WTNL Chapter 139

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Ping An Asylum
Chapter 139: Tricky pervert

It was unknown when it started, but the entire free activity room had fallen into a dead silence. The only sound was the nursery rhyme playing from the gramophone, cheerful but with a hint of eeriness.

“Take your medication.” 

The nurse handed over a small paper cup containing the pills and spoke in a monotonous tone.

The tall, blond man reached out to take the cup, and the heavy metal clanged as his handcuffs met. He tilted his head back and swallowed all the pills.

“Open your mouth,” the nurse instructed.

The man opened his mouth, sticking out his tongue, displaying an empty oral cavity. Throughout the process, his pale blue eyes remained fixed on Wen Jianyan in the distance, his almost greedy gaze sending shivers down his spine. It was as if he were not swallowing pills but consuming Wen Jianyan himself.

“Move in.” 

A attendant ordered, forcefully prodding his waist with an electric baton.

All three attendants were tall and imposing adult males, but in the presence of this beast-like man, their aura inexplicably diminished. 

At the same time, the barrage area of other anchors in Ping An Asylum was filled with question marks.

[Wait, am I seeing things?]

[What’s going on? How did this guy appear in the free activity area on the first day?]

[I remember this crazy guy wasn’t supposed to come out for at least the first three days.  I’m confused. Did I miss something?!]

[I remember this patient wasn’t supposed to be released from solitary confinement until three days later. How did he get out early?]

“Clang, clang.”

The blond man took a step forward, the cuffs on his wrists and ankles making a metallic sound. 

His gaze fell on Wen Jianyan as he walked straight toward him. Even though they knew this guy was tightly chained, an oppressive and terrifying aura naturally emanated from him, causing both the cautious viewers and the NPC patients in the instance to instinctively step back, making way for him.

Wen Jianyan stood at the end of this path, calmly watching the man approaching him. 

There was no change in his expression, but a slight bead of sweat slowly formed in the palm of his hand.

Without the mask of blood and gore obstructing his view, the man’s face appeared perfectly handsome—blonde hair, light eyelashes, and a straight nose bridge. Ignoring his imposing stature and height, one might even find him mature, charming, and attractive.

However, those pale blue eyes were exactly as Wen Jianyan remembered them—calm on the surface but exuding coldness, paranoia, and madness underneath. 

Those were the eyes of a murderer.

A familiar system notification sound rang in his ears.

【Ding! Congratulations to the anchor for completing the task: Seeing the true face of ???
Reward Points: 200】

Blond swallowed hard, leaned in close to Wen Jianyan’s ear, and asked in disbelief, “Is this… is this the teammate you mentioned?”

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and whispered back in equal disbelief, “Do you think it’s possible?”

From every angle, this person seemed like a formidable psychopath. He was not only escorted by three adult male attendants but also unable to remove the handcuffs on his hands and feet, perfectly fitting the “High Risk” label on his nametag.

Blond let out a relieved chuckle and awkwardly said, “Well, as long as he’s not, it’s fine…”

If he was, he might just be scared to death.

Unconsciously, the distance between the two had dwindled to just a few meters.

Wen Jianyan was not short by any means, with a tall and well-built frame, but in the presence of this nearly two-meter-tall man, he appeared significantly smaller.

“Where do you still want to go?” One of the attendants raised his electric baton and viciously struck the man’s abdomen, commanding, “Sit down!”

The blow from the electric baton was powerful enough to make anyone cry out in pain and instinctively curl up. However, this man didn’t even furrow his brow; he silently endured the blow, appearing completely indifferent.

It didn’t seem like he was submitting, but more like he didn’t care at all. 

He smiled slightly and took a seat on the nearest sofa.

The attendants put away their electric batons and left the free activity room. Under the backdrop of the cheerful nursery rhyme, the room slowly regained its earlier liveliness, but this liveliness concealed an underlying unease. Everyone couldn’t help but be influenced by the man radiating danger, unconsciously becoming more reserved.

Underneath the surface of calmness, there was a turbulent undercurrent.

Just then, the iron door not far away swung open once again.

This time, the person who entered was finally the normal person Wen Jianyan had been hoping for.

Upon seeing Su Cheng, Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Blond, and said, “That’s him.”

Soon after, following Su Cheng “swallowing” the pills, the three of them finally gathered.

Wen Jianyan introduced Blond to Su Cheng with a simple handshake. Su Cheng quickly focused his gaze on the blond man not far away. He was momentarily stunned but soon realized, “Wait a minute, isn’t this the guy from last night…”

Wen Jianyan nodded with a grim expression.

