WTNL Chapter 279

Thank you @Aries for the Kofi. (1/20)

Anchor Hall
Chapter 279: Consider repurchasing

After sending off the other members of the guild, Wen Jianyan returned to his room once again.

He threw himself onto the bed, burying his head deeply into the soft pillow. His half-exposed face revealed a rare expression of exhaustion between his brows.

“Ah, so tired.”

Having just left a high-pressure, high-difficulty team mission and engaged in a precarious game between two terrifying beings who could crush him at any moment, one misstep could have led to eternal damnation. After experiencing all of this, his mental state had been stretched to the extreme.

Even after entering the Nightmare Live Broadcast, he had rarely reached such a state of exhaustion.

He was truly tired.

Wen Jianyan slowly lowered his eyes.

His eyelids grew heavier, and his vision gradually blurred until it finally dissipated.

Soon, the sound of steady breathing filled the dim room.

He had fallen asleep.

When a person is too tired, the dreams they have tend to be bizarre.

It was as if he were sinking into a bottomless quagmire, cold and sluggish, with no way to stop his descent.

Broken images, unfamiliar scenes, blurry faces… like a shattered kaleidoscope, chaotically mixed with blood, screams, and wails.

Until darkness spread from every corner, swallowing and replacing every scene.

A pair of golden eyes burned in the darkness, silently watching its prey.

Sharp teeth bit into flesh, cold hands and shadows slid across.

They were so close.

It didn’t resemble an embrace, but rather a life-or-death struggle, a relentless brawl.

In the chaos, he gained the upper hand.

The fragile prey pinned the savage predator to the ground.

He stared down at the ferocious beast under his hand, his fingers sinking deeply into its throat, trembling as they slowly tightened.

The blade had sunk deep into the flesh, the soft texture of blood and muscle coiled around his fingers.

Blood gushed, his heart pounded wildly, and adrenaline surged like a roller coaster, bringing an intoxicating, almost ecstatic sense of euphoria.

Perhaps because it was a dream, pain, fear, hatred… all negative emotions were tossed aside, becoming light and insignificant.

What had been hidden beneath these emotions—something deeper, more difficult to detect—began to surface…

It was almost pleasure.

When humans are in life-threatening situations, they easily crave touch and intimacy; this is biological instinct, a desire for survival engraved into DNA.

How delightful.

How exhilarating.

How pleasurable.

The desire for victory and domination overwhelmed everything.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened.

Wen Jianyan felt his jaw forcibly pried open, and molten, viscous blood poured into his throat—scalding like lava, freezing like cold iron—scorching his throat, esophagus, and stomach. He couldn’t breathe. His mouth and nose filled with the cold, thick scent of blood.

He heard a familiar deep voice ask—

“How does it taste?”

“——!”

Wen Jianyan gasped and abruptly opened his eyes.

“Beep, beep, beep—beep, beep, beep—”

The alarm clock on the bedside table blared loudly, its sharp, piercing sound pounding at his ears, causing his temples to throb painfully.

“So noisy.”

Wen Jianyan forced his heavy eyelids open, struggling to lift his hand and reach out, fumbling to turn off the alarm.

The now-silent clock stood quietly by the bedside, its dim blue light flickering in the dark room.

Wen Jianyan rubbed his sore shoulders and neck, glancing up at the clock.

Altogether, he had slept for twelve hours.

He had slept a bit too long, leaving him feeling groggy.

Moreover, since he had forgotten to dry his hair before falling asleep, Wen Jianyan now had a bit of a headache.

His body felt like it had fallen apart, with his bones and muscles all screaming in protest, as if rebelling against the excessive strain he had placed on them.

“Mm…”

He raised his hand to press against his throbbing temples, frowning and groaning in discomfort.

His hair was sticking up in all directions, messy like a clump of unruly weeds. Due to his restless sleeping position, the T-shirt on his body had become wrinkled and bunched up, exposing a small portion of his abdomen. In the dim light, that patch of skin appeared startlingly pale and smooth, with the previously scarlet curse marks completely vanished, leaving no trace behind.

He felt awful.

Even though he had taken a bath right before sleeping, after a nap, he had broken into a sweat again, leaving him feeling sticky and uncomfortable.

In his dazed state, the dream from earlier unintentionally resurfaced in his mind.

Wen Jianyan froze for a moment, then instinctively raised his hand and touched his throat.

The terrifying burning sensation from when the golden blood surged into his mouth seemed to still linger in his throat. Even now, after waking up, his heart was still pounding with fear.

Blood.

In some cultures, blood represents life and soul.

At first, Wen Jianyan had awakened Wu Zhu with his own blood, and after that, Wu Zhu had made no effort to hide his thirst for Wen Jianyan’s blood.

And then, there was that sentence written on the parchment—

“Feed the giant serpent with the blood of gods.”

So… what would happen if a human were fed the blood of a god?

Previously, he hadn’t had the time, nor had he subconsciously been willing to think about this question. However, like the elephant in the room, whether Wen Jianyan thought about it or not, this hidden danger would always exist and would not disappear.

Wen Jianyan didn’t know what changes might occur in himself after swallowing the blood of an evil god…

Of course, the parchment might know, but Wen Jianyan hadn’t yet decided whether to use one of his precious question attempts for that.

