WTNL Chapter 319

Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 319: Room 329

“Wait a minute, Captain, what exactly do you want to do?”

Chen Mo furrowed his brow, showing a puzzled expression.

“Ah, you didn’t notice?”

Wen Jianyan blinked innocently, then smiled as he dropped a bombshell. “I lied earlier, in the hall.”

?!

The group froze, their eyes involuntarily widening.

“What? Lied?”

They subconsciously went over the rules Wen Jianyan had mentioned in the hall, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t find any loopholes in what he had said. In fact, everything he mentioned, every rule, was something they had personally experienced after entering the instance. It was almost all accurate with no exaggeration. “Well… I wouldn’t exactly call it a lie,”

Wen Jianyan said thoughtfully, “To be precise, I just slightly swapped concepts.”

The group: ???

They were all utterly confused.

“Indeed, the number of guests brought into the hotel affects our survival rate, but… it is not the key to either the red or black side winning.”

Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, focusing intently on the group in front of him, then lightly tapped the small notebook he hadn’t yet put away in his pocket.

That is the key.

The group’s gazes fell on the notebook’s black cover, and they couldn’t help but pause, as if they had all thought of something at once.

As if to confirm their vague guesses, Wen Jianyan continued:

“Don’t forget, bringing guests to the hotel and fulfilling the guests’ requirements are only part of the Intern Employee Assessment.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

“The key is, what happens after completing the assessment?”

…

The group’s expressions grew serious.

Indeed.

They instinctively thought that after completing the so-called “intern employee assessment,” they would officially join the hotel and become full-time employees.

However, the instance had never mentioned what would happen after they officially became employees of the Xingwang Hotel.

“So, do you understand what I mean?”

Wen Jianyan’s gaze carried deep meaning as he looked at the group.

“There are two ways to win against the cold side. The first is to eliminate all members of the opposing side—if you want to achieve this, you need to play the ‘welcoming guests’ and ‘satisfying guests’ game well, occupy the most rooms, and reduce the risk of completing your own tasks.”

That’s a pure PvP approach.

This is likely the real reason why “mainline tasks don’t need to be completed.”

The anchors can enhance their own strength by bringing in guests, using tactics to eliminate the enemy, and even ignoring the structure and rules of the Xingwang Hotel instance, engaging in direct combat with the opposing side, using the simplest and most direct method to reduce the enemy’s numbers to zero and win the competition.

“But, besides that, there’s a second way—”

Wen Jianyan shook the small notebook in his hand. “Complete the mainline task, pass the intern employee assessment, and become a full-time employee of Xingwang Hotel, and it’s only after becoming a full employee that the information provided will be the real key to the competition’s outcome.”

The group fell into deep thought.

They had to admit that Wen Jianyan was right about this.

The flexibility of the “Xingwang Hotel” instance is quite high. There isn’t just one way to win the competition, and—

Chen Mo slowly said, “The black side chose the second option.”

“That’s right.” Wen Jianyan nodded.

Earlier, when they were on the second floor, they had overheard a conversation between the 10th and 8th anchors. Although their conversation didn’t reveal any critical information, it was clear that they were looking for something crucial, not trying to reduce the red side’s numbers.

“What’s worse is that the other side cheated.” Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression unusually serious. “They found out the key information through some means and skipped some steps.”

Before even becoming full-time employees, they had already learned how to win the competition through the second path—so when they were on the second floor, the gentlemen had easily given up on chasing them and instead pursued their own objectives.

Yun Bilan showed an enlightened expression.

“So you had to make Locket and the others switch to the black side!!”

Wen Jianyan smiled. “Yes.”

The black side cheated by getting information and took advantage of the delay caused by the rules to skip ahead. If they didn’t respond to this and just followed the instance’s process step by step, even if they did everything right, the enemy would still win by getting ahead—this was assuming they didn’t make any mistakes.

But the problem is, they already “messed up.”

They should have immediately completed the 408 guest’s request, but because they had entered a room while being chased by the black side before entering 329, according to the rules of the Xingwang Hotel instance, they couldn’t immediately fulfill the 408 guest’s request. They had to first enter the painting on the second floor.

At this pace, they were bound to lose.

That’s why Wen Jianyan had provoked Locket and the others to switch to the black side, because only in this way could they possibly make up for the lost ground and catch up.

But the problem is, Yun Bilan looked puzzled. “Even if they switch to the black side, what can we do?”

Although it seemed like they could get closer to the black side…

But no matter how hard she tried, Yun Bilan couldn’t come up with a way to turn the situation around.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Wen Jianyan suppressed the serious expression on his face and once again became nonchalant. He shrugged and smiled mischievously.

“Maybe I have a way to cheat too, right?”

……

Yun Bilan and the others watched Wen Jianyan warily.

Under their watchful gazes, Wen Jianyan seemed unaffected, still wearing that smile that made it impossible to read him.

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

He waved his hand and casually walked in the opposite direction of where Locket had gone.

Blond felt his mind was truly boggled.

“Wait, wait a minute, but Locket isn’t over there—”

“I know,” Wen Jianyan glanced at Blond, seemingly annoyed by his overreaction. “What’s the point of following him? It’s meaningless.”

