Chapter 556: A New Legendary Player

    Within half a day, the forum was ablaze with multiple sensational threads labeled with ’HOT’ and the number of active commenters rapidly climbed to thousands with no signs of stopping as the hours ticked by.

    It was a mere annual Cycle, not even a high-level one, yet the level of hype it generated turned the atmosphere rowdier than the New Year!

    But of course, it all had nothing to do with the SJG trio, who were still dead to the world.

    Even Jin Jiuchi, whose energy seemed limitless, did not regain his consciousness so soon this time around. It might be his body’s autonomous attempt to heal itself from the sudden death, or maybe it was the aftereffects caused by the Mad Hatter’s mysterious concoction.

    By the time Shen Nianzu stirred awake, Christmas had already ended.

    For a moment, he could only stare blankly at the white ceiling above, his mind still groggy from the prolonged sleep, unable to discern what time and day it was. Every inch of his body ached as though a horse carriage had just run him over, his limbs weak and heavy, and each laborious breaths he took was laced with the heavy smell of disinfectant he both despised and was so familiar with, as it reminded him of the countless boring hospital stays he had gone through during his childhood.

    How long had he been sleeping...?

    He sluggishly shifted his eyeballs to the window. The sky outside was completely dark and only the inner layer of lightweight sheer curtain was drawn, allowing the faint glow from the street lamp outside to filter in. Barely enough to let him know that he was all alone here—

    Wait, something’s not right.

    All of a sudden, Shen Nianzu became wide awake.

    Ignoring the aching soreness on his joints, he flung his blanket away, only to find an intruder sleeping soundly with an arm draped across his waist, head leaning intimately against his hip. The said intruder seemed to take no notice of his large build and insisted on squeezing into the single bed with Shen Nianzu, which resulted in Shen Nianzu being squashed to the corner.

    Shen Nianzu: "..."

    No wonder he dreamed of being caught by a sleep paralysis ghost!

    Jin – sleep paralysis ghost – Jiuchi did not have the slightest idea of the violence brewing in Shen Nianzu’s mind. He slept so deeply as though not even an earthquake or a fire could wake him up, even nuzzling his head closer and snoring faintly!

    Shen Nianzu hesitated between kicking him off the bed or suffocating him with a pillow, but in the end he chose to do neither. Instead, he let his body fall back to the bed with a helpless sigh.

    Forget it, he thought as he gently ruffled the man’s hair. Just let him sleep as much as he wanted. Either way, it’s not like Shen Nianzu didn’t know how sticky his boyfriend was.

    With Jin Jiuchi’s muscular arm pinning him down, Shen Nianzu could not leave the bed, nor did he want to summon the doctor or nurses only to hear them nagging incessantly in his ears. He played with the unruly strands of Jin Jiuchi’s hair and looked around in boredom before he noticed his phone on the bedside table, connected to the charging cable. It must have been Assistant Qin who had charged it for him.

    Shen Nianzu’s gaze narrowed on the phone. Come to think of it, he still had no idea who the fourth Legendary player was.

    Time to check it out!

    Holding his breath, Shen Nianzu strived to keep his lower body in place as he stretched his arm over, the line of his neck tensing from the exertion.

    Come on, just a little bit more...

    The tips of his fingers brushed against the phone, and Shen Nianzu’s eyes lit up. But just as he was about to grab it—

    Thud thud thud thud!

    A series of loud and rapid footsteps approached his room at full speed, echoing loud and clear amidst the tranquil silence of the night. Shen Nianzu hadn’t even reacted yet when— BANG! — the door was slammed open with such force that the walls seemed to tremble along, followed shortly by a resonant, high-pitched holler, "XIAO SHEN—!"

    Shen Nianzu: "..."

    As expected of a musical theater student, the vocal strength was more solid than gold.

    "W–Wha— what is it?! An explosion?! Did someone bomb the hospital?! We must— owww!"

    Startled by the loud sound, Jin Jiuchi instinctively rolled upright with his eyes not even fully opened yet, causing him to teeter on the edge of the bed and tumble to the ground with a thud.

    Only then did Gu Luoxin realize there was a second person inside the room. "Oh, Da Shen, you’re here as well... "

    A sheepish look crossed his face as he let out a few awkward chuckles. Goodness, don’t tell him he had just intruded on their lovey dovey time! In the first place, how was he supposed to know that Jin Jiuchi would be here??

    Unsure of whether he should go in or not, he could only linger on the doorway, hemming and hawing.

    Just then, a nurse walked down from the other side of the corridor, chiding in a suppressed voice, "What’s the ruckus all about? Please don’t make loud noises at such a late hour!"

    Thoroughly mortified, Gu Luoxin hastily apologized again and again while bowing, "Sorry, sorry, Miss Nurse, it’s my fault! I will be quiet this time!" Still bowing, he retreated inch by inch and slinked into the room before closing the door behind him very very carefully, making sure not to create any more noises.

    Shen Nianzu pinched his brows, pushing away Jin Jiuchi who once again wanted to climb into his bed. "Why are you here at..." he glanced at the time displayed on his phone screen before continuing, "...two in the morning? Is there something urgent, Xinxin?"

    "Oh, right!" Gu Luoxin immediately straightened up as he recalled what he was here for. "Have you checked the leaderboard? Oh my God, can you guess who it is?! The player... the player who got the platinum ticket..." he was so worked up that he could only gesture wildly with his hands, his expression a vivid blend of excitement and thrill.

    Shen Nianzu couldn’t help but raise an intrigued brow upon seeing Gu Luoxin’s reaction. "I was just about to check it before you came."

    As he spoke, he deftly entered his phone’s password, unlocked it, and clicked on the Nightmare App.

    "Oh?" His gaze paused on the leaderboard and a faint, genuine smile emerged from the depths of his eyes. "She really accomplished what she said."

    "Who, who, who is it?" Jin Jiuchi eagerly approached and peeked at the screen, only to lose interest in the next second. "Oh, it’s her..."

    At the very top of the leaderboard— a place that was akin to a distant pipe dream to most, unreachable even in a lifetime — a new Legendary player had emerged.

    Rank 4th: Ying – Sovereign of the Dead

    Unable to hold it in any longer, Gu Luoxin finally burst out, his fists pumping in the air, "Ying is so freaking cool!!!"

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    A/N: Yay, congratulations Ying for becoming the fourth legendary player! *cheers* *pulls confetti* a little reminder that her skill is necromancy. Previously the name of her skill card is tightly entwined with her deceased twin brother, but now that she’s advanced in level, her skill card has evolved into the current one, which may also symbolize that she has begun to move on from the past... QAQ

    If our SJG trio were to become legendary players later, they will also get their own official titles ^^