WTNL Chapter 6.1

Decai Middle School
Chapter 6.1

The swimming hair remained completely still.

They densely covered the walls and the floor, looking as if some kind of shadow had persisted in reality.

Amidst a deathly silence, a gloomy pressure enveloped down from above, and the passage of time seemed to lose its meaning.

Wen Jianyan stood in place. Sweat seeped from his forehead and palms, and the comb lying in his palm also became damp.

He had no bottom in his heart.

However… his guess shouldn’t be wrong.

After all, this hidden item was originally dug out from the hidden compartment in the old witch’s cabinet.

At the time, he was very puzzled. After all, the things hidden in the secret compartment all looked very ordinary, and could even be considered trash, yet they were deeply hidden by the owner in the most concealed place.

“Those who don’t follow the rules must be punished.”

And in the cafeteria, that streamer was choked by hair precisely because of this.

In other words, this ghost was punishing students according to the old witch’s code of conduct. In short, it was helping her.

It was simply like… a child with insufficient self-awareness, showing unconditional attachment and obedience to its mother.

The comb in the hidden compartment, the hair in the sink, the familiar humming, the corresponding lyrics, and the cafeteria auntie’s hesitation to speak when mentioning Teacher Yang.

These fragmented clues strung together in his mind, and an incomplete concept gradually took shape.

Ultimately making Wen Jianyan make up his mind to turn around and head straight for the first floor.

Whether this place was the path to survival or not, he could only take a gamble.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, the hair finally began to move again.

That pitch-black, thick layer of hair slowly shrank back, thinning and shortening bit by bit, gradually revealing the ghastly pale limbs hidden right in the center.

The little girl was on all fours, her joints twisted bizarrely in all directions. Her neck was raised, lifting a ghastly pale little face. Her facial features were as blurry as a melted wax figure, and she stared fixedly ahead with pitch-black eye sockets:

“Mom… Mom…?”

She repeated these two words blankly, her voice carrying complete confusion and unfamiliarity.

There’s a chance.

Based on the other party’s current performance, the odds of winning were at fifty percent.

Thus, he unhesitatingly seized this precious opportunity right before his eyes.

“Xiao Jie…”

The young man’s voice was deliberately suppressed. In addition to being gruff, it also carried a bit of feminine softness. The enunciation and pauses all bore a subtle resemblance to Teacher Yang. A well-timed choke cleverly concealed any sense of incongruity. Even the viewers in the live broadcast room couldn’t help but be momentarily in a daze after hearing it:

“Do you not remember Mom anymore?”

The little girl repeated confusedly: “Re, member…?”

She tilted her head, facing Wen Jianyan directly with that face of blurry features, as if trying hard to recall.

Wen Jianyan waited without saying a word.

His heart pounded wildly in his ears. His fingers were slightly numb from excessive tension, and his back was sticky and wet, bringing a bone-piercing chill when the cold wind blew past. Under the intense pressure, the back of his knees were even trembling a bit.

However, judging by his expression, he was simply calm to an inhuman degree.

“Xiao… Jie…?”

The little girl recalled blankly.

Taking advantage of this gap, Wen Jianyan quickly threw a glance at the upper right corner.

Health Points were full, and Sanity Points were only half left.

This place was truly too narrow. If the other party launched an attack now, he would have no way to escape at all.

However, the remaining time for the chase battle was four minutes. Even if the other party didn’t recall anything, as long as he could stall for three minutes, he would be able to clear it.

Steady, steady, just hold on and get through this.

Right at this moment, a “ding” rang out abruptly next to his ear: [Congratulations to the streamer for accurately locating the key item. The special route within the hidden side quest is now unlocked!]

Wen Jianyan was taken aback.

…What?

The barrage in the live broadcast room caused a sensation:

[!!! A special route!! He actually opened a special route!]

[Can anyone who has watched this before explain if Decai Middle School has ever opened this route before?]

[The historical highest unlock progress of this instance is 72%. The possibility of this special route having been opened before is not big.]

[I declare that he is the strongest newcomer of this batch in my heart!!!]

[How can this not be an alt account? How can this not be an alt account?! If this streamer is a newcomer, I’ll do a handstand and have diarrhea!]

He only heard the mechanical voice by his ear continue to say:

[Now issuing a live broadcast special task for you:]

[Comb Xiao Jie’s hair while singing.]

[After initiating the task, your chase battle timer will be paused, and will automatically end upon completion of the special task.]

The countdown in the upper right corner stopped at just the right moment. The four digits 03:15 were glaringly bright and very much an eyesore.

“…”

Wen Jianyan’s face stiffened.

He stood in place expressionlessly, his gaze shifting down, slowly landing on the broken-toothed comb in his palm.

I’m really stupid, really.

I only knew that this comb was an item to prove my identity and awaken the other party’s memory. I didn’t expect that it could actually trigger a special task in the live broadcast room.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and viciously ground his back teeth.

Forget it.

Since he was already riding a tiger and couldn’t get off anyway, he might as well just treat a dead horse as a living one.

He took a step forward, slowly and cautiously pulling out the stool in front of the desk. Then, he reached out his hand towards Xiao Jie not far away, and said in an exceptionally gentle tone, “Come.”

