WTNL Chapter 223

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Changsheng Building
Chapter 223: “Why don’t you just die?”

“Go.”

After making all the preparations, Wen Jianyan commanded.

An Xin followed closely behind Wen Jianyan, groping forward in the darkness. His eyes were tightly shut, making his steps slow and dragging. He moved forward, inch by inch, his heart pounding.

He truly did not know what Wen Jianyan was planning to do.

From An Xin’s perspective, they were now at a dead end.

The condition “eye contact means death” was too harsh. Even though the female corpse had temporarily stopped moving, the situation had not improved in the slightest.

This despair was not only directed at the “instance” but also at them, the streamers.

Qi Qian was the team leader, the most experienced and resourceful among them, responsible for overall planning and coordination at crucial moments. However, now he was temporarily dead and had not rejoined the team, making them feel as if their backbone had been removed.

As for Tong Yao, the medium, her talent was exhausted, and she could no longer support even one last use.

Zhang Yu, who was brave and meticulous, had been cursed on the first floor, and his condition was deteriorating. Although he was trying to conceal it, An Xin knew that he was barely holding on to keep moving.

As for An Xin himself, despite having an offensive talent, his eyes were sealed, preventing him from using it. Even if he could, what impact would it have on the overall situation?

All the “corpses” could not be killed, only temporarily repelled, and his talent was costly to use, not something that could be used indefinitely.

For the first time in an instance, An Xin felt such deep despair and frustration.

And just at this moment, Wen Jianyan forcibly intervened, becoming the dominant controller of the situation.

The others had no choice but to obey his commands.

The backbone that had disappeared with Qi Qian’s death was now filled, controlled, and replaced by Wen Jianyan.

He seemed like a… born leader.

Although his eyes were tightly shut, An Xin still had a rough idea of his current direction.

It seemed that they were heading towards the iron door.

“Um…” An Xin’s throat tightened, making his voice sound a bit distorted as he tried to say something.

Wen Jianyan, holding the oil lamp in one hand and supporting himself on the wall with the other, interrupted him directly:

“Move faster, go.”

The previously soft and timid tone had disappeared completely, replaced by a concise, firm, and undeniable one, as if he was born to control, making others unconsciously follow all his instructions.

Behind them, the sound of a head rolling echoed, seemingly chasing after them. An Xin dared not breathe loudly and instinctively quickened his pace.

Wen Jianyan sped up again:

“Faster!”

An Xin hurried to comply.

Wen Jianyan, eyes shut, paused for a moment, tilting his head slightly as if listening for something.

Indeed.

Two heads were chasing them.

However, perhaps due to the female corpse being in a temporary cooldown, their rolling speed was much slower than before.

But this seemingly insignificant “slowness” was enough for Wen Jianyan:

“Open your eyes; don’t look back; run to the storage room.”

At the moment he finished speaking, they both opened their eyes and, guided by the faint light of the small oil lamp, ran straight towards the warehouse!

The sound of rolling heads followed closely behind, like shadows, chasing them tightly. If they slowed down or if the female corpse resumed its actions, Wen Jianyan had no doubt that they would immediately return to their terrifying state, agile, swift, and creating any opportunity to make eye contact.

Keep running!

An Xin dared not breathe heavily, following closely behind Wen Jianyan, rushing directly into the pitch-black warehouse.

The long-awaited opening of his eyes did not bring him peace or relaxation. On the contrary, it intensified the tension and pressure, making him keep his neck stiff, not daring to turn even slightly, fearing that a pair of gray, murky eyes would suddenly appear within his line of sight and take his life without warning.

He only dared to stare straight ahead.

The white-clothed girl ran ahead of him, the oil lamp in her hand emitting a faint light, her back straight and unwavering, without a trace of confusion.

In the distance ahead, the crimson dressing table appeared, its paint peeling, standing quietly in the darkness, strikingly incongruous.

A bronze mirror stood on it, its blurred surface reflecting a faint light.

An Xin was stunned for a moment.

Wait, why did they come back here? Could it be…?

Before he could sort out his chaotic thoughts, Wen Jianyan shoved the oil lamp into his hands, panting, “Hold this.”

The sound of rolling heads came from behind.

Was it his illusion? It felt like… the speed had increased a bit.

Wen Jianyan took a big step and sat straight in front of the bronze mirror.

The sound of rolling heads rapidly approached. No matter how fast they had run just now, the shop’s space was limited, and the distance they had just widened was almost effortlessly shortened.

The sound of rolling heads grew closer, almost as if it were right behind them, making An Xin’s spine tingle and his hair stand on end.

Damn, they’re catching up!

