Chapter 1: The Bride of the Phantom King (1)

Tang Mu possessed a soft, adorable exterior, yet her inner nature was completely at odds with her appearance. She embodied the fragility of a young beast and the ferocity of a fully grown predator. Walking among the crowd, people were bewitched by her cute and beautiful aura. But should you look at her a moment longer, you would unmistakably sense the power she concealed beneath her delicate features—a force capable of crushing souls.

“Your IP address has been activated.”
“Please insert your game card.”
“Game script generating. Game character generating. Welcome to the Metaverse. An appropriate script has been selected for you.”
“Script B-level: ‘Bride of the Ghost King.’ Transmitting—”
“Transmission successful!”

The scene before her shifted—an aurora visible only in the town of Mohe within the CN territory, and a long, endless river, pitch-black and glowing green, eerie and mysterious. Whenever a breeze swept by, the dark surface of the river would flicker with strange green phosphorescence.

Tang Mu glanced around; the female player characters were all clad in dazzling red and gold wedding robes, draped in crimson veils. The male player characters were dressed as woodsmen, weeping and pulling at the hands of the female players, as if grieving.

But everyone soon realized they were merely being manipulated by the prologue.

“…Are we really this unlucky? B-level script. Even veterans might not make it out alive!”
“Wasn’t there a walkthrough for this game before?”
“It’s useless! Can you even survive to use it? Dreams and wild fantasies are not the same thing!”
“So what should we do… We can’t just stand here and wait for death, right? I still have a mountain of bills unpaid.”
“Me too, my brother has leukemia and urgently needs matching bone marrow.”
“Can anyone be worse off than me? I’m paralyzed in real life.”

Everyone competed in misery, as if survival depended on outdoing one another in hardship.

Yet amidst them, one person drew almost all attention—Tang Mu.

Men who saw her wished to possess her. Women who saw her burned with envy. Just a single glance at Tang Mu and people were entranced by her gentle, elegant, alluring appearance.

With her D+ bust, she was an icy beauty—someone to admire from afar, never to profane.

Several contrasting auras mingled within her: mystery, elegance; petite, exquisite; seductive, sensual. One look, and you couldn’t help but want to press her into your very bones.

Yet her cold, forbidding demeanor kept everyone at a distance, leaving hearts itching and restless.

“Hey, beautiful. May I ask your surname?” A handsome blond man strode over to Tang Mu, flashing what he thought was a charming smile.

Compared to his easy familiarity, Tang Mu’s tone was exceedingly cool.

“No need for courtesy. Tang.”

“I’m Joseph,” he introduced himself with practiced ease.

There was no denying his striking face and golden-brown hair were dangerously captivating. Even in a crowd, he was the focal point that could make anyone scream.

“Is this your first time playing the game, Miss Tang?” His voice was magnetic, carrying a mature allure.

Other women, seeing such a handsome man, initially had sparkling eyes. But when they noticed he only approached Tang Mu, their gazes turned jealous and fiery, as if Tang Mu owed them by her very existence.

“B-level dungeons have a high mortality rate for newcomers, but for seasoned players, they’re nothing difficult. If Miss Tang doesn’t mind, give this gentleman a chance. After all, it’s every man’s honor to be your protector.”

Joseph kept his approach perfectly measured.

Yet Tang Mu, being equally popular, knew full well that a man so adept at flirting likely had a list of conquests stretching across the galaxy.

So Tang Mu smiled faintly.

Her enticing lips were colored with a rich tomato-hued velvet gloss; as she spoke, her words were gentle, yet brimmed with rejection.

“But I already have a team.”

Tang Mu gestured to the boy at her side—the teammate assigned by the game, inseparable unless the game ended.

“So, sorry.”

Joseph followed her delicate hand—only to see a teenager, perhaps in his early teens, with a milky, puppy-like innocence.

Ash-blond, softly curled hair. Amber eyes, shimmering as if on the verge of tears. Adorable, certainly—

But that wasn’t the point. The point was, a boy whose body hadn’t fully matured likely couldn’t grasp the nuances of adult conversation!

If Tang Mu was attempting to use his youth to deter him…

She was greatly underestimating him.

After all, he was Joseph, the King of Sleep.

Joseph maintained his elegant, gentlemanly smile. “Miss Tang, you can always reconsider. In a horror escape game like this, more friends mean more paths.”

He even showed his game card to Tang Mu. If he had a tail, it would be wagging furiously at her.

“Perhaps this is your first time meeting me, so you don’t know me well. I understand your caution.”

His handsome face returned to its polite smile.

“But you’re a beautiful girl, and there are plenty of low-level creatures here who only think with their lower halves. If you’re… unfortunate, at least I can protect you, right?”

With those words, Joseph’s true intentions were entirely laid bare—unlike those who would sell their souls for a bit of money, Joseph, as a top-tier heartthrob, pursued beauties as his real goal.

As for Tang Mu’s bound teammate—the little puppy—

Joseph frowned imperceptibly, feeling an instinctive distaste for the boy.

“This is my game account. If Miss Tang doesn’t mind, add me as a friend.”

Despite Joseph’s aggressive approach, Tang Mu’s expression remained unchanged—still gentle, yet distant.

“Sorry,” she replied, “I don’t usually add friends. Nor do I sleep around. So you’d better find some other gullible girls. Good luck.”

Joseph had never been rejected so coldly. His handsome face instantly collapsed.

He wanted to say more.

But the noisy, panicked shouts of the others shattered the tranquility at the mouth of the River of Forgetfulness.

Looking toward the commotion, there was an enormous boat, large enough for fifty people, gliding across the eerie dark river.

The ferryman, an uncanny old man, wore a black robe and hunched his back. His hooded cloak obscured his face in shadow, making his entire figure appear both diminutive and disturbingly strange.