Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 42

One day, as Ye Yuxi was holed up in her dorm working on her game, her beloved senior, Liu Yuling, dragged her out.

“Senior Liu, what are you doing?!”

Ye Yuxi glared at her with dead-fish eyes, her expression clearly saying, Give me a good reason, or I’ll cause trouble.

Seeing Ye Yuxi in such a soul-drained, ready-to-expire state, Liu Yuling couldn’t help but flick her forehead lightly.

“If I don’t drag you out to get some sunlight, the next time I see you might be when you’re being wheeled into a med bay. Besides, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what day it is today?”

Ye Yuxi blinked blankly for a moment before it finally dawned on her—today was the scheduled date for the first-ever Nanhai University Freshman Courage Test.

“…But I thought the university canceled that event?”

“That was only because Campus Nightmare, which inspired the idea, was in the middle of a PR nightmare. The school wanted to avoid trouble, so they ordered it scrapped. But since you made a glorious comeback and turned the tables, we’ve regained the right to host the event. We owe it all to you, you know!”

Liu Yuling’s voice brimmed with barely contained excitement.

“So your way of thanking me is dragging me out at night to play a ghost game?” Ye Yuxi could barely hold back her sarcasm. 

“Didn’t you just say I needed sunlight? It’s nearly 11 p.m.—where do you see any sun?!”

Liu Yuling, utterly shameless, pointed at the moon hanging in the sky.

“Scientifically speaking, the moonlight in our star system comes from the sun. Since you’re basking in moonlight, you are technically getting sunlight.”

“…I concede.”

The two bickered as they walked to the Courage Test venue—a scenic bridge spanning the area between the faculty residences and the university’s back gate. Students called it the One-Line Bridge.

By the time they arrived, it was already close to 11 p.m., but oddly enough, no one else was there.

This made Liu Yuling feel a little uneasy.

“What’s going on? We were supposed to meet at 11. How can they be this late?”

She pulled out her communicator and messaged the club group chat. The replies she got nearly scared her to death.

[Jiajia (Freshman): Senior Liu, we’re already here, but we don’t see you two anywhere.]
[Yifan (Junior): Yeah, yeah! Are you hiding on purpose to mess with us? Come out already!]

Liu Yuling: “…”

She was utterly speechless as goosebumps began to rise all over her body.

Using the last shred of her rationality, she tried to think. 

What’s going on? A prank? Game breaking into reality?

While Liu Yuling was immersed in her confusion, Ye Yuxi wasn’t looking at the group chat. Instead, her gaze fell on a tree near the bridge, where a dark shadow seemed to sway.

“What’s that?”

As she approached, the shadow suddenly fell from the tree. It was a shockingly lifelike blue-clothed doll!

However, the doll’s eyes were replaced by bloody, empty sockets, and its mouth was crudely sewn shut with thick black thread. It was even more sinister than the original design from the game.

What made it even worse was that after the doll hit the ground, it wobbled to its feet and took two steps forward!

Liu Yuling, who had just raised her head, immediately saw the creepy scene unfold. Her pupils practically shook in terror.

For a moment, she truly thought she was still inside the game, overwhelmed by the absurdity of virtual horrors manifesting in real life.

It felt as though Nanhai University and May University from Campus Nightmare had merged into one eerie, terrifying reality.

“Run!” Liu Yuling’s voice was shrill as she instinctively reached out to grab Ye Yuxi and flee. But before she could, a familiar burst of laughter sounded from nearby.

“Pfft… Help, I can’t hold it in anymore! Senior was so scared, it’s hilarious!”

“…Huh?” Liu Yuling froze. Her usually cool and composed expression now looked surprisingly dumbfounded.

Two minutes later, the members of the Activities Society and the Reading Club—finally regrouped. Some were trying hard to suppress their laughter, while others were outright doubling over, laughing without restraint.

“Senior Liu, why would you think that was a real ghost? This is reality, not a game! How could there possibly be ghosts… Pfft, I can’t, let me laugh some more!”

Having been genuinely terrified earlier, Liu Yuling’s face turned pale, then red, then pale again. She delivered a resounding slap to the back of one of the laughing boys’ heads.

“You little punks! How dare you mess with me! Anyone would’ve been scared in that situation! I’m still the first clear player on the whole net—show some respect!”

“But ghosts don’t exist in real life! And a Courage Test without ghosts is boring, so we had to create some ‘surprises.’ After discussing it, we unanimously decided to use the two bravest seniors as test subjects.”

The club president, Wu Jiajia, stood with her hands on her hips, looking smug and entirely unapologetic for her deception—in fact, she seemed downright proud of it.

“You guys have no respect for your seniors!” Liu Yuling fumed, turning to Ye Yuxi for support. “Yuxi, don’t you think they went too far?!”

Ye Yuxi, having been unfazed the entire time, didn’t particularly care. But seeing how badly Liu Yuling had been scared…

She thought for a moment, then suddenly looked past Jiajia and the boy, Yifan, her expression turning to one of genuine horror.

“W-wait a second,” she stammered, pointing behind them. “Is that thing behind you part of your setup too?”

The laughter died in Yifan’s throat like someone had cut off his air supply. He froze, wide-eyed.

“B-but… apart from that doll, we didn’t prepare… anything else,” he stammered, his voice trembling. Clearly, as a veteran player of Campus Nightmare, he was already jumping to terrifying conclusions.

That feeling of everything being under control, only for something to go wrong—it was all too familiar.

No, no, it’s impossible, he frantically reassured himself. It’s just a game. There’s no way it’s real.

Still, a cold sweat broke out on him and Jiajia as they carefully turned their heads to look behind them, inch by inch.

Nothing was there.

They both let out a relieved sigh, just about to complain about Liu Yuling scaring them—when they suddenly felt a pair of cold hands rest lightly on the backs of their necks.

Two seconds of dead silence.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Watching the two scream like mad and scramble away, rolling and crawling in their desperate attempt to escape without looking back, Liu Yuling was left dumbfounded.

She gave Ye Yuxi a thumbs-up.

Having witnessed Ye Yuxi’s entire little trick, Liu Yuling couldn’t help but feel a bit shaken herself.

It wasn’t just the execution—it was how natural and effortless Ye Yuxi’s scare tactics were. Her acting was so seamless that even Liu Yuling had a brief moment of doubt, wondering if there really was something behind the two.

That is, until she saw Ye Yuxi slyly place her ice-cold hands—chilled from the night air—on the back of their necks.

Ye Yuxi nonchalantly dusted off her hands.

“Alright, got those mischievous juniors scared off. Let’s head back.”

And so, the first-ever Nanhai University Courage Test came to a triumphant conclusion!