(2/3)
Changsheng Building
Chapter 209: A weak girl carrying an adult man on her own and running away
“Shh… shhh…”
After asking the question, the eerie sound immediately disappeared, leaving only the electric current echoing in the microphone, seemingly patiently waiting for Qi Qian’s response.
Beside him, the light in the brass oil lamp was growing dimmer. The weak light could barely penetrate the layer of soot on the lampshade.
The lamp’s oil was about to run out. Aside from accepting the proposal on the phone, they had no other choice.
Qi Qian’s gaze lingered for a moment on the nearly extinguished oil lamp. He gritted his teeth and responded without hesitation:
“Yes.”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a “click,” and the phone line was cut.
Qi Qian was taken aback and looked down at the phone in his hand. From the other end of the receiver came the busy signal “beep, beep, beep.”
“……”
There was no response.
Then what?
As the illuminated area shrank, the faint smell of decay in the air seemed to grow stronger again.
Darkness surged from all directions.
It might have been an illusion, but the temperature seemed to drop as well. The icy, cold air felt like a blade, cutting into the skin and bringing a chilling unease that pierced the spine.
“Click, click—”
At that moment, the sealed glass door suddenly made a noise. Props tools they had used earlier seemed to lose their effectiveness instantly, and the door slowly opened to both sides.
Not good!!
Everyone held their breath, their bodies tensing up instinctively, and they stared at the doorway.
Unexpectedly, the plastic mannequin was gone, and even the dark, shrouded hall had disappeared. In its place was a staircase leading straight upwards.
The staircase spiraled upwards endlessly, its top disappearing into darkness, seemingly leading to another terrifying and unknown realm. Yet to the desperate group, it was a glimmer of hope, like grabbing a lifeline.
The way to the second floor!!!
“Upstairs, quickly!”
Qi Qian urged anxiously.
The others followed closely behind him, under the dim light of the oil lamp, sprinting towards the staircase as fast as they could.
As soon as they stepped onto the staircase, a chill spread throughout their bodies.
“Not good; the props can’t be used!”
An Xin said urgently.
Wen Jianyan quickly opened his live broadcast interface and, as expected, all his props had turned grey except for a few bound legendary-level items, including all those that could increase speed.
In other words, they could only rely on themselves now.
Qi Qian: “Run!”
At this moment, everyone had only one thing on their minds:
Faster, faster!
Run up to the second floor before the light disappears!
The rapid footsteps echoed on the staircase. Although only a few dozen seconds had passed, the flame grew dimmer than before, as if it would extinguish at any moment.
The narrow, dark staircase seemed to stretch on endlessly.
In the oil lamp, the thin layer of oil was almost gone, the small flame flickering and dimming frequently.
“Captain, captain…”
Tong Yao’s face was pale. She instinctively moved closer to the light, her eyes, which gleamed with a strange luster, staring at the surrounding darkness. Her voice trembled, unable to hide her panic.
As a medium, she often sensed danger first.
And now…
Her feelings were very bad.
Her whole body was cold, her hair stood on end, and her legs felt like they were filled with lead.
Her intuition told her that something terrible lurked in the darkness. Once the light was gone, their lives would be in serious danger.
Very terrifying, even more so than death itself.
“Faster!”
Qi Qian gritted his teeth, his breath unsteady, and his voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
Their hurried footsteps overlapped, echoing in the darkness. Even though they kept moving, a strong sense of despair slowly surfaced in their hearts.
At this moment, a faint light appeared in the darkness ahead.
“!! It’s right in front! Quick!”
Like drowning people seeing a piece of driftwood, like a spider’s thread dangling into hell, a glimmer of hope ignited in everyone’s hearts.
Qi Qian and Tong Yao were the first to rush into the light, followed closely by Su Cheng and An Xin.
Holding the oil lamp and running at the front, Zhang Yu unknowingly fell to the back.
His face was already ashen, now even more devoid of color. His fingers clutched the oil lamp handle tightly, turning blue and purple, cold and stiff like a corpse.
He stared at the light not far away, but his legs seemed unwilling to obey, growing heavy and rigid.
Damn it.
Zhang Yu had been hiding his deteriorating condition from his teammates. No one knew that the earlier sprint had almost exhausted all his strength.
