WTNL Chapter 270 [End]

Changsheng Building
Chapter 270: Sworn in Blood

Inside the “Changsheng Building” live broadcast hall, all the viewers held their breath, anxiously waiting.

The screen was pitch black, and the countdown was frozen at 00:00:01 without any change for a long time. The audience’s tension was stretched to its limit.

What on earth happened?

Why did the countdown stop at the final second? Did the anchors complete the ultimate main task or not?

Countless questions piled up, and low murmurs brewed in the vast hall.

Suddenly! Without warning, the screen lit up again! The signals from all three live rooms were restored simultaneously.

The familiar scene appeared before everyone’s eyes… a courtyard covered in crimson light, countless eerily pale paper figures, and three veteran anchors guarding the courtyard entrance. At the top of the live stream, the countdown for the ultimate main task was displayed:

00:03:35

[!]

The viewers in the live rooms showed expressions of shock.

[What’s going on?]

[Wasn’t there only a few seconds left? Why did the time suddenly increase to three minutes, and it’s even precise to the second?]

[I don’t know!]

[Is the system malfunctioning again, perhaps?]

“Or maybe they temporarily extended the time for the ultimate task… But that shouldn’t be the case, right? There’s no precedent for that in Nightmare!]

Inside the courtyard, Qi Qian and the others were also stunned.

They exchanged glances, their expressions filled with shock and confusion, as if they couldn’t understand. Just a moment ago, the ultimate main task’s time limit had only a few seconds left, and they had already fallen into despair, ready to face death. But what they didn’t expect was that after everything went black…

When they regained consciousness, they were back in the courtyard. Not only were they alive, but even the remaining time had increased!

How could this be?

Just then, the voice of Orange Candy pulled them out of their shock.

“Where’s Wen Wen?”

She stared intently at the spot where Wen Jianyan had just disappeared into the pile of paper figures, her brow furrowed, her voice cold and low: “She’s gone.”

Everyone was stunned and instinctively followed Orange Candy’s gaze.

That spot was empty, not a single figure in sight.

In other words…

Among the four of them, only three had returned to the courtyard.

So, where did the last one go?

Inside “Changsheng Building”’s live broadcast hall, the viewers suddenly realized too.

[Hey, right! Where’s Wen Jianyan?!]

[Yeah, there are four live streams, but only his is still black… What’s going on?]

[Did he die already?]

[No way, if he had died, the live room would have shown a disconnect message. Plus, I remember his signal cut off before the countdown ended, which seems different from the other anchors.]

While the viewers were discussing…

Suddenly, in the live room that had been at the center of the discussions, the screen, which had remained dark, slowly lit up.

“Wen Jianyan is online!!!”

The sudden reappearance ignited the viewers’ emotions. In an instant, the online numbers, which had just been gradually decreasing, started to soar again. Driven by intense curiosity and a desire to explore, the audience flocked to Wen Jianyan’s live room.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the image on the screen did not show the courtyard’s center but rather a dark bridal chamber. Judging from the layout, it seemed to be the west room.

Cold red light poured in from outside the window, illuminating the darkness.

Wen Jianyan stood in front of the dusty red wooden bed, his head slightly lowered, with disheveled hair covering the corners of his eyes. He was leaning on a cabinet, seemingly out of breath.

His long red sleeves hung down, covering his pale, slender fingers.

His fingers were slightly curled, trembling occasionally due to overexertion… but they were unexpectedly clean, as if they had been thoroughly washed.

He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes. Beneath his silver-white eyelashes, his eyes glistened slightly, but his expression was filled only with caution and seriousness.

“…”

Almost the moment he returned to the instance, Wen Jianyan immediately shifted his focus from what had just happened between him and Wu Zhu.

He knew very well that now was not the time to dwell on that.

Because he had more important things to do.

Wen Jianyan still remembered that before he entered the “bridal chamber,” the time left for the ultimate main task had almost run out. However, for some reason, when he had just opened the live platform to confirm it, he found that the remaining time had become nearly four minutes… although still tight, it was far better than before.

