After the Full-Level Boss Entered the Infinite Game By Mistake

New Arc: Ghost Husband (main story continued)

Chapters 697-719

—Sun Group, Technology Research Center—

In a room filled with a futuristic sense of technology, dozens of beds were lined up side by side.

On each bed lay a person, with a black metal helmet on their heads, flashing green light.

On the other side of the lab, men and women in white lab coats were staring at computers, studying data.

Suddenly, a red alarm signal blared throughout the lab, and the green lights on the helmets turned red all at once.

“Damn it!” one of the researchers shouted, “There’s a malfunction in the virtual helmets! An external electrical current has suddenly interfered with the signal!”

A middle-aged man in a suit and trench coat rushed in from outside, his sharp gaze sweeping over everyone. “How did this happen? Didn’t you guarantee that nothing would go wrong?! Sun Ning is in there, and all her friends are in there too!”

The researchers were sweating profusely. “I’m sorry, President Sun. Just now, a sudden current interfered with the signal.”

Sun Yan: “Get them out of those damn holographic helmets right now!”

Researcher: “That’s impossible! The electrical current just now caused their subconsciousness to be drawn into the Third World. Forcing them out will turn them into vegetative states.”

The middle-aged man’s tone turned icy. “Then tell me, what should we do?”

Researcher: “Their subconsciousness has entered the Third World, also known as consciousness lost. They won’t retain their current memories but will live there with alternate memories. We can only save them if someone regains consciousness.”

The researcher continued in a difficult tone, “All we can do now is pray that one of them regains their consciousness.”

The lab fell into a dead silence after his words.

“Send me in.” In the oppressive silence, a man stepped forward.

Sun Yan’s eyes were complicated. “Dijia, I’m sorry for letting Bai Lixin encounter this kind of thing.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dijia said gently, looking toward a specific spot in the room. “Or rather, I should be the one apologizing to you. That current was aimed at me and Bai Lixin. Your sister and the others were just caught in the crossfire.”

Sun Yan was stunned. “Do you know who did this?”

Dijia: “I haven’t forgotten that repulsive stench. It’s the brat from the horror game—Little Overlord, Xuan Chishui.”

Sun Yan’s pupils contracted, and his voice rose. “He’s not dead?!”

Dijia: “I don’t know why he’s still alive either. But once we catch him, we’ll find out.”

The researcher hesitated. “Once you go in, you might lose your memories of reality as well.”

Dijia: “It doesn’t matter. Let’s begin.”

—————————–

“Xin Xin, why is your face so red?”

Li Cancan reached out and touched the forehead of the young man beside her. Her palm felt hot.

“You have a fever?!” Li Cancan suddenly stood up and helped the young man up. “I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

“Teacher, Bai Lixin has a fever! I’m taking him to the infirmary!”

Today was a movie appreciation class. The class had just started, and Li Cancan’s outburst startled the elderly movie appreciation teacher wearing reading glasses.

He jolted and waved his hand. “Go, go, just remember to take leave if you’re sick.”

“Studying is important, but health comes first. Remember, class, nothing is more important than your health! In my class, feel free to take leave!”

Movie appreciation was an elective course.

There were only a dozen students in the class.

The dozen students exchanged glances.

‘Teacher, if we keep taking leave from your class, there won’t be any students left.’

Bai Lixin and Li Cancan were both students at Q University. They had known each other since childhood, attending the same school but different departments.

Bai Lixin was studying art design, while Li Cancan was in software management.

Li Cancan brought the dazed Bai Lixin to the university infirmary, where only an elderly school doctor was present.

The school doctor adjusted his glasses. “Lay him on the bed and take his temperature first.”

The feverish Bai Lixin looked much more obedient than usual. He took the thermometer and lay down on the bed obediently.

Li Cancan: “How did you end up like this?”

Bai Lixin clutched his throbbing temples. “I was working last night.”

Li Cancan: “And then?”

Bai Lixin: “I got splashed with cold water.”

Li Cancann: “…”

Li Cancan had been neighbors with Bai Lixin from childhood.

Bai Lixin’s family background wasn’t good, and she knew he had a hard life.

He had an abusive father and a mentally unstable mother.

When they were kids, she often heard the sound of Bai Lixin’s father smashing things next door. Later, his father disappeared for reasons unknown.

Rumor had it that while drinking outside, Bai Lixin’s father met a wealthy woman who took a liking to him and offered him anything he wanted. Bai Lixin’s father left with the rich woman.

After he left, Bai Lixin’s mother, whose mental state had already been unstable, completely lost her mind.

She shouted that the woman who took Bai Li’s father away was a vixen and would be the death of him.

She claimed that the vixen wanted to destroy their family and would even bring ghosts to haunt them.

It was all quite bizarre.

Thinking back to those years and Bai Lixin’s mother, Li Cancan felt a chill of fear.

Back then, Bai Lixin’s mother often wore strange robes, her body covered in talismans, and she plastered them all over the house.

She constantly muttered that without those talismans, ghosts would come and kill them.

Li Cancan vividly remembered the craziest thing Bai Lixin’s mother ever did—she arranged a ghost marriage for Bai Lixin.

