WTNL Chapter 65

Antai Community
Chapter 65: Tampering with God’s words, stealing God’s majesty, and robbing God’s believers

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[…Amazing, truly amazing.]

[I’m in a trance; am I watching a nightmare stream? This is clearly a missionary scene!]

[Ahhhhhhhh damn, this kind of villainous priest is too sexy!!! I’m really bewitched!!!]

[Wuuuuuuu yes yes, I want to join the cult too, Lord Priest, please baptize me personally, I’ve already taken off my clothes!]

[??? I just came over from the Red Faction next door. What’s going on? What is all this?]

[I also just came in… I completely can’t understand it anymore. Why is it that the Red Faction streamer clearly didn’t die, but the backend shows the number of Red Faction streamers has decreased? Were they transferred to the Black Faction? But that’s not right either, the number of people in the Black Faction is still 1? Ahhhhhhhh help, can someone explain it to me!]

[Actually, to put it simply, this dog scammer is just too damn good at playing the rules.]

[It’s obvious that the streamers in this faction war can’t switch factions. Although the dog scammer now has the identity of a cult leader, his cult can only take ghosts as believers; he can’t recruit people at all. I remember he went through a chase battle in that Decai Middle School instance. So this move, he’s using the monsters under him to first lower the Red Faction streamer’s SAN value to a critical point, making the streamer’s attributes lean more towards a monster than a human in the system’s judgment. Under these extreme conditions, he proselytizes and makes the other party his believer.]

[Right, and because the SAN value is already so low that they are on the verge of losing normal cognitive ability, the success rate of proselytizing is basically 100%!]

[Damn… So that’s how it is; I’m dumbfounded too.]

[Wait, but if that’s the case, aren’t those streamers pretty much mutated? Isn’t that the same as being killed directly?]

[You guys don’t get it; this dog scammer even calculated this point!]

[??? What do you mean?]

[Did you guys forget? This is a chase battle!]

[!!! Holy shit! Right!]

[Although the SAN value has dropped to 1%, as long as it hasn’t hit zero, the streamer won’t be completely mutated…]

[Right, so even if the streamer’s SAN value leans towards a monster right now, as long as the time limit of the chase battle ends and the streamer hasn’t been judged as dead, it counts as a win! They’re fucking alive!]

[Exactly, this can’t be compared to the dog scammer’s ghost mother state in the last instance. This SAN value calculation is only effective during the chase battle.]

[And then the chase battle ends, and although the streamer survives, their faith faction has changed. Not only can they not be considered a Red Faction streamer, but because of this living state, they can’t be considered a Black Faction streamer either… So the number of people in the Red Faction keeps decreasing, while the Black Faction number stays at 1.]

[Ahhhhhhhh omg! I’m shocked, shocked! Mom asked me why I’m watching the stream on my knees!]

[When it comes to exploiting bugs, if this dog scammer claims to be second, no one dares to claim first, alright!]

[Is this a line of thought a normal human could come up with! Is it!]

[Oh my god… To think there’s someone who plays the game like this, I’ve really broadened my horizons. I bet even the instance itself didn’t expect someone to do this!]

[The streamer’s skill at exploiting loopholes in the rules is pure perfection!!!!]

[Ahhhhhhhh I’m a fan now, wuuuuuuu from now on, whenever this stream is live, I’ll watch it!]

In just a short ten minutes, the number of online viewers in the “Integrity First” live broadcast room soared to a new high, directly breaking through the 100,000 mark!

[Ding! The number of online viewers in the live broadcast room has exceeded 100,000!]

[Congratulations to the streamer for achieving the milestone: I am the most handsome guy in this instance!

Your live broadcast room has attracted nearly 53% of the online viewers in the entire instance, and the viewership ratings are leaving everyone in the dust! You have become the most popular live broadcast room in this instance!]

[Congratulations to the streamer for achieving the milestone: New Broadcasting Noble!

Wow, your live broadcast room is shining brilliantly under your management, and more and more viewers are drawn in by your charm!

Please continue to burn your life, forge ahead bravely, and create an even higher quality viewing experience for your audience!]

The walls slowly reverted from a slimy, bloody texture back to ordinary, cold brick and stone.

