WTNL Chapter 51

Antai Community
Chapter 51: Unilateral stalking

[3, 2, 1]

The countdown in his ear reached zero.

The white infant nestled in Wen Jianyan’s arms yawned widely, its matching white eyelashes slowly drooping to cover its snow-white pupils.

The Holy Infant fell back to sleep.

Its figure slowly turned into light-colored specks of light, dissipating into the air little by little.

[Identity of Mother of the World has reached its time limit.]

A strong smell of blood surged in the air, sweet, fishy, and putrid, almost making one want to vomit.

The scarlet walls looked like countless flesh tumors crowded together, their wet surfaces pulsing like some kind of living creature.

One corner of the wall sank deeply, revealing a dark iron door.

The young man stood straight near the door.

Most of the clothes on his upper body had been corroded away, leaving only some tattered rags hanging on his fair, firm body. The wounds that had corroded onto his skin presented a gradually deepening pale red color, like smeared rouge, covering his beautiful muscles in varying shades.

His arms hung by his sides. On the skin originally covered by bandages, talisman-like black lines bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they stretched and spread.

Unknowingly, the eerie patterns had already spread from his wrist, extending upwards along his slender forearm.

Ghastly pale arms reached out from the seven black jars, stretched out like noodles, but it was as if the pause button had been pressed—they stopped abruptly less than a meter away from Wen Jianyan.

Since Wen Jianyan’s words fell, the air was left with only deadly silence.

They didn’t move, nor did they launch an attack, as if they were quietly thinking and pondering.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[??? What’s the situation?!]

[What Father God and Mother of the World, help! Why can’t I understand this anymore!]

[A ten-year veteran viewer comes uninvited, pointing the way to the streamer’s last instance and the one before that. You’ll understand after watching.]

[I command everyone who hasn’t seen the VODs to go watch immediately! You won’t lose out, you won’t be fooled! I fell straight down the rabbit hole during the last instance, watching it is a net gain (screaming)]

[Ahhhhhhh although the situation is so urgent, I still want to say… pant pant so sexy it’s driving me crazy! [Tipped 100 points]]

[Tentacles and tattoos, help help! (Gibberish) [Tipped 100 points]]

[Please, more monsters that force the streamer to take off his clothes, motto motto!!]

The young man raised his eyes, lightly looking at the ghastly pale ghost hands right in front of him.

Without changing his expression, he spouted nonsense, “According to seniority, you guys even have to call me mother.”

After a long silence, that voice rang out again.

The articulation was stuttering and unskillful. The cloudy, hoarse voice echoed in the narrow space, sounding extremely confused and bewildered.

“Mo…”

“Ther…?”

Wen Jianyan climbed right up the pole handed to him and replied with a beaming smile:

“Good boy.”

A wave of “…” floated across the “Integrity First” live broadcast room.

[Fuck, dog scammer, you are so shameless!]

[Shameless!]

[May I ask where I can file a complaint? There is a shameless human deceiving ignorant malicious ghosts here!]

[Hahahahahahahaha dying of laughter. I’m so looking forward to that Father God appearing again!]

[Hahahahahahahaha Boss: When did I get a wife?]

[…Why am I inexplicably shipping this?]

The air fell silent once again.

Wen Jianyan subconsciously tensed his shoulders, counting down the time in his heart.

Although the item’s duration had ended now, it should still take some time for his aura to change back. If he could deceive the other party during this time and escape from here in time, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

But if he didn’t succeed…

He was afraid he would really die a martyr here.

Wen Jianyan retracted his gaze, stepped towards the dark iron door hidden beneath the flesh wall, and said casually:

“Step aside.”

“…”

The surroundings remained dead silent.

Although Wen Jianyan didn’t show it on his face, his heart was pounding wildly as if it were going to leap out of his chest, and he was so nervous that his muscles started to spasm.

After a few seconds, the clack, clack sound rang out again. Those ghastly pale arms slowly, bit by bit, shrank back into the jars. Accompanied by the sticky, wet squirming sounds, the scarlet flesh walls parted to both sides, revealing that tightly closed black iron door.

Wen Jianyan held his breath and raised his hand to press on the door handle.