Xiao Jie tilted her head, the confusion on her blurry-featured face deepening.

“Look, your hair is all messy. Let me comb it for you again.”

The other party still didn’t move.

“Be obedient.” Wen Jianyan lowered his voice a bit, imitating the old witch’s majestic appearance.

Xiao Jie hesitated for two seconds and finally crawled in Wen Jianyan’s direction.

Her ghastly pale, thin arms climbed onto the wooden chair, and her body with twisted limbs sat on it bit by bit. She faced the dust-covered mirror, her thick and long pitch-black hair hanging down to the ground and spreading out on the floor.

Wen Jianyan raised his hand and combed down along the other party’s hair.

The instant he touched the top of the girl’s head, an intense pain suddenly transmitted from his fingertips. The strands of hair writhed as if alive, digging deeply into the pads of his fingers, greedily sucking and devouring his flesh and blood.

Wen Jianyan’s heart jolted, and his vision also began to spin a bit.

A hair-raising sensation instantly struck, as if the surrounding cracks were filled with peeping eyes, casting malicious gazes from all directions.

The instinct to flee when facing danger was screaming. In that instant, every cell in his body was shouting:

Throw away the comb! Run away!

Hurry! Faster! Otherwise, it will be too late!

…Calm down!

Wen Jianyan viciously bit the tip of his tongue, forcing his body that wanted to flee to stay in place.

He glanced at the upper right corner.

Both his Health Points and Sanity Points had a large chunk bitten off together. The color of the health bar also changed from green to yellow, and the Sanity Points were even more dangerous, already leaning towards orange-red.

He slowly took a deep breath and sang:

“Little red comb, combing and facing the mirror.”

Xiao Jie seemed completely unaware of what was happening behind her.

She sat on the chair with her back to Wen Jianyan, gently swinging her two ghastly pale calves, and somewhat sluggishly began to hum along with this tune.

He didn’t know if it was his illusion, but the facial features of the little face reflected in the mirror seemed to have become much clearer than before.

The comb reached the bottom.

“I… remember.”

Xiao Jie suddenly opened her mouth, speaking slowly with some difficulty:

“Mom… although she is very strict, sometimes gets angry, and is very scary, but she is very gentle to me. She would sing to me while combing my hair, and would also braid my hair very beautifully.”

“Comb it through once, smart and beautiful.”

The comb teeth slid down amidst the strands of hair.

The little girl’s words were jumbled, carrying a bit of sluggishness and clumsiness that didn’t match her age.

“My brain is stupid; I can’t go out. If I go out, there will be bad guys, and Mom has no way to protect me.”

The health bar above Wen Jianyan’s head continued to drop. His fingertips had already been gnawed into a bloody mess, and the grim white bones could be vaguely seen.

Dark red, scalding fresh blood seeped out, dyeing the broken-toothed comb red, turning it into a sparkling, brand-new rosy color.

“Comb it through twice; happiness is not far away.”

After the second stroke was finished, the mirror reflected the little girl’s gradually clearing facial features, and the hair that originally reached the ground had now shortened to her waist.

“Mom, I’m… I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have disobeyed your words, eavesdropped on others’ conversations. I… I shouldn’t have secretly run out of the room at night.”

Xiao Jie whimpered, raising her ghastly pale little hands and wiping haphazardly: “Mom, I’m sorry. I, I just wanted to… I was afraid they would really make a wish and take you away…”

“Comb it through three times, harmonious and satisfied.”

The final stroke.

The comb slowly combed downward. The speed at which the health bar was dropping finally slowed down. The Sanity Points only had a sliver left at the very end, managing to stop right before they were completely depleted.

The girl’s hair no longer writhed. It became docile and smooth, as pitch-black as ink, almost indistinguishable from a normal person’s long hair.

Xiao Jie sobbed and raised her eyes, looking at Wen Jianyan through the mirror, whimpering with teary eyes:

“I wished; I wanted to help Mom.”

“Those adults all said that I am your burden. It’s because of me that you have to, have to work so hard, that you would be so fierce to others.”

“I don’t want to be a burden; I want to protect Mom.”

“With my help, is Mom a little more relaxed? Not as tired as before?”

“…”

Wen Jianyan remained silent.

He turned around and picked up that faded, dim hair tie from the hidden compartment behind him. His blood-stained fingers seemed completely unaffected by the wounds as they smoothly gathered the long hair behind Xiao Jie’s head, skillfully braided it for her, and tied a bow at the end.

Exactly the same as in the photo.

After doing all this, he gently replied with an “Mn.”

As if hearing a satisfactory answer, Xiao Jie smiled through her tears.

She clapped her hands happily: “That’s great, I helped…”

In the mirror, the little girl’s figure gradually faded bit by bit, until only that happy and blissful smile could be vaguely seen.

The girl with the bow-tied braid sniffled, carefully raised her hand, tugged at Wen Jianyan’s sleeve, and said with incomparable attachment:

“Mom, I miss you so much too.”

With that, her figure became transparent bit by bit until it finally disappeared at last.

Support me on Ko-fi