WTNL Chapter 179

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Ping An Asylum
Chapter 179: Priest

Shao Yao’s voice was low and trembling slightly, but it reached his ears clearly.

Wen Jianyan’s heart skipped a beat.

Was the coffin still closed before Shao Yao left?

In other words, during her absence, the lid of the stone coffin was pushed open by whom? The corpse inside?

Various conjectures surfaced in his mind, tilting in increasingly dangerous directions.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, his eyes falling on the open stone coffin in the distance, and he said softly, “I’ll go check.”

“Wait… what?” Shao Yao was startled, seeming to want to say something more, but Wen Jianyan shook his head, stopping her: 

“You all wait here.”

Wen Jianyan’s mind was clear; he wouldn’t do anything akin to suicide.

Firstly, they had been inside for a while already, with no signs of attack. Secondly, Luce’s squad had completed two missions near the stone coffin without incident. Moreover, if they wanted to complete the mission, they would have to approach the coffin regardless. Thus, even if there was something dangerous inside the coffin, it wouldn’t be dangerous enough to kill on sight.

Nevertheless, as a precaution, he turned to Su Cheng and Blond, gave a few instructions, and then strode in the direction of the coffin.

The entire underground tomb was shrouded in deep shadows, with heavy black figures swaying under faint light, floating on the cold stone coffins. In the silence, only the lonely footsteps of the young man could be heard, stepping toward the pulpit.

Soon, Wen Jianyan was only a step away from the open coffin, so close that he could almost see the stone patterns and dust on top.

He took a deep breath, carefully and slowly stepped up the stairs, then leaned forward to look into the coffin—

Behind him, Su Cheng and the others’ hearts tightened, lowering their voices to ask:

“How is it?”

“…” Wen Jianyan straightened up, turned around, and shook his head at the others, “Empty.”

He bent down, reached out to the lid of the coffin, and picked up something, “Only this.”

The others were all stunned, walking forward one after another.

In Wen Jianyan’s hand was a small black book, about the size of a palm, with embossed golden letters on the cover.

【Bible】

“Wait, is this…?” Shao Yao was startled, her eyes widening slightly.

Wen Jianyan nodded, “It’s an ordinary-level hidden item.”

The moment his fingers touched the item, a familiar system sound rang in his ears, confirming his guess.

Back in the director’s office, they found two ordinary-level hidden items. Luce and Wen Jianyan each took one, and the item he held in his hand was the one taken by Luce.

After getting the confirmation, Shao Yao’s face turned even paler.

Generally, after an anchor dies, the hidden items they carry naturally drop. Seeing Wen Jianyan holding the Bible, she realized that her teammates were probably in grave danger.

The other two looked into the stone coffin.

Sure enough, Wen Jianyan wasn’t lying. Apart from the Bible he had taken, there was nothing inside the heavy coffin. None of the terrifying scenes they had imagined appeared—only a small, empty, cold space.

Su Cheng and Blond, who had been extremely nervous just now, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

While staring at the item in his palm, Wen Jianyan’s expression didn’t relax in the slightest.

If something had really attacked him just now, whether it was a zombie or a ghoul, under the vigilance of all of them, the threat wouldn’t be too great.

But… an empty coffin was different.

Wen Jianyan raised his eyes and surveyed the vast underground tomb.

Empty and cold, every stone coffin remained quietly in place, with no place to hide.

He furrowed his brows slightly and looked at the task bar beside him.

After signing the subservient contract with Shao Yao, all the activated epic-level item missions and mission progressions had been shared with him, of course. On the floating mission panel, he could see that this mission was already 2/3 completed, with only the final step left to obtain the final mission reward.

In other words, they had to complete the final ritual here next.

Completing the mission was definitely very dangerous. If something went wrong in the middle…

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, his expression serious.

“So, what’s our next move?” Su Cheng looked at Wen Jianyan and asked.

Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze, taking a deep breath.

“Swift and decisive.”

Although the empty coffin posed an unresolved hazard, they had little time left. Even with the risks involved, they had to face it head-on.

Among the Seven Sacraments, Luce’s squad had already completed two, opting for confession as their final choice, but almost all of them perished in the process.

Wen Jianyan turned to look at the nearby confession room.

The confession room wasn’t large, made of dark wooden structures that seemed quite aged, emitting a long-settled scent of blood. Thick green curtains hung down, completely covering the windows on both sides, leaving no gap. The room for the confession was half-open, while the room where the priest resided remained tightly shut.

Shao Yao noticed Wen Jianyan’s gaze and spoke, “That room won’t open; we’ve tried.”

On the floating mission panel, the method of completing the task was written: the only thing the anchor needed to do was enter the confession room and sincerely confess their sins to the priest.

Everyone’s gaze fell on the closed room.

