When My Sister Got Trapped in a Horror Game, I Lost It

My computer suddenly froze. The next second, my sister, Josie Bennett, appeared on the screen, covered in blood. Her face was white with terror as she screamed, “Nina, help me!” I looked at the pack of entities behind her, and my heart lurched. How had she gotten into a horror game? And an S-rank instance, no less. I had no time to think. I teleported in immediately. The moment I arrived, I saw a girl stomping on Josie, yanking her hair as she looked down at her with smug contempt. “You little brat. Still trying to call for help? Do you even know whose turf this is? Once you cross me, nobody can save you.” The players beside her quickly chimed in. “Exactly. Winnie is the woman of the top guy in this game. If you want to make it out alive, you’d better learn your place.” I stopped in my tracks, stunned. The top guy’s woman? Wasn’t I the final boss of this horror game? Chapter 1 I stared at her in confusion, too stunned to react. When Winnie Foster saw my expression, she thought I was scared. She turned to Josie and sneered. “So this is the backup you called? That’s hilarious. A few words and she’s too scared to move. Guess she’s an idiot, just like you.” Tears spilled down Josie’s face at once. “Nina, go back! I shouldn’t have called you here. I’m sorry.” Winnie backhanded her across the face. “Shut up. Who said you get to talk?” Then she looked at me with a taunting smile and let out a cold laugh. “Since you’re already here, why don’t you join the game too? I’ll personally show you sisters what this place is really like. You should thank me.” The players around her burst into laughter. “Josie is scared as a kitten. She’s crying before we’ve even started. Once she sees the entities, she’s probably going to wet herself.” “Josie, you’re seriously ungrateful. Winnie went through all this trouble to bring our whole class into the horror game. Instead of thanking her, you’re crying and making a scene. What a buzzkill.” Josie suddenly broke down. “Get away from me! Did I ever say I wanted to come in here? What gives you the right to drag me in without asking?” A middle-aged woman immediately stepped forward, her tone sharp. “Josie, it’s bad enough that you never fit in. Now your classmates are willing to include you, and you should be grateful, not throwing a tantrum. “I always thought you only had a personality problem. Now I see your character is the real problem.” Josie’s face went white in an instant. HerzAaz body swayed like she might collapse. Rage shot through me. Josie used to be so bright and lively when she was overseas, but after transferring back here, she had grown quieter by the day. Every time I asked, she said she was fine. I never imagined she was being bullied at school. And even her teacher was leading the charge. I couldn’t bring myself to imagine how she had survived the past six months. My heart clenched with pain. Josie had been loved and protected like a treasure since she was little. How dare they treat her like this? I clenched my fists and strode forward to bring her to my side. But Winnie yanked Josie behind her. “Hey, your sister is the main attraction today. Without her, where’s the fun?” The others quickly agreed. “Exactly. Winnie, when does the game start? I can’t wait.” “I can’t believe horror games really exist. I want to see what those entities look like.” Someone else hesitated. “Winnie, is this game really safe? There are so many of us. What if you can’t protect everyone?” Winnie immediately pulled out her phone. “Relax. I’m ranked in the top ten on the player leaderboard. And my boyfriend is a legendary player. Even the entities run when they see him. “I’ll call him over right now. Just relax and have fun.” Chapter 2 The call connected, and Winnie’s voice softened at once. “Evan, are you done with your instance? My classmates are all here. Hurry over.” My heart skipped when I heard the name. My boyfriend’s name was Evan Shaw too. But I quickly shook off the thought. For one thing, this horror game was not some fun little adventure. Anyone dragged in here was just unlucky. If you got hurt or died in the game, your body in the real world would suffer serious damage too. I was the exception. I was cursed by birth and born with a violent aura. My temper had always been explosive, like I was wired wrong from the start. Luckily, the game had found me. Every month, I could come in, fight entities, blow off steam, and keep living a normal life. So even though I did well in the game, I never wanted my boyfriend to know this place existed. Once the game latched onto you, you could never leave unless you cleared it. And even if you did clear it, seeing so many entities would mess with your head. In the end, most people wound up in a psychiatric hospital. Besides, I touched the protection charm against my chest. My boyfriend was usually so attentive it was almost ridiculous. If I got a tiny cut on my hand, he would go to