WTNL Chapter 67

Antai Community
Chapter 67: Counterattack

“…A deal?”

Granny Wen’s voice was hoarse and aged. She slowly raised her cloudy eyes, staring fixedly at the young man before her, as if trying to dissect him from the inside out through his seemingly unruffled mask: “What do you mean?”

“Actually, whether it was becoming an evil spirit believer or later joining their organization, neither was truly my wish.”

Wen Jianyan sighed. “Everything was merely forced by the necessity of survival.”

“Although I can deceive those evil ghosts and monsters for a time, who can guarantee they won’t eventually turn on me?”

He lowered his eyes, a look of lingering fear appearing on his face: “Even though I’ve reluctantly managed to keep my life for now, staying with these inhuman ghosts and monsters is truly too terrifying. It challenges my physiological limits as a human far too much.”

Granny Wen narrowed her eyes and said in a rippleless voice, “Since that’s the case, what deal do you want to make with me?”

“After I escaped into the mirror, I’m guessing you had everything calculated from that moment on, preparing to refine me into the urn along with everyone else.” Wen Jianyan didn’t answer directly. Instead, he slightly bent his knuckles, rubbing the cold, uneven edge of the Soul-Locking Urn, and slowly added, “Furthermore, you also confirmed that I could no longer escape from the mirror, didn’t you?”

After realizing that the instance’s alienation didn’t actually mean leaving the mirror, Wen Jianyan initially didn’t need to look for Granny Wen. Instead, he tried using the old method, letting the evil spirits in the Soul-Locking Urn drag him back to the real world through the original mirror.

He failed.

The passage that originally connected the two worlds was sealed from the outside, rendering all streamers who entered it unable to leave.

Wen Jianyan quickly realized exactly what had happened outside.

He and Su Cheng had run out of the mirror world, turned Granny Wen’s room upside down, and under the pursuit and blockade of numerous paper figurines, ultimately chose to escape by entering the mirror.

Granny Wen didn’t choose to chase after them. On the contrary, she chose to close the passage, stopping anyone from escaping, and then continued her plan—refining this reckless streamer into the Soul-Locking Urn along with the others.

In this regard, Granny Wen had clearly made two sets of preparations.

Even if those streamers whose names were written on the yellow paper didn’t succeed in slaughtering each other, the act of throwing them into the mirror was inherently a form of mutual betrayal. They could become sacrifices just the same.

“I could have broken the urn and ended all this, but you see, I chose to come to you to make a deal.”

Wen Jianyan spread his hands: “At the end of the day, I am only human. I actually don’t want the evil spirits to be released to plague the human world either… All this effort I’ve put in was actually just to survive.”

“So, as long as you are willing to reopen the passage and let me return to the real world, I am willing to return this last Soul-Locking Urn to you… As for what you want to do in this mirror world, or what you want to do to the other people, I promise I won’t interfere anymore.”

The young man looked up and said sincerely, “How about it?”

Granny Wen didn’t answer. Instead, she stared silently at him with her cloudy eyes, seemingly weighing and pondering something.

Wen Jianyan let her scrutinize him, his expression completely open and magnanimous.

He seemed to have already guessed Granny Wen’s current attitude and had prepared accordingly. He pulled out a contract from his pocket and slowly slid it over: “I understand. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably find it hard to trust me too.”

This was the very contract he had signed with Ji Guan in the previous instance. As long as the contract was signed, both parties would be bound by the system rules, and the contract’s contents would be strictly enforced.

“I trust you can tell that this is the real deal.” Wen Jianyan blinked.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[! This is a prop redeemed from the system mall, right? You can actually sign it with an NPC?]

[Not sure… it seems no streamer has actually tried it before?]

[Theoretically, it should be possible. I remember this prop doesn’t strictly stipulate that the signatories must be streamers.]

[He even pulled this out; this guy is actually sincere about making a deal! I’m shocked; does he really intend to end it in a draw?]

[Ah… so it’s like this. I didn’t expect it would end in a draw. Sigh, how boring.]

Granny Wen lowered her eyes and read carefully, word by word, not missing a single detail.

It stated that as long as she reopened the passage back to the real world and let Wen Jianyan out, he would return the Soul-Locking Urn to her. Furthermore, he promised not to come fight over it again, not to interfere with Granny Wen’s actions, and not to make an enemy out of her anymore.

Finally, she looked up and said in an uninflected voice, “How can I be sure you haven’t played any tricks in these terms?”

