(2/6)
Yuying University
Chapter 484: Domino of death
There was no more movement from inside the door.
The door panel under his palm was scorching hot, almost enough to make his skin burn.
Gasping for breath, Wen Jianyan slowly released his hand.
Generally speaking, under the dual threat of flames and the librarian, the chances of an anchor surviving were almost zero.
But would Mason die?
—It was hard to say.
Just then, Wen Jianyan felt a sharp tug on his sleeve.
From behind him came Arnold’s slightly trembling voice.
“Hey… Hey!”
Wen Jianyan turned his head.
Arnold was staring straight behind him, his face turning pale at whatever he was seeing.
Wen Jianyan followed his gaze backward.
At some point, the teammate Mason had left outside had disappeared. Wen Jianyan’s gaze circled around before finally landing on the ground.
Half of an empty skin sack drooped on the floor behind a table, limp like some kind of strangely-textured leather bag, yet still vaguely retaining a human shape.
Mason’s teammate was gone, which should have been a great help to him.
However, Wen Jianyan couldn’t feel happy about it.
“…”
He paused, then slowly raised his eyes to look at the orange-haired girl standing to the side.
Her appearance, expression, and small mannerisms were all identical to his memory of her.
She was grinning and licking her bright red lips. It was nothing overt, but from a distance, it sent a chill creeping up from the soles of one’s feet.
Wen Jianyan’s heart skipped a beat.
“What do we do?”
Arnold’s voice barely maintained its composure as he asked in a low volume: “Fight?”
After all, there were two of them and only one of her. In that respect, at least, they had the advantage.
Wen Jianyan didn’t speak, just kept his eyes fixed on “Orange Candy.”
“Hey, I’m hungry,” the orange-haired girl pouted from a distance, her expression coquettish. She pointed at Arnold behind Wen Jianyan and said in a whining tone, “Let me eat him, okay?”
“?!”
Arnold, being pointed at, jumped in fright.
He felt a chill seeping out from his very bones and couldn’t help but take a step back.
Wen Jianyan subtly shifted his body, blocking “Orange Candy’s” line of sight.
He smiled and negotiated in a gentle tone: “This guy is dirty and smelly, and ugly to boot. What’s so good about eating him? How about we switch to something else?”
Arnold: “…”
I know your intentions are good, but can you not make it a personal attack?
Wen Jianyan looked at “Orange Candy.” Though his face was smiling, the look in his eyes was grave.
This wasn’t his first encounter with a “mirror image.”
Back in the mirror, their imitations were already terrifyingly realistic. Their appearance, expressions, and way of speaking were all perfectly mimicked. In fact, if Orange Candy hadn’t used a wound to send him a clue, even Wen Jianyan would have had a hard time telling at a glance whether the person standing before him was the real Orange Candy or her mirror image.
And now, it wasn’t even trying to pretend anymore.
This was not necessarily a good thing.
Either it was because it knew its identity as a mirror image had been exposed and there was no point in continuing the act, or… it no longer needed to.
After all, the main purpose of its previous disguise was to leave the mirror.
And now, it had succeeded.
“I’ll give you a signal in a moment.” Wen Jianyan’s voice was pressed very low, as if squeezed from between his teeth. “You run.”
Arnold was about to nod, but his movement froze:
“I run?… What about you?”
It wasn’t that he had some kind of Stockholm syndrome, but Arnold knew what was what. Facing a human was much better than facing a monster. If Wen Jianyan died, he would be in an even worse situation.
Besides, Wen Jianyan had indeed saved his life.
More than once.
“It won’t kill me,” Wen Jianyan said without looking at him, his gaze still fixed on “Orange Candy” not far away. “I’m still useful to it.”
“I’ll count to three.”
Arnold nodded nervously.
“Three.”
Wen Jianyan gripped his item.
Behind him,
“Two.”
Fine beads of sweat formed on Arnold’s forehead.
But before the word “one” could be said, the sound of footsteps came from the darkness outside the reading room.
Even, slow, from far to near.
Soon, a slender figure appeared in the light.