In other words… within this silent, soundless space, there indeed sat a priest, whether human or ghost, listening to the confessions of sinners?

The thought sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

It’s worth noting that since Wen Jianyan inherited the progress of the Luce squad’s mission, his mission panel only displayed the operational requirements for the current task.

However, these Seven Sacraments were not mere imitations or replications of reality. Each item had its own unique “operational requirements.” In other words, the anchor couldn’t skip the system prompts and directly complete another task based on their understanding of real-world sacramental processes.

Moreover, according to what Shao Yao said, their mission was received in front of the stone coffin. Now, with the coffin lid open and the “presence” inside vanished, even if Wen Jianyan wanted to abandon the progress and start over, it might not be possible—abandoning the current progress might equate to discarding the only way to obtain the epic-level item.

The only path laid before him was to complete the “confession.”

Wen Jianyan turned to Shao Yao and said, “Tell me everything that happens inside the confession room after your teammates enter, without leaving out any details.”

Shao Yao nodded and began to recount meticulously from the beginning.

After choosing “confession” as their task, the method of completing the mission appeared on the mission panel. Without any prompts, the first person among them could only enter blindly.

What followed was a long and agonizing wait.

Ten minutes later, the tightly closed door of the confession room suddenly slid open as if released from restraint, revealing a narrow gap.

Luce noticed something was wrong and immediately activated his item to try to pull the person out, but the item failed, and the confession room remained silent.

The confession room was empty.

The first person had failed. Luce couldn’t contact his teammate and didn’t know the reason for the failure. He could gather a few clues from outside the confession room, but he still made relevant deductions and activated the potentially useful life-saving items, almost making thorough preparations.

However, ten minutes later, the door of the confession room slid open.

Empty inside.

That small, wooden space, sealed in darkness, seemed to hide an invisible mouth that had swallowed two figures successively, then slowly opened again, awaiting the entrance of the next victim.

Shao Yao was scared.

She knew that some terrible force lurked within the confession room. If she entered, there would be no chance of survival. So… she cowardly fled.

At this point, Shao Yao’s face darkened, her lips tightened subconsciously, and her expression was a mix of shame and sadness.

But no one had the right to blame her for her weakness.

This was a confession room that had swallowed two seasoned anchors successively. Especially for Luce, the second to enter, he had done everything possible to prepare beforehand. Even Wen Jianyan himself might not have done better, yet he disappeared without a trace inside.

In such circumstances, rushing in would be tantamount to suicide.

Yet, the fact that Shao Yao had the courage to come back was already rare.

Based on the clues provided by Shao Yao, Wen Jianyan fell into contemplation.

There wasn’t much information on the mission panel regarding how to complete the sacrament of “confession.”

The real-world sacrament of confession involves the faithful confessing their sins to the clergy, expressing remorse and a determination to change, and ultimately being absolved of their sins.

That is, contrition, confession, and absolution.

The reason why the previous individuals failed might be because they weren’t absolved in the end.

If Wen Jianyan were to design this part himself, he would make the sinner relive their sins in the confessional room and undergo a test to check if they had concealed their sins, sincerely confessed, or… perhaps allowed the other party to atone for their sins?

“…”

Wen Jianyan remained silent, his long eyelashes blocking the expression in his eyes.

The entire underground tomb was shrouded in a deathly silence.

The others held their breath, watching him, waiting for his decision.

After a long time, Wen Jianyan lifted his eyes, seeming to have finally made a decision.

“I will go in next,” he said slowly.

Though Su Cheng had already guessed Wen Jianyan’s answer, he couldn’t help but feel a tightness in his chest. He suggested uneasily, “Do you need me to use any props…?”

“No,” Wen Jianyan shook his head, saying, “You don’t need to do anything.”

Despite Luce’s thorough preparations, the outcome remained unchanged.

In a sense, this also hinted that using items to take shortcuts and leave a way out wouldn’t work. To survive and leave the confession room alive, one must return to the essence of the mission itself. In other words, the focus should be on completing the ritual, not “successfully escaping.”

“According to the information provided by Shao Yao, we’ll probably know the outcome in about ten minutes.”

Wen Jianyan said calmly, “If I don’t come out, there’s no need for you to go in.”

“You should focus on accumulating points to complete the mission as your goal from now on. Try to gather enough points to complete the mission before the next chime and leave the instance.”

“…,” Su Cheng opened his mouth dumbfoundedly, but ultimately swallowed his remaining words back.

After a few seconds of silence, he nodded. “I understand.”

After explaining everything, Wen Jianyan stepped forward, walking toward the dark wooden confession room ahead. The dark wood seemed to emit a reddish hue under the dim light, giving off a strong, blood-like scent. The dark green curtains hung down, covering the windows on both sides, completely obscuring the view of what lay inside.

He raised his hand and pulled open the wooden door.

