(3/5)
Changsheng Building
Chapter 213: Struggle
The sound was light and low, hidden within the crackling of static, as if it were coming right next to his ear. It was chillingly cold, making the surrounding temperature seem to drop, carrying an eerie sense of dread.
“!!!”
Wen Jianyan’s scalp tingled, and he almost threw the radio in his hand away.
The sound continued, like some sort of signal.
The next moment, more sounds arose from all directions, echoing through the large store.
“Shhh… tomorrow’s weather forecast is about to start, everyone… shhh… tonight…”
A beautiful male voice intermittently broadcasted in an announcer’s tone.
On the other side, along with the static in the radio, there was a creaking, humming sound. A beautiful female voice, with a strange tone, was humming an eerie tune.
A rich male voice came from behind:
“…This is the radio story hour. Today, we will tell you the following story…”
Under the dim and weak light, countless radios in the store started to make sounds without being activated by anyone, each playing a program on its own.
Everyone looked up, hastily searching for the source of the sound.
In the flickering light, everyone’s face was pale, and their eyes were filled with extreme disbelief and panic.
Suddenly, Wen Jianyan sensed something and looked down at the radio in his hand.
The eerie male voice had disappeared, and the radio was now playing a well-known song intermittently. The familiar and cheerful tune, mixed with the faint static, seemed distorted, bringing an inexplicable sense of unease.
He felt… cold.
Very cold.
It was as if he were being frozen in ice, the chilling cold slowly creeping up his fingers and spreading along his skin. As he watched, Wen Jianyan saw that the fingers holding the radio were turning a bluish-white at a visible speed, stiffening, and growing cold, as if being corroded by death. Dark corpse spots were slowly emerging from beneath his skin.
It seemed… he was starting to die from his fingers.
Not good!
Wen Jianyan’s pupils contracted, and he quickly released the radio, throwing it aside in a panic.
The brown radio hit the corner of a shelf, making a crisp “clang” sound that echoed in his mind.
He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but it seemed like the song’s volume increased.
Wen Jianyan looked down at his hand.
After releasing the radio, his fingers did not return to normal. They remained bluish-white and stiff, as cold as a dead person’s. Worse still, even though the radio was out of his hand, the deathly corrosion did not stop. In just a few seconds, half of his hand had turned that strange color, covered with dense corpse spots, making for a horrifying sight.
His heart sank.
It seemed like it wasn’t a matter of contact.
On the other side, his teammates’ voices were exchanging barely concealed shock. It seemed they were experiencing the same situation. Unnoticed, a smell of decay began to spread in the store.
Although only a short time had passed, the entire store was shrouded in a layer of death’s shadow.
Wen Jianyan didn’t listen closely to his teammates’ exchanges. Now, whatever they were discussing wouldn’t help him much.
For him, the most important thing was to race against time.
Wen Jianyan stared intently at the brown radio in front of him, his mind racing, trying to find a way to break the situation.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
At this time, he couldn’t afford to panic.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, bent down, and with his hand that was gradually turning into a corpse’s, picked up the brown radio again—sure enough, after touching the radio, the deathly corrosion did not accelerate, nor did it slow down. This confirmed his initial guess that touching the radio wasn’t related to the danger he was in now.
His gaze fell on the radio, where the small light indicating power was flickering. With each flicker, the eerie, humming song echoed in his ears.
So, could it be the sound?
Wen Jianyan made a quick decision, redeeming soundproof equipment from the system shop and plugging his ears tightly.
Visibly, the spread of the bluish-black on his hand slowed.
This indicated that this action was indeed effective. The radio’s “curse” was transmitted through sound. By blocking the sound, one could achieve a certain degree of safety.
But…
Could it really be that simple?
Wen Jianyan wasn’t sure.
“Block your ears!”
Wen Jianyan shouted loudly as he strode forward.
At least for now, he could only share the clues he had figured out. As for how useful it would be and whether more dangers would appear…
Wen Jianyan couldn’t be sure.
But he knew that the sooner they dealt with the source of the sound, the safer they would be.
