(4/4)
Changsheng Building
Chapter 246: …Wen Wen?!
Wen Jianyan climbed up the dark stairs, holding a candleholder that emitted a faint light, barely illuminating the path ahead.
The stair platform was empty.
A slightly flickering light bulb cast a dim glow. Below, a familiar wooden table stood with a solitary crimson donation box. The paint on the box was as thick as blood, and just by looking at it from afar, one could almost smell the strong stench of blood.
It seemed that the Orange Candy team had already passed through here, exchanged items with the underworld coins they had, and entered the fourth floor.
By crossing a narrow platform and continuing up the stairs, he would reach the fourth floor.
Wen Jianyan looked up towards the direction the stairs extended, and amidst the pitch-black darkness, he could vaguely hear the sounds of chaotic fighting coming from that direction.
He almost immediately realized what was happening on the fourth floor.
Clearly, the number of shops on the fourth floor was even fewer than expected, so, to compete for the shops, the teams started fighting amongst themselves.
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, showing a thoughtful expression.
Since there was still competition, it meant that temporarily no team had entered the shops to light the oil lamps and start the fifteen-minute countdown.
Thus, he would have more time now to address a small issue he had left earlier.
Wen Jianyan looked down at his hand.
His fingers were pale and cold, with a sickly dull sheen. The livid corpse spots had emerged from under his skin, now creeping up to the upper half of his forearm, and continuing to spread.
Wen Jianyan had left a curse on the corpse in the first painting on the third floor to stop its movement. This curse couldn’t be dispelled with ordinary lamp oil but required red lamp oil to reverse the trend.
If he didn’t remove the curse in time, he would soon become like the previous Zhang Yu, gradually losing his ability to move until becoming a corpse.
And if he left it to be dealt with on the fourth floor, it could bring new problems.
After considering all this, Wen Jianyan made a decision.
He quickly walked into the light, extinguished the white candle on the candleholder, then took out a red candle from the third painting and inserted it into the candleholder, lighting it expertly.
As the scarlet light flickered, the light bulb overhead also began to sizzle.
Just like last time.
However, the effect of the candle was weaker than the lamp oil, so the speed at which the coldness on his hand receded was much slower than before. Although his condition was much better than Zhang Yu’s before, the time needed might not differ much.
After carefully observing the surroundings, Wen Jianyan sighed with relief.
The good news was, although the healing speed was far from as fast as before, the terrifying anomalies were less frightening, and the surrounding light, though dimmer, made the darkness less dangerous than before.
He kept an eye on the chaotic battle at the end of the stairs while monitoring the speed at which the curse was fading from his body, always ready to extinguish the candle.
“Thud! Thud thud!”
Continuous banging sounds began to come from the darkness.
Wen Jianyan’s gaze shifted, looking towards the direction of the sound.
Beyond the faint cold red light was an impenetrable, viscous darkness. As time passed, a gradually clearer figure would appear, persistently banging its forehead against the wall, producing a monotonous, rigid “thud thud” sound.
Under the red light’s influence, it would gradually sense the “human” presence and turn towards the red light.
“Thud! Thud thud!”
The eerie sound echoed in the empty corridor, making one feel uneasy.
There was no need to be overly concerned.
According to Wen Jianyan’s estimate, the curse on him should fade faster. Last time, it only started acting at the last moment, and this time, with the candle’s effect being much weaker than lamp oil, its turning time should be longer.
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze, and out of the corner of his eye, a shadow slowly solidified.
“……!”
What?!
Wen Jianyan was startled, suddenly turning his head and focusing on the direction of the sound again.
He saw a dark, blurry figure slowly taking shape not far away, gradually becoming clearer.
No!
This time it was much faster than before!
Last time, after the oil lamp was lit for nearly three minutes, the figure slowly gathered and solidified. This time, the candle had only been burning for a little over a minute, and the figure was almost fully formed!
What’s going on?!
Was there some problem with the process? Or was the red candle not as effective?
But…
Wen Jianyan listened carefully and found that the other anomalies and strange sounds still existed. The footsteps from below the stairs, the sound of marbles falling from above, and the faint coughing had not disappeared and remained at a distant, non-threatening distance, much slower than the previous dangerous speed, likely corresponding to the difference in effectiveness between the candle and lamp oil.
So why was the forming speed of the figure in front of him so much faster?!
“Thud!…… Thud thud!”