The cold iron handle pressed hard into his palm. His fingers exerted downward force—Creak.

The hoarse sound of metal hinges rubbing and colliding came through.

The large door slowly opened before him.

Outside was a deeply long, deadly silent corridor, shrouded in an eerie dark red light. The temperature was extremely low, like being inside a coffin, giving one goosebumps all over.

Although the scene outside was similar to real life, that cold and ominous aura clearly distinguished it from the outside world.

Wen Jianyan immediately realized that he was currently in the “other world” Granny Wen had spoken of.

He quickly glanced at the house number.

1316.

It was that room from before that was tightly sealed by chains and talismans, the one that looked very fierce at first glance.

However, those chains and talismans in his memory had all disappeared in this world. This 1316 looked completely identical to the other rooms on the outside and could be entered and exited normally.

Without looking back, Wen Jianyan stepped steadily outwards at an even pace.

The door slowly closed behind him, shutting in that room with inner walls of flesh and blood, as well as those seven pitch-black jars hiding the ghost hands.

Click.

The subtle sound of the door locking rang from behind.

The next second, Wen Jianyan sprinted off!

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Hahahahahahahahahaha!]

[Hahahahahahahahahaha dying of laughter, greasing your soles and running away immediately after scamming ghosts, as expected of you dog scammer!]

Well, shouldn’t he run quickly!

Who knew if the ghosts and monsters inside 1316 would suddenly realize!

Wen Jianyan held his breath and dashed in a straight line, deeply afraid of being caught again and dragged back into that room.

Only after he started running did he find that although the corridor itself remained exactly the same, the other floors were still connected to the 13th floor. Crisscrossing and overlapping each other, one could enter other floors just by turning a corner.

And the concept of space seemed to have changed as well. The distance between some rooms was extremely close, while others were stretched very far apart. Some doors were tightly closed, while others were hollowly wide open, pitch-black inside like a bloody maw that could swallow a person alive.

Every time he passed such a door, Wen Jianyan’s pace would involuntarily quicken, as if worried something would rush out from inside the next second.

He sighed with some regret.

It was a pity he didn’t have time to take his phone out and snap a photo in the room just now, otherwise his main quest would have been completed.

Suddenly, the phone in Wen Jianyan’s pocket buzzed twice.

“…”

No way?

Did the main quest update just like that?

Wen Jianyan subconsciously slowed his pace and took the phone out of his pocket.

Unexpectedly, the main quest hadn’t updated, but rather… it was a phone call.

You can actually receive phone calls in the underworld?

This carrier is too strong.

Wen Jianyan tapped lightly on the screen and answered the call.

“Zzzt… where are… zzzt…” The voice on the other end was intermittent, sounding exceptionally muddy under the influence of static, but a familiar voice could barely be distinguished.

…Su Cheng?

Wen Jianyan paused, then immediately realized that the other party must have purchased an item capable of contacting teammates, which was why he could call his phone.

“…Zzzt… 1304, Soul-Locking Urn…”

The voice on the other end was cut off.

Su Cheng gritted his teeth and ran desperately. In the thick, pitch-black ghostly aura, only the screen in his hand was still glowing.

In the dark, countless paper dolls could faintly be seen standing stiffly straight in the rooms, their ghastly pale, smiling faces pointed directly in his direction.

He could no longer tell where he was right now.

After being entangled by ghosts and monsters, the concepts of space and time in “this world” had become extremely eerie, changing every single moment.

One second this place might be ordinary rooms and corridors, the next second it might be twisted into a plain or a narrow maze. The only constant was the continuous clack, clack sound from behind.

That sound was getting closer and closer.

A strong, almost chillingly cold aura came from behind. The rotting smell followed like a shadow. Pale fingers reached for Su Cheng’s neck, but in the next second, they were blocked back by a small, translucent shield.

This was the effect of the Hard-level hidden item he obtained in the last instance. Although it couldn’t block direct attacks initiated by ghosts, it could make him immune to touch.

Three times.

Clack, clack.

Clack, clack.

That voice was full of malice, unwillingly chasing behind him, haunting him relentlessly.

Su Cheng snatched a moment to look down at his phone screen.