Based on the experience from the previous floor, although this door couldn’t stop the “customers,” it could provide some resistance to these eerie supernatural objects.
Anyway, trying was the only way to know if it would work.
Wen Jianyan watched the glass door get closer and instinctively quickened his pace.
After putting on the noise-cancelling earmuffs, it felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton. All sounds became muffled in a haze, perfectly blocking out the radio’s sound.
However…
As time passed, Wen Jianyan suddenly noticed something wrong.
A faint, weak humming sound pierced into his mind like a needle. It started so quietly that it was almost imperceptible, but as time went on, the sound in the chaos grew clearer and more distinct!
“…!”
Wen Jianyan’s breath hitched, and he quickly checked his noise-cancelling earplugs.
They were intact.
The melody seemed to be playing directly in his mind, which was extremely eerie.
As the sound grew louder, the coldness at his fingertips began to spread again.
In just a few dozen seconds, Wen Jianyan’s entire hand had turned bluish-black. With the continuous broadcast from the radio, the color kept creeping up his arm.
The chilling, ghostly sensation seeped into his bones, making them shiver. His whole hand became stiff, moving with increasing difficulty.
Cold sweat beaded on Wen Jianyan’s forehead, and he subconsciously clenched his teeth.
Indeed.
The danger brought by this radio wasn’t that easy to handle—!
He started to run.
When the bluish-black color reached his elbow, Wen Jianyan had already rushed to the counter.
The next second, the oil lamp’s flame suddenly flared up, inexplicably expanding, and burning faster. The shop was momentarily lit up.
“?!”
Wen Jianyan was startled and turned to look at the oil lamp.
The sound in his ears was suppressed again, becoming faint once more.
Moreover…
Wen Jianyan lowered his head and moved his wrist. The blackish-blue corpse spots on his arm were slowly fading, and the cold sensation was also diminishing.
Indeed, the lamp’s light could alleviate this trend and reduce the impact of the sound on humans!
In the blink of an eye, the glass door was right in front of him.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze.
He opened the door, swung his arm, and threw the brown radio outside with force!
The radio disappeared into the boundless darkness, and just before the darkness spread into the shop, Wen Jianyan slammed the door shut.
The eerie melody abruptly stopped, and the surroundings fell into a deathly silence.
Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief.
It worked.
He turned his head to see the others also rushing in this direction. Clearly, after a brief moment of panic, they began to implement their own strategies, and this simple and crude method was their priority choice.
Wen Jianyan stepped aside to make way for the people running behind him.
His gaze fell on the radios in their hands.
Those radios varied in size and color, but without exception, they were all among the “dangerous items” selected by Tong Yao’s talent.
In other words, Tong Yao’s talent was indeed precise. The radios she identified as potentially dangerous did become their deadly threats once the “customers” left.
Quickly, everyone threw their radios outside.
They gathered in front of the glass door, panting with lingering fear. Each had varying degrees of corpse spots covering their bodies. They exchanged glances, seeing the same doubt and fear in each other’s eyes.
The silence after throwing away the radios was brief. Soon, thin, needle-like sounds pierced into their minds, and the familiar cold sensation returned.
Wen Jianyan raised his hand, tugged at Qi Qian, and pointed towards the counter, mouthing the words:
“Get inside!”
The group was stunned for a moment. Before they could react, Wen Jianyan had already walked quickly towards the brightest spot, then raised his arm to show them—
On his fair skin, the blackish-blue corpse spots were slowly fading.
Without needing further explanation, everyone understood Wen Jianyan’s meaning—near the oil lamp was safe!
They hurriedly followed.
“Whoosh!”
The flame suddenly expanded, burning fiercely.
Seeing that everyone had entered the brightest area, Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and removed the noise-canceling earmuffs from his ears.
The others hesitated for a moment but followed suit.
After removing the items blocking their ears, everyone understood the current situation.
