WTNL Chapter 57

by Aria

Antai Community
Chapter 57: “Mr. Mirror”

Wen Jianyan’s speaking speed was steady, with little fluctuation throughout, practically not considered fast at all.

However, Su Cheng was still left dizzy and overwhelmed by the massive amount of information in this speech, almost unable to keep up with the other party’s train of thought.

Although he didn’t fully understand what the other party was saying, he was infected by some underlying emotion within Wen Jianyan’s words, uncontrollably feeling a chill run through his body and his hairs stand on end.

“Wait, what does that mean?”

Su Cheng felt his temples throbbing with pain, his brain turned to mush as he stammered out his question:

“What third urn?”

Wen Jianyan sighed, raised his hand to pat Su Cheng’s shoulder, and said in a comforting tone: “It’s fine, being simple-minded is quite good too.”

Su Cheng: “…”

Hey, you really have a nasty way with words.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Ah? Wait? I didn’t understand either! Any big boss care to explain!]

[It means this Soul-Locking Urn has to be refined one by one. You can only start ravaging the next one after the previous one is finished. This Granny Wen made a mistake while refining the very last one, and it failed. So now, she has to use this group of streamers to refine the Soul-Locking Urn.]

[Good heavens, this NPC is too toxic. I really thought she was helping the streamers.]

[No wonder no streamer has ever completed Granny Wen’s mission before… this mission is completely impossible to complete!]

[Then doesn’t this become a certain-death situation? I haven’t watched this Antai Community instance before; anyone who has watched it want to explain?]

[How could it be a certain-death situation? It’s a time-limited instance, not a puzzle-solving instance.]

[Right, I’ve watched it a few times. The streamers inside have two choices: one is to enter the Bagua mirror to complete the mission, and the other is to not enter the Bagua mirror and complete the mission. Those who don’t enter the Bagua mirror will be hunted by those monsters, while those who do enter the Bagua mirror start competing with each other, just like right now.

The survival rate fluctuates quite a bit. If they aren’t too competitive, it can reach 50%. If they are highly competitive, maybe only a few will survive in the end. However, there has never been a total wipeout. After all, it’s a time-limited instance. Once the time is up, the streamers who are still alive will be considered to have cleared the instance and will leave.]

[So you’re saying… the third Soul-Locking Urn has never been successfully refined?]

[Probably.]

Wen Jianyan looked at Su Cheng, cleared his throat, and said seriously:

“Simply put, this Granny Wen is not a good person. She issued the mission and distributed so many Bagua mirrors to streamers, all to induce us to slaughter each other in the mirror world so she can successfully refine the third Soul-Locking Urn. Understand?”

Su Cheng: “…Understood.”

He couldn’t help but look at the Bagua mirror in Wen Jianyan’s hand, asking hesitantly:

“Then this mirror…?”

Wen Jianyan looked down, casting a fleeting glance at the Bagua mirror in his hand, and answered: “It is merely a passage, just a door that allows people outside to enter the interior of the Soul-Locking Urn. These Bagua mirrors are not the hidden items; the true hidden items are the Soul-Locking Urns connected to them. There can be many doors, but there is only one urn.”

Su Cheng froze, an expression of sudden realization dawning on him.

So that was it…

No wonder there were so many mirrors classified as hidden items in the inner world. It was precisely because none of them were actually hidden items that there were so many of them.

Wen Jianyan pocketed the Bagua mirror, raising his eyes to look at the other party: “Done asking questions?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Su Cheng took a deep breath, raising his hand to wipe his face vigorously.

He truly didn’t expect…

This Granny Wen, who rescued them from being chased and intercepted by monsters, gave them items, and even issued them a mission, actually harbored such malicious intentions!

This old woman was truly too sinister. Even now, recalling her cloudy eyes covered in white cataracts made a faint chill involuntarily run down his spine.

Su Cheng looked up at Wen Jianyan: “Then what do we do next?”

Wen Jianyan took his phone back from Su Cheng, turned on the screen, and glanced down at the current time: “Less than four hours left until the instance ends.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, gently rubbing the edge of the phone with his fingertips: “Of course, according to the original plan, continuing to bide our time until the instance ends is also a good choice. However…”

Su Cheng couldn’t help but pick up the thread: “However…?”

Wen Jianyan lifted his eyelashes. His light-colored pupils, illuminated by the phone screen, took on a soft, thorough, semi-transparent texture. He curled the corners of his lips, revealing a brilliant smile:

“I really hate being lied to.”

Su Cheng: “……………………”

Dog scammer, do you really have the nerve to say that?

The young man blinked, a rare hint of childishness in the depths of his eyes: “Do you think I’m the kind of person who obediently gets scammed?”

Su Cheng was silent for a long time: “…No.”

I think you are the kind of person who would scam the other party out of their last pair of underwear.

The smile on Wen Jianyan’s lips widened: “See, haven’t we reached a consensus.”

Su Cheng: ??

He was stunned for a moment: “Ah? What consensus?”

Wen Jianyan casually stretched out an arm, hooking it around the other party’s shoulder like a good buddy, and smilingly announced: “The consensus to scam them back, of course.”