No one knew where she got the idea, but she believed that if Bai Lixin married someone with a powerful fate, no ghosts would dare to bother them.

In the last few years, Bai Lixin’s mother’s condition gradually improved, and she became much kinder, almost like how she was before losing her sanity.

But Bai Lixin’s body, for some reason, became weak and sickly. He often fell ill.

Even though Li Cancan had grown up with Bai Lixin, she never truly knew what was going on in his mind.

Perhaps due to his family situation, he seemed more mature than other kids his age. While others were playing soccer on the field, he would sit quietly on a bench, staring into the distance.

Li Cancan had noticed many times that when Bai Lixin was like that, his gaze was strange. It seemed as if he was dazing off, yet also as if he was staring at something.

But whenever she followed his gaze, there was nothing there.

There were many times when she asked what he was looking at, and Bai Lixin would immediately avert his gaze and smile, saying it was nothing, he was just daydreaming.

……

“Take out the thermometer,” the school doctor took the thermometer and glanced at it. “39.5°C, good heavens, a high fever.”

Li Cancan grew nervous. “What should we do?”

The school doctor: “What else can we do? Give him an injection. I’ll start him on two IV drips. If the fever subsides, he can start taking medicine. If it doesn’t, come back for more injections.”

Bai Lixin had a severe headache. Though he was 1.8 meters tall, his thin frame made him appear frail. He lay on the bed with his eyes closed, frowning.

Li Cancann paid for the medication and got it filled.

The movie appreciation class was about to end. Li Cancan glanced at the young man sleeping soundly on the bed, then at the gradually darkening sky outside. She whispered into Bai Lixin’s ear, “I’m going to get some dinner.”

Bai Lixin murmured something that sounded like an acknowledgment, though he didn’t open his eyes and continued sleeping.

He had no idea how long he slept, but when he opened his eyes again, the room was already dark.

The lights in the ward were off, and he was the only one in the room. The door was closed, and a faint light filtered through the small glass pane on the door.

Bai Lixin touched his head. His headache had mostly subsided.

With a creak, the door opened from the outside, and a male doctor wearing a white coat and a blue mask stepped in.

The doctor had a name tag pinned to his chest. Bai Lixin glanced at it and saw the name “Cao Lin”.

The doctor placed his cold hand on Bai Lixin’s head. “Looks like your fever has gone down.”

His voice was hoarse, like a snake slithering across the sand, rough and heavy.

Bai Lixin’s head started to ache again.

He nodded. “Thank you, Doctor Cao.”

The doctor’s hand suddenly froze. His sharp and piercing eyes stared at Bai Lixin from above.

Suddenly, a strange laugh came from his throat. “You’re welcome.”

Bai Lixin’s body stiffened instantly, his Adam’s apple moving slightly as he swallowed.

It was too cold.

Even though he had a fever, the doctor’s hand felt unnaturally cold.

Almost like… a dead person’s hand.

The cold, rough hand slowly slid down from his forehead, tracing along the young man’s pale cheek.

Bai Lixin realized that he couldn’t move his body. He could glance at the doctor’s wrist from the corners of his eyes.

The wrist was shriveled, like a withered branch, sticking out from the white sleeve. The doctor’s hand and fingers were equally rough and dried out, resembling branches that had fallen from an old tree.

“So nice,” the fingers gently rested on Bai Lixin’s slender neck, the sharp nails tracing the blue veins beneath his pale skin, “so, you can see me, huh?”

The doctor used his other hand to pull away his mask, revealing a cracked mouth.

The mouth split open along the corners, extending horizontally on both sides, exposing bones and teeth.

The doctor opened his mouth wide, and the slit followed suit, opening so wide that Bai Lixin thought the doctor’s head might split apart.

All the color drained from Bai Lixin’s face.

His lips trembled, his pupils contracted, and his heart pounded wildly.

The monster’s scarlet tongue flicked into the air, waving up and down as it let out a raspy laugh of pleasure. “Come play with me.”

“Bang!”

There was a loud crash.

“Xin Xin! Wake up!” The call seemed to come from a distant horizon, long and lingering.

Bai Lixin’s consciousness was pulled uncontrollably, and like a drowning deer, his body dragged into the depths of darkness.

The sensation of suffocation and oppression followed one after another, making it difficult for him to breathe and on the verge of death.

Just as he thought he was about to suffocate, something grabbed his wrist and pulled him upward, until he finally broke through the surface of the water.

Bai Lixin sat up with a start.

He gasped for air, his clothes sticky and damp, soaked in sweat.

He touched his forehead, feeling the cold sweat in his palm.

Then, he saw Li Cancan, who was looking at him with concern. Behind her stood the elderly school doctor wearing glasses.

The old man smiled and said, “You’re sweating, and your face isn’t red anymore. It seems like the fever has broken.”

Bai Lixin licked his dry lips but didn’t say anything.

Li Cancan turned to the doctor, “Should we come back tomorrow?”

The old man: “Come back for a check. If there’s no fever tomorrow, just take some medicine at home. It’s not the flu, just a cold from being chilled. Nothing serious.”

