WTNL Chapter 256

Changsheng Building
Chapter 256: You’ve no right to refuse

No one could have anticipated that this new “customer” would not be led away by the red candlelight. Instead, as if completely unaffected, it walked straight into the depths of the shop.

The slower-than-usual steps brought an even heavier sense of oppression, making it almost impossible to breathe.

Cough, cough.

A cough echoed from the darkness. 

The sound was old and hoarse, with each cough following the same rhythm and interval, like a recording played on a phonograph.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Qi Qian gritted his teeth, turning his head to look to the side. “We need to act now——”

If they waited until the customer reached the counter before offering blood as a sacrifice, it might be too late. Both the lamp oil and time were running out.

A teammate holding a candlestick nodded and turned to leave, but was stopped by a weak voice: “Wait.”

The person paused, turning to look back.

The silver-haired girl stood in place, her face pale as paper. Her amber eyes were deep and calm, fixed on the darkness not far away: “Don’t go yet.”

Everyone was stunned.

“But…” The teammate frowned, showing signs of agitation. He turned his head toward the sound of the approaching footsteps—hoarse, elderly coughing echoed from the direction.

It wouldn’t be long before it reached them. By then, what happened when the last customer arrived would happen again, and under that terrifying attack, the remaining lamp oil might not last.

Qi Qian’s face also showed signs of struggle.

Wen Jianyan turned his head, staring intently at him and firmly saying, “Trust me.”

“…”

Wait.

In countless past dangers, the other party had demonstrated a terrifying judgment ability, so much so that Qi Qian was willing to take this risk and wait a little longer.

Qi Qian gritted his teeth, looked at the teammate who was ready to leave, and shook his head: “Listen to her.”

The person hesitated but ultimately stopped.

Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze and continued to watch the darkness.

He was sure that in terms of the hidden rules of “Changsheng Building” and the inherent meanings of many strange existences, no one in this instance had dug deeper or understood more than he had.

His intuition told him that this “abnormality” wasn’t just about the “red candle’s attraction effect” failing.

Within the same floor, the rules are fixed. They wouldn’t be modified or added to just because an anchor had figured them out for the trivial purpose of increasing the death rate; otherwise, the entire instance’s serious framework would lose its meaning.

Wen Jianyan believed that the details and patterns he had summarized from the previous customer’s attack were correct—whether it was the significance of the goods, the use of incense, or the way to break the situation, they were all the most perfect solutions humans could achieve.

So, what went wrong this time? Why was the arrival of the second customer so vastly different from the last?

All these divergent details told Wen Jianyan that there must be some unknown mechanism behind this, and acting rashly without understanding it could lead to disastrous consequences.

Cough, cough.

The cough came closer.

The oil lamp flickered, and in the dim light that barely illuminated the ground, a pair of feet slowly stepped forward. 

They were a pair of filthy cloth shoes, old and covered in dust, like something from the last century.

They moved slowly, approaching the light.

Next to enter the light were the same filthy black pants and a pair of elderly hands hanging by the sides. 

The hands looked aged, covered in wrinkles like old tree bark, and were the color of ash, with purplish-blue corpse spots, looking quite terrifying.

Seeing this, everyone instinctively took a step back, their faces showing expressions of horror.

Before this, each customer’s arrival had been shrouded in darkness, completely obscuring their true appearance.

It could be said that although only the lower half was illuminated this time, it was still the first time they had seen a “customer’s” form.

Wen Jianyan stood still, his lips pressed tightly together, nearly bloodless from the pressure.

Even as an inhuman “customer,” it had to follow certain constraints, certain rules.

However, it could ignore the red candlelight and choose to walk directly toward the counter. There was only one possibility behind this: some higher-level rule was controlling it.

Cough, cough!

The sound of coughing came from behind them, as if one of their own couldn’t help but start coughing as well. But strangely, the rhythm, interval, and sound of the cough matched the “customer’s” perfectly!

?!

This eerie similarity sent chills down everyone’s spines. They all whipped around, looking in the direction of the sound.

A pale-faced teammate leaned against the wall, sitting on the ground—it was the anchor from Orange Candy’s team who had first dripped blood into the incense burner. 

