WTNL Chapter 135 [Arc 5]

Ping’an Asylum
Chapter 135: God, it’s starting off this exciting?

Blond’s body stiffened slightly. Staring at the familiar door in front of him, his heart pounded wildly.

Usually, he rarely got this nervous, but this time was different… the person he had brought with him was the very bounty target they had failed to capture last time!

A young girl’s soft and gentle voice rang out beside him:

“What’s wrong?”

Blond subconsciously looked over at her.

He saw the girl standing next to him tilt her head slightly to look back. With a slender figure and a fluttering white dress, she had a tiny dimple on her left cheek. Her glance exuded a young girl’s delicate charm, making her look so pure, innocent, and pitiable.

She blinked: “What are we waiting for?”

But Blond’s expression only grew stiffer: “…”

You still have the nerve to ask!

He took a deep breath and raised a hand to wipe his face. As if defeated, he said with zero will to live, “Let’s go; it’s here.”

Blond stepped forward and pushed open the door.

This was a gloomy little bar. The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, cigarettes, and cheap perfume. Scattered customers sat in dim corners, their gazes—some overt, some discreet—sweeping over the newcomers.

Blond felt her body seemingly lean toward him without a trace, her slender white fingers timidly gripping the corner of his clothes, acting exactly like a shy, easily frightened young girl.

Blond: “…”

You’re fucking addicted to acting, aren’t you!

He braced himself and walked forward, took out his phone, opened the anchor identification code in the Nightmare backend, and swiped it with a beep at the front desk’s payment terminal.

Then, Blond led Wen Jianyan to a dim little corner of the bar and sat down.

“And then?”

Wen Jianyan asked curiously, sitting on the dirty leather sofa.

Blond brought over two glasses of beer and sat down, looking extremely nervous. He lowered his voice and answered, “We wait.”

They were not a guild recognized by Nightmare, nor did they have a very fixed meeting place or organizational structure. The anchors here basically all came from various different guilds. Most of them were desperate to earn more points, which was why they chose to take on these high-risk, high-reward dirty jobs in private.

Blond came here mainly to report on the situation of the previous instance. After all, out of the entire squad, he was the only survivor; they could only understand the completion status of the bounty task through him.

“What about you? Why did you join?” Wen Jianyan took a sip of beer from his glass and asked.

Blond scratched his head: “I was recruited.”

His talent was extremely useful to this kind of organization, but his strength and IQ weren’t high enough to go at it alone or to enter a top-tier guild, so he was naturally recruited.

“Speaking of which,” Blond sighed and said, “You also need to prepare for failure…”

Even though they did the dirty work of harvesting anchors’ lives, they still had basic professional ethics. For example, they wouldn’t be hired to turn around and kill their employer, and they wouldn’t drop a bounty just because the target offered more points…

Otherwise, no clients would come knocking anymore.

The expression on Wen Jianyan’s face was faint, but it carried absolute calmness and confidence: “Don’t worry, they won’t refuse me.”

Just as the two were talking in low voices, a figure sat down across from them at the table.

It was an unremarkable-looking man, the kind who couldn’t be picked out a second time if thrown into a crowd. At a glance, one could tell it was an appearance exchanged with points.

He looked at Blond first: “It’s really hard to get in touch with you.”

Blond subconsciously straightened his back and stammered, “N-no, it’s j-just…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the man opposite him. The man looked at Wen Jianyan sitting beside Blond and narrowed his eyes slightly:

“However, I didn’t expect you to actually bring a new friend. I wonder who this is…”

“Hello,” the young girl greeted softly.

She set down the beer glass in her hand. The bottom of the glass met the table with a soft clink. She raised those clear, dark eyes, a bit of beer foam still lingering on her upper lip, looking beautiful and adorable. She obediently reached out her hand:

“I am your bounty target from the last instance.”

The air fell into dead silence.

The atmosphere grew so heavy it was almost suffocating.

Blond: “…”

His vision went dark.

Ahhhhhh, you’re being way too direct!!!

“And the client for your next bounty.” Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes and added with a light chuckle.

“…” The man slowly narrowed his eyes. “You’re quite bold.”

To actually come knocking directly despite knowing full well that there was a bounty on his life… This was the first time he had seen such a bounty target.

“No, no, it’s not boldness.”

Wen Jianyan blinked, a seasoned shrewdness and cunning completely at odds with his appearance flashing in his eyes. He smiled and said, “I just trust your judgment as businessmen.”

The whole process took no more than a few short minutes, but to Blond, it felt like a century had passed. Sitting on pins and needles, he watched Wen Jianyan and his “colleague” cross swords back and forth, and in the end, they miraculously actually reached an agreement.

When leaving the tavern, Blond was still a bit dazed.

“He actually didn’t refuse you…”

“Of course.” Wen Jianyan glanced at Blond, seemingly disdaining his overreaction. “I’m not asking them to cancel the bounty, just to provide assistance when I enter the next instance.”

Of course, more importantly, he was a newcomer with limitless potential who had unlocked four Platinum achievements in a row. Although the opposing guild was Dark Fire, the guy was, after all, not top brass. Compared to the halo currently shining around Wen Jianyan, they simply weren’t enough to compete. Naturally, the other side would seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Wen Jianyan stood on his tiptoes and patted Blond on the shoulder: “Alright, I’m taking off first. See you next time.”

“Hey…”

Blond couldn’t help but call out to stop him: “Why exactly do you need to pinpoint the next instance that specific anchor is entering?”

“To save someone.”

Wen Jianyan turned his head back and said airily, his voice calm and indifferent, as if he were talking about the most normal thing in the world.

