WTNL Chapter 137

Ping’an Asylum
Chapter 137: Psychopath, aaaaaah!

In the “Integrity First” live room, there was a brief moment of shock and blankness.

For a good dozen seconds, there was absolutely nothing in the entire bullet screen area, only dead silence.

Following the brief dead silence was an explosive wave of spamming.

[?]

[???]

[??????]

[Holy crap?? Ahhhhhhh what kind of wild words are these? I’m shocked to death. Help!!]

[Damn… the anchor is so wild and spicy, this, this, this, I’m too shocked to speak!]

[Ahhhhhh mommy forbids you from saying such things in front of others; hurry up and say them in my bed!!!]

[Although it’s really spicy, I have a feeling… the anchor is probably going to suffer for real.]

[Exactly, exactly, he chose the most infuriating way possible. If he had placed himself as a top just now, it might have been taken as a provocation between males or just talking nonsense.]

[Right, but the anchor chose the exact opposite direction, precisely stepping hard on two fatal weak points here: sexual inversion, and wanton lust.]

[Honestly, I haven’t seen an anchor enter the solitary confinement room on the first day yet, ahhh I’m so looking forward to it!]

[Hahahaha yes, this time we finally get to see what the first day in solitary confinement looks like!]

Clank—

After the jingling of colliding keys, the iron door was roughly yanked open from the outside. Two livid-faced orderlies strode in and raised their stun batons.

“Ugh!”

Accompanied by the crackling of electricity, Wen Jianyan felt a heavy blow to his stomach. He collapsed to the ground, instinctively curling up to protect his fragile internal organs and head.

After a flurry of brutal punches and kicks, he felt something sharp pierce the side of his neck.

Amidst the sharp, stinging pain, a freezing liquid was slowly injected.

His body’s strength rapidly drained from his limbs. Wen Jianyan’s vision quickly blurred, and the final images in his memory were chaotic and fragmented.

He seemed to be savagely lifted up, and everything that happened next sank completely into a sea of darkness.

The darkness was like a freezing mire, washing over everything.

His body felt as heavy as lead, unable to move even a single finger. His mind was groggy and scattered, completely unable to focus.

Wen Jianyan felt as if his body and consciousness existed separately. It took him a long time to finally wake up little by little.

His eyelashes fluttered sluggishly, and it took him a while to realize that his eyes were already open.

The room was too dark, with no lights and no windows. A pitch-blackness as deep as eternal night shrouded his vision, making it almost impossible to confirm whether he had opened his eyes or not.

The air was cold and damp, carrying a faint smell of blood.

The sensation of being tightly bound came from his wrists and ankles.

Wen Jianyan realized that his entire body was strapped tightly to a bed, unable to move.

It seemed this was the solitary confinement room.

There was dead silence around him, save for his own ragged breathing.

The taskbar at the edge of his vision had updated at some unknown time. The initial task of resting in the ward for a night had vanished, leaving only the intermediate task of [Rest in the solitary confinement room for one night], marked with the words in progress.

New tasks had appeared:

[Primary Task: Close your eyes for three minutes]
[Primary Task: Break free from the restraints]
[Intermediate Task: Escape the solitary confinement room]

Based on previous experiences, it was clear that these tasks could be completed selectively. Different choices represented different branch paths. After entering one of the story branches, the other branch tasks would automatically disappear, almost like… playing some kind of text-based adventure game.

And the kind where one wrong move resulted in instant death, at that.

Wen Jianyan’s gaze locked onto the first task.

Close eyes for three minutes…?

Before he could figure out the logic behind it, the sudden sound of slow, heavy footsteps echoed from afar, breaking the dead silence without any warning.

Screech—

Through the thick door of the confinement room, the sharp sound of metal scraping against the floor could be heard.

Screech—

The footsteps slowly approached in his direction, sounding particularly grating in the dead darkness, every step feeling like it was stomping directly on one’s heart.

Step, by step, by step.

“!”

Wen Jianyan’s pupils shrank.

Logically speaking, in a strictly managed asylum, even if someone was walking in the corridor outside the solitary confinement room, it would be an orderly or a doctor. But this was an instance, which meant anything was possible.

And this sound of obviously dragging a sharp weapon…

Definitely meant the arrival of someone with ill intent.

He skillfully twisted his wrists, leaning his body to the side against his hands. He curled his fingertips back, groping in the limited space, struggling to rummage for something on the side of his clothes.

A soft rip was heard.

The piece of clothing hiding the mirror shard was torn open, and the youth tightly gripped the glass shard in his hand.

Screech.

The footsteps grew closer and soon reached the door.

Through the door of the confinement room, the corridor was dead silent.

The other party seemed to have stopped right outside his door, quietly waiting for something.

“!”

