Thank you Jill for the Ko-fi. Here are your chapters. (1/3)
Changsheng Building
Chapter 236: Title Activated!
…It was over.
The oil lamp emitted a faint glow, barely illuminating the dark and vast room.
The crimson coffin lid was open, and the smell of the decaying corpse emanated from it. On the floor, those cyan-black handprints were disappearing at a visible speed, and everything seemed to be rapidly returning to normal.
Orange Candy looked at the canvas in her hand.
After Wei Cheng tore down the canvas, the eerie face painted on it disappeared, leaving only a blank surface, as if it were an ordinary piece of white cloth.
After catching his breath, Wen Jianyan lowered his head and glanced at the corpse lying on the ground.
The rigid corpse lay on its back on the ground, with the white cloth covering its face removed, revealing a blank face without features or contours, just a piece of pale, smooth skin that looked particularly eerie in the faint light of the oil lamp.
Its hands were slightly open, the cyan-white fingers seemingly grasping something once again.
In the pitch-dark room, this bizarre scene sent chills down one’s spine.
“Captain, shall we go?” Wei Cheng suggested it from the side.
Although they had found the source of the curse, they were still inside the painting. In such a weird place, no one knew what might happen next.
To be safe, it was best to leave as soon as possible.
This suggestion hit Wen Jianyan’s soft spot. He nodded vigorously in agreement.
After restoring balance, the corpse returned to its motionless state, seeming harmless.
But Wen Jianyan knew it was all an illusion.
Based on past experience, it could not be killed or eliminated; it could only be contained. As long as that fragile balance was broken, it would start moving again.
Although it wasn’t as ferocious as the female corpse on the second floor, Wen Jianyan wasn’t sure if staying too long here would lead to a repeat of the incident on the second floor.
“Alright.”
Orange Candy shrugged and turned around.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she raised her hand and lightly tossed the canvas to Wen Jianyan.
“Here.”
“…!”
Wen Jianyan instinctively caught the canvas thrown towards him, hesitated, and looked up at Orange Candy, not far away.
“This prop is dirty; I don’t want it,” Orange Candy said disdainfully, pursing her lips. “It’s yours.”
Wen Jianyan was momentarily stunned, then smiled, unbothered, and put away the canvas.
“Is that so? Then thank you, Captain.”
He thanked her with a bright smile, as if he had already seen through everything but didn’t expose it, and just went along with it.
“Tch.”
Orange Candy glared at his expression, and turned around in annoyance. “Let’s go.”
The three returned to the west room, once again sitting hand in hand on the red bench. Soon, darkness spread from all directions, suppressing the light of the oil lamp.
When the darkness dissipated, familiar scenes reappeared before them.
They had returned to the shop.
“Captain!!” The team members, pleasantly surprised, watched Orange Candy and the other two suddenly appear on the bench. “Are you all okay? Was it smooth?”
“Mm.”
Orange Candy shrugged indifferently, jumped off the bench, and extinguished the spare oil lamp in her hand. “How’s Wu Ya?”
“He’s over here, just woke up.”
The team members pointed towards the counter.
Wu Ya was sitting against the counter, his face pale, and his hands terrifyingly cyan-black, as if both arms had rotted. However, under the oil lamp’s effect, the seemingly dreadful color was slowly fading. Though not obvious, his hand’s skin was gradually returning to normal, indicating he was essentially out of danger. With some time, he should fully recover.
Inside the counter, Mu Sen, who had been silent all along, stood still, staring at Wen Jianyan behind Orange Candy.
He had to admit, seeing the other party emerge alive from the first painting left him somewhat disappointed.
However, he was more shocked.
Mu Sen knew the dangers Orange Candy’s group faced inside the painting were several times greater than those in the shop. He wasn’t surprised Orange Candy made it out alive, but the fact that all three survived was astonishing.
Normally, it would be fine, but this time, his cards had predicted extreme misfortune.
Staring at Wen Jianyan in the distance, Mu Sen narrowed his eyes, his expression uncertain.
Could it be…
The reason his cards failed last time was because of this person?
Seemingly sensing Mu Sen’s grim gaze, the girl looked over, smiled softly, appearing very amiable.
Mu Sen expressionlessly withdrew his gaze.
In his bandaged palm, something was pulsating and bulging, as if insects were wriggling. But under his suppression, the restless bulges gradually calmed down, no longer trying to escape.
If that’s the case, then this wretch can’t die just yet.
Mu Sen took a deep breath, lowered his head, forcing himself to suppress the urge to kill.
