"Yes, I'm sorry!"

Cornelia suddenly panicked, she didn't expect the cat's reaction to be so intense.

She was worried that the cat, which had just become willing to approach her, would run away.

"Meow..."

The cat seemed to sigh and reluctantly returned to Cornelia's side, lying down beside her.

This made Cornelia's eyes light up again in an instant.

She once again held the cat, cherishing it dearly.

So they stayed together, one person and one cat, until the sun was about to set, and they could see the evening glow.

"Meow."

The cat meowed.

It had to leave.

Maintaining the transformation for so long had depleted its magical power.

"Can, can you live with me?"

Cornelia also understood the cat's meaning, filled with nostalgia and reluctance.

She wanted to bring this cat back to the dormitory.

The cat shook its head.

"Then, can I still see you?"

"Meow."

The cat raised its paw.

Cornelia joyfully reached out her hand and lightly touched its paw.

Then she watched the cat leave until its figure disappeared.

...

On Monday morning, during their compulsory class, Dekan noticed that Cornelia was absent-minded the whole time.

It was only when they went to the library together in the afternoon that he realized Cornelia had been daydreaming.

Seemingly unconsciously, she had drawn a cat's head on the paper with her pen.

Dekan leaned in to take a closer look.

Although it was quite abstract, he could vaguely recognize the cat's head that he had transformed into yesterday.

At this moment, perhaps because of Dekan's hair color, it caught Cornelia's eye, triggering her memory and making her look emotional.

She unconsciously sniffed near Dekan.

Dekan felt a bit uneasy.

But he maintained his composure and quietly distanced himself from Cornelia.

Cornelia looked at Dekan, seeming to hesitate for a moment.

"Have, have you also seen it?"

"Yeah, that's Teacher Cat's friend. Sometimes they come to my house for dinner."

Dekan spoke the truth.

Cornelia nodded.

After all, Dekan was very popular with cats, so that kind-hearted cat must also be close to him.

"Next, next time, can you take me to play with it?"

"Of course."

"Thanks!"

Since that moment, Cornelia couldn't help but smile, even when she was studying.

This made Dekan feel relieved but also somewhat worried.

In case things were exposed in the future, the severity of the situation might be hard to predict.

This dual role had to be played flawlessly.

The following Tuesday passed calmly, and it was time for the Team Beautiful Heart's Shadow World session.

Early on Wednesday, Dekan and Cornelia, along with Teacher Cat, arrived at the entrance to the Shadow World.

Of course, Croix was there to see them off.

Croix's eyes looked a bit desolate. Clearly, he also wanted to go with Dekan and Cornelia.

He could only hope that Dekan and Cornelia would reach tier 4 as soon as possible.

"Even if youre waiting outside, you are still a member of our team. Well be back."

Dekan patted Croix's arm.

"Mmhmm, good luck!"

The three of them bumped fists, and then they parted ways decisively.

Teacher Cat was already eager, lying on Dekan's head.

"Hurry up, meow!"

Under Teacher Cat's urging, the two, along with the cat, entered the Void Gate.

Next was the familiar darkness and silence.

Before long, their surroundings became clear and bright, indicating that they had successfully entered the Shadow World.

It seemed that this time they weren't immediately forced into some mini-game.

They should be in a relatively free state.

Cornelia was right beside him, and Teacher Cat had slyly slipped into his shadow the moment they arrived in the Shadow World.

Cornelia's appearance remained unchanged.

It seemed that they both retained their original appearances.

However, their attire had changed. Both Dekan and Cornelia were now dressed in slightly heavy winter clothing.

Yes, they looked very much like regular people.

Both of them began to survey their surroundings.

It was a luxurious-looking and somewhat extravagant living room.

A massive golden chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating the nearly wall-to-wall classical-style carpet that was a mix of gold and brown.

The warm-toned decorations and the gently colored light brown curtains gave no hint of the bitter cold outside.

Outside, the cold wind howled and would occasionally pelt the tightly closed floor-to-ceiling windows with snowflakes.

Even though the heavy curtains didn't move, the sounds made it seem as though the snow and wind might shatter the vibrating glass in the next moment.

The sky outside the window was nothing but a vast expanse of white, and if not for a few magical lanterns in the garden, you wouldn't be able to see the ground outside clearly.

The meadows and flower beds were covered in snow, turned into a thin layer of white cotton candy. The snowflakes falling seemed to make the ground rise slowly.

Soon, a prompt appeared in front of them.

[Shadow World: Desolate Mountain Blizzard Cineaste ]

[Tier: 4]

[In this villa within the mountain, the external weather is severe, and you ten challengers will be stationed here. Little do you know that two of you have acquired the curse hidden in this ancient mansion and will transform into formidable entities at night.]

[Mission Objective: Survive for 72 hours.]

[Total Challengers: 10]

[Regular Challengers: 8]

[Rebel Challengers: 2]

[Rebel Challengers have additional mission objectives; if they complete the mission, it will pose a threat to the original world.]

[In the mansion, there are a total of 10 bedrooms. These bedrooms have been blessed with strong magical protection, capable of resisting attacks up to the tier 6.]

[Rebel Challengers have each acquired one of the following two curses.]

[Witch's Power: Can dispel the blessing in a room, can be used twice a night. Once the blessing is dispelled, it cannot be restored.]

[Werewolf's Power: Can transform into a tier 6 combat-capable werewolf. Only applicable from 10 PM to 6 AM.]

[Time Remaining: 2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.]

[Current time is 6:30 AM.]

[All Challengers start in the mansion's main hall.]

...

The observation hall was now bustling.

"Did Dekan and the others enter a confrontational Shadow World this time?"

"Yes, the basic trigger for this internal confrontational Shadow World is that there are individuals among the challengers who strongly desire to disrupt the real world, and these people will also become rebel challengers."

"A villa in the mountains, a late-night slaughter; I have a feeling that this Shadow World will be very bloody..."

"These types of Shadow Worlds, filled with mutual suspicion and killing, often test the psychological resilience of challengers. Sometimes, even before the final boss, a challenger's psychological defenses would have already collapsed."

"Enough of that nonsense, with those two disasters up in there, even the Grim Reaper will have a hard time against them."