Thank you @Blueishlish for the Ko-fi.
Changsheng Building
Chapter 247: Collaborative approach
“???”
When Wen Jianyan appeared at the stairwell, the entire floor fell into a dead silence.
Everyone showed strange expressions of surprise and uncertainty.
Those who didn’t know him were astonished by his unconventional entrance… After all, in this instance, going solo meant certain death. And according to the experience of seasoned anchors, a staircase that remained open after the last team entered the fourth floor was definitely full of unknown dangers.
But…
This anchor, who seemed delicate and frail, pitiful even, and had no combat abilities, managed to rush out alone without a team…?
Those who knew the inside story were far more shocked than the others.
“…!”
Not far away, everyone in the Orange Candy team had their eyes wide open, with expressions of disbelief.
If others didn’t know what had happened on the third floor, they were well aware of it. That floor was so perilous that they barely made it to the fourth floor alive, thanks to a lot of luck—if Wen Jianyan hadn’t used the curse in the second painting to enter the third painting and resolve the crisis alone, their team could hardly have made it to the fourth floor unscathed. In fact, without Wen Jianyan, they were very likely to have been wiped out.
After entering the third painting with the curse, he lost his only amulet due to a temporary teammate’s misfortune.
With all these unfavorable factors stacked together, it was an absolutely deadly situation!
How did he survive?
On the other hand, the Dark Fire team was purely delighted.
Seeing Wen Jianyan alive at the stairwell, they were both surprised and overjoyed. Although they didn’t know what had happened on the third floor, Wen Jianyan’s survival was enough to make them happy.
“Wen Wen! Great! You didn’t die!” An Xin was the first to rush out, followed closely by the others, surrounding Wen Jianyan and talking all at once:
“Are you okay? What happened?”
“How do you feel? Are you hurt?”
“Did that team do anything to you?”
Standing at the end of the group, Su Cheng finally exhaled a sigh of relief. The tight string in his heart seemed to finally relax, and he realized his heart was racing, his palms were sweaty, but he felt light.
He knew it.
This guy definitely wouldn’t die so easily.
“No, I’m fine.”
Wen Jianyan bent over, supporting himself on his knees, panting heavily as if exhausted.
“Speaking of which, was something chasing you?” Qi Qian asked, looking into the stairwell with a serious expression.
“No.”
Surprisingly, Wen Jianyan shook his head.
As he spoke, he glanced back at the stairwell with lingering fear.
Although Wen Jianyan had reached the fourth floor, the stairwell behind him had not disappeared. It still stood there, dark and foreboding, with a cold, sinister wind blowing from it, carrying a faint stench of decay and blood that made everyone shiver involuntarily.
It was clear that this staircase had other purposes.
The stairs not only allowed anchors to reach the next floor but also let those so-called “customers” keep moving up.
In other words, the “customers” in different floors were the same group.
This confirmed Wen Jianyan’s previous speculation.
These “customers” were buying fragments layer by layer, making themselves complete, evolving from formless, voiceless, faceless entities made of pure malice into complete, emotionless vengeful spirits with only a desire for slaughter.
Before “nightfall,” the customers wouldn’t appear, but they would always be lurking around the anchors, temporarily unaware of the “human” presence. So, although they were in the same area, neither the customers nor the anchors could notice each other—until a certain boundary was broken.
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes, showing a puzzled expression.
To be honest…
What had just happened in the stairwell was still hard for him to comprehend.
Although he had blown out the red candle, the shadow hadn’t stopped moving but instead headed straight toward him.
Even now, Wen Jianyan seemed to still feel that bone-chilling fear, smelled that approaching stench of decay. But just as he was about to escape, something even more bizarre happened—the shadow came closer to him and then… disappeared.
Wen Jianyan stood in a daze.
He couldn’t understand why the shadow continued to move even after the red candle was extinguished, nor did he understand why it didn’t attack him but instead disappeared.
Even though he had now left the stairwell and reached the fourth floor, Wen Jianyan still found it incredible and had no idea how he survived.
Suddenly, a lazy voice came from behind them.
“Hey.”
The voice was very youthful, like that of a child.
In this instance, there was only one person with such a distinctive voice.
“!”
The moment they heard the voice, everyone in the Dark Fire team immediately became alert, instinctively preparing for battle, their bodies tense as they looked behind them.
Sure enough, the captain of the opposing team had appeared not far behind them, with an indescribable strange expression.
“You’re actually still alive.”
Orange Candy looked at Wen Jianyan in surprise and said.
The situation the other side had encountered could almost be considered a dead end, with no chance of survival, which was why she had decisively led her team to the fourth floor.
But unexpectedly…
The person they thought was dead had managed to reappear in front of them. It was simply incredible.
Even Orange Candy, who considered herself to have many tricks up her sleeve, couldn’t help but think that if she had been in the same situation, she would have admitted defeat.
Apart from the change in hair color, the girl in front of them looked the same as before, but it was clear she was a living human.
“…”
She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to use her overly focused gaze to dissect the other person and see if there was anything unusual about their structure.
An Xin stepped forward, blocking Orange Candy’s view, with traces of fierce fire appearing in her palm, her expression fierce:
“How dare you—”
Su Cheng also stepped forward, his expression very cold. Although his emotions were not overly exposed, the hostility in his eyes had not diminished at all: “Although our teammate is indeed not dead, it doesn’t change the fact that you kidnapped her and almost got het killed.”
“So what? You want revenge?”
Orange Candy laughed, “Fine, bring it on.”
