WTNL Chapter 64.1

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Chapter 64.1: Good and dedicated leader of the evil sect

Under the dark red light shrouding the deep corridor, chaotic and panicked footsteps echoed. Streamers panted heavily, constantly looking back over their shoulders.

“How is it? Did we… shake it off?”

One of the streamers asked in a low, unsteady voice.

After all, they were all C-rank streamers who had experienced at least five instances. Their point reserves and experience were quite rich. Therefore, even when encountering a sudden crisis like just now, they were able to react quickly, skillfully use items, change routes, and hide their auras to evade the monsters’ pursuit.

The streamers cautiously observed the corridor behind them.

The corridor behind was empty. Aside from everyone’s heavy panting, there were no other sounds.

It seemed they had shaken it off.

The crisis was temporarily averted.

After confirming that no monsters were catching up, they finally let out long sighs of relief and relaxed slightly.

However, this brief relaxed atmosphere was quickly broken by a question from one of the streamers:

“So, what do we do next?”

The expressions of all the streamers involuntarily darkened slightly.

Although the question had just been asked, they already knew the answer in their hearts.

Since the faction battle hadn’t ended, it meant the streamer in the Black Faction was still alive. But the only two streamers who might have known his whereabouts should be thoroughly dead by now.

The upgraded map was at least twice as large as before. Aimless searching would yield no results. After all, the opposing side was just one person, not a whole squad. The target was simply too small compared to them.

Since that was the case, to ensure victory in this non-confrontational faction battle, they could only take the most traditional route, which was—

Complete the main mission.

[Refine the tenth Soul-Locking Urn and completely suppress the evil spirit.]

Wen Jianyan stared at the Red Faction’s main mission on Su Cheng’s phone screen, revealing a thoughtful expression.

“What are you thinking?” Su Cheng asked, putting his phone away.

“The Red Faction will probably give up trying to track me down now and focus on completing the main mission instead.” Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, subconsciously rubbing his fingertip gently over the talisman patterns on the back of his hand. While sorting his thoughts, he slowly said:

“So, they should be making contact with Granny Wen next.”

“So what?”

Ji Guan turned his head to look at the writhing crimson walls behind them. He took a half-step forward with lingering fear, but still subconsciously puffed out his chest and raised his voice:

“With your current identity, do you still need to be afraid of them?”

You have so many ghosts and monsters under your command!

You could practically walk sideways!

To his surprise, Wen Jianyan shook his head and said solemnly, “No, quite the opposite. This time, the win rate between the Red and Black sides is indeed fifty-fifty, and the Red Faction might even have a slight upper hand.”

Su Cheng froze: “How so?”

Wen Jianyan: “The strongest entity in this instance is not the spirits sealed inside 1316, but Granny Wen. Don’t forget, she’s the instigator of all this. As long as she makes contact with the streamers, the completion of the tenth Soul-Locking Urn is not far away. Moreover, not only does the Red Faction have more people, but their faction also includes Granny Wen’s paper tiger ghosts and various evil sorcery implements. Unless I’m willing to sacrifice my followers, I am absolutely no match for her in a head-on confrontation.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Good heavens, he’s already calling them “my followers”… He’s accepted his new identity way too easily!]

[Dying of laughter. He really is a dedicated cult leader!]

[But the dog scammer is indeed right. This instance’s faction battle is really hard to fight. The forces on both sides are evenly matched, which is why it’s a faction instance instead of a hunting instance.]

[Also, I remember streamers can’t actively change factions, right? Even if the Black Faction wins, his two teammates will still die in this instance… Hiss, that’s just too painful.]

[It’s too hard to predict this faction battle!! It’s completely impossible to say who will win!]

[? Why are you guys all seriously analyzing the situation? Am I the only one seriously appreciating my battle-damaged wife?]

[Wuwuwuwuwu me too! Tattoos, battle damage, torn clothes, what a fragrant setup, this child is already swooning!]