The young man had handsome features and a smile in his eyes, giving him a strange sort of affability.
Except for the different hair color, everything else looked as if they were carved from the same mold.
Wen Jianyan’s heart sank.
He recognized that face as his own.
As expected.
The reason he had told Arnold to flee while he stayed behind was precisely this.
Mason had brought out two mirror images from the mirror: one of Orange Candy and one of him.
Orange Candy had disappeared, leaving only her mirror image. Having cleared many instances, Wen Jianyan knew that Orange Candy had most likely been replaced by her mirror image.
This was also why Wen Jianyan was certain that “Orange Candy” wouldn’t kill him.
He was still useful.
He told Arnold to flee, partly because his own life should be safe before the replacement, and partly to plan for his own escape later.
While confronting “Orange Candy,” Wen Jianyan’s mind had already formulated the fifth step of his plan.
As long as Arnold escaped, they would still have a chance to win.
Indeed, overusing his talent came at a great cost.
Just now, Wen Jianyan had keenly sensed that each time he “revived” Arnold, his awakening speed was slightly slower than the last, and the traces left by death were deeper. Sooner or later, he would sink into death and never wake up.
However, the prerequisite for using his talent was still being “alive.”
Therefore, Wen Jianyan didn’t hesitate or waver when it came to using the other.
Unfortunately…
Wen Jianyan watched the mirror image with his own face approach step by step, his heart sinking further and further.
Just now, one against two, his plan was already difficult to execute.
Now, two against two…
The probability of success was close to zero.
“!!”
Seeing that familiar figure, Arnold couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath.
He whipped his head around to look at Wen Jianyan, his gaze darting across his face.
How could this—
Before he could figure out the reason, “Wen Jianyan” had already walked up and stopped beside “Orange Candy.”
“Orange Candy” pouted. “I want to eat that guy, but he won’t let me.”
“Wen Jianyan” smiled slightly. “Is that so? Then I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”
Even though they were two non-human things, with appearances, personalities, and behaviors all obtained through imitation and disguise, they looked just like the real deal. The feeling was bizarre and uncomfortable, making one feel as if a hundred Masons were crawling on their body.
Just then, the “Wen Jianyan” opposite him looked up, his gaze falling on the young man with the same face not far away.
“…!”
The moment the mirror image looked over, every muscle in Wen Jianyan’s body tensed up.
At the same time, a new wave of calculations began in his mind.
He predicted possible events, considered all usable conditions, and assessed all possible conspiracies, plots, tricks, and strategies, searching for any possible escape plan.
But the more he thought, the more his heart sank.
The librarian’s office behind him was completely engulfed in flames, and the fire showed no sign of stopping. It seeped out from the cracks in the door, crackling and roasting his back. It wouldn’t be long before the entire library was a sea of fire.
Su Cheng, Yun Bilan, Wei Cheng, and Tian Ye were trapped in their seats by the library’s rules, unable to move.
Orange Candy was nowhere to be found, and Hugo had been out of contact until now.
Orange Candy’s mirror image had completely broken free from the mirror’s constraints and didn’t even bother to disguise itself anymore. Wen Jianyan could only predict the worst-case scenario—it had replaced Orange Candy and even replicated her comparable strength.
This was already desperate enough, but if Arnold could break through under his control, Wen Jianyan could seize a slim chance to turn the tables.
And now, the appearance of the second mirror image completely blocked that possibility.
What was worse, it was his own mirror image.
Wen Jianyan didn’t know what exactly would happen next, but he knew that if things went smoothly for them, he would soon be replaced—just like Orange Candy had been.
Wen Jianyan stood rooted to the spot, feeling a coldness in his palms and cold sweat breaking out on his back, layer after layer, until his shirt was soaked and stuck tightly to his skin.
Even though nothing had happened yet, he could already smell the scent of death.
—But he had clearly turned the tide.
Whether alive or dead, Mason was no longer a threat. The library that trapped them was about to be burned to the ground, and the lending slips that could free his teammates were clutched in his hand. Once used, everyone else would awaken.