Wen Jianyan didn’t think this was Wu Zhu’s doing.

He knew that Wu Zhu had no interest in humans other than himself. Willingly sending him back was already the greatest concession Wu Zhu could make under the influence of the fruit of lies. There was no way he would actively intervene to extend the time for task completion. Nightmare, however, was a possibility. After all, in the current confrontation, Wu Zhu was gradually gaining the upper hand. If they died in the instance, so be it. But Wen Jianyan didn’t think Nightmare would allow them to be erased just because they didn’t finish the task in time—after all, there were still profits to be made from him.

However, his other teammates didn’t have that value. Could Nightmare be lenient enough to give them such a break?

In just a few seconds, a series of questions flashed through his mind but were quickly dismissed.

However, Wen Jianyan didn’t want to waste time on this, so he directly pulled his thoughts back and strode towards the door.

Whatever the reason, his immediate priority was to break through the situation.

To achieve that, he needed to reunite with his teammates.

“Creak!”

The old, loose door in front of him was pushed open by Wen Jianyan, swinging heavily to both sides. The accompanying loud noise pierced the silence, echoing through the entire courtyard, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

The remaining three people’s gazes all fell on him.

For a moment, the air was deathly still.

“!!!”

“…”

The expressions on their faces were varied — shock, fear, confusion, disbelief, and even some indescribable strong emotions.

His sudden appearance was indeed surprising, but why were they looking at him like that—

“You guys—”

Wen Jianyan opened his mouth, and his familiar voice came out.

He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“…”

Wait a minute.

Wen Jianyan quickly looked down at himself.

Oh.

The crooked door of the west room had been pushed open from the inside. Still swaying with the force, a silver-haired young man stood inside, tall and slender, loosely draped in a blood-red wedding robe. The collar seemed to be left unadjusted, messily open, revealing his fair shoulder, the sharp lines of his collarbone, and most of his flat, firm chest.

In terms of appearance and physique, he was unmistakably a man.

The eerie red light in the courtyard illuminated his face, casting shadows over his handsome features and familiar amber eyes.

Although his face and aura were vastly different from the image in their memories, there were still traces of familiarity in his outline and expressions, almost identical to the delicate, shy girl Wen Wen. It was as if they had been carved from the same mold.

Of course, that is if you ignore the gender.

“…”

The pupils of the three people in front of him dilated, their expressions subtly contorted, as if they had been shaken by some previously unimaginable, terrifying reality. For a brief moment, they almost forgot where they were.

“…”

Only Su Cheng silently turned his head and wiped his face with his hand.

Wen Jianyan: “…”

Damn it.

He had run out of the west room in such a rush that he’d completely forgotten about this.

But it wasn’t really his fault.

Every time he returned to the instance under Nightmare’s control from Wu Zhu, the live broadcast  system would always promptly restore his appearance. But for some reason, it didn’t work this time—Wen Jianyan guessed that this probably had something to do with the “mark” Wu Zhu mentioned earlier.

It was obvious that the mark Nightmare had imprinted on him was gradually being replaced by Wu Zhu’s. So this time, when he returned to the instance, his appearance hadn’t immediately changed, and he showed up in his original form in front of everyone.

Inside the “Integrity First” live room:

[HAHAHAHA!]

[Hahahahaha!!!]

[I can’t! I’m dying of laughter. The expressions of those two team leaders are hilarious! It’s like they’ve seen a ghost!]

[Bet you didn’t expect this: the pure, innocent, and fragile beauty you had in mind is actually the 1.8-meter-tall man Wen Jianyan!]

[I’m so dead. I need to go back and grab a recording of this! HAHAHA!]

But what no one expected was that Wen Jianyan’s stunned reaction only lasted a second.

He adjusted almost instantly, then walked straight over, his expression calm and natural, without a trace of embarrassment after being exposed, as if he had entered the instance in this form from the beginning.

—He even had time to turn the tables.

“Hey, stop spacing out. We’re running out of time.”