[Who cares which side has a higher win rate, I’m mindlessly betting on my wife to win anyway! [Tipped 100 points]]

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly summarized:

“Actually, the main mission of this faction battle is essentially fighting over the Soul-Locking Urn.”

After all, only nine urns had been created in the instance so far, making the sealing array against the evil spirit still incomplete.

Earlier in 1316, Wen Jianyan had only temporarily broken the seals on those urns. Unless the person who created the seals was killed, those spirits wouldn’t truly be free.

If the Red Faction created the tenth Soul-Locking Urn before the Black Faction could act, the array would automatically complete itself. The urns whose seals Wen Jianyan broke would reactivate, and the evil spirit would be directly sealed.

But if the Black Faction snatched the ninth Soul-Locking Urn from the Red Faction and broke it before the tenth one was made, the array would be directly shattered, and the evil spirit would be immediately released.

So, the focal point of winning this faction battle was which side could acquire the next Soul-Locking Urn.

However, aside from that, there were two points Wen Jianyan couldn’t ignore.

First, although he was in the Black Faction, he didn’t want to complete the Black Faction’s main mission… because the main mission was to release that evil spirit! The very evil spirit he stabbed in the heart in the previous instance!

And second, it was Su Cheng and Ji Guan’s Red Faction identities.

If he actually snatched and broke the ninth Soul-Locking Urn, it might instead trigger the worst ending—

Total annihilation.

This was why Wen Jianyan said the Red Faction might even have a slight upper hand.

After all, the opposing side didn’t have to face such a difficult dilemma.

However… not necessarily.

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes thoughtfully. His fair, slender knuckles bent slightly, tapping against his knee in a rhythmic, yet disjointed manner.

Su Cheng knew this meant the other party was thinking.

For some reason, he had an almost blind sense of trust in this scammer who seemingly had no bottom line and a mouth full of lies. For no reason at all, he just believed that the other party wouldn’t submit to the rules’ domination so easily, nor sacrifice teammates just to survive.

But watching the other party lower his eyes in deep thought, Su Cheng felt a faint chill down his spine.

His premonitions were almost never wrong.

So… this guy must be plotting something wicked!!!

Time ticked away. The walls on both sides of the corridor were now completely covered in crimson, slippery flesh, pulsing faintly to the rhythm of a heartbeat, looking utterly polluting.

Wen Jianyan raised his eyelids slightly. A pair of amber, clear, and harmless eyes looked over from under his eyelashes:

“Wait a moment.”

He stood up, turned around, and limped into 1316.

Low conversational voices came from inside the room.

The young man seemed to be talking to another blurry, intermittent voice. Their conversation was masked by the wet, sticky sounds of writhing, making it almost impossible to hear clearly from outside.

Outside the room, Su Cheng and Ji Guan looked at each other in dismay, completely clueless as to what tricks this guy was pulling.

The number of live viewers in both their live broadcast rooms rapidly decreased, all running to the “Integrity First” live broadcast room to watch the show.

Only a minute later did the viewer count in their rooms finally start to climb back up.

[…Fuck, fuck! FUCK!!]

[I’m speechless, I’m truly speechless… How could anyone think of such a… such a ‘that’ kind of solution!!]

[I just want to say two words to the two little cuties: Run! (Screaming hoarsely)]

Soon, Wen Jianyan poked his head out from the room.

“About the faction thing…”

The young man’s face was still slightly pale from excessive blood loss. His eyes curved into crescents, the corners of his lips curling up harmlessly. Deep within his light-colored pupils, ripples danced, making him look exceptionally approachable and likable.

“I want to do an experiment; would you guys be willing to help?”

Wen Jianyan asked with a beaming smile.

Su Cheng: “…”

Ji Guan: “…”

This time, even Ji Guan couldn’t help but shudder. An ominous premonition slowly welled up in his heart.

Wh-what is this guy trying to do?!

Inside Granny Wen’s room.

The small compartment was packed with many streamers, making the already cramped space feel even more suffocating.

