WTNL Chapter 252

Changsheng Building
Chapter 252: Offerings

Zhang Yu walked at the front, with the other two beside him. The faint, ominous red light enveloped the three of them, standing out starkly in the darkness.

“It’s following us,” Orange Candy whispered, glancing over her shoulder.

As soon as she finished speaking, stiff footsteps echoed behind them.

Zhang Yu nodded, listening intently to the sound of the corpse’s footsteps.

The sound was neither fast nor slow, with no change in rhythm, shadowing them closely and echoing throughout the vast shop, sending chills down their spines.

But it was much slower than expected.

It seemed that Wen Wen was right. Although this candle had the same effect as the oil lamp, its power was much weaker. If he had an oil lamp in hand and lit it in such a confined space, the footsteps of the corpse would have sped up several times over.

In that case, they might not even have had time to lure the corpse away from the counter before being directly attacked.

At this current pace, however, they could maintain a moderate distance, leading the corpse in a circuit around the shop.

At least until Wen Wen figured out a solution, they could keep it away from the counter and the incense burner.

Zhang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, focusing his gaze ahead.

“Let’s go, let’s put some distance between us and it.”

*

Meanwhile.

The candlestick emitted a faint light, barely illuminating the small area in front of it.

On the red tabletop sat the lit bronze candlestick and a small brass incense burner. Inside the incense burner, a single stick of incense was quietly burning.

Although several minutes had passed since Wen Jianyan lit it, the eerie thing was that the incense stick showed no visible signs of shortening, as if it hadn’t been consumed at all.

As expected, the incense wasn’t the main thing; the offering was.

Wen Jianyan’s mind flashed back to the scenes he had seen on the third floor.

Whether in the rooms or in front of the graves, the offerings in the plates were mostly rotten, but their original forms were still vaguely recognizable.

Fruit, pastries, and meat.

The traditional trio of offerings.

So, perhaps he should offer something similar to the “customer”?

No, that might not be enough. The “Changsheng Building” instance was very different from other instance. It had its own unique system, like the ghost money that could be obtained from the donation box, or the oil that could dispel darkness or cure curses. These functions couldn’t be replaced by ordinary items.

However, whether it worked or not, he had to try it. After all, this was his only clue at the moment.

Wen Jianyan quickly opened the system shop, selected, and paid.

Soon, three plates appeared on the table in front of him, each containing a different offering.

Fruit, pastries, and meat. The three offerings were neatly arranged on the table, looking especially eerie under the faint candlelight.

As expected, nothing happened, just as Wen Jianyan had anticipated.

The customer’s footsteps continued to follow the flickering red light in the distance. The incense in the burner remained unchanged, and so did the offerings.

Something was still missing.

But what?

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, his thin lips pressed tightly together, almost losing their color. His eyes, deep and obscure beneath his lashes, seemed to be racing through his thoughts.

Suddenly, it seemed like he thought of something.

Wait… When he was on the stairs between the third and fourth floors, he had no offerings with him, but the “transaction” was still completed.

Why is that?

Wen Jianyan squinted his eyes.

He keenly realized that if he could find the answer to this question, the true solution might surface.

*

Zhang Yu held the candle, walking alongside the other two. Behind them, the sound of the corpse’s footsteps followed at a constant pace.

As long as its speed remained unchanged, the distance between them wouldn’t shift, and they would likely be safe.

Thinking this, Zhang Yu relaxed a bit.

But then, something suddenly changed!

“Stop!”

Wei Cheng’s tense voice sounded in his ear, urgent and heavy: “Don’t go any further!”

“!”

The warning came too suddenly, and Zhang Yu was startled, instinctively taking another step forward—

Under the dim red light, the ground where his foot was about to land had somehow turned into an inky blackness, like the gaping maw of an abyss.

In the next second, a pale, bluish hand reached out from the darkness, covered in dense corpse spots.

It was identical to the hand that had pressed against the counter earlier!

“!!!!”

Zhang Yu’s pupils contracted sharply.

As a seasoned anchor, his body’s reaction far outpaced his mind. He instinctively activated his ability, and a layer of something like rock quickly rose from beneath his feet, covering his lower leg in an instant.

The hand brushed past Zhang Yu’s leg but, as if it hadn’t found its target, missed and slowly retracted back into the darkness.

The ground returned to normal.

Zhang Yu stood still, clutching the candle tightly, his face pale, breathing heavily, and sweat beading on his forehead.