Qi Qian: “…”

Su Cheng: “…”

Orange Candy: “…”

This guy… has no sense of shame!

They were shocked by Wen Jianyan’s shamelessness, but everyone knew he was right.

They had very little time left.

—There were less than three minutes until the ultimate main task ended.

At this point, it no longer mattered whether Wen Jianyan was male or female.

“Do you have a plan?”

Orange Candy turned her gaze toward Wen Jianyan, cold and distant.

“Not yet,” Wen Jianyan shook his head, frowning slightly.

“There’s still one last mechanism left to solve. I believe it has something to do with those things behind us.”

He raised his eyes and looked in the direction of the courtyard.

The cold moonlight shone down from the sky, illuminating the courtyard behind him.

At some point, the group of paper people had started gathering in the courtyard.

Countless pale paper figures in red wedding attire stood there silently, staring blankly ahead. It was impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead, but the horrifying aura emanating from them was enough to make people tremble.

“…” Wen Jianyan pursed his lips and asked, “Is there anything about the ultimate task in the Nightmare Manual?”

“Yes,” Orange Candy nodded.

“But what exactly do we need to do?”

“I don’t know.”

Orange Candy shook her head.

After the new main task was issued, they hadn’t received any instructions from the manual.

“…But I guess it has to do with those paper people.”

Her gaze swept over the group of paper figures.

Before they could make a move…

The Nightmare interface in front of Wen Jianyan suddenly flickered, displaying a new task.

【Ultimate Main Task: Exchange】

【Exchange successfully completed】

【Final Task Progress 98%】

【The instance will be closed after all remaining tasks are completed】

“What happened?”

Wen Jianyan’s expression changed.

At that moment, the entire courtyard suddenly fell silent.

The paper figures, which had previously stood there, gradually came to life, as if waking from a long dream.

Not sure if it was an illusion… but it felt like the other person seemed to have gotten slightly shorter than before. The already overly youthful face was now especially pale, and under the blood-red lighting, it looked even more childish.

As if… their age had shrunk.

In an instant, the subtle details that had previously gone unnoticed were suddenly linked together.

In the first painting on the third floor, Orange Candy, like him, had been subjected to the “curse that can only be dispelled by red lamp oil.” However, in the shop on the fourth floor, she showed no understanding of the “red lamp oil’s” effects. Wen Jianyan still remembered clearly that when he looked down, he saw that Orange Candy’s hands were entirely free of the curse’s erosion.

It was evident that Orange Candy did not understand the effects of the red lamp oil, yet the curse on her body had disappeared.

Why?

And just now…

Wen Jianyan distinctly remembered that when he lunged for the urn, Orange Candy stopped Su Cheng—not out of protection, since at that life-and-death moment, a few seconds wouldn’t make much difference. She was preventing Su Cheng from stopping him from obtaining clues.

In those last few seconds just now, Orange Candy remained the calmest of all… perhaps because she had a backup plan, an emergency solution that would only be used at the last moment.

A talent.

“So, you didn’t get any clues?”

Orange Candy furrowed her brow, her face showing an unusually heavy and solemn expression.

“No, not entirely,” Wen Jianyan was snapped back to reality by her voice. He looked deeply at the little girl before him, who only reached his waist, and said, “I have one more idea.” Then he turned to Su Cheng:

“Your talent.”

Su Cheng was taken aback, his expression instantly becoming serious: “How many?”

“One.”

Su Cheng moved quickly: “…Death reversed.”

Wen Jianyan wasn’t too familiar with Tarot, but after having teamed up with Su Cheng in so many instances, he had learned quite a bit about the meanings of Tarot cards. Even without Su Cheng explaining, he knew what this card represented.

Life from death?

In this instance of “Changsheng Building,” this card seemed quite fitting.

Here, the door of life and the door of death were forever interdependent.

Su Cheng stared at the card before him and furrowed his brow: “…to the south.”

As his talent level increased, his sensitivity to the Tarot readings had also enhanced. Besides the surface guidance, he could vaguely sense more messages from beyond.

