Beom In stared blankly at the scene before him, watching Lu Ce lay the book flat on the basketball hoop. He had no idea what he was trying to do.

But soon enough, he understood.

On the hoop, Confessions of the Disillusioned couldn’t be moved by a breeze unless someone manually flipped it.

The sound of a basketball bouncing echoed lightly in the gym. Suddenly—swish—as if something had been thrown.

A few seconds later, the book's pages trembled slightly, like something had melted into them, and then all sound vanished.

The air fell silent for three seconds. Everything went completely quiet.

Then, a sharp scream erupted from beneath the basketball hoop in the gym. A chilling wind surged throughout the sports hall, like something was about to explode.

Lu Ce’s gaze sharpened. He lunged forward, leaping onto the basketball rack, sitting on the edge of the backboard, picked up Confessions of the Disillusioned, crossed one leg over the other, and waited for the possible fight to come.

An aura of wrath spread out, colliding with invisible resentment like dragons clashing with tigers.

Then, the chaotic, tense aura slowly faded, and everything returned to calm.

A system prompt Beom In never expected rang out in his ears.

【Seven Mysteries of the Campus, “Bouncing Ball Sound of the Empty Gymnasium,” Black Team challenge successful.】

【Challenge progress: 2/7, remaining time: 22:39:46.】

Beom In: ?

Wait, bro? That was it?!

Then what the h*ll was all that torture I went through? A social experiment?!

But thinking about how that book damaged spirit forms, and remembering what Park Bu Seong told him at the beginning of the game, a lot of things started to make sense.

Back then, Park Bu Seong had told him—“Your ability is special. This gym level isn’t particularly hard, but I’ve custom-tailored it for you. This level is a perfect match for your spirit form.”

“As long as you can hold out and don’t get spotted, no matter who comes, there’s no way out of this place!”

Too bad Beom In didn’t hold out...

In Park Bu Seong’s plan, with hundreds of spirit forms identical to the basketball ghost mixed together, no one would be able to find the real target. Add Beom In’s interference and switching around, and nobody would be able to spot him either.

If it were a normal person, trying to eliminate distractions and find the key from tiny clues would’ve played right into Park’s trap.

But Lu Ce showed up.

The Wrath Mask noticed someone watching from the shadows... well then, just drag them out and deal with them!

Who's showing me malice? Looking to die?

Lu Ce saw the situation resolve itself and, having been ready for another round, felt a little annoyed.

Then, a slightly strange game voice rang out.

【White Team player, “Beom In,” has exited the current challenge mode competition.】

Huh?

Lu Ce thought, Didn’t I already take his Exit Token? Could he have gotten another one from game rewards?

Looking back, he found Beom In still standing behind him, looking completely confused, patting himself down like he was checking if a part of his body had gone missing.

Lu Ce frowned slightly and asked, “Didn’t you say your name’s Beom In? You lying to me?”

“No, bro!” Beom In was panicking. “I swear, I have no idea what’s going on! Why did I exit?!”

Beom In had never encountered this situation before. Strictly speaking, no one in the world probably had.

He was still in the game—but already considered eliminated!

The system broadcast had finished, and when he tried to send messages to his teammates through the in-game channel, it failed. The whole channel was closed off to him.

Even his own livestream had vanished. When he opened his broadcast screen—it was pitch black!

So what am I now?! A game undead??

His teammates were probably going to think he wasn’t really him anymore—someone disguised as him, up to some shady plan.

Beom In was completely lost...

His Exit Token wasn’t even on him. Even if he genuinely wanted to leave the game now, he couldn’t.

Everything tied to his status in the game had disappeared—no viewers, no teammates, no one knew he was still wandering around.

Especially now! Could this killing machine in front of him even believe he was really Beom In?

If this guy decided he didn’t care who he was, he might not even bother figuring it out!!

Beom In forced a smile and said to Lu Ce:

“For real, big bro, you gotta believe me. I’ve got no reason to lie to you.”

“How about this—you give me back my Exit Token? I’ll leave right now. Cool your temper, no need for violence...”

Lu Ce said nothing. He simply raised Hell Roar in his right hand.

“Whoa! Chill, man! We can talk this out—no need to shoot.” Beom In was so scared he nearly pissed himself. Why the h*ll wouldn’t this guy believe he wasn’t up to anything? “If you don’t believe me, ask your audience. My livestream feed’s gone, seriously!”

Lu Ce didn’t even look at him. He swapped the weapon to his other hand, then put Hell Roar away.

He pressed on his earpiece:

“Hello?”

After connecting to Xie Antong, Lu Ce turned and walked out of the gym.

“I saw it. Looks like your completion speed is pretty fast.” A few seconds of silence, then her voice came through the earpiece.

“Pretty easy,” Lu Ce replied flatly. “Got any leads on the next mystery’s location and content?”

“Pretty much figured out the general areas.” Her reply surprised Lu Ce—he didn’t expect things to be going this smoothly.

Xie Antong continued:

“The music room and art classroom are relatively straightforward. I’ve got a good idea where to look and I’ll guide you over in a bit.”

“The bathroom and the Thirteen Steps are less clear. I have a few theories, so you’ll need to scout those out for me. Go check the spots I’m suspicious of and see if the game triggers anything.”

She seemed to be used to “Sin’s” way of talking now, so she gave orders without wasting words.

The two of them were like emotionless game-clearing machines, just focused on smashing their way through this game.

【: Damn, not sure why but watching those two talk gives off crazy pressure. Wonder if Park Bu Seong can even handle it.】

【: They’re not holding back at all. That was fast.】

【: Honestly, I imagined myself in their shoes—feels awesome. If I think something’s sus, I just tell Sin, and Sin bulldozes it.】

【: No sh*t, if you got to play a max-level account, how could it not be fun? I wanna be a top-tier bro too.】

【: What, you got access to legendary weapons too, buddy?】