[Item remaining uses: 1/3]

His two legs were sore and swollen. His muscles and bones whimpered in friction. The icy air poured into his lungs, bringing a sharp pain like being cut by a knife. His stamina was slowly being depleted, and his ribs throbbed with pain.

Su Cheng realized very clearly that his escape speed was slowing down.

The intervals between item uses were shortening.

He didn’t have many points to begin with, at most only able to redeem one life-saving item, but… the time it could hold them off for would probably be equally limited.

He was undoubtedly going to die.

This cold reality was like a heavy stone, pressing hard on Su Cheng’s heart, as if he had swallowed a cold block of iron that sank heavily inside his body, making it hard to breathe and causing his eye sockets to heat up.

He really wanted to live.

He really wanted to see the sunlight of the real world one more time.

Su Cheng subconsciously tightened his fingers, the hard edges of the phone digging into his palm, but he didn’t feel any pain.

Ever since entering “this world”, he had been unable to contact Wen Jianyan.

However, just now, he finally got through to the other party’s phone.

This made Su Cheng heave a long sigh of relief.

…At least before he died, he could do one last thing to help his teammate.

Although Wen Jianyan had disappeared after entering this world, their quest hadn’t changed because of it. While struggling to survive under the blockade and attacks of the paper dolls, they searched for traces of the Soul-Locking Urns.

Finally, beneath the shrine, they found that stolen Soul-Locking Urn.

But the moment they got their hands on the urn, the entire spatial layout changed. That monster making the clack, clack sounds crawled out of the jar and began to chase them.

Su Cheng didn’t know how the others were doing. He only knew that if they were also being chased like him, then the Soul-Locking Urn should still be inside 1304.

More importantly, there should be no monsters guarding it around.

…He hoped Wen Jianyan could understand the message he had passed on.

Su Cheng prayed silently in his heart.

The door of 1304 was wide open, pitch black inside.

Wen Jianyan turned on his flashlight and carefully shone it into the room.

The entire room was empty.

There were no traces of any streamers, nor the ghosts he had imagined. The air was quiet to the point of near deathly silence, unbelievably peaceful.

Wen Jianyan: “…?”

He frowned slightly in confusion and stepped into 1304.

He swept his gaze around the entire room, then suddenly his eyes paused, landing on the tabletop beside the shrine.

A familiar jar made of black clay was placed right there, looking exceptionally abrupt and conspicuous.

…The Soul-Locking Urn?

Wen Jianyan walked forward and carefully reached out to pick up the jar.

The next second, the system’s familiar sound rang in his ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the streamer for obtaining a hidden item in the instance (Normal)!]
[Collection Progress: 2/5]

…He felt like something was not quite right.

Wen Jianyan frowned tighter, looking up and scanning the space he was in.

According to Granny Wen’s description, the Soul-Locking Urn should be the key to the entire instance, meaning it was part of the main quest. If so, obtaining it couldn’t possibly be this easy. But since he entered 1304, he hadn’t encountered a single ghost, and even Su Cheng, who called him at the beginning, was nowhere to be seen.

Furthermore…

Wen Jianyan looked down, shining the flashlight on the floor. Fresh blood, footprints, and paper scraps.

It looked like a struggle had occurred here.

Then, there was only one possibility.

The streamers found the Soul-Locking Urn but were simultaneously entangled by ghosts. Su Cheng calling to tell him the location was to let him come and reap the results.

Wen Jianyan took out his phone, purchased a communication item in the system shop, and made a call to Su Cheng.

The call connected, but after ringing two or three times, it was cut off.

That must be right.

Then where would Su Cheng be now?

The corridor? Or inside a certain room? Which floor? Which room?

No, that shouldn’t be it.

Wen Jianyan quickly rejected his own thoughts.

They were currently in the other world. The architectural structure of space had changed; the physical location should no longer be important, what mattered was the issue of dimensions.

He lowered his head and began to examine the clay urn in his hands.

Its surface was cold and pitch-black, its smooth lacquer peeling off due to age. It felt heavy, seemingly filled with things. The mouth of the urn wasn’t sealed tight, emitting a faint smell of blood.