Bai Lixin finally swallowed and said with a dry voice, “Thank you, Doctor.”

The doctor waved his hand, “It’s fine. Rest a bit more. If everything’s okay, you can go home.”

After the school doctor left, Li Cancan handed Bai Lixin a tissue. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Bai Lixin nodded, “Yeah.”

It was more than a nightmare. He dreamt of a ghost.

Once the sweat had mostly dried, Bai Lixin put on his jacket. As the two of them walked out, the school doctor was dozing off at his desk.

Hearing movement, the school doctor opened his eyes slightly, “Leaving?”

Bai Lixin nodded, “Yes, goodbye, Doctor.”

The school doctor: “It’s cold today. Make sure you cover up well when you sleep, don’t get chilled again.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Bai Lixin hesitated for a couple of seconds, “Doctor, do you know a doctor named Cao Lin?”

The half-asleep school doctor suddenly opened his eyes fully, staring at Bai Lixin from behind his glasses. “How do you know that name?”

Bai Lixin: “Uh, I just heard about it.”

The school doctor: “Oh, well, it’s no secret. Cao Lin used to be a teacher at our university’s medical school. He was young, handsome, funny, and very popular with the students. Some students were so infatuated with him that they even pretended to be sick just to skip class and see him.”

“Then, one after another, students at Q University started disappearing. The police came several times, and outside the school, parents were protesting with banners. The whole campus was in an uproar. Finally, the police found traces of a student’s skin tissue in the school’s dissection room. It was shocking. After an investigation, it turned out Cao Lin was the killer.”

“Cao Lin used his good looks to lure those infatuated students to secret places where he tortured and murdered them. After killing them, he dismembered their bodies. Ever since then, Q University has been wary of hiring young teachers. If anyone asks, they say it’s because they’re afraid students might be charmed and distracted.”

Li Cancan: “No wonder all the teachers at our school are old men and women.”

Realizing she had said something wrong, Li Cancan quickly tried to laugh it off. “So, what happened to Cao Lin afterward?”

The school doctor: “What happened? Cao Lin committed suicide to escape punishment.”

Li Cancan shivered, “That’s terrifying.”

The school doctor scoffed, “Now you’re scared, huh?” He shrugged his shoulders, “If you’re scared, go home quickly.”

“Okay, Doctor!” Li Cancan pulled Bai Lixin to leave, but when she looked up, she saw Bai Lixin’s face had gone pale, and he was staring intently at the window.

Li Cancan followed his gaze, but there was nothing outside the window except the swaying sycamore trees.

“Xin Xin?” She nudged Bai Lixin’s shoulder. “Are you scared?”

Bai Lixin withdrew his gaze, his skin still pale. “No.”

“Hey, haha,” the school doctor laughed, “Look how scared you are. I was just messing with you. Cao Lin really was a teacher here, but he resigned long ago. Rumor has it he went abroad for further studies.”

Li Cancan’s eyes widened, “But you just said he killed people.”

The school doctor: “If he really killed people, wouldn’t you know about it? I was just trying to scare you so you wouldn’t go out at night and catch a cold.”

As Bai Lixin left, his peripheral vision caught something at the window.

By the window, there was a man in a white coat and a mask, waving at him.

Bai Lixin blinked hard, and when he opened his eyes again, the figure by the window had disappeared.

Li Cancan and Bai Lixin both lived in City B, not far from Q University, so they chose to commute to school.

By the time they got home, it was already 8 PM, having encountered the evening traffic on the way.

After thanking Li Cancan and transferring the medical and meal costs to her, Bai Lixin finally opened the door to his home.

On the shoe rack in the entryway was a pair of brand-new sneakers, and there were voices chatting from inside the room.

Bai Lixin changed his shoes and walked into the living room. He saw a boy around seventeen or eighteen holding a cup of milk, chatting enthusiastically with his mother.

There were two suitcases beside the couch, looking quite grand.

“Brother!” The boy immediately put down the milk and ran over excitedly when he saw Bai Lixin. “It’s been so long! I missed you so much!”

Bai Lixin carefully examined the boy’s features, and a familiar yet distant outline gradually surfaced in his mind. “Xia Chi?”

The boy nodded eagerly, “Yes! Please take care of me from now on!”

Bai Lixin looked at the other person sitting on the couch in confusion.

A middle-aged woman was also sitting on the couch. She had long hair, and her features were gentle and delicate, bearing some resemblance to Bai Lixin.

She smiled and said, “Xia Chi has transferred to the affiliated high school near Q University for his final year. He’ll be staying with us for the time being. His mother said his academic foundation isn’t very strong, so if you have time, Xiao Xin, help him with his studies.”

Bai Lixin: “Okay.”

Xia Chi’s mother and Bai Lixin’s mother were sisters.

Bai Lixin’s mother had married and moved to City B, while Xia Chi’s mother had stayed in their hometown.

He remembered that when he was younger, his mother often took him back to their hometown to visit relatives. But after his father ran away and his mother lost her sanity, they never returned.

It had been many years since they last met, and the little kid who used to follow him around begging for candy had grown so much.