After entering a horror game, I, Anastasia Moreau, begin dating the big boss.

At our first meeting, I wrap my arms around his sleek, serpentine body and squeeze him into a corner of the coffin.

"Move over, move over."

In the next instant, a strikingly handsome young man with white hair and golden eyes appears beneath me.

The tips of his ears flush red as he glares at me.

"You… You're lying on my hair!" he grits out.

"Welcome to the horror instance dungeon.

"Attention, players! The clearance condition is to survive for seven days. You are all the most honored guests of this village. Finally, we hope you have a pleasant day."

One second ago, I had just clicked on a link someone had posted in our class group chat. A second later, a cold mechanical voice rang out in my ear.

In a daze, I opened my eyes, only to find myself standing at the entrance of a village. Fog churned thickly in front of me, so dense that I could barely see anything. I could only hear a few panicked but familiar voices.

"What is this place? I don't want to be here. I want to go home. I want to go home!"

"I was just one minute away from clocking in. I've just lost this month's perfect attendance award!"

Then, an ice-cold voice cut through the crowd. "All of you, shut up."

At the same moment, the fog slowly dissipated, and the scene before us gradually came into focus.

Standing there was my university's graduating class—all 41 classmates in total.

Two years had passed since we graduated. No one could have imagined that our reunion would be under such circumstances.

Not far away stood 20 villagers. Their builds varied, but all of their faces were blurry, as though hidden behind a thin veil.

I noticed that the villager at the very end looked unnaturally stiff, like a mannequin.

The villager standing at the forefront had long black hair covering her eyes. Then, without warning, she suddenly spun her head 180 degrees to face us. It seemed as if she had forcibly twisted her head back into place.

"Hee hee hee. Hello."

As she spoke, she opened her gaping, bloody mouth. Shreds of flesh were faintly visible and stuck between her teeth.

"Hee hee hee. Pair up and choose a villager to be your host family." The same cold, hoarse voice echoed through the air once more.

The rest of us quickly realized something was wrong, and everyone's expressions turned grim.

Everyone could tell there was something deeply eerie about this village. And pairing up—with 41 people in the class—meant that one person would inevitably be left out. The consequences of being the odd person out were imaginable, and no one wanted to be caught in that position.

The guy standing in front stepped forward, shoving aside everyone in his way. "Move, move! I'm choosing first."

I recognized him immediately—Tony Larson. He was the most mischievous guy in our class back then. In two years, he'd grown considerably burlier and looked to be nearly six and a half feet tall.

He walked straight toward a young lady standing in the middle of the crowd of villagers. Her shoulder-length hair framed an innocent-looking face. He slung his arm around her shoulder with a sleazy look on his face.

The crowd sucked in a sharp breath.

In the next second, under everyone's horrified gazes, the woman with the long black hair stretched her impossibly long tongue out, coiled it around Tony, and dragged him straight into her mouth. Sticky, crimson blood dripped from her mouth, adding a touch of eerie allure to her already deathly pale face.

A sharp, piercing scream erupted from the crowd.

"Ahhhhh! She killed someone! Help!"

I stood there stunned. Only a pool of blood remained, where Tony had once stood.

Once the initial shock passed, I quickly realized that we now had an even number of people. The rest of my classmates hurriedly chose the villagers who looked relatively gentle, and no further accidents happened during the selection.

Before long, only a few villagers remained unchosen. I was still hesitating when suddenly, my small snake peeked out of my pocket. It motioned toward an elderly couple on the far edge. In front of them stood a young woman with pigtails.

I glanced at the remaining unchosen villagers. Some were monstrous, with distorted faces and horse-like bodies, while others were shrouded in black mist with horns sprouting from their heads. They seemed neither human nor ghost.

After thinking it over repeatedly, I finally walked toward the elderly couple.

"Hello, sir, ma'am. Please take care of me in the days to come. You can call me Lia," greeted the young woman with pigtails.

She showed no fear at all, and the elderly grandma smiled warmly back at her.

However, there was something deeply unsettling about that smile. Her entire face looked like wrinkled tree bark. Her features squeezed together when she grinned.

I recognized who the pigtailed woman was—Thalia Cross, the college roommate whom I'd never gotten along with. A surge of irritation rose in me.

Just as I stepped forward, the grandma waved her hand, and a thick white mist shrouded the area.

A mournful, melodic voice echoed from afar.

"The lucky hour has arrived."

The grandma clasped both my hand and Thalia's. Her eyes slowly became vacant, and her voice turned extremely shrill.

"Escort the bride into the bridal carriage!"

When I opened my eyes again, I realized I had been awakened by Thalia. Only then did I notice that both of us were wearing wedding gowns.

Thalia was screaming hysterically beside me. Her face was deathly pale as she fell to the ground and scrambled backward.

Following her gaze, my whole body went rigid, and I froze in place. Luckily, I was quick enough to clamp my hand over my mouth, stifling the scream that threatened to escape.

Goodness, those scales… That damn glossy sheen. How could scales be so smooth and beautiful?

In front of us stood a giant snake. It was hundreds of feet long, and its body was covered in shimmering scales. At that very moment, it reared up in a coiled attack stance.

Its golden eyes stared directly at Thalia, and there was a bone-chilling air about it. Behind it, bones and corpses were heaped into mountains, and an indescribable stench assaulted my senses. Those were undoubtedly the remains of previous explorers.

A low, cold snort came from above. With a slurping sound, the giant snake's tongue flicked out and dragged Thalia into its mouth. The air instantly filled with the thick smell of blood. It smacked its lips a few times, then spat something onto the ground.

Thalia was already unrecognizable. Her bones—mixed with saliva—had turned into a pulpy mess.