The scent of incense ash wafted in the air. Electronic candles flickered with a faint red glow in the dark. Various bizarre and evil ritual implements were placed everywhere, almost making one’s hair stand on end.

The evil brass Bodhisattva statue sat upright on its base, its expression compassionate, silently gazing at everyone in the dark.

From time to time, a streamer would cast a puzzled glance at the Bodhisattva statue—did this Bodhisattva statue have such a huge dent on it before?

Also…

Isn’t this arm a bit crooked?

Granny Wen coughed heavily twice, finally drawing the attention of all the streamers.

Seeing that everyone had focused their gaze on her, Granny Wen raised her cloudy eyes covered in white cataracts and said slowly: “Your guess is correct. The evil spirit has not yet been completely suppressed by the Bodhisattva. Once the evil spirit reappears in the world, the entire world will surely suffer a great catastrophe.”

“For the Bodhisattva to completely suppress the evil spirit, the tenth Soul-Locking Urn is absolutely essential. However, to complete the Soul-Locking Urn, sacrifices must be offered.”

The entire room fell silent. Only the intentionally lightened, shallow breathing of the streamers could be heard. Everyone focused their attention, listening to Granny Wen’s words.

She stared at the streamers before her with those terrifying eyes, slowly continuing:

“Since you have come here, you should already be mentally prepared to pay the price, right?”

Sacrifices.

Just hearing these two words made one feel uneasy.

Wang Hanyu and Gao Chengxin exchanged a subtle look: “Of course.”

While speaking, Granny Wen tremblingly leaned over, opened a cabinet beside her, and took out a pitch-black pottery jar.

“Only a soul dyed pitch-black by desire and slaughter can become the raw material for making a Soul-Locking Urn.”

She reached out an old, shriveled hand, grabbed a handful of grayish-white incense ash from the incense burner dedicated before the Bodhisattva statue, and sprinkled it deep into the jar. A small Bagua mirror lay at the bottom of the jar:

“Locking the soul into the urn, unable to enter reincarnation, unable to leave the square inch.”

Granny Wen took out a stack of yellow paper and cinnabar, placing them on the table.

She said slowly: “Logically speaking, sacrifices for the Soul-Locking Urn can only enter voluntarily, not dragged in by magic. But if the tenth Soul-Locking Urn cannot be made tonight, the evil spirit will break the seal. By then, everything will be irretrievable. So, I have no choice but to take a desperate risk, using living souls as a guide to drag the sacrifices into the urn.”

Saying that, Granny Wen took out a few small paper figurines from her pocket. She pricked her finger with a long needle. The moment her fresh blood dripped onto them, the paper figurines ignited on their own.

The paper ashes, mixed with Granny Wen’s blood, were finely stirred into the cinnabar.

Granny Wen placed the brush on the table, raising her eyes to look at the streamers before her:

“Come, write the true names of the three sacrifices on the yellow paper using cinnabar.”

One of the streamers froze, asking somewhat uncertainly: “Wait… Does that mean, the names written on the paper will be thrown into the urn and become sacrifices for refining the urn?”

“Naturally.” Granny Wen nodded slowly, saying:

“To refine the Soul-Locking Urn, there is no other way but this.”

In an instant, the entire narrow room fell into dead silence.

The streamers realized what the Red Faction’s test was—they would absolutely not voluntarily write their own names on the yellow paper. And in such an instance, all streamers addressed each other by the names on their identity cards. Only teammates who had entered the instance together knew each other’s true names.

To refine the Soul-Locking Urn, three people had to be sent into the urn to be refined.

In other words, if one didn’t want to be thrown into the urn by their teammates, they had to take the initiative to write their teammates’ names on it, turning them into nourishment to refine the urn.

There were twenty-three people in their Red Faction. It was impossible for so many people to move together. So, after confirming their faction, they split up. After those monsters disappeared, the paper figurines reappeared. The originally neat squad was scattered again under the paper figurines’ pursuit, and many streamers lost contact with their teammates.

And just at this moment, Granny Wen’s figure appeared before them, leading them to this room and informing them of the method to refine the tenth Soul-Locking Urn.

