The crowd around them ebbed and flowed, with people boarding and alighting from the train, brushing past the two of them as they stood still.
As the train doors were about to close, the players who had already boarded finally noticed that the two of them were still outside. Anxiously, they shouted at them to hurry up and get on.
But neither of them moved. They didn’t even glance at the train.
The doors slid shut, and the train slowly started moving, carrying away the confused faces of the players inside.
Lu Ji noticed none of this.
At that moment, his mind was completely consumed by her words: “Do you like me?” The question left him frozen, unable to react, as he stood there staring blankly at her.
Her features were so familiar—delicate and refined. Her pale, smooth skin, her graceful and gentle demeanor, and her soft gaze all gave a sense of warmth and peace, as if being cared for with tender affection.
By human standards, she was undoubtedly a beauty—someone who pleased the eye and comforted the soul.
But what drew him more than her appearance was her soul. It resonated with him in a way that tugged at his heartstrings effortlessly. Long before he understood human emotions, he had already fallen for her, head over heels.
He didn’t even want to wake from this feeling, already toying with the idea of dating her.
Of course, he liked her.
If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have so readily chosen her as his partner the second time they met in the game world. Back then, he told himself it was because of her capabilities—that she could cover for him and help him clear levels. But those were just excuses. Even then, he had already felt a faint fondness for her, a feeling that only deepened with time.
Under her gaze, soft but shaded with something unreadable, a faint blush began to bloom on his pale face.
When he snapped back to reality, his first thought was that she knew. Did he really make it so obvious?
Realizing that she truly understood his feelings, an uncontrollable heat surged to his face. For the first time in his life, Lu Ji blushed so thoroughly that even without a mirror, he could imagine how he looked.
He felt like he was becoming more and more “human.”
She stood there, looking at him, so stunningly beautiful.
Unable to meet her eyes any longer, Lu Ji lowered his gaze slightly and gave a soft “mm” in response to her question.
Standing in front of the departing train, his hands hung quietly at his sides. He looked calm and composed, the blush and shyness on his face fully exposed under the bright lights. Even the affection he held for her was plainly written across his features.
He no longer wanted to hide it.
Gu Jiu understood.
She stood there, watching her, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she were lost in thought—or perhaps thinking nothing at all.
She stayed silent for so long that Lu Ji started to panic. He worried that she might not accept his feelings and couldn’t help but look up at her.
Just then, Gu Jiu stepped closer. They were already standing near each other, but that one step closed the gap even further—so much so that their breaths seemed to mingle.
It was an intimate distance, one that crossed the boundary of safety.
“A… Ah Jiu…” Lu Ji stammered, a rare nervousness creeping into his voice as the expression on his face grew increasingly tense.
The more flustered he felt in front of her, the calmer his expression became—so calm it bordered on cold, making it easy for others to misunderstand him or fail to discern his true thoughts.
That was just the way he was.
To Everyone and everything, he was detached and indifferent—silent, gloomy, and cold.
Gu Jiu couldn’t help but laugh. She raised her hand and gently caressed his face. The touch was cool, like smooth jade—unhealthy, perhaps, but inexplicably comforting.
She said softly, “Ah Ji, actually, I like you too.”
“…”
For the first time in his life, Lu Ji seemed to lose the ability to respond, staring at her in stunned silence.
His mind went blank. He couldn’t quite grasp what her words meant, nor could he believe what he’d heard. It felt too easy, so easy it seemed unreal.
“But,” Gu Jiu leaned in closer, narrowing the distance between them until their breaths intertwined, “I want to be on top.”
Her gaze was unwavering as she stared at her rare blush, a faint rose tint that graced her pale features. Her tone, her expression, and even her actions all carried an innate confidence and control.
Seeing that she still hadn’t reacted, she asked again, “You understand, don’t you?”
Un-un-understand what?
Lu Ji finally snapped out of it, just as she slowly leaned closer.
Her soft, pink lips brushed lightly against the corner of his mouth. Before he could savor the fleeting sweetness, it was already gone, leaving behind a faint, lingering fragrance that seemed to melt into his senses.
His dark eyes locked onto her face, and in a sudden motion, he grasped her hand tightly.
Gu Jiu smiled at his touch, her eyes full of warmth as she said, “Ah Ji, I like you too. Let’s date. But I need to make one thing clear—I’ll be on top. You understand that, don’t you?”
Lu Ji: “…I-I understand.”
Overwhelmed by joy, Lu Ji felt as if his world was spinning. He barely registered her words, much less their implications. He simply nodded along, instinctively agreeing to whatever she said.