“But something’s wrong…”

The direction indicated by the card—whether it was east, west, or north—made sense, had some basis.

Because each room had its own internal logic: the east room was the altar, the north room was the core, the west room was safe, but the south had nothing, just a tightly closed wooden door.

Could it be…

The card wanted them to escape from here?

But outside, the terrifying red-clothed female corpse was guarding. If they confronted her, the four of them had almost no chance of survival!

However, strangely, Wen Jianyan’s expression was very calm, as if this result didn’t surprise him at all. On the contrary, it seemed like… realization.

As if he had seen the tide recede before him, revealing a pitch-black, damp, rocky riverbank.

He looked down and glanced at the scarlet wedding robe he was wearing.

Then, Wen Jianyan raised his head, his gaze landing on the tightly closed door behind him.

No one knew what he was thinking at this moment.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, as if making up his mind, and said:

“Open the door.”

“What!”

Qi Qian’s face showed a horrified expression, and he turned to look at Wen Jianyan: “Open the door? Are you crazy?”

They had already faced off against the red-clothed female corpse outside the door multiple times, and each time it was a close call. If it weren’t for his talent working, Qi Qian himself might have died in the first encounter.

If they let the red-clothed female corpse into the limited space of this courtyard, they would face attacks from both the corpse and the paper figures. Under the stacked horror effects, their already slim chances of survival would become even smaller.

—There were only two minutes left until the ultimate main task ended.

Surprisingly, Wen Jianyan calmly said:

“I’m not.”

“This is a joint decision between me and the Prophet.”

Wen Jianyan fixed his gaze on Qi Qian, his amber eyes covered with a faint red mist, but the light deep in his pupils was firm and resolute, carrying an undeniable force.

It was a stranger’s face, yet Qi Qian once again saw the demeanor of “Wen Wen.”

Rational, calm, arrogant, and most importantly…

Never wrong.

“This is why you hired us, isn’t it?—because we’re the strongest.”

00:01:36

And this time, there was no second Orange Candy to buy them another three minutes.

It had to end this time.

Even though… rationally, he knew very well that if they followed Wen Jianyan’s plan, what awaited them could be horrors beyond imagination, for some reason, Qi Qian felt himself being convinced. Almost as if possessed, he nodded:

“…Alright.”

“What do we do after opening the door?” Orange Candy gripped the long blade in her hand, its edge almost completely covered in blood, perhaps only good for one last use before it would become useless. “Do we face it head-on?”

“No.”

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and looked at the tightly closed wooden door in front of him.

He knew that behind the wooden door stood the rigid, terrifying red-clothed female corpse.

Though they were still separated by a door, even so, Wen Jianyan could clearly feel the cold aura emanating from her, far beyond the terrors of his imagination. They could not confront her directly, must not confront her directly.

Perhaps…

They didn’t need to confront her directly.

“We wait,” he said.

“Wait?” This time, everyone was shocked.

They hadn’t expected Wen Jianyan’s final suggestion to be this—doing nothing, opening the courtyard door, and letting the red-clothed female corpse in? That was practically suicide!

“Yes,” Wen Jianyan didn’t explain further.

He raised his hand and slowly placed it on the wooden door at one side. “Are you ready?”

Qi Qian and the others exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and seemed to have made up their minds. “Yes.”

They all placed their hands on the wooden door, steadied themselves, and then exerted force!

“Squeak—”

The harsh sound of the door hinges turning echoed in the pitch-dark night, like a death knell, scratching at their eardrums.

The wooden door, which had been blocked by the three of them, was now unguarded, swinging open to both sides.

Outside the door was endless, impenetrable darkness, and standing rigidly in place was the red-clothed female corpse.

She stood straight outside the door, her wedding robe bright red like blood. Her lower face was ghastly pale, with her mouth curled up into a strange smile. Her hands, painted with bright red nail polish, hung at her sides, covered in corpse spots.

Almost at the same time, the temperature in the air plummeted.

The door opened.