The cards this time were too dangerous. His desire to survive had surpassed all other emotions.
Since the other party could break the situation once, perhaps they could do it a second time.
He narrowed his eyes.
Anyway, the insect eggs were still inside the other party’s body. He could wait until everything was over before acting.
*
“Did anything happen with the second painting while we were gone?”
Orange Candy asked.
The team members shook their heads. “Not yet.”
Orange Candy nodded and approached the second painting marked by Wu Ya.
The scene inside this painting was much smaller than the previous one. In the eerie, narrow room, a crimson bed was placed in the center. Two shadows stood by the bed, one on each side, seemingly looking down at the bed.
A figure sat upright on the bed, hands gathered, as if holding something in the air.
The entire scene looked particularly strange, making one feel uneasy.
And this identical red wooden bed was currently hanging at the back of the shop.
“Chun Er, Yun Si, you two will come with me this time.”
Without hesitation, Orange Candy named two teammates.
The two named individuals nodded, having no objections to Orange Candy’s decision, and stood up to follow her.
Although this decision seemed casual, it was clearly made with careful consideration.
The first time entering the painting, Orange Candy took Wen Jianyan, who seemed to know something about the painted world, and Wei Cheng, who could detect deadly dangers, aiming to gather information.
After understanding the method to enter and exit the painted world, the curse mechanism, and identifying the cursed source items, Orange Candy chose two high-attack anchors to enter the painted world this time, clearly intending to take quick action and resolve the matter swiftly.
Wen Jianyan was more than happy to have this rare rest opportunity.
Since entering the “Changsheng Building” instance, Wen Jianyan had been exhausted. Although previous instances weren’t easy, this one was particularly taxing for him, almost life-shortening.
For maintaining Su Cheng’s “strongest prophet” persona, after entering this instance, Wen Jianyan had to be alert, keeping an eye on everything and figuring out the instance’s rules before anyone else, creating the illusion of “prophecy” with his intelligence.
From the very beginning, Wen Jianyan never relaxed even once; his nerves were always taut. Combined with the fact that they always encountered the most dangerous shops, he felt like he was almost suffering from a nervous breakdown.
But this time, he could finally rest.
Wen Jianyan couldn’t be happier about this.
Soon, the three of them came to the red wooden bed and, imitating the scene in the painting, one person sat on the bed while the other two stood beside it.
The unfathomable darkness emerged from all sides of the shop, suppressing the light of the oil lamp.
When the darkness receded, the figures of the three people on the crimson wooden bed had disappeared. Clearly, just like before, they had entered the second painting.
The oil lamp flickered slightly, illuminating the now empty shop. After the three left, only four people remained in the shop.
Wei Cheng, Wu Ya, Mu Sen, and Wen Jianyan.
Wu Ya had already regained his strength. His face was pale as he propped himself up against the counter and stood up. He waved off Wei Cheng’s attempt to help him and shook his head, saying:
“No need, I’m much better now.”
After speaking, he looked up at the people in front of him: “It shouldn’t take long before the curse of the second painting appears. Everyone, be prepared.”
Although the curse of the second painting had not yet erupted, the shop was not completely safe either. It was unlikely that Orange Candy and the others could find the source of the curse before it erupted, so the team members remaining in the shop had to be ready to deal with the threat of death at any moment.
Moreover, there was an even worse potential threat.
The third painting.
Generally speaking, the quality of ghost money was directly related to the difficulty of the attacks.
The first two customers brought ordinary ghost money, but the third customer brought crimson ghost money, which means the third wave of attacks would be more dangerous than the first two.
Due to the limited range of the glutinous rice flour scattered by Wu Ya, they still couldn’t locate the position of the third painting, nor did they know what form its curse would take or when it would erupt.
It was like a ticking time bomb, hanging over everyone’s heads, making them feel particularly suffocated and uneasy, like walking on fragile ice.
This was also why Orange Candy wanted to act quickly.
Only by quickly solving the curse of the second painting could they conserve energy to search for and deal with the curse in the third painting. Otherwise, they might end up being attacked by the curses from both paintings simultaneously.
Wei Cheng nodded, agreeing with Wu Ya’s judgment:
“I think so too.”
After a brief discussion, they reached a consensus.
Wu Ya would guard the second painting, keeping an eye on its contents. As prophets, Mu Sen and Wen Jianyan would freely search the shop for the third painting, while Wei Cheng would stay on standby to deal with any sudden, lethal threats.
“Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[I have to say… I’ve completely bought into the anchor’s prophet identity now!]
[Hahaha, yes, perfectly integrated.]
