(5/10)
Yuying University
Chapter 419: Do you take me for a fool?
“……”
Wen Jianyan stared at the male university student in front of him and fell silent, hesitating for a moment whether to use his original voice to speak, just to leave an incurable psychological scar on this young NPC.
Teammate: “Pfft.”
So, as the only male in their small team, Wei Cheng stepped forward and very politely came to Wen Jianyan’s rescue: “Sorry, it’s not convenient for him.”
“Oh, oh!” The male university student looked embarrassed. “My apologies.”
But he still kept turning back as he left, seemingly very regretful.
Wen Jianyan: “Tsk.”
A shame.
If Wei Cheng had been a step later, he might have lost control and engaged in some revengeful behavior.
After the person left, Orange Candy finally couldn’t help but burst out laughing:
“Hahaha ah hahahaha!”
She clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she was breathless: “Ha… haha…!”
Though the others weren’t as unrestrained as Orange Candy, they all evidently tried very hard to look elsewhere, attempting to hide the corners of their mouths.
Wen Jianyan: “……”
The “Integrity First” livestream was also filled with laughter:
[Hahahahahahaha, so funny!]
[Hahahahaha, how could this happen? I wonder what the anchor’s current psychological shadow area is.]
pHahahahaha, it’s really hilarious, but am I the only one who thinks this movie is a bit amazing? The NPCs are too smart, they even have this kind of interaction!]
[Hahahahaha, but it’s understandable. Who wouldn’t want contact info for such a beautiful woman! I’d go for it too!]
Seeing that the situation was getting a bit out of hand, Wen Jianyan raised a hand and rubbed his faintly aching forehead, feeling a bit helpless: “
Alright, alright, we need to get moving.”
Although she really wanted to keep mocking him, Orange Candy knew what was important.
This movie had too many variables compared to the last one, and she didn’t want to stay here for too long either.
“Cough, cough, okay.” She skipped forward, still smiling as she swept her gaze up and down Wen Jianyan, then let out a very roguish, lilting whistle: “Let’s go, pretty lady.”
Wen Jianyan: “……”
Jiang Yu walked past him, a slightly embarrassed expression on her face: “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize this outfit would be so eye-catching on you… I’ll definitely be more careful next time.”
Wen Jianyan: “?” You want there to be a next time?! He looked at her, forcing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, still maintaining his gentlemanly demeanor: “………You’re too kind.”
Having resolved this minor interlude, the group entered the cafeteria.
It was dinnertime, and the cafeteria was bustling with people coming and going, the air thick with the complex aroma of different dishes.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze lingered on the serving windows for a few seconds.
Like an ordinary university, there were many kinds of food here, but in the instance they had experienced, the cafeteria only sold three types of food: steamed buns, baozi, and noodles.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, and after a brief moment of thought, turned to look at Orange Candy and the others: “You guys go find Wang Ni next.”
Orange Candy raised an eyebrow: “Hmm?”
“I’m not sure if progress between two movie plots can be inherited. If it can, she’ll likely remember me, which might affect the progress.”
Besides, they hadn’t fully determined what happened between Wang Ni and Chuchu yet. In this situation, it might be best if he didn’t show his face.
“And…” Wen Jianyan turned to look towards the kitchen, a thoughtful expression on his face, “I’m going to check out another area.”
“Okay,” Orange Candy shrugged indifferently.
“Just don’t die.” She waved lazily, motioning for the others to follow.
Wen Jianyan smiled: “Alright.”
In fact, the main group would be contacting the protagonist, so their probability of encountering danger was the highest.
He, at most, would just fish around while others drew fire, seeing if he could find more clues.
After all, Wen Jianyan was very clear about one thing: This instance was an open-world type, vast in scale, both in area and depth.
Otherwise, after being open for so long, it wouldn’t still have such a pitifully low maximum exploration progress.
He lowered his head and opened his livestream panel.
Ever since his anchor level increased, the system no longer constantly broadcasted exploration progress updates after he entered a instance.
Instead, it would only broadcast when he made a significant leap in progress, or when he broke the instance’s previous highest exploration record.
Otherwise, he could only see relevant information by actively opening the livestream panel.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze lingered for a moment on a small line of text in the upper left corner of the panel.
[Yuying Comprehensive University] instance in progress.
Historical Exploration Progress: 21%
Team Exploration Progress: 14%
After forming a team, the team’s exploration progress was shared, and the entire team’s value would remain consistent.
Wen Jianyan rubbed his fingertips.
They had only been in this instance for three days, and their exploration progress had already exceeded half of the historical record, which was quite good from that perspective.
