WTNL Chapter 15.2

Decai Middle School
Chapter 15.2: As a real man, be a coward when you should!

Wen Jianyan interrupted him, speaking quickly.

He slightly narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the other party’s blurry outline in the darkness.

If the person who came were one of those veteran streamers, Wen Jianyan absolutely wouldn’t have made a move to snatch the flashlight. He would have directly turned and run. As for whether anyone would lose their life at Xu Yuan’s hands this time, that wasn’t a problem he could care about.

However, after discovering the person was Su Cheng, Wen Jianyan immediately changed his strategy.

A living comrade was much more useful than a dead one.

—However, he first had to know exactly how much the other party understood about what happened earlier.

Wen Jianyan released the hand pressing Su Cheng:

“What about the other students? Why did you separate from them?”

Contrary to his coldly calculating expression, his voice was full of warmth, seemingly genuinely caring about the other party and his companions.

“I left on my own initiative after you entered 408.”

Su Cheng sniffled, looking at the other party in the darkness. His voice carried a rare solemnity and calmness: “Brother Xiao Wen, I have to confess something to you.”

“I am not a student. Those people we met on the fourth floor earlier aren’t students either. We all came here with the same purpose. They had bad intentions. The reason they acted together with you just now was to use you to get some things, tricking you into a dangerous place to scout the path.”

He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and poured out the words he had held in his heart for a long time all at once:

“And… actually, I’m just like them; our motives aren’t pure.”

The space in front of him was quiet.

Su Cheng looked into the darkness, waiting anxiously.

After a long time, he heard a soft sigh from the opposite side: “You shouldn’t say that.”

The young man’s voice sounded exceptionally gentle in the darkness:

“After all, didn’t I start acting together with you at the beginning because I hoped to get your help?”

Su Cheng’s nose stung.

He didn’t expect the other party to actually use this method to comfort him…

Ah! What a good person!!

[…Fuck.]

[…………Fuck.]

[…I bet you didn’t expect this, but the streamer actually wasn’t lying this time.]

[But he’s still being treated as a good person hahahahahaha!]

[Wake up! The one with truly bad intentions is this person right in front of you!]

[Hahahahahaha, those streamers over there who tried to screw over this scammer have already been slaughtered; you’re worrying about the wrong person, silly child hahahahahaha!]

After being pulled up by Wen Jianyan’s extended hand, Su Cheng asked: “Brother Xiao Wen, what about you next? What’s the plan?”

“…”

If this question had appeared ten minutes ago, Wen Jianyan would have absolutely unhesitatingly chosen to slack off and wait for time to pass.

However, thinking of the glaring [0] currently in his account, Wen Jianyan could only forcefully swallow a mouthful of old blood. Enduring the toothache, he tried his best to answer with a calm voice:

“I know how to find my sister.”

—After all, he had just smashed the lightbulb, forcing his “sister” to be unable to reveal herself.

It was just that the situation now and a moment ago were completely reversed.

At that time, his account had enough points, so the mission to return the face to Xu Yuan was optional.

But now Wen Jianyan had to do it.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t survive the next few hours!

“What?!” Su Cheng was shocked and abruptly looked up at the young man before him: “Y-you found a clue?”

“Pretty much.”

Wen Jianyan paused and said, “However, this might require your help.”

He didn’t expect that even after he confessed, the other party would still be willing to cooperate.

Su Cheng, already feeling guilty, was now moved beyond words. He hurriedly nodded: “Okay, no problem.”

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, smiling silently in the darkness. His tone was sincere and earnest:

“Thank you so much.”

Third floor of the dormitory building.

There was not a single speck of light in the entire corridor, only a patch of bottomless, heavy darkness.

Wen Jianyan groped his way to the room where he had awakened based on memory.

He took a deep breath and forcefully pushed the door open.

A hoarse creaking sound rang out in the dead silence, sounding exceptionally eerie to the ears.

Wen Jianyan stood firmly at the door, his steps not moving forward. He used a calm and peaceful voice to say:

“Hey.”

His voice was like a stone dropped into an abyss. It didn’t stir up half a response, directly vanishing into the vast darkness.

No one answered.