The countdown for the chase battle finally slowly reached zero.

Chen Mo felt his mind gradually returning to normal. The intense fear and bizarre, terrifying hallucinations from just now slowly vanished from before his eyes. The overly extreme changes left him dizzy and nauseous.

What… happened?

The memories of just now were shrouded in a twisted, bloody filter. The lingering images in his mind were all weird and cold. The only thing clear was a distant voice.

That voice was gentle and bewitching, but it made him feel an inexplicable fear, a strong shudder spreading from the depths of his soul.

Chen Mo abruptly raised his head, looking in astonishment at the empty space in front of him.

However, that blurry, holy figure from just now had disappeared.

What exactly was going on?

Could it be… that everything only existed in his hallucinations?

Chen Mo was in a daze.

Just then, approaching footsteps came from the corridor outside. Chen Mo instantly became alert. He hadn’t forgotten that the so-called “chance for self-salvation” required the three streamers dragged in here to slaughter each other to obtain it.

Could it be that the other streamers had also survived the chase battle and were preparing to make a move on him?

Before Chen Mo could violently retaliate, a head poked in through the doorway.

“…”

Chen Mo blanked for a moment.

He had absolutely no impression of this face; it wasn’t either of the other two streamers.

The next second, the head pulled back and shouted towards the corridor behind, “The newcomer is here!”

“???”

Chen Mo’s expression grew even more bewildered.

What newcomer?

What was the other person talking about?

A new set of footsteps gradually approached in this direction, and soon, a person’s figure appeared in the doorway.

Chen Mo was very familiar with the person who came this time.

His eyes widened slightly. “Why is it you?”

Su Cheng was also taken aback.

Oh, an old acquaintance.

Ji Guan seemed completely oblivious to the subtle atmosphere between the two. He ran in cheerfully: “You must be very confused right now, right? Do you completely not understand what just happened? It’s fine, the two of us are here to answer all your questions.”

He said, pretending to be profound:

“After joining the cult, we are all one family.”

Chen Mo: “?????”

Su Cheng: “…”

Just shut up.

He turned to look at Chen Mo, cleared his throat, and then briefly explained everything. “Anyway, this is roughly the situation right now. Even though you haven’t died yet, you are already a member of our cult, so you have automatically withdrawn from the Red Faction.”

“…”

Chen Mo raised a hand to press against his faintly throbbing temples. The side effects of his SAN value dropping to nearly zero hadn’t completely faded, leaving his brain a bit muddled. “Wait? What cult?”

Ji Guan: “It hasn’t been named yet, but I hope the name can be a bit more badass. However, the cult leader’s naming skills are truly uncomplimentary. If you have any good ideas, you can share them…”

“…”

Su Cheng slowly spoke with a deadpan expression, interrupting Ji Guan’s endless babbling: “I think that’s not what he was asking.”

But rather a condensed way of asking, “What’s all this nonsense about a cult?”

Ji Guan: “…Oh.”

After a brief moment of confusion, Chen Mo’s mind gradually cleared up, and he slowly understood what the other party had just said.

He paused, took his phone out of his pocket, and opened the backend to take a look.

He didn’t know since when, but the Red and Black faction logos in the backend had disappeared, leaving only a blank space that looked like a system glitch.

…It was actually true.

“Although this is the cult leader’s doing, trust me, we also made tremendous sacrifices for this.”

Ji Guan pointed at Su Cheng and himself with a pained expression.

“…”

As if recalling some unbearable memories, Su Cheng’s expression twisted, and his face turned slightly green.

A wave of “?” floated across the bullet screen.

[? What’s wrong? Did I miss something?]

[What happened? Why do these two look like they have deep psychological trauma?]

[Hahahahahahahaha the few of you above can check the replay after the instance ends, it’s really interesting!]

[???]

[Basically, although the dog scammer thought of a way to exploit the bug, firstly, he wasn’t sure if this method would work; secondly, he didn’t know how low the SAN value had to drop to reach the instance’s recognized mutation threshold; and thirdly, he didn’t know how to maintain HP while the SAN value was dropping like crazy… So these two unlucky bastards bore the brunt and became test subjects.]

