WTNL Chapter 14.2

Decai Middle School
Chapter 14.2: This dog scammer is here again!

The moment the item reached his hand, the system notification sound rang in his ears: 

[Congratulations to the streamer for obtaining a hidden item (Normal) in the instance!]
[Collection Progress: 2/3]

Hearing the notification in his ears, Wen Jianyan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

He raised his eyes in amazement, his voice carrying a hint of undisguised excitement: “If that’s the case, we are now only missing the last one! Maybe… maybe we really can succeed!”

Just then, a dull sound of a clock striking came from downstairs.

Dong!—

The lingering resonance of the bell trembled slightly in the air. 1:00 AM had arrived.

In that instant, the several people on the fourth floor shivered at the same time.

A chillingly cold feeling crawled up their spines like a snake. The temperature around them dropped instantly, and a bizarre sense of crisis washed over them, making everyone’s heart run cold.

Creak—

The hoarse sound of a door opening came from deep within the corridor, breaking the silence without any warning.

Everyone was startled and instinctively looked towards the direction of the sound.

Illuminated by the flashlight’s swaying beam, the distant scene was faintly visible.

At the end of the corridor, a door was wide open. Inside was pitch black, not letting in a single sliver of light, like a bottomless abyss. It seemed to be waiting for something.

Thinking of his previous experience inside 408, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel a chill. However, as a professional scammer, no matter how intensely his mind raced, his face didn’t reveal the slightest clue.

“The third thing should be inside.” Wen Jianyan broke the silence first, lying without changing his expression.

“…Mm.” Kong Shixing snapped back to reality, his facial expression also becoming grave.

“You guys wait for me at the door. I’ll go in first to scout the path; I should be back very soon.” Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and took a step forward.

Then, he seemed to think of something and turned back to look at Kong Shixing behind him: “Oh right, returning this to you.”

Wen Jianyan retied the cloth bundle, taking back his pamphlet with one hand while handing the cloth bundle back to Kong Shixing with the other. Following that, he took out the bundle containing the molar and hair from his pocket and pressed it squarely into the other party’s palm: “And this too.”

Kong Shixing was stunned: “This is…?”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the young man solemnly place that folded piece of paper into his hand as the final item.

“…” Kong Shixing widened his eyes.

Wen Jianyan: “Keeping these things on me is extremely unsafe. If… I can’t come back, you guys find another way. No matter what, you must stop the tragedy. I don’t want to see any more people get hurt.”

Su Cheng couldn’t help but step forward: “Wait—”

Wen Jianyan sternly stopped the other party: “Don’t follow me.”

Su Cheng was frightened by the other’s suddenly severe expression and subconsciously stopped his steps.

Wen Jianyan frowned and said: “Although nothing happened the first time you went in, no one knows if it will be the same this time. For your own safety, don’t follow me, understand?”

Su Cheng was stunned and subconsciously stopped his steps.

Wen Jianyan turned his head to look at Kong Shixing: “The paper has the specific method for conducting the ritual; you shouldn’t need me to teach you what to do, right?”

He issued orders with a natural attitude, as if he were inherently the controller of the entire situation, naturally possessing the absolute right to speak.

Kong Shixing nodded involuntarily.

In the flashlight’s slightly trembling beam, the young man’s features were handsome, his face calm, and the corners of his lips curled up faintly, as if he had already understood the predetermined ending.

“Then… I leave what happens next to you.” This sentence sounded like a last testament.

After saying this, Wen Jianyan turned around and walked towards the darkness without looking back.

Illuminated by the flashlight’s beam, his back looked exceptionally tall. In the midst of the pitch-black chaos, he seemed to be glowing. His footsteps gradually faded away.

Ultimately, the young man’s tall and slender back was swallowed by the darkness.

Kong Shixing was also shocked by this selflessly devoted NPC.

He stared into the dark depths of the corridor not far away, taking a long time to recover his senses. However, as a veteran streamer, he quickly regained his composure.

