Chapter 634: I will make a lot of money
“Let go of me!!”
In the darkness, the child version of Wen Jianyan punched and kicked the person holding onto him, threatening in a hushed voice.
Orange Candy remained unmoved. Her fingers just tightened slightly, and she immediately heard the brat in front of her gasp:
“Ow ow ow…”
“Shh, keep it down. Do you want to alert the others?”
Orange Candy slowly revealed a smile.
“What’s the punishment for being caught by Momma sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night again? I forgot, remind me.”
In the darkness, the other’s eyes flickered slightly, and he stopped struggling almost instantly.
—As expected of him, he sure knows when to yield.
“My conditions are still the same.” Orange Candy lifted a corner of the pillow, revealing half of the white tin box. “You arrange for me and my two friends to join the cleaning team for the other floors. Once it’s done, I’ll give you the stuff. How about it?”
It was dead silent all around, only the rhythmic breathing of the sleeping orphans audible.
If it weren’t for the fact that his wrist was firmly grasped in her hand, Orange Candy would almost think he had melted entirely into the darkness.
After a long time, the other party finally spoke, his voice was pressed very low:
“Three is too many. I can only take you.”
“No way.” Orange Candy refused decisively.
After all, they weren’t going to the other floors to actually clean. If only one person went, aside from whether it was dangerous or not, the efficiency would be greatly reduced.
Little Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and bargained:
“Two at most, no more.”
Orange Candy thought about it and reluctantly agreed: “…Fine.”
The small shadow in the darkness stared at her intently: “You promise you’ll return the stuff to me after everything is over?”
“Of course.” Orange Candy rolled her eyes.
She really didn’t have much interest in that tin box of colorful garbage.
“Alright…” The other party sighed, his small shoulders slumping. “Deal.”
“Will this really work?”
Zhao Ran poked at the food on his tray with a plastic fork—what was supposed to be vegetable puree appeared as a semi-rotten grayish-white slop stuck to the bottom of the plate. Perhaps disturbed by his movement, a few maggots wriggled out from it. He showed a look of disgust, pushed the stuff further away from himself, and muttered softly:
“I swear, if we don’t get out this cycle, I’m definitely going to bring in something actually edible.”
He looked up at Orange Candy: “How old is that guy anyway? Even if he becomes Pinocchio in the future, how capable can he be right now?”
“Of course he can.”
Orange Candy shrugged, the expression on her face as indifferent as ever.
“If you ask me, that guy can live a flourishing life no matter how old he is or where he is,” Wei Cheng adjusted the crooked glasses on his face, thought for a while, and said, “This is an… instinct, or perhaps, a talent?”
Before they finished eating, a tall, faceless Momma walked in from outside the cafeteria.
Her status seemed unusual; while other Mommas wore neat black dresses, the dress on her was a blood-red scarlet.
A weird, chilling aura radiated from her, silencing the entire cafeteria.
“Here she comes,” Orange Candy mouthed silently.
She put down her knife and fork and looked up.
“Those responsible for cleaning the second floor today are,” the Red-Robed Momma didn’t wait but went straight to the point, “No. 26, No. 157, No. 198, No. 319, No. 320.”
After speaking, the faceless Momma turned around and left the cafeteria.
The silence and dead stillness from just now finally dissipated, and the atmosphere became relaxed again.
At this table, the gazes of the other anchors turned their way—after so many loops, they had long since figured out the numbers of Orange Candy’s trio.
319 was Orange Candy, 320 was Wei Cheng.
“Wow,” Zhao Ran whistled in surprise. “I didn’t expect him to actually pull it off… impressive.”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Orange Candy’s expression was as calm as ever, seemingly never having doubted this matter from the start.
“My bad, my bad,” Zhao Ran shook his head and sighed. “Sure enough, anyone who can climb into the Nightmare top ten isn’t an ordinary person—even if he’s just that small.”
“…”
Orange Candy narrowed her eyes, looking at him somewhat dangerously.