And now…
The oil lamp was nearly out. The chances of him leaving the darkness before the light went out were slim. But at least he had brought his teammates to this place…
Zhang Yu thought his death wouldn’t be entirely in vain.
At this moment, a warm hand suddenly pressed against his back, and a slender arm wrapped around his waist, lifting his heavy body.
“???”
Zhang Yu looked in astonishment at Wen Jianyan.
The delicate, seemingly fragile shoulders hid a miraculous strength, effortlessly supporting his weight.
“Hurry.”
Wen Jianyan didn’t say much, only giving a concise command.
With his help, the two accelerated and rushed into the light just before the lamp went out!
The crisis was averted.
Seeing Zhang Yu’s unexpectedly poor condition, An Xin and Qi Qian were startled and quickly took his cold, stiff body from Wen Jianyan:
“Hey, are you alright?”
Zhang Yu nodded, his voice weak: “I can hold on.”
Instinctively, he turned to Wen Jianyan and said, “Thanks to Wen Wen…”
Qi Qian and An Xin looked at Wen Jianyan, their expressions surprised.
After all, no matter how you look at it, Zhang Yu was a heavy adult man, and Wen Jianyan was the smallest among them. It was indeed surprising that he had the strength to support Zhang Yu.
Breathlessly, the slender young girl leaned against Su Cheng’s body, exhausted:
“Great, we’re saved.”
Even among men, Wen Jianyan’s strength was not small. Being a regular at the gym, he could easily have princess-carried Zhang Yu if he wasn’t worried about exposing himself too obviously.
Feeling the unexpected weight on his shoulder, Su Cheng nearly stumbled:
“……”
Bro, you know what? Even though your appearance has changed, your weight hasn’t decreased.
“Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Hahahahahahaha, a delicate young man who can single-handedly carry an adult man and run!]
[But the host’s observation skills are really sharp, noticing Zhang Yu’s abnormal condition. His deterioration is happening way too fast. We’ve only just reached the first floor. What will happen next?]
With the crisis temporarily averted, the group caught their breath and began to survey their current location.
The staircase behind them had disappeared, leaving only an endless darkness. Clearly, they couldn’t return to the first floor; they could only continue upwards.
On the other side was a staircase leading upward.
That side was not dark; it was a grayish haze, slightly glowing, much like the beginning of the first floor, where they could survive even without light.
Where they stood now seemed like a transitional area in the stairwell.
The floor was flat, and an old bulb overhead emitted a dim, yellowish light, illuminating this small space.
Under the bulb stood a lonely table with a wooden box painted bright red on it.
This was clearly the box the security guard had been holding on the first floor.
It seemed the key to the second-floor shop had to be drawn from here.
Qi Qian stepped forward, about to put his hand into the box, when Tong Yao suddenly stopped him: “Wait.”
“What?”
Qi Qian paused.
“This box feels different,” Tong Yao said, her face serious, stopping Qi Qian’s movement. “It’s not like the one on the first floor.”
She stared intently at the box, her breathing becoming slightly rapid.
In Tong Yao’s vision, the color of this box was far more vivid than the one on the first floor, as if it were covered in fresh blood. A chilling aura emanated from it, giving off a sense of extreme danger.
Qi Qian stepped aside: “Take a look.”
Tong Yao stepped forward, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
When she reopened them, her eyes had turned completely gray, with her black irises now matching the white of her eyes, looking particularly eerie and terrifying.
She stared at the box as if her gaze could penetrate the red-painted wood, unblinking.
Tong Yao’s face paled:
“There’s… nothing inside.”
From her perspective, the bottom of the box connected to an unknown void; there were no keys, nothing.
“What? It’s empty?”
Qi Qian frowned, stepping closer to examine the box carefully.
“We don’t have a key or lamp oil. Are we just supposed to stay in this area?” An Xin asked.
“No, that’s not right.”
Qi Qian suddenly realized something:
“This box is different from the one downstairs.”
He was the only one who had gone up to the stage and taken a key from the box, and only he had closely observed the box the security guard was holding, while the others had only seen it from a distance.
Qi Qian pointed to the opening at the top of the box:
“The opening on the box downstairs was round, but here it’s rectangular.”
While it was big enough for a person to put their hand in, different shapes of openings implied different functions.
