Thank you “J” for the Ko-fi.
Changsheng Building
Chapter 205: Death knell
It was clear that the scream just now must have come from those who were still in the lobby and didn’t have time to light the oil lamp and enter the shop.
In an instant, the previously relaxed atmosphere vanished without a trace.
Inside shop number 04, the old oil lamp sat quietly on the counter, its dim yellow light covering the small store.
But outside the range of the lamp, there was only darkness.
Endless darkness.
The shop was deathly silent; the only sounds were the labored breathing of the people inside.
Every anchor stared fixedly at the door, their nerves stretched to the limit.
A stench, like that of rotting corpses, wafted in from the darkness.
The next moment, the flame in the oil lamp flickered violently. Though it was covered by a lampshade, it suddenly became unstable, the flickering light casting unsettling shadows on the walls and causing everyone’s hearts to leap.
“Quick!”
Qi Qian lowered his voice and urgently commanded.
“Close the door!”
As soon as he spoke, Zhang Yu sprang into action. He moved quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the gray glass door was slammed shut, firmly blocking the thick darkness outside.
The faint stench of rotting corpses still lingered, but the light from the oil lamp steadied and stopped flickering.
The enclosed space, bathed in light, gave a false sense of security.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Qi Qian turned to An Xin:
“When you came back, how many people were still outside?”
“Our angle made it hard to see the whole lobby,” An Xin’s expression became serious, the previously flirtatious demeanor gone, “but there should still be two teams that hadn’t entered their rooms or lit their oil lamps.”
Qi Qian nodded and glanced at the glass door.
Beyond the gray glass was absolute darkness, impenetrable by any light. Any team that didn’t light their oil lamp before nightfall was undoubtedly eliminated.
He turned to Su Cheng: “Prophet, what’s your take on this?”
Now, all eyes were on Su Cheng.
This time, Su Cheng didn’t panic.
Before entering the instance, when he didn’t know that Wen Jianyan would come along, the latter had advised him on what to do if he encountered such a situation and was asked for his opinion before a life-or-death moment.
He still remembered Wen Jianyan’s expression as he spoke:
“The value of an item is not just in its worth but also in the timing of its appearance and the difficulty of obtaining it.
Maintain an air of mystery, understand?”
Under everyone’s gaze, Su Cheng asked in return:
“Do you want me to make a prophecy now? Are you sure?”
The question was simple, but the implication was not.
After all, prophetic abilities, while part of the talent spectrum, varied greatly in type. Some were passive, some were active. The Dark Fire team didn’t yet know the specifics of Su Cheng’s talent or the activation method or accuracy of his prophecies. Su Cheng’s question made it clear that his talent was actively triggered and had limited uses, and he was willing to let Qi Qian decide when to use it.
This meant that Qi Qian would not only have to bear the consequences of using the prophecy now, but also if a more critical situation arose later and Su Cheng couldn’t make another prophecy, Qi Qian would be responsible for that too.
“……”
Qi Qian clearly understood the implication. He squinted and compromised: “Never mind, let’s hold off for now.”
“They will definitely want to test your ability after entering the instance. After all, you are the external expert they hired with a hefty sum. If you agree now, it will lower your value and break your mystery, making you just an ordinary team member who can be used at will.”
The young man had shown him a kind and pleasant yet secretly cunning smile:
“So the first thing you need to do is make them afraid to use you casually because they can’t afford the cost.”
The scene before entering the instance flashed through Su Cheng’s mind.
He instinctively glanced at the person standing beside him, the one who had actually said those words.
The person clung to his side with wet amber eyes like a startled deer, appearing soft and fragile. Although his facial features and contours bore some resemblance to his true self, the cunning and calculating demeanor from before was completely hidden.
“……”
Su Cheng’s temple twitched as he slowly shifted his gaze away.
“Wait, did you hear something?”
Tong Yao suddenly spoke.
The medium’s expression was tense, and her eyes were colder than ever.
Everyone held their breath and listened intently—
Through the tightly closed door, faint sounds could be heard coming from the darkness…
“Ding-ding-ding.”
