WTNL Chapter 228

(2/2)–

Changsheng Building
Chapter 228: Captured

A few minutes earlier.

As soon as the Dark Fire Squad reached the third floor, they were immediately ambushed before the strange, eerie sounds behind them had even dissipated.

With pursuers behind and a blockade in front, they were caught off guard.

In such a critical situation, no one dared to hold back. All usable talents were activated, and those with exhausted talent usages were forced to bring out their trump card props and brace themselves for a fierce confrontation.

Caught off guard, close combat ensued.

The cold air stirred, filled with eerie illusions. Items from other instances emitted creepy laughter, and formless curses spread out.

One must admit, the members of the Dark Fire Squad were indeed seasoned and experienced anchors.

Even though Qi Qian had not yet returned and Zhang Yu was still unconscious, relying on Tong Yao, whose talent was exhausted, and An Xin, a PvP powerhouse, along with their item reserves and past combat experiences with other anchors, they managed to withstand the preemptive strike from the Orange Candy Squad.

However, the cost was high. In just a few seconds, several epic items were consumed.

If this continued, they wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

“Items, use them immediately.” Wen Jianyan’s deliberately low voice sounded in Su Cheng’s ear, “1, 3, 7.”

“…?!”

Su Cheng was stunned, then quickly realized.

Before entering the instance, Wen Jianyan had bought many unusual items for him. These items had strange functions and various uses. Su Cheng couldn’t figure out why Wen Jianyan would spend precious points on them. He even suspected it was due to Wen Jianyan’s consumerist habits—itching to spend money.

Could it be…

But now wasn’t the time to overthink.

Su Cheng’s actions were faster than his thoughts. Habitually following Wen Jianyan’s instructions, he quickly activated the three items he had pointed out.

In the next second, an invisible smoke suddenly spread out, engulfing everyone instantly. Both enemies and allies had their vision momentarily obscured.

He could hear the other side’s tense and hurried voices:

“Now, split up and run!”

Simultaneously, the Orange Candy Squad immediately understood their intentions upon seeing the smoke.

“Trying to run?”

One member sneered, clearly prepared for this.

Who knows what item he activated, but in the blink of an eye, the thick smoke quickly dispersed at an unstoppable speed. In just a moment, the opposing team’s figures reappeared.

“Let them run, it’s fine,” Orange Candy shrugged and ordered, “Just grab the Prophet.”

From the beginning, she hadn’t planned to annihilate the other team. Otherwise, the moment the squad stepped onto the third floor, she wouldn’t have politely greeted them, giving them time to prepare, but would have attacked directly.

After all, the opposing team was not only understaffed and in poor condition but also being chased by something, lowering their guard. In such a situation, Orange Candy had more than ten ways to directly reduce their numbers and, with luck, could even cripple their combat power by half.

She didn’t do so simply because she didn’t want to.

On the previous floor, the opposing team had the chance to ambush them but didn’t take it, not reducing their numbers while they were still stabilizing on the second floor.

Although Orange Candy was mad, she hated owing others.

Since they let her team off last time, she would do the same this time.

Before taking action, all of Mu Sen’s words about “eliminating the enemy to prevent future troubles” went in one ear and out the other, selectively forgotten.

The team members had no objections. They nodded and immediately took action.

As members of the Orange Candy Squad, they were used to following all sorts of unreasonable demands from her, but upon hearing this order, they couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It was known that this instance was quite challenging.

Although they had only gone through two floors, everyone realized that “Changsheng Building” was unlike any other team instance they had participated in before. They had already suffered losses on the second floor, and who knows what awaited them further? Instead of fighting to the last person here, it was better to stop and cut their losses.

Orange Candy opened a small metal box. Inside lay a shriveled, rotten, severed finger, with wrinkled skin and disgusting white hair, and a black, sharp nail.

Under everyone’s gaze, the finger slowly extended, pointing in a certain direction.

