WTNL Chapter 2.1

Decai Middle School
Chapter 2.1

[Hello, rookie streamer. Congratulations on starting your first live broadcast.]

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded.

The voice was mechanical and calm, sounding exceptionally abrupt in the empty dormitory.

[I will now explain the rules to you.]

[This instance is a standard time-limited instance with a duration of 10 hours.
(The current in-instance time is 7:00 PM, meaning you must survive until 5:00 AM tomorrow to clear it.)]

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He looked down at his identity card and fell into a momentary silence.

Good heavens.

10 hours versus 20 minutes, this gap…

Isn’t it a bit too large?

[The card in your hand is your identity card. The contents of the identity card will unlock as the plot progresses.]

[Your base survival time has already been issued. More time can be exchanged using points.]

The voice continued to broadcast in a tone devoid of any emotional fluctuation:

[Rules for acquiring streamer points:

1. Real-time settlement based on the number of viewers in the live broadcast room. (The next point settlement is in two hours.)
2. Completing live broadcast tasks.
3. Viewer tips.

More methods for acquiring points will unlock as you explore.]

After explaining the rules, the voice suddenly became impassioned:

[The audience is God; popularity is everything!
Please fight for your live broadcast room!]

“…”

Fight my ass!

The dormitory returned to silence.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and steadied his nerves.

Although the voice slightly eased his tension, he could still clearly hear his own rapid and irregular heartbeat. Even though he habitually kept his breathing steady, his lungs still screamed for more oxygen.

He subconsciously tightened his grip.

The sharp, hard edge of the identity card brought a distinct sting.

Wen Jianyan clearly realized that his life hung by a thread, having his remaining time so casually announced.

Twenty minutes.

And he was a very greedy person.

Especially when it came to “staying alive”.

According to the rules, Wen Jianyan had to acquire enough points within twenty minutes to sustain his life.

The method of settling based on the number of viewers in the live broadcast room was unreliable. After all, he wouldn’t even survive until the first settlement point.

That left the remaining two options…

Clearly, the viewers in the live broadcast room were also well aware of this.

The barrage became noticeably active:

[Oh yo, the streamer wants tips, right? If you want them, show a little sincerity.]

[Kowtow to us viewers first. If I’m in a good mood, I might throw a few dozen or a few hundred points your way.]

[By the way, this rookie streamer is really good-looking…]

As lines of text floated by, unconcealed malice and amusement leaked through, as if they were observing merchandise waiting for the highest bid, excitedly guessing and anticipating how to chew him up starting from the bones and swallow him down.

They had seen plenty of small streamers teetering on the edge of life and death like this.

The streamers watched helplessly as their survival time drew closer bit by bit, like a noose tightening around their neck. Their eyes shrank and trembled, their faces contorted under intense despair and fear.

In this situation, as long as there was a sliver of a chance to survive, they would grab onto it recklessly.

No matter how terrifying or excessive the viewers’ demands were, they would satisfy them without a bottom line.

Kneeling, kowtowing, self-harming, crying, begging for mercy.

Snot and tears flowing, ugly and pathetic.

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyelashes, casting a small patch of raven-black shadow on his fair face, adding a touch of fragility to his handsome features.

His face held no extraneous expression, his lips pressed in a shallow line. After quickly scanning up and down the live broadcast interface—

He accurately tapped the “Hide” button at the top.

“…”

The barrage in the live broadcast room stagnated for a moment.

In the dead silence, a single comment slowly drifted by:

[Wait, did I see that right? Did the streamer just hide his own barrage interface?]

Actually, most streamers would hide the barrage interface while clearing an instance.

However, if a streamer fell into a predicament or reached a life-and-death crisis where their time was about to run out, they would usually open the barrage.

After all…

Although the viewers in the live broadcast room couldn’t spoil upcoming plot points in the barrage, they could initiate tasks with point bounties, pointing the way for their favored streamer.

Even a whimsical tip of a gift was like sending charcoal in snowy weather for a streamer.

The audience is God; popularity is everything.

This rookie streamer, who was going to be finished in just over ten minutes, actually turned off the barrage interface directly in this situation?

Was there something wrong with his brain?

Or did this streamer actually think that in this situation, being aloof and proud still held value?

It was truly laughable.

Although the streamer couldn’t see it, the number of people in the live broadcast room had another slight uptick.

Now, there were over eighty viewers in the room, all waiting to watch a good show with schadenfreude.

After hiding the live broadcast interface, Wen Jianyan slowly took a deep breath.

Damp air mixed with the smell of dust and mold rushed into his nasal cavity.