Wen Jianyan’s breathing involuntarily quickened. He moved his fingers, using the irregular, sharp edge of the mirror to slowly saw at the leather strap on his wrist.

It’s fine; there should still be time.

No matter what, this was the solitary confinement room; the door should be tightly locked. Even if the person outside wanted to come in, it should take them a bit of time—

Jingle, jangle.

It sounded like… metal keys clashing against each other.

Wen Jianyan’s pupils contracted.

Holy crap! The guy has keys!

Do they even want him to live?!

The next second, the decayed sound of the door hinges turning echoed in the dark.

Creaaaak—

It took barely a second for the door to be pushed open from the outside. A sliver of cold white light poured in from the corridor, piercing his eyelids.

Wen Jianyan: “…”

Fuck!

He immediately stopped what he was doing and tightly closed his eyes.

The familiar system prompt rang in his ears: [Three-minute countdown begins]

[00:03:00]

Wen Jianyan kept his eyes firmly shut, lying ramrod straight on the bed. His breathing was steady, but his nerves were strung to the breaking point as he quietly listened.

With the door open, the only obstruction to the sound disappeared.

Tap, tap, tap.

He could clearly hear the footsteps walking step by step toward his bed. The sharp scrape of metal echoed through the narrow room, making his eardrums ache.

[00:02:31]

The footsteps stopped by the bed.

Wen Jianyan could feel an unignorable sensation of being watched coming from above him.

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of fabric rubbing together rang out as a shadow blocked the light, slowly pressing down.

The person seemed to have leaned over, examining the youth’s sleeping face with a spine-chilling meticulousness.

[00:01:42]

Wen Jianyan felt the other’s breath land on his face, and an icy, sinister chill crept up from his feet.

Keep it under control, keep it under control.

His heart pounded crazily deep in his chest, the noisy rush of blood crashing against his eardrums like fierce drumbeats.

Be a bit quieter!

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, repeating this in his mind over and over again, trying to suppress the deafening sound of his heartbeat.

Time passed so slowly it felt like being in hell. Wen Jianyan used all his strength to control his facial muscles, enduring it, not showing a single trace of being awake.

[00:00:21]

Only twenty-one seconds left.

The rustling of fabric sounded again.

The cold light from the corridor fell on his eyelids once more. Wen Jianyan felt that the person seemed to be slowly straightening up.

[00:00:15]

The footsteps retreated backward.

Wen Jianyan’s lips remained tightly pursed, his heartbeat growing even more rapid without relaxing in the slightest.

Rustle, rustle.

[00:00:08]

The other party seemed to be doing something.

He didn’t know.

He couldn’t judge.

The countdown continued to slowly tick away, pushing bit by bit toward the end.

[3]

[2]

The howling of the wind rang out, descending straight toward the direction of his head, bringing with it a rush of rusted metal mixed with a bloody stench!

[1]

Holy crap!!

Wen Jianyan abruptly opened his eyes. His pupils contracted, the instinct of facing extreme danger buzzing in his brain. He violently jerked his head to the side!

Thwack! A sharp axe covered in minced meat and fresh blood sank deeply into the bed, just a centimeter away from his ear.

“Hehehe.”

A bizarre giggle came from above.

The faceless shadow leaned in close once again, chuckling darkly, and spoke in a terrifying tone:

“I knew you were still awake.”

The shadow let out a creepy giggle, slowly raising a hand to stroke the youth’s cheek. In a manic tone, he asked, “Baby, do you want to see what color your internal organs are?”

Wen Jianyan’s pupils quaked, a wave of coldness rising from where the other touched him.

Ahhhhhhh psychooooo Ahhhhhhhh!

The next second, the heavy axe shook just centimeters away from his head. The person seemed to be trying to pull it out from the crack in the wooden bed.

…There’s a chance.

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and violently twisted his wrist. With a ripping sound, the tightly bound leather strap tore apart at the cut mark.

He raised his hand—bloody from being sliced by the mirror shard—and smashed a fierce punch right into the shadow’s face.

The other party clearly hadn’t expected this.

The shadow’s figure swayed, stumbling backward in surprise.

Seizing this opportunity, Wen Jianyan scrambled up as fast as he could, unbuckling the leather straps on his wrists and ankles. Blood flowed back, bringing a numb sensation to his extremities.

He dragged his limbs that hadn’t fully awakened yet, brutally slammed his body against the other man, and stumbled frantically out of the confinement room!

The overhead light was pale and glaring; Wen Jianyan’s eyes stung from the brightness.

Crack!

It was the sound of the axe being yanked out of the wooden bed.

The shadow lunged toward the door!

But he knew he wouldn’t get another chance!