It wasn’t clear if it was just an illusion, but his complexion looked worse, almost turning green under the light of the oil lamp. He raised his hand to clutch his chest, his expression pained as he coughed with the exact same rhythm and sound as the “customer”: Cough, cough!

At the same time, purplish-blue corpse spots crawled up from under his collar, like an unstoppable rot, rapidly spreading across his skin.

Wen Jianyan’s pupils contracted, as if realizing something, and he quickly turned his head to look toward the front of the counter.

At some point, the “customer” had stopped moving forward.

Under the sputtering light of the oil lamp, one could see its filthy clothes and shoes, along with two elderly, decaying hands. Unlike the previous customer, it hadn’t walked to the counter, forcing the oil lamp to burn out and intruding into the area. Instead, it stood still in place, motionless like a dead body.

He looked past the “customer” toward the back.

In the darkness, the scarlet dot on the incense burner burned quietly, slowly descending at a familiar pace—

“It has locked onto its target!”

Wen Jianyan gasped, exclaiming in shock.

The reason it came toward the counter wasn’t for an indiscriminate attack; it was because it had locked onto the anchor who first dripped blood into the incense burner and intended to consume him!

“I understand,” the anchor who had originally prepared to be the second sacrifice said with a grim expression, watching his suffering teammate while picking up the candlestick. “I just need to make it change its target, right?”

Cough, cough!

Soon, the teammate’s coughing became gut-wrenching, as if he was about to cough up his internal organs!

The next second, he spat out a mouthful of blood, the scarlet droplets mixed with unmistakable fragments of internal organs.

“Wait!” Wen Jianyan sharply stopped him.

“What are we waiting for?!” The anchor’s expression twisted in anguish—he and the afflicted anchor were both from Orange Candy’s team, likely long-time companions who had gone through life and death together, and he couldn’t possibly just let him die like this. “If this goes on, he’ll become a complete offering, devoured clean! You can’t stop—”

“I know.”

The silver-haired girl fixed her gaze on him, extending a pale, slender hand, and in a calm, almost emotionless voice, said, “Give me the candle; let me go.”

“What?!” The anchor was startled, clearly not expecting her to make such a suggestion, and he froze in place.

“I said, let me go.” Wen Jianyan calmly repeated.

Behind her, the still-recovering Su Cheng was stunned: “W-wait, but you—”

“I know.”

Wen Jianyan was fully aware of what Su Cheng was concerned about.

He had just lost a third of his life force and hadn’t fully recovered yet. If he became the offering now, became the locked-on target, and sacrificed the remaining life force—

He might really die.

“I have my own plans.”

Without leaving room for argument, Wen Jianyan stepped forward. Although his figure was slender and his features soft, there was an overwhelming willpower in his eyes, exuding an oppressive force that made it hard to breathe: “Besides, this is my prop, isn’t it?”

He reached out with a cold hand, gently taking the candlestick from the other’s hand: “You have no right to refuse.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Fuck!]

[Boss is so badass!]

[Oh my god, that gaze, that stance, what kind of dominant sweetheart is this? I’m totally impressed!]

[The anchor’s sharpness is incredible, like a shark that never lets go once it bites down on a flaw—such terrifying insight.]

[Wait, what does this mean? Is there something off about this customer?]

Wen Jianyan lit the candle and walked into the darkness.

The “customer” dressed in black cloth didn’t follow but remained standing still—it was clear it had completely locked onto its prey and wasn’t planning to change targets until the next drop of blood was dripped into the incense burner.

Wen Jianyan quickly reached the table.

He lowered his head, examining the incense burner in front of him.

The incense had burned down to nearly half its length, and the putrid, sweet scent mixed with the smell of blood rose, making one dizzy. Strangely, however, the offerings that should have decayed had not changed at all. On the contrary, the three plates of offerings remained untouched, as if they had not been sacrificed at all.

It seemed that this time, the customer did not accept installment payments.

The behavior of the second customer had completely entered a different set of rules. 

Indeed, his suspicion was correct—there was definitely something wrong here.

But no matter what, the most important thing now was to change the “customer’s” target.

Wen Jianyan lowered his head and mercilessly bit into the wound on his finger again. The crimson blood seeped from the wound, dripping into the incense burner.

He did not drip the blood into the three plates of offerings.