Even though he had turned his back, he could still feel the man’s gaze drilling into his back, as if trying to burn a hole through him.

“…”

F*ck.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel a shiver down his spine.

He never expected that, not long after entering this instance, he would draw the attention of such a troublesome character.

This was just terrible luck!

However, because this dangerous individual’s excessive focus on Wen Jianyan was so obvious, it made Wen Jianyan’s role in this situation even more critical. So, soon after, a team of anchors attempted to contact him.

After careful consideration, Wen Jianyan quickly selected a team.

“Luce.”

The team leader extended his hand, and Wen Jianyan gave it a brief shake.

“Pinocchio.” Wen Jianyan naturally used the code name he had casually adopted in his previous instance.

After a brief introduction, they moved on to the most crucial part: exchanging information.

Luce began, “Last night, after lights out, we heard the bell chime. When the bell stopped, the whole instance changed.”

This experience was similar to what Blond had described.

After the bell rang, the entire instance underwent a drastic change, as if it had entered another world.

However, due to fear, Blond did not leave his room. Instead, he moved his bed to the door and blocked it tightly, staying hidden there all night.

In contrast to Blond, Luce’s team did not stay in their rooms. They cautiously pried open the door and began to explore. They had gathered significantly more information.

Perhaps because the difficulty on the first day wasn’t particularly high, they didn’t encounter any particularly troublesome characters. They only ran into a few mentally disturbed patients with violent tendencies and managed to narrowly escape from them.

“In this other world, some of the lunatics are hunters, while others are prey—just like us.” Luce explained. “Hunters in this other world are invincible. They don’t get hurt, they don’t die, and they can even gain weapons or buffs. The props we purchase from the system store can at best limit their actions.”

After leaving their rooms, they encountered a paranoid hunter and almost fell into a collective delusion from which they couldn’t wake up.

And after the bell rang again, everyone was back to where they had started, as if what they had experienced before was just a terrible nightmare. Everything had returned to its original state.

However, all those who died in the nightmare would not wake up. 

Their bodies displayed the same cause of death as in the nightmare, and they were wheeled away on carts by the attendants to the courtyard.

After listening to the other side’s description, Wen Jianyan briefly recounted what he had experienced in the solitary confinement room.

“High risk?” 

Luce was taken aback, subconsciously turning his head in the direction of the blond man before hurriedly looking away before the man’s gaze could meet his.

He lowered his voice and said, “The ones I encountered at most were of medium risk.”

Wen Jianyan lowered his gaze in contemplation, organizing all the information he had gathered up to this point.

The mechanics of this instance didn’t seem too complicated to understand.

The bell symbolizes the transition between the real world and the other world. Nurses and attendants didn’t enter the other world, but patients did, and among the patients, there were hunters and prey. The patients with a high degree of danger became hunters and started killing without restraint, while low-risk patients and anchors like them were like lambs to the slaughter.

“There are two key points.” 

Wen Jianyan began slowly.

“What are they?” Luce asked.

“First, it’s the range of activity for the hunters.”

In this other world, the hunters had tremendous power. They ignored all attacks, didn’t get hurt, didn’t die, and could only be slowed down by certain props.

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly voiced his conclusion, “Their abilities are too invincible, so I don’t believe their range of activity is unlimited.”

Clearly, he had drawn the attention of the other due to his lucky escape from the maniac’s clutches in the solitary confinement room last night. The reason the man had come to the free activity area today and was sharing a room with him was likely to finish the killing spree he had started the previous night.

This, in turn, confirmed the existence of limitations on their “range of action,” or else the man wouldn’t have come to this area in the real world.

“Secondly, it’s the regularity of the bell ringing, whether it only occurs at night or during the day as well.”

“If it only happens at night, it means we have time to rest.”

Wen Jianyan turned his head subtly, glancing at the blond man not far away without leaving any traces. The man was sitting on the sofa, staring at Wen Jianyan with an unmistakable intensity.

With his gaze, he slowly and sensually explored every inch of the Asian young man, from his slender neck to his fragile wrists, finally down to the waistline under the hospital gown, almost as if he wanted to devour him with his eyes.

It was undeniably…

The gaze of a hunter.

The bloody scene he had witnessed in the solitary confinement room last night seemed to linger on his retinas.

The sharp metal friction, the gruesome human-skin mask, the rolling head, the piercing screams, and the manic, bloodthirsty laughter.

Just a slight recollection sent shivers down his spine.

“If not…” 

Wen Jianyan said, still trembling and lowering his voice, “Then we need to leave here quickly.”

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