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Thank you Miriam, Jill, and Hweianime for the Kofi.
Anchor Hall
Chapter 198: “Did you have fun?”
In terms of serious business, Nightmare was indeed very efficient.
In just one day, all the procedures were completed, and at the same time, the leaderboard was updated, with the mysterious No. 034 topping the list with the exclusive label of “Guild Leader.”
The forum, which had been closely following the leaderboard, was once again in an uproar.
No one could have expected that this highly anticipated rising star would choose not to join any of the major guilds, but instead become the leader of an unknown small guild!
With his current displayed abilities and standards, no matter which guild he joined, he would definitely receive the best treatment. However, he chose the worst option…
This is simply too foolish.
You have to know, under Nightmare’s manipulation behind the scenes, the total number of guilds in the entire system is limited. So, to compete for more resources, the living space of small guilds will only be constantly squeezed and encroached upon.
In Nightmare, if a small guild does not grow quickly and climb to the front, it will either become a shadow guild of a large guild, serving as a tool to earn more points for them, or it will become a casualty in the struggles between various guilds because it refused to be acquired.
And the guild No. 34 obtained this time is precisely the latter.
A small guild squeezed to the point of being a lone few members, struggling for survival amidst the competition and exclusion of several guilds, possibly facing total annihilation any day.
A complete fool.
And the hidden dangers are not just these.
You have to know, No. 34 has recently become too famous. Basically, all the big guilds have heard of this newcomer making strong waves. If he had attached himself to a guild, it would be understandable…
If not, he becomes a target feared by all.
Such a highly potential newcomer, once he grows up, will definitely become a terrifying opponent.
Anyone with a bit of insight can see this, which means, if you care about your life, you cannot possibly join this newly established, already precarious small guild.
He is destined to be a lone commander.
Every anchor couldn’t help but sigh, but at the same time, they felt a tinge of schadenfreude.
It’s over.
A good rising star probably won’t survive a few more instances.
However, amidst the general schadenfreude, some insiders felt that things weren’t that simple.
According to what they knew, that small guild that transferred the leadership was a tough nut to crack. The guild leader had a difficult offensive talent with a high rarity and was quite capable. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to sustain such a small, broken guild for so long. If it weren’t for a traitor within who sold many key pieces of information to other guilds, its growth potential would have been very significant.
Even though they encountered such difficult circumstances, the guild leader still stubbornly refused to sell out.
For No. 34 to have been able to manage this, it’s indeed not simple.
Then the developments started to become bizarre.
No one noticed the first person who transferred to the guild.
After all, it was just an inconspicuous little person, not associated with any big guild, seemingly belonging to some mercenary organization.
But the second and third persons caused quite a stir in the forum.
Yun Bilan and Elise—it’s said one of them had a high rarity offensive talent.
These two belonged to a mid-sized guild ranked in the top fifty. Yun Bilan was a core member, and Elise was her closest teammate and subordinate. In a previous livestream, only the two of them were left in their team, but they seemed to become even closer because of this, consecutively completing one S-rank and one A-rank instance, becoming a rising star in the Nightmare, attracting significant attention.
No one could have expected that the two of them would choose to join this unknown small guild that had just transferred its leadership…
What kind of spell did No. 34 cast on them?!
When the fourth person transferred, no one could believe their eyes.
Wen Ya, with a high rarity control talent, originally belonged to the guild: Eternal Day.
You must know, that’s Eternal Day.
The third-ranked top guild in all instances!
Although Wen Ya was not one of the core anchors of the guild, her attention and importance were not low. This was a textbook case of defecting from the light to the darkness!
With these few inexplicable transfer events, a plausible rumor started spreading on the forum.
This No. 034 could use his talent to make others utterly devoted to him, following his orders without question, eerily so.
Maybe it was some kind of mutated charm type.
Otherwise, how could he rank so high on the attractiveness list?!
As the only two old members left in Chen Mo’s guild who hadn’t been poached, Nan Ming and Nan Li were quite stunned these past few days.
First, an arrogant guy suddenly came to their guild, bragging that he wanted to be their leader. Not only did their proper guild leader not throw him out, but he also had a long conversation with him. The most surreal part was…
In the end, that guy actually became the leader?!