However, Wen Jianyan seemed completely unaffected. He took out the red comb from his bag and started combing his hair, his hands steady without the slightest tremor, moving so calmly that it was frightening.

One stroke, another stroke, and yet another.

An Xin’s heart was in his throat; the sound of his blood was pounding against his eardrums, creating a buzzing sound. Sweat seeped from his palms. By the faint light of the oil lamp, he could even see in the bronze mirror the two heads growing larger, moving faster, and getting closer, like death itself chasing them!

Thud.

Something cold and soft touched his foot.

In an instant, the temperature dropped sharply.

In that moment, An Xin felt as if he were cursed, his neck making a “crick” sound as it uncontrollably lowered. He tried desperately to close his eyes, but his eyelids wouldn’t obey, unable to close.

Slowly, he lowered his head to look at his feet.

It’s over.

In that instant, An Xin seemed to realize something.

In this instance, absolutely don’t let these corpses touch you—on the first floor, a mere touch left a dark green mark on Zhang Yu’s skin, and on the second floor, it was clearly the same.

These heads weren’t just trying to make eye contact; touching them would forcibly make you open your eyes and look in their direction.

An Xin guessed that perhaps he and Wen Wen’s act of “opening their eyes” had triggered this mechanism, allowing the heads to locate them.

Earlier, when the heads fell from the shelf and rolled in their direction, they had all promptly closed their eyes, so the heads couldn’t “locate” the presence of humans.

Or maybe it was because the curse in the mirror world intensified over time.

But none of that mattered.

An Xin heard his neck creak, his head lowering inch by inch.

Unprotected eyeballs were stimulated by the air, resulting in a wet tear film appearing.

In his blurry vision, he could faintly see the scattered, grass-like hair, the pale, corpse-spotted rotting skin, and…

His feet were cold, and his mind was blank.

Death was so close, he could almost smell the rot of his own corpse.

Suddenly, everything stopped.

—The heads disappeared, the rolling sound ceased, and the force pressing on his head vanished.

“……”

An Xin’s face was ashen, drenched in sweat, as if he had been fished out of water.

He instinctively turned to look.

Behind him was the wide-open warehouse, shelves filled with televisions and radios—they had returned, leaving the mirror world, back to the real store.

No one knew how close he had just come to complete death.

At the same time, in the store.

Su Cheng and Zhang Yu stood still, eyes closed, using only their hearing to capture what was happening. They heard footsteps and the sound of rolling heads—

Then, everything went silent.

The heads chasing the other two did not roll back, leaving only the sound of two heads rolling, the rubbing sound making them feel deeply uneasy.

Is it… over?

What just happened? What will happen next? What is Wen Jianyan’s plan?

Questions arose in their minds but remained unanswered.

They could only stand stiffly in place, anxiously waiting.

—Waiting for the opportunity Wen Jianyan mentioned.

.

Wen Jianyan put the red comb back in his bag, quickly stood up from the chair, and moved away from the dressing table.

He grabbed the still-stunned An Xin:

“Go, quickly.”

An Xin took a deep breath, nodded, adjusted his state, and then followed Wen Jianyan, one after the other.

“What are we doing next?”

Having just escaped death, his voice was excessively weak.

“Put the oil lamp on the counter, then come back.”

An Xin, though puzzled, followed Wen Jianyan’s instructions.

“And then?”

“The final step,” Wen Jianyan’s face was as pale as An Xin’s, but his voice remained calm. He nodded towards the televisions and said, “Watch the TV.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the static sound of electricity crackled, and two televisions in front of them lit up without warning.

On the snowy screens appeared the familiar back of the female corpse.

Under their gaze, it started moving again.

The red-clothed female corpse took stiff steps, walking backwards.

“…!”

An Xin was stunned, and suddenly, as if inspired, he realized what Wen Jianyan was doing—

So, that’s it!

When they left the mirror world with no human gaze, the two heads would lose their target and stop moving. The mirror world would then be left with only two heads, releasing the curse.

Meanwhile, they had left the mirror world and entered reality, activating the curse from the outside.

The heads on the shelves and the televisions corresponded to each other.

When they both stared at the televisions, it counted as “gazing,” transferring the curse back. The manifestation of the curse would change from “rolling heads” back to the “female corpse walking backwards out of the TV,” and those heads would no longer carry the “death by eye contact” curse, reverting to their original state.

Wen Jianyan had forcefully exploited a bug, changing the direction of the curse and creating an extremely precious opportunity for the crucial action—finding the source of the curse.

In other words… there was now no curse left in the mirror world store!

Wen Jianyan looked down, turned on his phone, and sent a message:

[Now]

Inside the mirror world.