Whatever she asked, he only had one answer: to agree with her.
“No, you don’t understand.” Gu Jiu tilted her head, her gaze sweeping downward from her lightly blushing face. She studied her carefully.
With that rare flush of color, her face transformed from pale beauty to something breathtaking, so much so that Gu Jiu found herself liking her even more.
Lu Ji’s grip on her hand tightened, his nervousness palpable. Her gaze seemed to carry a magnetic pull, making his entire body burn. Initially, he truly didn’t understand what she meant, but he was quick to catch on.
And because he understood, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t yet confessed everything to her. Just as he opened his mouth to speak—
“The train is here,” Gu Jiu interrupted, turning toward the arriving subway. With a bright smile, she said to her newly confessed “girlfriend”, “Ah Ji, let’s get on first.”
Her demeanor was a perfect blend of tenderness and assertiveness. Her hand, though not particularly large or strong, felt incredibly warm and firm, leaving no room for refusal.
And so, Lu Ji was pulled onto the train, hand in hand with her.
He could never resist her mix of warmth and strength.
At the train door stood two young twin girls, their small hands clasped as they silently watched them.
Gu Jiu smiled warmly at the twins, waving lightly as she said in a gentle voice, “Sasha, Lisa, may you have a beautiful life in your next one.”
The twin sisters gazed back at her, waving as they said goodbye.
The train doors closed.
The subway slowly departed the station.
Amid the receding crowd, Gu Jiu’s eyes fell on a woman in a red dress, who was staring at her warily from a distance. Gu Jiu thought for a moment, then retrieved a severed arm from her satchel and tossed it back to the woman.
With a calm smile, she waved and said, “Goodbye.”
After finishing her tasks, she felt the familiar pull.
Sure enough, boarding the train was the key to leaving the game world.
Before leaving, Gu Jiu turned to Lu Ji with a smile and said, “Ah Ji, I’ll go first. Wait for me in Boundless City.”
Lu Ji gave a soft “mm,” watching her figure vanish into the train.
Inside the train, the other passengers didn’t seem to notice her disappearance. They continued their activities as though nothing had happened.
Lu Ji stood still, replaying the recent events in his mind over and over. After going through them dozens of times, he finally confirmed it—the girl he liked truly liked him back. And not only that, she wanted to date him.
A blush once again colored his pale face as joy began to light up his brows. His happiness grew to the point that he almost couldn’t help shouting into the vast sea of the game’s rules.
The girl he liked really liked him!
He could date her now!
Feeling a growing urgency, Lu Ji wanted to return as quickly as possible, to confess everything to her.
Just as he was about to leave, he caught sight of the woman in the red dress from the corner of his eye. His expression froze.
The red-dress woman was doing her best to minimize her presence. When she noticed Lu Ji looking at her, terror flickered in her eyes, and she shrank nervously against the wall of the train car. But the space was limited, and no matter how much she tried to hide, she couldn’t escape Lu Ji’s gaze.
Thinking of Gu Jiu’s blessings for the twin girls, Lu Ji hesitated briefly. In the end, he did nothing more than leave behind a paper frog.
—
[Congratulations, Player Gu Jiu, on clearing the “Death Train” instance.]
The moment Gu Jiu entered the gray mist space, the familiar youthful voice of System Butler #387 rang out. A small metal orb shot toward her, circling her a few times to assess her condition.
Finding that Gu Jiu was still alive and well—no limbs missing, and her mental state intact—the little orb finally breathed a sigh of relief.
[Miss, that’s wonderful! You’ve finally cleared the instance!] 387’s voice was full of relief and joy. [I almost thought you’d be trapped in the Death Train too, unable to escape, like so many of those other players…]
It had been closely monitoring Gu Jiu’s progress in the game world, worrying endlessly every time she narrowly escaped danger.
Thankfully, Gu Jiu hadn’t let it down. Not only did she find a reliable teammate and reunite with Lu Ji, but she also discovered the key to clearing the instance.
Although she had been trapped for nearly half a month, she had ultimately cleared it successfully.
[Miss, this time, 1,300 players were sent into the game. Of those, 800 successfully cleared it. Originally, the main system had decided that if you still couldn’t clear it, it would keep sending players in, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm the instance…]
Although the Death Train instance was indeed dangerous, it was still only a mutated and upgraded C-level instance. If skill didn’t work, numbers would.
Thus, more and more players were sent in, and as their numbers grew, they banded together, making the train’s ghosts less of a threat.
By the later stages, Gu Jiu barely had to do anything herself. It was the players’ unity that defeated the ghosts.