He didn’t spend a single point!
Their former leader even gave him 100 points!
What kind of fool is this?
Nan Ming and Nan Li truly had no idea what their leader was thinking or how the entire process worked. In short…
They had a new leader.
And their original leader became the vice leader.
What was even more incomprehensible was that this seemingly reshuffled high-level change brought about almost negligible changes…
Since that day, the new leader has never appeared again. It was still Chen Mo who stayed in the office every day, and the overall operations remained the same as before, giving them the illusion that everything was peaceful and unchanged.
However, the events that followed were far from peaceful.
The “newcomers” reporting to the guild were all recently cultivated senior anchors from some major guilds, each one higher in the rankings than the last, and their former guilds were each more famous than the other.
The forum was abuzz, and some people even came to them to inquire about their new leader, wondering if he used some kind of method to control people…
How would they know?!
However, after knowing that their former leader was not the only “victim”… they somehow felt less angry than before.
Maybe this is the charm of shared misery.
***
Wen Jianyan was very satisfied with his new vice leader.
Diligent, dedicated, and efficient, handling the tedious transfer work perfectly. With him overseeing the guild, Wen Jianyan hardly had to worry about anything.
Suddenly having eight guild members, it became a small guild with some scale, not only having combat members but also auxiliary and logistics support, even having a resident seer, all well-organized.
Besides the member transfers, some member benefits and task mechanisms needed to be handled, all of which Wen Jianyan directly threw to the free labor Chen Mo, happily acting as a hands-off manager.
During this period, Wen Jianyan himself was not idle.
He sought help from Luce and, through his introduction, became a member of many high-end consumption venues—then naturally began to party.
Casinos, bars, private clubs… everything.
In Nightmare, as long as you have points, you can get the most extreme experiences.
And Wen Jianyan, after continuously completing several high-level instances, had no shortage of points.
Moreover, due to the accumulated vacations from completing several instances, Wen Jianyan had a full three months without entering any instances after the last one ended.
Su Cheng finally saw how long a person could disappear while indulging.
Finally, after staying up for two consecutive nights, he managed to corner Wen Jianyan once, forcing him to take him to his next “party.”
What he didn’t expect was that the party would be held at a yacht casino.
Apparently, Nightmare had enough power to create an entire entertainment paradise for people to squander, even an extremely realistic sea.
“…”
Su Cheng stared at the deep blue sea outside the porthole, showing a dazed expression.
Damn…
This is possible?
“Want to play a few rounds?”
Wen Jianyan walked over.
This time, he appeared as a handsome young man with peach blossom eyes and thin lips, exuding a flirtatious and unfaithful aura, which strangely matched his own temperament.
“Don’t worry, I’ll pay.”
Su Cheng’s mouth twitched: “No need, thanks.”
“Alright then.” Wen Jianyan shrugged, curling his lips, “I’ll go try my luck.”
Su Cheng saw firsthand what true decadence and extravagance looked like.
Brilliant golden champagne poured down, bubbling with white foam, and countless large greenish-gold chips representing points piled on the table. The atmosphere of revelry spread in the air.
Wen Jianyan propped up his head, his thin silk shirt soaked in alcohol, slightly open, revealing a small patch of fair, firm chest. His peach blossom eyes were slightly squinted, and his lightly colored lips always held a frivolous smile, looking luxurious and decadent, perfectly fitting in with everything around him, as if he were born for these places.
He toyed with the chips, occasionally throwing a few down lazily.
Sometimes a few, sometimes dozens.
He lost more than he won.
Although he had just finished a instance and hadn’t been enjoying himself for long, for some reason, Wen Jianyan seemed to be familiar with most people at the venue, with people frequently coming to greet him, looking particularly acquainted.
Compared to the at-ease Wen Jianyan, Su Cheng seemed much more uneasy, almost appearing restless.
He couldn’t help but calculate the points Wen Jianyan was losing, feeling sharp pangs in his heart.
Ahhhh, you spendthrift!!!!
Finally, Su Cheng couldn’t bear it anymore and found an excuse to drag Wen Jianyan away from the scene.
“What’s wrong?”
