After throwing together a casual lunch, she stayed by her computer, on standby—not just sitting idly, but monitoring the QQ group chat, trying to extract anything useful from the stream of messages.
Her eyes darted across the screen like a QR code scanner, only pausing when something noteworthy appeared in the group.
(Group Message)【Letter-kun: Image 1】
(Group Message)【shuobiao7800: Image 1】
(Group Message)【Lapis Lazuli: That scared me so much I kissed the girl next to me】
(Group Message)【Faint Affection: @Lapis Lazuli Wake up—you don’t have a girl next to you… that’s your crossdressing bro!!!】
(Group Message)【Wind of Remembrance ING: I really don’t understand you otaku】
(Group Message)【Lapis Lazuli: I’m feeling murderous right now】
(Group Message)【shuobiao7800: Image 1, Image 2】
…
The last time she entered the Dark World was at 2:30 PM and exited at 2:41 PM.
That meant from 2:41 PM onward, the 72-hour cooldown began, after which she could be summoned into the Dark World at any time.
No one in the group seemed to realize that the user “BookletNa” had already passed the protection window—they were all just chatting away obliviously.
Suddenly, someone else was removed from the group.
That stirred things up again—the topic shifted back to the Dark World.
(Group Message)【piapiapia: The Driver won again. Being on his team is basically a free win!】
Ding! Our Lady Hua Ru’s eyes froze like she’d locked onto a target.
The Driver? Who’s that? “Free win”? Is he that strong?
She began scanning through the QQ group members.
Of the 118 remaining, no one was named “The Driver.” Could it be a nickname? Or maybe a real-life profession?
Then she noticed something: piapiapia mentioned “being on his team,” implying they’d once teamed up.
After some digging, Lady Hua Ru found what she was looking for in a chat log from April 7th at 12:10 PM.
At that time, the group owner, Shenzhu, had named four people: Corpse Princess of Wushou Tomb, piapiapia, Black Bro, and Minato Kai.
Corpse Princess… Corpse Princess… Driver.
Ah—so that’s the connection.
But wait! The protection period is 72 hours.
That means Corpse Princess shouldn’t be able to reenter the Dark World until at least April 10th.
Why did he go in again on April 8th?
(Private Chat 1)【BookletNa: Is it possible to enter the Dark World voluntarily?】
(Private Chat 1)【Shenzhu: Yes.】
So it’s true—someone actually chose to go in.
That makes him dangerous.
Looking back at the group list, she saw that all four people named earlier were still in the group, meaning none of them had died.
Could it be that all four were on the same team?
Or perhaps the game allowed for multiple winners?
Lady Hua Ru mentally filed away these details.
(Group Message)【piapiapia: Black Bro isn’t bad either. One of our group’s Three Berserkers. Too bad LeftHand is gone—only two remain now.】
Hmm? That line was suspicious.
Yes, very suspicious.
Black Bro hadn’t even been mentioned before, yet suddenly piapiapia brought him up.
It seemed like idle chatter, but there was a subtle undertone of hostility.
If you read the message on its own, you might miss it.
But if you separate that line from the previous one, it starts to feel like a deliberate exposure of Black Bro’s status—definitely a sign of malice.
Could there be bad blood between them?
And what does “Berserker” mean?
Does it refer to someone like LeftHandForFriendship with the eight-pack abs?
Or maybe it just describes a combat-focused playstyle?
Why would piapiapia expose Black Bro like that?
His message was a double-edged sword.
It could win him favor with clueless newcomers, but anyone who saw it would probably think twice about revealing anything around him in the future.
After that, no more useful messages came through.
Though everyone in the group acted familiar with one another, it was likely that no one really knew what was going on except themselves.
Everyone seemed careful not to give away anything—about themselves or others.
That night, Lady Hua Ru slept terribly.
Fearful of being summoned at any moment, she hovered between sleep and wakefulness until dawn, only drifting off just before sunrise.
But God clearly had no intention of letting her rest.
After only four hours of sleep, the doorbell rang just after 10 AM.
She practically leapt out of bed, thinking it was a QQ summon.
It took her a full three seconds to realize it was just the doorbell.
Even though she wanted to strangle whoever was outside, she had to feign sweetness:
“May I ask who’s there?”
But her voice was too soft.
Trying to sound gentle meant speaking in a delicate whisper, which, muffled by two doors and a hallway, didn’t carry at all.
Yawning, she began folding her quilt.
Since the person outside didn’t hear her, she might as well wait.
But the ringing continued—insistently, annoyingly.
The doorbell rang faster and louder now, and voices—angry male ones—came through:
“Hey, Lao Hua, I know you’re in there.”
“You little brat, stop hiding—we know you’re in there.”
“Let’s just kick the door down.”
“Back up, I’m doing it.”
Right after that came a series of deep, thudding sounds—someone outside had started kicking the door.
Compared to Lady Hua Ru’s soft, mosquito-like voice, the loud voices of the several men outside were unmistakably much stronger.
She already knew exactly who they were—those punks were the very culprits who had tricked her into downloading the “QQ 8.2 Greenified Portable Version.”
Of course, part of the blame also lay with her own addiction to gaming—she had tried to buy a game account, but the customer service had insisted on using QQ for contact.
The combination of those two things had led her to extend her sinful hand toward QQ.
If not for that, she would never have used QQ.
She had always loathed software like QQ—installing it meant forced background processes that couldn’t be shut down.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
She had fallen into the trap.
Suddenly, the banging on the door stopped.
It seemed the landlady’s eldest son had stepped in.
Now this was how someone with education handled a situation:
“According to Article 58 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, creating noise that disrupts others’ normal lives can result in a warning; failure to comply after a warning can result in a fine of 200 to 500 yuan.
You’re trying to trespass too, huh?
Let me tell you: according to Article 245 of the Criminal Law, unlawful entry into another’s residence is punishable by up to three years in prison or criminal detention.
Hey! I’m warning you, don’t get violent—are you trying to hit me? Hands off! I’m warning you: under Article 234 of the Criminal Law, if you hit me—light case, 15 days detention; more serious, three years; very serious—10 years!
Hey! What’s with your lips? You trying to say ‘f*** your mom’? That’s attempted verbal assault under Article 236—ten years in prison!
Touch my mom? You think it’s just swearing? Want to insult me? Under Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, if you insult or threaten me, I’ll call the cops and have you detained for 10 days.”
…
And then—nothing.
Everything outside fell silent.
Meanwhile, hiding behind the door, Lady Hua Ru was left completely dumbfounded—her face blank, her IQ seemingly having dropped into the negatives.