Through the dispersing smoke, the faint silhouette of a solitary girl could be seen.

Orange Candy: “Over there.”

Quickly, the well-trained team members surged forward, surrounding the girl pointed out by the severed finger. She initially tried to resist but soon realized the disparity in strength between them and reluctantly gave in.

“You guessed right. I am the Prophet you are looking for.” The girl with amber eyes raised her hands in a gesture of surrender and sighed, “I won’t resist. Can you let my teammates go?”

*

As the smoke cleared, the Orange Candy Squad quickly retreated.

Several faces were pale and breathless, each showing varying degrees of exhaustion. Zhang Yu remained unconscious on the ground, and Qi Qian’s cooldown period had not yet ended.

An Xin warily scanned the surroundings and soon revealed a puzzled expression: “They… left?”

“It seems so…” Tong Yao gasped for breath, stood up, and looked around solemnly, “Is everyone okay?”

However, before finishing her sentence, everyone quickly realized something was wrong. It seemed someone was missing from their group.

“Wait, where’s Wen Wen?”

An Xin was shocked, jumped up, and nervously searched around, but couldn’t find Wen Wen’s figure: “Where did Wen Wen go?”

“Ugh…”

At this moment, a painful groan sounded from the ground.

Zhang Yu clutched his head and slowly opened his eyes with difficulty, looking confused, as if he didn’t know where he was.

Tong Yao bent down and helped him up: “You’re awake? Are you okay?”

Although Zhang Yu’s face was still somewhat pale, it was much better compared to his previously deathly pallor. His gradually clearing eyes scanned the people around him, showing a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment: “I… I didn’t die?”

In fact, before losing consciousness, he had felt his life force slipping away and knew he was standing at death’s door. He thought this was his end, but he unexpectedly found himself opening his eyes again and seeing these familiar faces.

“What happened?”

Tong Yao quickly and succinctly recounted everything that had happened since he lost consciousness.

“So, the red lamp oil could dispel curses but also attracted danger. In the escape, we were attacked by another squad, and Wen Wen disappeared. Is that correct?”

Zhang Yu took some potions from his backpack, chugged several bottles, and his face visibly recovered, soon regaining the strength to stand.

“Yes.” Everyone nodded.

“They must be seeking revenge,” An Xin said with a serious expression. “The squad we encountered on the second floor included Wen Wen!”

He was stunned, then suddenly lifted his head: “No, not revenge. They must have another motive!”

Everyone else was taken aback and turned to look.

Su Cheng felt his heart tighten.

Could it be… An Xin had realized the intricate connection between this squad, the Prophet, and the Oracle?

“When they saw Wen Wen, their captain kept praising her beauty.” An Xin clenched his fists in frustration, “I knew it; they must be after her looks…!”

Su Cheng: “…”

Zhang Yu and Tong Yao: “…”

“Ahem,” Zhang Yu cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “In any case, Wen Wen must have been taken; that’s undeniable.”

If she had died in the chaos, there would be some trace left.

No blood, no severed limbs, no corpse—Wen Wen was most likely still alive and had indeed been taken by the opposing squad.

Moreover, their attack this time didn’t cause any casualties but only took Wen Wen. This almost certainly confirmed that the attack wasn’t for revenge but to capture her.

An Xin’s statement about “another motive” was probably correct.

As for the reason… that’s unclear.

“It’s my fault for not protecting her and letting her get taken.” An Xin seemed still immersed in regret, “She’s so delicate and weak; now she’s among those villains. We have to rescue her…”

Zhang Yu glanced at An Xin, showing an indescribable expression.

Delicate and weak?

Come on, her instance-clearing skills are far better than yours.

He had no doubt that if the two were thrown into an instance separately, Wen Wen would be the one to survive, not this flower-guarding warrior who had brawn but no brains.

“But An Xin is right about one thing: we need to rescue Wen Wen,” Zhang Yu said, propping himself up.

More importantly, he had come to clearly recognize Wen Wen’s value.

