Chapter 59: Class Game (Twenty-Five) Part 2

He let out a miserable laugh. “I’m not afraid of death anymore, but I still fear pain… This medicine poisons me slowly—no pain.”

Yun Xueqing pressed, “What exactly did you go through?”

Li Yulin gave him a deep look. “Don’t be curious… Knowing would only harm you.”

Yun Xueqing: “Tell me quickly.”

But Li Yulin ignored him. In his final moments, his gaze drifted to the bed canopy overhead.

As the Second Prince, his every need was the finest—even the canopy was silk.

Staring at it, Li Yulin suddenly smiled slowly, a pure, childlike smile, his last words nonsensical: “Yun Xueqing… If you get the chance, lend me a movie… Just The Troublemaker.”

He closed his eyes, like a fallen white camellia, devoid of meaning, leaving only a trace of desolation.

Yun Xueqing had witnessed countless deaths, even close ones, but this felt the most peculiar.

Yet before the sentiment could settle, the illusion before him burned away like paper in fire, plunging into darkness.

With a blink, Yun Xueqing was back in the Blue Castle.

After all, it was an illusion; wounds sustained within vanished entirely.

The Goatmen’s voice echoed nearby: “Congratulations to all for passing the second trial. Impressive, indeed.”

After so many perils, they’d barely cleared the second layer.

Yun Xueqing glanced at the remaining challengers—only five left, many more dead.

The slave resembling Li Yulin was among them, but his eyes were utterly lifeless, like a dead puppet.

Yun Xueqing’s expression darkened, about to speak, when Fu Wuxuan suddenly declared beside him, “We want to withdraw from the King’s Challenge.”

The Goatmen remained suave and composed. “Challenger, as I said, once you join the challenge, you cannot withdraw midway—unless by death.”

Fu Wuxuan curved his lips, more provocative than last time toward the Goatmen, his tone even wilder. “No midway withdrawal—is that the King’s rule, or yours, Zhongse?”

The name “Zhongse” dropped into the crowd like water into hot oil, exploding in shock. The surviving challengers were all stunned.

Jiang Yiyue stared at the Goatmen in shock. “You said… you said it… it’s Zhongse?”

San Zhi, still alive, showed astonishment on his face but quickly composed himself, his tone odd. “No wonder… No wonder the trials are so vicious.”

In the Blue Castle, it promoted truth, goodness, and beauty; committing evil against its preached “virtues” accelerated bodily mutation.

Yet some trials forced evil acts—refusing meant death, compelling their true natures to surface.

Such vicious trials could only come from a madman like Zhongse.

The Goatmen heard Fu Wuxuan’s accusation but showed no anger. Instead, it trembled with excitement.

It tore off its face directly. The goat face fell away, revealing a bewitching visage and fiery red hair—it was indeed Zhongse.

Zhongse scratched at his disheveled fiery red locks and casually tied them into a high ponytail. His tone was teasing. “How did you figure it out?”

Fu Wuxuan wore an equally composed smile on his face. Though half-paralyzed and seated in a chair, he held his ground without faltering. “It was just a guess at first. I didn’t expect you to admit it so straightforwardly.”

He pointed at the King behind Zhongse. “You’ve been pulling the strings all along this path. He’s just a puppet you dragged out to draw everyone’s attention, right?”

Zhongse nodded, showing no shame at having his scheme exposed. Instead, he clapped and laughed heartily. “Spot on. Not bad for Dong Jun, the former S-Rank Ability User.”

His tone carried a deeper meaning.

Among the surviving participants present, there were only six people.

Few remained in the dark. Jiang Yiyue’s eyes suddenly widened. “You… you’re Dong Jun!”

The person who had cleared the trials alongside her was that legendary Dong Jun?!

She felt like she was about to faint!

Zhongse ignored Jiang Yiyue, who was on the verge of passing out from shock. This test subject of his wasn’t her. Instead, he spoke to Fu Wuxuan with profound implication. “Even if you’ve exposed my identity, what of it? You still have to get through the Nine Layers of Hell if you want any chance of escaping.”

Though he said that, the people present had endured several trials by now. They had pieced together clues from multiple layers, and now that Zhongse’s identity was revealed, they had some guesses about the true way out.

Yun Xueqing, who had remained silent off to the side, suddenly spoke up. “Clearing the Nine Layers of Hell won’t make you the one who controls everything—the King—nor will it let you leave this place.”

Zhongse masked his true emotions and turned his gaze to Yun Xueqing, saying nothing.

Jiang Yiyue was already reeling from the Dong Jun revelation, and now their words left her utterly confused. She felt a helpless sense of being caught in the game without understanding a thing. “Why won’t clearing the Nine Layers of Hell make you the King or let you out?”

Yun Xueqing glanced at Jiang Yiyue and drawled slowly, “The Goatman told us from the start: clearing the Nine Layers of Hell doesn’t guarantee you’ll become the King.”

