WTNL Chapter 5.2

Decai Middle School
Chapter 5.2

Immediately after, Wen Jianyan saw two health bars appear at the top of his vision.

One was Health Points, and the other was Sanity Points.

[If Health Points reach zero, the streamer dies, and the live broadcast ends.

If Sanity Points reaches zero, the streamer will become a part of the instance, and the live broadcast ends.]

[In order to bring a better viewing experience to the audience, please ensure the live broadcast remains smooth and do not disconnect!]

“…”

Motherfuckers, you guys are trying to squeeze every last drop of blood from the working class.

Wen Jianyan’s expression twisted slightly, and he sprinted forward with all his might.

The long hair behind him followed like a shadow, chasing closely.

In all fairness, Wen Jianyan’s physique wasn’t bad, his physical stamina could even be considered good.

After all, having a well-proportioned, good appearance was a basic professional requirement.

Wen Jianyan could be considered looking slim in clothes but having muscles when stripped. In short, sprinting wildly in the corridor for ten minutes without being caught up to wasn’t a problem.

But Wen Jianyan always felt that this so-called chase battle wasn’t that simple.

“Hehe.”

A girl’s naive giggling sounded from all directions, momentarily making it impossible to distinguish where it came from:

“Not following the rules, little kid, you’ll be punished.”

“Drip, drop. Drip, drop—”

Under the dim lighting, scarlet, viscous liquid slowly dripped down, smashing onto the floor. The sound of water droplets hitting the ground echoed in the empty corridor.

Wen Jianyan sharply noticed that the small patch of floor where the blood droplets fell began to slowly change.

The cold, hard floor became pitch-black and soft, as if living creatures were writhing beneath the ground.

“!”

Wen Jianyan abruptly jumped to the side, thrillingly dodging the strands of hair attacking him from beneath the floor.

“Drip, drop.”

A drop of fresh blood fell, smashing onto his shoulder.

Wen Jianyan felt the right half of his body instantly go cold. A hair-raising sensation crept up, and in his terror, he seemed to faintly see a ghastly pale little face tightly pressed against his right shoulder. Its pitch-black eyes without whites were open wide, grinning and looking at him.

“Fuck!”

His scalp went numb, and he subconsciously stopped his footsteps.

However, before Wen Jianyan could take a closer look, that ghastly pale face disappeared in the next second, leaving only a small pitted hole corroded on the clothes of his right shoulder.

Wen Jianyan retracted his gaze and found that a chunk of the health bar labeled Sanity Points above his head had been bitten off.

“…”

Good heavens, so this is what Sanity Points mean.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the pitch-black long hair in the corridor behind him had already caught up, inching over the floor bit by bit, like little hands reaching over trying to catch him.

“Hehe.”

Ghastly pale limbs turned the corner.

“Little red comb, combing and facing the mirror. Comb it through once, smart and beautiful. Comb it through twice; happiness is not far away…”

Babbling, intermittent nursery rhymes came from the hair. The naive voice echoing in the empty corridor was simply hair-raising.

The corridor lights flickered, faintly illuminating the bizarre limbs twisting and crawling amidst the hair.

Wen Jianyan’s hair stood on end, and he turned his head and sprinted wildly.

This time, he didn’t just blindly charge forward, but added a bit more caution and care. Along the way, he agilely dodged the blood dripping from the ceiling and the long hair curling towards him from beneath the floor.

The further forward he went, the faster the blood dripped, and dodging became more difficult.

Finally, under Wen Jianyan’s wild sprinting all the way, the stairwell was finally right before his eyes.

A blood-red number was printed on the wall: 2

One side of the stairs went up, the other went down. Both ends disappeared into the darkness, like some kind of ominous omen.

Without hesitation, Wen Jianyan rushed upstairs.

However, before he had run a few steps, he suddenly stopped abruptly, coming to a dead halt in place.

The young man stood at the stairwell, turning his head to look at the pitch-black hair chasing from afar. Under the half-bright, half-dark light, a rare hint of hesitation revealed itself on his face.

Inside live broadcast room 789326qwk, they were chatting passionately.

[Come on, come on, place your bets, no taking them back! Is the streamer preparing to go upstairs or downstairs?]

[Definitely upstairs. You can’t get out of the dormitory building, and the area downstairs is so small you can’t run away at all. There are still six minutes left in the chase battle, if he goes downstairs now, he’s definitely dead.]

[Come on, you know he can’t get out of the dormitory building, but the streamer doesn’t know. I bet he will definitely go downstairs!]

[Betting requires putting yourself in his shoes, I also bet the streamer will go downstairs! Did you guys forget? The old woman in the cafeteria earlier gave the streamer the advice to ‘stay away from the fourth floor’. If I were him, it would be absolutely impossible for me to run upstairs!]

[That advice is actually correct, but in this hidden task, the path to survival is actually on the fourth floor. Tsk tsk, what a pity.]

