Changsheng Building
Chapter 250: Changsheng Building instance is still too cruel
As Wen Jianyan’s voice fell, the dimly lit room was left in dead silence.
The others stared at him, each with a different expression in their eyes. Wen Jianyan’s deduction seemed to come out of nowhere, with leaps in logic that were difficult to understand. It felt less like reasoning and more like a bold, baseless conjecture. However…
Though they couldn’t match Wen Jianyan in terms of exploration depth or uncovering the deeper rules, as veteran anchors, they were highly sensitive to clues.
While they couldn’t fathom how Wen Jianyan had arrived at his conclusion, within the grand scheme of the Changsheng Building, it oddly made sense.
“…” Orange Candy squinted and suddenly let out a mocking laugh, “A prophecy, perhaps.”
Qi Qian and the others were stunned and turned to look at her.
They were unaware that Wen Jianyan had lied to Orange Candy, claiming he was a prophet. So, when they heard Orange Candy’s ambiguous comment, they were left puzzled, unable to comprehend the source of her remark.
But Orange Candy didn’t continue on that topic, instead falling back into silence.
Qi Qian hesitated for a moment before turning back to Wen Jianyan and asking:
“So, you’re saying that the incense we got from the donation box is actually the food purchased by the ‘customers’ on the fourth floor?”
“Perhaps.” Wen Jianyan paused but quickly confirmed his assumption.
After all, the rules governing the fourth floor were vastly different from those on the first three.
On the first three floors, there were actual items for sale in the shops. ‘Customers’ would enter, purchase items, and the empty spots would be automatically replenished by the curse’s source. Although the products sold on each floor were different, the underlying operational rules were largely the same.
Although the anchors didn’t know the specifics of each curse or where the curse originated from, they at least understood the general process. Even when faced with unusual dangers, they could roughly figure out the right approach.
But the fourth floor…
It completely broke the norm.
First of all, there were no real ‘items’ in the store, so there was no curse to speak of.
With this basic element gone, the entire set of behavioral rules built upon it underwent a complete upheaval.
The purpose of the incense, the food the ‘customers’ needed, and the dangers that might come after the ‘customers’ obtained their food—all these were mysteries to Wen Jianyan.
Perhaps they would need to serve a customer first to figure out the answers.
However, before that, Wen Jianyan had another question.
He looked at the two teams in front of him and asked, “How much incense do you have left?”
Qi Qian: “I have one stick.”
Orange Candy also raised a finger.
This could be a problem.
Wen Jianyan frowned slightly and lowered his gaze.
Although the ‘curse’ rules had changed, the method of progressing through the Prosperity Building, as the overarching framework of this instance, should remain consistent.
That is, as long as they collected enough sales revenue, they could move on to the next floor.
If that’s the case, the ghost money he obtained in the stairwell should count towards the total.
To move from the fourth floor to the fifth, they would likely need four pieces of ghost money.
He had one in his hand, which meant they would need to serve at least three customers next. But they only had two sticks of incense, which meant they were short one stick to ‘offer.’
The others realized this problem too, and all fell into deep thought.
Suddenly, Zhang Yu’s anxious voice came from outside, “Captain! You’d better come out here!”
Although his voice was calm, the heaviness and tension in his tone were unmistakable, making everyone in the dim room feel a jolt of unease.
The group exchanged glances. “Let’s go, see what’s happening.”
They grabbed the incense burner from the table and quickly walked out of the dark room.
In the shop, the oil lamps flickered dimly.
In the vast, empty space, four sets of dark red wooden tables and chairs were neatly arranged in the center, as if waiting for customers to arrive.
The blocking tools meant to prevent light from escaping were tightly pressed against the doors, leaving no gaps.
It might have been an illusion, but the room seemed colder, and the light dimmer.
“What’s going on?” Qi Qian asked.
Zhang Yu’s brow was furrowed tightly. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a sound from outside—
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The knocking was light, but very clear.
“!”
Everyone was startled and turned simultaneously towards the direction of the sound.
It was the shop’s main door.
Something was knocking on the door from outside.
“Zhang Yu,” Qi Qian’s pupils contracted, “what’s going on?”
Zhang Yu: “It started suddenly a minute ago. As soon as I heard the knocking, I immediately called you all over. This is the second knock—”
Before he could finish speaking—”Knock, knock, knock.”
Another three knocks.
They seemed very polite, but if one paid attention, they’d notice that the rhythm of each knock was as precise as if calculated by a machine—rigid, stiff, without any emotion, and without any deviation.
In other words, the one knocking was not a person but a corpse.
Moreover, the interval between this set of knocks was shorter than the previous one.
It was as if something outside was urging them.
Upon realizing this, a bone-chilling coldness suddenly crept up the back of their necks.
“It’s a customer,” Qi Qian’s expression turned grim as he asked in a low voice, “Are you sure you blocked every corner of the door?”
Zhang Yu gritted his teeth and nodded, “Of course.”
At this moment, Wen Jianyan spoke, “This isn’t our problem.”
The “Changsheng Building” instance is a time-limited instance. There are less than three hours left before it ends, meaning that if they can survive these three hours, even without much progress, they can leave alive.
As a team instance that could eliminate anchor teams at any time, “dragging out time” was naturally not an option, but this only held true under “normal circumstances.”
As the floors rise and the difficulty increases, staying on a certain floor without advancing might be the smartest decision.
If each anchor team estimated that they weren’t strong enough, and other teams were also struggling, they would likely all make the same choice—
Block the glass doors of their respective shops so they wouldn’t become the target shop.
As long as one team advanced to the fifth floor, they wouldn’t die.
