Jill & Charlie, thank you for the Kofi.
Changsheng Building
Chapter 255: Weird Changes
“Quick! Fall back!”
Qi Qian reacted the fastest, shouting urgently, “An Xin, support Wen Wen. Everyone, prepare to receive the next customer!”
“Got it.” An Xin nodded heavily, supporting Wen Jianyan, whose face was pale and who had yet to recover from his weakened state, as they walked toward the counter.
The remaining anchors quickly sprang into action.
One of them swiftly exchanged three trays of offerings and placed them on the table.
Orange Candy then inserted the incense stick she was holding into the incense burner, lit it, and turned to wave at one of her teammates.
Even without words, the teammate understood the command from their captain.
She cut her finger, letting a drop of her blood fall into the incense burner, then dropped another drop into one of the trays of offerings.
Since they had already figured out the rules of this floor, unlike the last time when they were passively beaten, this time they could prepare in advance—burning incense, setting up offerings, dripping fresh blood, and so on.
If one incense stick could connect three lines, the anchors could even drip the blood of three different people into the incense burner and the three trays of offerings, allowing them to complete this transaction without any contact with the “customer.”
Unfortunately, it was clear that the “Changsheng Building” did not allow such “shortcuts.”
They had tried this with the previous customer, but it was apparent that no matter how many offerings were on the table, one incense stick could only connect one line at a time, and with each use, the effectiveness would decrease by a third.
In other words, if they didn’t want to directly sacrifice one person but chose to share the risk, they had to divide it into three parts and couldn’t complete it all at once. They could only drip another drop of fresh blood after the customer had finished using the first one.
The anchors, who had all crawled out from between life and death, completed the preparations to face the first wave of attack in less than a minute.
After finishing everything, they quickly retreated behind the counter.
The large shop fell into a dead silence, with only the incense stick in the burner quietly burning.
The atmosphere was heavy and tense.
No one could have expected that less than five minutes after sending off one customer, the next one would arrive. If the next attack were as intense as the last, leaving no room to breathe, they might soon reach their limit.
After all, with each customer they received, it meant that three people would lose their ability to act, and the strength of their team would proportionally decrease as time went on, making it more dangerous the further they went.
However, for now, the most pressing matter was dealing with the customer about to enter the shop.
“This next attack shouldn’t be much different from the last one,” Qi Qian said while quickly replacing the nearly extinguished lamp oil, “If we act the same as before, we should be able to complete the task quickly.”
Orange Candy shrugged, “Then let’s stick to the same division of roles as the first time.”
Zhang Yu and Wei Cheng nodded, “No problem.”
The team assigned to lure the “customer” away with candles was the most dangerous, as they still didn’t know how this “customer” would attack humans, so it was essentially a life-or-death trial. In this regard, the team of Orange Candy, Zhang Yu, and Wei Cheng was the most perfect.
Once they figured out the customer’s attack pattern, the following two teams would have a much easier time.
The anchors heading towards the incense burner faced relatively lower risks. Although they had to sacrifice a third of their life force, entering a temporarily incapacitated and weakened state, at least they didn’t need to confront the danger head-on.
Soon, the division of labor was complete.
Only one step remained: waiting for the “customer” to enter the store. Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the tightly closed store door, waiting for that moment to arrive.
The darkness gradually seeped in through the cracks of the closed door, and the sound of stiff footsteps grew closer—
“Ring-ring!”
The glass doors slid open to both sides, and the copper bell hanging on the door rang out.
In the next second, the cold, chaotic air rushed into the shop, causing the wick of the oil lamp to flicker with a “sizzling” sound, and the visibility began to slowly decrease. Everything was exactly the same as the last time.
Tap, tap, tap.
Perhaps it was just an illusion, but this time, the footsteps seemed much slower than before, like those of an elderly person suffering from a long illness, moving forward slowly and stiffly.
As the sound drew nearer, everyone’s bodies tensed up.
Time seemed to stretch unbearably long as the anchors stood behind the counter, anxiously waiting.
Soon, the footsteps stopped at the location of the incense burner.
The shop fell into dead silence once more.
“Ugh!”
The teammate who had just dripped his blood into the incense burner showed a pained expression, his face rapidly paling as he slowly slid down the wall.
Everyone stared intently at the small red flame in the darkness, watching it slowly descend until it reached about one-third of its original height.
Wen Jianyan, who had experience with this, quickly reached out to catch him, preventing a hard fall.
It appeared that the second “customer” had begun to enjoy its offering.