However, the trend towards a positive outcome had been brought to an abrupt halt.
And this was merely because of Mason’s madness, bringing two inhumanly terrifying beings out of the mirror, causing all order to collapse.
In the “Integrity First” Live Room:
[Ahhh!]
[I’m not resigned to this, I’m really not resigned!!]
[I’m so mad, I wish I could rush into that office and burn Mason to death three hundred times over!]
[Sigh, who cares about Mason now, what’s the anchor going to do in this situation? It feels like there’s no way out!]
Suddenly, the “Wen Jianyan” across from him retracted his gaze.
It looked at “Orange Candy” and shook its head.
“Orange Candy” paused, then tilted her head to look at the real Wen Jianyan. In her eyes was a strange, unreadable expression. After scrutinizing him for a moment, she also looked away.
“Alright.”
The orange-haired girl nodded.
“…?”
Wen Jianyan was momentarily stunned.
He seemed to smell a strange scent in the air.
Although he didn’t know what the two mirror images had discovered, or what kind of communication they had without his knowledge, things seemed to be developing in a direction he couldn’t understand.
Not far away, the young man with Wen Jianyan’s face extended a hand to the little girl beside him, and she took it.
Then, the young man turned his head, nodded with a smile at Wen Jianyan, the friendly smile carrying a disquieting strangeness:
“We should be seeing each other again soon.”
And beside it, “Orange Candy” also waved at him with a grin:
“Bye-bye!”
After this bizarre farewell, the two mirror images, one tall and one short, holding hands, turned and disappeared without looking back.
Soon, their vastly different silhouettes vanished into the darkness outside the reading room, swallowed by the densely packed bookshelves in the distance.
Only a dead silence remained in the reading room.
“…”
Wen Jianyan stood where he was, staring at the spot where the mirror images had disappeared, still not quite processing it.
They… just left like that?
Wen Jianyan was very confused.
This was not his first contact with these mirror images.
And precisely because of that, he didn’t believe they would be so kind as to let them off at the last moment.
So, why?
Why would his mirror image give up on assimilating him, and instead say they would meet again soon?
Had something changed?
“Wait a minute.”
Wen Jianyan seemed to have thought of something and suddenly froze:
“…That mirror image’s hair was black.”
Orange Candy and her mirror image were identical. Even if they stood side by side in front of him, he couldn’t immediately tell which one was real. But he and his mirror image were different. Their hair colors were worlds apart, distinguishable with a single glance.
Wen Jianyan’s mind raced.
Orange Candy was replaced by her mirror image. The conditions for this replacement must not have been high, otherwise Orange Candy shouldn’t have fallen for it.
However, during his confrontation with his own mirror image, this replacement process never happened.
Could it be that…
“Perhaps it’s not that it didn’t want to,” Wen Jianyan murmured thoughtfully, blinking as he recalled the mirror image’s expression during their face-to-face confrontation, “but that it couldn’t.”
Was it because he was wearing a title that changed his physical characteristics?
Because it couldn’t replace him, it simply gave up and left?
But—
“Stop spacing out!” Arnold, standing beside him, was sweating with anxiety. “Big brother, wake up, look where we are!”
Behind them, the fire had completely spread out from the closed office.
The fire seemed to have a life of its own, in the blink of an eye licking onto the semi-circular front desk and spreading along the table in both directions. Its speed wasn’t too fast yet, but once the eerie, life-draining flames reached the bookshelves, the fire would be beyond their control.
Wen Jianyan was jolted back to his senses by Arnold’s voice.
He turned his head to glance behind him and immediately felt the heat and temperature of the flames on the side of his face.
“We’ll split up.” Wen Jianyan looked at Arnold, his light-colored eyes illuminated by the firelight, and stuffed two lending slips into his hand. “Quick!”
His previous guess was correct.
This fire could indeed burn the library to the ground, freeing the victims trapped here from their cage.
But the problem was, his teammates couldn’t wait that long—their countdowns were about to end. They couldn’t wait for the entire library to burn down. So, even though he had found a way to completely destroy the library, to get his teammates out alive and intact, he still had to use the most primitive method.