“You can’t.” Wen Jianyan shook his head.

“But if you think my terms aren’t good enough, and you aren’t willing to spare my life…” The young man pursed his lips and cowered slightly, a look of profound sorrow and fear appearing on his face: “Then I’m afraid I’ll have no other choice but to fight you to the bitter end and unseal the Soul-Locking Urn.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Hahahahahahahaha, using the most cowardly tone to drop the most ruthless threat.]

[Dying of laughter!]

[Mainly, Granny Wen is at a severe disadvantage in this deal. The streamer has already collected the winning prop and is only one step away from victory. Meanwhile, if Granny Wen doesn’t want the evil spirits to actually be summoned, she basically has no choice but to accept.]

[Moreover, the streamer’s conditions are actually quite reasonable. There’s no reason to refuse.]

[Forget it, a draw is a draw. Sigh.]

Granny Wen’s room plunged into dead silence.

Wen Jianyan waited patiently.

Granny Wen sat motionless at the table, staring at the contract in front of her. Half of her face was entirely hidden in darkness, as if she had turned into an immobile sculpture.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Granny Wen moved.

She slowly raised her head and said tremblingly, “Fine, since you promised not to interfere with my affairs or go against me anymore, I suppose I can let you off this once.”

With that, Granny Wen took out some cinnabar and pressed her handprint onto the contract. The next second, the contract turned into specks of light and vanished into thin air.

Wen Jianyan smiled. “Pleasant cooperating with you.”

The contract was established.

Granny Wen stood up, leaning on her cane. She walked over to the Bodhisattva statue, pushed aside the thick incense ash, and took out that small Bagua mirror from within.

A scarlet talisman paper was stuck onto the mirror’s surface, sealing it completely.

She patted the residual incense ash off the Bagua mirror with her wrinkled palm, muttered something under her breath, and then slowly peeled off the talismans one by one.

As the pasted talismans gradually disappeared, Wen Jianyan discovered that it was entirely different from the Bagua mirror he had seen before. Although it was still made of brass and the patterns and decorations on it were no different from a regular Bagua mirror, the intaglio text that originally symbolized the mirror world map was clearly revealed, taking on a glaring scarlet color under the dim light.

If the mirrors Granny Wen had distributed to the streamers before were all sub-mirrors, then this was likely the core mother mirror.

Granny Wen looked up at Wen Jianyan and slowly said in her hoarse voice, “Alright, come here.”

Wen Jianyan walked over.

“Place your hand on the mirror.”

The young man did as told.

The familiar sound of the system rang in Wen Jianyan’s ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the streamer for obtaining the instance’s hidden prop (Hard)!]

[Collection progress: 4/5]

“…”

Good heavens!

Wen Jianyan’s spirits lifted.

Granny Wen closed her eyes, chanting something softly.

The next second, Wen Jianyan felt an intense pulling force transmit from the mirror. Accompanied by an intense sensation of the world spinning, a heavy smell of incense ash hit his nose.

He stumbled a step, propping his hand against the wall to steady himself.

Wen Jianyan looked up.

He was currently standing in the center of Granny Wen’s room. The notification of the contract’s completion rang in his ears.

It was clear that he had now left the mirror world and returned to the real world.

“Are we even?” Granny Wen looked up at the young man standing in front of her.

Wen Jianyan nodded. “We’re even.”

He straightened his collar, turned around, and walked toward the door.

A subtle smile appeared on Granny Wen’s face. She turned around, leaning on her cane, and walked step by step to the table, watching his back with leisurely composure.

Creak.

The sound of the doorknob turning rang out.

Wen Jianyan pushed the door open and looked up.

Under the dim light, countless deathly pale, smiling paper figurines stood at the door, staring dead-on at him with eyes that looked as if they had been painted on.

Behind him, Granny Wen’s aged voice echoed faintly: “I remember the contract stated that I only promised to bring you back. I didn’t promise not to do anything to you, did I?”

Wen Jianyan’s expression changed, and he turned to look at Granny Wen. “You—”

A sinister and venomous smile appeared on the hunched old woman’s face. “You didn’t really think that after you committed such a massively disrespectful act toward the Bodhisattva statue, there wouldn’t be any consequences for you, did you?”

As she spoke, her voice became increasingly sharp and furious. The dim light overhead cascaded down, making the pitted statue look all the more tragic; in some places, the paint had even been scraped off.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Hahahahahahahaha damn, Granny Wen really holds a grudge!]