Honestly, after seeing those comments in the live broadcast room, Wen Jianyan actually…

Felt nothing.

After all, this was how he made his living. Things like dignity, pride, morals, and integrity were completely not worth mentioning to him.

As long as it was to survive, there was nothing he wasn’t willing to do.

However, in the rules just now, Wen Jianyan accurately and explicitly caught a keyword.

Time.

The method to clear the instance was survival time, points were used to exchange for survival time, and the initial allocation was also survival time.

Time, time, time.

It could be said that time was the sole and absolute unit of measurement in this instance.

At the same time, it was also the thing he lacked most urgently right now.

—Spending these precious twenty minutes just to wag his tail and beg for pity from those pitifully few dozen viewers, praying for the possibility of a handout…

It was simply the most cost-ineffective transaction he could think of.

Furthermore, Wen Jianyan was all too familiar with what kind of reactions human nature would trigger in this situation.

He knew, and the viewers knew.

This bunch of gluttons were probably long sick of this kind of drama, and it was even less likely they would throw money around just for this. After all, judging from their previous comments, they didn’t seem like such kind existences.

And things freely delivered to the door were the most worthless.

Wen Jianyan understood this principle perfectly.

Then, only one last option remained.

Wen Jianyan’s gaze shifted downward, landing on the task bar in front of him.

Currently, only one live broadcast task had refreshed:

[Rookie Streamer, please explore the instance and unlock your identity card.]
[Completion progress: 0%]

Wen Jianyan looked around the room he was in.

Generally speaking, if one wanted to understand their current identity status, searching the dormitory was the simplest and most direct method.

But…

Wen Jianyan looked down at his identity card. The countdown on it only had 17 minutes left, and it was rapidly decreasing by the second.

He had too little time.

Since that was the case, he could only resort to a risky move.

Succeed or die trying!

How could you catch a big fish with zero risk?!

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, shoved his identity card into his pocket, and strode outwards.

The corridor was empty.

Old-fashioned ceiling lights hung crookedly from the ceiling, their dim, pale light swaying slightly, dividing the corridor into several half-bright, half-dark areas.

It was so quiet it made one’s heart palpitate.

Under one of the lights, a rust-mottled half of a map could be faintly seen stuck to the wall.

Wen Jianyan walked over quickly and stood in front of the map.

It was covered in dark, greasy handprints, and most of the patterns had peeled off, but some blurry text could still barely be made out.

He scanned it up and down extremely rapidly, then turned his head and jogged towards a certain direction.

In the shielded barrage area of the live broadcast room:

[???]

[What is the streamer trying to do?]

[He’s neither begging for tips nor searching the dorm room; could he have been scared out of his mind?]

[Who cares, there are fifteen minutes left. Hurry, hurry, hurry, I can’t wait!]

Although it was only a brief few seconds, Wen Jianyan had already firmly memorized the map.

He sprinted down the corridor relying on his memory.

Tightly shut dorm doors flashed past him one by one. The windows were all pitch black, like hollow eye sockets.

A livid, smiling face slowly emerged from one of the windows.

The eyeballs rolled, landing on the young man running past, the upward curve of its mouth stretching even wider—

“!”

Wen Jianyan abruptly halted his steps. Because his movement was too fierce, he almost stumbled and tripped himself.

His heart pounded wildly as he turned his head in shock towards the window he had just passed.

“…”

Ahhhh, fuck!

Apart from the swaying light, there was nothing in the window.

Through the shallow layer of dust, Wen Jianyan could faintly see the outline of his own face.

Whether it was an illusion or not…

This time, this face was much closer than last time.

As if it were inching closer to him bit by bit.

Wen Jianyan felt goosebumps crawl up his arms.

[Hahahahaha, it seems the time of death is getting closer and closer.]

[But, what’s up with this streamer? Seeing this situation, his expression didn’t even change, he just kept running forward…]

[In the past, streamers who got targeted in this instance would all scream when they saw the ghost get this close.]

[Could it be that he really wasn’t scared at all? That’s impossible, right?]

Wen Jianyan dashed downstairs at top speed.

Although the first floor was a lobby, it still appeared crooked and cramped. The walls and floor were all greasy, shrouded in a dim shadow.

Through the dusty windows, one could faintly see the boundless darkness outside.

The main doors were tightly shut, but not locked.

The young man’s pace did not slow down.

[What is this? I thought it was going to be a new streamer with potential; I was secretly looking forward to it…]

[Is his first reaction really to run? How boring.]

[There’s no suspense left; I’m out.]

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