WTNL Chapter 235

(3/3)

Changsheng Building
Chapter 235: He lied

Inside the shop.

“You, you all stay away from me.”

After struggling to say this sentence word by word, Wu Ya slowly lowered his head as if he had lost all his strength, then fell silent.

“Hey, Wu Ya, Wu Ya!” His teammate beside him noticed something was wrong and called his name nervously.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

Wu Ya didn’t answer.

His arms stretched out to the sides, each holding a pale, greenish, corpse-spotted hand.

The shop fell into a dead silence.

Wu Ya’s head drooped, most of his face hidden deep in the shadows, standing stiffly upright, motionless, as if he had fallen asleep standing up.

“Hiss!”

The wick in the oil lamp, welded to the counter, suddenly flickered violently twice before it began to burn fiercely!

In the dim shop, the temperature seemed to plummet, the cold, eerie air invading the skin and sending chills through the body.

Wu Ya, with his head hanging down, took a slow step forward.

“Get ready; move back quickly!”

The team members quickly distanced themselves from Wu Ya, keeping a vigilant eye on him, nerves taut, ready to respond at any moment.

One step.

Wu Ya maintained his rigid posture, arms stretched out to the sides, moving forward step by step, as if being dragged by some terrifying presence, walking forward woodenly.

With each step he took, the light from the oil lamp dimmed a little more. Even though the wick burned more fiercely, the entire shop was gradually darkening.

This is bad.

The team members’ expressions grew serious, instinctively taking step after step back.

The shop’s limited space meant they couldn’t completely distance themselves from the cursed Wu Ya. Now, as the light dimmed, their activity range would inevitably be reduced, eventually forcing them into the counter area under the oil lamp’s light.

…A dead end.

“Tap… tap…”

With his head hanging down and unmoving, Wu Ya’s hands were being pulled, and he rigidly and woodenly moved forward. Although he was slow, he was unstoppable.

*

Meanwhile, in a room on the north side of the courtyard.

With a “bang,” the coffin lid fell to the ground, and a stiff corpse sat up straight from the scarlet coffin, its face covered by a white cloth, clearly painted with Wu Ya’s face.

Orange Candy looked at the sitting corpse, then lowered her head to gaze at the worn-out rag doll in her hand, blinking and revealing a look of realization:

“Could there be more than one hidden item…?”

Without much hesitation, she bought and activated a second hand of guidance.

The next second, a new red arrow appeared in mid-air, bouncing straight toward the coffin.

Orange Candy followed the arrow’s direction, her eyes narrowing.

Sure enough!

In that coffin, there was a second hidden item!

Orange Candy sighed, “There’s no other way. I guess I’ll have to search that corpse again.”

She stretched her neck, seemingly ready to take action again.

Despite the coffin and the corpse looking eerie and terrifying, the girl showed no change in her expression, as if nothing could scare her.

“You stay here.”

“!”

Wen Jianyan quickly spoke to stop her.

Orange Candy paused her steps and turned her head to look at him, “Hmm?”

“Did you notice these handprints around us?” Wen Jianyan said, “They haven’t attacked us directly; they’re just wandering within the range of the oil lamp’s light.”

The two of them followed Wen Jianyan’s pointed direction.

“Tap, tap, tap—”

Countless dark green handprints wandered around the light.

Those terrifying imprints emerged from the ground, walls, and ceiling, as if countless invisible, terrifying beings were wandering near the oil lamp, stirring in the surrounding darkness.

However, correspondingly, the area illuminated by the oil lamp became smaller.

Even though the wick crackled and jumped fiercely, emitting a strong smell of burning corpse oil, the area it actually illuminated was only where the three of them were standing.

“I guess these handprints can’t enter the light,” Wen Jianyan said. “So if you leave the area around the oil lamp, you’ll definitely be attacked by those handprints.”

They weren’t far from the coffin now. With the faint light from the oil lamp, they could see the outline of the scarlet coffin in the darkness, so even if Orange Candy headed in that direction, she wouldn’t be considered to be entering the darkness.

But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t die.

If the world inside the painting on the third floor and the world inside the mirror on the second floor were similar existences, then these seemingly harmless handprints would be as terrifying as those rotten heads.

In the “Changsheng Building” instance, there were curses that meant certain death, and the level of horror from such curses couldn’t be blocked by any item.

They had personally experienced this on the second floor.

So, on this floor, Wen Jianyan wasn’t prepared to take any risks to prove the level of terror this curse could reach.

“Don’t move alone; the three of us will go together with the lamp.”

He narrowed his eyes, cautiously watching the handprints wandering outside the light, showing rare seriousness, his usually gentle voice now carrying an undeniable certainty, “Don’t leave the range of the oil lamp for even one step.”