The scenes from his dream vividly flashed before his eyes, and the taste of blood seemed to still fill his mouth and nose.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, a flash of seriousness and concern quickly passing through his eyes.

Suddenly, as if he thought of something, he reached out and subconsciously touched the lower side of his waist, near his hip.

The skin was smooth, and the scarlet brand had seemingly never been there.

—It had indeed disappeared.

After confirming this, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Good.

It seemed that the earlier dream was just that—a dream.

Wen Jianyan wiped his face with his hand, shaking off the stray thoughts in his head.

He turned over and was about to get out of bed, but just as he started to move, he seemed to sense something…

Wen Jianyan suddenly stopped.

“……”

His face remained expressionless, but his gaze slowly lowered, quickly glancing at the messy thin blanket around his waist.

“……………………..”

He looked away.

His expression unchanged, calm and composed.

Hmm.

It was just a normal physiological reaction.

After all, he was a perfectly normal adult with perfectly normal needs. It was just that, ever since entering the Nightmare, he hadn’t had any chance for romance, nor the time or energy to find a suitable partner. His body’s functions were still perfectly normal. If this didn’t happen, he’d probably start worrying about himself.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the dream just now.

And it definitely had nothing to do with the content of that dream!

Wen Jianyan, face devoid of expression, rationally finished his analysis, then swiftly threw off the blanket, jumped out of bed, and dashed into the bathroom.

He turned on the faucet, and hot water gushed out.

Standing under the showerhead, Wen Jianyan vigorously splashed water onto his face.

The brief moment of embarrassment had completely disappeared. As he slicked his wet hair back with one hand, he glanced down at the ouroboros ring on his other hand.

“……”

Without warning, a thought popped into his mind.

He had to admit, Wu Zhu had learned quite well.

Although the process felt quite strange, the sensory impact was doubled. Saying he didn’t enjoy it would be a lie.

For someone like Wen Jianyan, an extreme hedonist who lived by the motto “live in the moment,” he generally didn’t dislike anything that made him happy.

Wen Jianyan raised his hand and wiped his face, clearing the water droplets. His eyebrows and the corners of his eyes were slightly reddened from the hot water, and his eyes, slightly upturned, resembled a feline stretching its body. His gaze appeared moist, carrying a lazy, careless allure, as though he made no effort to conceal his true nature.

He tilted his head slightly.

Hmm…

On a scale of ten, he’d give it an eight.

If it were a product, it was something he’d consider repurchasing.

Wen Jianyan quickly took a shower, changed his clothes, and stepped out of the bathroom.

After the shower, he had mostly forgotten about the earlier incident.

Sitting on the bed, Wen Jianyan pulled out his phone. As soon as the screen lit up, the contents of the letter sent to his phone earlier appeared before his eyes again.

…The Secret Council, huh.

Wen Jianyan squinted slightly.

Previously, he had thought he had already made contact with some of the top anchors in Nightmare. But today, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

The name “Secret Council” was entirely unfamiliar to him. Throughout his past interactions, it had never once come up. Not even the forums had any trace of it. It was almost as if it didn’t exist at all.

There was only one explanation for this.

…His level wasn’t high enough.

Wen Jianyan thoughtfully rubbed the edge of his phone.

Although he had skillfully navigated high-level settings, dealing with various guilds and anchors, there had always been a group of people he had never come into contact with—the top ten senior anchors in Nightmare.

They were usually very low-key, rarely showing up in public—more precisely, they rarely appeared in places accessible to most anchors.

Among these ten, the only one Wen Jianyan had ever encountered in a instance was the seventh-ranked anchor, Orange Candy. Besides her, the other nine were complete strangers to him.

And after his total points placed him eighth on the leaderboard, the invitation from the “Secret Council” had been sent to his phone almost immediately. This was no coincidence. It was very likely… that this entity was only known to the top ten anchors. That’s why he had never heard of such a name or gathered any related information before.

Wen Jianyan raised his hand, covering his eyes with the back of it, and let out a slow breath.

He once again affirmed that the choice he made was the right one.

Even after coming this far… Nightmare’s secrets were still countless.

It was like an iceberg submerged beneath the sea. Most anchors could only glimpse the part above the surface, while the entirety of Nightmare remained unknown. Here, only those with a high enough rank could access enough information, could dive deep enough.

This was a vast and intricate entity, and even he, forced into it, could only catch occasional glimpses of its edges, never its full scope.

Breaking the contract with Wu Zhu wasn’t just about freedom or the ownership of his soul.

It was also about fear.

Handing power to the Evil God and allowing him to use his deus ex machina-like abilities to destroy such an unfathomable existence—whether or not he could succeed—could lead to even more terrifying disasters, possibly even cataclysmic outcomes.

Besides…

No one could guarantee that, if the Evil God replaced Nightmare, his rule would be any better.

Otherworldly gods could never be trusted.

If humanity wanted to be saved, they could only rely on themselves.

Wen Jianyan lowered his head, glancing at the message on his phone again.

—There were less than three hours left until the invitation from the Secret Council.

He probably needed to prepare and set off soon.

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