As Wen Jianyan frowned in thought, the wall-banging sound became louder, one thud after another.
The banging gradually slowed down, eventually stopping completely.
In the eerie silence, it slowly turned towards one direction.
Damn it!
Wen Jianyan’s pupils constricted. He lowered his head and blew out the red candle in his hand.
The curse on him had already been suppressed to the end of his fingers; it should be less than half a minute before it was completely cleared.
Wen Jianyan didn’t dare to take chances.
If it was just a matter of time like last time, he might have held on a bit longer. However, the situation this time had clearly changed compared to before, and Wen Jianyan wasn’t sure how these changes occurred. Therefore, to be safe, he had to extinguish the red candle and enter the fourth floor to make a final decision.
As the candle was blown out, the distant strange sounds gradually disappeared, the sizzling light bulb overhead ceased, and the dim light began to restore.
And Wen Jianyan let out a sigh of relief—
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Clear, stiff footsteps came from not far away.
Wen Jianyan took a sharp breath, incredulously looking towards the direction of the sound.
What?!
“Zzzz… zzzzz!”
The light bulb overhead emitted a faint electrical buzzing sound. In the dim light, a blurry figure could be seen slowly approaching, step by step.
The air grew eerie and cold, and a rotting stench became increasingly strong.
Wen Jianyan’s eyes flashed with a look of fear. He retreated in disbelief, his back hitting the table behind him with a “thud” sound.
How could this be?
The candle had been extinguished; why was the shadow still approaching him while the other anomalies had disappeared?!
*
The chaotic battle on the fourth floor was still ongoing.
In an unnoticed corner, the stairs from the third floor to the fourth floor remained, open and dark.
Su Cheng shared his own guess with the surrounding teammates.
A few of them exchanged looks, showing complex expressions.
“I know, you have deep feelings for Wen Wen… Each team only has one oil lamp. If she couldn’t come up with the main group, it means…”
Zhang Yu paused and swallowed the rest of his words.
“You’re not wrong, but—” Su Cheng urgently tried to say something.
“I understand your point. Indeed, there is one possibility, and there’s also a second possibility…” Qi Qian raised his hand, interrupting him, then slowly said, “That means, the last corridor will not be left to the living.”
“After all, I didn’t stay in the corridor before. When the last team comes up, it’s confirmed that the stairs behind them will also disappear with me, right?”
Su Cheng was taken aback, falling into silence.
There was no denying that Qi Qian’s guess made sense, even though he couldn’t refute it.
If the second possibility really held, it would mean that “customers” might use the stairs to reach the fourth floor, leaving him with little time.
Although entering the shop and lighting the oil lamp could start the night countdown, it also meant that the “Changsheng Building” instance would have a loophole.
If all the anchors didn’t actively enter the shops and reached an agreement to stay temporarily safe in the corridor, waiting for the instance to end?
Wouldn’t the night never come, and everyone would survive the instance?
Such behavior might work for small instances, but in a high-difficulty instance like “Changsheng Building” there would definitely not be such an easy loophole.
So, if the anchors stayed in the corridor for too long, the instance would likely have related mechanisms to force the anchors to act in some way.
“Look, I need to finish this quickly—”
Before Qi Qian could finish his words, suddenly, a lone footstep sound came from the dark stairwell, quickly approaching the fourth floor.
“Tap tap tap—”
“……!”
At the sound of the footsteps, everyone was startled.
The terrifying guess that Qi Qian had just mentioned left a shadow in their minds, making them shiver in fear at the sound of the footsteps.
“Cease fire!!”
Clearly, it wasn’t only he who had noticed the disappearing stairs. As a seasoned anchor, he had reached a similar conclusion as Qi Qian.
Someone shouted loudly:
“There’s a problem with the stairs below!”
The footsteps were clear, loud, and hurried, echoing in the hollow stairwell and spreading throughout the entire corridor.
No matter how intense the battle had been, and no matter how fierce, the veterans in the room could distinguish what was important. Everyone stopped in unison, their bodies tensed, staring intently at the direction of the sound, waiting for the potential crisis.
The footsteps grew closer.
—Be prepared!
The air was taut and oppressive, ready to snap.
In the next moment, a figure emerged from the dark stairwell.
It was a slender girl, tightly holding a burning candle in her hand, breathing heavily as if chased by something.
The figure was so familiar that both the Orange Candy team and the Dark Fire team were stunned.
“……Wen Wen?!”
Thank you for the chapter!