Orange Candy raised her eyes, looking at Wen Jianyan with some surprise, but she nodded and agreed with his suggestion:

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Listening to advice fills the stomach.

No one in this advanced instance was simple. Although Orange Candy didn’t understand the reason for the item’s existence, nor did she know how much Wen Jianyan knew that she didn’t, she understood that someone who could show such a cautious expression wasn’t simple.

Orange Candy was usually willful, but at crucial times, she knew how to weigh its importance.

Holding the violently flickering oil lamp, the three of them quickly walked toward the coffin.

“Tap, tap, tap—”

The sound of handprints wandering became more urgent, the light compressed, and visibility decreased.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but he felt that the corpse sitting in the coffin was slowly moving its head as they walked, as if “watching” their movements.

Getting closer and closer.

Wen Jianyan heard his heartbeat grow louder, pounding against his chest, his palms sweating.

The faint, dim light from the oil lamp fell on the cloth covering the corpse’s face.

It was indeed Wu Ya’s face, but the expression on it didn’t belong to a living person.

His mouth was curled into a weird smile, an arc that Wen Jianyan was very familiar with, identical to the one on the red-clad female corpse on the second floor, exactly the same.

Seeing that purely terrifying smile, Wen Jianyan felt a chill down his back, his hair standing on end!

“Crack, crack.”

The stiff corpse sitting in the coffin suddenly began to move slowly.

Amidst the creaking sound of bones grinding together, it surprisingly stood up bit by bit, stepped out of the coffin, and walked towards them!

The red ‘marker’ of the hand of guidance was bouncing above its head, pointing straight downward, moving as the corpse moved.

It was obvious that the key item at the source of the curse was being carried by the corpse.

To obtain it, they had to get close to the corpse.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle, but he forced himself to keep his gaze fixed on the corpse in front of him and the coffin not far away, trying to find some clues.

Suddenly, his gaze paused and fell on the side of the coffin.

Wen Jianyan was stunned.

Just now, standing at a distance, he could only see the end of the coffin. Now, as he approached, his angle changed, and for the first time, he saw the side of the coffin.

On the side of the scarlet wooden coffin, there was a clearly imprinted blue-black handprint.

In fact, after Orange Candy left the vicinity of the coffin, the densely packed handprints that had climbed up the coffin gradually disappeared. By now, the surface of the coffin had restored its original smooth and glossy appearance, as if it were flawless viscous fresh blood. As a result, the blue-black handprint on the side of the coffin appeared even more striking.

“It’s almost time,” Orange Candy suddenly said, snapping Wen Jianyan back to attention.

She gauged the distance between the corpse and the three of them and said in a low voice, “Keep moving forward at this speed. I’ll make a move in five seconds.”

Five, four.

The distance between the corpse and them was only a few steps.

Three.

Orange Candy slightly hunched her back, her eyes locked onto the corpse not far away, a glint of determination in her eyes.

Two.

The corpse took a stiff step, the white cloth on its face swaying slightly as it walked, about to step into the area illuminated by the oil lamp.

One!

Orange Candy suddenly propelled herself forward, charging straight ahead with agility and speed, creating a gust of wind.

Around them, handprints were slapping and clapping frantically, almost maddeningly surrounding them, seemingly ready to stop them but held back by the light of the oil lamps, only able to swirl around the periphery.

It was unclear what method Orange Candy used, but the corpse did not attack her. It stood there motionlessly, allowing her to search its body.

Yes!

This time, they might really succeed!

Wen Jianyan subconsciously held his breath, staring intently at the scene before him, his back covered in cold sweat.

“No, Captain!” Wei Cheng suddenly sensed something and shouted anxiously, “Retreat!”

At the moment his voice fell, Orange Candy’s movements froze. She raised her head, glanced at the corpse in front of her, and seemed to see something terrifying, her pupils suddenly contracting.

The painting cloth covering the corpse’s face was slowly being altered, the facial features distorting and changing, gradually becoming more and more like…

Her own.

Orange Candy gasped and immediately retreated, “Retreat!!!”

The three of them turned and ran without hesitation, putting some distance between themselves and the stiff-moving corpse and stopping a few meters away.

Orange Candy’s forehead was beaded with sweat as she stared intently at the corpse not far away.

As the distance increased, the face on the painting cloth stopped changing. The eerie smiling face, like a man’s and a girl’s facial features spliced together by AI, appeared even more terrifying in the flickering light.

“Wei Cheng, what did you sense just now?” Orange Candy asked.

Wei Cheng’s face was also pale, “I sensed that your face was being taken, and then you fell and died.”

Wen Jianyan glanced at Wei Cheng.

This should be the team’s medium, but although similar in nature, his talent was different from Tong Yao’s.