He whipped around, squinting through tear-blurred eyes, and grabbed the doorknob of the confinement room with both hands. A split second before the figure could pounce, he fiercely slammed the door shut!

Clang!

The axe chopped heavily into the tightly shut door of the confinement room.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Holy shit holy shit holy shit!]

[I didn’t even dare to breathe!!]

[Ahhhhhhh, so intense ahhhhhhh!]

[Did I see that right? It’s that dismembering serial killer this time?]

[Right, although it was too dark to see the face clearly, that iconic axe means it’s definitely him!]

[Ahhhh, as expected of you, you dog scammer! You actually survived something so extreme!]

[…Although besides you, no other anchor would enter solitary confinement on the first day.]

[Fuck, laughing to death, the person above is so savage!]

The familiar system sound rang in his ears:

[Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for completing the task: Close your eyes for three minutes
Reward Points: 200]

[Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for completing the task: Break free from the restraints
Reward Points: 200]

The total points earned from completing tasks reached six hundred.

Wen Jianyan’s face was deathly pale. He panted heavily, his sweat-drenched back pressed firmly against the wall, his whole body turning slightly soft.

Fuck.

Was the first night in solitary confinement actually this thrilling?

This was too fucking dangerous.

Wait…

He suddenly realized that something seemed wrong.

First, the [Escape the solitary confinement room] task had not been completed. Second, the [Rest in the solitary confinement room for one night] task hadn’t vanished with his departure from the room.

More importantly…

The corridor before his eyes looked incredibly dilapidated.

Wen Jianyan straightened his body and slowly looked around, astonishment pooling in his eyes.

The overhead light sizzled, casting a cold white glow that illuminated a short, narrow stretch of the corridor.

Based on his previous observations of the entire asylum, although it was eerie and cruel, it was clean, tidy, and orderly—even to a pathological degree.

However, the corridor before him had a completely different style from the asylum.

It was messy, filthy, aged, and covered in dust. The walls were smeared with chaotic, bizarre graffiti painted in dried blood, looking exceptionally mad.

Pieces of paper and wood chips were scattered across the floor, and overturned wooden shelves were everywhere.

Deep gashes left by an axe marred the walls and shelves—some new, some old. The floor was soaked in massive pools of blood, bright red covering dark brown, eventually coagulating into a tar-like, pitch-black substance, looking just like a massacre had occurred.

It was truly shocking to behold.

Was this… still the Ping’an Asylum?

Wen Jianyan froze.

Bang! The loud sound of the door being rammed snapped Wen Jianyan out of his daze. His shoulders twitched, and he instinctively looked toward the source of the sound.

The door of the confinement room he had just locked dead seemed to be taking heavy blows from the inside.

The door shuddered, dust and wood splinters showering down. The metal keyhole trembled violently, as if it would pop out of the wooden door panel in the very next second.

Wen Jianyan’s heart raced wildly.

He had a sinking feeling… that door wouldn’t hold up for much longer.

He slowly backed up two steps, quickly scanning the corridor. An entire row of confinement room doors on the left gaped wide open, pitch-black and utterly lifeless. While there were open doors on the right as well, a few remained locked tight.

The most urgent task now was to find Su Cheng.

Wen Jianyan rushed to the edge of the corridor, pushing one of the shelves hard toward the locked confinement room.

With a loud crash, the shelf fell, barricading the front of the confinement room.

The sound of the door being rammed from inside paused for a brief moment.

…Although it might not be of much use, perhaps it could delay things for a little while.

Wen Jianyan panted a couple of times heavily, then turned and ran down the right-hand corridor.

“Su Cheng… Su Cheng!”

He searched through the confinement rooms one by one, calling out in a low voice.

All the confinement rooms with wide-open doors were completely empty. Inside, it was a total mess. The restraint beds for patients were covered in bloodstains. Splattered blood had sprayed wildly, even reaching the ceiling.

The heavy stench of blood and rot drifted in the air, making him nauseous.

The overhead light flickered, making weird sizzling noises as if the current was unstable.

Some confinement room doors were tightly shut, yet weird sounds faintly trickled out from within.

Low giggling, murmuring whispers, continuous monotonous head-banging against walls… everything seemed so incredibly bizarre, as if the entire world had been dragged into a vortex of madness.

Suddenly, the slot on one of the doors used for passing food trays clattered loudly, breaking the dead silence in the corridor.

Wen Jianyan was badly startled and jolted toward the far edge of the wall, away from the rooms.

A second later, a deformed hand reached out from the slot. The person inside chuckled as they groped around, speaking in a suppressed, raspy voice:

“Here, here! Come here quick! Come over here!!”

Wen Jianyan’s scalp went numb, and he couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Soon, he arrived in front of a tightly locked confinement room door. Through the thick door panel, there was dead silence inside, an eerie quietness.

