WTNL Chapter 11

Decai Middle School
Chapter 11: Have you found my face?

After leaping onto the bottom of the leaderboard, the number of online viewers in the live broadcast room increased rapidly.

[Ding! The number of online viewers in the live broadcast room has exceeded 6,000.]

[Ding! The number of online viewers in the live broadcast room has exceeded 8,000.]

[Congratulations to the streamer for unlocking the achievement: “I am the most dazzling kid in this instance”.
Wow, your distinctive streaming style and unique charisma have shone brilliantly in the live broadcast room! You have successfully captured the attention of a massive wave of viewers and leaped to become the viewership champion of this instance!
Please continue to burn your life, forge valiantly ahead, and create a higher-quality streaming experience for your audience!]

Wen Jianyan got a bit of a headache from the racket.

He turned his head to check his watch.

With just over ten minutes until midnight, the time for the new round of points settlement was approaching soon.

Thinking about how this popularity would soon be converted into points, the chime of notifications didn’t seem quite so annoying anymore.

Su Cheng stepped forward from behind, his gaze falling onto the canvas, momentarily startled: “Th-this is…?”

Wen Jianyan immediately snapped out of it, instantly slipping into character.

“Xu Yuan.”

He paused, his voice slightly deep, carrying a barely perceptible hoarseness: “…My sister.”

Su Cheng pursed his lips, a look of sympathy showing on his face, and he involuntarily fell silent for a moment.

Wen Jianyan seized the opportunity while the other party was still immersed in the faux emotion he had manufactured and hadn’t yet thought to question everything that had happened earlier. Stepping forward, he swiftly peeled the human skin painting from the drawing board, rolled it up, stored it away, and issued a crisp instruction:

“Let’s go.”

Su Cheng: “Eh… eh?”

Wen Jianyan’s tone was calm, but his speech was slightly hurried: “We shouldn’t linger here.”

That was indeed true.

Su Cheng nodded, hurriedly quickening his pace and bewilderingly following Wen Jianyan out of the room.

“Wh-where are we going next?”

Su Cheng jogged a few steps to keep abreast of Wen Jianyan, asking in a lowered voice.

“Back to the dormitory building,” Wen Jianyan answered.

Su Cheng was startled: “The dormitory building?”

Although Wen Jianyan still maintained an unruffled demeanor, his inner mood was utterly grim.

Honestly, no one in this world wanted to return to the dormitory building less than he did.

After all, the old witch’s aggro was still firmly focused on him; going back now was practically walking into the lion’s den.

However, to return the face to Xu Yuan, he had no other choice.

Wen Jianyan let out a long sigh inwardly, bracing himself and nodding:

“That’s right…”

He put on a solemn, unfathomable expression, his brows furrowing slightly as he spoke ambiguously and vaguely: “There are still some things I need to confirm back there.”

Su Cheng nodded in half-comprehension: “…I-I see.”

For some reason, the other man’s deeply furrowed brow and self-assured demeanor made him subconsciously stop questioning, leaving him to obediently shut his mouth and follow along.

The bullet chat was flooded with merciless “hahahahahas.”

[Confetti! The leader of the Scammer Victims Alliance is born! He’s truly being played like a fiddle, hahahahahahahahaha.]

[Damn, feeling pity for the rookie streamer opposite him once again.]

Some viewers scoffed at this:

[Come on, stop feeling pity. Are this streamer’s lies really that hard to see through? Idiots don’t deserve sympathy.]

[Could the person above not expose your ignorance so completely? Under those circumstances inside an instance, could you distinguish those subtle loopholes while running for your life? Don’t make me laugh.]

[Exactly, who can’t talk big with God’s perspective? If you’re so good, you do it.]

[No, no, no, that’s secondary. The main thing is that the streamer plays psychological tactics so slickly… First subtly establishing authority, then acting mysterious to obscure the truth, practically nipping suspicion in the bud at its root. Basically, after this combo of moves, anyone would get led by the nose.]

Having the experience from going upstairs, the two evaded the encirclement of the dark shadows and successfully left the teaching building.

They retraced their steps and soon returned to the foot of the dormitory building.

The main doors of the dormitory building stood wide open, everything blurred in murky shadows. The surroundings were dead silent, not making a sound, as if one could hear the hollow wail of the cold wind drifting through the doorway.

The air was permeated with a heavy stench of blood; the strong metallic rust smell was almost nauseating.

Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity on each other’s faces.

The two lightened their footsteps and cautiously stepped into the building.

After lights out, the lobby was empty and as silent as a tomb.

A dim little lamp burned in the stairwell, illuminating stairs dyed red with fresh blood. The drag marks looked shocking under the light; within the un-dried pools of blood, fragments of internal organs and scratched fingernail marks were faintly visible, making one imagine what a gruesome massacre had taken place here.

Wen Jianyan’s expression was grave.

He turned his body slightly sideways to avoid the large amounts of blood spatter on the walls, ascending the stairs step by step.

Su Cheng followed behind him, his gaze slowly sweeping over those cruel traces, chills running down his spine involuntarily.

He lowered his voice and asked:

“Wh-what on earth happened here?”