Regardless, the current situation far exceeded Kong Shixing’s expectations and could simply be considered an unexpected delight.

The Hard-level hidden item, the method to achieve a Platinum achievement—everything he wanted was already in his hands. It was practically effortless. Not to mention, there was now a foolish NPC voluntarily acting as cannon fodder to scout the path for them. Whether he could make it out of 408 alive or not, it would be no loss to them whatsoever.

It was too perfect; it was practically making him float on air.

“You did very well.” Kong Shixing had an unrestrainable, joyful smile on his face. He was in a great mood, raising his hand to pat the crestfallen Su Cheng on the shoulder: “If it weren’t for you, we probably wouldn’t have gone this smoothly—”

But before Kong Shixing could finish his sentence, he saw Su Cheng dodge to the side, avoiding his touch.

“…This isn’t right.” Su Cheng pressed his lips tightly together, speaking somewhat in a daze.

Kong Shixing: “…What?”

Su Cheng: “I said, this isn’t right.”

Kong Shixing’s expression darkened: “What nonsense are you talking about?”

The other streamer also scoffed. “You newbies are all like this, overflowing with sympathy, unable to distinguish what’s important. That is an NPC, understand? No matter how much intelligence it has, it’s still an NPC.” Kong Shixing said impatiently.

Su Cheng: “But—”

Kong Shixing’s expression slowly turned cold, looking weary: “How boring. I thought you had potential, but I didn’t expect you to be this stupid and cowardly.”

He gave a cold scoff: “Since that’s the case, stop wasting my time.”

Kong Shixing actually never intended from the very beginning to let this obviously somewhat foolish newbie join his team. All that talk about acting together, or recommending him to the guild after the instance ended, were all just methods he used to make the other party obey him. He was not prepared to inject this kind of weak-kneed newbie into his guild.

The previous trust and closeness were merely to make this newbie obediently coax information out of the NPC.

Now, the NPC was gone, the items were in hand, and this newbie had no more utility value.

What’s more, looking at his attitude now, if that NPC really could come out alive, letting him stay here would likely ruin things. It was time for him to get lost.

Kong Shixing raised his hand, a malicious smile curving his lips: “I’ll count to three; disappear from my sight.”

Su Cheng stared at him silently, seemingly not prepared to argue or beg.

A few seconds later, he took one last deep look at the wide-open door at the end of the corridor, turned around, and walked in the opposite direction.

Kong Shixing raised his eyebrows. He didn’t expect this newbie to be quite sensible.

He originally thought that, in this perilous situation, the guy would grovel, or even apologize and beg with snot and tears, pleading with him not to make him act alone.

Although it was a bit of a pity, this also saved him a lot of trouble.

Kong Shixing looked down at the items in his hands.

Feeling that heavy weight, a trace of excitement flashed deep in his eyes—his gains in this instance simply far exceeded his imagination. Countless surprises had hit him over the head one after another, almost making him dizzy.

If everything could proceed smoothly, he wouldn’t just become the first C-rank streamer in the history of the live broadcast rooms to trigger a Platinum achievement; he could also use this to vault straight up to B-rank!

His status within his guild would also definitely be elevated by a huge margin!

Kong Shixing took a deep breath, suppressing the trembling in his heart.

Just then, he suddenly thought of something and hurriedly turned on his live stream.

At some unknown point, the number of online viewers on it had already broken ten thousand, reaching the highest peak since he entered this instance!

Looking at his still-rising live broadcast data, Kong Shixing’s eyes were burning with passion, and he couldn’t help but raise a smug and satisfied smile.

Under the impact of victory and joy, he failed to notice that on the screen, only a sparse few barrage comments drifted by, and the content was mostly unrelated to the current situation, completely incongruous with such a massive number of online viewers.

“Such a crucial moment, I want to share it with everyone.” Unable to conceal the excitement in his voice, Kong Shixing slowly spoke.

