Chapter 77: The Death Scene Will Deliberately Lead You to Your End

Ding—
The elevator smoothly reached the first floor. The doors slid open with a soft chime. Following the principle of “exit before entry,” the people waiting outside looked inside patiently, letting the passengers leave first.

Xiaoyu suddenly realized what the vision she had seen meant. She would rather streak naked than wear Lin Kuo’s “death jacket.” Lin Kuo didn’t insist; he simply draped the denim coat over his shoulder. Xiaoyu dashed out of the elevator first. Lin Kuo politely motioned for Li Yuan to exit before stepping out himself.

Once the three of them had left, the waiting crowd streamed into the elevator in an orderly fashion.

Lin Kuo walked a few steps, then stopped and looked back. The elevator doors closed slowly, and the mechanical voice announced: Going up.

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin Kuo lifted his eyes toward the grand lobby. As soon as Xiaoyu stepped out of the elevator, a security guard approached her politely.

“Miss Bai, is there anything I can assist you with?”

Xiaoyu froze. “…How do you know my surname is Bai?”

The guard smiled with practiced courtesy. “You’re a competition participant, of course we know who you are.”

Just then, Li Yuan walked over to stand by her side. The difference between a veteran and a newcomer became starkly clear in that moment. Li Yuan said calmly, “Prepare some clothes for her.”

The guard nodded quickly. “Of course. But it may take thirty minutes. During that time… Miss Bai may be inconvenienced.” His gaze flicked toward Lin Kuo, standing a meter away. “Mr. Lin, may I trouble you to lend a hand?”

They didn’t need him to spell it out—everyone knew what the guard meant.

Xiaoyu shook her head frantically. “No, absolutely not! I can’t wear his clothes. You—you can lend me yours instead!”

The guard looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I’m on duty. I can’t be out of uniform. But Miss Bai, perhaps you’d be more comfortable waiting in our lounge while we prepare your outfit.”

“Where is it?” Xiaoyu asked warily.

The guard pointed toward the back of the lobby. “Go down this hall, fourth door on the left. Or I can take you to the VIP lounge on the 44th floor.”

Xiaoyu immediately shook her head again. “…No.” She still remembered the earthquake she had foreseen. She would rather stand wrapped in a towel on a public street, enduring stares, than hide inside another building.

The guard sighed in defeat. Li Yuan interjected, “Go prepare the clothes. We’ll wait here.”

He pointed at the seating area in the lobby. The guard considered, then agreed. After taking Xiaoyu’s measurements, he said “please wait a moment” and left.

The three of them sat in the first-floor lounge by the entrance. If Xiaoyu’s earthquake vision proved true, they could escape outside immediately.

Xiaoyu forced a sheepish smile at Lin Kuo. “I didn’t mean anything by it, really. It’s just… your jacket is too scary.”

Lin Kuo said nothing. The black denim jacket lay tossed across the sofa beside him.

Desperate to change the subject, Xiaoyu said, “Your ring is really pretty…”

She meant the black metal ring on his right index finger—the one Sheng Wen had given him as a meeting gift. Lin Kuo finally answered, softly: “Thanks.”

Encouraged, Xiaoyu rushed to add, “Then, little brother, maybe you should throw that jacket away.”

Before Lin Kuo could respond, Li Yuan cut in, “Think carefully. You’re sure you didn’t see the face of the corpse?”

Xiaoyu nodded.

“Male or female? Aside from the jacket, anything distinctive?”

Lin Kuo listened quietly; these were the same questions he wanted answered.

Xiaoyu’s expression turned grim. “The head was smashed to pulp. I couldn’t even tell the gender. I only glanced once… even if there were distinguishing details, I couldn’t recognize them.”

Li Yuan frowned deeply. She couldn’t understand why a complete newbie was the one given a death premonition. That meant even if there were hidden clues in the vision, they were all but useless.

Lin Kuo suddenly asked the key question: “Were the two visions connected? Or the same scene?”

On the rooftop, Xiaoyu had foreseen an earthquake. In the elevator, she saw a bloody corpse. Li Yuan had instinctively assumed they were one and the same.

She glanced at Lin Kuo, eyes complicated, but said nothing—waiting for Xiaoyu’s answer.

Xiaoyu disappointed them again. “I… I don’t know.”

Li Yuan snapped, frustrated: “Then what good are you?”

“I can’t help it,” Xiaoyu muttered, wronged. “It’s my first time. I didn’t faint dead away—doesn’t that count as being strong enough?”

Knowing further questions were useless, Lin Kuo stopped pressing. Instead, he studied his jacket with a thoughtful gaze.

Before long, the rest of the group who had taken the stairs finally arrived. Seeing Lin Kuo, Li Yuan, and Xiaoyu sitting leisurely on the sofas, they immediately regretted not taking the elevator.

Once again, all thirteen gathered in the lobby. Li Yuan recounted Xiaoyu’s visions to the others. “That’s all she saw. Don’t bother asking more.”

