(3/3)
Changsheng Building
Chapter 238: Red
In the darkness, Wen Jianyan maintained a posture with his hands suspended in the air, sitting stiffly on the scarlet wooden bed.
He knew he was no longer inside the shop.
Although the oil lamps in the shop were far from him and appeared very dim under the influence of the curse, there would still be faint light coming from the direction of the counter, falling on him. But now, there was only an expanse of pure, boundless, cold darkness around him, without any light at all.
So cold; it was unbearably cold.
The child’s corpse in his arms was still emitting a piercing wail, the icy cold sensation spreading from the point of contact. His joints stiffened, his skin turned cold, and bluish-purple corpse spots gradually emerged. Wen Jianyan’s hands and arms had now completely lost the warmth and characteristics of a human, almost indistinguishable from those of a corpse.
And it wasn’t just that.
Without the protection of the oil lamp’s light, Wen Jianyan clearly felt the power of the “darkness” in “Changsheng Building” for the second time.
The cold air cut his skin like a blade, as if trying to freeze him from the soul outward.
One could say that if Wen Jianyan were not in a quasi-“corpse” state right now, just a few seconds in this darkness would have sent him to the brink of death.
“Waah waah waah—”
The corpse in his arms wailed.
However, perhaps because there was no other living person here besides Wen Jianyan, or perhaps because he had entered the third cursed place, this time the feeling of being manipulated by that force had subsided. Wen Jianyan was no longer being controlled to walk towards the others but remained sitting quietly on the wooden bed without moving.
Wen Jianyan tried to move his legs.
“!”
He could move!
Wen Jianyan’s eyes brightened.
In the darkness, the girl in white slowly stood up, her movements extremely unnatural, and her body emitted the sound of bones grinding.
She was expressionless, her eyes empty, her face pale with a bluish tint, and signs of decay were faintly visible on her wrist, making her look entirely like a terrifying corpse.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[…I’m scared.]
[…Really scared.]
[She could seamlessly blend into the “Changsheng Building” instance, and if thrown into any shop drawn by another team, she could be the boss, okay!]
Wen Jianyan looked up and glanced around.
Although visibility was very low, he could still see that he was now in a bridal chamber.
Red curtains, supposed to be lit, now a dim wedding candle, and the scarlet wedding character pasted on the window.
Everything in the room, whether the wooden bed, the wooden table, or the wooden cabinet, was painted with a glaring scarlet paint, appearing particularly ominous in the pitch-black surroundings.
The air was putrid and foul, mixed with a strong smell of blood, making this place feel more like a slaughterhouse than a bridal chamber.
Seeing the state of this room, Wen Jianyan’s heart sank.
It was clear that in the “Changsheng Building” instance, “red” had a special significance.
Whether it was the red donation box, the red dressing table, the red bench, or the wooden bed… all these wooden items painted with red were terrifying tools connecting to another world.
Even the ghost money was like this; once touched by the red ghost money, it indicated entering a higher difficulty.
And the red lamp oil had a stronger and more dangerous effect.
In the past, seeing one “red” thing in a shop was already alarming.
But now…
Looking at the bright red room in front of him, Wen Jianyan only felt a sense of unease.
How he hoped his premonition was wrong!
But now wasn’t the time to think about these things.
After standing up, Wen Jianyan quickly activated the “Hand of Guidance” item. Following the arrow’s direction, he walked stiffly and awkwardly towards the wooden door.
He had no time to waste here.
To him, the child’s corpse in his arms, now spreading deadly curses, had become a form of protection in a certain sense.
As long as it existed, Wen Jianyan would be judged as “dead” by the instance, and he wouldn’t encounter danger in the third painting. However, this state was only temporary. As soon as Orange Candy and the others obtained the key item from the second painting, this state would disappear. By then, trapped in darkness without protection, Wen Jianyan would undoubtedly die.
So, he had to use this temporary invincibility to quickly find the item in the third painting and leave.
