Changsheng Building
Chapter 258: Plunder
Under the ominous red glow, Wen Jianyan and Wei Cheng remained where they were, waiting.
Although they were not too far from the “customer,” the surrounding darkness was deep and thick, likely due to the confrontation between both sides. Except for the occasional flicker of dim candlelight, they couldn’t see what was happening in that direction.
Footsteps, coughing, the eerie sounds of props activating… countless noises blended together, echoing in the darkness, making their hearts race with fear.
As time passed second by second, their imaginations became more active in the darkness, as if every corner hid invisible dangers. Things seemed to worsen with every passing moment, and the waiting became all the more agonizing.
An invisible string was slowly tightening, as if it might snap without warning at any moment.
As time passed, the darkness gradually dissipated, like morning mist slowly lifting.
The barrier in front of the two began to lose its effect, and everything from the neatly arranged red chairs and tables to the counter bathed in the light of an oil lamp slowly came into view.
The cold and eerie stench also began to fade, and the temperature inside the shop gradually returned to normal.
Though he didn’t know what had happened, Wei Cheng couldn’t help but breathe a long sigh of relief.
It’s over. Everything was about to end.
“…”
But Wen Jianyan, standing beside him, held his breath, his body stiffening.
Wei Cheng, who was supporting him, felt the change in his companion and turned to look.
The girl’s side profile was hidden beneath her silver-white hair, revealing only her sharp chin. Her skin was so pale it seemed it could dissolve into the darkness at any moment, appearing both fragile and pitiful.
“Don’t worry, with the captain’s skills, nothing will go wrong,” Wei Cheng, assuming she was worried about her teammate’s safety, felt a surge of sympathy and tried to comfort her.
“…Mm, I know.”
Wen Jianyan didn’t explain, his gaze fixed on the direction where the sounds were coming from, distractedly nodding.
The darkness continued to dissipate.
Their vision had almost fully returned to normal, with only the direction where the customer was remaining shrouded in an impenetrable blackness. However, judging by the current progress, it wouldn’t last much longer.
Just when everything seemed to be heading in a positive direction…
Suddenly, an abrupt change occurred!
Without any warning, the darkness, which had been fading, suddenly intensified, becoming several times heavier. Thick and sticky like ink, it pressed down on the two of them!
Visibility dropped to the lowest point, to the extent where they couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces.
At the same time, the temperature plummeted, almost freezing the blood in their veins. The biting cold air cut into their skin, bringing a faint pain.
“!”
Wei Cheng’s pupils shrank abruptly.
—Based on past experience, this situation usually signaled the arrival of danger.
“Don’t worry.”
The girl’s voice rang out.
“What?” Wei Cheng was stunned and turned to look at Wen Jianyan.
She still appeared fragile and delicate, but the face that had been expressionless moments ago now bore a gentle and warm smile. Her amber-colored eyes were slightly narrowed, giving her a harmless appearance.
In the boundless, dark danger, the girl’s innocent and cheerful smile created such a sharp contrast that it sent a chill down Wei Cheng’s spine.
Wen Jianyan didn’t notice Wei Cheng’s complicated, hesitant expression. Instead, she turned her head and once again looked in the direction of the customer. Smiling, she said, “This is a good thing.”
Wei Cheng: “…”
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
“…”
[I’m not going to lie, the anchor looks a little bit creepy like this.]
[Hahaha, seriously though, it’s really giving off some antisocial vibes!]
[Damn, what’s going on? Why am I a little excited?]
[Waaah, creepy fragile beauty is sooo hot!]
The dispersing darkness signaled that Orange Candy had successfully removed the greenish-black talisman from the customer. As a result, the talisman lost its power, and since the customer didn’t originally belong in their shop, they would naturally be returned to their original shop under the rules. If things were allowed to continue down this path, they would definitely come away empty-handed.
But now, with the deepening darkness and looming danger, it meant Zhang Yu had successfully attached the yellow talisman to the customer.
It seemed his earlier guess about the yellow talisman’s function was correct.
In other words…
The ownership of the customer had changed.
The curve of Wen Jianyan’s lips deepened slightly.
“So, what do we do next…”
Unconsciously, Wei Cheng began seeking Wen Jianyan’s opinion.
“Wait.”
Wen Jianyan straightened up and calmly answered.