Wen Jianyan leaned bonelessly against the ship’s rail, his cheekbones flushed and his hair and collar slightly disheveled, looking every bit like an extreme hedonist playboy.
“Points, it’s all points!!” Su Cheng gritted his teeth and whispered painfully, “Is this fun? What’s fun about this?!”
Why waste points on this?!
Such a waste!
Just thinking about those points being squandered made Su Cheng’s heart ache.
These were all earned by risking lives!
“Huh?” Wen Jianyan raised his slightly tipsy peach blossom eyes, his half-squinted eyes glistening, and his lips curled into a lazy smile, “Who said I was playing?”
Su Cheng froze.
Wen Jianyan leaned forward slightly.
Su Cheng could smell the gaudy perfume and the champagne that had just been spilled on Wen Jianyan, blending into a debauched scent of wealth.
“…”
Su Cheng was stunned.
He realized that in those eyes, which seemed filled with water, there was an extreme calm and rationality.
“Guess, what is the most abundant thing in these places?”
Wen Jianyan asked.
Su Cheng shook his head dumbly.
Wen Jianyan raised a finger to his lips and silently mouthed:
Information.
Su Cheng froze, recalling Wen Jianyan’s skillful socializing skills just now, and suddenly realized something.
Nightmare is a precarious place where no one knows if they can survive the next instance. So, apart from some stubborn anchors who are still hoarding points to try to leave Nightmare, most senior anchors have already gotten used to entertaining themselves to death, indulging as soon as they leave the instance.
Therefore, these places are also the richest in information—if used properly, one can obtain everything they want to know.
In addition to the qualifications to enter high-end entertainment venues, Wen Jianyan also obtained a lot of information about senior anchors and major guilds from Luce—though not much was revealed and not enough to be crucial, but for a professional con artist, it was more than enough.
Using this information, Wen Jianyan, under different new appearances, mingled everywhere. He was naturally good at guessing people’s hearts and preferences, and being generous and extravagant with points, he quickly blended into many small circles.
This was Wen Jianyan’s forte.
Before being dragged into Nightmare, he was already frequenting such places, and now he was even more at ease.
Wen Jianyan lifted his arm, draped it over Su Cheng’s shoulder, and half-leaned on him, making Su Cheng stagger and nearly fall.
A voice, tinged with laughter, sounded close to his ear:
“And you really think I only lose?”
Su Cheng was stunned, staring blankly at him.
“Relax,” Wen Jianyan laughed, opening his hand to reveal a few pure gold chips as if performing a magic trick, and winked playfully, “Overall, I win more.”
Lose ten times, win once.
As long as that one win covers everything, isn’t it enough?
He was always stingy and cunning; how could he let himself suffer?
***
After a whole night at the yacht casino, Su Cheng was exhausted and went straight to rest.
Wen Jianyan returned to his room, leaning lazily against the door, the room unlit, immersing himself in the darkness.
He had a good tolerance for alcohol, often maintaining clarity and calm even in such situations, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel tipsy.
He closed his eyes slightly, sorting through clues in his mind.
That mysterious “Parasite,” although highly protected by the Oracle, Wen Jianyan still managed to trace some patterns. Based on this, many previous guesses began to connect, slowly taking shape.
Wen Jianyan straightened up, ruffled his hair, and dragged himself into the bathroom.
He washed his face and looked up, staring at his own wet face in the mirror.
After returning to his room, his appearance had faded. His cheeks, earlobes, and the corners of his eyes were all flushed from alcohol, his originally gentle and handsome features exuding a drunken allure, looking decadent and lazy.
But those amber eyes were cold.
No matter what, this person was too much of a threat and had to be dealt with first.
Wen Jianyan turned off the faucet and walked out.
As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, he realized something was wrong.
It was pitch dark.
There was not a single bit of light, as if enveloped by thick shadows, and a faint burning sensation came from his hip and lower abdomen.
Wen Jianyan was startled and instinctively looked to the side—
In the darkness, he saw Wu Zhu standing by the bedside, staring fixedly at him with those golden eyes.
“Did you have fun?”
He asked in a low, emotionless voice.
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Ohh our love interest is backkk, excited to see what Wu Zhu will do.