Who are you insinuating about?
“Cough cough, anyway, stay safe. I’ll wait for you guys to come back.”
Zhao Ran picked up his tray and slipped away with great self-awareness.
The so-called “cleaning” started at 2 PM and lasted until 8 PM, and they had to return to the rest area before lights out at 9 PM.
Since it covered dinnertime, the orphans responsible for cleaning had separate meals—although not great, compared to the formal dinner here, it was considered special treatment.
Because of this, these positions were highly sought after and in short supply.
Even anchors like them could at most grab a spot on the last day. Squeezing into the squad right at the start of a loop was a first for them too.
Ten minutes to two, Little Wen Jianyan appeared in front of Orange Candy and her companion, carrying a broom almost as tall as himself.
Behind him stood two other orphans.
Equally thin and seemingly malnourished, but compared to Wen Jianyan, they were still slightly taller.
Upon seeing Orange Candy, the brat extended his hand, righteous and confident:
“I did what I promised. Give me back my stuff.”
“Looks like you didn’t find it, right?” Orange Candy crossed her arms, looking at him with a faint smile.
Although she hadn’t seen this guy since last night, during the time since then, her and her team’s belongings showed clear signs of being rummaged through—either by this guy or the other brats under him.
“So you never believed my promise from the start.” Orange Candy sneered.
Last night, he pretended to ask if she would guarantee returning the items… turns out this guy didn’t believe a word!
Truly worthy of being Wen Jianyan.
However, fortunately, he himself had warned about this possibility in advance, so Orange Candy didn’t hide the items on herself or her teammates but found a special place to store them.
What did that guy say again?
—“If he really searches through your things and fails, you can use that as leverage to force him to act with you. The success rate will be much higher.”
“Anyway, due to your breach of contract, the delivery time is extended,” Orange Candy raised an eyebrow. “Wait until everything is over, and I’ll return it to you.”
“…”
Little Wen Jianyan gripped the broom tightly, looking at her with disbelief.
Wei Cheng looked away, feeling somewhat unbearable.
Really sorry, kid.
But the one giving the ideas behind the scenes is you yourself…
They all knew Pinocchio was great at scheming against people, but they didn’t expect his skill in scheming against his childhood self to be top-tier as well.
But suddenly, the brat’s eyes flashed, and he spoke:
“Was it also that ‘someone’ who gave you this idea?”
Wei Cheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he reflexively looked at him.
On the child’s dirty little face, a pair of eyes was watching them intently. The light-colored irises reflected the light, inexplicably showing startling intelligence.
Holy crap…
Wei Cheng marveled, but at the same time felt it was quite reasonable.
This guy really lived up to being the future famous Pinocchio.
“Yeah!” Orange Candy was as carefree and heartless as ever, making Wei Cheng’s heart jump—Damn it, is my captain going to be tricked into spilling the beans just like that?
Revealing this kind of thing to other children might not be a threat, but if it were the childhood Pinocchio…
Thinking of what this guy was like as an adult, Wei Cheng felt a bit terrified.
“Fine, I can help you do things.”
The child looked at them sideways. “But you have to tell me who sold me out.”
“Impossible.” Orange Candy rejected instantly without thinking.
She leaned in with a grin: “Don’t try to bargain with me, brat. You have to help whether you want to or not.”
Little Wen Jianyan still wanted to struggle: “But…”
“Do you want your treasure or not?”
Orange Candy delivered the fatal blow.
Little Wen Jianyan’s head drooped dejectedly.
“…Yes.”
Led by Little Wen Jianyan, the group carried heavy cleaning tools up the huge staircase in the center of the hall and soon arrived at the second floor.
Clearly, the faceless Momma guarding the second floor was very familiar with him. saying almost nothing, she opened the iron gate between the first and second floors for them.
“…” Orange Candy turned her head, looking thoughtfully at the iron gate behind her.