She tilted her head, showing an innocent-looking smile, and said in a mocking tone, “Despite having a numerical advantage, you still fought us to a standstill for so long. It’s laughable.”
Under her provocation, the atmosphere instantly became tense.
At this moment, a warm yet calm voice came from behind, interrupting the confrontation:
“Stop.”
Everyone was stunned and turned towards the voice.
The girl stood firmly in place, her face pale but her expression particularly calm. Although she had a slender figure, her amber eyes seemed to carry a certain strong power.
“No matter what grudges we have, now is not the time to fight. Everyone must quickly enter the shop,” Wen Jianyan said seriously after taking a deep breath.
“You’ve been outside the shop for too long, something is beginning to change.”
The light from the candle didn’t isolate the darkness very well. Just now, in the stairwell, Wen Jianyan could clearly feel that as he went upstairs, the surrounding environment became more terrifying and sinister, with the darkness in the corridor rapidly expanding, looking for an outlet.
This increasingly vivid, needle-prickling cold fear was why Wen Jianyan ran faster and faster.
He knew he had to go upstairs quickly; otherwise, once that outlet was found, even if the anchors on the fourth floor hadn’t yet entered the shop and lit the oil lamps, night would still fall.
It should be noted that those who hadn’t entered the shop wouldn’t necessarily still be considered employees.
Even with oil lamps, they could still die.
And Wen Jianyan wasn’t prepared to gamble with his life on that possibility.
“Then we have to fight even more—”
An Xin’s words were cut off by Wen Jianyan: “I know, there aren’t enough shops, right?”
“Four shops,” Wen Jianyan looked around, his gaze sweeping over everyone, and concluded, “Five teams.”
An Xin was stunned for a moment, then nodded instinctively:
“…Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then let’s do it.” Wen Jianyan stepped forward, pushing his teammate aside, and approached Orange Candy, smiling as he extended his hand to her:
“What, an alliance?”
Under the dim light, the other party’s smile was gentle and pure, carrying a certain infectious sincerity, as if the incidents of him being forcibly taken, almost killed, and nearly backstabbed by his teammates had never happened.
“Are you crazy!” Su Cheng gasped, “But—”
“Time is life. Lingering outside like this isn’t a solution.”
Wen Jianyan spoke while looking around at Orange Candy’s team, squinting slightly, and the smile on his lips deepened, “Besides, I’ve noticed that it seems like your team is missing a member, isn’t it?”
Mu Sen was gone.
Orange Candy didn’t need to turn her head to know who Wen Jianyan was referring to.
She shrugged indifferently:
“He ran off during the chaos earlier. I don’t know where he went.”
Clearly, the promise that Orange Candy wouldn’t harm him in this instance didn’t mean much to Mu Sen. After all, he knew very well that if they encountered any danger next, it was unlikely anyone would go out of their way to save him. Facing the captain’s threat of death, running away early and seeking protection from other teams was the wisest choice for him.
After all, he was a prophet, and no team would refuse a prophet seeking asylum.
From the second floor, when Wen Jianyan saw Mu Sen’s interactions with Orange Candy’s team, he realized that this team was likely not directly under the Oracle’s command. The sense of unfamiliarity between them was too strong. Later, Qi Qian’s introduction confirmed this thought: Orange Candy’s team was a mercenary team that must have taken on a mission to be here.
Now, with Mu Sen gone, although Wen Jianyan wasn’t entirely clear on the reasons, he knew it indicated a break in their employment relationship.
So, his proposal for an alliance was something the other party couldn’t easily refuse.
—Especially since he had demonstrated his irreplaceable “prophetic” abilities on the previous floor, the chances of forming an alliance were even higher.
Qi Qian squinted his eyes, his expression hesitant.
No one wanted to form an alliance with other teams in this instance.
Because they were inherently competitors, and according to the instance’s mechanics, the fewer teams left at the end, the more rewards each team would receive. No one could be sure if the other teams would break the alliance and attack them for these rewards. In this high-difficulty instance, the threats they faced were terrifying. Under such high pressure, even just tripping someone could be deadly.
Veteran anchors who had survived this long often understood these tricks well and were indifferent to the value of human life. They knew their own terrors and naturally understood the terrors of others, making alliances even harder and trust more difficult.
Moreover, this instance wasn’t a traditional open instance but a rare semi-closed type.
When “night” fell, two completely unfamiliar teams being confined in a small space would double the danger.
No one knew what might happen, as backstabbing was all too easy.
However…
Qi Qian had to admit.
If what the other party said was true, then forming an alliance might be their only option.
Orange Candy’s team was too skilled at team battles, making it difficult to eliminate them quickly. If they continued to drag it out in the corridor, it might result in no survivors.
Qi Qian took a deep breath and ultimately did not stop Wen Jianyan’s actions but shifted his gaze to Orange Candy.
Clearly, Wen Jianyan was rational, but Orange Candy was another story.
Based on what he knew about her, this anchor, despite her small size, was very reckless. Worse, she was hard to trust and approach, making the possibility of an alliance low. She probably wouldn’t immediately believe a stranger’s words and give up her best skill: PvP battles.
Wen Jianyan retracted his hand.
As expected.
Qi Qian secretly shook his head; the chances of the other party agreeing to an alliance were too low—
Then he saw Wen Jianyan cover his hand with a red handkerchief and extend it again.
“…”
Orange Candy stared at his smiling face, her expression extremely displeased.
Finally, she scowled, grabbed his cloth-covered fingertips with two fingers, shook quickly, and then, as if afraid of getting dirty, quickly let go with a look of disdain.
“Tch.”
