah!" Everyone was driven to the brink of madness.

"Boss!" Staring out into the pitch-black night, Song Qingfeng’s legs shook slightly as he spoke with a deathly miserable expression, "Can we stay the night here?"

He had absolutely no desire to go back.

"No!" Fang Qi rolled his eyes at them. "That is why I asked you beforehand if you really wanted a four-hour stream."

Everyone turned pale; who could have guessed that was what he meant back then?

In truth, Xu Zixin and Shen Qinging harbored the exact same question as Song Qingfeng.

They wished for nothing more than to sleep on the cybercafe floor tonight.

Had they been ordinary folk, they might well have bedded down together on the floor of Fang Qi’s shop.

The problem was, as a certain eldest princess, a certain young mistress, and the proud geniuses of several great academies, how could they possibly sleep on a floor in a cybercafe?

To say nothing of doing it, the very notion was unthinkable.

Even if they could conceive of it, it was simply too humiliating.

"Fenghua, Yuexin!" Su Tianji called out. "Return with your master!"

"Ah...?! Yes!" The two huddled close together and followed Su Tianji out the door.

"What is there to be afraid of!" Nalan Hongwu scoffed, crossing his hands behind his back with a haughty air. "Old Fu, let us depart."

"The master speaks the truth!" Liang Heihu snorted coldly. "Disciples of Shengjing Academy, follow me!"

The disciples of Shengjing Academy huddled into a tight mass and filed out.

Fang Qi blinked, noticing that the eldest princess and the second prince had subtly blended into their ranks as well.

"Tell Qinghe to bring more guards to fetch me!" Dong Qingli hurriedly sent a transmission.

Otherwise, with the night so dark outside, how was she supposed to return?

"Boss! Can you escort us to the academy gates?!" Song Qingfeng pleaded, peering out into the abyssal darkness beyond the doorway.

Fang Qi’s face twitched. "A grown man like you needs me to escort him home?!"

"We are not grown men!" Shen Qingqing thoroughly despised Song Qingfeng with a look before adding, "Boss, escort us back to the academy! Leave him be!"

"Boss, me too!" Hearing that Boss Fang might walk people home, Lanyuan quickly leaned in.

"Then I might as well join you." Nalan Mingxue appeared calm, though her heart was already a fluttering mess of panic.

Fang Qi's face darkened as he threw a cold glare at the two of them. "Safe travels, I won't be seeing you out!"

Are you joking? The two of you were the most eager to stir up trouble, and now you know fear?

"Furthermore, those who are not going home, please step outside the shop!" Fang Qi leaned back in his chair, a picture of righteous solemnity. "This establishment is closing!"

"You are actually not afraid?!" Nalan Mingxue stared suspiciously at Fang Qi for several long moments.

"What is there to fear? This is child's play!" Fang Qi waved his hand dismissively, remaining seated without moving an inch.

Outside, the disciples of the two academies and Su Tianji’s group had only just stepped through the threshold; hearing Fang Qi's words, their faces twitched in unison.

They had truly suffered a miserable defeat today.

Whether Fang Qi had been frightened remained a mystery, but they themselves were already too terrified to return!

To make matters worse, this kicking-them-while-they-were-down boss was actually driving people out at a time like this!

How infuriating! So infuriating they wanted to bite someone!

Watching the crowd, pale-faced yet ultimately forced to step out the door, Fang Qi reclined in his computer chair, declaring with smug satisfaction: "To think you'd try to match wits with this boss, I have but two words for you: Heh heh!"

Everyone's face darkened: "..."

They practically wanted to commit murder!

About ten minutes later, everyone had finally departed.

This was destined to be a sleepless night.

To say nothing of a certain flying vessel heading toward the Liuyun Daoist Palace that nearly crashed several times, or the frequent shrieks echoing from a certain guard convoy bound for the Qingfeng Mingyue Pavilion, two particular maidens who had previously been making trouble with great relish were now receiving their rightful punishment.

Inside the courtyard of the Lingyun Academy, the lamps were still lit in the dead of night.

"Miss Nalan... could we... sleep together tonight...!?" Lanyan's voice drifted from the room.

"Alright!"

"Ah—!" A sudden shriek followed, and two silhouettes wrapped themselves in the quilt, trembling violently.

And at that very moment.

"Xiaoyue! Come over here a moment!" Fang Qi sat motionless in his chair, calling out with a look of grand righteousness.

"What's wrong, boss?" Jiang Xiaoyue sat not far from him, equally motionless!

"Help me up! My legs have turned to jelly!"

Jiang Xiaoyue burst into tears: "Boss! My legs are jelly too..."

...