The red-clothed female corpse slowly lifted her foot and walked toward the door.

“Close your eyes!”

Wen Jianyan said in a low voice.

Everyone knew how terrifying the “gaze” of the red-clothed female corpse was. Almost without needing Wen Jianyan’s reminder, they all closed their eyes tightly.

“Tap.”

The scarlet embroidered shoes landed on the ground.

The moment the red-clothed female corpse stepped into the courtyard, everything went silent.

The “rustling” sound of the paper figures’ movement completely disappeared, as if they had once again become lifeless decorations.

At the same time, the mechanical voice of the system, mixed with electric interference, rang in their ears:

“Ding! … Zzzzz… Plot deviation: 50… Zzzzz.”

“Tap.”

Another step.

“Ding! Plot… Zzzzz… Deviation: 55…”

Wen Jianyan kept his eyes tightly shut, his eyeballs rolling uneasily beneath his thin eyelids.

He could feel it…

The red-clothed female corpse was approaching.

One step, two steps, three steps.

With each step forward, the plot deviation would jump by one number.

“Ding! Plot deviation: 60… Zzz…”

Although his eyes were closed, Wen Jianyan knew that it was right in front of him.

The temperature around him was dropping rapidly, a frigid wind carrying the stench of decay hit his face. With the approaching footsteps, his heart pounded wildly.

“Tap.”

The red-clothed female corpse took another step forward.

Stiff, mechanical, precisely timed.

The corpse brushed past the living people.

Hearing the footsteps of the red-clothed female corpse continuing to move forward, Wen Jianyan carefully lifted his eyelids, sneaking a glance at his teammates not far away. The others stood rigidly in place, their faces pale and bloodless, their foreheads drenched in cold sweat. Clearly, they were enduring the same intense psychological pressure as he was.

“Move.”

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and forced out a short, broken word from between them.

“Back off, go outside.”

The three of them carefully retreated, resisting the urge to look back. As quickly as possible, they hurriedly moved outside the courtyard.

Outside was pitch-black, with no way to retreat.

—Only thirty seconds remained until the end of the ultimate mainline task.

Wen Jianyan steadied himself against the cold, rough wooden doorframe, squeezed his eyes shut tightly, as if making a decision, and slowly turned his head to look behind him.

“Ding! Plot deviation: 85… Zzzz.”

The system’s voice became even more garbled.

His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes, looking towards the courtyard in front of him.

The courtyard doors were wide open, and the courtyard was bathed in crimson light.

Under that light, which was either festive or ghastly, the red-clothed female corpse was walking step by step towards the main hall on the north side. On either side of it stood countless paper figures, their faces fixed in eerie, stiff smiles, all making way for the corpse.

What kind of instance is “Changsheng Building?”

It is a massive graveyard.

A dead-end “trap.”

One floor, two floors, three floors, four floors.

What is the objective?

—To let the dead rest and the vengeful spirits find peace.

To repair the bodies of the “customers” lingering in Changsheng Building, offer sacrifices, and let them sleep forever.

It is a complete loop, a precise machine.

The non-existent fifth floor is the core of the entire instance. Here lies the most terrifying corpse, the fiercest ghost.

It is the core of the instance, the driving force that keeps the entire building operating.

But it was split apart, weakened, and finally sealed on the second floor of the building, never to leave the mirror again, never to allow “Changsheng Building” to be restored.

This instance, and perhaps even the “Nightmare Live Room” itself, is ancient.

The register was too long, long enough to trace back to the far side of history.

From beginning to end, the incomplete “Changsheng Building” has been searching for a “bride.”

That’s why Wen Jianyan, with the red bridal veil in his hand, was placed into the sedan chair as the new bride and carried to the fifth floor. Though it was stopped, he still became an official “candidate.”

That’s why, just moments ago, his name appeared in the thick register. That’s why he was the only one able to pull out the brass knife, and why the paper figures specifically targeted him.

“Plot… Zzzzz… Deviation: 95.”

The red-clothed female corpse’s silhouette disappeared into the crimson light of the north room.