The black talisman could allow the customer to visit other shops for food, but the final profits would belong to the original shop. Now, it seemed the yellow talisman could stop this trend, changing the customer’s ownership.
Given that the anchors rarely had the opportunity to leave their shops, the yellow talisman could only be used when the black talisman was activated.
Compared to the black talisman, the yellow one seemed too ordinary.
And based on the donation boxes between the second and third floors, the black and yellow talismans should be of the same level.
Which meant the yellow talisman must have more effects…
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, starting to examine his surroundings.
“Sizzle, sizzle!”
In the darkness, the red candle in his hand suddenly flickered, the flame shooting up, though its illumination was compressed to the smallest range.
Suddenly, familiar footsteps sounded from the darkness.
Old and slow, they steadily approached the red candlelight, like a death sentence creeping closer.
Wei Cheng heard the footsteps, and his breath caught in his throat:
“This is bad; the customer is heading in our direction!”
With the darkness descending, the customer began moving again, while the two teammates who had been in close contact with the customer were nowhere to be seen.
Could it be…
Did the captain and Zhang Yu both get taken out?
Wei Cheng’s heart suddenly tightened. “We’d better head back to the counter first—”
“Move aside,” Wen Jianyan said.
“…What?” Wei Cheng was stunned, unable to react for a moment.
“I said, move aside.” As Wen Jianyan spoke, he took a step toward Wei Cheng, sidestepping him, and looked at the ground behind him.
Wei Cheng didn’t understand, but he stepped aside, allowing Wen Jianyan to walk to a spot not far behind him and squat down to examine something.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
“Of course.” Wen Jianyan straightened up and pointed to the ground he had just been inspecting. “Look.”
Wei Cheng bent down and, by the light of the candle in his hand, looked closer.
He froze, almost unable to believe his eyes.
Just a few steps away, the smooth black floor of the shop had somehow turned into loose, moist brown soil, casting an ominous hue under the red candlelight.
Wei Cheng dumbfoundedly lifted his head, following the path of this strange soil with his eyes as it extended farther into the shop — it seemed to lead toward the dark room deeper inside.
In that room were numerous ancestral tablets and photographs, like a small shrine.
“This… this is…” Wei Cheng’s eyes widened, his mouth agape.
Wen Jianyan looked up, his pupils reflecting the ominous red light, making him appear eerily strange in the darkness. “I think… this is a path.”
A winding, twisting path.
He had already entered it in the last painting on the previous floor. Perhaps no one in the entire instance knew better than him where this path ultimately led.
It led to a cemetery submerged in darkness, filled with countless burial mounds.
In front of each mound were ancestral tablets and photographs identical to those in the dark room on the fourth floor, as well as brass incense burners and rotten offerings, all closely tied to the clearance rules of the fourth floor.
In that moment, many previously overlooked details came together, like countless tiny beads being threaded onto a string. Countless questions seemed to have been answered.
Why were there offerings in front of every photograph and tablet in the cemetery on the third floor?
Why were there similar tablets and photographs in the dark room at the back of the shop on the fourth floor?
Why was there red furniture on the fourth floor, yet they didn’t know what the red furniture connected to?
Why did the first customer disappear after completing the transaction with Wen Jianyan in the staircase between the third and fourth floors?
Why, after the second customer on the fourth floor finished enjoying the offerings, did they not leave the shop like on the other floors but instead disappear after leaving behind ghost money?
Before, Wen Jianyan hadn’t considered these questions, as they seemed irrelevant to the instance of “Changsheng Building,” whether or not they were answered.
But at this moment, all the previously lingering doubts were suddenly explained.
“Changsheng Building” was essentially a closed loop, a massive cemetery.
And Wen Jianyan had almost gotten lost in it during the previous floor due to an accident.
Countless previous details… the ghost money, corpse oil, talismans, and the red furniture, likely as burial goods, all hinted at this.
The “customer” who had gradually purchased different body parts on the previous three floors and pieced themselves together would, on the fourth floor, enjoy the offerings and sacrifices before being guided to the burial mound where they belonged, entering eternal slumber.
That’s why the “customer” who enjoyed the offerings on the fourth floor didn’t “leave” the shop like those on the previous three floors but instead, under the guidance of the offerings, entered the burial mound represented by the ancestral tablets and photographs, disappearing entirely.
And as shown on the third floor, each burial mound led to a path, and that path led to a courtyard.
And that courtyard would trap these terrifying ghosts within.