Based on Wei Cheng’s previous performance in the shop and upon entering the painted world, it could be seen that, whether in terms of detecting paranormal items or facing terrifying entities, Wei Cheng was not much different from ordinary anchors. However, just now, when Orange Candy was facing a threat of death, Wei Cheng was able to detect it immediately and warn her.

Therefore, Wen Jianyan speculated that Wei Cheng’s talent was likely related to “death,” but it couldn’t be activated voluntarily and only responded when facing imminent death.

However…

Wen Jianyan thought about what Wei Cheng had just said.

Her face was being taken?

“Then,” Wen Jianyan blinked and said, “the source of the curse is likely that painting cloth covering the corpse’s face.”

“Very likely,” Orange Candy nodded in agreement, “I searched all over its body and found no hidden items. The only thing I didn’t touch was its face.”

“Captain, let me go next.” Wei Cheng said, “If the process of taking the face can be inherited, then you’ll be in great danger. If I go, I should be able to buy some time.”

This reasoning was logical, but Orange Candy frowned.

Wei Cheng said, “Captain, don’t worry. I can hold on for two or three seconds, and I have the strength to take the painting cloth from its face.”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Orange Candy scratched her head and said, defeated, “Alright.”

After discussing the next battle plan, Orange Candy turned her head and saw Wen Jianyan seemingly in a daze.

The young man was standing sideways to the two of them, looking intently in the direction of the coffin, lost in thought. His fair profile was illuminated by the flickering oil lamp, appearing distant and inscrutable.

Orange Candy: “Hey, what are you looking at?”

Wen Jianyan snapped out of it and said, “Oh, nothing.”

“Don’t zone out,” Orange Candy turned back, once again looking at the stiff-moving corpse not far away, taking a deep breath, “Get ready, we’re going in.”

“Click, click.”

Accompanied by the eerie sound of bones grinding, the corpse, with a painting cloth covering its face, took stiff steps towards them.

In the dim light, that figure appeared particularly oppressive.

The air was filled with a stronger stench of decaying flesh, making them feel like vomiting.

“Go!”

At Orange Candy’s command, the three of them moved forward again, charging straight towards the corpse.

This time, Wei Cheng was in the lead, reaching out to grab the painting cloth covering the corpse’s face!

A faint golden glow appeared on Wei Cheng’s suspended palm. Clearly, he had activated some item to ensure he wouldn’t suddenly die during this close contact.

They only needed five seconds—no, at most three seconds—to complete the entire process.

With a clear goal, concise actions, and seamless cooperation, as long as nothing went wrong, Wei Cheng would be able to take the painting cloth from the corpse’s face!

Once they obtained the source of the curse, everything would be over!

However, just as Wei Cheng’s fingers were about to touch the painting cloth on the corpse’s face, they were abruptly stopped just millimeters away.

“…!”

Wei Cheng’s pupils contracted sharply as he took a sharp breath.

On his suspended wrist, a blue-black handprint suddenly appeared, as if something was gripping his wrist tightly.

Immediately, a second handprint emerged, one on the left and one on the right, clutching Wei Cheng’s arm tightly. Then—

With a crack, Wei Cheng’s suspended arm twisted in a bizarre shape, as if it had been forcibly broken.

“Ahhhhhhh—”

Wei Cheng screamed miserably.

Not good!

Orange Candy’s breath stopped, instinctively preparing to step forward, but Wei Cheng let out a sharp scream:

“Captain, you can’t come over!”

Due to his talent, he could sense that if Orange Candy, whose face had already been partially taken, tried to snatch this cloth again, he would definitely die.

“!”

Orange Candy forcefully stopped in her tracks.

In an instant, cold corpse spots appeared on Wei Cheng’s skin, with a corpse-like color and temperature fading from his fingertips.

“In that case, let me do it.”

A girl’s voice sounded in his ear.

Orange Candy was stunned, showing a look of surprise, and instinctively turned her head to look.

“No, to be precise, you’re needed as well.”

Wen Jianyan lowered his head, making eye contact with Orange Candy, and spoke quickly:

“Trust me this once.”

“Hold hands with the corpse, quickly!”

The corpse in front of them was stiff, cold, and emitted a strong smell of decay. It had an ominous canvas covering its face, making it extremely terrifying.

This made Wen Jianyan’s suggestion seem even more insane, almost like suicide!

In the dim light, the pair of amber eyes had shed all their gentle disguise, becoming bright, sharp, and determined, exuding strong confidence that could not be questioned.

“…”

Orange Candy gritted her teeth: “You’d better be sure about this! Otherwise, I’ll make you regret it!”

“Of course.”

Despite the tense and dangerous situation, Wen Jianyan suddenly smiled lightly, his brows curving:

“Otherwise, how would I dare?”

“Follow my lead, 3, 2, 1!”