However, when this number was placed in the context of the overall progress, it seemed quite pathetic.
This meant that after exploring for such a long time, their progress had only advanced by less than a fifth.
This implied that they had not yet found the key nodes to deepen the instance’s overall progress. Therefore… given this scale, the Film Appreciation Elective did not account for a very large portion of the overall progress. Although they hoped to find the reason why [Yuying Comprehensive University] became what it was now from these movies, Wen Jianyan also clearly understood that the amount of clues here would probably not be very extensive.
Even if they thoroughly understood the entire [Film Appreciation Elective], and even experienced every movie, its impact on the instance’s exploration progress itself might not be significant.
Therefore, Wen Jianyan chose to let others follow the main plot while he explored the periphery.
This way, he might be able to uncover more clues, and even reverse-engineer the plot.
Wen Jianyan closed the livestream interface and looked up at the cafeteria in front of him.
Figures moved, footsteps, laughter, and conversations overlapped, blending into waves of sound. No one’s attention lingered in this corner.
He retracted his gaze and activated his stealth item. U
nlike the stealth items he previously used, this one had a longer duration after activation but was less effective. It didn’t make him completely invisible but merely made others subconsciously ignore him.
However, for him, it was sufficient.
Wen Jianyan stepped back, completely hidden in the shadows, and with a nimble flicker of his figure, he disappeared from everyone’s sight.
In the library.
The few individuals stood facing each other.
Su Cheng showed a thoughtful expression as he looked at the Scarface not far away.
He didn’t have Wen Jianyan’s ability to see through lies at a glance, but at least based on what this person had said so far, it was very likely to be the truth.
“So, what’s your goal now?” Yun Bilan asked.
“I have a premonition,” the Scarface swallowed hard, saying with difficulty, “that when he moves back next to me, I’ll die.”
His peripheral vision caught the stiff, chilling shadow, and he shivered uncontrollably, lunging forward to grab Su Cheng’s arm, like a drowning person clutching the nearest piece of driftwood: “P-please, help me!”
After all, among the teams that had entered the movie Brave Richard, there was only their team besides his own. And in their previous brief encounter, Orange Candy had shown a combat strength completely contrary to her appearance.
Although they had only interacted for a very short time, the Scarface already had a vague premonition.
The opposing team’s strength might be very high.
Especially after truly entering the movie, and discovering that the opposing team only had three people present, he became even more convinced of this—if it was these people, they might really know how to get rid of that figure.
He watched the person in front of him with a mix of apprehension and expectation.
Su Cheng lowered his head to look at him, then slowly, slowly pulled his arm from the other’s grasp.
The moment his palm emptied, the Scarface’s heart sank.
However, Su Cheng immediately said:
“It’s not that I can’t help you.”
Strictly speaking, he did know a way to get rid of that figure.
After all, no one in their team had encountered a similar situation. If he made a reasonable inference based on the clues he currently possessed, he could quickly reach a conclusion: this persistent shadow was probably equivalent to a countdown in some sense.
After starting “homework,” it had to be completed within a specified time limit, otherwise, one would die.
After all, every choice in the instance harbored danger, and every anchor had to pay a price for their choices.
However, this mechanism clearly had no effect on their team.
Under Wen Jianyan’s guidance to break through, Orange Candy and Wei Cheng completed it in one go, while the remaining three, under his instruction, hadn’t started yet, so they naturally wouldn’t be forced to start a countdown like the Scarface’s team.
Therefore, solving their death crisis was also very simple: just guide them to complete their homework before the countdown ends.
Upon hearing this, a hint of joy flickered across the Scarface’s face. But what Su Cheng said next made his expression stiffen.
“However, I also have conditions.” Su Cheng lowered his eyes, looking at him.
Su Cheng scrutinized him, and continued: “You said Richard was the last to die, right?”
The Scarface seemed to have a vague premonition in his heart. But he still braced himself and nodded, saying, “Right.”
“You just mentioned many pieces of information we don’t know, but this one, you absolutely couldn’t have discovered at this stage.”
Under the cold light of the newspaper section, Su Cheng appeared equally calm. He trusted Wen Jianyan’s abilities implicitly. A mid-tier anchor could absolutely not know a clue that even he hadn’t obtained.
“Then, I can only assume that the reason you know this is because Richard is following you, and so you’re getting some information that we’re not aware of, right?”
The Scarface was silent for a moment, then nodded: “Right.”
This was precisely why he had always insisted on not revealing this point. He knew that for a ruthless and experienced anchor, once they discovered such a source of information, they would never let this opportunity slip away—even if it might concern his life.