The wooden door creaked open easily before him, revealing the narrow and enclosed space inside.

Simple wooden chairs, capable of completely blocking the opposing faces, yet with wooden windows allowing sound to pass through.

It was almost no different from the real world.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath.

He stepped inside and sat down on the chair.

The door of the confessional room automatically closed behind him, blocking out all light, and finally made a “bang” sound, locking tightly without leaving a single gap.

In the dim, almost indiscernible surroundings, Wen Jianyan calmly rested his forehead on his crossed fingers, assuming a standard, devout posture, leaning forward in front of the partition.

“Father, I have sinned.” 

The young man’s voice sounded calm and clear.

Inside the partition, there was dead silence.

“The scriptures say that the devil is the father of lies, and I must have long forsaken the divine.”

Even the ability derived from the quality of his soul represented the evil fruits of lies.

He closed his eyes, the silver-white eyelashes drooping in the darkness, the trembling eyeballs beneath the thin eyelids. He spoke with a calm, almost disdainful conclusion:

“However, I’m not prepared to repent.”

“The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict among brothers.”

Pride, lies, and murder.

Wen Jianyan’s sins were unforgivable.

“I confess to you, not the sin of lies, but the sin of murder.” 

The young man leaned into the darkness and spoke calmly, almost abandoning all emotions.

“This is my only crime.”

“…” 

There was a dead silence around him.

Wen Jianyan maintained this almost devout posture, quietly waiting for whatever might happen next—whether he would be judged a failure, like the other two, and thrown into that bloody space, or whether he would be tested, made to relive his sins, or have long-buried memories dredged up, paying the price for his actions one by one.

Or perhaps…

Would the gods speak and forgive his sins?

The last possibility made Wen Jianyan himself feel somewhat absurd.

He never believed in gods.

Even if they existed, they would be indifferent to humanity, perhaps even enjoying the suffering. He would even prefer to deal with vile false-gods like Wu Zhu rather than believe in the savior repeatedly praised in every religion—the savior who saves the suffering.

There would be no such thing in the real world, let alone in this world of slaughter and madness like this world of instances.

Suddenly, without any warning, a familiar system sound rang in his ears.

【Ding! Critical item detected】

“…?” Wen Jianyan was taken aback.

Critical item?

Before he could ponder further, the system continued:

【Congratulations, anchor, for triggering a special scene: Role-playing game】

【Progress: 0%】

The next second, he saw two health bars appear above his head, representing his vitality and sanity.

【If vitality reaches zero, the anchor will die, and the broadcast will end. If sanity reaches zero, the anchor will become part of the instance, and the broadcast will end】

Wait… a role-playing game?

What mode was this? He had only experienced things like chase battles and hide-and-seek before. This scene he triggered was something he had never experienced…

Moreover, a ‘special’ scene meant that the other two probably hadn’t experienced it either?

Wen Jianyan was momentarily stunned and involuntarily looked up.

He was still sitting in the narrow confession room, surrounded by tight confinement with no light seeping through. But strangely… it seemed like something had changed.

Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly realize something and looked down at himself.

“!” 

Although he was mentally prepared, he couldn’t help but be startled.

The clothes he was wearing had inexplicably turned into a priest’s attire at some point. The black fabric enveloped every inch of his skin, not revealing a single bit. Around his neck was a white priest’s collar, appearing rigid and austere, filled with a sense of sanctity.

A shining cross hung from his chest, swaying slightly with his movements.

This was…?!

Wen Jianyan seemed to suddenly realize something.

He reached out and touched his pocket.

His fingertips touched the hard and thick little book.

It was the Bible.

Could it be that the “detection of critical items” referred to these two items?

A Bible and a cross. In other words, only when the anchor has both of these items on them will they be pulled into this special scene?

If that was the case, it was no wonder the other two didn’t trigger it. After all, these two items were separated and kept by the two teams in the dean’s office. If it weren’t for the fact that Luce was currently missing and his whereabouts unknown, leading to this item falling from him and being picked up by Wen Jianyan, he wouldn’t have been able to collect both items.

This condition was so strict, no wonder it’s called a “special scene.”

Wen Jianyan understood that in the current situation, he had probably entered a completely different path from the other two. The challenges awaiting him next would be completely different, even beyond his previous expectations.

As Wen Jianyan was contemplating, suddenly, the door of the confession room was knocked.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

“…!”

Wen Jianyan was startled; his head jerked up, his body slightly tense, looking in the direction of the sound, waiting cautiously.

A muffled, dry voice came from outside the door:

“Father, are you in there? The director needs you.” 

“The next exorcism ritual is about to begin.”

“…” Wen Jianyan composed himself and tentatively responded, “I understand; I’ll be there shortly.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the progress bar above his head, which previously showed “0%,” jumped to “5%.”

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes.

So, that’s how it’s played…

Got it.

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