The dorm matron had been ferocious while hunting—but now she fled just as fiercely.
Dandelion swung its leaves as it charged downstairs, only to lose the matron’s trail at the stairwell. After looking left and right and finding nothing, it could only return in a huff.
Seeing it come back, Fu Changxun immediately understood. “Didn’t catch her?”
Dandelion: “Hmph.”
It was a little embarrassed, speaking far less than usual. “She… ran too fast…”
“That’s fine. I wasn’t planning to tackle the second ghost tale tonight anyway.” Fu Changxun brushed some dust off its leaves. “This dorm matron is way too hard to deal with. If it weren’t for you, I’d have been in serious danger. You were amazing—really brave, really incredible.”
After being praised overtly and covertly, Dandelion instantly perked up again. It proudly raised its flower. “Of course! I’m the toughest fighter in my whole neighborhood!”
The undefeated champion of the flowerbeds grew even more full of itself, standing on Fu Changxun’s shoulder and posturing arrogantly, even waving its roots provocatively at the black cat.
Black cat: “……” This little brother is an idiot.
But what could it do? As long as he could help protect Fu Changxun, that was enough.
“That dorm matron boss probably won’t show up again tonight,” Qiu Yi said. “She can’t beat your… item.”
Fu Changxun smiled. “This is my good second son. Since Dong Zi isn’t here, he’s the one protecting me.”
Qiu Yi: “…Sure.”
He couldn’t understand this strange habit of raising items like children—but he respected it.
What he cared about was something else. “If the dorm matron on our side turned into a monster, what about the girls’ dorm…? Though the fog over there has already dissipated.”
Fu Changxun looked downstairs, then turned to glance at the girls’ dorm where Xiao Xiao was staying.
She technically shouldn’t have had a bed at all, but for balance, the instance had arranged one for her as a student.
His nerves tightened. “No matter what, let’s go check.”
The two of them headed downstairs together and reached the dorm building entrance.
The door downstairs was locked tight. They tried every method they could think of, but nothing worked. Qiu Yi kicked it with all his strength—the iron door didn’t budge an inch.
He leaned against it and sighed. “Won’t open.”
Fu Changxun checked the time. It was close to midnight. The black ghostly fog outside had already completely dissipated with the boss’s retreat—including the pitch-black clouds that had once shrouded the school and blocked out the moon.
Moonlight poured down like flowing water. There was no movement at all from the girls’ dorm.
“Tomorrow at noon—” Fu Changxun paused. “Tomorrow morning, let’s talk it over with Xiao Xiao and the others. See if their dorm matron is the same.”
He trusted that Teacher Xiao would protect Xiao Xiao, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
As for Huang Yueran, her ability wasn’t strong, and the fact that she’d made it through several instances to reach this point definitely wasn’t just because of good teammates.
She absolutely had plenty of trump cards she hadn’t revealed yet—more than enough to keep herself alive.
“Let’s go back and sleep.” Fu Changxun stretched lazily and sighed. “We can’t skip sleep. Gotta keep our energy up for tomorrow’s fight.”
The two men, one plant, and one cat returned to the dorm. Bloodstains and scraps of clothing still littered the floor, but no one bothered to clean them up. Each climbed back into bed.
Fu Changxun forced himself into a light doze—but didn’t dare fall into real sleep.
When the bell rang once at six o’clock the next morning, he was already fully awake.
Looking at the floor again, all traces of blood had vanished without a trace, as if the instance had cleaned everything up automatically. The NPCs showed no memory whatsoever that there had ever been a sixth person in the dorm.
They got up laughing and chatting, washing up as usual, as if the lower bunk of Bed 3 had always been empty.
Qiu Yi had also woken. He stared silently at the NPCs for a long moment before finally getting out of bed and murmuring, “They’ve completely forgotten about the one who was eaten. I’m guessing that being devoured by the boss counts as a full erasure—everything, including memories, wiped clean…”
Fu Changxun frowned. “But the NPCs in this instance don’t reset. So where do they get replacements for the ones eaten or punished?”
A terrifying thought.
Was the system pulling new NPCs from the players? Or worse—snatching them straight from reality?
With that unease lingering, they got ready and left the dorm.
As they passed by the front entrance, they saw last night’s monster—the dorm matron—sitting calmly in her little guardroom, watching students through the window with a fixed, hawk-like stare.
The moment she saw Fu Changxun, her pupils shrank sharply, as if filled with hatred—or fear.
Fu Changxun guessed it was the former. If anything, she was probably scared of Dandelion.
But he didn’t feel threatened in the slightest. The monster from last night hadn’t even had pupils. Back then, she couldn’t be affected by abilities. But now, the dorm matron had deliberately revealed her eyes and was even thoughtfully staring right at him.
So considerate—it would almost be rude not to use his ability.
And thus, without her realizing it, the monster boss—the dorm matron—had her cognition subtly altered by Player Fu the Doctor.
“You can’t devour anyone anymore,” Fu Changxun said calmly. “You choked last night and haven’t digested it yet.”
Using his ability took more effort than usual—he was even sweating a little. The boss specialized in mental attacks, which weakened the effect of his skill. He had to pour in more energy than normal.