To save someone…

Just like… in the last instance?

Blond froze, subconsciously narrowing his eyes as if blinded by a strong light, dazed for a moment.

The girl’s eyes curved slightly, and a hint of malicious light slowly rippled in her gaze. But her face still maintained that harmless appearance as she asked carelessly:

“What, you want to come too?”

[The next live broadcast will begin in five minutes.]

The familiar voice, the familiar countdown.

Blond stood blankly in a small, transparent room, staring at the bright red countdown on the wall, still somewhat unable to snap out of it.

What happened?

What exactly happened?

How did he agree to it as if possessed by ghosts and gods?!

He had obviously just finished the last high-difficulty instance and hadn’t even had time to rest properly, yet he inexplicably entered the next instance…

Moreover, as a precise human locator, he used to take commissions when entering instances to complete bounties. But this time, he was actually giving it away for free. Without discussing any terms, he somehow inexplicably joined the team.

It was literally like being possessed by a ghost!!

Blond slowly raised his hands to cover his face, truly regretting his actions.

Ahhhhh!!!

At this moment, Wen Jianyan, who had freeloaded a helper using only his eloquence, was standing in another transparent cubicle far away.

Taking advantage of the fact that the instance hadn’t started yet, he was rapidly inspecting the items in his backpack.

Since the “Mr. Mirror” shard still couldn’t be placed in the backpack, he had to put it in his pocket. As for the other items…

Wen Jianyan’s gaze landed on the panel in front of him.

[Door Opening Card (Hard-level item in Fantasy Amusement Park instance) ]
Effect: Opens the door in front of you.
Uses: 1/1

[Bloody Mary’s Diamond Necklace (Hard-level item in Fantasy Amusement Park instance) ]
Effect: Provides three minutes of powerful charm

Uses: 1/1

[Ouroboros (Epic-level item in Fantasy Amusement Park instance)]
Effect: ?

Wen Jianyan sighed.

With the precedent of Mr. Mirror, he had actually already guessed this result.

It seemed that he could only slowly figure out how to use this item on his own.

After the Fantasy Amusement Park instance, the apple seedling above his backpack had shot up quite a bit again, looking lush and full of vitality.

[Apple Seedling: LV2]

Flower of Breaking Illusion: Developing
Fruit of Lies: Developing

Beneath the Fruit of Lies, a narrow progress bar had appeared, which looked like an energy gauge, allowing one to intuitively see its growth progress.

At this moment, a line of small text popped up on the panel:

[Apple Seedling has met the upgrade conditions]
[Upgrade?]

Almost without hesitation, Wen Jianyan directly selected Yes. He hadn’t entered the instance yet and still had plenty of points in reserve. Upgrading his talent before any crisis arrived was simply the ideal situation.

The next second, 100,000 points were deducted from his account.

Even though he was mentally prepared, seeing such a massive amount of points deducted from his account still made Wen Jianyan flinch inwardly, feeling as if his heart was bleeding.

Really… it was way too expensive!

The formulaic voice of the little assistant rang in his ears: “The amount of points a B-rank anchor can bring into an instance is: 10,000 points. Please spend sparingly and strive to survive!”

Wen Jianyan’s spirits lifted.

The benefits brought about by the increase in anchor rank were displayed right here!

If the points a B-rank anchor could bring into an instance were all exchanged for survival time, it would be a full one hundred minutes!

Even if they weren’t exchanged for survival time, he could purchase more items in the store, which would absolutely increase his margin for error in the instance by a large margin!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

The throbbing blood-red countdown on the wall reached zero.

[Welcome to the Nightmare Live Broadcast Room. The next live broadcast will begin immediately.]

That emotion-filled female voice echoed in the bizarre space, stirring up heavy reverberations:

[Our motto is—Entertainment to Death!]
[Ping’an Special Asylum Lobby Open.]

Lobby Difficulty Level: A-
Highest Historical Unlock Rate: 57%

Viewing Value: D

In the “Integrity First” live room barrage:

[? Started broadcasting?]

[??? It actually started broadcasting??]

[This is way too fast! I’m shocked. Didn’t the anchor just finish an A-turned-S instance? I thought he’d rest for at least seven or eight days, but he actually started streaming again already?]

[Ahhhhhh I’m so excited! I didn’t expect the dog scammer to broadcast so quickly this time. It wasn’t a waste for me to camp out here every single time!]

[I’d like to call him a model worker!]

The popularity in the “Integrity First” live room barrage skyrocketed as old fans accumulated from the previous few instances flooded into the broadcast room.

The first thing to be assaulted was the sense of smell.

There was a strong stench in the air, like feces mixed with blood. The cold, dank smell was nauseating and carried a bizarre sense of foreboding.

The seat beneath his body was shaking.

Based on experience, he should be in a vehicle.

Wen Jianyan’s eyelashes trembled slightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

What appeared before him was the interior of a bus—calling it a bus wasn’t entirely accurate. The walls on both sides were completely made of heavy, reinforced metal, and the windows on both sides were sealed shut with iron bars.

The inside of the vehicle was not quiet. Idiotic giggling, murmuring, whispering, and frantic cursing all mixed together, echoing within the spacious cabin.

Although the sounds produced were deafening, everyone sat rigidly in their seats without moving an inch.

Wen Jianyan quickly understood the reason.

He looked down and immediately saw his attire.

His hands were firmly secured in front of his chest by brown leather and metal rings. His entire body was tightly trapped inside a white straitjacket, and he was securely bound to the seat, unable to move.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[…Bondage play?]

[Good lord, is it this thrilling right from the start?]

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