Wen Jianyan shook his head: “I don’t know.”

He furrowed his brows tightly: “However, judging from these traces, it’s very likely someone has already met with misfortune.”

The young man paused his steps, slightly lowering his head to look back:

“Remember that room I pulled you into?”

The dim light fell from above, plating his handsome, chiseled features with a golden rim. At the boundary between shadow and light, he looked so deeply troubled and upright.

Su Cheng was dazed for an instant, only nodding after a brief blank.

Wen Jianyan: “My phone is hidden there.”

He paused, letting out a heavy sigh: “With things having escalated to this point, there’s no way I can just sit by and do nothing. I have to request backup.”

Su Cheng was taken aback: “Then what about your sister…”

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth slightly:

“…We can’t let any more innocent people lose their lives.”

It took Su Cheng a second to react before he was filled with profound reverence.

The other party had concealed his identity and sneaked in against orders. If he contacted his superiors for backup, his unauthorized operation would be exposed.

So… to save lives, he was giving up the chance to find his sister!

How touching!

A sea of “[…]” drifted across the bullet chat.

[Ptui!]

[…Find his sister my ass; contact superiors, my ass! This guy just finally found a legit excuse to go back to the dorm!]

[A dog scammer playing with an innocent streamer’s feelings! [Tipped 50 points]]

[Shameless! [Tipped 50 points]]

[…If the ones above weren’t tipping while cursing, your righteous indignation would be a little more credible.]

After effortlessly duping Su Cheng into trusting him once again, a faint smile brushed past Wen Jianyan’s lips. He withdrew his gaze, turned around, and continued up the stairs.

The psychological pressure of passing through the stairwell this time was much greater than when they had left.

The floor was slick, messy footprints covering the still-damp bloodstains. The thick stench of iron rust lingered in the air, growing increasingly pungent the higher they climbed.

Even Wen Jianyan, who had memorized the entire dorm building map by heart, mustered 120% of his vigilance, moving forward with utmost caution.

Fortunately, however, from the first to the third floor, they didn’t encounter any danger along the way.

There wasn’t a shadow of the old witch Wen Jianyan was most terrified of running into.

Before long, the two arrived safely on the third floor.

Compared to when they had left, the third floor had become even more eerie and deathly quiet. Some dorm doors hung crookedly ajar, long drag marks marring the floor. Some dorm doors remained shut, but blood was splattered across the windows in a gruesome fashion, indicating that something just as terrifying as in the hallway had occurred inside.

Looking at those silent dorm rooms one by one, along with the dread in his heart, Su Cheng felt a tiny sliver of relief.

It seemed his earlier choice to leave the dorm and explore the school was the right one.

Evidently, hiding in the dorm was no safer than venturing out to complete the mission.

He just wondered how many streamers were still alive in this instance right now.

Wen Jianyan walked straight toward his room.

The dorm door was shut tight, pitch-black inside, quiet as a tomb.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, placed his hand on the doorknob, and slowly pulled the door open.

Just as he stepped into the room, as if governed by some invisible force, the dorm door slammed shut with a violent “bang!”

The deafening crash echoed through the empty corridor, sending a tremor through one’s heart.

Su Cheng was startled out of his wits. He hurriedly stepped forward, clutching the doorknob and rattling it forcefully: “Brother Xiao Wen, what happened?”

Through the thin door panel, the young man’s slightly muffled voice came through:

“The lock got jammed; wait a second.”

The instant he heard the other’s voice, Su Cheng breathed an involuntary sigh of relief.

As a rookie streamer entering an instance for the first time, the sense of security the other person provided was simply too precious.

Without realizing when it began, he had started trusting this NPC more and more, even unconsciously taking him as his backbone.

“Do you need me to look for a key out here too?” Su Cheng asked.

“…Sure, thanks for your help.”

Wen Jianyan’s back was pressed against the door panel. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried his best to answer in the calmest possible voice.

His eyes were fixed tightly on a corner of the dorm room.

There, a female student wearing an old-fashioned school uniform stood in complete silence. She was facing Wen Jianyan, but her head was twisted 180 degrees backward, long black hair hanging across her chest, the entire figure looking bizarre and terrifying.

Wen Jianyan heard the blood pounding against his eardrums; his head was slightly dizzy from the excessive pressure.

Although this was not the first time he had experienced something like this, his instinctual physiological reaction when facing terror hadn’t lessened in the slightest.

The female student with her head turned backward slowly raised her hand and opened her palm, seemingly demanding something from him.

“Did you find my face?”

Calm down.

The purpose of coming back here was precisely for this.

Wen Jianyan admonished himself inwardly.

He took a deep breath and said:

“Yes.”

As he walked forward, he reached into his jacket pocket, his fingertips brushing against the folded human skin painting.

“Give it back to me.”

The female student took a slow step forward, a touch of abnormal urgency in her voice.

Her head was still twisted 180 degrees backward. Wen Jianyan couldn’t see her expression, only the pitch-black long hair swaying across her chest with her movements.

…Wait.

Across her chest?

Wen Jianyan froze.

In his mind, a thought flashed like lightning, instantly tearing through the pitch-black sky and illuminating everything with vivid clarity.