Wen Jianyan carefully lifted the lid of the urn and shone the flashlight inside.

Although he already had a certain psychological expectation, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but shrink his pupils, subconsciously gasping.

What was contained in the jar were human bones.

Judging by the size of the bones, they should belong to an infant less than two years old. All the flesh and skin had disappeared, leaving only bones presenting an eerie bluish-black color. A faint rotten stench and an extremely heavy smell of blood emanated from inside the urn.

Along with the shaking of the urn, through the bluish-black bones, one could faintly see something reflecting light underneath.

Wen Jianyan paused slightly.

Forcing down the repulsion in his heart, he reached his hand inside the urn, pushed aside the bones, and retrieved the faintly gleaming object from underneath them.

That was…

A Bagua mirror.

The color of its frame was dyed an eerie bluish-black, but apart from that, it was exactly the same as the one Granny Wen handed to Wang Hanyu.

Although it had been sealed together with the corpse bones for who knows how many years, the mirror surface was still as bright as new. A dark red talisman was pasted on the mirror.

Out of careful consideration, Wen Jianyan didn’t peel off the talisman.

He carefully lifted the edge of the talisman, changed angles, and with the light of the flashlight, closely examined the Bagua mirror before him—

His face did not appear in the mirror.

Inside the mirror was a patch of pitch-black mist. A terrified little human figure was running frantically. Behind him, darkness surged, and a completely pale monster was in hot pursuit. The distance between them was shortening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This is…

Wen Jianyan froze, his eyes widening slightly.

Su Cheng?

He was actually trapped inside the mirror?

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Good heavens, so this is the monster’s ability. No wonder the locations and scenes inside are constantly changing.]

[This should also count as a type of illusion, right? I remember the C-rank streamer system shop should have an escape item? Anyway, I just went next door to take a look, and those two streamers seem to have escaped. I just don’t know which room they’ve been teleported to now, since the mirror space is disordered.]

[Ah, then isn’t the streamer still trapped in the mirror doomed? I remember he’s just like our streamer, only just hit D-rank, right? He can’t redeem the item!]

[Fuck, I remember now too.]

[No, I actually quite liked this streamer across the hall…]

Just as the viewers were feeling sorry for Su Cheng in the comment section, they saw Wen Jianyan make an incredibly surprising move.

They saw the young man raise his hand and grope the surface of the mirror, seemingly searching for a way to enter it.

[?? Surely he doesn’t want to go in?]

[Are there any big shots who have seen this instance before to explain if this is feasible or not?]

[Not feasible. I’ve watched this Antai Community instance about seven or eight times. Except for the mirror Granny Wen gave which was spelled to allow the item holder to travel between different spaces, other mirrors can’t do that. Unless you’re pulled in by the monster, there is no way to enter voluntarily.]

[Hss, is that so? Then isn’t it over.]

[What a pity… I remember the guy across the hall has a Seer-type talent, right? If this skill is raised and teamed up with the dog scammer’s talent, it should be pretty awesome.]

[It’s too late to talk about this now anyway. Basically, the other side is done for.]

Wen Jianyan frowned deeply, staring fixedly at the Bagua mirror in front of him.

He had just browsed around the system shop but didn’t find any method capable of entering the mirror or pulling his teammate out of it.

Even if there were, it was probably in those few levels he hadn’t unlocked yet.

Under the slightly swaying light source, the darkness inside the mirror gathered thicker and thicker. The monster was rapidly closing in, and Su Cheng’s running speed was also dropping significantly.

Could it be…

He could only watch helplessly?

Wen Jianyan’s fingers tightened subconsciously.

At this moment, his eyes swept upward and he froze for a second.

The Flower of Breaking Illusions had finished cooling down at some unknown point, but because Wen Jianyan himself hadn’t encountered a life-threatening crisis, it had never been activated.

[Use it?]

[Yes.]

Wen Jianyan slightly held his breath, scanning the description of the mirror in front of him ten lines at a glance.

At this moment, he seemed to suddenly think of something.

Wen Jianyan jumped up, shoved the mirror into his chest pocket, turned around and ran outside!

The whistling wind brushed past his ears, and the sound of his strong heartbeat pounded against his eardrums, forcing him to run faster and faster, charging towards a specific direction with extreme purpose.