[The person above, stop acting like you have prophetic foresight, okay? The two NPCs in the restroom earlier already gave a hint. The fourth floor was mentioned several times. Based on this streamer’s previous plays, I don’t believe he would miss such an obvious hint for passing the level!]

[The above user’s comments involve spoilers and are only open to viewers]

The strands of hair were getting closer and closer.

The expression on Wen Jianyan’s face became increasingly shaken, as if wavering between the two choices.

Finally, he seemed to have made up his mind.

The young man withdrew his steps, then twisted his body and dashed downstairs without looking back.

In the live broadcast room, some were happy and some were worried.

[Hahahahahaha I won! I told you he would definitely run downstairs! Most people would definitely want to just run away directly when encountering this kind of thing!]

[Aaaaaah I’m so mad! This streamer was so clever just now; why is he acting stupid at this critical juncture?]

[Ah this, so boring… I thought this streamer could last a bit longer, I didn’t expect him to be finished again this quickly.]

[Speechless to death, can I get a refund for the money I tipped earlier? @Live Broadcast Room Management Assistant]

Watching Wen Jianyan go downstairs and head straight for the exit, the barrage became even more impatient.

[What’s the use of heading for the exit now? Kite it around in the lobby! Although six minutes is a bit pushing the limit, it’s not impossible!]

[Why is the person upstairs so anxious, it’s just watching a live broadcast, why so emotionally invested? Anyway, worst case just switch to another live broadcast room to watch.]

[And to be honest, I’ve always wanted to see this streamer’s car overturn.]

[Right right right, watching newbie live broadcasts is just for the thrill, isn’t it? If I really wanted to see high-IQ big shots clear levels, wouldn’t it be better if I just staked out high-level streamers?]

Although that’s what was said, the number of people in the live broadcast room, which had been at its peak all along, began to show a downward trend, sliding from over two thousand to one thousand eight hundred.

Wen Jianyan quickened his pace, heading straight for the exit—

He rushed towards the duty room next to it.

This time, he didn’t prepare any lock-picking tools. Instead, he raised his long leg and delivered a fierce kick. With a “clang,” he kicked the door completely askew, and it smashed onto the floor with a “smack.”

[???]

[??? What does he want to do?]

[No? Is he addicted to running to the duty room? The situation this time is different from last time, why is he going to the duty room again?]

[Tsk tsk tsk, these low-level streamers are just like this. Every single one of them likes to drill into their own comfort zone. It’s just very stupid, really boring.]

Wen Jianyan charged in blindly, went straight to the wardrobe, and with astonishing proficiency pulled the cabinet door, opened the hidden compartment, and fiercely grabbed a handful of things from it.

He turned around.

At this moment, that tide-like hair had already surged to the front of the duty room. Pitch-black strands of hair climbed up the walls, crossed the threshold and the window, reaching out towards the prey it had been eyeing for a long time—

The lights in the lobby began to flicker under the influence of some eerie power.

Ghastly pale limbs twisted and deformed, crawling amidst the pile of hair.

Wen Jianyan slowly took a deep breath. His forehead and the back of his neck were covered in cold sweat. His fingers twitched slightly under extremely intense pressure, and his palms were damp and cold.

He steadied his trembling and began to hum a song:

“Little red comb, combing and facing the mirror. Comb it through once, smart and beautiful. Comb it through twice, happiness is not far away. Comb it through three times, harmonious and satisfied.”

The barrage, which was just mocking and constantly calling doom, was instantly shocked:

[Wait, this tune?]

[These lyrics?!]

[Did the person above lose their memory? Isn’t this what this boss was humming just now?]

[No no no, this boss never sang the last line!]

[!! I get it! Fuck! The tune that old witch hummed was always incomplete, and the one this boss is singing now is actually also incomplete, but now it’s been pieced together!]

Wen Jianyan slowly raised his hand and opened his palm.

In the center of his fair, slender palm lay a comb.

Just like the entire building, time on this comb seemed to have flowed backward as well. Although its color was dull, one could faintly see the bright red it once was, and even the broken comb teeth had become whole again.

The swimming hair stopped moving and became quiet.

Behind the young man, the forcefully yanked-open drawer was not closed.

Amidst the messily rummaged clutter lay a few yellowed photos.

Before the dust had time to settle, two figures, one large and one small, could be seen on them.

A tall woman stood in an amusement park, and next to her stood a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl. Her glossy black hair was tied into a large braid hanging over her shoulder. The two were pressed very close together. Their faces were blurred due to the passage of time, but the happy smiles on their faces could still be seen, frozen within that narrow photo.

A few words were written below with a fountain pen:

“Wishing Xiao Jie a happy birthday.”

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, and slowly took a step forward:

“Xiao Jie, Mom… Mom misses you so much…”

The barrage was dead silent.

[…]

[…]

[…? What the hell?]

__

Author’s note:

Must be a male mom! Must be a male mom!

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