WTNL Chapter 52

Antai Community
Chapter 52: “It is necessary to be defensive.”

Amidst the thick, pitch-black, and icy smoke and clouds, the young man before him was like a divine soldier descending from heaven, appearing beside him without any warning.

The warm palm pressing on his shoulder pulled him back from the nearly desperate, certain-death situation into the human world.

Su Cheng stared with wide, astonished eyes, looking at Wen Jianyan beside him in almost disbelief. His voice was stuck in his throat, and he could only manage to squeeze out a dry syllable:

“You…”

How could you…

Why did you…

“Go, go, go!”

Wen Jianyan seemed completely unaware of the other’s complex feelings at this moment. After slapping the talisman onto the monster’s forehead, he grabbed him and ran as if his butt was on fire.

Su Cheng stumbled behind him. His mind was still a chaotic mess, almost unable to form a complete sentence.

He found a moment to glance behind him.

That completely pale, slender monster froze in place. The scarlet talisman on its head looked exceptionally glaring amidst the black mist.

Wasn’t it immobilized?

Was there some other danger he hadn’t realized?

Before Su Cheng could figure it out, the black mist beside them churned like muddy water. Countless smiling faces of paper dolls were torn apart by an invisible force, turning into flying ash.

The next second, another completely pale monster appeared in the darkness, charging straight at them at a speed even faster than the other one!

Su Cheng: “???”

No…

Why is there another one ahhhhhh!

“Fuck, there, there are two!” Su Cheng’s expression cracked.

He looked at Wen Jianyan, who was dragging him in a wild sprint, and reminded him in terror: “Careful, there are two here!”

Wen Jianyan didn’t even turn his head, burying himself in the wild sprint: “I know!”

Su Cheng: ?

“I brought it in!” Wen Jianyan yelled loudly.

Su Cheng: ???

As Wen Jianyan ran, he rapidly scanned the system shop displayed on the virtual panel in front of him, frantically purchasing life-saving items with his remaining points:

“This kind of monster can drag people into the mirror. The specific principle is similar to Granny Wen’s Bagua mirror, except Granny Wen’s requires a human with strong inspiration to chant a spell, while this monster is a spirit body itself, so it skips the chanting process. At the instant one of them pulled me into the mirror, I conversely used its own power to activate the mirror you are in!”

He spoke very fast. Su Cheng’s mind was already chaotic, and now he was even more confused:

“Ah? What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry! The rules shouldn’t allow this kind of thing to happen.”

Wen Jianyan activated an invincibility buff for both himself and Su Cheng: “We just need to survive the first few minutes, and that’ll be enough!”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[…My god, so that’s how it is.]

[! I am willing to call him the King of Exploiting Bugs!]

[Ah? Am I the only one who still doesn’t understand? Begging someone to explain it to me carefully ahhhhhh!]

[That means the streamer used the rules of entering the mirror to create a loop loophole, overlapping the spaces of two mirrors together. Logically, there should only be one monster in a mirror, but now two have been forcefully stuffed in, so this place should explode from the pressure very soon.]

[…Awesome. [Tipped 100 points]]

[Fuck, isn’t this method a bit too foul? This is purely exploiting rule loopholes! …I like it! [Tipped 50 points]]

[Dying of laughter, I guess this instance didn’t expect a streamer to activate two mirrors at once either. This is too bold hahahahahahahaha [Tipped 100 points]]

Although Su Cheng didn’t understand what Wen Jianyan was saying, he could clearly feel that the entire space was emitting a faint rumbling and trembling.

The dark vortex churned. In the distance, the smiling faces of countless paper dolls flickered, gathering and dispersing.

The ground beneath their feet was no longer solid, seemingly collapsing one by one.

Su Cheng was stunned, almost finding it unbelievable.

Could it be…

He was really saved?

“Anyway, we don’t need to worry too much while inside the mirror!” Wen Jianyan’s voice continued to come from ahead: “What we need to worry about is what happens after the mirror collapses!”