[Honestly, the anchor’s likeability is really high. Although acting quickly to resolve the curse is a reason, I never expected Orange Candy to let him stay in the shop after just one brief cooperation!]
[I have to admit, this con artist’s deception is incredibly convincing, both in appearance and action… very reliable.]
[Indeed.]
[Indeed.]
Wen Jianyan walked around the shop, his gaze sweeping over each painting, carefully examining their contents.
His already fair side face was bathed in the faint golden light of the oil lamp, making it seem even paler than before, almost fragile. His steps gradually slowed as if he was somewhat exhausted.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and looked down at his left hand.
Just now, in the first painting, Wen Jianyan had used this hand to grab the hand of the corpse.
Under the light of the oil lamp, his palm showed a strange blue-white color, with faintly visible dark purple corpse spots. Even though he was now within the range of the oil lamp’s light, the marks from touching the corpse had not disappeared and were even slowly spreading.
Wen Jianyan had anticipated this result before taking action.
After the “customer” appeared, the curses in the shop were reversible. As long as the source of the curse was removed and they entered the range of the oil lamp, the condition would disappear.
But this time was clearly different.
This time, they had directly come into physical contact with the eerie corpse, just like Zhang Yu on the first floor. If left untreated, the body would gradually be eroded by the curse until it turned into a rotting corpse.
However, since he already knew the way to recover, Wen Jianyan wasn’t too concerned.
Although igniting the red lamp oil might be dangerous, it wasn’t an unsolvable situation. And there was still a long time before the curse fully manifested, enough for him to finish what he needed to do.
As for Orange Candy, who was also cursed, Wen Jianyan was even less worried.
They had already obtained red ghost money on this floor. As long as they survived to the next floor, they could get the red corpse oil from the box. Given the quality of Orange Candy’s team so far, Wen Jianyan didn’t think they wouldn’t figure out how to use the oil; they might even handle it more easily than his group.
Gazing at the spreading corpse spots on his palm, Wen Jianyan showed no extra expression and calmly withdrew his gaze.
Although he had been mentally prepared, the actual experience was still different.
As time passed, he could clearly feel the cold, eerie sensation spreading, like something was devouring his vitality beneath his skin.
His fingertips became cold and numb, his body temperature gradually dropped, and his mind grew slightly hazy.
Wen Jianyan frowned, leaning against the wall and shaking his head slightly, his face showing a rare pale, sickly look that matched his delicate appearance.
Just then, Wu Ya’s voice suddenly rang out with a sense of urgency:
“Look quickly, the painting is changing!”
Everyone was startled and followed his direction to look at the painting.
In the eerie scene, the two shadows still stood there, looking down at the crimson bed. In the center, the figure sitting on the bed became clearer, revealing a familiar face…
Amber eyes, pale complexion, delicate features.
The person in the painting had Wen Jianyan’s face, and the corners of their mouth twisted up in a bizarre, malicious smile, staring at those outside the painting.
Even though he knew the person in the painting wasn’t himself, Wen Jianyan couldn’t help but feel a chill seeing this scene.
“It seems you’re the medium for the curse this time.” Wu Ya’s expression was serious as he turned to Wen Jianyan and quickly recounted what had happened to him earlier: “In short, that was roughly what happened to me. Are you seeing or hearing anything others can’t?”
“Not yet—”
Before Wen Jianyan could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a heavy, cold weight pulling down on his arm, as if something icy and heavy had just latched onto it.
The rest of his words stuck in his throat, neither up nor down.
“…”
Wen Jianyan stiffly and slowly lowered his head, looking down at his chest.
A faintly visible infant figure slowly appeared before his eyes.
The child was entirely blue-white with black hair, covered in corpse spots, exuding a strange aura. Its face was completely blank, like the corpse in the previous painting, without features or contours—just an empty, pale surface. Yet, for some reason, Wen Jianyan could clearly hear the sound of a child crying.
“Wah—wah—wah—”
The sound was sharp and piercing, monotone and mechanical, like a dying cat’s meow, terrifying and filled with malice.
Wen Jianyan: “…”
Although it wasn’t the same instance…
Why is it always him who has to play the role of a mother?
Is there some kind of metaphysics at work here?
However, this child’s corpse in this instance was far more terrifying than the ghost baby in the “Fukang Hospital” instance.
In “Changsheng Building,” all the corpses lacked consciousness, emotions, and were incapable of communication. Naturally, they couldn’t be deceived or tamed. They were merely the embodiment of some terrifying death mechanism. Unless stopped, they would endlessly release their curses until everyone was dead.