But this method was simply a bit too cruel.

The faces of all the streamers were extremely ugly.

Gao Chengxin broke the dead silence, asking Granny Wen: “Before us, did anyone else find this room of yours?”

Granny Wen didn’t answer directly.

Holding the black pottery jar, she slowly said word by word: “Our current world is situated at the boundary between illusion and reality. This room you are in does not truly exist. As long as someone wants to come to this room, they can find me, and I will provide them with help.”

In other words, they weren’t necessarily the first to find this room, nor were they necessarily the last.

It was even possible that in another part of this instance, a similar conversation was taking place.

The viewers in the Red Faction’s live broadcast rooms were hotly discussing the current battle situation:

[Does that mean other streamers can also encounter Granny Wen in other places and get the method to make the Soul-Locking Urn from her?]

[!! I get it. I was wondering why the paper figurines would pop out and start chasing streamers. These paper figurines were all made by Granny Wen. They were ordered by her to hunt down the Red Faction!]

[Fuck, does that mean Granny Wen intentionally scattered most of the Red Faction streamers from their teammates, and then told them the method to make the Soul-Locking Urn, making them betray their teammates?!]

[Isn’t this just the prisoner’s dilemma! This old woman is so toxic!]

[This instance could be renamed the Backstabbing Instance. On the Red Faction’s side, you can’t make the Soul-Locking Urn without betraying teammates. On the Black Faction’s side, you have to let your two teammates die if you want to win… Comparing carefully, this instance’s mechanics are even more toxic!]

[Speaking of which, what exactly is the Black Faction doing? They haven’t had any movement for a long time.]

[I just came from over there. Honestly… I didn’t understand it.]

[???]

[What do you mean you didn’t understand?]

[It’s just… hard to explain. Go see for yourself and you’ll know.]

In the corridor, the ominous dark red lights flickered faintly. The walls on both sides were turning into crimson, sticky flesh at a visible rate.

Drip, drop.

Corrosive liquid dripped down, making sizzling sounds on the floor.

Urgent, panicked footsteps echoed in the corridor. Two figures were running wildly, chased by ghosts and monsters.

Clack clack clack clack clack—

Pale limbs loomed in the pitch-black shadows. The rustling sound of crawling followed closely behind.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Ji Guan moved his two sore, weak legs without stopping for a moment, sprinting wildly with a look of breakdown: “Ahhhhhh why did things turn out like this!”

“How the fuck should I know!!!!”

Su Cheng also had a look of breakdown, narrowly avoiding a pale arm reaching out from a side corridor.

About five minutes ago, after Wen Jianyan smilingly proposed his so-called “experiment request,” before they could even agree, the familiar system notification sounded in their ears:

[ Congratulations to the streamer for triggering the scenario: Pursuit Battle.]

[Scenario Countdown: 10:00]

[If Health Points drop to zero, the streamer dies, and the live broadcast ends.]

[If SAN value drop to zero, the streamer will become part of the instance, and the live broadcast ends.]

[To provide viewers with a better viewing experience, please ensure the live broadcast remains smooth and do not disconnect!]

???

Wait???

What?????

Pursuit Battle?!

Su Cheng and Ji Guan were completely dumbfounded, almost unable to believe their ears.

What kind of situation is this?!

The young man standing at the boundary of light and dark leaned sideways against the doorframe. The fair, firm side of his body was covered in pitch-black talismans, which writhed and spread like living creatures under the dark red light.

With a smile on his lips, he looked innocent:

“I suggest you start running now.”

“Clack, clack.”

“Clack, clack.”

Behind him, the forms of pale monsters appeared.

Wen Jianyan reminded them with a smile: “They won’t go easy on you, you know.”

Su Cheng: “…”

Ji Guan: “…”

And so, the two men began fleeing for their lives in breakdown.

These monsters indeed didn’t go easy on them. They were absolutely trying to kill them!!!!!!

Fuck.

………This damn dog scammer!!!!