In that ominous, terrifying glow, Wen Jianyan could faintly see it stepping stiffly into the coffin, standing firmly inside.

The moment it entered the coffin, the familiar system voice sounded in his ears:

“Ding! Plot… Zzzzz… Deviation: 100…”

As expected.

Wen Jianyan instinctively held his breath.

His guess had been confirmed.

What is the “ultimate mainline task”? In reality, the “ultimate mainline task” is merely a summary. Sometimes it has specific task content, and sometimes it doesn’t. But whether it does or not, its essence is always “permanently closing the instance.”

Changsheng Building is a malfunctioning machine.

Its core—the red-clothed female corpse—was split and shattered, sealed in different places within the building, making it unable to operate on its own. To keep it functioning as an instance, Wu Zhu’s fragment became a substitute.

How do you permanently close the instance?

Let the female corpse retrieve its fragments and return to the most central fifth floor.

“Changsheng Building” would then be complete, returning to its original, primal loop.

Or… it might escape Nightmare’s control entirely and operate independently.

Beyond that—

There was another question that had also been answered.

Why was the red-clothed female corpse on the fifth floor the most fearsome in the entire instance?

That overwhelming, paralyzing fear, that sense of helplessness, unique and impossible to replicate— even though Wen Jianyan wasn’t a medium, he could still feel the bone-chilling terror that made it impossible to confront directly.

But… it was different from the other customers.

Why?

All the other customers were guided by the instance, unaware, moving upward.

They were drawn in by the light, controlled. Whether they attacked or not, they were chaotic, unthinking, and unaware.

Only this one…

Only this red-clothed female corpse seemed to have some kind of independent will.

The brass key on the second floor, the painting that appeared automatically on the third, the moment it manifested when the fifth-floor passage opened…

Its purpose was clear.

No, to be precise, it was perhaps a kind of “obsession” etched into its bones.

Does it kill? Yes.

But that is not its goal.

Just like a person walking toward a destination, not caring if they crush a few ants or trample some grass, the red-clothed female corpse was the same.

It was like a programmed robot. Even though it was long dead, its body decayed, its consciousness gone… it would still, under that faint will—

Break free from its seal and return to the fifth floor.

Why?

At first, Wen Jianyan didn’t understand…

Until Su Cheng found the register, and he found his own name in it.

Just like him, the paper figures and the bride were once living people.

They were the spirit tablets in the east room, the ashes in the urns, and the names in the heavy register.

Each urn hid a small, engraved brass mirror.

Each name bore a brownish, blurred fingerprint.

It was an ancient oath.

Sworn in blood.

Including the red name belonging to the bride.

It too bore a small, round fingerprint.

Each fingerprint seemed to say—

“I volunteer.”

【Welcome, esteemed guests, to my lady’s wedding.】

In this sentence, there was no mention of a gentleman, no husband, only “my lady.”

Whether in the paintings or in the mourning hall, there was always only one coffin.

Because this was not a marriage between a living person and an evil spirit, from beginning to end, there was only one lonely corpse here.

A vengeful ghost created by human hands. A core programmed from the start.

A bride who married herself to fate.

“The auspicious hour… has arrived—”

A sharp voice rang out in the darkness, echoing in the courtyard bathed in crimson light. It pierced their eardrums like a blade, causing a shudder deep in their souls.

With the announcement of the auspicious hour, the old courtyard door slowly closed in front of Wen Jianyan.

Yet he did not look away; his gaze was still fixed unwaveringly on the courtyard.

Through the gradually narrowing gap in the door, Wen Jianyan could see, in the red light of the north room, amidst the smiling paper figures, the bride in her red wedding dress slowly lying down in the coffin. Her form was unclear, her face indistinct.

But from start to finish, she never hesitated.

The red glow gradually dimmed, and the darkness rose like silent seawater, engulfing everything. The courtyard before him seemed to transform into a vast, tranquil coffin.

[Born here, buried here, and bound here.]

Her body offered as sustenance to suppress evil spirits.

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