“Su Cheng, Su Cheng?”

Wen Jianyan curled his knuckles and gently knocked on the door.

The room was dead silent.

After a brief silence, a familiar voice sounded, seemingly confused and cautious: “…Who is it?”

Su Cheng’s voice was full of utter disbelief.

He asked carefully:

“…Wen? Is that you?”

Wen Jianyan let out a long sigh of relief. “Great, finally found you. The people in our guild were about to be scared half to death by you.”

“…?”

Su Cheng’s bewildered voice sounded from deep inside the room: “What guild? Haven’t we not joined a guild yet?”

Looks like it was really him.

“Wait a sec.” Wen Jianyan fished a large bunch of keys from his pocket, making a jingling metallic sound. “I’ll get you out right now.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[?]

[???]

[When did this guy get the keys??]

[Ah! Was it from when he crashed into the guy earlier?]

[Damn, I was so tense I could barely breathe, and the anchor actually had the mental bandwidth to pickpocket the keys from the other guy, freaking awesome!]

Based on the confinement room number, Wen Jianyan quickly found the corresponding key from the ring and slipped it into the lock with a gentle twist.

The door opened.

Under the flickering light, a pale-faced Su Cheng could be seen bound tightly to the confinement bed, squinting in his direction.

Upon clearly seeing Wen Jianyan’s figure, he let out a long sigh of relief. He slumped back onto the bed as if all his strength had been drained, uttering a weak sigh of surviving a disaster:

“…It really is you.”

“No shit.”

Wen Jianyan replied tersely.

He walked in swiftly, crouching by Su Cheng’s bed to untie him.

Su Cheng had probably been awake for a while. The bindings on his wrists and ankles were already somewhat loose from his struggles. Wen Jianyan undid them with barely any effort.

Su Cheng sat up on the bed. Scowling and grimacing, he rubbed his wrists and asked blankly:

“Where are we?”

“Solitary confinement,” Wen Jianyan replied.

Su Cheng was startled, his eyes slowly widening in shock. “What solitary confinement?”

“Of the Ping’an Asylum,” Wen Jianyan cast him a surprised glance. “You didn’t know?”

“Wait, you mean we are inside an instance right now?”

Su Cheng sucked in a breath of cold air, his face revealing an unfeigned look of shock. “How did this happen?!”

“…”

Wen Jianyan slightly narrowed his eyes.

It seemed Su Cheng didn’t even realize that he had already entered the instance. This meant that whether it was actively registering or grabbing the stun baton after entering the instance, it had all occurred without his knowledge.

Although he really wanted to get to the bottom of it, the current situation was not suitable for further questioning.

“Can you get up?”

Wen Jianyan asked.

Su Cheng nodded, using Wen Jianyan’s hand to stand up.

At that moment, the taskbar refreshed again.

[Primary Time-Limited Task Issued: Escape the pursuit of ???]
[Primary Time-Limited Task Issued: See the true face of ???]
[Primary Task Issued: Find the ward of ???]
[Intermediate Task Issued: Find the true name of ???]

Wen Jianyan suddenly thought of something. He raised a hand to touch his clothes and couldn’t help but freeze.

“What’s wrong?”

Su Cheng asked.

Wen Jianyan’s expression turned ugly. “Damn it, I lost my item.”

Even after entering the instance, Mr. Mirror’s shard still couldn’t be placed into the system inventory. Although it had saved his life while on the restraint bed, it also meant it was lost during the chaos.

This was an epic-tier item!

Wen Jianyan’s heart ached so much he couldn’t breathe.

Inside the pitch-black confinement room.

The shadow stood motionless in place, holding the axe covered in minced meat and fresh blood in one hand.

He stood silently in the dark, like a sculpture or a wooden stake, showing no sign of possessing life.

Most terrifying of all, an icy shard of mirror was embedded in his face.

Inside the mirror shard, a blurry shadow flickered, as thin as mist, drifting slowly and unconsciously.

As if possessing a life of its own, the mirror shard slowly sank deep into the flesh of the man’s face, vanishing little by little, as though completely merging with him.

“Hehe… hehehehe…”

He suddenly started giggling, appearing manic and bizarre, trembling all over as he laughed in the dark.

Then, he greedily extended his tongue, licking up the fresh blood flowing down to his lips and savoring it carefully. He then raised his hand, slowly and meticulously sniffing the fingers that had just touched the other’s skin, and opened his mouth, sucking the remaining blood off them.

“Baby, you are so delicious.”

The man’s voice was obsessed and entranced. A terrifyingly creepy look filled his blue eyes as the corners of his mouth stretched wider and wider, curving up into a horrifying smile of sheer ecstasy:

“…The color of your internal organs must be absolutely beautiful.”

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