[Hahahahahaha exactly, and the system only judges the chase battle as started when the monsters get serious, so they were legitimately chased for eighteen streets!]

[Hahahahahahahaha yes, and at the beginning, the dog scammer wasn’t sure which monster was more effective, so he let both types of monsters chase them together…]

[Hahahahahaha I’d have psychological trauma too if it were me!]

Chen Mo stared at the display on his phone screen, unable to process it for a moment.

Wait…

So to speak, in this faction war, he no longer belonged to any faction?

He had done so many streams and experienced so many instances, yet he had never seen something like this before.

However, such an absurd scenario was plainly laid out right in front of him.

This left Chen Mo momentarily at a loss for what to do.

“Of course, even though you’ve been baptized, as long as you’re still a human, theoretically you’re still a free agent,” Su Cheng added, recalling something.

“So, what you do next is up to you. My suggestion is to buy enough points and stall until the instance ends. Of course, if you want to leave the mirror, that’s fine too, but we’ll have to get the cult leader to do that.”

Chen Mo lowered his eyes and pondered for a long while before looking up:

“Where is your cult leader?”

“What do you mean? What do you mean it failed?”

Wang Hanyu frowned deeply, pressing his palms hard against the tabletop, leaning his face close to Wen Po, and asked in disbelief.

The number of people in the Red Faction in the backend had clearly decreased, and the number of people in the Black Faction hadn’t increased. Logically speaking, the refining of the Soul-Locking Urn should have been completed!

How could this happen!

Wen Po kept her head down, the wrinkled and loose skin on her face trembling slightly. Her cloudy eyes stared fixedly at the black pottery jar in front of her, seemingly just as puzzled.

Finally, after a brief contemplation, she slowly raised her head and said:

“The refining of the Soul-Locking Urn does indeed have a probability of failure.”

Just like the previous 1304, she had failed to refine that Soul-Locking Urn. As for why there was a failure this time… Wen Po also found it hard to pinpoint the reason.

After all, she couldn’t create a mirror world; she could only use mirrors to create passages. As for what exactly happened inside and whether the urn could be refined successfully, that depended on unseen fate.

Although there was indeed a possibility of failure, she didn’t know why, regarding this failure…

Wen Po couldn’t shake off an ominous premonition.

She slowly raised her head, sweeping her thick, cataract-covered eyes over the crowd in front of her, and said, “Since that’s the case, I will need three more sacrifices.”

“What?! You still need three more?!”

At this, the other streamers protested: “But didn’t you just say that as long as we hand over three people, the tenth Soul-Locking Urn can be refined? How can you go back on your word now—”

Before he could finish his sentence, his pupils suddenly constricted.

A pair of deathly pale, paper-like hands abruptly reached out from behind him, violently gripping the streamer’s ankles and yanking him fiercely backward!

Before the streamer even had time to scream, he was dragged into the depths of a mirror that had appeared behind him at some unknown time.

“…”

In an instant, the entire room plunged into dead silence.

All the streamers looked terrible, watching the old woman who looked like she had one foot in the grave not far away with half-vigilance and half-fear.

Wen Po tremblingly raised her eyes and spoke slowly:

“Have you forgotten? My room here is located at the boundary between reality and illusion. Anyone who wants to see me can enter it. If you are unwilling to write down names, naturally someone else will be willing.”

She used a senile, completely non-threatening tone to slowly speak extremely terrifying words:

“It just depends on whether you are willing to take a gamble.”

Gamble on whether your teammates will betray you.

In the Red Faction’s live broadcast room:

[Oh my, I finally know why this instance allows targeted distress calls, it’s precisely to make streamers who know each other backstab one another.]

[This is simply a test of humanity…]

[And the Red Faction probably doesn’t know about the Black Faction’s meddling yet. Just thinking about the teammates they betrayed coming back out to confront them makes me so excited.]

[Ahhhh this plot twist is thrilling!]

Inside the narrow room, the streamers exchanged glances, seeing the same grave expressions in each other’s eyes.

They realized that they had essentially opened Pandora’s box right now. Whether it was to win or for self-preservation, there was no longer any possibility of turning back.

They could only gamble.

Gamble that the next urn would be refined successfully.

The ground vibrated slightly, and eerie whispers and the sound of squirming liquid came from not far away.