“You should know what I want you to do now,” Su Cheng said. “If you want us to help you, fine, but it won’t be without a price. We need enough information, otherwise, it’s a non-starter.”
“…” Scarface was silent for a long time, but then he let out a long sigh: “Okay.” Besides this, he had no other choice.
“Good,” Su Cheng extended his hand and said, “Then, pleasant cooperation.”
Their hands briefly clasped in the air.
As soon as they separated, footsteps, dragging, stiff, and strangely sticky, echoed from outside the door, coming closer.
Through the tightly closed door of the newspaper section, a blurred window revealed a faintly swaying figure.
The next second, a pale, stiff, bloated face pressed tightly against the window. A pair of pitch-black, pupil-less eyes stared unblinkingly at them.
Scarface’s expression instantly changed:
“Oh, no, no!” He took a step back: “We have to escape quickly!”
Su Cheng and his two teammates hadn’t started their assignments yet, so they weren’t familiar with these monsters.
However, even so, they knew that this thing was not to be trifled with. Just two glances gave them a cold, dizzying sensation, as if they had seen something abominable that couldn’t be looked at directly. Their sanity began to decline.
“Don’t let them see you,” Scarface spoke very quickly.
“Otherwise, your sanity will continuously drop!” The few of them quickly ran forward, their hurried footsteps echoing in the empty reading room. Behind them, the door, sealed by an item, let out a strange “creak” and then burst open.
Drip, drip.
The sticky sound of water started again.
“Don’t go in a straight line!” Yun Bilan gritted her teeth. “Go through the bookshelves!” That way, they could…
Wen Jianyan moved along the wall, meticulously searching.
According to the cafeteria’s layout, the staff passage should be around… He paused, his gaze falling on a spot not far away.
On the wall, a narrow iron door was faintly visible, its edges rusted. Several large characters were written on it: [No Entry for Non-Staff]
Found it. Wen Jianyan looked around, and after confirming that he hadn’t been noticed by anyone, he quietly stepped forward.
He bent down, easily picked the lock, then carefully pushed forward. With a “creak,” the side door opened.
There was no white fog inside the door. It seemed this area was still within the movie scene and could be entered and explored. Wen Jianyan slipped inside, carefully closing the door behind him.
The back kitchen was filled with a strong smell of oil and food.
Thick white steam drifted in the air, making everything appear hazy and indistinct.
Wen Jianyan coughed softly twice, raising a hand to cover his mouth and nose.
He looked around.
Contrary to his imagination, the back kitchen… was empty.
Unlike the bustling, crowded exterior, there wasn’t a single soul here.
All the elaborate explanations he had prepared were useless.
Why was no one here? Wen Jianyan stood frozen for a moment. He slowly took two steps forward, cautiously peering around. Indeed, there was no one.
The stove was still on, water gurgled in large iron pots, and various cooking utensils lay on the greasy countertop, some dirty and soaking in water, others clean and hanging on the wall, gleaming.
Everything seemed full of life.
But at this moment, this kitchen, which could accommodate dozens of people working simultaneously, was surprisingly empty.
Wen Jianyan’s expression turned suspicious. This was… too strange.
Why was there no one in the kitchen? The overly eerie emptiness of the room gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.
However, it was this very difference that made Wen Jianyan’s heart beat a little faster—he realized that he had most likely found the right place.
He knew that according to the previous rules, everything should just be part of the movie scene until real strange things appeared. Movie scenes were usually very ordinary, and there shouldn’t be a situation like this, where a place that should be bustling with people was completely empty.
Something had to be different from before.
He quickly stepped forward, surveying the entire kitchen.
Boiling water simmered in pots on the stove, and pots, bowls, and ladles were scattered on the surface, all looking very ordinary.
The kitchen was large and messy; it would take at least an hour to search it meticulously.
Wen Jianyan thought for a moment and decisively activated the item [Hand of Guidance].
As a member of the Secret Council, the number of times he could use “Hand of Guidance” in instances had increased.
Although there were still limitations, he didn’t need to be as frugal as in previous instances. At least in scenarios he instinctively considered very important, he didn’t need to be too stingy.
After the Hand of Guidance was activated, the familiar red arrow quickly appeared in his line of sight. It hopped, pointing towards a corner of the kitchen.
Wen Jianyan quickly followed.
Guided by the arrow, he soon arrived at a stove. Wen Jianyan immediately saw that the red arrow, representing the [Hand of Guidance], pointed directly towards a tightly closed cabinet below.
He took a deep breath, and after preparing himself mentally for any horrifying sight, he crouched down, reached out, and pulled open the cabinet.
