Trapped in a Love Triangle in an Infinite Game - Chapter 1

【Critical NPC Ghost Groom deceased… Instance collapse imminent…】

The cold, eerie mechanical voice rattled off the warning with urgent speed and no inflection whatsoever.

【Ding! Ghost Groom identity… bzzzt… bzzzt…】

“Shut up!”

I rubbed my aching, foggy head. I had torn the Evil God’s heart out while He tore out mine. Not only had I survived, I had somehow landed in a brand-new instance.

I pressed a hand to the spot over my heart. Something felt strange.

The electronic voice stuttered. A moment later, it chimed again in a suspiciously cheerful tone, as though taking secret delight in my misfortune.

【Congratulations! Player Jiang Yao has received the Ghost Bride’s dowry: Yin-Minted Coin! Current Ghost Bride approval rating: 100%!】

A copper coin appeared in my palm.

【Main Quest: Player Jiang Yao must take the Ghost Groom’s place and marry the Ghost Bride!】

The red candles in the room went out.

Every spectral creature around me froze. Their bulging eyeballs popped free and hit the floor with a merry clatter.

“The groom is… a… a woman?”

Incense smoke drifted from the bronze burner. My clothes transformed into a close-fitting wedding robe, vivid red as blood.

The players who had not been chosen stared at me with complicated expressions.

“Damn! I know the Ghost Groom always dies on his wedding night, but why do I still feel robbed?”

“It passed over all of us men and picked a woman?”

“Forget the wedding day. She probably won’t survive tonight.”

“…”

Sure enough, the redwood coffin that had lain in the center of the ancestral hall creaked open.

I was sucked inside.

The heavy lid would not budge from within. Beyond it came an old man’s uncanny, singsong cry.

“The living, keep away!”

Silence.

Utter silence, the kind that made the faintest noise feel sinister.

Then a cold hand stroked my cheek and came to rest beside my lips.

“Husband.”

The androgynous voice was ethereal and shiver-inducing, a blade slicing through flame and scattering all reason. One sound of it was enough to know its owner had to be beautiful.

I raised my eyes.

The “bride,” dressed in wedding red beneath a scarlet veil, was kneeling astride my waist. I could just make out the lovely line of his chin and the faint upward curve of his lips under the veil.

Mm.

I wanted to kiss him.

There was little room inside the coffin. His blazing wedding dress hugged his body, narrowing at the waist before spilling outward like great clusters of decadent flowers.

Such a slim waist.

My hand moved to it before I could stop myself, pulling him firmly down onto me. The beads and ornaments on his veil chimed together.

Pain stabbed through my heart.

One finger pressed directly above it with the weight of a mountain. He leaned down like a venomous snake tasting the air.

“Husband, aren’t you afraid of me?”

【Ding-dong! Congratulations, you have triggered your first encounter with the Ghost Bride!】

【A shy Ghost Bride secretly visits the groom before the wedding. Please show no intent to attack and do your best to satisfy the bride~】

In plain terms, the player was forbidden to attack the Ghost Bride. Even if the Ghost Bride meant to kill me, I had to accept it with a smile.

“My lady is the one who should be afraid.”

“I haven’t had meat in decades.”

I let him do as he pleased, gazing at him hungrily and ignoring the deathly chill at my neck.

I had spent years in the Infinite Space with survival as my only concern. Other than the time I seduced the Evil God as part of a strategy, I had never played with anyone’s feelings.

He had been about to bite my neck. Now he drew back.

After a long silence, he finally managed, “Husband truly is unlike anyone else.”

Then, as if determined to regain the upper hand, he began undoing my buttons, his voice dripping with malice.

“In that case, Husband, allow me to inspect your body. Then I can wait in peace for you to come and claim me.”

Three buttons came open. Something icy slid over my skin.

He jerked his hand back as if shocked.

I arched a brow and looped both arms around his neck. Pink crept across his pale knuckles.

“You…”

From that reaction, he had not known I was a woman.

I found myself intrigued by the Ghost Bride’s selection. Could he have no freedom to choose his groom? Was that why he came to inspect the man the day before the wedding? In that case, the Ghost Groom either got maimed during the inspection or died on the wedding day.

He still seemed dazed. I laughed softly.

“Scared?”

He tried to flee.

I did not give him the chance. In an instant, our positions reversed and I pinned him beneath me.

“My bride, why the hurry?”

Even his voice softened. “Let go!”

As if I would release prey that had already fallen into my mouth.

I reached for his veil. He stopped resisting, but his voice turned glacial.

“Seeing the bride’s face before the wedding violates a taboo.”

Oh. He was warning me that I would die.

“Worried about me?”

“No!”

How sweet.

I lifted the veil a little higher, until his lips came into view. Then I leaned in and pressed mine to them.

They were a little cold, but softer than I had imagined.

By the time he recovered, he was already fleeing in panic.

I curled my lips into a smile.

“We have all the time in the world.”