In the cemetery on the third floor, the burial mounds with rotten offerings in front of them were the “customers” who had completed the cycle under the rules of the building in previous instances.
As new employees of “Changsheng Building”, these anchors were responsible for guiding more “customers” to their places of eternal rest.
The heavy, slow footsteps of the customer drew closer.
Suddenly, Wei Cheng shouted, “Watch out!”
He raised his hand and yanked Wen Jianyan off the path.
Wen Jianyan, caught off guard, stumbled and staggered back several steps, moving away from the winding path at his feet.
He looked closely.
Where he had just been standing, a shadow had appeared, like an abyss leading to a bottomless pit. Several greenish-black hands, covered in corpse spots, slowly withdrew from it. If Wen Jianyan had been a moment slower, he would have been dragged into the shadow.
The moment he realized this, cold sweat broke out across Wen Jianyan’s back.
“Wait…” Wei Cheng’s face turned pale. “This, this is the same attack method used by the previous customer… Wasn’t it already sent away?!”
“I think I know the function of the yellow talisman,” Wen Jianyan said, looking at Wei Cheng, speaking concisely. “Both the yellow and black talismans allow the ‘customer’ to enter the cemetery without consuming incense. However, the black talisman transfers hatred, causing the customer to go to other shops to plunder offerings, allowing them to generate results without spending resources.”
“And the yellow talisman…”
As he spoke, Wen Jianyan turned his head, quickly looking in the direction where the path extended. “The yellow talisman reveals the path for the customer without any resource consumption, but it’s up to the anchor to lure them over. Moreover, the path is two-way—since new customers can go in, old ones can come out. So, while the yellow talisman spares the use of incense, it also brings more danger to the team that activates the path.”
Wei Cheng was stunned.
Because he hadn’t entered the third painting on the third floor, he didn’t fully grasp the subtleties in Wen Jianyan’s words. But Wen Jianyan didn’t need him to understand; he was just organizing his own thoughts aloud.
However, regarding the danger of the path, Wei Cheng understood it well enough.
He glanced at the slowly approaching footsteps behind him, then at the shadowy figure and the greenish hands emerging from the end of the path, and beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. His face paled.
“So, so what do we do now?”
“Wait,” Wen Jianyan replied concisely as always.
Wait? Wait for what? Wait for the two customers, one in front and one behind, to kill them?
Wei Cheng felt his mind becoming increasingly muddled, his scalp tingling, and his palms drenched in cold sweat.
However, the young girl beside him maintained a remarkably calm expression, standing firmly by the path. Though she appeared slender and frail, as if a gust of wind could knock her over, she now seemed as immovable as a rock—steady, calm, filled with an inexplicable sense of unwavering conviction that made one feel a strange urge to trust her.
“…”
Wei Cheng, steeling himself, could only stay by Wen Jianyan’s side and continue waiting.
The footsteps and the hands on the ground drew closer. He heard a cough in the distance… “Cough, cough cough!”
It was as if death itself was slowly closing in. He could almost smell the stench of decay from the corpse, making him feel like he was about to vomit.
Closer.
The footsteps seemed to be right next to him, and the bluish-black, rotting hands were now within reach, even encroaching into the red glow cast by the candle—
“It’s now!”
Wen Jianyan grabbed the burning red candle from Wei Cheng’s hand, swung his arm, and threw it far down the path!
The half-burned candle spun through the air, disappearing into the darkness.
Wei Cheng: “????”
He suddenly opened his mouth wide.
Wait, wait, what?!
They only had one candle!!
Whether it was a candle or an oil lamp, red or white, it could light up the darkness and would be recognized by the rules as “turning on a light.” Although red light would attract the customer’s hostility, it would also protect them from being swallowed by the darkness. Throwing the candle away was no different from committing suicide!
Wei Cheng’s vision went dark as he stared at Wen Jianyan in despair.
—Only to see the other person, like performing a magic trick, pull a second white candle out of his coat and quickly light it.
“Go, go, go!” Wen Jianyan urged frantically.
Wei Cheng: “……”
?! Wait, just how many of those things do you have?!
“Don’t worry,” Wen Jianyan said, seeming to read Wei Cheng’s thoughts, kindly reassuring him, “I swiped a lot of them.”
In the courtyard on the third floor, he took every single one he could get his hands on, not leaving a single candle behind.
He was like a bird plucking feathers from every opportunity.