Chen Mo subconsciously halted his steps, looking towards the direction of the sound in apprehension and uncertainty.

“It’s fine,”

Ji Guan stepped up from behind him and patted his shoulder comfortingly, “This means we’re about to have a new partner.”

Chen Mo: “…”

Oh.

Su Cheng: “Let’s go, we should be able to find the cult leader by following the sound.”

Even though calling that dog scammer ‘cult leader’ was weird, after saying it so much… it actually rolled off the tongue quite easily.

The group walked towards the direction of the sound.

Under the dark red lighting, the walls and the floor all took on a bizarrely soft texture. The further they went, the stronger the smell of blood became, and the more severe the mutation of the walls.

The scarlet, slimy flesh walls pulsated like some kind of living creature, instilling a nameless sense of dread. The familiar texture triggered some unpleasant memories for Chen Mo. Although his expression didn’t change much, his face involuntarily paled slightly.

Soon, an open door appeared not far away.

A young man’s low voice drifted over. The tone was extremely gentle and clear, but deep within his vocal cords seemed to harbor some invisible power that made Chen Mo’s mind and soul tremble, uncontrollably pausing his steps.

“It’s just up ahead.” Su Cheng and Ji Guan stopped. “You go ahead.”

Chen Mo nodded and walked forward.

He hadn’t taken many steps when he heard Ji Guan’s voice from behind: “Hey, then the newcomer this time is left to you. Don’t forget to explain the current situation to him, just like we did with you.”

“…”

Chen Mo’s steps involuntarily faltered.

To suddenly be treated as a senior member of this bizarre cult was truly… very subtle.

He took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and then stepped towards the room where the voice came from.

As the distance shortened, thinking that the so-called evil cult leader was just nearby, Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel nervous.

Soon, after turning a corner, the back of a young man came into view.

He was half-squatting in front of a dazed streamer, seemingly saying something.

The clothes on the young man were reduced to scraps. Under the dark red light, the undulating lines of his shoulder blades were clear and elegant, rolling beneath pale skin with his movements. Pitch-black talisman lines covered half of his back, outlining a slender, firm waist, and even faintly extended downward, swallowed by the sunken shadows at his waistband.

The streamer in front of him had an unfocused look, his expression vacant and obsessed. This obsession had nothing to do with romance; it was as if his soul had been captured by some more mysterious, loflevel existence.

The young man leaned down, dipped his fingers in the scarlet liquid oozing from the walls, and gently touched the other’s forehead and cheeks.

His movements were gentle and affectionate, accompanied by a sizzling sound of corrosion.

The entire process appeared exceptionally evil and weird, yet inexplicably held an unspeakable, terrifying magnetism, pulling at one’s line of sight like gravity, making it impossible not to focus on the scene unfolding before them.

This should be the “baptism” the other two streamers had just mentioned.

Fragments of memory surfaced in the depths of Chen Mo’s chaotic mind, caused by his lowered SAN value. He subconsciously raised his hand and touched the same spot on his own face.

A faint stinging sensation reminded him that he had also received the same ritual.

Chen Mo involuntarily shivered.

Soon, the young man stood up and turned his head to look in his direction.

In the dim light, the young man’s handsome facial contours were clearly visible. A familiar pair of amber eyes were slightly narrowed, exuding a strange sense of nonchalance.

“…You?”

Chen Mo blanked, recognizing that the young man in front of him was actually the “NPC” who claimed to be the resident of 1304.

“Aren’t you—”

Wen Jianyan blinked, “Hm?”

He carefully scrutinized the streamer in front of him for a few seconds before a look of sudden realization appeared on his face: “Oh, oh, that NPC identity, I made it up to trick you guys.”

Chen Mo: “…………”

The other party’s attitude of admitting he lied was so matter-of-fact, lacking even the slightest hint of shame at being exposed. It simply left him speechless.

“Ugh ahhhh—”

The time limit for the chase battle of the streamer not far away had obviously not ended yet. The excessively low SAN value caused his expression to twist in panic. He sat frozen on the spot; who knew what hallucinations he was seeing, but intermittent screams tore from his mouth.

“Let’s go, we’ll talk outside.”