Arnold didn’t dare to delay. He caught the lending slips and ran towards the distance.
Wen Jianyan lunged forward, rushing to Su Cheng’s side. He raised his hand and pressed the lending slip in his hand onto the book in front of Su Cheng.
With his previous experience saving Arnold, his actions were very swift this time.
Soon, the book disappeared, and the table was empty, leaving only the lending slip on which the borrower’s name and the start and end times were gradually appearing.
Soon, the young man with his head bowed paused, then slowly raised his stiff head.
Seeing Su Cheng wake up, Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.
He patted Su Cheng’s shoulder and said, “Run towards the library exit, quick.”
He still had people to save.
With that, Wen Jianyan turned to leave, but as he turned, his arm was suddenly grabbed by Su Cheng.
“?”
Wen Jianyan paused and looked back.
Su Cheng half-closed his dark eyes, his gaze falling on the young man’s now silver-white hair. His gaze lingered for a moment.
He released his hand. “Okay.”
Wen Jianyan gave him a puzzled look and turned to run towards Yun Bilan.
But before he had run more than a few steps, Arnold’s panicked voice came from not far away:
“Ahhh, it’s on fire, it’s on fire, what do I do?”
Wen Jianyan glanced over and immediately realized what had happened.
The fire had spread from behind the front desk, and the first few rows of desks near the office were already a sea of fire.
With Arnold’s help, Tian Ye, who was farther from the office, had already woken up and was now unsteadily pushing himself up from his desk. But the problem was, Wei Cheng’s position was too far forward. Whether it was a slip of Arnold’s hand or the fire spreading too fast, the edge of the lending slip in his hand had brushed against the flames and then violently caught fire!
“You go.”
Su Cheng’s voice came from behind.
He stretched out his hand. “Leave it to me.”
Wen Jianyan gave him a deep look, handed him the lending slip, and then ran towards Arnold as fast as he could.
Arnold was frantically trying to put out the fire, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t extinguish it, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind him:
“Let go.”
A concise voice sounded in his ear.
Arnold subconsciously let go.
The lending slip that was already fully ablaze was snatched away, fluttering down. Before it hit the ground, it had already burned to nothing but black ash.
“This, this, this…”
Arnold’s eyes widened.
“It can’t be put out,” Wen Jianyan said.
He dropped this sentence and then turned to stride towards Wei Cheng.
Arnold was so anxious his forehead was sweating:
“But—but what do we do then?”
The library lending slip was burned, and the office was already a sea of fire. There was no way for them to get another one…
Before Arnold could finish his question, he saw Wen Jianyan stop beside Wei Cheng, suddenly reach out to grab the book, and then yank it outwards with all his might!
“Screech—”
The office door, which had been tightly shut just moments ago, made a piercing sound and was suddenly thrown open by some force.
The moment it came into contact with the air, the fire exploded in a flashover, shooting up with a whoosh and in the blink of an eye reaching the distant bookshelves. Everything was dyed a glaring crimson, and everything was burning.
“?!!”
Arnold gasped in shock.
Some form of invisible, terrifying presence had silently emerged.
Although the library was burning, the rules were still in effect.
It was the librarian!!
Arnold opened his mouth, about to warn Wen Jianyan, but the next second, he saw the young man not far away swing his arm in a wide arc and toss the book into the burning flames. The book was instantly swallowed by the distant fire.
To hell with returning it, burn!
Arnold: “…”
Fine, you’re the boss.
Wei Cheng groggily shook his head, but before he could fully awaken from his dazed state, he felt his arm being violently grabbed, with a force that felt like it could tear his arm off.
The next second, he was dragged out of his chair.
Wei Cheng opened his eyes, seemingly yet to grasp the current situation.
But before he could finish speaking, a familiar, bone-chilling premonition of death came from behind him. A jolt went through him, and he was wide awake.
Wei Cheng subconsciously turned to look.
A wave of heat hit his face. In the raging flames, he could still barely make out the basic layout—Wei Cheng recognized that he should still be in the library.
But it was a burning library.