Yet, I remained unmoved. My eyes gleamed as I stared at those glossy, intricate scales. Heaven knows how tempting this was for a snake enthusiast like me. Only when the snake's head stretched right in front of my face did I snap back to reality.

I stared at the snake's head, just inches from me, and reached out to stroke it. Then, I brushed the few stray strands of grass dangling near its eyes.

"There, you're clean now."

My voice trembled slightly as I said this. No matter how much I pretended, seeing something so gruesome still filled me with terror.

The giant snake studied me thoughtfully, but it didn't seem like it had any intention of sparing me. That was, until the small snake in my pocket slithered up my arm and curled around my shoulder.

Only then did that oppressive, bone-chilling presence finally ease.

The giant snake also shrank considerably until, finally, it curled itself up inside a coffin.

I let out a sigh of relief. But my tense body had barely relaxed for more than a few seconds when, suddenly, countless snakes poured from a nearby cave.

There were so many of them that I couldn't see a way to escape. The venomous snakes piled on top of each other, forming a snake tide that surged toward me at a terrifying speed.

Goosebumps erupted across my arms. I instinctively glanced at the now-shrunken giant snake, and our eyes happened to meet. In that moment of eye contact, I saw something almost human in its eyes—vivid emotions that only humans should have.

Naturally, I didn't miss the provocation and disdain in its gaze either.

As the snake tide drew closer, I looked at the giant snake lying in the coffin. It was seemingly watching the chaos unfold with amusement.

Gritting my teeth, I made up my mind. Taking two steps as one, I lunged into the coffin and wrapped my arms around its silky, scaly body.

"Move over, move over," I muttered as I nudged it aside.

In the narrow space, I could almost smell its scent, a mixture of fresh grass and earth after rain, evaporating into the air.

The next second, a sharp, angry voice rang next to my ear.

"You're lying on my hair!"

What?

I stared in shock and bewilderment at the white-haired, golden-eyed young man beneath me. After staring blankly for a few seconds, I gave him a small smile.

"Hey, handsome. What a coincidence," I chirped.

The giant snake, which was now in human form, was dressed in flowing black robes with long white hair cascading over his shoulders like moonlight, giving him the air of a charming, old-world gentleman.

The slight flush on the tips of his ears added a touch of vivid beauty to his otherwise cold and severe features.

"30 survivors left."

The icy mechanical voice interrupted my thoughts. In just half a day, a quarter of us were already dead.

Seeing the increasingly dangerous look in the man's eyes, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his strong waist and pulled him closer. There was no avoiding each other—the space between us was impossibly tight.

Suddenly, a pair of enormous wings sprouted from the man's back, and the scales on his body seemed sharper than ever. There was even a faint, eerie shimmer about them.

At the same time, a wave of drowsiness hit me, almost causing me to fall asleep instantly. In my groggy state, I could still feel the scorching gaze fixed intently on me, and I heard a muffled, indistinct voice whisper by my ear.

"I'll keep you around for a few more days—for now."

When I woke up again, it was the next day. My little pocket snake was somehow now coiled around the snake-man.

He still wore that calm, indifferent expression, but I knew he was not as harmless and docile as he appeared. Who knew how many people he had eaten at this point?

"All players, please take note. Congratulations! You've triggered the hidden stage. All players must immediately bring their host families and gather in the clearing by 2:00 pm."

A hidden stage?

Though my mind was filled with suspicions, I didn't dare refuse to go. I could only turn to the snake-man beside me for help. But what I saw startled me terribly. In his hands was a severed head, and he was steadily sucking out its contents through a straw.

The slurping sounds were loud, echoing clearly throughout the cave we were in.

Brain matter mixed with some unknown fluid—pale yellow and red—was savored with relish. He even wore a faint grin at the corners of his lips.

The other snakes nearby also gathered around, coiling obediently at his feet. It was as if, with a single command from him, they would all swarm the decapitated corpse and devour it completely.

As I fought back the urge to vomit, I finally recognized the headless body. It was none other than my bastard ex-boyfriend.

Noticing my gaze, the snake-man handed the head to me and smiled. "Want my help? Sure. Have a drink with me first."

The eyes of my ex-boyfriend stared straight at me, as if conveying his terror. It sent chills down my spine.

If I didn't accept, the snake-man wouldn't help me, let alone bring me to the clearing. But if I took the head, I'd have to…

After thinking for a few seconds, I reached for the head, smiled, and said, "Sure. Let's have a drink together."

As I spoke, I casually tossed the head aside, then pulled out an unopened can of soda from my backpack and took a sip.

I tentatively offered it to the snake-man. "That stuff isn't good for you. Try this."

He stared blankly at the can in my hand for a long while before accepting it. After taking a gulp, his eyes brightened noticeably.

I glanced down at my watch. It was currently 1:57 pm, with only three minutes left until the time mentioned in the broadcast.

With that in mind, I couldn't be bothered with anything else. I reached out, grabbed the snake-man, and dragged him along with me.

When we finally reached the clearing, everyone was watching us.

I also noticed that in just a day, half of the people were gone. Meanwhile, our former class president was missing a leg, and the remaining survivors all bore injuries of varying degrees.

"Next, we will commence the role-playing stage. Every player must participate along with their host families.

"Those who do not participate… will die."

As it spoke those words, the mechanical voice grew noticeably colder.

My heart sank completely. Hidden stage? As if. We were clearly just pigs waiting for slaughter.

As despair settled over me, an elbow nudged mine. A sweet female voice said, "Do you want to swap host families with me?"

I looked up and immediately recognized her. It was my college roommate, Crystal Caldwell.