Since security was fetching clothes for Xiaoyu, the group rested in the lounge. A hundred floors of stairs had drained half their lives.

After a short break, Liu He resumed discussion. “Rules are never false—but they’re never complete either. We’ll need to discover the hidden rules inside this dungeon. They’re never given outright—you have to guess them.”

The veterans understood perfectly. Dungeon rules always contained traps. Just like Death Password: the rule stated “hide the password from the evil spirits.” But hidden within were countless other conditions—the spirits could split, could experiment with the password, and even had their own passwords.

Liu He’s meaning was clear: this dungeon must be hiding something too.

But the newcomers didn’t grasp it. They naively began talking about how to avoid death.

“Death visions are just warnings. As long as we avoid them, we’ll be fine.”
“Exactly! Xiaoyu saw an earthquake. We just need to stay in open spaces.”
“When the next vision appears, we’ll carefully analyze the details!”
“The rules said we’re snatching people from Death’s hands. That proves it’s possible to escape!”

The veterans kept silent, unable to shatter their fragile optimism. Lin Kuo said nothing either. Though naive, the newcomers weren’t entirely wrong.

Based on the rules, they could avoid death—and earn points. The problem was how.

So far, they had no clues at all. They didn’t know what method Death used to kill, or how to counter it. Lin Kuo frowned slightly. Before they gained answers, deaths were inevitable.

“Why isn’t security back yet?”
“Do we really have to wait? What if the earthquake happens now? Even out on the street, surrounded by skyscrapers, it wouldn’t be safe.”
“She can just wear my shirt.”

The last suggestion made the most sense. Xiaoyu had seen an earthquake; logically, they should relocate to an open place before it struck. And so long as it wasn’t Lin Kuo’s jacket, she could wear anyone’s clothes.

Someone stripped off a T-shirt and handed it to her. Xiaoyu was about to put it on when the guard finally returned with the prepared outfit.

She hesitated, then chose the security’s clothes instead. Even wearing another player’s shirt left her half-exposed.

Blushing, she said, “Wait here. Don’t go too far. I’ll change quickly and catch up.”

“Troublesome,” Li Yuan muttered. Xiaoyu grabbed the clothes and hurried to the restroom.

Some newbies began drifting outside. Meanwhile, Liu He subtly questioned the guard about the competition. The guard pointed at the giant display screen in the lobby.

“During the competition period, all participants’ names will be broadcast across the city. Not only that—throughout the duration, the city council will provide you with any support you require.”

Before anyone could process that, a cry came from outside. “Come see this!”

They rushed out—and froze.

Every display screen within sight was showing the same broadcast. Names scrolled across in unison. Lin Kuo spotted his own:

Lin Kuo. Male. 22 years old. Competition Score: 0.

So that was the meaning of “competition”: a race against Death itself.

His eyes hardened. On a larger screen, his name was even accompanied by a headshot. No wonder the city’s residents recognized them.

This scoring system was nothing new to Lin Kuo. He wasn’t surprised. Neither were the other veterans. Only the newcomers stared wide-eyed, bewildered yet fascinated.

Sensing the veterans’ disdain, the newbies huddled together, whispering.

Li Yuan grew impatient. “She’s still not done?”

She turned toward the lobby doors to check—just as Xiaoyu reemerged, face frozen in horror.

Li Yuan stiffened. “What did you see this time?!”

Her words drew everyone’s attention. Trembling, Xiaoyu raised her hand and pointed behind them.

Lin Kuo spun instantly.

Across the street stood a glass-walled tower. Through the reflective curtain walls, he saw it clearly: their reflections—

and above them, a massive rooftop sign plummeting straight down.

“Run!” Lin Kuo bellowed at the cluster of chattering newbies.

Startled, the quicker ones bolted like rabbits. The slower ones froze, staring blankly, unable to comprehend.

Lin Kuo lunged forward, trying to drag them away. But how could he outrun something falling from the sky? He had only taken two steps when—

Boom.

The rooftop sign crashed to the ground. One unlucky soul, too slow to escape, was crushed instantly.

Xiaoyu’s face drained to paper white. The death was exactly as she had seen it—the head caved in against concrete, only half the body left protruding. The sole difference: the victim wasn’t wearing Lin Kuo’s jacket.

The scene happened so suddenly the group hadn’t even reacted yet when the building’s security staff rushed out.

“Oh my god!” The guard who had delivered Xiaoyu’s clothes crossed himself quickly. “Amen!”

Then, as if recalling something, he ran back into the lobby, grabbed Lin Kuo’s discarded jacket, and reverently draped it over the corpse—giving the victim a final dignity.

At the same moment, the citywide screens flickered.

Zheng Hua – Game Over!!!

Lin Kuo’s expression hardened. Not only his—every veteran’s face turned pale.

They all understood the truth at once: Death was killing through the visions.

And Zheng Hua’s demise revealed the dungeon’s first trap:
the death visions could mislead them toward death.

If Xiaoyu hadn’t first seen the earthquake, they would have all still been on the rooftop. Which meant—

Death’s visions could be both real and false.