“…”

Su Cheng slowly closed his eyes.

He knew it. This guy wouldn’t rest until he offended everyone—whether it be streamers, guilds, or the NPCs in the instance.

Whatever, he was used to it.

Even in this instance, 1316 was considered an exceptionally terrifying room.

Its door was tightly shut, with several large padlocks stretched across the outside, locked dead by gleaming iron chains. Talisman papers with yellow backgrounds and red lettering were pasted on the peeling, faded door panels. Under the dim, reddish light, it looked exceptionally lifeless, filled with an indescribably sinister and malevolent aura.

Su Cheng stared fixedly at Room 1316 not far away, couldn’t help but gulp, and slowly said:

“Um… could you repeat that? Why are we here?”

Wen Jianyan had already stepped forward by now. He bent over to examine the thick chains locking the door tight, his slightly arched back appearing particularly slender.

Without turning his head, he said:

“Didn’t I tell you? In the inner world, the other seven Soul-Locking Urns should be sealed here.”

“I understood that part.”

Su Cheng’s gaze stuck to the talisman papers on the door panel, his voice trembling slightly: “But doesn’t that tell us exactly not to come near here?”

Wen Jianyan turned his head and shot him a glance: “Believe me, no one in this entire instance wants to enter this room less than I do.”

Whatever thing was inside was not only related to the “Father God,” but had also been insulted by him from every possible angle. In short, the feud between them was pretty much set in stone.

However, the difference between the surface world and the inner world was still significant, so he wasn’t entirely without a chance of winning.

Furthermore, he had Su Cheng wait at a distance. If anything went wrong, he could use the item from the first instance to pull him out of the room.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath. Like magic, he pulled a thin wire out of his pocket and skillfully fiddled inside the keyholes of the padlocks on the iron chains. Soon, with a soft “clack,” the iron chain instantly loosened.

Wen Jianyan caught the iron chain with quick reflexes, his upper body involuntarily bending forward slightly with the momentum, narrowly avoiding letting it hit the ground with a loud clatter.

He repeated the process, unlocking the door of 1316 as well.

Creak—

With a soft sound, the door covered in talismans slowly slid open inward.

Darkness. An impenetrable darkness.

A stench resembling rotting corpses wafted from deep inside the room, mixed with wisps of the metallic scent of blood, almost making one want to retch.

Wen Jianyan steadied himself, turned on his phone’s flashlight, and shone it into the room.

The weak light from the flashlight barely pierced the darkness, sweeping across the room—

To his surprise, the entire room was completely empty.

Bare and empty, not even a single piece of furniture.

The wallpaper had been stripped off, leaving the walls mottled, indifferent to the large chunks of plaster taken with it. The original floorboards had also been pried up, leaving only bare concrete.

However, that strong, putrid stench had become even heavier, making it almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open.

Right at this moment, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his ear:

[System Notification: Conditions met detected. Spend points to activate the item ‘Mr. Mirror’?]

Wen Jianyan froze.

This kind of thing had never happened before!

Filled with confusion, he opened his backpack. He saw that the [Mr. Mirror] he had obtained in the first instance had unexpectedly jumped to the first slot of his backpack, and a small red dot had appeared in the upper right corner.

“What’s wrong?”

Su Cheng’s fearful voice came from not far away: “Did you find something?”

“No…”

Wen Jianyan frowned and answered, “It’s a system prompt saying the item I got in the instance before the last one can be activated.”

“What’s its use after activation?” Su Cheng asked.

“Don’t know.”

Su Cheng froze for a moment: “Then… how many points does it cost to activate?”

Wen Jianyan shrugged: “Don’t know.”

“Wanna try?” Su Cheng suggested.

Wen Jianyan fell deep into thought.

He had been screwed over by the mechanics of this Nightmare live broadcast room too many times, especially in the first instance, where the points he had just managed to save up were instantly sucked dry to level up that apple sapling. More importantly, this mirror shard was closely related to that bizarre man. What if something unexpected happened after activating it?

Like… waking that guy up again or something?

However, basically every item was very useful, especially reaching the Epic grade. Wen Jianyan was even more curious about what its use was.

But since he had already come this far…

Whatever, let’s try it!

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and activated the item.

[System Notification: 20000 points will be deducted from your account.]

Twenty thousand. Not too bad.

The next second, a mirror shard reflecting a faint, rippling light slowly appeared in Wen Jianyan’s palm.

He had to admit…

After staying in this Antai Community instance for so long, Wen Jianyan felt a bit apprehensive looking at mirrors. Even though he knew it was his own item, he was still very afraid that some weird thing would appear in the mirror, or that it would suddenly drag him inside.

But…

How was this supposed to be used?

Wen Jianyan poked the surface of the mirror somewhat doubtfully.

Instantly, a powerful attractive force surged forth, violently yanking him deep into the mirror!

Wen Jianyan’s eyes widened abruptly, barely able to suppress the profanities threatening to spill from his mouth.

Fuck!

No way! You’re really doing this!!!!

“…”

Wen Jianyan broke down a bit.

“Your wish is my command” isn’t supposed to work like this!!!

Author’s Note:

This tells us not to set flags casually.