However, to his slight surprise, after he said this sentence, the barrage comments actually became even fewer, and he didn’t receive any tips in the background… It was completely different from before.

Could it be that the viewers hadn’t understood it yet?

Kong Shixing cleared his throat and explained: “Everyone who has been in my live broadcast room knows that I previously only obtained the Normal-level hidden item, but now, the Hard-level hidden item is also in my hands—”

As he spoke, he untied that red cloth bundle, unfolding it for the screen to see.

The red fabric fell open, and something shiny and silver rolled out from within. It hit the ground with a “clink,” rolled along with a clatter, and slowly came to a stop right in front of Kong Shixing’s feet—

A coin.

“…” Kong Shixing froze in place, almost unable to believe his eyes.

What? H-how could this be?

The other streamer beside him noticed his anomaly and leaned in closer: “Brother Kong, what’s wrong?”

Kong Shixing didn’t answer, a look of shocked uncertainty appearing on his face.

His breathing was slightly unsteady as he hurriedly untied the other cloth bundle—This time, what was revealed inside was a perfectly wrapped piece of candy. The candy wrapper was sparkling, shimmering faintly in the dark, looking exceptionally absurd right now.

“…………” All color drained from Kong Shixing’s face.

His previously smug and triumphant expression seemed to have been wiped completely clean in an instant.

Impossible.

Impossible, impossible, impossible!

His face twisted, almost to the point of looking hideous. His fingers trembled slightly under the extreme emotional fluctuation as he roughly tore open the piece of paper left by the NPC.

The streamer who had leaned in was startled by the other party, looking somewhat panicked at Kong Shixing’s terrifying expression: “What exactly happened? Brother Kong, don’t scare me…”

But at this moment, Kong Shixing could no longer hear anything.

His pupils constricted, his teeth grinding together with a clicking sound. He stared fixedly at the piece of paper in his hands. His fingers clamped shut in a spasm, crumpling the paper with a rustling sound—

The handwriting on the paper was scrawled but spirited, slightly slanted.

Green onions, cabbage, garlic, pork, chili peppers.
Remember to buy toothpaste and laundry detergent.

At the stairwell on the third floor.

The air rippled slightly for a moment, and the young man’s slender figure appeared out of thin air.

[Cloak of Concealment has expired.]

The system’s flat notification sound rang in his ears.

Wen Jianyan stretched his back. The uprighteousness and hot-bloodedness he had feigned earlier were already long gone.

His eyes were half-narrowed, his long eyelashes lowered, obscuring his harmless light-colored eyes. The corners of his lips carried a slight curve, not sharp, but rather appearing loose, flirtatious, and cynical.

Not bad.

Went quite smoothly.

Ever since he coaxed the operational mechanics of the fourth floor out of that streamer’s mouth, Wen Jianyan had started planning everything.

Even when talking with Su Cheng, he was still methodically calculating the passage of time in his mind.

Throughout the entire process, Wen Jianyan skillfully grasped the pace of the conversation, controlling the speed of the entire dialogue, all just for that final moment—

1:00 AM.

When the bell rang, the instant everyone’s attention was drawn, Wen Jianyan expertly used the knickknacks in his pocket to swap the items in the red cloth.

He was already incredibly familiar with this trick of bait-and-switch. He could operate it expertly even with his eyes closed; that tiny injury on his hand couldn’t affect it at all.

And the final step was the most crucial.

Whether he could scam the items into his hands was secondary; being able to retreat in one piece after the scam was the main point.

From the very beginning, Wen Jianyan was not prepared to go back to 408.

That room was simply too dangerous. The mirror was a minor issue, but the sense of threat that phantom in the mirror gave him was far too heavy. Wen Jianyan truly didn’t want to see him again.

No matter what clues were inside, to Wen Jianyan, they weren’t as important as his own little life.

Risking his life to charge into the most dangerous place, just to get more points, more items, and unlock more exploration progress?

Too funny.