Round openings were often for prize draws, while horizontal rectangular ones were more commonly seen on donation boxes.
So, this box might not be for reaching in, but for putting something in, like…
Ghost money?
“Let’s give it a try.”
Qi Qian withdrew his gaze and pulled out a crumpled piece of ghost money from his pocket, the edges stained with the stench of corpses, and slowly brought it closer to the box.
As the edge of the ghost money touched the dark opening.
Suddenly, a great force pulled the ghost money out of his hand!
Everyone was startled. Qi Qian instinctively stepped back, distancing himself from the box.
A creepy sound, like nails scratching, came from inside the box.
“Screech, screech…”
With everyone tensely watching, a stiff, blue-purple hand slowly reached out from inside the box and placed something on top of it.
No one dared to think about what horrible thing might have happened if someone had just put their hand inside.
After the hand disappeared, Qi Qian cautiously stepped forward and looked down.
It was a rusty key, even older-looking than the one from downstairs, with a tag that read:
“03.”
Qi Qian’s heart sank slightly.
On the first floor, the “customers” visited in numerical order, meaning the smaller the number, the greater the danger. Although this rule might not necessarily apply as they moved to higher floors, the potential threat couldn’t be ignored.
He took a deep breath and stepped forward to take the key.
“What about the other piece of ghost money?” An Xin asked, remembering something. “Don’t we have one more?”
Qi Qian looked down at the other piece of ghost money in his hand, deep in thought.
No matter what, they now had a new key, meaning they could enter the second-floor shop. No one knew what would happen if they put the other piece of ghost money in. Would they get another key? Or something else? If nothing happened and it just consumed their revenue, wouldn’t that be a big loss?
But on the other hand, they had already gotten the key to the second-floor shop, meaning the basic guarantee was in hand. Taking a slight risk to test the instance’s rules and operations should be acceptable.
Qi Qian turned to look at Su Cheng:
“Prophet, what do you think?”
Su Cheng: “You need…”
Qi Qian shook his head: “Not now. I just need your opinion.”
This was a good sign.
It showed that Wen Jianyan’s actions on the first floor were very effective.
Unknowingly, the Dark Fire Anchor Team had gradually begun to trust Su Cheng’s abilities. That’s why they sought his opinion when faced with such difficult decisions, treating him not just as a hired tool for prophecy but more like a formal team member with a voice.
Wen Jianyan subtly nodded.
His gesture was very discreet, and only Su Cheng, who was closest to him, noticed it.
“I think we can try.”
Su Cheng cautiously replied.
This answer was well-considered by Wen Jianyan.
He didn’t believe the corpse in the warehouse, with the ghost money in its hand, was there by coincidence. Everything aligned with the instance’s mechanism and design.
Wen Jianyan had noticed that no bell had rung before them, meaning their team should be the first in the entire instance to realize and act on this pattern.
Even though they had moved quickly, they almost got trapped on the way to the second floor due to a lack of lamp oil.
So, the teams following them would have an even harder time surviving.
Wen Jianyan didn’t think this instance had such a low tolerance for mistakes, wiping out over 90% of the teams on the first floor.
So, their lamp oil consumption rate had to be higher than that of any other team.
Each time a supernatural phenomenon occurred within the light’s range, the lamp’s burning rate would unnaturally accelerate. They had experienced this four times.
Once when blocking the door with clothes.
The second time was when they encountered the corpse in the warehouse.
The third time was when opening the door for the “customer.”
And the fourth time was when the mannequin started moving after losing its human skin.
To complete the first floor’s revenue, the third and fourth times were unavoidable, leaving the remaining occurrences as the “margin for error.”
Following this logic, one conclusion could be drawn:
Since the key to the second floor required one piece of ghost money, the minimum revenue for the first floor was likely one piece of ghost money.
And the piece of ghost money in the warehouse corpse’s hand wasn’t from their sales, so it couldn’t be counted in, making it their extra income.
Given there was extra income…
The instance would probably offer an extra reward.
So, Wen Jianyan leaned towards using the ghost money. As the floors went higher, the difficulty would only increase, leaving fewer chances to experiment. It was better to clarify some things early.
After hearing Su Cheng’s answer, Qi Qian nodded and placed the second piece of ghost money into the box.
The ghost money disappeared into the red box.