And in the sea of fire, the eerily dancing flames parted, as if some invisible and terrifying thing was passing through them.
“!!!”
The hairs on Wei Cheng’s body stood on end.
What, what, what is this situation?
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s voice sounded in his ear, so close that Wei Cheng had the illusion his eardrum was about to burst:
“—Come help!!”
As if waking from a dream, Arnold lunged forward and grabbed Wei Cheng’s other arm.
Wei Cheng: “?!”
Before he could react, he felt himself being hauled up. The two people pulling him, one on each side, cooperated seamlessly, rushing towards the library exit at top speed.
The tongues of flame licked upwards towards the ceiling, greedily devouring every bookshelf in their path. The fire expanded, grew, and invaded, like some living creature, getting faster and faster, chasing after the desperately fleeing group as if to pull them into its body as well.
Wei Cheng was so shaken he was seeing stars and almost about to be thrown up.
After an unknown amount of time, the scorching heat that felt like it could evaporate a person’s sweat finally began to recede. A cold wind blew on their bodies, barely dispersing the furnace-like smell.
Finally, Wen Jianyan let go, and Wei Cheng stumbled free, collapsing to one side.
Only then did he have a chance to see the situation clearly.
They were now in the open space outside the library. Above them was a pitch-black sky, and the library not far away was engulfed in a sea of fire, illuminating almost half the sky.
Even without knowing what had just happened, looking at the library already consumed by flames, everyone could more or less guess some of the truth.
[Ding! Instance Exploration Rate 80%. Reward: 10,000 Points]
“Congratulations on once again breaking the exploration record for [Yuying Comprehensive University]. You have made history…”
Hearing the familiar system voice, everyone was stunned.
They clearly hadn’t expected that even though they hadn’t stayed in the library for long, and had even burned it down… they could still advance the instance exploration rate?
Wei Cheng looked around.
Beside him, his teammates were standing or sitting, panting wretchedly.
None of them looked good. Sweat trickled down their soot-blackened cheeks, leaving a few pale streaks.
Suddenly, Wei Cheng seemed to realize something. He staggered to his feet and asked with a frown:
“Where’s the captain?”
The others were also taken aback.
After the recent chase, they suddenly realized that Orange Candy had been missing the entire time, and instead, there was a stranger they had never seen before.
They looked at the only unfamiliar face in the crowd:
“And who is he?”
Arnold: “…”
Suddenly being called out, at a loss for what to do.
“He’s not a threat,” a calm young man’s voice came from the side.
Wen Jianyan walked over, half his face illuminated by the firelight. He glanced at Arnold sitting on the ground and said, “In fact, he’s the one who helped me set the library on fire.”
For some reason, Wei Cheng’s frown deepened.
“Where’s the captain?”
Wen Jianyan fell silent for a moment.
He looked up and then began from the beginning, recounting everything that had happened after the group had been trapped.
As Wen Jianyan spoke, the faces of the others gradually became solemn.
They hadn’t expected that what happened after entering the library would be so perilous. When Wen Jianyan got to the part where Orange Candy was replaced by her mirror image, and only managed to pass on a message with a wound at the last moment, Wei Cheng’s expression changed drastically.
He strode forward abruptly, staring intently at Wen Jianyan, his expression uncharacteristically aggressive.
“Wait a minute, you mean the captain is dead?”
Unexpectedly, Wen Jianyan looked back at Wei Cheng and shook his head:
“No.”
“I said she was replaced by her mirror image,” Wen Jianyan’s eyes were as calm as a lake, as if all of the other’s emotions could not stir the slightest ripple in his eyes. “I never said she was dead.”
Wei Cheng seemed stunned.
“Anyone could die, but your captain won’t.” When Wen Jianyan said this, his expression was still calm and certain, as if he were stating some unbreakable truth.
He looked at Wei Cheng. “Don’t forget what your captain’s talent is.”
Wei Cheng’s eyes wavered, and his somewhat out-of-control emotions gradually calmed down.