[Mainly… who told the streamer to smash her statue! There’s no better way to offend a fanatic than that.]

[Hahahahaha, this Bodhisattva statue really looks so miserable. I think its head was even smashed a bit crooked.]

“Now that the Soul-Locking Urn is in my hands, you are of no use…” Granny Wen stared gloomily at Wen Jianyan not far away and reached out to pick up the Soul-Locking Urn.

The heavy weight made her palm sink.

Granny Wen paused slightly, involuntarily stopping her words. She looked down, glancing at the Soul-Locking Urn in her hand with some confusion.

The weight seemed… not quite right?

An ominous premonition suddenly arose in her heart.

Granny Wen opened the lid of the Soul-Locking Urn and looked inside. Inside the urn, aside from the original skeletal remains and the unsealed Bagua mirror, there was another mirror.

But this mirror was completely bare, with no talismans stuck to it.

The shiny brass mirror surface lay quietly at the bottom of the urn, reflecting the dim light in the room.

Granny Wen’s pupils shrank, and her fingers involuntarily trembled slightly.

This… this is…

This is impossible!

Something flashed slightly within the mirror’s surface.

Crack, clack.

Crack, clack.

The familiar sound of bones grating against each other rang out in the narrow room.

A deathly pale arm reached out from the mirror.

The young man standing at the door laughed softly, his amber eyes narrowing slightly. “I remember the contract only stated that I wouldn’t interfere with your plans and wouldn’t make an enemy out of you… But I didn’t guarantee that if anything came back with me, they wouldn’t do something to you, right?”

Granny Wen stood rooted to the spot, her face the color of earth. She stared fixedly at Wen Jianyan not far away, as if wanting to tear him to shreds and execute him by a thousand cuts with her gaze alone. One by one…

Pale, deformed monsters crawled out of the mirror. On their faceless visages, mouths as huge as black holes tore open, and their sharp, jagged teeth sank deeply into Granny Wen’s arm.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh—”

Her hunched, short body shook like a sieve.

Piercing, shrill screams tore from Granny Wen’s throat. The miserable voice contained intense terror and resentment, echoing through the cramped room.

One after another, the thin, spindly arms of ghosts wrapped around the old woman. Deathly pale fingers grabbed her lapels, the hem of her clothes, her arms, legs, and throat, climbing into her hair, ears, and face.

As if embracing a lover, they tightened bit by bit.

The cracking sound of fracturing bones rang out.

Granny Wen’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Through the gaps between the pale fingers, she glared fixedly at Wen Jianyan. “You tricked me! You tricked me!!!”

“You little bitch, I curse you! You will die a horrible death!!!”

“Bodhisattva protect me, Bodhisattva protect me!!!” Her bloodshot, scarlet eyeballs darted around wildly deep within their sockets, looking frantic and terrifying.

“Evil spirits can never win! NEVER!!! You will all die! The Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva will help me!”

“Oh, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I almost forgot…”

Wen Jianyan seemed to remember something and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

He opened the camera, adjusted the focus and angle, and then half-crouched down, seriously taking a picture of the scene before him. “Don’t move.”

Granny Wen, who couldn’t move even if she wanted to, was so infuriated her eyes were about to explode.

Click.

The shutter sound rang out in the room.

The system’s voice sounded in his ears:

[Main quest: Take a photo for the evil spirits completed. Reward: 10,000 points]
[Completion rate: 100%]
[Current stage plot alteration rate: 93%. Reward: 50,000 points]

Wen Jianyan stood up with satisfaction.

Looking at the timing of when this quest was issued, the true evil spirit sealed in the mirror hadn’t appeared yet, and he hadn’t yet become a so-called evil spirit believer.

According to the updated main quest description, Wu Qinghe decided to take a photo as a video thumbnail to make his video more controversial and get more attention and traffic.

From this, it could be seen that the ‘evil spirits’ in this main quest were a general term, not a specific entity.

He looked down, examined the photo he had just taken, and then chose an underworld-style filter for it.

Inside a chaotic, narrow room filled with countless sinister magical instruments, the crooked brass Bodhisattva statue looked down upon everything before it. Granny Wen’s aged face was contorted in fear and despair, casting a venomous glare outward from amidst the embrace of countless pale arms.

Wen Jianyan was extremely satisfied with his photography skills.

“Thank you. I’ve already figured out the title for this episode’s video. It’ll be called ‘Good and Evil Will Eventually Face Their Due’, how about it?” Wen Jianyan looked up at Granny Wen and asked with a smile.