However, an unexpected situation occurred again. The cabinet was empty, completely bare.
The red arrow still flickered, pointing directly to the inside of the cabinet. But Wen Jianyan could clearly see—the cabinet was empty.
He refused to believe it and leaned in, propping one hand on the top of the cabinet, and reaching inside with the other, leaving no stone unturned, feeling every corner of the cabinet with his fingers, but still finding nothing.
In the “Integrity First” live room barrage::
[Uh, uh, what’s going on, friends? Is the item malfunctioning?]
[No way, it’s one thing if those strictly leveled items fail, but even an auxiliary item like the Hand of Guidance can fail… this is the first time I’ve heard of it.]
[I don’t think it’s because of that, it should be related to the anchor’s identity card, right? After all, he couldn’t activate his appearance because of that before.]
[Stop guessing, did you forget this is inside a movie? There won’t be any items in a movie, and even if there are, they’re fake, wrong, after all, the entire environment is a fabricated thing!]
Just as Wen Jianyan leaned his upper body into the cabinet, the overhead light suddenly flickered with a “sizzle.”
An invisible shadow seemed to be spreading, gradually eroding the light. The white mist swirled, but the sweat-inducing temperature on his forehead began to subtly drop.
In the “Integrity First” live room barrage:
[Holy crap, what’s going on?]
[Quick, anyone, check other anchors’ live streams?]
[I’m back from watching! They’ve already met the protagonist, but a few minutes after meeting the protagonist, she disappeared, what’s happening?]
[Damn it, that means the movie was interrupted!]
[?]
[Once the movie scene is interrupted, the monster will come!]
Almost at the same time, Wen Jianyan also noticed the changes in the surrounding environment.
He sharply pulled his body back, his head hitting the cabinet board with a solid thud.
“!” Wen Jianyan frowned, sucking in a cold breath.
He didn’t bother rubbing his head. He quickly exited the cabinet and straightened up. It was still the same scene, but the atmosphere was completely different.
The overhead lights flickered, the white steam turned a hazy gray, and the already dim kitchen became even more dark and eerie.
The stoves, the various kitchen utensils, all were hidden in shadow, turning into flickering dark figures.
Outside the door, faint footsteps seemed to echo.
Wen Jianyan paused, hesitated, and cautiously stepped forward. His footsteps were light, making almost no sound. Soon, he reached the door.
He used his fingertips to push open a crack and carefully looked out into the staff passage.
The cafeteria, which had been perfectly normal moments ago, had now completely changed.
The walls were covered in rusty stains, and a pungent, strange smell permeated the air. Amidst the sweet scent of decay, there was also a faint but familiar smell of chemicals.
The NPCs who had been normal and lifelike just moments before were now stiff and rigid, as if pulled by some presence, walking step by step into the distance. They had their backs to him, their faces unseen.
Wen Jianyan knew they were likely heading in the direction of Orange Candy and the others. It was as he had judged earlier. Orange Candy’s group would attract the main aggression, while he would be temporarily safe and could continue to explore.
“Thump.”
A strange sound came from behind him. It sounded like something hitting the side of an iron barrel, a muffled thud.
The sound was very light, but in the dead silent kitchen, it was exceptionally clear.
“!” Wen Jianyan’s heart tightened, and he sharply turned to look. Not far away, the stove was still on, and water boiled in a large iron pot, making gurgling sounds.
“…” A strong and familiar sense of unease washed over him.
Wen Jianyan cautiously took a step forward, his hand slowly reaching to the side. The boiling liquid in the iron pot gradually came into view.
The previously colorless clear water had, at some point, turned pitch black, boiling and bubbling, giving off an unbearable stench.
“Thump!” Another sound. The next second, beneath the surface of the water, a dark, rounded shape slowly emerged: wet hair, a spherical skull—a head was clearly boiling in the pot.
“Hehehe.”
The illusory laughter reappeared.
The head bobbed up and down with the boiling water, slowly turning around. “I—”
Before the next syllable could be uttered, the young man sprang forward like an arrow released from a bow, a bullet leaving a barrel, agile and swift. With lightning speed, he slammed the item in his hand onto the pot! It was the pot lid.
Clang!
“…” The sound was swallowed by the silent boiling water.
In the “Integrity First” live room barrage:
[…]
[Holy sht.]
[Holy sht.]
[HOLY SH*T!!!!!]
Wen Jianyan stood in front of the pot, one hand pressing down on the lid, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. He was panting, his face flushed from the heat, and the pleats of his skirt were disheveled.
“Once is enough.” He gritted his teeth, letting out a fierce, cold laugh. “A second time?”
“Do you take me for a fool?”