According to the real Wen Jianyan, the doors on their side were consistent with the state here. A door opened here would also open there—however, due to the uncertain time difference between the two sides, it was best to keep the door open as long as possible.
Orange Candy withdrew her gaze.
The main gate was guarded by a faceless Momma, so keeping it open continuously was highly difficult. Thus, this was a secondary option.
The most important thing was to open one of the room doors on this floor.
Her gaze swept over the doors one by one, searching for her target.
Beside her, Little Wen Jianyan seemed to have recovered from the blow of being manipulated and became lively again. While hugging a broom taller than a person and sweeping the floor with difficulty, he muttered to himself:
“Not many people know where my stuff is buried. logically speaking, the leak should be easy to find…”
He tilted his head, looking sideways at Orange Candy’s face, scrutinizing her changes in expression:
“…No. 251?”
“Uh-huh.”
Orange Candy responded perfunctorily.
“Why do you guess it’s him?”
“He doesn’t get along with me,” Little Wen Jianyan shrugged, bending down to sweep dust into the dustpan. “When he first arrived, he wanted to be the boss. He beat everyone up and gathered quite a few… people who worshiped and feared him.”
He lifted his loose pant leg: “Look.”
Orange Candy glanced over and suddenly her gaze froze.
Because of malnutrition, his calf was frighteningly thin. The pale skin was covered in bruises, from god knows what collisions.
And near the knee, several hideous scars ran across, looking shocking.
“…No. 251 did this?” Orange Candy frowned and asked.
“Who else?” A tall, thin orphan beside them spoke up. “Do you know why the outside isn’t open anymore? It was No. 251 and his lackeys who cornered the boss up there, cut him with knives, and pushed him down. It almost caused a death, so Momma never allowed us to go out and play again.”
Orange Candy’s frown deepened.
Wei Cheng was also somewhat stunned—although they knew the orphans in this orphanage fought amongst themselves, they had never connected it to Wen Jianyan—after all, whether as an adult or a child, he always appeared at ease in front of them, completely unlike the type to get mixed up in this kind of situation.
“Of course, he doesn’t dare do that kind of thing now.” Little Wen Jianyan made a face.
Wei Cheng looked at him, “Hm? What do you mean?”
“Let’s put it this way,” Little Wen Jianyan grinned, still looking heartless, as if he didn’t take this matter to heart at all. “He learned a lesson.”
Another orphan nodded and shrank back a little:
“A lesson worse than the dog cage.”
“…”
Wei Cheng withdrew his gaze and shook his head helplessly.
He knew it.
Clearly, whether the big one or the small one, neither had a benevolent character that allowed others to bully them. Otherwise, it would be hard to survive in this environment.
With his personality of seeking revenge for the smallest grievance, he had probably already returned the suffering he received a hundredfold.
Otherwise, what they saw when they entered wouldn’t be this brat acting like a tyrant and repeatedly scamming them.
“—However, it probably wasn’t him,” Little Wen Jianyan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That guy doesn’t have that much brains.”
“Could it be No. 187?”
He furrowed his brows, thought seriously, and shook his head again.
“No, he shouldn’t know where my stuff is buried.”
Just like that, while cleaning along the corridor, they listened to Little Wen Jianyan muttering to himself, eliminating people who might have sold him out one by one.
Finally, Wei Cheng couldn’t hold back: “Exactly how many people have you offended in this orphanage?”
The brat tilted his head and thought seriously: “Not many, probably less than half?”
Wei Cheng recalled the number of people in the orphanage.
“…”
That’s not many???
“But basically none of them dare to mess with the boss now,” a child dragging a mop—Wei Cheng remembered his number was 157—said, “Boss is very formidable!”
“Uh-huh.”
Little Wen Jianyan puffed out his chest proudly.
“What about the other half?” Orange Candy asked casually while walking forward. “You haven’t had time to offend them yet?”
“…”
The air seemed quiet for a moment.
The three children who were chattering just now stopped talking.