He knew that if he hadn’t reacted quickly just now, he might have fallen for the trap like he did on the first floor—but that wouldn’t have been the worst of it. The truly terrifying thought was that if it hadn’t let go, he could have been dragged into that pitch-black abyss.

“It seems it’s not just following us anymore,” Orange Candy suddenly spoke up.

Zhang Yu steadied himself and nodded, “Yes, it seems so.”

Clearly, the red candle’s effect was not simply to “attract attention.” More crucially, it made the non-human customers “aware of the prey’s existence.” In other words, it made the humans enveloped in the red light the target of attacks. The “customers” weren’t merely following them—they were trying to kill them.

“It seems the attack is primarily focused on the person holding the candle,” Orange Candy said, turning to Wei Cheng. “Tie your string to him, not me. Otherwise, your energy consumption will be too high.”

Wei Cheng nodded. Although the attack just now wasn’t directed at him, his face was as pale as Zhang Yu’s.

While they paused momentarily, the “customer” behind them didn’t stop.

“Tap, tap, tap.”

The stiff footsteps echoed in the empty room, steadily approaching them. As it neared the candlelight, the footsteps seemed to speed up.

In just a few breaths, the footsteps were right behind them, as if echoing in their minds.

Orange Candy’s expression tightened: “Quick, we must keep moving.”

No matter what, they couldn’t afford to be caught.

*

Wen Jianyan took out the incense burner again.

He examined it from all angles, trying to find some clue.

But he found nothing.

…After all, if there was something significant, he probably would have noticed it from the start, given his sharpness. The incense burner was so ordinary that Wen Jianyan hadn’t tried to use it as a breakthrough point until now.

Wen Jianyan also understood this.

He stared at the incense burner in his palm, feeling a bit reluctant.

The cold, metallic bronze artifact felt heavy in his hand.

The outside and inside were devoid of any special patterns; the interior was empty, as if everything had been completely consumed, leaving no valuable features behind.

It was too empty.

Why was it so—

“……”

Wen Jianyan suddenly froze.

Yes, this incense burner is indeed too empty.

If the broken fragments of the incense had been used up, it would make sense. But why would the incense ash also disappear?

Logically speaking, incense ash is the residue after burning; it is waste, not an offering. So why did it disappear after the transaction?

Wen Jianyan lowered his head, his expression flickering as he gazed at the bronze incense burner in his palm. He hesitated and cautiously sniffed the inside of the burner.

A dark, cloying, dizzying smell lingered at the bottom of the incense burner, but in addition, there was a smell that was extremely strong, several times more intense than the incense itself.

The smell of blood.

Blood.

Wen Jianyan blinked, a glimmer of realization quickly flashing in his eyes.

He lowered his head, bit his finger to draw blood, and let a drop of his blood fall into the incense ash.

“Plop.”

The sound of blood dropping into the incense ash was barely audible, stirring up a bit of dust. Almost immediately, the drop of blood was greedily absorbed by the dry incense ash below, leaving no trace behind.

Not far away.

Zhang Yu and the others struggled to advance under the corpse’s attacks. They had to deal with the hands that could appear on the ground, pulling them down, and also maintain the distance between the corpse and the red light to avoid the corpse touching them.

At first, it was manageable, but as time went on, the balance became increasingly difficult to control.

The footsteps behind them grew faster and closer.

With each passing second, the pressure increased exponentially.

Just as the blood fell into the incense ash, the footsteps suddenly stopped.

The air fell into a dead silence.

Zhang Yu and the others were momentarily stunned and turned to look.

Just a few seconds later—“Tap, tap, tap.”

The footsteps started again, but this time, they were moving in the opposite direction.

*

Wen Jianyan looked down, his gaze slightly anxious, watching the incense burner in front of him.

Inside the incense burner, the incense began to show noticeable consumption for the first time. A bit of crimson flame burned at the top, and the scent grew heavier and sweeter, with the mingled smell of blood becoming intensely noticeable, filling the air with a persistent blue smoke that seemed to invade his body.

Indeed.

In the fourth floor of the Changsheng Building, what the customers want to consume is far more than just “incense” or “incense ash.”

What they desire is humans.

The transaction between the third and fourth floors could be completed because the offerings provided to the red-clad female corpse were not entirely consumed. There was still some incense left, which meant that the lives previously offered were also partially intact. Thus, that transaction was completed without Wen Jianyan’s awareness and without any cost.

Because the cost had already been paid.

Wen Jianyan brought his wounded fingertip to his mouth, carefully licking the remaining blood from the wound.

—And what he was doing now most likely meant that he had become the offering.

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