As soon as the word “one” fell, Wen Jianyan and Orange Candy simultaneously stepped forward, grabbing the corpse’s hands from both sides.

In an instant, it felt as if the air had stopped flowing.

An extremely cold sensation spread from where they held the corpse’s hands, climbing up their arms, almost giving the illusion of being plunged into an ice cellar.

After the two grabbed its hands, the next second, the corpse that had been continuously moving forward suddenly stopped in its tracks, standing there stiffly like a piece of wood.

At the same time, in the shop.

The lights had been suppressed to the limit, and the team members were forced to stand near the counter. With a narrow space behind them, they had nowhere to retreat.

Wu Ya, pulled by two shadows from both sides, was still slowly moving forward.

Suddenly, without any warning, his steps halted.

Wu Ya stood there with his head lowered, maintaining a stiff posture, motionless. For some reason, he stopped moving forward.

The team members watched Wu Ya and the two terrifying shadows beside him with confusion and uncertainty.

What was going on?

Why did he suddenly stop?

Under the weak light, they saw on his hand, where he was holding two dark green hands. Those hands were connected to two gradually clearing shadows.

The three stood there, from a distance…

It looked exactly like the scene in the painting.

*

At the moment the corpse stopped moving, Wen Jianyan knew she had bet correctly.

First, in the “Changsheng Building” instance, “posture” had significance.

Making the same combing gesture as the red-dressed female corpse allowed them to enter the mirror through a medium. Doing the same as the shadows in the painting also allowed entry into the painting through a medium.

The red-dressed female corpse faced away from the mirror; otherwise, one would fall into silence under its gaze.

So why were the three shadows holding hands?

The layout of the courtyard gave Wen Jianyan an idea.

Square-shaped with a withered tree in the center.

“Trap.”

Based on past experiences, Wen Jianyan had concluded that the purpose of these items, whether mirrors or paintings, was the same.

Sealing, or in other words, imprisoning.

“Trap.”

It wasn’t to trap the intruders, but quite the opposite—to imprison a certain terrifying entity in this world.

The second clue was the handprints on the side of the coffin.

One on the left and one on the right, both the size of children’s hands.

This meant that when the corpse lay in the coffin, it was also holding hands with two other shadows.

Just like in the painting.

The three shadows were holding hands, motionless, and maintaining a deathly stillness.

Until this balance was broken by the appearance of “customers”.

When the balance broke, the two shadows began entering the real world, and the corpse that had lost the hands it was holding started moving.

Wen Jianyan had no doubt that if he had reached out to grab the cloth on the corpse’s face, he would have ended up like Wei Cheng.

This was inevitable.

Approaching the source of the curse would encounter strong resistance.

This resistance didn’t target just one person but was area-based. If Wen Jianyan had reached out at that time, he would have also been dragged in.

To make the gradually awakening corpse return to stillness, there was only one way.

And that was to recreate the balance.

What Wen Jianyan and Orange Candy were doing now was exactly this.

Wei Cheng lowered his head, astonished to find that the dark green handprints on his arm were slowly fading and the color of his skin was returning to normal.

“Hurry up, what are you standing there for?”

Wen Jianyan’s face was pale, as if he had lost all blood, and he gritted his teeth: “Grab the canvas!”

After all, they weren’t corpses and couldn’t endure the curse for long.

Holding the hands of the corpse made it stop moving temporarily, but they would also suffer the curse’s erosion. The cost was huge. In just a few seconds, Wen Jianyan felt half of his body frozen, as if one foot was already in the coffin, similar to when he almost died from the radio on the upper floor.

Wei Cheng suddenly reacted.

The force stopping his actions had disappeared. Enduring the pain, he raised his hand and forcefully grabbed the canvas on the corpse’s face!

As soon as he touched the canvas, a familiar system prompt sounded in Wei Cheng’s ear.

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

【Collection progress 1/?】

After the canvas was torn off, everything fell into silence.

The oil lamp finally stopped flickering violently and returned to its original burning rate, emitting a faint yellow light that illuminated the empty northern room.

The sound of handprints disappeared, and the corpse, like a puppet with its strings cut, collapsed to the ground with a thud.

“…”

In the darkness, the three of them were left gasping for breath.

“…We did it.”

Wei Cheng said in a daze. He didn’t expect such a crazy plan to actually work.

He turned to look at Wen Jianyan, his eyes filled with surprise and inquiry: “Are you really a prophet?”

“Of course.” Wen Jianyan replied.

In the dim light, the girl’s figure was slender and fragile, her face pale, and she had sweat on her forehead. She lifted her sparkling eyes and suddenly smiled slightly:

“Otherwise, how would I dare let you do this?”

Of course.

He had lied.

Without changing his expression.

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