The faint sound of a bell, like it was coming from a great distance, was unusually clear in the boundless silence and darkness.
It seemed to come from the left…from the direction of shop number 01.
Everyone’s breathing has halted.
Wen Jianyan froze and looked up at the door.
Above the glass door hung a small brass bell.
Which meant that if someone pushed the door open from outside, it would make the same sound.
Time seemed to stretch, though it felt like only a second had passed, when a sharp, piercing scream tore through the silence from the darkness.
“Ahhhhhhhh——”
The scream was filled with endless despair and terror, cutting deep into everyone’s hearts.
In this situation, no one would be foolish enough to leave the light-filled room, which meant…someone was trying to come in from the darkness.
Or rather, “something.”
“Quick! Block the door!”
Qi Qian reacted quickly, decisively commanding.
In the next second, all the anchors moved, rushing to the glass door and pressing their shoulders against it to hold it shut.
In the nearby darkness, the sound of knocking on the door suddenly began.
Bang, bang, bang.
One knock, then another, mechanical and stiff, each interval exactly the same, each knock hitting their hearts hard.
Compared to the bell, the knocking was louder, clearer, and seemed to be closer.
Everyone instinctively tensed up, cold sweat forming on their foreheads.
It was obvious that the anchors in the room being knocked on had also moved quickly to block the door, preventing that “something” from entering as it had initially.
“Bang, bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang!”
The knocking grew more intense, and they could almost hear the glass shaking and the door creaking; the intervals were shortening, becoming more frantic!!
Though they weren’t in the room being knocked on, the same fear seeped through the darkness, tightening their throats and raising their hackles.
Although they were not in that room being knocked on, the same fear seeped in from the darkness, causing their throats to tighten and their hair to stand on end.
Suddenly, the noise stopped.
In the dead silence, the sound of the copper bell rang again.
“Ding, ding.”
That sound was like the death knell, striking down fiercely.
Everyone gasped.
Separated by just a few walls, this time they could hear more clearly the screams filled with fear, pain, and utter disbelief:
“No, no, no way, I clearly——!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The piercing scream was abruptly cut off.
Everything returned to a dead silence.
“…”
Under the shroud of the dim light, they looked at each other, seeing the same expressions on each other’s faces. Tension, high pressure, and hidden horror.
In fact, in these advanced team instances, it often happens that multiple teams are wiped out at the beginning.
Without sacrificing lives, it’s impossible to figure out the rules of the instance. And the remaining teams have to rely on pitifully little information to figure out how to survive wave after wave of attacks. Of course, the premise was… that you were not the first ones to be targeted.
The first ones to be targeted were doomed to die.
That’s also why anchors with foresight talents have become essential in team instances.
If their talents happened to be a good match and their skills were excellent, even if your team was targeted first, with some luck, you could survive the first wave of crisis even without any information.
It was precisely because of this that the Oracle Guild had always maintained its position as the top guild.
And “Changsheng Building” truly deserves its A+ team instance rating.
This difficulty level of a team instance could directly be compared with S-level or even SS-level single instances. In less than half an hour since the instance began, at least four teams had already been wiped out…
This mortality rate was simply hair-raising.
In the next second, footsteps came from the darkness, stiff and slow, like the dragging sound of shoe soles scraping the ground.
The next second, footsteps came from the darkness, stiff and slow, as if the soles of shoes were dragging against the ground.
Step by step.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
That sound… it was like it was coming straight for them!
Everyone broke out in a cold sweat.
“Don’t block it.”
Qi Qian gritted his teeth and said.
He stood up, took two steps back, his eyes still fixed on the tightly closed glass door in front of him, and said, “Blocking it is useless.”
After hearing the first bell ring, the other teams must have also blocked their doors.
The knocking on the door they just heard proved this point.
The anchors who have survived until now all have some supplies in their backpacks, and it shouldn’t be difficult to block a door tightly — however, they saw the result.
Elimination.
This means blocking the door was useless.