The shop was deathly silent.

Su Cheng tightly gripped his phone, sweat seeping into his palm, Wen Jianyan’s last words echoing in his mind—”When the phone rings, open your eyes.”

Just then…

Buzz, buzz.

The phone vibrated.

.

The stairwell between the second and third floors.

Faint light from the oil lamp illuminated the narrow space.

A team was on the stairs.

The dull sound of footsteps echoed.

Suddenly, Mu Sen, who was in the middle of the group, paused as if he had caught some faint sound. He lowered his head and instinctively reached for the pouch at his waist.

Crack.

A very light, extremely crisp cracking sound was heard.

“!!!”

In that instant, his face suddenly changed dramatically. He frantically opened the pouch and started searching inside.

Soon, a small wooden plaque appeared in Mu Sen’s palm.

His eyes widened, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. “Wait, how could this—”

Under his horrified gaze, a thin crack slowly appeared in the center of the black and crimson plaque, splitting it in half as the gap gradually widened—

Crack.

“No, no, no… no, no, no!”

Mu Sen murmured softly, bloodshot eyes appearing crazed and demonic, looking like a malicious ghost, “Impossible, impossible!!”

“Keep going, one step forward, to the left!”

With her eyes covered, Tong Yao was guided forward.

“To the right!”

“Yes, that’s it, right here, no mistake!”

The red arrow, symbolizing guidance, danced in the air, pointing downward. Tong Yao’s hand slowly descended, precisely grabbing the tool below.

The familiar system broadcast sounded.

【Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for obtaining a hidden item (difficult) in the instance!】

【Collection progress 1/?】

.

Crack.

Another sound.

Wood splinters flew out as the crack widened, becoming impossible to ignore.

Not far away, Orange Candy stopped and turned her head, looking at Mu Sen with interest, scrutinizing his current expression.

Staring at the disintegrating plaque in his hand, Mu Sen’s jaw clenched and his expression twisted.

“No… absolutely not; it can’t be!”

He raised his hand, bit his index finger, and a drop of thick, pungent blood slowly oozed from the wound, gradually gathering into a droplet.

As the blood coagulated, Mu Sen’s finger started to discolor and deform, visibly withering.

Drip.

The blood fell onto the wooden plaque.

The blood seemed like a liquid, yet also like countless tiny crimson insects. As soon as it made contact with the plaque, it immediately seeped in, spreading densely, seemingly trying to mend the gradually splitting lines of the plaque.

“Struggling to the death, still trying to break my plaque…?” Mu Sen stared intently at the plaque, his eyes bulging, muttering through clenched teeth, “Why not just die already?”

.

Inside the shop.

With the source of the curse obtained, the televisions immediately lost their ability to spread the curse, just like the radios earlier. They stopped functioning, reverting to seemingly harmless goods.

Wen Jianyan vomited intensely.

An Xin stood nearby, patting his back, his expression somewhat complicated.

After all, no one would have expected that the formidable player, who had just been in absolute control, cleverly using the instance’s rules and exploiting a bug to neutralize the curse, would now be vomiting uncontrollably like a newbie after it was all over.

Should he be considered brave or timid…

Wen Jianyan, looking drained, wiped his mouth and straightened up, “Let’s go…”

Next, they just needed to use the same method to bring Su Cheng, Tong Yao, and Zhang Yu back, and they would have completed the task on the second floor and could move on to the third floor.

“Are you okay?” An Xin asked worriedly.

Wen Jianyan, his face pale, nodded:

“I’m okay…”

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan paused slightly.

He seemed to feel a bit uneasy, raising his head.

Logically, everything should have been resolved, but… for some reason, Wen Jianyan had a strange feeling.

He carefully recalled everything that had happened.

There were no missed clues.

Wen Jianyan furrowed his brows in confusion.

Strange… What was going on?

“What’s wrong?” An Xin, noticing his odd behavior, asked.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, retracted his gaze, shook his head, and answered:

“…Nothing.”

He turned and continued walking towards the warehouse: “Let’s hurry. Our lamp oil is running low, and we should join them as soon as—

Before Wen Jianyan could finish his sentence, he saw the flame of the oil lamp flicker twice.

“?”

Wen Jianyan was stunned, looking at it in confusion.

The next second.

Inside the shop, with all windows tightly closed, an inexplicable cold wind suddenly blew. It had no source, no reason, as if it came from the netherworld, cold and eerie.

Whoosh.

“!!!”

Wen Jianyan realized something was wrong, his eyes widening in horror as he hurriedly raised—

The fragile wick flickered twice before him, and then…

Went out.

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