In that human skin painting, Xu Yuan’s hair… clearly only reached her shoulders.

An oversight of the instance? Or…

He drew his fingers out of his pocket bit by bit, warily taking a half step back and narrowing his eyes:

“Are you… Xu Yuan.”

“Give it back to me!!”

The female student before him turned even more frenzied, her voice instantly shrieking like nails screeching across glass at high frequency, its hysteria practically puncturing one’s eardrums.

“…Or do you wish to become Xu Yuan?”

Wen Jianyan quieted his breathing, staring unblinkingly at her as he slowly finished the rest of the sentence.

The entity suddenly halted its movements.

The air seemed to stagnate in an instant, pressing down heavily. Breathing became arduous and labored; inhaling the icy, sinister air into his lungs caused his body temperature to drop along with it.

The female student slowly lowered her hand.

“Clack… clack…”

The sound of cervical vertebrae twisting click by click rang out as her head slowly turned toward the front.

Under extreme pressure, Wen Jianyan could feel his fingertips trembling faintly. Holding his breath, he forced his gaze to lock onto the other’s face.

A pale, ghastly face turned around.

It was a face completely dissimilar to the person in the painting.

She stared unblinkingly at the young man with pitch-black eyeballs, the corners of her mouth curving high into a terrifying, horrific grin.

Her face bore a thirty percent resemblance to the face Wen Jianyan had seen beneath the bed, but with far richer details.

To be precise… that mask-like face of the female ghost was like a clumsy, crude replica.

And the authentic original of that terrifying visage was standing right in front of Wen Jianyan now.

“Clack, clack, clack—”

A sharp metallic scraping sound echoed through the cramped dorm room, monotonous and bone-chilling.

A utility knife was slowly pushed out from its plastic casing, glinting coldly in the dim room, its icy surface reflecting that increasingly distinct, sinister smiling face.

“Hehe, heh.”

Her head tilted as if snapped, neurotic laughter spilling from her throat as she stepped toward Wen Jianyan one pace at a time.

Wen Jianyan backed away step by step, cold sweat seeping from his temples.

His fingers hung by his side, already tightly clutching the life-saving item he had pulled from his backpack—the Concealment Robe, which could grant one minute where he couldn’t be found.

From earlier on, he had already devised an escape route.

However, the duration provided by the Concealment Robe was simply too short; opening the door and fleeing for his life in such a brief window was still exceptionally difficult, so Wen Jianyan had to hold out until the absolute last second before using it.

Right at that moment—

“Meow.”

A faint cat meow sounded in his ear.

Wen Jianyan froze.

…Little Orange?

The next second, all light vanished. A bloody mass leapt from the darkness at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, pouncing straight at the female ghost’s face—

“Ahhhhhhhhh—”

A shrill, agonizing shriek tore through the air.

Taking advantage of this opening, Wen Jianyan seized the chance, whirling around and throwing himself at the dorm door!

The door that had just been firmly shut seemed to have lost its resistance, swinging open with ease.

Su Cheng, squatting at the doorway, looked up in astonishment, coming face to face with Wen Jianyan rushing out from inside.

No longer caring about his aloof and upright persona, Wen Jianyan reached out, grabbed Su Cheng by the collar, and hauled him up in one yank:

“Run!”

Su Cheng stumbled, pulled along in a daze as they bolted.

Between ragged breaths, he heard the “click-click” sound of a utility knife blade being extended behind them.

The sound drew closer and closer, as if something was in hot pursuit.

Su Cheng broke out in goosebumps all over, not daring to look back, only able to match Wen Jianyan’s top speed, yelling in a breakdown as he ran: “Where are we running to?!”

Wen Jianyan yelled back in an equal breakdown: “Downstairs!”

He didn’t want to spend another second in this godforsaken place!!!

However, the two had barely reached the stairwell, before they could head down, when an all-too-familiar humming drifted up from the lower floor.

The light at the top of the stairwell flickered dimly. Accompanied by heavy footsteps, that sinister, intermittent humming grew closer and closer—

Fuck!

It was the old witch!

As the focal point of her aggro, Wen Jianyan’s hair stood on end. He screamed in a voice that had cracked out of pitch:

“Go, go, go! Upstairs!”

Pincer-attacked by the utility knife behind and the humming below, Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng stumbled and scrambled toward the fourth floor of the dormitory.

A blood-red number “4” was stamped on the mottled wall, illuminated by the flickering light.

Not far ahead, the stairs extended into the darkness.

In a flash of lightning, several fragmented memories flashed through Wen Jianyan’s mind.

In the restroom.

“There’s a mirror in Room 408 of the dorm building. As long as you find it, it can grant you a wish.”

“Does our fourth floor even have a 408?”

“Supposedly there is, but 408 was later sealed with cement. You have to look for it after midnight to find it, and once you open the door…”

At dusk.

The old woman opened those cloudy eyes, her bark-like, wrinkled face twitching slightly, speaking in an extremely low voice:

—”Stay away from the fourth floor of the dormitory.”

__

Author’s Note:

Wen Jianyan: …I feel like this trash instance is targeting me, and I have evidence.

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