…This was a race against time.
The silence was deathly, as if trapped in a tomb, yet within this silence, countless murmurs from another world seemed to always be heard—vague, overlapping, filled with endless chilling malice.
Clearly alone, but always feeling that countless more terrifying presences were silently wandering around, the dread rose from his feet.
Although Wen Jianyan wouldn’t die now, he could still vividly feel the intense fear, shivering from body to soul.
He clenched his teeth and desperately quickened his pace.
The wooden door creaked open on both sides.
Outside was a familiar darkness, but perhaps because Wen Jianyan was now considered dead, no amount of darkness could block his vision.
In front of him was the old courtyard, but it was completely different from the one in the previous painting.
Everywhere were crimson lanterns, the windows adorned with bright red “double happiness” characters, like a house truly preparing for a wedding, exuding extreme eeriness.
The arrow of “Hand of Guidance” danced in the air, pointing towards the main house.
With the corpse in his arms, Wen Jianyan’s muscles and joints were stiff like a dead person’s. Even with the ghost infant’s help, he couldn’t quicken his steps much. No matter how anxious he was, he could only move forward step by step.
Soon, the main house appeared before him.
The door was wide open, with two lanterns hanging above, one red and one white. The red one bore the “double happiness” character, while the white one had the “memorial” character. Neither lantern was lit, swaying slightly in the windless dark.
The main house was decorated according to the layout of a traditional wedding hall.
…If only there wasn’t a coffin inside.
A scarlet coffin was placed squarely in the center of the hall. A bride in traditional wedding attire stood rigidly beside it, with a red veil over her head and crimson embroidered shoes on her feet. Her long sleeves revealed two pale bluish hands, nails painted with blood-red polish.
Behind the coffin, where the parents should be seated, was arranged like a mourning hall.
On the long wooden table, the fruit on the offering plates was rotten, the incense burner was filled with ash, and two white candles were placed high on either side, unlit.
“…”
Staring at the bizarre scene before him, Wen Jianyan felt his whole body shiver.
As expected of the third painting, compared to the first one, the horror factor had multiplied several times. Everything here seemed to carry a deadly curse, waiting for the host to enter.
However, due to his “dead” state, even though Wen Jianyan was terribly frightened, his heart couldn’t beat faster, his stomach couldn’t convulse to vomit, and his skin wouldn’t break out in a cold sweat. This actually helped him overcome his psychological pressure and, guided by the “Hand of Guidance,” he stepped towards the mourning hall.
In the silence, the bride stood still, as if unaware of another presence.
The “Hand of Guidance” pointed to the wooden table.
Wen Jianyan stared intently at the bride’s corpse, fearing it might suddenly move, while he stiffly walked step by step towards the mourning table behind her.
Even as Wen Jianyan got closer, she didn’t move an inch, standing there like a puppet or clay figure.
They brushed past each other.
The bride didn’t move.
Wen Jianyan discreetly exhaled in relief.
It seemed his earlier guess was correct; as long as he wasn’t “alive,” he wouldn’t be attacked.
Wen Jianyan had no doubt that if he had entered here in his normal state, he would have faced several life-threatening dangers by now.
The “Hand of Guidance” pointed to a candlestick.
Because he was holding the corpse, Wen Jianyan couldn’t move much, so he commanded the ghost infant to fetch it.
Soon, the cold candlestick was in hand, and the familiar system notification sounded in his ear.
【Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for obtaining the hidden item (difficult) in the instance!】
【Collection 1/?】
Wen Jianyan didn’t step back but instead fluidly activated the second “Hand of Guidance.”
In the Changsheng Building instance, he had learned that the first hand of guidance often didn’t point to the most crucial item. If he relied solely on the system prompts to find items, he might have long been doomed.
The arrow of the “Hand of Guidance” appeared again, this time pointing not to the mourning table but to the inside of the coffin.
Indeed.
Wen Jianyan stiffly turned and walked towards the coffin.