The eerie radio was still playing automatically, but within this small, brightly lit area, the “whoosh” of the burning oil lamp became loud and piercing, drowning out the radio’s sound. Although they could still hear the sounds coming from all around the shop, it no longer brought the chilling sensation from before, and the blackish-blue spots on their arms were fading.
“So that’s it.” Qi Qian looked at the lamp welded to the counter, his expression serious. “It seems this light is more important than we thought.”
He was now more grateful that their team had an extra can of lamp oil.
“Even though we’re temporarily safe, we can’t sit here and wait for death,” Qi Qian said. “The oil is burning too quickly. If this continues, even the extra oil won’t last. We need to solve this crisis as soon as possible.”
He looked at Tong Yao: “Can you use your talent again?”
Tong Yao bit her lip and nodded.
However, anyone could see how strained she was now.
Her face was ghastly pale under the lamp’s light, and her lips were almost colorless.
Although the use of a medium’s talent wasn’t as restricted as other talents and could be activated multiple times in one instance, using it so many times in such a short period was too much of a burden for any medium.
But this was a matter of life and death, and even if Tong Yao was at her limit, she had to push through.
At this moment, a gentle voice spoke:
“Um… maybe Sister Tong Yao can handle the three rows on the left, and the Prophet can take care of the three rows on the right?”
Everyone was stunned and turned to look.
“Don’t worry, with the Prophet here, we won’t have any problems.” The girl in the white dress stood there, still looking soft and harmless, smiling slightly. “Besides, my memory is pretty good, so I might be useful.”
“Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Pretty good memory?? More like photographic memory!]
***
Quickly, they divided the tasks, put on their earplugs again, and left the area illuminated by the oil lamp—although it wasn’t perfect protection, it was better than nothing, providing a few seconds of safety at the initial contact.
The group hurried into the shop, quickly searching for the items previously identified by Tong Yao.
Tong Yao used her talent on one side, while on Su Cheng’s side…
They mainly relied on Wen Jianyan’s extraordinary memory.
However… Wen Jianyan suddenly paused, his gaze falling on a corner of a shelf beside him.
That was where he had taken the brown radio earlier.
Somehow, another radio had filled the spot, looking unremarkable but fitting perfectly into the space.
Wen Jianyan stood still, squinting at the radio, seemingly deep in thought.
…Something’s not right.
He had rushed earlier and hadn’t placed any new radios in that space, and the others hadn’t had the time to fill the gap either.
Moreover…
Wen Jianyan recalled the moment after the “customers” left, when the light gradually illuminated the shop, revealing the empty shelves…
He pursed his lips.
Su Cheng turned his head, looking at Wen Jianyan with concern, waving his hand in front of his eyes: “Are you okay?”
Wen Jianyan snapped out of it and shook his head:
“It’s nothing.”
At this moment, Tong Yao’s weak voice came from not far away: “This should be the last one.”
“Jingle.”
The glass door opened and closed again.
The shop returned to silence.
With the static and eerie broadcast gone, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Great, it seemed this crisis was finally over.
However, Wen Jianyan’s expression did not relax in the slightest.
He stood still, lips tightly pressed, eyes flickering.
Because…
He remembered something else.
Indeed, the brown radio he took from the shelf was among the items Tong Yao had selected, but Wen Jianyan hadn’t forgotten that before his brown radio started playing, another radio behind him had made a sound first.
That radio was unfamiliar to Wen Jianyan.
Meaning, it had never been selected by Tong Yao.
In other words…
“Buzz…”
The sharp static cut through the silence, sounding particularly harsh in the dark. Not far away, everyone’s faces changed as they quickly looked towards the source of the sound.
“…Thank you for listening, tonight’s story is coming to an end, and you are about to witness the finale of the entire series.”
The rich male voice narrated with broadcast intonation, full of emotion:
“As the terrifying sounds gradually faded, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.”
“Great, it’s finally over; we did it!”
“They said it in excited voices.”
“But what they didn’t know was that all their struggles were useless…”
Buzz, buzz.
The static made a slight noise, distorting the broadcaster’s voice, making it choppy and off-key, eerily repeating:
“Useless, useless, useless.”