Wen Jianyan would not do this kind of loss-making business.

Therefore, he shouted to stop Su Cheng—because Su Cheng was holding the flashlight in his hand.

The light source swayed due to its holder’s unstable emotional state, unable to fully illuminate the end of the corridor. Utilizing this visual blind spot, Wen Jianyan then deliberately created clear footsteps that gradually faded away.

However, right before taking the step into 408, he activated the item he had purchased in the system shop:

Cloak of Concealment.

The information that streamer gave shouldn’t have been adulterated.

Wen Jianyan was considered an expert in this area and could tell at a glance if the other party was lying.

If that was the case, then he should have been perfectly able to leave right at twelve o’clock, but he had to enter 408 because of the ghost wall.

If the system shop’s description wasn’t watered down, then his aura should be able to disappear completely, even if that mirror wanted to repeat its old trick, breaking the rules of going downstairs and using the ghost wall to drag him back to the fourth floor.

Obviously, this trick worked.

While everyone thought Wen Jianyan had stepped into 408, he himself, aided by the invisibility effect brought by the item, had soundlessly bypassed everyone and dashed downstairs at top speed.

—A perfect slip away.

The corners of the young man’s lips curled up slightly. He tossed up the scammed item and caught it again, whistling in an excellent mood. He looked somewhat innocently mischievous, incongruous with his age.

The topic in live broadcast room 789326qwk unconsciously shifted.

The spamming content changed from “Streamer is awesome!!” to “Wife is so beautiful!!!”

[Dog scammer, quickly rein in your nowhere-to-release charm! Stop scamming money out of me! Tipped 100 points]

Wen Jianyan walked forward.

“Bzz, bzz…”

Just then, the lights overhead flickered twice, emitting an ear-piercing sound of electric current.

He was slightly taken aback and subconsciously stopped his steps.

Wen Jianyan cautiously looked around.

The corridor was completely empty, with no footsteps, nor any familiar humming—the streamers hadn’t caught up, and the old witch wasn’t nearby.

In his ears was a nihilistic dead silence, only able to hear his own even breathing.

But for some reason, Wen Jianyan just felt a chill slowly crawling up his spine.

“Bzz, bzz…”

The lights flickered bright and dim, flashing on and off, like some ominous omen.

The lights went dim. When they lit up again, a second person’s figure abruptly appeared in the previously empty corridor!

That person kept their head lowered, standing stiffly under the light.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t see his face clearly, but… he clearly remembered the clothes the other party was wearing right now.

This is… that streamer who was following beside Kong Shixing?

If it really was a streamer who had chased after him, Wen Jianyan wouldn’t be too worried even if he was caught red-handed. At worst, he would just bluff them once again.

However, the atmosphere around this person wasn’t quite right.

He didn’t know why, but from the very first time he saw this person, Wen Jianyan had felt somewhat hair-raising.

“Cheng Huaquan” slowly raised his head, revealing a deathly pale face.

The skin on his face was wrinkled and crumpled, and his facial features had shifted, looking blurry and twisted, appearing exceptionally terrifying under the dim light.

He was smiling.

Bzz, bzz.

The lights flickered.

The next second, that human face disappeared.

Only a mask like melted wax remained on the head, with simple facial features and bizarrely pitch-black eyes. The curve of its mouth continued to tilt upward, growing wider and wider, forming a terrifying and horrifying smiling face.

It was precisely that ghost who had locked eyes with him under the bed and had chased him running up three floors.

And also the “sister” in Wen Jianyan’s words.

As well as the owner of that face in his pocket.

Wen Jianyan: “…”

“You said your name is Xu Wen.”

Xu Yuan’s head turned, her neck emitting a grating, clicking friction sound. The smile on her mouth widened, and a pair of eyes stared fixedly at the young man before her. Dark malice was released from her body:

“Is my brother?”

Wen Jianyan: “……………………”

Help me.

__

Author’s Note:

Dog Scammer: Smile gradually disappears.

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