The scratching sound resumed, and soon, the blue-black hand of the dead slowly reached out from the darkness, placing a small bronze disc on top of the box.
Qi Qian stepped forward and picked up the disc.
He opened the lid and found gray grease inside. He leaned down to sniff it, and a familiar, sweet yet rancid smell wafted into his nose.
Qi Qian’s eyes brightened slightly, and he turned to the others, affirming:
“It’s lamp oil.”
In an instant, everyone perked up.
An extra supply of lamp oil!
This would greatly increase their margin for error on the second floor.
Soon, the new lamp oil was installed in the old lamp, but to conserve it, they did not light the lamp.
After doing all this, they left this transit area between the first and second floors and headed towards the dim second floor.
First floor, inside shop number 02.
The faint candlelight quietly burned, illuminating the narrow space. Several anchors leaned idly against the counter, seemingly resting their eyes.
A man with a pale, long face sat cross-legged, examining a pile of wooden plaques spread out in front of him.
Soon, a bell rang.
All the anchors sat up slightly, turning their heads in the direction of the sound, seemingly waiting for something.
“Ding ding.”
Another bell rang.
But from start to finish, that familiar scream did not ring out.
“It seems their team succeeded.”
The long-faced man raised his head and stared out the door with a strange tone.
He looked very peculiar, with bandages tightly wrapped around him from the neck down, not a single bit of skin exposed. His eyes were dull like a dead person’s, and his skin was damp and pale, as if soaked and swollen in water.
“Unexpectedly, that prophet’s skill is quite good.”
A child jumped down from the counter, moving lightly. She grinned and looked at the long-faced man with a mocking tone:
“Isn’t that right?”
“Indeed, he was underestimated.”
The long-faced man wasn’t provoked by the child’s tone: “But it’s not beyond expectations.”
This team’s shop number was ahead of Dark Fire’s team. They had been holding back, just waiting for the right moment to gauge their opponent’s strength.
The child pouted in dissatisfaction, seemingly disappointed by his unruffled response. She shrugged and beckoned to her teammates:
“Let’s go, it’s time for us to go upstairs too.”
Upon receiving the command, the team members immediately got up and started moving, looking very well-trained yet following the orders of a child not even half their age.
The entire first floor was interconnected, so the bells from shop number 04 rang throughout the first floor.
Those who were still alive were seasoned anchors, having gone through many instances, so they couldn’t ignore this information.
Most teams should soon realize that they need to entertain customers and complete their sales targets rather than hold out and wait for their lamp oil to run out.
It shouldn’t be long before the first floor was completely cleared.
“What do you think?” the child grinned and looked at him, “Should we make a move once we’re on the second floor?”
The long-faced, pale man used his bandaged fingers to gather the scattered wooden plaques on the floor and put them into a small cloth bag he carried, saying slowly:
“Yes, let’s test them out.”
After leaving the stairwell, the team entered the second floor.
The layout here was very similar to the first floor, but there seemed to be fewer shops. The central atrium was shrouded in mist, theoretically very close to the first floor but completely obscured from view.
Wen Jianyan turned his head to glance behind them.
The stairwell had disappeared.
That is, there was no way to return and no place to return to.
“…” The group exchanged glances, not too surprised by this.
Qi Qian: “Let’s go, to shop number 03.”
The group followed the corridor forward and soon found the shop indicated by their key.
They skillfully unlocked the door.
With the spare lamp oil, they didn’t need to use matches to light the way like last time. After all, the number of matches was limited, and using three at a time was unsustainable.
They lit the oil lamp and entered the shop. They quickly found another identical copper oil lamp on the counter.
However, unlike on the first floor, the second-floor oil lamp was welded to the table, meaning they couldn’t take it away but had to use it within the shop.
After lighting the oil lamp in the second-floor shop, Qi Qian extinguished the flame of the spare oil lamp to save it—this item was too precious and could be useful later; they couldn’t afford to waste it.
The light flickered twice and gradually brightened.
The darkness receded, revealing the shop to everyone.
They were taken aback.
The second-floor shop was twice the size of those on the first floor, and more importantly…
It was no longer a men’s clothing store.
High and low shelves displayed old-fashioned radios and bulky televisions with discount tags attached.
…An electronics store?!
For every Ko-fi received for a perticular novel, I will release a new chapter!