But it was enough.
At least for the next few nights, the dorm matron would be unable to eat anyone else.
They were safe—for now.
As they passed the girls’ dorm, Xiao Xiao came running up and threw herself into Fu Changxun’s arms. “Gege! I fell asleep last night, but Sister Huang Yue said there was a patrol!”
Fu Changxun blinked. “Patrol? What kind of patrol? Someone looking through the windows?”
Huang Yueran nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t tell if it was a teacher or the dorm matron.”
Qiu Yi asked, “Do you remember what time it was?”
“I kept reminding myself not to fall asleep. Not long after lights-out, the dorm matron came by to patrol,” Huang Yueran said, still shaken. “I could feel her eyes on me—so, so creepy. Thank god she left after just a few minutes.”
Fu Changxun repeated under his breath, “Just after lights-out… creepy gaze…”
Something clicked. He asked sharply, “What does your dorm matron look like?”
Huang Yueran was caught off guard. “Just average-looking. Wears a braid, short, a little chubby—” She suddenly looked up, eyes wide. “Wait—you think we have the same dorm matron?!”
Fu Changxun’s confirming gaze made her shiver, goosebumps rising all over. “Holy shit… no wonder she wasn’t there this morning…”
Fu Changxun glanced at his watch. It was 6:20. Morning calisthenics would begin at 6:30.
Qiu Yi immediately understood his plan. He grabbed Huang Yueran’s arm and pulled her toward the boys’ dorm. “We still have time. Come with us—see if it’s the same dorm matron!”
The woman sitting at the entrance of the boys’ dorm had her hair in a braid, was short, and a little chubby—exactly the same as the one Huang Yueran had seen last night.
“It’s her,” she confirmed without hesitation. “I’m sure of it. She even has a small mole at the corner of her mouth—it’s very noticeable.”
Fu Changxun finally exhaled in relief. “Perfect. That means we only need to deal with one dorm matron. Just one boss.”
The group immediately submitted a leave request and skipped morning exercises to revise their plan.
This time, they didn’t just wing it like before. They mapped out strategies A, B, C, and D. You could never have too many backup plans—the only thing to fear was forgetting them all at the critical moment.
Xiao Xiao watched them intently the whole time. This was the school where her mom had taught, and where both her gege had studied. Every corner of this place seemed to hold a fragment of memory.
Every inch of this instance held traces of the world from ten years ago.
Xiao Xiao’s mother had never abandoned her. In fact, she’d thought her daughter was too good—too well-raised. The real tragedy was that she hadn’t been there for any of it. She hadn’t even left behind a photo or a piece of clothing. Xiao Wen had always felt she owed her child deeply.
Her only solace was that Xu Zhengyi had been a halfway decent father. In the ten years since Xiao Wen’s death, he’d never remarried and hadn’t spoiled Xiao Xiao into becoming willful or bratty.
As the group discussed ways to deal with the dorm matron, they circled back to the most important question: how to draw her out.
“My suggestion,” Fu Changxun said, “is to lure the snake from its hole.”
***
The morning classes were dry and dull. Aside from Fu Changxun, no one was paying much attention—some were spacing out, others outright sleeping.
Xiao Xiao was among the sleepers, as was Buzz Cut. She was just a kid—missing sleep was expected. Buzz Cut, though, was exhausted from the night before.
He, Glasses, and the other male players shared the dorm next to Fu Changxun’s. They had just fallen asleep last night when that ghostly wailing woke them up.
None of them had dared to move. They kept their eyes open until dawn.
When they saw Fu Changxun and the others walk into class that morning completely unharmed, they had no choice but to admit—these guys were strong.
To survive an encounter with the instance boss… Once might be luck. But twice? That was skill.
They didn’t dare provoke Fu Changxun again. And when lunchtime arrived, they watched as Fu Changxun and Qiu Yi didn’t rest, but instead stood quietly in the hallway, as if waiting to confront the monster head-on.
The male players wanted to help—but they valued their lives more. After much hesitation, they stayed put.
“Ready. Three, two, one—lunch break begins!”
Qiu Yi immediately readied his weapon, his eyes sharp and locked on the junction between the corridor and the stairwell.
A few minutes later, without a single footstep, the dorm matron appeared silently.
It looked like she’d already recovered from the injuries she’d sustained fighting Dandelion the night before—and now she was charging straight at them. Qiu Yi didn’t hesitate. He raised his weapon and fired—a prop gun.
But the dorm matron vanished.
Fu Changxun’s expression changed. He whirled around.
“Watch out—!” Qiu Yi shouted.
Behind Fu Changxun came a soft squelch—the monster dorm matron had appeared out of nowhere, her massive bloody maw gaping wide, about to swallow him whole.
Dandelion was too far to intervene in time.
Just as disaster seemed inevitable, something slammed into the monster with brutal force—and then a blade slashed her hard.
She shrieked and tried to flee, only to be hunted down immediately.
The one who’d wounded her—
“Dong Zi!”
Fu Changxun blinked in disbelief. “You… you’re really Dong Zi?”
