Though ten thousand alpacas galloped through his heart…

But this was his mother, after all. Could Hai Ming really rebel?

He put on his tracksuit and running shoes and morosely began a slow jog through the streets late at night.

At first, the wind was strong and he was cold.

But as he jogged, he gradually warmed up.

Soon, he arrived at his classmate's doorstep.

He found his classmate looking equally dejected. After a bit of questioning, he learned that his friend had also been interrupted mid-game by his family, forced out for a run.

There was no helping it. The school's long-distance race was fast approaching, and this was a crucial time for emergency training.

The two of them jogged together, chatting about the game.

"Let me tell you, I've had the most amazing stroke of luck. Do you know who I ran into in the game?"

"Who?" His classmate perked up his ears curiously.

"Night Dawn!" (Ye Se Li Ming)

"Holy crap!"

His classmate couldn't help but exclaim.

"Really?! You ran into the number one player in the game, the one everyone's talking about on the forums?"

"Of course! I told you before, I'm in Mocun, and that guy's in Mocun too. We were bound to meet! And now we have!"

"Is he, is he strong? Tell me all about it!"

Hearing his classmate's anxious tone, Hai Ming practically had a long tail, standing straight up.

Immediately, he began to brag to his classmate about his experiences. Of course, he didn't forget to twist the story of Tail, turning her from an admirer into a mature man exuding an irresistible attraction to the opposite sex.

"Awesome! Becoming sworn brothers with the number one player in the game! Finding a soulmate in a peerless beauty! You're taking off!"

His classmate's eyes turned red with envy, which Hai Ming found very satisfying.

But when he thought about how he could only run at night and couldn't log in right away, he suddenly looked depressed, wondering about the fate of his character in the game.

Speaking of which, his character's shadow had inexplicably run off.

It was too damn bizarre and terrifying.

Luckily, this was just a game. If it were real life…

Hai Ming's thoughts suddenly stopped, and his pupils contracted violently.

At that moment, the two of them happened to be running under a streetlight.

The light shone directly on Hai Ming.

And in the light and shadow of the streetlight… he couldn't see his own shadow!!

How was that possible?!

How was that possible!!

Hai Ming trembled all over, his mind almost blank.

Amidst his friend's confused expression, he ran home like a madman.

It had taken him a full half-hour to run here, but it only took him fifteen minutes to return!

This was the first time in his life he had run with such effort, such frenzy!

When he returned home, he used his key to open the door and went straight to his parents' room.

Fortunately, his family didn't have the habit of locking their door when they slept.

He opened the door, ignored his parents' screams, grabbed his game watch, rushed back to his room, turned on the light, locked the door, and finally, after taking one last look at his feet and confirming that he really didn't have a shadow, Hai Ming put on his game watch with a shiver and entered the game!

There was something wrong with this game!!

…

In the game.

Hai Ming had disconnected.

At first, when Fang Yue saw Hai Ming suddenly become vacant, he thought Hai Ming had been attacked by the shadow.

But after taking a closer look, wow! What a surprise, he had suddenly logged off and escaped?!

Fang Yue's expression turned ugly. The two women also realized that Hai Ming wasn't being affected by the shadow, but had logged off/spaced out like before.

"Useless trash!!" Liao Mo Ran clenched her small fists and moved closer to Fang Yue.

Tail shook her head slightly: "Escaping may be shameful, but it's useful."

If she hadn't been reluctant to give up this character, Tail would have logged off too.

The current situation was both bizarre and terrifying.

They didn't know where to find the shadow, and they were likely to suffer inexplicable injuries at any moment.

The three of them seemed to be trapped.

"Mo Ran, take care of the two of them. I'll go find the shadow."

Fang Yue had been guarding them for a while and decided to go look for the shadow after realizing that Tail's bloodline had risen, but her body was a little weak.

If they didn't find the shadow, Tail's chances of survival were slim.

Tail hesitated for a moment, then didn't stop Fang Yue.

As Fang Yue walked further and further away, disappearing from the two women's sight.

The surroundings became silent.

Even though it was just one person missing, the two women inexplicably felt like they had lost a sense of security.

The dense darkness around them seemed like something could burst out at any moment, tearing them apart.

"Hey… you, what did it feel like when you suddenly vomited blood just now?"

Seemingly to break the silence, Liao Mo Ran couldn't help but start a conversation.

She was just the granddaughter of a hunter, unable to defeat even ordinary minor spirits, but now she was in such a dangerous situation, the fear in her heart was self-evident.

"What did it feel like? It felt like… something bit off a large chunk of flesh from my chest. The pain was very real, and I can still recall it now. And the lingering pain is still in my chest, but there's no real injury."

Hearing Tail's words, Liao Mo Ran became even more frightened.

She couldn't help but sob quietly.

"I, I want to go home, I want to go back to Mocun… sob sob sob…"

Without Fang Yue guarding her, she had become fragile.

Tail had no choice but to comfort her with a few words.

Time slowly passed. During this time, they seemed to hear some heavy thuds and collisions, but they were very faint, as if they were far away from them, and soon they returned to silence.

"Tail, what do you think we should do if Night Captain… doesn't come back?"

"Find a way to survive," Tail said matter-of-factly, then thought for a moment and said, "But I believe in Night Bro, he's not someone who's easy to kill. The black-rank intermediate spirit couldn't do anything to him before, neither could the Water Curtain Sect, and he'll definitely be able to deal with the shadow now!"

Tail had a lot of confidence in Fang Yue, but when she sent a message to Fang Yue, it couldn't be sent because they were too far apart.

This was almost impossible, because the Desolate Spirit Ruins, although large, were still within the range of message transmission.

Unless… Fang Yue had encountered that kind of bizarre small dark room before, where the distance and space seemed to be stretched.

But there was nothing Tail could do, so she could only wait in place, waiting for good news from Fang Yue.

However, the first person they waited for wasn't Fang Yue, but Hai Ming.

"Hiss—ha! Haaah! Haaah!"

Hai Ming was like someone who had been rescued after drowning, breathing heavily, his eyes wide open, his expression and features twisted, and he looked a little scary.

"Goodness! You know how to come back to your senses!"

Liao Mo Ran immediately put her hands on her hips and glared at Hai Ming.

But Hai Ming completely ignored Liao Mo Ran, just nervously looking at his hands, then frantically groping the ground beneath his feet.

"The shadow… the shadow hasn't returned! My shadow is gone!"