Blond was even more confused.

Wasn’t the whole point of inducing Locket to defect to the black side to make contact with them?

“You don’t think they’ll leave the third and fourth floors and enter the black side’s territory now, do you?” Wen Jianyan chuckled.

……

Blond’s face involuntarily turned red.

Oh, right.

Not to mention the risk of being seen by other red side teams; even if they entered the lower floors, they could still encounter other teams besides the Gentlemen and end up in the same situation they were in before, surrounded and attacked.

“Don’t forget, the town’s internal areas are interconnected.”

Wen Jianyan said, “If I were them, I’d definitely wait until after the lights go out to contact the black side. That way, the risk would be smaller.”

“As for how to contact them—”

Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on the Zhong Shan’s team, who were sneaking toward one of the corridors at the edge of the hall. He smirked slightly.

“I think someone will help us with that.”

With that, he turned and walked toward Zhong Shan’s direction.

Bai Xue remained silent, his eerie, pitch-black eyes lifted, and his thoughtful gaze locked onto Wen Jianyan.

Unlike the others, his focus wasn’t on why Wen Jianyan provoked Locket.

His attention was more personal.

The other party had deliberately exposed his presence, using his terrifying reputation to force Locket into choosing the black side, leveraging everything he could. Bai Xue greatly admired such qualities, but the problem was that this also revealed something:

He knew about the “ominous curse.”

Bai Xue frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on Wen Jianyan’s back, as if trying to see through the schemes hidden beneath his seemingly carefree exterior.

He had previously thought that the reason the other party invited him was out of ignorance.

Only someone who didn’t know about his “curse,” which doomed all teammates to die, would so recklessly and foolishly invite him to be a teammate. Bai Xue had always thought this way, and he hadn’t tried to stop the rumors about him but had instead chosen to ignore them.

Because it didn’t matter.

But now, the course of events had completely overturned his previous assumptions.

In other words, the other party knew about the “curse” that would kill all teammates but still invited him to assist in this instance…

Why?

Bai Xue’s brow furrowed deeply, and a hint of confusion appeared on his usually expressionless face.

——He was finding it harder and harder to understand this new 008.

……

Bai Xue withdrew his gaze, expressionless, and lowered his eyes. He followed at a slower pace but stayed closer than he ever had before.

Zhong Shan’s team hurried toward the corridor, looking like mice fleeing from a cat, trying to leave the scene as quickly as possible. However, after only a few steps, a familiar voice tinged with amusement came from behind:

“Hey, where are you going?”

!

Zhong Shan froze, his whole body stiffening.

He instinctively wanted to turn and run, but the voice came again, this time with a deeper meaning: “What, are you pretending not to hear?”

……

A chill ran down Zhong Shan’s spine.

He stopped in his tracks, stiffly turning his head to look behind him.

Wen Jianyan’s handsome face, with no trace of threat, appeared not far away.

He waved and smiled.

……

Zhong Shan felt like crying without tears.

He really hadn’t expected… that this seemingly ordinary anchor who relied on his looks would suddenly transform into the legendary new 008! Thinking back on the things he had done before, Zhong Shan wanted to roll his eyes and faint. Who would have thought he had offended such a big shot!!!

However, in a way, he realized that he wasn’t as surprised as he thought he should be.

Those extreme maneuvers and the other party’s almost supernatural ability to turn the situation around had never seemed like something an ordinary anchor could pull off.

Watching Wen Jianyan approach, Zhong Shan said in fear, “S-So, uh, what can I do for you?”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[LOL, I finally saw what a 180-degree attitude flip looks like!]

[Hahahahahaha, so humble, Zhong Shan!!! Where did that arrogance go?!]

[I’m really enjoying this, my precious Wen Bao!]

“After the last blackout, did you enter any guest rooms?” Wen Jianyan asked straightforwardly, cutting to the chase.

Zhong Shan had already lost the momentum he had earlier. He obediently shook his head and said in a low voice:

“No.”

“That’s good.”

Wen Jianyan smiled, his amber eyes narrowing slightly, and the curve of his lips was sweet and kind.

“Next, I need you to help me with a small favor.”

Looking at the smile on Wen Jianyan’s face, Zhong Shan felt a chill run from his head to his feet, and an ominous premonition surged in his heart.

Wen Jianyan waved his hand. “Yun Bilan.”

Yun Bilan: “?”

“Pick someone from their team to replace; I’ll cover the appearance cost,” Wen Jianyan said.

Yun Bilan was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood what Wen Jianyan meant.

The town’s internal areas were interconnected. As long as she followed inside Zhong Shan’s team and acted with Locket’s team, after entering the Rainy Town, she could synchronize her location with her teammates.

She nodded and glanced around Zhong Shan’s team, selecting a seemingly ordinary member.

“It’s you.”

Soon, under Wen Jianyan’s operation, the points were credited, and Yun Bilan’s appearance instantly changed to that of the selected team member. She then naturally walked into Zhong Shan’s team.

The other members of Zhong Shan’s team were dumbfounded.