Seeing this, Orange Candy and Wei Cheng exchanged a glance, their eyes turning sharp.
Even though they didn’t have much experience with puzzle instances, the overly abnormal behavior of the three rang alarm bells—something was wrong here.
However, the kids didn’t seem prepared to give them a chance to ask. Almost immediately, they found a new topic and started chatting about what they wanted to eat tonight.
“I hope there’s bread tonight.”
No. 157 looked forward to it.
“Not the hard black lumps we usually eat, but the kind Mommas eat—white, very fragrant and soft.”
“If only there was meat,” No. 198 pressed his flat belly. “I only ate it once, several years ago, during that Christmas when people came to visit.”
“I remember that time!” Another child nodded vigorously. “There was candy too!”
As he spoke, his mood dropped: “Too bad I didn’t grab any…”
“Don’t worry, follow me, and you’ll all get to eat it in the future.”
Little Wen Jianyan rested his chin on the broom, his eyes sparkling, full of ambition.
“I will earn lots and lots of money, live in a very big, very beautiful house, buy lots and lots of delicious food, and then we can eat it all in one night.”
Suddenly, Wei Cheng’s gaze fell nearby. He paused slightly, turning to look at Orange Candy:
“Is it this room?”
Following the direction he pointed, Orange Candy looked over.
Unlike the other doors on this floor, this door presented an eerie greenish hue. Whether it was an illusion or not, it seemed to release an extremely ominous aura outward. Even just looking at it from a distance made one feel very uncomfortable.
“Should be.” Orange Candy nodded.
Wen Jianyan’s description wasn’t precise, nor did he remember the specific room number, but he said—“As long as you see it, you will definitely recognize it.”
Even without being a medium, as a veteran anchor who had experienced so many instances, Orange Candy could recognize at a glance what kind of location was unusual.
She walked up quickly and tried pushing it with her hand.
The door was very cold.
Not the coolness of metal, but a gloomy ice that could almost penetrate the skin. Even prepared, Orange Candy shivered involuntarily.
“What are you doing?”
Little Wen Jianyan’s voice came from behind.
Orange Candy turned to look.
Not far away, the thin, short child stood still, staring at her unblinkingly. “Entry is forbidden here.”
“Pity,” Orange Candy tutted, revealing a smile. “I came this time specifically to open it.”
“The door is locked,” the brat’s eyes flickered. “Only Momma has the key here.”
“We don’t need a key.”
Orange Candy looked at Little Wen Jianyan with a smile, the arc of her mouth widening—no wonder Wen Jianyan taught her how to threaten this brat into acting together. So this was the purpose—”Don’t we have you?”
Picking locks, this guy was a professional.
Little Wen Jianyan seemed to want to struggle, but he quickly thought of something and immediately became dejected: “Did that person tell you this too?”
“Uh-huh.” Orange Candy nodded smilingly.
“So annoying,” Little Wen Jianyan shuffled over step by step, looking utterly dismayed, muttering as he walked, “Wait till I catch that snitching guy…”
Even though reluctant, he stood by the keyhole.
Immediately after, he pulled a wire from his sleeve like a magic trick and began fiddling with the door lock.
Soon, with a click, the door slowly opened.
Inside was pitch black, bottomless.
Orange Candy closed her eyes and sniffed. She opened her eyes, her expression changing slightly.
The air here had a smell all anchors were very familiar with.
The smell of blood.
Little Wen Jianyan seemed extremely nervous. He kept turning his head to look back, seemingly afraid of being caught in the act: “Hey, hurry up. If we get caught, we will definitely, definitely be thrown into the dog cage—”
Wei Cheng threw a look at Orange Candy.
Enter?
Orange Candy nodded.
Enter.
Although their purpose for coming was just to open the door, since clues were close at hand, they had no reason to let them go.
Behind them came the brat’s nervous voice:
“Hey, hey!”
Wei Cheng felt along the wall and quickly found the light switch.