Because it was useless.

It didn’t accept them just now, so there was no reason it would accept them this time.

Holding the candlestick in one hand, Wen Jianyan hastily sucked on his wounded finger, then slowly stepped back—

This time, he didn’t retreat behind the counter, nor did he try to leave. On the contrary, he only moved slightly away from the table, waiting by the path the customer had to take from the counter to the incense burner.

Wen Jianyan’s judgment of the second customer had not changed at all.

If they acted rashly without understanding the rules, everything might become irreversible.

Their resources were limited, with no margin for error.

This was the opportunity. Even if the risk was enormous, Wen Jianyan would suppress the fear in his heart to survive and wouldn’t miss any chance to figure out the rules.

In the darkness, the girl holding the candlestick stood alone. Her face was pale from blood loss, and her shoulders were thin, as if she might be swallowed by the surrounding shadows at any moment. But contrary to this, there was an unshakable, rock-solid determination in her eyes.

Slow, deliberate footsteps came from behind: Tap… tap… tap…

It was walking in this direction.

Wen Jianyan’s nerves tightened, his fingers gripping the candlestick unconsciously, his palms sweating.

It was getting closer.

In the faint, weak candlelight, Wen Jianyan could see the “customer” in dirty cloth clothes approaching—he knew it wouldn’t attack him until it reached the incense burner and tasted the next offering, but the fear of being in such close proximity to a non-human entity still brewed within him.

Even closer.

The weak candlelight couldn’t illuminate the “customer’s” face, which was completely shrouded in darkness. Wen Jianyan could only see its stiff, upright body.

“…”

He held his breath, his gaze glued to the customer, using every ounce of his focus to observe it closely, searching for any clues.

A rotten, corpse-like stench wafted over as the “customer” took stiff steps, brushing past him.

Wen Jianyan suddenly frowned slightly, his gaze landing on the customer’s back.

Something wasn’t quite right…

Instinctively, he stepped forward, and the candle in his hand flickered, suddenly flaring up for an instant before burning down significantly!

The molten hot wax dripped onto the back of his pale hand, raising a slight red mark.

But Wen Jianyan had no time to pay attention to the pain in his hand. Instead, he stared in shock at the direction not far away—

In the moment the candle flared up, he saw it clearly.

On the customer’s back, there was a crooked, pitch-black talisman with eerie scarlet lines drawn on it!

It was one of the items they had chosen from the donation box between the second and third floors!

In an instant, all the clues in his mind connected—completely linking together.

Of course, resources were limited. Too limited.

No matter how you calculated it, the incense was absolutely insufficient for any team.

Their team was made up of two smaller teams and was already the strongest on the entire floor. But even they only had two sticks of incense. The reserves of other teams could be imagined!

However, each shop had to receive four “customers.” This was absolute, unchangeable.

And in the nightmare, there is no inevitable death scenario. So, there must be some method, a substitute for the “incense,” that allows the anchors to complete the task in another way.

The closed nature of the first three floors causes many to forget the attributes of the “Changsheng Building” instance.

It must be remembered that this is a team-based instance.

And in all team-based instances within the nightmare, when they reach the later stages, they all enter a terrifying jungle competition mode.

So that’s why this attack came so quickly—because this wasn’t the customer they were supposed to be receiving.

This “customer” was driven into their shop by new rules created through the effect of a talisman used by another team.

That’s why the concentration of “darkness” wasn’t enough, why the “offerings” couldn’t be used to separate the customer’s target…

It’s likely that the other half of the “darkness” is in another shop, and the offerings that could have been used to share the customer’s damage aren’t here either.

Wen Jianyan’s hair stood on end.

He realized how terrifying it would have been if they had just continued on their way, following the original method to complete the task and send off the “customer.”

Because the customer’s payment would definitely go to the initial shop.

In other words, they would have expended three people’s life force and a precious stick of incense… all for the benefit of another shop! They would have gained nothing!

While Wen Jianyan was trembling with fear at his speculation, he didn’t notice that just as he approached and the candle flared up, the “customer” in front of him suddenly stopped in its tracks.

It did not move toward the incense burner but slowly, silently turned around.

The face shrouded in darkness “looked” directly at Wen Jianyan—

” Cough, cough, cough!”

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