???

Su Cheng looked bewildered: “…What do you mean?”

Wen Jianyan chuckled awkwardly:

“It means, I’m not sure where it’ll teleport us after the mirror collapses.”

He didn’t see the other two people besides Su Cheng in the mirror, which meant those two streamers had probably escaped danger. But they didn’t appear inside 1304, which meant the mirror space wasn’t a condensed, fixed point, but more like another physical dimension. The mirror itself was merely a medium between the two dimensions.

As they ran and moved here, they would also experience displacement outside, but Wen Jianyan hadn’t figured out the internal rules here yet.

Wen Jianyan only hoped that the route he ran wasn’t just going in circles. In case after the mirror collapsed, he happened to return inside 1316…

Then he would personally experience the consequences of courting death and provoking it just now.

Although Wen Jianyan himself didn’t feel his luck could be that outrageously bad, everything that had happened since entering this Nightmare Live Broadcast Room made him have to take this possibility into consideration.

“…”

Su Cheng: ???

Hey, saying that is very scary!

The rumbling sound around them grew louder and louder, as if the whole world was trembling along with it. Crack, crack, the sound of shattering echoed in their ears.

At this moment, the beaded bracelet worn on Wen Jianyan’s wrist suddenly began to grow slightly hot.

This… this is?

Wen Jianyan paused slightly, looking down at his wrist. On the reddish-brown beaded bracelet, the bizarre carved runes were currently emitting a faint glow, as if guiding him.

A strange premonition struck.

Wen Jianyan slowed down his pace and looked up around him.

A familiar, hunched, and aged paper doll appeared not far away. Behind it, one could see two adults and two children, a family of four.

“Here!”

Wen Jianyan’s eyes lit up slightly, and he dragged Su Cheng to charge in that direction.

Right before they were about to rush over, their feet suddenly stepped into empty air.

The next second, the world spun. Everything before their eyes was flipping and spinning, mixing into countless blurry blocks of color.

Hearing two thuds, the two of them tumbled to the floor one after the other, landing solidly on the icy ground.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Su Cheng covered his throat, which was burning from hyperventilating, and struggled to climb up.

The familiar chilling, pitch-black corridor, the dim light glowing an eerie red, the tightly closed doors lined up in the dark—

He raised his head and looked at the door closest to him: the house number sign was mottled and peeling, but the characters for 1304 could still faintly be seen.

We really, really made it back…

Su Cheng sat on the spot with weak limbs, his expression blank and dazed, seemingly still not recovered from the life-or-death crisis just now.

Wen Jianyan, somewhat drained of strength, rested his scalding forehead against the doorframe and slowly let out a long sigh of relief.

In his series of actions just now, the element of a massive gamble was very large. After all, his understanding of the entire instance was only bits and pieces. Relying on the information provided by the Flower of Breaking Illusions, along with many excessively bold guesses, he finally managed to deduce an entire logical chain of its internal workings.

Fortunately, this overly risky line of thought didn’t have any issues, otherwise, let alone saving Su Cheng, he probably would have dragged himself down with it.

Just then, the system’s familiar broadcast sound rang in his ears:

[Ding, detected that the streamer has broadcasted for five hours. Open point settlement?]

Depending on the specific content and difficulty level of different instances, the interval frequency of point settlements would also change. For example, in this instance, there was almost no major danger in the first three hours, so the time for the first settlement was five hours after the instance began.

Wen Jianyan steadied his mind and replied inwardly: “Yes.”

[In the D-rank live broadcast room ‘Integrity First’, the average hourly viewership is 50,000, redeemable for 5,000 points! Congratulations to the streamer for reaching a return viewer rate of 63%!
Achievement Unlocked: I’m living here starting today!
You are still 45,000 points away from upgrading your live broadcast room. Streamer, please keep up the good work and create more brilliance!]