Not just because she could decipher the Prophet’s prophecies and thereby help avoid risks, but also because without her, the Prophet’s abilities would be halved. Even without the Prophet, she was an irreplaceable and powerful asset on their team.

She had a terrifyingly precise intuition for understanding the rules and finding loopholes within them. With Qi Qian not yet back, they couldn’t afford to lose such a precious teammate.

Moreover, there had to be a reason why the other team took Wen Wen. Zhang Yu was convinced that this seemingly delicate girl must possess some other hidden talents; otherwise, the Orange Candy squad wouldn’t have made such a decision.

Now that he had basically recovered, the enemy probably couldn’t imagine that they would make such a risky choice in the end. As long as they devised a good plan, they could catch them off guard.

Tong Yao showed a contemplative expression: “Although it’s very dangerous…”

Unexpectedly, Su Cheng, who was standing aside, spoke up:

“I don’t agree.”

“…?!” Everyone was taken aback and turned to look at Su Cheng.

After all, he was Wen Wen’s teammate, and their bond should be the deepest. They hadn’t expected that the one to oppose this plan would be the very person they thought would support it the most.

“Qi Qian isn’t back yet. We’re not in a position to go head-to-head with the other team,” Su Cheng said.

“Besides, we don’t know when they went upstairs. After they unlock the shop with the key, there will be a fifteen-minute countdown. Once it ends, night will fall, and that will be too dangerous.”

He took a deep breath and said, “So, I suggest we open the shop with the key first and then make further plans.”

After speaking, Su Cheng instinctively turned his head to look at the spot where Wen Jianyan had just stood, his eyes flickering with a subtle light.

If it were the usual situation, he might indeed rush to save his teammate at all costs, but…

Images of the recent scene and the activation of items 1, 3, and 7 flashed through his mind.

Item 1: Generates smoke.

Item 3: Blurs perception.

Item 7: Switches identities.

And these were all the tools Wen Jianyan had purchased for him before entering the instance.

Combined with the fact that Wen Jianyan had entered the instance this time with a different appearance, Su Cheng couldn’t help but suspect that Wen Jianyan had planned all of this from the beginning.

Whether it was the brief skirmish with the opposing team, the actions they might take, or even this ambush…

Wen Jianyan might have tacitly approved and even facilitated these events from behind the scenes.

In other words, this so-called “capture” wasn’t an accident.

Wen Jianyan had intended from the start to enter the opposing team in this manner.

*

Watching the girl standing before him, Mu Sen’s expression darkened.

He certainly remembered this person.

On the second floor, she had blocked him at the stairs and conveyed the message about the “Prophet.”

How could this person possibly be the Prophet herself?

He frowned and turned to look at Orange Candy beside him: “Are you sure?”

Orange Candy threw the metal box back and shrugged: “Anyway, I found the person according to the direction the finger pointed. If there’s a problem with your thing, you can’t blame me.”

Mu Sen looked down, staring at the box with an uncertain expression.

Since it had already been used once, it couldn’t be opened again for now. Mu Sen couldn’t confirm whether Orange Candy was telling the truth or not.

However…

There was another way.

Mu Sen squinted his eyes.

The next second, his empty left sleeve suddenly bulged unexpectedly, as if something were crawling out through the clothes.

This bizarre scene made everyone around shiver and step back warily.

Mu Sen opened his intact right hand and pulled something out of the sleeve.

A palm-sized bug crawled out, resembling a spider. Its six legs were extremely long and thin as threads, with a pitch-black abdomen and blood-red tips on its legs.

Wen Jian’s eyes darkened.

This was exactly the replica of the bug he had pulled from Su Cheng’s nape at the “Ping An Asylum”.

So it was him.

Mu Sen looked at Wen Jianyan and gave him a sinister smile.

He opened his hand: “Go.”

The next second, the terrifying bug seemed to receive an order and flew straight at Wen Jian’s face!

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