Giving Interstellar Players a Horror Ghost Game Shock - Chapter 82

“One… one…”

At the Central Military Academy, inside a deluxe single room for male students—

Ji Yu sat there, eyes wide and vacant, mouth agape in shock.

Nearby, Lu Xiaofeng was sipping a tube of nutrient solution, finally losing his patience.
“What the hell are you mumbling about?”

Ji Yu turned his head, looking like he was about to cry.

“Over ten billion pre-registered viewers! I’ve been streaming for years, but I’ve never seen traffic this terrifying!”

Lu Xiaofeng, however, didn’t seem fazed. He wasn’t a celebrity, nor was he socially anxious.
It was just a bunch of people watching him play a game—what was the big deal?

“It just shows that Miss Ye and Doudou are really good at hyping things up. But whatever. Once we log in with our virtual accounts, no one’s going to recognize us. There’s no need to worry about it affecting our lives afterward.”

“Oh, right.” As he said that, something else occurred to him.
“Everyone registered new game accounts for this tournament—you didn’t forget, did you?
If you accidentally log in with your CodLiver account later, and your real identity gets exposed, you’re screwed.”

Ji Yu grabbed a tube of Milky Way Herb flavored nutrient solution and muttered irritably, “Relax. When it comes to protecting my secret identity, I’m way more serious than any of you. I’ve been prepared for this.”

Even so, deep down, he couldn’t help but worry. With an audience size far beyond anyone’s expectations, what if one of his fans was among them? What if someone recognized him just from his little habits?

Honestly, when An Zhi first announced the idea of hosting this inter-academy gaming tournament, Ji Yu had practically broken down inside.

He’d been so relieved that, for once, Miss Ye’s new game hadn’t come with a live-stream promotional invite for him. No agonizing over money versus sanity—he could simply enjoy his beloved shooting games in peace.

But fate had other plans.

He had pulled an all-nighter gaming and grabbed a quick nap, only to wake up to devastating news—

Their entire second-year class, all departments included, would be playing a horror game!

Surprise! Excited yet?

Ji Yu: …No, and I’m not moving.

He was just a weak, timid logistics and transport officer! Why saddle him with burdens heavier than life itself?! Was he doomed to be eternally at odds with Miss Ye’s games?!

But he had no choice. Since the First Military Academy hadn’t exempted their logistics students, the Central Military Academy had to follow suit to keep things fair.

At first, Ji Yu had felt a rush of fighting spirit, ready to bring honor to his school— but as the tournament’s popularity exploded, his fear for his secret identity only grew stronger.

As for that horrifying pre-registration count of over ten billion— sure, part of it was due to Doudou’s heavy investment in advertisement, and the hype Miss Ye had built up with her previous two games.

But another major reason was the special status of military cadets in society.

Even though the war had ended and military downsizing was well underway, military academies had tightened their admission standards, accepting fewer students.

And as the saying goes— rarity increases value.

After the downsizing, military cadets became even more revered by the interstellar public.

In most people’s eyes, military cadets were synonymous with strength and excellence. Each one was seen as a once-in-a-generation prodigy, with an almost religious admiration carried over from the war era.

Even when it came to gaming, whenever netizens came across a particularly difficult game, it wasn’t uncommon to see comments flooding the interstellar network saying,
“If only a military cadet played this, they’d crush it in no time!”

And truth be told, in most action games, the top-ranked players often turned out to be military cadets using secret accounts.

This time, Miss Ye’s brand-new horror game masterpiece was about to collide with a horde of military cadets— what kind of sparks would fly?

After all, seasoned gamers knew very well that Miss Ye’s games were quite different from typical horror or action games.

Would the military cadets end up screaming and running like the average player?Or would they dominate the rankings effortlessly? 

The suspense became a major reason why so many players were watching this unfold.

Especially since this match involved not just any schools, but the two oldest and most prestigious military academies in history— even people who usually didn’t care about games were drawn into the hype.

The tournament’s special rules had already been published on the temporary league website:

Each academy’s second-year class had over a thousand students. To ensure fairness, exactly 1000 students from each school were selected to participate, and they were split into small teams of either two or three players each.

Both sides jointly reserved an entire virtual arena, and at 9 PM sharp, around 700 teams—nearly 2000 players in total— would log into Campus Nightmare 2 simultaneously via a public connector that made cheating impossible.

The competition would have no time limit— victory would go to the school with the most players who managed to clear the game.

Of course, this rule had been suggested by Liu Mang.

An Zhi thought he was completely delusional. After her insistence, an extra rule was added:

If no one managed to clear the game, then after one hour, the school with the greater number of players still surviving would be declared the winner.

Liu Mang agreed with a dismissive shrug, scoffing to himself that An Zhi had lost all her confidence after just one defeat— it was just a game, and yet she didn’t even dare to talk about winning.

Perfect.

This time he would show everyone that the First Military Academy was unbeatable, no matter the battlefield!

By 8 PM, it was almost time to set out. The Central Military Academy’s 1000 players had booked ten massive hover shuttles, flying in a grand, overwhelming convoy toward the virtual arena they had reserved in advance.

The venue manager had never seen anything like it in his life— he almost thought someone was coming to start a fight, until An Zhi calmly showed the digital receipt, confirming that they had just booked the entire place.

At 8:30 PM, the First Military Academy arrived.

In stark contrast to the Central Academy’s tight, military-like formation, they looked completely relaxed— laughing, chatting, treating the whole thing like a casual outing.

At 8:58 PM, the Doudou streaming platform launched a brand-new portal. 

Clicking into it revealed a massive streaming pool— around 700 live rooms, each one poised and ready to open!

Translator’s Note:

Hi everyone! 

I hope you’re all enjoying the story so far! Just a quick heads-up: updates for all of my novels will be delayed this month. I’ve got some important personal stuff going on, and I haven’t been able to focus on translating as much as I’d like.

Thank you so much to everyone who’s been leaving comments! Reading them really motivates me to keep going and do better—it means a lot.

You might notice some inconsistencies or details that feel a little off in certain chapters. I plan to go back and review the translations and make edits sometime next month. I’ll do my best to keep the translation as faithful and readable as possible. Please keep in mind that Chinese isn’t my first language, and I rely on translation tools and AI to help with the drafts before editing them for clarity and flow.

Lastly, I’ll try to reply to comments whenever I have time! Thank you again for reading and supporting my translations —it truly means a lot. 💕