[During your live broadcast, you received tips from 2,463 people, obtaining a total of 180,000 tip points. Detected that the streamer is a D-rank streamer. The system will take a 10% cut from this live broadcast. Deducting the points used before the settlement, 50,000 points have been settled into your account.]

[Instance Exploration Progress: 63%. Reward points: 10000
Current Plot Modification Degree: 51%. Reward points: 30000]

[Remaining points in your account: 100000]

A hundred thousand points, that’s quite a lot!

Wen Jianyan’s spirits involuntarily lifted.

“You…”

Just then, Su Cheng’s dry and hoarse voice rang from beside him, pulling Wen Jianyan back from his deep thoughts.

He turned his head and looked at the other party with some confusion:

“Hm?”

Su Cheng had just spoken a single word before falling silent again. He took a deep breath: “It’s nothing.”

The young man narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at him with a gaze that seemed to see through people’s hearts. He asked thoughtfully, “You don’t want to ask me why I went to save you, do you?”

Su Cheng: “…”

He pursed his lips, his gaze drifting a bit as if his mind had been read.

“Of course, it would save me a lot of trouble to just leave you alone, but looking at it long term, that’s extremely disadvantageous.”

Wen Jianyan supported himself on the doorframe and pulled himself up.

His voice didn’t have much emotional fluctuation, sounding cold and straightforward:

“You’re the only one in the entire instance who knows my true identity and is on my side. Over the past few instances, we’ve also developed a certain level of tacit understanding. You’re a relatively trustworthy teammate. If you die, I’ll be the only one left in this instance to face the already formed streamer teams and the still-mysterious instance mechanics all by myself. My survival rate would plummet drastically.”

“So, as a teammate, this was a rational choice.”

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s consistently calm voice paused slightly, and a hint of a smile crept into his tone:

“However, you didn’t call me to ask for help, did you?”

The other party’s sudden change in tone startled Su Cheng, and he subconsciously looked up at Wen Jianyan.

“Even at the juncture of life and death, rather than having me risk my life to save you, you hoped I could get the item you found, complete the quest, and clear the instance alone… That’s not something a teammate would do.”

The young man leaned diagonally against the doorframe, lowering his eyes to look at him. His downcast eyelashes were dyed a faint dark red by the corridor lights.

He leaned down, extending a hand to Su Cheng, who was still slumped on the ground, his voice soft and smiling:

“That’s something a friend would do.”

Su Cheng stared up blankly, looking at the palm extended towards him.

The young man’s finger bones were slender, his skin fair, and his nails trimmed very neatly, looking like a work of art under the light.

“Since that is the case,”

Deep within those light-colored eyes, a hint of a smile blossomed.

“How could I possibly leave a friend behind?”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Help, my heart fluttered.]

[…Fuck, what’s going on? I actually got moved by this swindler?]

[Um, excuse me, are there any friend slots open? I want to sign up! You can scam me as many times as you want!]

[…]

Su Cheng’s chest heaved intensely for a moment. He took a deep breath, suppressing the moisture in his eyes, and raised his hand to grasp Wen Jianyan’s extended hand, using the other’s strength to stand up.

He looked straight into Wen Jianyan’s eyes and said solemnly:

“Thank you.”

“Alright.”

After pulling Su Cheng up, Wen Jianyan’s expression turned serious, and he said strictly: “Before getting sentimental, we still have a very urgent matter to deal with.”

Seeing the other’s solemn attitude, Su Cheng couldn’t help but tense up:

“What is it?”

Wen Jianyan looked down at his upper body and said with deep sorrow: “Fending off the cold.”

Su Cheng: “…”

The two walked into 1304 again.

Wen Jianyan successfully found a set of clothes in the wardrobe that matched his size.

Anyway, he had already claimed this guy’s wife and children once. With too many debts, one stops worrying about them. Even if he took another set of clothes, it wouldn’t be considered excessive. Wen Jianyan’s face didn’t flush and his heart didn’t skip a beat over this; he didn’t feel the slightest shame about a cuckoo taking over a magpie’s nest.