a church and pray for me. How could someone like that betray me? Winnie hung up, her voice full of smug satisfaction. “My boyfriend will be here soon. You have no idea. I could hear the entities screaming while he was beating them up over the phone. “Too bad none of you have a control panel. Otherwise, you’d see my boyfriend’s name shining in gold at number one on the player leaderboard.” The people around her immediately started flattering her. “Winnie, I’m so jealous. How did you find such a powerful boyfriend?” “I feel safe now. Can we take pictures in here? My phone seems frozen. Being able to take a trip through a horror game would be such a flex.” Once someone entered the game, everything from the real world stopped working. Winnie’s phone was a comm device provided by the game. Aside from making calls, it could not do anything. Everyone kept praising Winnie until she looked ready to float off the ground. But I was looking at the control panel in my mind. The name sitting at the top of the leaderboard was clearly mine. Confused, I scrolled down. I went through more than a hundred names and still did not see Evan. Finally, I opened the B-rank instance list and found his name there. Then I scrolled down to the bottom of the C-rank instance list and saw Winnie. There were four ranks in total for horror game instances. The hardest was S, and the easiest was C. I almost laughed. So these two, who only played low-rank instances, had the nerve to stand here bragging like this? I looked at Winnie. “Do you even know which instance lobby you’re in? “S-rank! “Are you sure your B-rank boyfriend and your C-rank self can take dozens of people through this alive?” If C-rank was the beginner zone, then S-rank was hell mode. The death rate was extremely high. Jumping two or three ranks was basically suicide. Not to mention, these people had been forcibly dragged in. They did not even have control panels. The game could only read Winnie’s player profile, so it counted the strength of a dozen people under her name. That miscalculation made the game think she was strong. That was why everyone had been sent into an S-rank instance. Chapter 3 These people did not count as real players in the game yet. They could not even tap Exit Game. After hearing what I said, they started to worry. Their voices grew noticeably tense. “Winnie, is she telling the truth?” “Why do you have a control panel and we don’t? Are we actually in danger?” Winnie did not look guilty at all. She immediately curled her lip. “Did you forget? She was dragged in by force too. Of course she doesn’t have a control panel, just like you. How could she possibly see the game interface? “She’s just scared. She’s making up lies to turn us against each other so I’ll send her and Josie out. “If you’re worried, I can send you out right now. I only wanted to show everyone something new. I’m not here to do a thankless job.” The moment she finished speaking, everyone quickly waved their hands and shook their heads. “Come on, we were wrong, Winnie. Those sisters really are exactly alike. They lie the second they open their mouths. We almost fell for it.” “Exactly. Country girls are just cowards. Getting into a horror game is so cool. What is there to be scared of? Pathetic.” “Don’t be mad, Winnie. We definitely trust you. We’re going in with you.” I closed my eyes, no longer interested in wasting words on them. I walked forward quickly, ready to bring Josie over. Once the game started, it would be bad if Josie and I were not teleported into the same scene. When Winnie saw me coming, she immediately grabbed Josie by the hair and dragged her backward. “What do you think you’re doing? Stay away from me. Keep provoking me like this, and if something happens after we go in, I won’t save you.” Seeing Josie struggling in pain, I lost my patience completely. I lifted my foot and kicked Winnie hard. “You should worry about yourself.” I wanted to see whether she could still act this smug once she entered the instance. The second Josie was free, she threw herself into my arms and sobbed until she could barely speak. “Nina, I’m sorry. I dragged you into this.” My heart ached. I quickly held her and comforted her in a low voice. Beside us, Winnie was so fragile that my kick sent her straight to the ground. The moment she climbed back up, she was shaking with rage. She pointed at me and snapped, “Just wait. I’m calling my boyfriend right now. You kicked me? I’ll make you regret it.” She jabbed at her phone, and the moment the call connected, she started crying. “Evan, hurry over. Someone’s bullying me!” The party invitation was accepted. The next second, a man appeared out of thin air in front of Winnie. He was holding a rose charm, and he handed it to her gently. “Don’t be scared, Winnie. I’m here. “This rose charm is for you. If things get dangerous, crush it, and it will form a shield around you. “Not that you’ll need it when you’re with me. I’ll protect you.” The people