Wen Jianyan took a step, leading the way out of the room.

Chen Mo stood rooted to the spot, staring at that streamer for a few seconds before he turned around and followed in Wen Jianyan’s footsteps.

“Why did you do this?”

Chen Mo asked straightforwardly, “Why did you save us?”

He was truly very confused about this.

Even if Chen Mo hadn’t completely figured out the method for making the Soul-Locking Urn, just a simple association with Granny Wen’s earlier statement led to the conclusion—the streamers who had been thrown in were likely related to it, and they were all doomed.

However, this move by the Black Faction streamer not only freed them from danger but also generously threw in a huge bonus gift:

Freedom.

These streamers would no longer be bound by the rules of the faction war. Regardless of whether the Red or Black faction won in the end, they wouldn’t be implicated and become the sacrificial victims of this instance.

“First, the most direct reason is that my two friends were assigned to the Red Faction.”

Wen Jianyan pondered for a moment, then said lightly:

“However, after releasing them from the constraints of the faction war, I really didn’t have any need to save you all as well. After all, this method is truly quite troublesome.”

Chen Mo silently watched the other, waiting for his next words.

“The most important reason I did this is that I don’t want to win.”

Under the dark red lighting, the young man smiled faintly. Ripples flickered deep in his amber eyes, making him seem exceptionally elusive.

If Wen Jianyan truly wanted to win, after freeing Su Cheng and Ji Guan, the first thing he should have done was to hunt down the Red Faction streamers and snatch the Soul-Locking Urns from their hands.

After all, this was the only way to win this faction war—

Break the Soul-Locking Urns and liberate the evil spirit.

However, Wen Jianyan didn’t want to liberate the evil spirit.

Chen Mo was stunned: “…Why?”

The young man narrowed his eyes, a smile playing on his lips, “Think about it. If the true god of a cult descended, how could they possibly still need me?”

He gently rubbed his finger joints and said unhurriedly:

“If I can’t tamper with the god’s words, steal the god’s majesty, and snatch the god’s believers, what’s the point of being this evil cult leader?”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Good heavens, this move is a total usurpation!]

[I’m dying of laughter, being this guy’s god is such bad luck!]

[Pfft! This dog scammer makes it sound so high and mighty, but he actually just doesn’t want to see the evil spirit he’s offended eight hundred times!]

[Who went to watch the heart-stabbing replay from the last instance just now? That would be me.]

[It’s truly a chilling thrill hahahahaha, every time I watch it, it feels great!]

Wen Jianyan looked at Chen Mo, who was shocked speechless by his previous statement, and smoothly changed the subject: “Speaking of which, what did you come looking for me to do?”

Chen Mo took a deep breath. “I want to go back outside.”

“You’ve made up your mind?”

Wen Jianyan revealed a thoughtful expression: “If you ask me, I would suggest you stay here. Granny Wen can’t directly influence this place, and now that you’ve broken away from the Red Faction, you can completely survive until the instance ends by exchanging points.”

Chen Mo pursed his lips, lowered his eyes, and replied in a cold, hard tone, “There’s someone I still have unfinished business with.”

He looked fixedly at Wen Jianyan:

“What do I need to pay to let me go back? I can—”

“No need.” Wen Jianyan shook his head.

…No need? Chen Mo was taken aback.

The other’s response completely exceeded his expectations.

Wen Jianyan pulled out a Bagua mirror from his pocket. The deathly pale arm of a monster reached out from inside the mirror, climbing up along his chest.

“You are a member of my congregation, aren’t you?”

Since he wasn’t planning on completing the main quest, he had to ensure that the opposing side couldn’t complete their main quest either. Since Granny Wen was the mastermind behind the scenes, pulling the puppet strings and manipulating the Red Faction streamers to work their lives away for her, then, as the opposing force, Wen Jianyan needed to find a way to counterbalance her.

That was humanity’s simplest, most primal emotion.

Revenge.

The Black Faction’s puppet master leaned forward slightly, his amber eyes shimmering with a sweet glimmer beneath his eyelashes:

“It is my honor to serve you.”

__

Author’s Note:

Dog scammer: Come on, come on, let’s play dirty together! Let’s see who can outplay who!