Granny Wen’s eyes remained fixed on Wen Jianyan. Her twisted, deformed lips twitched, seemingly cursing him silently.

Wen Jianyan revealed a thoughtful expression:

“Calling it ‘Karmic Backlash’ isn’t bad either.”

Crack, clack.

Crack, clack.

This time, the sound of bones grinding came from Granny Wen’s body.

Under the compression of countless external forces, her body deformed, twisted, and was forcibly compressed, compressed, and compressed again… just like every soul previously imprisoned in the Soul-Locking Urn, she was dragged alive into the tiny urn.

The walls gradually became scarlet and soft.

“Thank, you.”

That stilted, somewhat unaccustomed voice sounded.

Wen Jianyan shrugged. “This is the deal we made earlier, isn’t it?”

He walked over to the cabinet, picked up the mirror Granny Wen had just taken out, and skillfully pocketed it. A casual smile curled on his lips. “I said it before: even without needing to summon the Father God, I can set you free and let you complete your revenge—”

Crack.

A faint, metallic cracking sound rang out.

Wen Jianyan paused, subconsciously stopping his words, and turned his head toward the source of the sound.

He saw the final Soul-Locking Urn half-tipped on the ground. Scarlet blood and crushed bone and flesh remained at the narrow mouth of the urn. That patch of floor had already been dyed red with blood, and a continuous stream of blood flowed out from the urn’s mouth.

The Bagua mirror with the talisman pasted on its surface lay in the pool of blood, the talisman on it soaked through by the crimson blood.

Crack.

Another cracking sound rang out.

This time, Wen Jianyan finally saw a fine crack appear on the Bagua mirror, which then rapidly spread.

W-Wait?

Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank.

Wait?!

No, no, no way, right?

He frantically pulled out his phone and opened his Nightmare APP background:

[Main quest: Destroy all Soul-Locking Urns and completely release the evil spirits]
[Completion rate: 97%]

In just a few short seconds, that number jumped up again: [Completion rate: 98%]

Cheers erupted in the live broadcast plaza of the [Antai Community]: [Oh oh oh oh oh! The Black faction is going to win!!]

The win rate bar suspended overhead finally began to tilt for the very first time!

The Black faction’s win rate surged like a landslide, skyrocketing from the dead center position!!!

[Ahhhhhhh, so happy!]

[Although the Black faction won this time, there actually weren’t many people left in the Red faction anyway. Most were either converted or died in the infighting. Even though this Antai Community instance mutated, the final mortality rate is actually the lowest in history. I really didn’t expect this…]

[Hahahahaha, I finally picked the right side this time.]

[This instance should end very soon, right? Two or three minutes at most. Hurry, hurry, I can’t wait for the dividends!]

Most of the viewers were happily and heatedly discussing, looking forward to the upcoming point dividends.

However, some viewers suddenly noticed a strange point: [Speaking of which, the faction war was clearly won, so why does that Black faction streamer look completely unhappy?]

[Eh… it seems so.]

[Now that you mention it, he could have just won outright just now, but he took the initiative to make a deal with Granny Wen… Aside from wanting to seek benefits for his followers, could it be that he truly didn’t want to complete the main quest?]

[Why though? I can’t figure it out!]

Wen Jianyan’s face was deathly pale.

No way, no way, NO WAY, right?

The seal is lifted after the caster is finished off?!

Don’t you stupid quests even give a heads-up for something this important!!

Wen Jianyan was somewhat on the verge of a breakdown.

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and slowly reached into his pocket, taking out the mirror fragment he had found in the Bodhisattva statue’s base.

The mirror surface was a pitch-black chaos.

He didn’t know if it was just his illusion, but the man’s figure, which was originally just a phantom, seemed to have become… quite a bit more solid.

“Hiss!”

Wen Jianyan felt an intense stinging pain from his fingertips. The pad of his finger was cut by the edge of the fragment, and the mirror fragment slipped through his fingers, letting out a clinking sound as it dropped.

Right at this moment, the familiar system notification rang in his ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the streamer for completing the main quest: Destroy all Soul-Locking Urns and completely release the evil spirits]

Wen Jianyan: “……………………”

Excuse me, is it still too late to emigrate to Mars right now?

__

Author’s Note:

Karmic Backlash (Scammer Dog Exclusive)

Wen Jianyan: Anyway, I should calm down first and look for a time machine…