The wide-open door was like a gaping black mouth, waiting to swallow the next figure that stepped inside.

Wen Jianyan wasn’t prepared to go any further inside this time:

“What, still waiting for me to go in?”

“…”

There was still a dead silence in his ears.

Wen Jianyan’s fingertips twitched, and the human skin portrait unfolded:

“Or is it… you don’t want this anymore?”

The young man’s voice was low and slow, his tone cadenced, as if singing an aria. It sounded extremely…

Punchable.

Before he could finish his sentence, a bizarre sound rang out from the pitch-black doorway in front of him—

“Clack clack, clack clack…”

Like the stifled friction sound produced when a neck turns, or like the scraping sound made when a utility knife is slowly pushed out.

Sharp, ear-piercing, and hair-raising to listen to.

Excellent.

Wen Jianyan slowly retreated two steps. Before that sound drew close, he abruptly turned around and lunged fiercely towards a direction in the darkness.

Rapid footsteps echoed in the corridor, corresponding to the rhythm of his beating heart.

Behind his head was the shadow-like clacking sound, relentlessly pursuing like a vengeful spirit.

Having lost the light source, he couldn’t see anything clearly before his eyes. Wen Jianyan could only rely on his memory to sprint in the dark.

Almost—he was almost there!

The floor beneath his feet creaked. Faintly seeing familiar blurry outlines not far away, Wen Jianyan shouted sternly:

“Now—!”

With a snap, a beam of light from the flashlight suddenly lit up, appearing exceptionally abrupt in the dark corridor.

Wen Jianyan’s slender figure nimbly dodged to the side, getting out of the way.

All around were several mirrors gathered from different dorm rooms. They leaned crookedly against the walls. The floor was scattered with countless glass shards, every single one reflecting the flashlight’s beam. For an instant, it was actually as bright as day.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh—”

An extremely sharp scream of agony rang out, mournful and ear-piercing, stabbing straight into the eardrums like a sharp awl!

Wen Jianyan raised his hand to block the light, his eyes, stinging from the brightness, narrowed slightly as he looked towards the direction of the sound.

That female student wearing the old school uniform was currently standing straight amidst the countless glass shards. She seemed to want to struggle but couldn’t move her steps. The bones in her body twisted into strange angles.

Every mirror fragment on the ground reflected her figure.

With a clatter, the utility knife in her hand fell to the floor.

The ghost’s arms slowly and unnaturally raised, her deadly pale, twisted fingers bending inwards little by little, tightly clutching her own neck.

The next second, a mournful scream resounded through the entire building.

Wen Jianyan subconsciously turned sideways, avoiding the suddenly blinding light.

The place where he woke up was the room belonging to Xu Yuan herself, as well as the roommate who tried to snatch her identity. That mirror, the first time it caused Xu Yuan to latch onto him, and the second time it forced him to passively accept the hidden item mission. In other words, there were two ghosts in that one room, but they never appeared at the same time.

Connecting this to the low aggressiveness shown by the imposter who issued the mission and the great danger level shown by Xu Yuan, although Wen Jianyan didn’t know the reason behind it, he still decided to take a gamble.

—Simply put, to divert the other party’s attention and aggro.

At least to avoid getting slaughtered immediately upon encountering her.

Soon, the bright light disappeared.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and looked up at the area not far away.

Amidst the glass shards all over the floor, a deadly pale figure gradually solidified.

Soaking wet, pitch-black hair, a stiff and bizarre mask-like smiling face, pure black, lightless eyeballs.

Xu Yuan.

She slowly took a step, walking in this direction. Her figure seemed somewhat unstable, the phantom constantly flickering and buzzing with light.

Wen Jianyan stood up and handed over the human skin portrait in his hand:

“I think this should be your belonging.”

Behind him, Su Cheng stared unblinkingly at the bizarre scene before him. The fingers gripping the flashlight trembled slightly, every nerve in his body taut to the extreme.

He remembered Wen Jianyan’s instruction just now.

The moment he noticed anything wrong, turn off the light immediately.

Xu Yuan slowly lowered her head, her gaze fixing on the portrait in Wen Jianyan’s hand.