Gu Jiu smiled faintly as she listened to the system butler’s rambling. When it finally paused, she asked, “What was this all about? Why was the Death Train split into two spaces?”
[It was caused by an external abnormal force.] 387 sounded both irritated and helpless. [This time, the invading force was particularly powerful. It didn’t just invade the world—it caused mass death as well…]
The Death Zone was what the train and subway station had become.
At the time, a large number of people had died. Their souls were trapped in the subway station, unable to leave, and over time, they were assimilated into the most ferocious ghosts of the station.
“And what about the separation between the illusory and real spaces?” Gu Jiu asked, her curiosity piqued. “Why did they split into two?”
[That’s also due to the external force’s interference.] 387 explained further. [It forcibly split the space into two layers. One was the illusory world—the death realm where the souls were trapped. The other was the real world, where survivors and players could enter.]
[The separation made it harder for players to distinguish between reality and illusion, significantly increasing the instance’s difficulty.]
Gu Jiu nodded thoughtfully. “So, it was to trap as many players as possible and spread the invasion further?”
[Exactly, Miss.] 387’s voice turned solemn. [The external force wasn’t just targeting the players. It was also trying to weaken the system’s defenses by spreading chaos and death.]
Gu Jiu’s gaze sharpened as she processed the explanation, her expression unreadable.
[It was also caused by the external force, splitting the space into real and illusory dimensions, throwing the ghosts into the illusory space. Since the Death Train and subway station were their places of death, they could move between both spaces. However, no matter the space, they were already dead…]
System Butler #387 patiently unraveled the truth of the world.
In the past, it wouldn’t have been this forthcoming. However, the game world this time had been far too dangerous. It was no small feat for players to survive. After the players cleared the instance, the main system of Multiverse Games finally deciphered the truth and provided it to all system butlers, who were instructed to share with players upon request, with no need for secrecy.
[Luckily, you managed to identify the boundary between real and illusory spaces; otherwise, who knows how long it would’ve taken you to clear the instance.] 387 said with a sigh.
The challenge of this game world lay precisely in this hidden separation.
Who could have guessed that the space had been split in two, with the real space carefully concealed?
Gu Jiu pondered thoughtfully and analyzed, “The reason the subway station didn’t have a name is that it was in the illusory space, detached from reality. As long as players identified the names of all the subway stations, they could merge the real and illusory spaces. Is that correct?”
[Exactly!] 387 replied enthusiastically. [What you were tasked with this time was to reunite the real and illusory spaces. Only by doing so could the ghosts bound to the subway station escape their fate.]
[The illusory space’s power was incredibly strong. Once the ghosts entered the illusory space, its influence heightened their hostility, making them even more dangerous. That’s why so many players were sacrificed.]
As it spoke, 387 couldn’t help but sigh again.
Its level was still low, so it couldn’t choose game worlds for its players independently. It had to accept random assignments from the main system. Knowing that Gu Jiu had been sent to the Death Train instance had deeply unsettled it.
“It’s fine. Once I become an S-rank player, you won’t have to be so passive,” Gu Jiu reassured it gently.
387 was so moved that its voice choked slightly.
It hadn’t expected Gu Jiu not only to avoid blaming it for being useless but also to console it so warmly, even promising it future security. If it were human, it would’ve fallen in love with her on the spot.
Its tone became fervent. [Miss, I’ll stick by your side from now on and help you conquer everything!]
At this moment, it felt as if it could sacrifice everything for her.
Gu Jiu smiled lightly and continued to ask about the Death Train.
387 eagerly explained everything about the Death Train’s truth. When it finally paused, it seemed to realize something.
[Miss, you seem unusually happy. Is it because you cleared the instance so smoothly?] it asked curiously.
Gu Jiu, this miss who always appeared gentle and refined, had a demeanor that misled others into thinking she was soft-spoken and ladylike. But that was merely a facade. Her temper was fiery, and even when happy, she wouldn’t usually express it so openly. Yet today, joy radiated from her brows and eyes, almost impossible to hide.
Something was off.
After all, she had just exited the game world. Players at this stage were typically mentally and physically exhausted, their nerves stretched to the breaking point. It wasn’t a time for happiness.
Gu Jiu replied lazily, “Didn’t you notice?”
[Notice what?] 387 was puzzled. [Miss, while we can monitor your progress in clearing an instance, any information deemed private is automatically redacted…]
Gu Jiu responded with an indifferent “Oh,” and added, “If you didn’t see it, then forget it.”
387: […]
—
Confession achieved. Let’s see if the next chapter will reveal the secret… 👀