Or should they take a desperate gamble?
No, the risk was too great.
The information they had obtained so far was truly too little. Outside, there were not only footsteps but also endless darkness. In this situation, making a reckless move was tantamount to courting death.
Qi Qian clenched his teeth and watched the bottomless darkness outside.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
The footsteps were approaching.
Closer.
Soon, through the hazy glass, they could vaguely see a pitch-black shadow, like a human, yet not a human, but it was definitely walking straight in their direction.
Qi Qian’s heart sank, and the last sliver of hopeful luck was extinguished.
It was really coming for them.
Unexpectedly, their luck was so bad this time, becoming the third targeted team.
No way around it.
It seemed now was the time…
Qi Qian turned his head to look at Su Cheng, opening his mouth: “You…”
Before he could finish, the girl standing next to Su Cheng raised her eyes.
Her cheeks were deathly pale, her amber eyes filled with panic and covered with a layer of mist. Her lips were tightly pressed together, her voice fragile and trembling: “How could this… Why is it us… Just now the sound was still far away, how could it be like this? Why us?”
“Don’t be afraid.”
Beside her, although An Xin’s expression was heavy, he still fully displayed his gentlemanly demeanor, raising his hand to press on the girl’s slender shoulder.
“I believe the captain surely has a way. At worst, we’ll fight to the death. I’ll protect you——”
As he spoke, he felt a bit puzzled.
Huh? The shoulder under his palm… didn’t seem as short as he imagined?
After hearing Wen Jianyan’s words, Qi Qian suddenly froze, falling into deep thought.
Right, why them?
The first bell sound came from shop 01, while they were in shop 04. This meant there were still two shops in between, yet they only heard one scream.
This meant one shop was directly bypassed by the “person,” and it came straight to them.
Random?
Absolutely impossible.
Deaths without any pattern would mean unpredictability and certain death, which couldn’t exist in the Nightmare.
This meant that one of the teams in shop 02 or 03, whether or not they had a prophet, used some method to avoid the attack.
They, like themselves, had just entered the instance, so the method couldn’t be overly complicated or difficult to achieve. Then…
Qi Qian seemed to suddenly realize something.
He abruptly raised his head, his gaze landing sharply on the oil lamp on the counter, his pupils dilating!
It was already pitch dark outside, and the door was a glass door. This meant that if the shop was lit, it would be especially conspicuous! This thing not only helped them escape the darkness but also served as a beacon, attracting the ghost’s attention! Damn, they almost got themselves killed!
“Cover the glass door with clothes!!!”
Qi Qian pointed to the rows of clothes in the shop, commanding sharply, “Quick! Don’t let any light through!!!”
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then instantly understood Qi Qian’s meaning.
The light attracted the ghost!
They were instantly covered in goosebumps, but being accustomed to crises, they moved swiftly and deftly towards the shelves, tearing down clothes and rushing towards the glass door at top speed.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Outside, the footsteps grew closer.
Through the gaps between the clothes that were not yet fully covering the door, they could see the gradually enlarging shadow.
Head, neck, and shoulders.
Bit by bit, it imprinted on the glass door.
Faster, faster!!
The people behind the door could almost hear their own hearts pounding.
There were quite a few of them, and the glass door wasn’t very large, so soon the clothes completely blocked the door.
Behind them, Tong Yao lowered her voice, looking for any possible light leaks and giving concise commands: “An Xin, a little more to the left, yes!”
“Captain, there’s still a gap at the bottom!”
“Tap, tap.”
The footsteps suddenly stopped.
In that instant, everyone instinctively stopped moving and held their breath.
Their gazes fixed on the clothes they held up, staring intently at the patterns on the fabric.
Outside, it was too quiet—eerily quiet.
The glass door couldn’t be locked from the inside; it could be easily pushed open from the outside.
This meant that they were separated from the thing standing at the door, whether human or ghost, by just a layer of clothes and an unlocked door.
Cold sweat seeped down their spines, their palms grew clammy, and the arms holding up the clothes started to ache.
Please… let this work.