Su Cheng’s gaze subtly lingered on Wen Jianyan’s upper body for a moment: “So, what exactly did you experience just now to turn into that ghostly state?”

“And just now… when we were in the mirror.” Su Cheng seemed to think of something and asked in great confusion, “Why did you call yourself that monster’s mom? Is there some lore here that I don’t know about?”

“…”

Wen Jianyan coughed dryly and stiffly changed the subject: “Well… it’s a long story. I’ll tell you when we have time in the future.”

He turned and went back to the living room, picked up the black clay urn, and carefully examined it under the flashlight’s beam.

Su Cheng asked curiously, “What’s inside?”

Wen Jianyan cast a glance at him: “Human bones.”

Su Cheng was startled.

“Soul-Locking Urn…” Wen Jianyan thoughtfully stroked his chin: “Whose souls are being locked?”

Su Cheng guessed, “Those evil spirits chasing us?”

“Perhaps.”

Wen Jianyan replied noncommittally.

He turned to look at Su Cheng: “Speaking of which, did the other two streamers touch this urn?”

Su Cheng froze, thought carefully for a moment, and nodded: “Yes, after all, they were the ones who found it under the shrine.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

Saying this, Wen Jianyan walked briskly to the kitchen, dug out a biscuit tin from the cabinet, dumped the biscuit crumbs and residue inside, and then simply and crudely poured the bones from the Soul-Locking Urn into it.

Su Cheng watched Wen Jianyan’s overly desecrating behavior dumbfounded, stammering, “Wh-what are you doing?”

“I checked. This urn is just an ordinary black clay jar. What’s important are the bones and the Bagua mirror inside, as well as the talisman on the mirror. I just stuck the talisman onto the monster’s forehead; it shouldn’t be able to break free for a while. So changing the container doesn’t matter.”

Wen Jianyan swept the biscuit crumbs into the urn, carefully sealed its mouth, and then turned to show Su Cheng a brilliant smile:

“One can never be too wary of others.”

Su Cheng: “…”

He seemed to understand why his precious teammate could accurately offend countless ghosts and monsters in every instance.

Wen Jianyan tossed the biscuit tin to Su Cheng for safekeeping, while he stuffed the black clay jar into his pocket:

“Let’s go.”

“Where to?” Su Cheng paused.

“To look for the other urns.”

Wen Jianyan replied, “If we’re lucky, we might even run into our other two friends.”

The corridor was narrow and deep.

A scarlet blood mist seemed to diffuse in the air. As the lights shone down from above, everything seemed shrouded in a dim red glow.

Whether it was due to the passage of time or not, the length of the corridor had become even longer. The floor twisted slightly, and under the peeling wall paint, a faint layer of red could be vaguely seen, just like a body of flesh and blood.

It was almost as if the scene inside 1316 was slowly spreading outwards, bit by bit.

Theoretically, 1304 and 1306 should have been very close to each other, but Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng had to cross two whole corridors before finding this room.

The door of 1306 was a dark red like coagulated blood, giving people a particularly unsettling feeling.

The door was slightly ajar, leaving a crack, and inside was an excessively thick pitch-black.

Wen Jianyan turned on his phone’s flashlight, then reached out, carefully pushed the door open a crack, and shone the flashlight into the room.

This place looked as if it had experienced a tornado.

The sofa, mattress, table, chairs…

The furniture had been shredded to pieces by some unknown force. Wood chips, cotton, and cushions were scattered everywhere chaotically. The floor was a mess, with scraps of paper doll bodies falling on the ground. Splatters of blood that had not yet dried stained the walls, looking exceptionally shocking under the faint light, as if a fierce battle had taken place.

Wen Jianyan first looked towards the direction of the shrine.

It had also been blown away; the place where the black clay urn was supposed to be was completely empty.