“Hey, can you guys hear it?”
Wu Ya’s expression was tense, looking around, “It sounds like crying.”
“Yes, I hear it too,” Wei Cheng said seriously. “Quick! Retreat, back to the counter area!”
With that, the three swiftly retreated to the area covered by the oil lamp.
Wen Jianyan’s head buzzed.
The cold sensation spread instantly from the point of contact. Each cry was incredibly penetrative, and he felt his consciousness being gradually erased. His thoughts became murky with the crying, his arm stiffened, as if losing the ability to move autonomously.
It was as if he was gradually turning into a corpse.
Just as Wu Ya described, it was exactly like becoming a medium for the curse’s intrusion.
By the counter, the oil lamp flickered violently, emitting a hissing, burning sound.
The three stood in the light-covered area, watching Wen Jianyan with vigilance.
The young girl stood straight, her head slightly lowered, her soft black hair covering her eyes. Her arms maintained a stiff posture, cradling something invisible.
Like a marionette, she took slow, mechanical steps forward.
The shadow in her arms emitted a piercing, monotonous wail, creating a horrifying death curse. Only within the narrow space covered by the oil lamp’s light could one barely survive.
“What do we do now?” Wei Cheng asked in a low voice.
“We can only wait until the captain retrieves the source of the curse item, then the crisis will be resolved,” Wu Ya said solemnly.
“And her…”
Wei Cheng looked at the young girl not far away, recalling her composed, rational, even strong demeanor inside the painting, and felt a twinge of reluctance and hesitation.
“She should have lost consciousness now, just like I did,” Wu Ya explained. “But don’t worry too much. As long as the captain finds the source in time, there won’t be any danger. Everything will return to normal soon.”
“…”
Wen Jianyan lowered his head, looking at the infant corpse in his arms.
He could feel his limbs, his actions, all losing control, being pulled and manipulated by some invisible force, moving on their own, performing stiff actions.
But strangely, though his mind was hazy, he had not completely lost consciousness as Wu Ya had said.
He could even hear the faint conversations of the others and their discussions about his current state.
Strange…
What is going on?
Suddenly, a familiar system voice rang in Wen Jianyan’s ear.
【Ding! Congratulations to the host Wen Jianyan for activating the title wear qualification!】
【The Mother of the World title has been equipped.】
【Detailed introduction: Gains certain resistance to child-shaped specters and monsters, etc. (More functions to be unlocked)】
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Oh oh oh oh!]
[Wow wow wow! Finally unlocked the title!!!]
[Hahahahaha! I predicted this in the last instance! When the anchor activated the epic item last time, there were already signs of the title unlocking! I just didn’t expect it to happen in the next instance, this progress is worth five instances of other hosts!]
[I knew it! Aaaaaah host is awesome! It’s the first time I’ve seen a host unlock a title this quickly!]
[LOL, Wen Jianyan, forever the mom!]
Despite the title’s effect allowing Wen Jianyan to stay conscious, his actions remained uncontrollable. Cradling the infant corpse, he stiffly walked forward step by step.
The others, standing within the oil lamp’s light, watched him warily, ready to act at any moment.
They knew that unless Orange Candy found the source of the curse, nothing they did outside would matter.
The key to breaking the curse lay with the team inside the painting.
Although the situation was tense, it wasn’t too difficult for them. They just needed to hold out and stay alive until the captain succeeded.
They took a deep breath, ready to face whatever came next.
Suddenly…
“Drip.”
A droplet of water fell, the sound startlingly loud in the large shop, piercing through the infant’s wail and reaching everyone’s ears, clear and distinct.
“…!”
The three of them were shocked, instinctively turning towards the direction of the sound.
“Drip.”
Another droplet.
A drop of thick, sticky crimson blood fell from the ceiling, forming a small puddle on the ground.
“Drip.”
Instantly, everyone realized what was happening before their eyes.
It seemed the sequence of curse outbreaks was predictable.
The first customer entered the shop, bought goods, and left. Afterward, the second customer entered, followed closely by the third.
Clearly, this timing sequence corresponded to the curse outbreaks.
The interval between the first and second paintings’ curse outbreaks was long, but the interval between the second and third was short, like the customers’ arrival intervals.
“Drip, drip.”
The sound of dripping blood quickened.
Everyone’s pupils contracted in horror, goosebumps rising all over their bodies, a chill spreading from head to toe.
Damn it.
This was the worst-case scenario they could have imagined.
The third curse outbreak was already upon them before Orange Candy completed the second painting.