In Nightmare, the anchors’ talents were varied and numerous. Some were terrifyingly powerful, others bizarrely cunning. But even so, Orange Candy’s talent was still considered top-tier.
Yes, Wen Jianyan was right.
Anyone could die, but Orange Candy wouldn’t.
She was a top-ten ranker who could force time to flow backward, a PvP god of war who could win by surprise. It was impossible for her to fall so easily.
“I don’t know why she didn’t use her talent at the last moment,” Wen Jianyan said, “but I know she must have had her reasons for doing so.”
He smiled, looking a bit mischievous:
“You don’t think your captain has suicidal tendencies, do you?”
This lighthearted, almost inappropriate joke at this moment greatly eased the overly tense, seemingly explosive atmosphere.
“…”
As the atmosphere relaxed, Wei Cheng closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
He calmed down, feeling a bit guilty:
“Sorry, I lost my composure.”
Wen Jianyan shook his head. “It’s okay, it’s understandable.”
It wasn’t that Wei Cheng wasn’t smart, but in a situation like that, people are often driven by their emotions, making it impossible to think rationally.
Moreover, although Orange Candy was a moody and dangerous individual, she had never let her teammates down.
—Even for a temporary member like Wen Jianyan.
Wen Jianyan retracted his gaze and looked down.
He hadn’t lied. From the very beginning, he didn’t think Orange Candy would die.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Orange Candy had simply been replaced. As long as they could enter the mirror world through other means, they should be able to save her.
Images from the past flashed through his mind.
A blood-red sky, a bizarre amusement park, Gua Gua in a mascot costume.
“…”
Wen Jianyan gripped his wrist, controlling his fingers, and then slowly exhaled, forcing himself to calm down.
He would succeed this time.
The same thing would not happen a second time.
He would not allow it.
Just then, Yun Bilan’s voice came from the side: “So… what about those two mirror images?”
Her voice pulled Wen Jianyan from his thoughts. He turned to look at her.
Yun Bilan looked at him, asking quizzically:
“Weren’t there two mirror images? What happened then? How did you escape from them?”
Wen Jianyan paused:
“I didn’t escape.”
Yun Bilan: “?”
“They left.”
“?”
Yun Bilan was stunned, repeating what Wen Jianyan had just said: “Left?”
“Yes, yes, they just turned and left, didn’t stop at all,” Arnold nodded vigorously from the side, as if to corroborate Wen Jianyan’s statement with his actions. “Although I don’t know why, but anyway, they left, so they left. At least we were lucky enough to survive—”
Suddenly, Su Cheng spoke up.
His voice was very quiet and cold, interrupting Arnold’s chatter:
“Hey.”
“?”
The others turned to look at him, puzzled.
“Look,” Su Cheng stared straight into the distance, his eyes dark and heavy. He said, “Over there.”
Wen Jianyan froze and subconsciously followed Su Cheng’s gaze.
The sky had become extremely dark at some point, as black as an eternal night. Only the library behind them cast a blood-red glow. In that glow, he saw many figures approaching from the distance.
In the distance, dozens or even hundreds of scarlet armbands flickered in the darkness.
“!”
Wen Jianyan’s pupils couldn’t help but shrink.
Wait a minute, is that…
He suddenly understood why the library had burned so easily.
In a sense, the style of the [Yuying Comprehensive University] instance was often like this.
There was clearly a more difficult solution, but it would always offer an easier path when you were at the end of your rope. However, once you actually chose that path, you would realize…
What a huge mistake you had made.
One ring linked to another, one step forcing the next.
Once you chose the easy way out, a more terrifying threat would often be waiting for you.
Like a series of dominoes symbolizing death, falling one after another, until you were pinned down, unable to breathe.
The red of the student council armbands grew closer.
The dense crowd in the darkness was suffocating.
Even in the student council office on the second floor of the administration building, Wen Jianyan had never seen so many student council members appear at once.
Once Wen Jianyan understood the reason, he felt a chill run up his spine.
Burning the library—even if it was a method of clearing the instance permitted by the system—was still considered the most egregious violation of school rules.
Naturally, it would attract the most terrifying punishment.
