Changsheng Building
Chapter 231: “Aren’t you a prophet?”
6 PM arrived, and night fell punctually.
Just a moment ago, the interior of the Changsheng Building was still a hazy expanse, but in an instant, it was enveloped in pitch-black darkness where one couldn’t see their own hand in front of them.
Inside the shop, an oil lamp flickered dimly, and both inside and outside the door were dead silent.
As experienced anchors who had already gone through two floors, everyone knew that the arrival of night did not mean that customers would immediately come to the door. Usually, there would still be some time left for them to prepare.
Mu Sen didn’t have the energy to tend to the still-unconscious Wen Jianyan right now.
He sat cross-legged in a corner, using his remaining hand to take out the only nine wooden plaques left in his waist pocket, beginning his divination.
On the other side.
After moving the still-unconscious Wen Jianyan behind the counter, the Orange Candy team also began to take action.
A refined man with glasses on the bridge of his nose paced inside the shop, eyes closed, muttering as if communicating with some invisible presence.
Another member stood behind the glass door, eyes fixed on the outside, seemingly clutching something in their palm, waiting silently.
The remaining people roamed around the shop, searching for any potentially useful clues.
Orange Candy tilted her head, surveying the layout of the store.
Her eyes were half-squinted indifferently, hiding all expressions within them.
Honestly speaking, the “Changsheng Building” instance was, coincidentally or not, beyond the scope of this team’s familiar territory.
In the past, most team instances, whether high or low difficulty, were often structured as open venues more suited for anchor PVP. Although there would be various terrifying dangers and harsh mechanisms that eliminated those who didn’t complete tasks, the overall structure was still relatively loose.
That is to say, the overall setup was more geared towards anchor-on-anchor combat.
However, the “Changsheng Building” instance was very different. Although it was a team instance, its rules and restrictions were stricter than those of many solo instances.
This point, for a team proficient in combat and killing, meant that entering such a semi-closed, puzzle-oriented instance turned all their advantages into disadvantages.
Moreover, considering that the difficulty of this instance was by no means low, such disadvantages would be amplified.
Unlike the first and second floors, the shops on the third floor made it hard to discern what products they were selling just from the surface.
Under the dim light, old wooden furniture was placed within, with red, mottled paint.
On the surrounding four walls hung several paintings, each with a different background.
However, in every painting, indistinct human figures could be seen, standing still, either far or near, with unclear faces. Even up close, the faces in the portraits were blank; from outside the frames, one could only see a pale, blurred expanse.
Just standing next to them, one could feel the eerie and ominous aura emanating from them.
Orange Candy stopped in front of one of the paintings, tilting her head and showing a troubled expression.
Using one’s brain…
Really troublesome.
“Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Ah, how come the anchor has been unconscious for so long? I’m so tired of waiting…]
[Yeah, it’s been over ten minutes, and there’s still no sign of waking up. Although the signal is still stable, it’s really boring.]
[Speaking of which, the Orange Candy team drew shop No. 02 this time…]
[? What about it? Is it tough?]
[Very tough. Teams that enter this shop usually get wiped out.]
[By the way, the shop Dark Fire drew this time seems to have a relatively normal difficulty… not too tough. I’ve seen teams make it out of that shop alive before. In this instance, that’s a pretty high survival rate.]
[It seems that luck is pretty balanced in this instance. The Dark Fire team drew the hardest shop last time, so it became easier this time, while the Orange Candy team’s easy draw last time became difficult this time.]
[……]
[……]
[Wait, I suddenly realized something.]
At this moment, stiff footsteps could be heard outside the door in the darkness, seemingly approaching from the shadows.
The team member standing at the door immediately reported:
“They’re here!”
“Very good,” Orange Candy nodded. “Wu Ya, follow the plan we discussed.”
The team member called Wu Ya nodded gravely, then turned around, walked quickly to the counter, took a deep breath, opened his palm, and began scattering what he had been clutching from the door towards the inside of the shop.
It turned out to be snow-white glutinous rice grains.
The glutinous rice grains in his fist seemed inexhaustible, continuously falling to the ground and spreading toward the depths of the shop.
He moved quickly, extending the possible distance as much as he could, his face gradually becoming pale.
The stiff footsteps were gradually getting closer, becoming clearer with time.
Soon, the footsteps reached the door, and through the slightly ajar glass door, they sounded particularly real.
At the same time, the flame in the oil lamp welded to the counter began to flicker violently.
“Wu Ya, come back,” Orange Candy said.
“…Yes.”
Wu Ya gritted his teeth, looked back at the remaining distance behind him with a trace of reluctance on his face, but still straightened up, his face pale, and quickly ran back behind the counter.
The moment he dashed behind the counter—
“Ding-a-ling.”
The copper bell hanging on the door chimed softly, breaking the dead silence of the night.