Orange Candy said briefly, “Go.”
Although the customer hadn’t taken any action yet, they didn’t plan to wait that long this time.
If they let the customer get too close to the counter again, their oil lamp reserves might not hold out. So, they had to start acting while the customer was still some distance away before it reached the counter. This way, the candle team, responsible for attracting the customer’s attention, would be safer, and their oil consumption would be reduced.
Zhang Yu and Wei Cheng nodded, quickly lighting the red candle, and the three of them left the counter together.
Watching the ominous red light move away from the counter, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed that this time, things were on the right track.
Everything was under control.
Wen Jianyan stood within the lamplight, lowering his head as he tried to move his cold, stiff fingers. He glanced back at the other “offerings” sitting on the ground behind him.
He could clearly feel that his condition had improved significantly compared to the beginning, especially in contrast to the anchor, who had just become an offering—the difference was particularly noticeable.
This was a good thing.
It meant that as long as an offering didn’t die, their life force could gradually recover.
Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.
Great; since it’s a sustainable resource, everything will be fine.
As long as they managed the order of consumption and employed a proper strategy, they should be able to avoid the terrible situation where everyone was incapacitated.
Wen Jianyan raised his head and glanced at the oil lamp in front of him, discreetly taking a step forward. The oil lamp’s burning speed slightly increased, and a warm sensation began to spread through his fingers.
As expected, those energy drinks sold in the system store were useless against their current “life force depletion.” This condition was similar to the curses they had encountered before—only the items within this instance could alleviate it.
Finally, the length of the incense decreased to two-thirds.
Then, the footsteps started again.
Next, they just needed to wait for it to chase after the three carrying the red candle—Orange Candy and the others—and move away from the incense burner. Then the second anchor could set out.
Tap…tap…tap.
The heavy, slow footsteps echoed through the vast, dark, and silent shop, sounding especially clear.
At the same time, one of the team members picked up the grayish-white candle placed on the counter, ready to head to the incense burner the moment the footsteps moved away.
But…
But whether it was because this “customer” was walking too slowly or because everyone’s nerves were tense, there was a growing sense that something was off.
It seemed as though the footsteps of this customer weren’t moving away at all but were instead… heading straight toward the counter!
Wen Jianyan frowned, lifting his eyes to peer into the darkness ahead.
As his body temperature recovered, he could feel that his previous physical state—where extreme weakness had made it difficult to focus—was also easing. Many details he hadn’t noticed before were now becoming apparent.
First…
This time, the darkness didn’t seem as thick as before.
Although the oil lamp’s light was still suppressed, reducing visibility, it was different from last time. This time, the lamp’s light not only covered the area behind the counter but also faintly illuminated some of the space in front of it.
Could it be that this “customer” was less aggressive than the last one?
However, Wen Jianyan quickly dismissed this thought.
If the last customer had left behind red ghost money, then maybe that would be the case, but since it had left behind ordinary grayish-white ghost money, there shouldn’t be an easier mode.
More aggressive? That didn’t seem right either…
As Wen Jianyan was deep in thought, Tong Yao, behind him, suddenly lifted her pale face, speaking with a grave expression: “It’s not an illusion; it really hasn’t been lured away.”
What?
Everyone was startled upon hearing this, turning their heads toward the source of the voice—
In the darkness, the overly slow footsteps echoed. Although it was hard to determine the exact direction, it was clear…
This time, the customer was indeed not moving away from the counter.
The footsteps were slowly, step by step, approaching the counter.
Tong Yao’s face turned even paler, and she coughed lightly: “It’s… it’s coming over.”
“Cough, cough.”
A heavy cough echoed through the store.
But the sound didn’t come from Tong Yao. It was hoarse, aged, and emerged from the darkness ahead.
“!”
Wen Jianyan was startled. He braced himself against the counter, struggling to support his heavy body, and turned his head toward the source of the sound.
Qi Qian and the others beside him also wore somber expressions, their eyes growing serious.
It was clear that they recognized this sound too.
In the stairwell between the second and third floors, they had heard the exact same cough when they lit the red lamp oil to save Zhang Yu. The sound had come from below the stairs and had approached them step by step.
But even more importantly, despite someone in the store having already lit a similar red candle designed to attract the “customer,” why hadn’t it changed direction? Why was it still heading straight for the counter?
Why wasn’t the lamp oil working?
Or had something changed?
this novel always gives me chills(in a good way)
What does he want? Thank you for the chapter!