The outside world rumored that succeeding in the King’s Challenge allowed one to inherit the King’s throne.

But where did those rumors come from? Who had ever verified they were true?

Moreover, the King’s Challenge had never claimed it was just the Nine Layers of Hell. There might be more trials beyond.

For instance, in The Divine Comedy, beyond the Nine Layers of Hell lay Purgatory and Paradise—perhaps with many more layers of trials awaiting them.

Blindly pushing through trials would just lead to everyone dying off without completing the challenge, all for nothing.

The Goatman had said from the beginning that those who passed the Nine Layers of Hell wouldn’t necessarily become King. They simply hadn’t wanted to believe it.

Jiang Yiyue realized she’d been played, and her expression soured. “If we can’t leave by completing the King’s Challenge, then how do we get out?”

San Zhi, who had been watching the drama unfold from the side, chuckled. “You silly girl, still haven’t figured it out? No idea how you’ve survived this long. The hint in the last trial was so obvious.”

With that reminder from him, Jiang Yiyue got it.

The previous layer of Hell had been escaped by killing the two princes vying for power.

Now that they were back in the Blue Castle, it was as if those power-struggling princes had returned, still trapped in this damned world…

Was it hinting at something?

Jiang Yiyue hesitated. “Do we have to kill each other… or commit suicide?”

Did they really have to die to escape this place?

She had experienced some Weird Domains before, ones that required self-inflicted death to exit.

But that demanded infinite courage—like a brutal gamble. If you bet wrong, the price was your life.

San Zhi stroked his chin. “Probably related to that. Might need verification too… Gotta say, it’s really sneaky.”

He glanced at the smirking Zhongse and felt this guy was deviously cunning—even he, a Weird, had to admit inferiority.

He misled the participants into thinking they had to complete every trial, with clues scattered through the Nine Layers of Hell. You couldn’t skip them.

One misstep, and you’d be trapped in a trial. He even used words to threaten no withdrawals, making everyone believe they had to conquer all Nine Layers of Hell. Truly diabolical.

San Zhi grinned, his face taking on a malicious glint. “Though we don’t know the real way out, since the designer of this domain is right here, why not catch him and torture the truth out of him…”

Fu Wuxuan couldn’t help glancing at San Zhi.

For all the time he’d known San Zhi, this was the first time he felt this wicked Weird had said something he liked to hear.

Though he knew this plan had no chance of success.

Sure enough, Zhongse spoke up from the side. “You’re joking, right? I designed this domain. You think you can catch me on my own turf? What wishful thinking.”

No sooner had he spoken than a beam of blue light shot in from outside and burrowed into Zhongse’s head.

His composed expression vanished instantly, replaced by a gloomy stare at San Zhi. “I didn’t expect Strategy God Heavens to value you so highly.”

San Zhi read the situation from his expression and grinned wildly. “Of course. I’m a core member of our organization—the boss knows it.”

This was pure bullshit, spouted just to rile Zhongse up and watch him lose it.

“Guess I can’t keep playing with you all.”

A gloomy expression crossed Zhongse’s flamboyantly beautiful face. He flashed San Zhi a sudden smile. “You really piss me off.”

His gorgeous features made his smile resemble a vivid red dahlia—gorgeous yet eerie.

From nowhere, he pulled out a Ghost Artifact and, without warning, plunged it into San Zhi’s gut.

San Zhi hadn’t expected him to snap like that. Caught off guard, he widened his eyes as blood trickled from his mouth. “You’re vicious.”

“Don’t worry, not fatal,” Zhongse smiled like a seductive serpent, his tone icy. “But since you pissed me off, I want you to feel pissed off too.”

He yanked the blade from San Zhi’s belly, wiped off the green blood with distaste, and then withdrew from the domain.

San Zhi clutched his stomach and gave a wry smile. “Shouldn’t have gotten cocky.”

All that trash talk felt good in the moment—till he got stabbed.

Jiang Yiyue had wanted to help when the conflict erupted, but seeing green blood from San Zhi exposed him as a Weird. Terrified, she backed away, not daring to draw attention.

With Zhongse gone, the Goatman vanished, and the trial-pusher absent, the survivors stared at each other.

Yun Xueqing scanned the room, counting the survivors.

Himself, Fu Wuxuan, San Zhi, Jiang Yiyue… and one unfamiliar young man.

The youth wore a white dress shirt and wasn’t tall. His porcelain-pale doll-like face bore round-framed glasses, with neat black hair that looked docile and harmless—like a good student who had wandered in by mistake.

Yet his survival to this point, and the fact that everyone had subconsciously overlooked him until now, proved he was no ordinary person.

As if sensing Yun Xueqing’s gaze, the youth spoke in a soft, gentle tone. “Hello, I’m Fu Mi.”