The glass door was pushed open from the outside, and a gust of putrid wind swept in. With a “whoosh” sound, the wick in the oil lamp fiercely collided, but the darkness pressed in step by step.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
The eerie, unchanging footsteps echoed in the shop, and the temperature in the air suddenly dropped.
The “customer” had arrived.
Everyone’s eyes sharpened, nerves immediately tense, carefully listening to the direction of the sound—
The footsteps gradually moved deeper into the shop, followed by a deathly silence. After a brief pause, the footsteps changed direction, heading towards the counter.
Under the tense gazes of the few, a blue-black decayed hand reached out from the darkness and placed a piece of ghost money on the table.
The entire process was no different from the previous two floors.
“Ding-a-ling.”
The glass door opened and closed, and the footsteps gradually receded.
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief—
“Ding-a-ling.”
In almost the next second, the sound of the copper bell rang again, easily breaking the silence.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
The first darkness had not yet dissipated, and an even deeper shadow descended again. The stiff footsteps sounded from outside the shop, step by step moving towards the depths of the shop.
“?!”
Everyone’s pupils were constricted, and a layer of cold sweat instantly formed on their backs.
Wait… on the third floor, customers actually come in succession!
As the footsteps continued inward, an unexpected situation occurred again.
“Ding-a-ling!”
The copper bell hanging on the glass door rang again.
The crisp, seemingly emotionless sound of the bell was like a summons from the Grim Reaper, and under the increasingly dim light, everyone’s faces turned extremely ugly.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Before the second set of footsteps had left the shop, a third set of footsteps joined in.
In the absolute darkness that the light could not penetrate, two sets of stiff footsteps from different directions echoed simultaneously, overlapping and reverberating in the enclosed space.
Watching the scene before them, everyone’s hair stood on end, a chill running from their heads to their toes.
In other words… on the third floor, they needed to receive three customers at once.
One attack, three times the danger.
A blue-black decayed hand reached out, placing ghost money on the counter, and then left the shop.
It was still ordinary ghost money.
“Tap, tap…”
The third set of footsteps approached the counter.
The next second, a deathly pale, bluish hand, painted with scarlet nail polish, slowly reached out from the darkness and placed something on the counter.
After a brief chime of the copper bell, the glass door closed again, blocking the putrid wind outside.
The enlarged wick slowly returned to its original state, and the visibility, suppressed by the darkness, gradually returned, illuminating the large shop.
The already eerie scene became even more sinister after the customer left.
The third piece of ghost money left on the counter was a disturbing scarlet, the pale, dead face printed on it particularly glaring.
“……”
Unexpectedly, the difficulty of the third floor turned out to be three successive visits.
Even Orange Candy, usually unperturbed, now showed a serious and grave expression.
“Look, Captain, it’s working!” At this moment, Wu Ya’s slightly surprised voice sounded from the side. Orange Candy followed his pointing finger and saw that on the ground, the snow-white glutinous rice powder bore a series of black footprints, as if corroded, extending into the depths of the shop.
However, over time, the glutinous rice powder seemed to be slowly fading, disappearing like a mirage.
“It should last no more than 30 seconds. Quick! We need to locate the customer’s destination before it disappears.”
Wu Ya urged.
The team members nodded and immediately split up to act.
Orange Candy took a step and then suddenly thought of something, turning her head to look at Mu Sen, who had been silent all along:
“Hey, how did your divination turn out?”
“……”
Mu Sen did not answer, sitting cross-legged on the ground, his face pale, staring fixedly at the scattered wooden plaques in front of him, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.
Right now…
All nine plaques, without exception, pointed to the worst outcome.
If it was a normal deadlock, breaking the plaque would reverse the deadlock.
But now they were facing a double deadlock, identical to the result he had just divined for Dark Fire.
Facing such a terrifying situation, if those involved wanted to reverse their fate and forcibly change their destiny, they would need to break two additional plaques besides the initial one.
It should be noted that the accuracy of divination is not easily defined. With each missing plaque, his perception of future fate would drastically decrease.
With fewer than six plaques, the entire set would be completely useless.
Mu Sen gritted his teeth, his eyes trembling slightly, his back soaked in cold sweat, and his breathing rapid and erratic.
This was something he absolutely could not accept!!
Suddenly, a gentle, delicate voice sounded from beside him.
“What, you don’t like this outcome?”
“?!”
Startled, Mu Sen instinctively looked up in the direction of the voice.
Unnoticed from when, the previously unconscious “prophet” had opened her eyes.
Wen Jianyan, leaning against the counter, sat relaxedly on the floor. Her pale profile, illuminated by the oil lamp, was touched with a light golden hue. Her lifted his eyes, a harmless smile on her lips, and softly asked:
“Aren’t you a prophet?”
“Tell me, what did you see?”
prophet of deceit is online! ✓