The young man raised his foot and kicked open the door of 1316.

The squirming blood-red walls seemed to pause slightly. The stuttering, muddy voice rang out, sounding exceptionally confused: “Mo… ther…?”

Wen Jianyan revealed a smile: “That was to trick you.”

The wet sounds of the squirming wall became clearer and louder, and the temperature of the air seemed to drop instantly.

“Trick…?”

“Exactly.”

The young man’s lips curled up, an evil glint flashing in his amber eyes. The end of his voice trailed up slightly, his tone soft and smiling:

“The relationship between us is very simple. It’s just your dad clinging to me one-sidedly, unable to get what he wants, and still refusing to let go even after I stabbed him.”

The walls squirmed, the mouths of the clay urns vibrated, and ghastly pale palms slowly reached out.

“As his believer, you should help him take revenge, right?”

Wen Jianyan’s speaking speed increased.

“Of course, this time I won’t trouble you to do it.”

Before the walls could extend their tentacles, Wen Jianyan quickly activated the one-minute invincibility he had just purchased from the shop. Then, taking large strides, he charged straight towards one of the jars.

With one hand, he reached towards that ghastly pale hand; with the other, he reached into his pocket and gripped the surface of the Bagua mirror tightly, silently chanting Granny Wen’s incantation in his mouth.

The young man tilted his face up, revealing a brilliant smile:

“I highly regret my actions and have decided to offer myself to death voluntarily.”

Su Cheng’s stamina had reached its limit.

His face was frighteningly pale. Hot sweat trickled down his forehead, dripping onto the ground. Every part of his body emitted a groan of being overwhelmed.

He gritted his teeth, and finally, with trembling fingers, struggled to open the system shop.

His points had hit rock bottom.

All his items had been used up; he had lost the ability to struggle.

Su Cheng’s eyes reddened with unwillingness.

…Motherfucker.

He slowly exhaled, his pace gradually slowing down. He steadied his nerves, finally made up his mind, and slowly turned his head to look behind him.

Amidst the thick, black shadows, the stiff faces of countless paper dolls were smiling at him.

Clack, clack.

Clack, clack.

The ear-piercing sound of bone friction rang out, and a ghastly pale figure gradually closed in.

Its body was as thin and long as noodles, its joints twisting in odd directions. Jagged bones jutted up from under the skin. It had no facial features on its face, only a scarlet brand.

The lines were bizarre, like a talisman.

Clack, clack.

The slender, completely pale monster approached Su Cheng. The speed at which its four limbs crawled on the ground was astonishingly fast; it arrived right in front of him in almost the blink of an eye.

A strong foul stench assailed his nostrils.

Su Cheng’s face was ghastly pale as he subconsciously closed his eyes.

The next second, a scalding palm pressed hard on his shoulder, and a powerful force yanked him fiercely backward!

“…?!”

Su Cheng stumbled backwards. He opened his eyes, almost somewhat terrified, and subconsciously looked next to him.

The young man had appeared beside him at some unknown point.

His upper body was almost half-bare, his fair, firm arms extending from his tattered clothes, his slender palm pressing on his shoulder.

“Baby, how about letting this guy go?”

He didn’t look at Su Cheng. The curve of his side profile was smooth and beautiful. His amber eyes stared straight at the monster in front of him, the corners of his lips curling up in a half-smile:

“…Give mommy some face.”

Clack, clack.

Clack, clack.

The ghastly pale figure paused slightly, seemingly very confused by Wen Jianyan’s words, but still lunged forward fiercely the next second—!

“You won’t?”

The young man sighed with regret.

“Forget it then.”

He yanked Su Cheng forcefully backwards, then arched his body and dodged to the side at a tricky angle. At the same time, he raised his hand and slapped the talisman he had torn from the Bagua mirror right onto its face!

The next second, the monster’s body stiffened.

“Unfilial thing.”

Wen Jianyan let out a short laugh, the end of his sentence trailing up with a cynical lilt:

“You act exactly the same as your trash dad.”

___

Author’s Note:

The gong who inexplicably lost his wife and got blamed for something out of nowhere: …???