It seemed someone had already been here.

And they had found the Soul-Locking Urn in this room.

Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng exchanged a glance and stepped into the room.

According to Granny Wen’s account, three Soul-Locking Urns were stolen. Only the two families in 1304 and 1306 were certain, while the other urn should have been stolen by another family. However, they didn’t have any clues yet regarding the whereabouts of the third urn. If the urn in 1306 had already been taken ahead of time, then their trail would probably end here, and they could only wait to rendezvous with the others.

That would be too passive.

Wen Jianyan turned his head to look at Su Cheng and said:

“Let’s split up and look around, see if there are any clues left behind here that we can continue tracking.”

Su Cheng nodded: “Okay.”

Su Cheng walked into the other rooms, while Wen Jianyan stood in the middle of the living room, looking around the chaotic room before him.

At this moment, he seemed to notice something and couldn’t help but pause.

Wen Jianyan walked towards the edge of the living room, the place that looked the most chaotic and disorganized.

Blood and messy footprints remained on the floor. The scarlet bloodstains had not yet completely dried, reflecting a dark red luster under the flashlight’s beam.

He crouched down, shone the flashlight in his hand over the footprints on the floor, and slowly frowned.

There were far more than two pairs of footprints here.

There were at least… four to five people’s.

In other words, besides them, other streamers had also found Granny Wen and received the exact same quest from her.

Were they the few streamers who had separated from them while running away?

Or were there more streamers in this instance that they just hadn’t encountered yet?

After all, the map of this instance was indeed very large. It had a full thirteen floors, with thirty rooms on each floor, and the difficulty was B-. The probability of more than 7 streamers being dropped in was extremely high.

In that case…

Wen Jianyan stood up, held his phone in one hand, and swept the light across the entire room—

Ever since he got this new line of thought, he began to examine this “scene” with a different perspective. Many details he hadn’t noticed before revealed themselves.

Yes, the paper dolls had definitely launched an attack on the streamers in this room.

But besides that, many attack marks didn’t look like they were initiated by paranormal creatures. For example, the sofa torn in half had straight edges, as if slashed open by a sharp weapon.

The traces of blood on the floor weren’t just of one type either; there were splatters, drips, and drag marks…

Wen Jianyan frowned slightly, his eyes taking on a solemn hue.

He remembered that in the intelligence he had gathered previously, similar situations were mentioned… In many high-level instances, a competitive relationship would form between streamers.

Some were forced by the instance mechanics, while others were actively formed by streamers driven by interests. Some instances would even develop into team battle instances because of this.

Looking at it now, this instance already had a faint trend towards this.

For this Soul-Locking Urn in 1306, different factions had already formed among the streamers, and they had engaged in slaughter.

Just then, Su Cheng’s solemn voice came from inside the room:

“…Come take a look at this quickly.”

Wen Jianyan paused, put away his phone, and walked towards the inner rooms.

There was an extremely heavy smell of blood in the air.

Su Cheng held up his phone, standing by the bed with an ugly expression.

The blanket was thrown wide open, and the bedsheets were covered in thick scarlet bloodstains, presenting a texture almost like crude oil under the light. Two paper dolls lay side by side on the bed, their paper stomachs stuffed with human organs. It was a shocking sight, almost making one want to vomit.

However, Su Cheng’s gaze didn’t land on the paper dolls. Instead, he stared fixedly at a stack of papers in his hand.

“What did you find?” Wen Jianyan asked.

Su Cheng took a deep breath and handed the stack of papers to Wen Jianyan.

Wen Jianyan took the papers and scanned down rapidly, reading ten lines at a glance.

This was a medical record form from a hospital, probably belonging to the hostess of this house. It was obvious that she had been ten months pregnant and was preparing to give birth, and the hospital that issued the medical record was…

Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank, and he couldn’t help but gasp.

An extremely familiar name appeared before his eyes.

[Fukang Private General Hospital]