That deadly pale mask seemed to crack open a seam. A trace of human emotion appeared on her face, but quickly vanished: “Do you think this is what I’ve been looking for all along?”

Her voice was rough and hoarse, carrying a distinct malice in its gloomy tone:

“—You guessed wrong.”

“No.”

Wen Jianyan shook his head, using a calm voice to say: “If your goal was to find your own face, you wouldn’t steal the identities of living people and lure more people up to the fourth floor.”

To be precise, the person desperate to get this “face” wasn’t the Xu Yuan standing before him, but the fake “Xu Yuan” who tried to steal Xu Yuan’s identity.

This mission to “return the face to Xu Yuan” was a trap in itself.

Wen Jianyan understood very well—desire is a weakness.

To achieve one’s goal through a transaction, the premise is to find the thing the other party desires most.

Then, what did Xu Yuan desire?

Wen Jianyan recalled the fragmented phrases he saw in that pamphlet, methodically organizing the chaotic clues together. A gradually concrete guess slowly surfaced in his mind.

He continued:

“I guess you must have also made a deal with the mirror, but the price was to lure more sacrifices to the mirror, right?”

Xu Yuan abruptly raised her head. That face became even more terrifying under the light, looking as if she was laughing wildly without making a sound, yet also seemingly letting out silent roars and wails.

“Don’t you want freedom?”

The young man gazed at her, his words earnest, his eyes sincere: “Don’t you want to be liberated from endless enslavement?”

He stepped forward, offering the human skin in his hand:

“I can help you.”

Time ticked by. The air felt heavy, as if saturated with moisture, pressing down so hard it was difficult to pass through.

After an unknown amount of time—

Wen Jianyan felt the weight in his hand lighten. The next second, Xu Yuan’s figure disappeared. She slowly returned to the mirror.

In the mirror, Wen Jianyan saw his own face reveal a bizarre smile at him:

“I’ll give you two hours.”

The next second, the figure in the mirror dissipated.

A mechanical voice rang in his ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the streamer for returning Xu Yuan’s face to its rightful owner. Reward points: 5000]

[Hidden Item (Epic) mission completed! Reward is being issued…]

[Current stage plot modification degree: 83%. Reward points: 20000]

“…”

Feeling somewhat drained, Wen Jianyan stumbled back two steps, his back leaning against the wall, and slowly slid down.

After relaxing, the physiological reactions brought on by the tension abruptly hit him. The young man’s lean and straight back was taut. His long arms trembled slightly as he supported himself against the wall and dry-heaved.

Su Cheng hurried over, nervously patting Wen Jianyan’s back:

“Brother Xiao Wen, y-are you okay?”

While he was anxious and worried, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded by his ear:

[Ding! Congratulations on assisting another streamer in triggering the ultimate mission of the hidden storyline in the Decai Middle School instance: ???]

[Completion time limit: Two hours]

[Note: Mission failure will result in the deduction of all survival time and points, and the streamer’s live broadcast room will be immediately closed.]

Su Cheng: ???

Wait?

What’s going on?

Another streamer?

Ultimate main storyline mission?

The amount of information in this system voice was simply too massive. Su Cheng’s brain was like an overloaded CPU, completely unable to process such complex information.

He understood every single word, but why was it so hard to comprehend when put together?

Su Cheng basically crashed, standing frozen in place, unable to recover his senses for a long time.

“Ah, then there’s no helping it.”

The young man beside him straightened up and looked over with a sideways glance.

Fine beads of sweat floated on his forehead. His face was pale and bloodless. His black hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his cheeks, making him look exceptionally weak and helpless.

The young man let out a soft sigh:

“Let us reintroduce ourselves.”

Long, soft eyelashes lifted. His amber eyes appeared exceptionally tender in the interplay of light and shadow. It was still the same handsome, pale face, but at this moment it carried an almost demonic beauty, looking dangerous and seductive in the darkness.

He extended a hand towards Su Cheng:

“Wen Jianyan, rookie streamer.”

Wen Jianyan blinked at him and said with a smiling face:

“Nice to meet you. Please take care of me.”

__

Author’s Note:

Dog Scammer, prepare to die!

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