Unfortunately, the “Changsheng Building” instance is too ruthless.
It leaves no loopholes for the anchor to exploit.
“Do you remember the lanterns hanging at the entrance of the shop?” Wen Jianyan asked.
Hearing this, everyone was momentarily stunned.
The fourth floor was different from the other floors. Each shop on the fourth floor had two dusty lanterns hanging at the entrance. They didn’t know where these lanterns came from, but Wen Jianyan knew—these lanterns were the same as those hanging at the entrance of the courtyard in the third painting on the third floor.
Clearly, as the floors increased, the layout of the Changsheng Building became more and more similar to a courtyard house, which is why these items appeared at the entrance.
In an instance like this, no item exists without a reason.
“What you mean is…” Wei Cheng was startled and said, “If we try to avoid risks and refuse to open for business, the lanterns at the entrance will automatically light up and attract customers to us?”
“It seems that way.”
Wen Jianyan sighed softly and answered.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
The knocking sounded again, each knock striking at their hearts, sending a shiver down their spines.
“Although we haven’t figured out many things, we have to serve the first customer now,” Qi Qian squinted his eyes and said cautiously, “Remember the lesson from the first floor?”
If a shop that opened refused to do business, their fate would be certain death.
“We have no choice but to take it one step at a time.” An Xin sighed and nodded in agreement with Qi Qian’s decision.
Qi Qian turned to Wen Jianyan, handed him the unlit incense stick in his hand, and quickly said:
“Since you were the one who proposed this theory, the specific operation is up to you,” he said, then looked at Orange Candy’s team, “You guys have no objections, right?”
Orange Candy shrugged indifferently, silently agreeing.
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, nodded, and accepted the incense stick from Qi Qian.
Even though he was also unsure of himself at this moment, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed based on his previous experience.
He lowered his head and looked at the incense burner in his hand.
The incense burner was full of ashes, with no remaining pieces of unburned incense.
During the transaction that moved them from the third to the fourth floor, he hadn’t lit the incense. However, the incense burner itself came from the painting of the woman in red, and had been used for offerings—clearly, it had held much more than one incense stick, but a total of three, otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many burned incense fragments left.
This was the first offering, so lighting the incense might still be necessary.
In addition, Wen Jianyan had used a red candle in the stairwell before. For the sake of thoroughness, it might be wise to use it again. However, after pondering for a while, he decided not to take out the candle.
After all, in the third painting, the candlestick near the incense burner only had white candles, not red ones. Besides, in the stairwell, Wen Jianyan had extinguished the red candle, which also prevented the shadows from approaching. This indicated that the red candle might not be essential for the offering.
So… all he could do now was perform the most basic and conservative operation.
Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth, inserted the incense into the incense burner, and then placed the incense burner on the red table closest to the counter.
He lit the incense.
A tiny red flame flickered at the tip of the incense.
Thin, wispy smoke began to curl upwards, emitting a faint, sweet fragrance that seemed to carry a hint of blood. The more one inhaled it, the more dizzying it became.
“Knock, knock, knock!”
The knocking sounded again, this time more urgent, like the relentless pursuit of a vengeful spirit, spreading an ominous atmosphere.
“Hiss—”
As if influenced by some invisible force, the oil lamp’s light started flickering violently.
Wen Jianyan’s expression tightened: “Quick, behind the counter.”
As he spoke, he quickly retreated backward.
The group moved swiftly, soon squeezing together behind the narrow counter.
After making all the necessary preparations, the team members responsible for blocking the door opened the live broadcast interface and deactivated the item they had been using.
In an instant, all the objects obstructing the glass door vanished, the light from the shop clearly spilled out, and the external darkness flowed in unimpeded.
“…”
Wen Jianyan held his breath, his body instinctively tensing up. The silence around him was deafening, only broken by the frantic, drum-like beating of his heart.
Like the calm before a storm, this moment of stillness was fleeting.
The creaking sound of the door hinges turning echoed inside the shop.
“Jingle—”
The copper bell hanging on the door shook, emitting a crisp, monotonous sound, as if announcing the arrival of death.
The customer had arrived.
An overwhelming darkness surged in, the oil lamp’s light was suppressed to its limit, and the air around them felt as though the temperature was plummeting, giving a chilling sensation.
Amidst the pitch-black world, the sound of clear footsteps rang out.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Stiff, slow, and steadily approaching the depths of the shop.
In the midst of the darkness, only the incense in the burner emitted a faint, weak red glow, as if it could be swallowed by the darkness at any moment.
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.
The “customer” seemed to be standing in front of the table where the incense burner was placed.
“!”
It seemed to have worked!
The group felt a surge of hope.
Wen Jianyan’s heart was in his throat.
He stared intently at the flickering red dot, his fingers clenched tightly, sweat slicking his palms.
A few seconds passed, but it felt like an eternity.
“Tap, tap, tap.” The footsteps resumed.
Everyone’s hearts tightened, holding their breath, nerves on edge, praying—had the customer finished dining? Were they about to leave?
However, Wen Jianyan was far less optimistic than the others. He kept his eyes locked on the faintly flickering red dot in the darkness not far away.
It hadn’t disappeared.
When he completed the transaction at the junction between the third and fourth floors, the incense burner had been completely emptied, with not a trace of ash left.
But now, the lit incense still remained, which meant it hadn’t been “eaten” by the customer.
Things weren’t that simple.
Something had been overlooked.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
The stiff footsteps continued, but they weren’t heading toward the door. On the contrary…
They were coming straight toward the counter at the back of the shop.
Step by step, closer and closer.
