The No. 1 Hunfen King in the Entire Server [Interstellar] Chapter 19

Lin Jing couldn’t laugh at all. His deep brown eyes locked onto him, unyielding.

Xu Wanzhi’s lips curled into a half-smile, his expression unreadable. He spoke seriously, “I told you, I came here just to watch the show. But you insisted on dragging me into the game. So now—are you still going to report me?”

His tone was calm, but his eyes were full of mockery.

Lin Jing: “…”

No words. Nothing but a single expletive—f*ck!

The fire behind them grew stronger, yet its heat seemed to fade. The roaring flames shifted in color—from red to white, then to an eerie green, cold and oppressive, like the ghostly lights guiding souls down the path to the underworld.

He heard the entire mountain collapsing from within. Rocks crashed down in a deafening roar, the ground trembled violently, a vengeful wail from the lurking spirits pierced the air—followed by Feng Haozhong’s terrified screams and the shouts of the two girls.

No surprise there. That cave was destined to be their burial ground.

Lin Jing’s mind went completely blank before he instinctively started processing information at high speed. His thoughts raced through every clue about Xu Wanzhi’s identity, but he found himself at a complete loss for words.

The frustration of being deceived and toyed with—along with a furious self-loathing for having let his guard down so thoroughly—churned inside him.

Xu Wanzhi didn’t even have to guess what Lin Jing was thinking. With a casual shrug, he said lightly, “My role is the Soul of Spirit Mountain, but I’m neither an NPC nor a player. That old man let me in just to be an observer—and that was my intention all along.”

He raised his hand slightly, revealing a red mark on his wrist—the imprint left by the Buddhist prayer beads he had been wearing all this time. Xu Wanzhi thought back on it for a moment and found it all quite amusing.

“Truth is, I couldn’t do anything. The prayer beads sealed my powers, I’m afraid of blood, I’m lethargic, and my spiritual energy is completely depleted. Day and night, I was exhausted. In this instance, the Spirit of Spirit Mountain was useless from the start.”

“Who would’ve thought, your teammates are just too adorable.”

Xu Wanzhi let out a short laugh, his tone light and composed.

“They figured out the plot, understood the main NPC’s task. So why couldn’t they guess the purpose of the three prohibitions? The monk’s warnings from the past were always meant as seals.”

Seals to trap the vengeful spirit of a deceased infant, the malevolent specter of the coffins, and the bitterly resentful monster of Spirit Mountain. The bans on deforestation, setting fires, and hunting animals were all to prevent the villagers from accidentally breaking the seals.

Lin Jing swallowed his fury.

From the very first game he’d entered, the institute had thrown him into this!

D*mn it! What the h*ll? Was this fair? Was it fair at all?

Xu Wanzhi said, “Five seconds left. Do you have anything you’d like to ask?”

Lin Jing had stopped caring about those things. As they left the cave, he had already guessed that someone would fail. Taking a deep breath, he asked, “I guess I won, right?”

Xu Wanzhi smiled faintly and replied, “Mm. You’re impressive.”

Though it sounded like praise, it was utterly insincere. Of course, it was. Xu Wanzhi, who could casually waltz into a low-level script as the boss, was clearly an elite player. To him, the outcome of such a low-tier script probably mattered little.

Lin Jing didn’t mind either way.

The countdown for The Door of Life and Death began.

5.

Lin Jing recalled the questions he had asked Xu Wanzhi on their way up Spirit Mountain and suddenly looked up. “So now that the game’s over, what did you learn?”

Xu Wanzhi paused, seemingly surprised by the question. His brows furrowed slightly in thought before he chuckled and asked in return, “What did I learn?”

4.

The sky turned from clear to overcast as rain began to fall. The entire Spirit Mountain was engulfed in flames. Death loomed closer yet felt oddly distant. The dead were buried, and in that moment, even the ominous, eerie cliffs seemed sacred, like a pure land. The wind carried ash, both damp and scorching.

After a moment of thought, Xu Wanzhi joked, “I didn’t learn much. But I did play the role of a boyfriend. That alone makes me think the old man would be satisfied.”

Lin Jing: “…”

He forced a tight, sarcastic smile. “Fine, big boss, you win.” He vowed to never see him again after this.

1.

At the last second, Lin Jing didn’t bother with further banter. He turned and leapt off the cliff. The fire around him lacked heat, burning silently, creating a surreal atmosphere—like h*ll and heaven intertwined. As he fell, faces appeared in the inferno: Xuya’s, the village chief’s, Scar Bro’s, and the old man’s from the second floor. Their ferocity had faded, replaced by sorrowful and serene expressions as they gazed at him.

Just before he hit the ground, he thought he saw a door—or maybe it was just an illusion.

Perhaps life and death were like that: elusive, enigmatic, and in the end, like waking from a dream.

Then, the system’s voice sounded.

Cold and mechanical.

[Dear player Shuang Mu Cheng Jing, congratulations on clearing the script The Door of Life and Death. Mode: Adventure. Level: Beginner. Points: +25.]

[The Door of Life and Death Background: The isolated village of Qinghe welcomes many young people searching for their roots each year. A pair of brothers take on the responsibility of guarding the secrets of life and death, repaying the sins of their ancestors.*]

Lin Jing appeared in a pitch-black space, his gaze fixed on the results screen.

There were only six names displayed.

[Shuang Mu Cheng Jing: +25]
[One Hundred One Night: -5 (Reset)]
[Chengcheng Doesn’t Want to Get Fat: -3 (Reset)]
[Matcha Milkshake: 0 (Reset)]
[Like Willow Catkins Rising in the Wind: -9]
[Invincible Hao Bro: -11]

Lin Jing: “…”

This was the absurd penalty system of Survivor. The game lasted seven days, so while the base reward was seven points, the base penalty was also seven points.

Blondie and them had zero points from the start, so they were reset.

Losing 11 points meant it would take two painstaking victories to make up for the loss. Lin Jing could already picture Feng Haozhong’s enraged face.

As expected, Xu Wanzhi’s name wasn’t even listed among the players. The average score of 42 had only accounted for six people all along.

Lin Jing closed the results screen and disconnected the terminal. After a wave of dizziness, he found himself back at home.

He was sitting at his desk, a notebook and pen nearby, with a window to his side overlooking a lush forest. Sunlight streamed in. It had been afternoon when he entered the game, and it was still afternoon now. The mental toll of Survivor was heavy, and Lin Jing felt utterly drained, unable to move.

Suddenly, his computer beeped twice. Lin Jing froze, staring at the notification on the Survivor interface.

[One Hundred One Night requests to add you as a friend.]

Lin Jing: “…” He accepted with a click.

Instantly, on another planet in an underground apartment, a yellow-haired young man jolted upright, startled, and began frantically typing a barrage of messages.

“Brother Lin! Brother Lin! Brother Lin!”

Three consecutive calls of “Brother Lin” were enough to express his chaotic excitement.

The computer dinged non-stop as line after line of text popped up.

“I’m so pissed! Aaaaah! I should’ve stuck with you! I shouldn’t have been so cowardly! I’m so mad I could explode!”

“I can’t believe it! Brother Xu turned out to be the boss?!”

“Seriously, what were we doing on the last night? Forcing the boss to play the game and wiping us out?”

Lin Jing: “…” D*mn it, shut up already!