The scarlet wooden coffin was not closed; its lid was wide open. Fortunately, there was no second corpse inside the coffin, as Wen Jianyan had imagined.
At the bottom of the empty coffin lay a square photo frame, within which a black-and-white portrait was faintly visible.
This should be it.
Under Wen Jianyan’s command, the ghost infant entered the coffin and retrieved the photo frame for him.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the hidden item (difficult) in the instance!】
【Collection progress: 1/?】
Got it.
Wen Jianyan let out a sigh of relief.
He turned around and started walking out of the mourning hall, but just as he was about to pass the bride’s corpse, he suddenly halted.
He stiffly turned his head to look at the motionless corpse standing beside him.
The bride still maintained her original posture, standing rigidly without any movement.
“…”
Did he… see it wrong?
Wen Jianyan stared at the bride in front of him with uncertainty.
He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the eye, but he felt that when he had just brushed past the corpse…
The veil, on the other hand, seemed to have moved.
“Mommy,” the ghost infant, hugging Wen Jianyan, looked down with its pitch-black eyes devoid of whites, half innocent, half curious, at the portrait in Wen Jianyan’s hand, “The person inside looks a lot like Mommy.”
“…?!”
Wen Jianyan was startled. He slowly lowered his head to look at the portrait in his hand.
In the scarlet wooden frame was a black-and-white photo.
It was clearly a blurry image of a woman, but as time passed, the woman’s face gradually became clearer and looked more and more like…
Wen Jianyan.
The “Wen Jianyan” in the portrait smiled strangely at the Wen Jianyan outside the frame, her mouth curling up.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[!!!]
[!!!!!!! Oh my god, I’m breaking out in a cold sweat!]
[I can’t watch this anymore, my cabinet just moved!!!!]
[Wait a minute! What’s going on? Isn’t the host in a bugged corpse state? Why is he being targeted by the bride’s corpse in the third painting?]
[Did you guys forget? The third painting is the red ghost money, while the second painting is the regular ghost money. So the curse in the second painting is far less dangerous than the one in the third painting.
The host is currently using the curse from the second painting to obscure the instance’s detection, but he’s essentially still alive. As long as he doesn’t directly confront the curse in the third painting, his corpse state is perfect, and the corpses in the third painting won’t attack him. But once there’s direct contact… the curse from the second painting can’t protect him like before.]
[But I think it’s still because of that woman in red on the second floor… In this shop on the third floor of the Changsheng Building, although the paintings chosen by customers are different each time, I can responsibly say that this is the first time this painting has been activated.]
[No, to be precise, this painting didn’t seem to exist in this shop before…]
[Damn, this thing is too scary; it’s like a merciless difficulty-increasing machine.]
Wen Jianyan watched in horror as the corpse spots on his fingers, which had touched the frame, rapidly faded, and his skin visibly returned to a normal human temperature and color.
Clearly, in the clash of curses, the curse of the third painting prevailed, causing the influence of the curse from the second painting to fade.
Normally, seeing his body return to normal would be good, but not now!!!
As expected, his bad premonition came true.
Wen Jianyan’s vision went dark.
Clearly…
For him, bad premonitions come true far more often than not.
Staring at the portrait in his palm, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingle.
He knew the difficulty of the third painting was far beyond that of the first two, but he hadn’t expected that even the hidden item in this painting would carry such a deadly risk…
More importantly, this also told him something else.
…The curse in the third painting was not over.
This meant that the portrait in his hand was not the source of the curse.
There were actually three hidden items in the third painting!!
As the blue-purple color faded from Wen Jianyan’s fingertips, behind him, the bride’s corpse, which had been standing still like a clay figure, slowly twisted its head.
The blood-red veil swayed slightly, as if…
The corpse beneath the veil seemed to be turning its head silently towards Wen Jianyan.
ngl, this is sscary af.
he’s finished 😭 omg
This is 100% horror movie.
Scary scary!!