Zhong Shan truly hadn’t expected that such a wealthy player would spend such a high amount of points on appearance changes in the instance… and even for their own teammate!

He stared blankly at Wen Jianyan.

At this point, Zhong Shan no longer doubted Wen Jianyan’s position in the 008 ranking.

Without that ranking, how could he be so extravagant?

“Alright,” Wen Jianyan looked at Zhong Shan, “Next, you’ll go find Locket and join them.”

Zhong Shan stammered, “B-but, how should I…”

“How should you what?”

Wen Jianyan tilted his head slightly. “You just need to tell them how I threatened you, how you wanted to see me dead with no burial place, and they’ll accept you… You don’t need to lie about it, right?”

Wen Jianyan’s voice was gentle and soft, but with each word he spoke, Zhong Shan felt the temperature around him drop a few more degrees. By the end, he was almost shivering. The subtle smile on Wen Jianyan’s lips felt like a deathly hook, tightening around his heart, making it impossible for him to nod or shake his head.

“Alright, Yun Bilan will tell you the rest.”

Wen Jianyan waved at him with a smile. “See you later.”

……

Zhong Shan, walking unsteadily, left the teammate who had been replaced by Yun Bilan behind and disappeared into the dark corridor.

The remaining teammate, shrinking his shoulders, remained silent, trembling like a frightened chick under Chen Mo’s emotionless gaze.

Blond looked at Wen Jianyan. “So, Captain, what should we do next?”

Wen Jianyan didn’t answer immediately.

He took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time.

The reason he hadn’t gone into action himself but had Yun Bilan activate the appearance and infiltrate Zhong Shan’s team was partly to save points—Yun Bilan’s anchor rank was much lower than his, so activating her appearance saved a significant amount of points. But there was more to it than just that.

More importantly, Wen Jianyan had other things to do.

“There are forty minutes left until the next blackout; we still have plenty of time.” Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go.”

Blond was taken aback. “Where to?”

Wen Jianyan said, “Of course, to 329.”

He put the pocket watch back in his pocket and looked at the remaining members of the team. “Although we can’t handle it for now, we still need to know what kind of trouble the 408 room’s guests will give us, right?”

Soon, the group left the fourth floor and entered the third floor.

The layout of the third floor was no different from the other floors.

It was the same narrow, elongated corridor, dim red lights, and closed guest rooms extending into the distance on either side of the hallway.

Following the map in his memory, Wen Jianyan and his team quickly found the room labeled 329.

The door to the guest room was tightly shut, and the “Do Not Disturb” light was off. Clearly, no Red Side team had been here.

However, this didn’t guarantee that the room wasn’t controlled by the black side.

After all, if the room’s occupant was brought in by the black side, the red side wouldn’t be able to tell whether the room was occupied.

They could only take a gamble.

Wen Jianyan turned to glance at his teammates and nodded.

He took a deep breath, placed his hand on the doorknob, and slowly pressed it down.

“Creek—”

The door slowly creaked open.

Inside was complete darkness, giving off an especially ominous feeling.

However, the air was dry, and there was no foul smell.

Wen Jianyan’s hand groped along the wall, and soon, with a click, the lights came on. The dim red light filled the room, illuminating every corner.

There were no guests.

That meant they didn’t have to confront any occupants directly.

Everyone unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

But Wen Jianyan didn’t seem particularly happy.

He knew that if the room had no guests… it meant that the so-called guests in room 408 would definitely want them to enter the painting inside this door.

This matter made Wen Jianyan feel extremely uneasy.

In fact… it was even more unsettling than facing off directly with existing guests.

“Let’s go; we’ll enter.”

He collected his thoughts, suppressed the faint ominous premonition in his heart, and spoke slowly.

Under Wen Jianyan’s lead, the group took their steps and entered room 329.

Wen Jianyan walked straight towards the oil painting.

It was known that the locations appearing in the oil paintings were always places their team would visit in the future, which made him extra cautious.

Soon, he stood in front of the large oil painting.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and looked up at the painting before him.

It was still the dimly lit rainy town, but instead of the familiar residential area, the painting depicted a narrow, simple commercial street.

The winding cobblestone path was lined with low, small shops. The windows and doors were pitch black, like dark holes silently staring out.

Wen Jianyan took a few steps closer.

Under the overhead light, he carefully examined the shops in the painting.

There were a clothing store, a snack shop, and…

Wen Jianyan’s gaze landed on a corner of the painting, and his breath caught for a moment.

An art gallery.

As his gaze fell on that small area, a faint, almost imperceptible warmth began to rise from deep within his bones, slowly spreading, brewing within his flesh and blood, until it gradually surfaced on his skin.

Wen Jianyan’s pupils suddenly contracted.

Almost instinctively, he raised his hand and pressed it against the skin covered by his clothes.

The clear sensation left by the cold fingers and lips flashed in his mind once again. It was like a deep mark, carved into a hidden corner of his side, entangling him like a shadow, causing him to stiffen, standing rigidly in place, staring intently at the oil painting before him.

He sensed it.

It was Wu Zhu’s mark that was burning.

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