With a snap, a sizzling, dim bulb lit up, dispelling the darkness in the room.
Behind them, Little Wen Jianyan cursed in a low voice, saying angrily:
“If you want to seek death yourselves, I have nothing to say, just don’t drag others down with you!”
Saying that, he turned and waved to his two other little partners: “Let’s go!”
The patter of children’s footsteps sounded in the corridor; clearly, the three ran far away quickly.
However, for Orange Candy and Wei Cheng, the departure of these three children was actually a good thing. It meant their next actions wouldn’t be restricted.
Under the faint light, they saw the full picture of this room.
The area of the room was larger than imagined, empty, but the air was unusually cold. Although no bloodstains were visible, as battle-hardened anchors, they were too sensitive to the smell of blood—something definitely happened here.
Orange Candy crouched down and scraped lightly in the cracks of the bricks with her fingernail.
Black-red viscous substance remained under her nail.
She sniffed it, her expression turning cold.
It was blood.
Wei Cheng walked a bit further, feeling along the wall, searching—soon, he seemed to discover something and shouted, raising his voice: “The hidden door is here!”
He pressed his shoulder against the door, exerting force for a good while, his small face turning red:
“Damn, I can’t open it alone!”
Orange Candy had already walked over quickly: “Useless, move aside.”
Unlike others, Orange Candy’s body hadn’t actually shrunk—after all, before entering this instance, she was already this size. So naturally, she could easily push open the hidden door.
A sealed small black room appeared before them.
Besides the smell of blood, a strange burnt smell permeated the air here.
At the entrance of the room, several white carts were scattered randomly, with human-shaped bloodstains remaining on them—although there was a lot of blood, the overall area was small, clearly from a child’s body.
And in the center of the room was a huge copper furnace.
That shape looked like…
An incinerator.
As anchors, they were somewhat immune to the tragic states presented in various instances. However, after recognizing the function of that furnace, their pupils still constricted involuntarily, and their expressions darkened.
Now…
They finally knew where the other half of the children were.
“…Animals.” Wei Cheng clenched his fists, squeezing out the word through his teeth.
Orange Candy didn’t speak, just walked gloomily toward the incinerator, circling around it, looking for possible clues.
Suddenly, her gaze paused, attracted by a strange vessel behind the incinerator.
Although she wasn’t an expert on cremating bodies, even so, Orange Candy knew that a normal incinerator shouldn’t have this part.
She waved to Wei Cheng:
“Come here, boost me up to take a look.”
“Okay.”
Wei Cheng walked forward, interlaced his fingers, and half-squatted.
Orange Candy stepped on his palms, launched herself upward, and grabbed the edge of the vessel. The two coordinated skillfully, obviously not doing this for the first time.
She peered inside.
It was empty. Whatever had been inside was clearly already taken away.
Orange Candy was somewhat disappointed. Just as she was about to jump down, her nose seemed to catch a familiar scent…
She paused slightly, looked down, and said: “Hold steady.”
Wei Cheng nodded, half his glasses hanging comically askew.
Orange Candy held onto the edge of the vessel with one hand to support her body weight, leaning most of her body inside, scraping the bottom of the vessel hard with her fingers.
She raised her hand, borrowing the faint light coming from outside the hidden door, carefully examining the layer of substance remaining on her fingertip.
That was a layer of…
Grayish-white oily film.
Rubbing it with her fingers, it was greasy and very disgusting.
She frowned, lowered her head, and sniffed.
Sweet, cloying, foul… and familiar.
Orange Candy froze. A strange shiver rose from behind her spine, like a cold poisonous snake crawling up her skin.
She hadn’t experienced few instances.
But even so, the [Changsheng Building] instance was still the type that was hard to forget.
She naturally remembered the lamp oil that was part of the core rules in that instance—grayish-white, greasy, emitting a disgusting sweet smell.
Exactly the same as the corpse oil at the bottom of this brass incinerator.
Clearly…
Both were refined from the bodies of tortured children.
