Falling in Love with My Boyfriend in a Death Game

Saved on December 17, 2023. Screenshot taken.

After a grueling day at work, Chu Xiu came home ready to collapse onto his beanbag and unwind with a cold beer. Then the one-bedroom apartment he'd lived in for hundreds of days suddenly split open, and a steady stream of bright red liquid poured from the ceiling. Looking at the huge stain on his work clothes, Chu Xiu had a thousand curses on the tip of his tongue.

Life was already hard enough for a wage slave. Why couldn't he get a moment's rest in the game world, either?

A tentacled monster with a gaping maw chased him from behind. A black-robed judge carried a scythe. A butler wore a stiff, polite smile, yet could pull a chainsaw from behind his back. Chu Xiu was about to unleash every curse he knew.

The one small mercy: he wasn't the only poor soul fleeing for his life. A handsome guy about six feet tall was with him, even if the guy was always stone-faced and hardly ever spoke.

In one dungeon, Chu Xiu was forced to enter the bridal chamber dressed as a groom in bright red wedding robes. Looking at the familiar figure sitting on the wedding bed with a red veil over their head, he curled his lips into a smile.

After all these days, this damn game was finally giving him a perk.

He lifted the veil. Seeing the man with rouge on his lips, Chu Xiu flashed a roguish smile. "My bride~"

The bride expressionlessly drew a dagger hidden in his wedding robe. "...Ha."

Just kidding. Here's the real synopsis.

In 2458, a digital display suddenly appeared in the world. A massive countdown floated in the air, seeping with vivid red and radiating an eerie feeling. Anyone who saw it would abruptly fall asleep. Some woke up alive, while others died screaming in a frenzy. Everyone lived in fear, never knowing when that strange display might appear. The red countdown above their heads seemed like a scythe poised to fall at any moment.

One day after work, Chu Xiu opened his front door and saw a vivid red reflection cast across the blank wall. He was pulled into another world. Players who cleared a level could catch their breath and anxiously wait for the next countdown. Those who failed would receive the one permanent rest that death could offer.

Dungeon One: A mysterious letter brought Chu Xiu to a Gothic castle. He was a guest there and a childhood friend of the castle's master, invited to come and rescue his friend from suffering.

Through the bright red windows, Chu Xiu saw many shadowy monsters drifting along to a discordant tune, passing endlessly through a pale, eerie archway. They showed no smiles, only laughter.

Before him stood the castle butler, smiling stiffly and silently urging all the "guests" to swallow the "delicious" banquet.

Dungeon Two: An absurd masquerade ball, a place of utter madness and grotesque debauchery. Strange faces everywhere, footsteps drifting without cease, rooms constantly changing, and stained glass set into the stone walls reflecting rich hues of blue, purple, green, orange, white, and red. A mysterious stranger suddenly appears. Which unfortunate soul will they take away?

Dungeon Three: In the dead of night, a shout suddenly rang out in an old, crumbling apartment building, cramped and stuffy, like a monster nearing the end of its life. Dim lights flickered in the hallway and windows. A few police officers arrived and found a door that refused to open.

A locked door, an old person who vanished without a trace, and a scream that split the night and sent chills down the spine. What exactly happened here?

Dungeon Four: A massive scythe kept falling before their eyes. In this world, there were only enforcers and criminals. If you were unlucky enough to become a prisoner, endless punishments and torments awaited you. Ever-changing cells, steel blades swinging down, pits hidden in the dark, heat like an oven, and spaces collapsing and shrinking...

Death seemed like a release. Could you escape the endless torment?

Each level followed the last, like a condemned prisoner on the gallows, slowly suffocating in pain and endless fear of the unknown.

The one small mercy: someone was there with him along the way.

Theme: The only goal is to stay alive.