around them started teasing in knowing voices. “That’s so sweet.” “He even gives you roses in the game. If you find someone like that, just marry him.” Their teasing made Winnie float with pride, her face shy and pleased. But I was staring straight at the man who had just appeared. Never mind the fact that a B-rank item like that would shatter the second an S-rank entity touched it. Aside from looking pretty, it was useless. The real question was this. Why did the man standing across from me look exactly like my boyfriend? Chapter 4 I watched him flirt with Winnie like he had everything under control, then listened as he calmed everyone down. He promised he would protect them all. In the end, I could no longer lie to myself. There was no way two people in this world had the same name and the same face. My throat felt raw. My voice was low, but loud enough for him to hear. “Evan, when did you get a new girlfriend?” Winnie snapped back to herself at the sound of my voice and pointed at me furiously. “Evan, she’s the one who bullied me. She kicked me to the ground. It hurt so much.” But Evan ignored her. He stared at me in shock, panic flashing across his face. “Nina, what are you doing here?” I laughed. “That’s what I was about to ask you. Yesterday, you were still talking to me about how we should spend Valentine’s Day. How did you turn around and start getting cozy with another woman?” Everyone around us went silent. Winnie looked even more stunned. “Evan, what is going on? Haven’t we been together for three months? That woman is lying, right?” Winnie kept questioning him, and my heart sank lower and lower. Three months. But three months ago, we had just met each other’s parents. We had even set a wedding date. My expression went cold. “Evan, I need an explanation.” We had been together for six years. So many of our friends had called us the perfect couple. They said our relationship was so good it made people jealous. I could not believe he would betray me. This was the game, after all. Maybe he had some reason. But in the next second, he regained his composure and said flatly, “Since you’ve already seen it, I won’t hide it anymore. Let’s break up. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but your temper is weird. I was afraid you’d do something reckless if you got angry, so I never found the right time.” I nearly lost my mind from rage. Ever since I came to the horror game, I had always kept my temper under control around my family and my boyfriend. Even if he wanted to break up with me, if he had told me the truth, I would not have clung to him. Three months. The thought of him dating another woman behind my back, then coming home and acting like nothing had happened, pretending to be loving with me, made me sick. Cheating while acting noble was beyond disgusting. Winnie suddenly understood. “Evan, so this is the bad-tempered old girlfriend you told me about? The one who’s moody all day long?” She looked at me with open disgust. “Evan is mine now. Stay away from him. Stop shamelessly throwing yourself at him, okay?” The others immediately joined in. “Seriously? Her temper is so bad her boyfriend didn’t even dare break up with her? What kind of person is that?” “She wouldn’t threaten Evan with suicide to stop him from leaving, would she? People like that are terrifying.” “Winnie is still the best. She’s gentle and kind. Evan and Winnie belong together.” Josie was shaking with anger as she shouted back, “My sister is a good person. Stop making things up. He’s the cheater here. What right do you have to insult my sister?” I silently held her tighter and patted her gently. “Why argue with them? These people were willing to bully you together. Do you really expect them to know right from wrong?” Winnie was about to curse back, but the huge screens around us suddenly began counting down. “Ten, nine, eight, seven... The game will begin shortly. Entering the instance soon. Players, please prepare.” Winnie immediately clung to Evan’s arm, looking smug. “We’re about to enter the game. Don’t be so scared you come crying and begging us to save you.” Evan lifted his chin proudly, too. “For the sake of what we used to have, if you get on your knees and apologize to Winnie, I can reluctantly forgive you. Once we enter the game, I’ll keep you alive.” I looked at the numbers turning bloodred and smiled faintly. They did not know this was an S-rank lobby. Only when the game began would players find out which instance they were in. This round had been started by Winnie’s party invitation, and both of them assumed they would naturally enter a C-rank beginner zone. They thought they could tear through everything inside and bask in everyone’s praise. The next second, the world around us collapsed. When I opened my eyes again, we were surrounded by ruins. A group of entities stood dead ahead, staring straight at us. The game’s voice rang out again. “Welcome, players, to the S-rank instance. Good luck.”