WTNL Chapter 339

Xingwang Hotel
Chapter 339: “Let go of my hand…!”

The dimly lit corridor stretched endlessly into the darkness, the air chilling to the bone. Along both walls, countless paintings, large and small, were densely packed, writhing subtly in the shadows.

Though the faces within the frames remained eerily still, there was an undeniable sense that they were “alive”—silently and patiently observing, waiting for the perfect moment to invade.

No matter how one looked at it, this was an undeniably terrifying scene.

But…

Wu Zhu stared at the young man before him. His pale and eerily beautiful face remained expressionless, yet his golden eyes shimmered faintly in the darkness.

Wen Jianyan: “…”

Unbelievable. Probably only a non-human entity born from the depths of malevolence could still be thinking about a kiss in an environment like this.

But a promise was a promise.

Fine.

Wen Jianyan sighed and reluctantly curled his finger, beckoning, “Come here.”

Wu Zhu immediately leaned in.

The sticky darkness surrounding him clung to Wen Jianyan’s body as if it had a will of its own. Like countless tiny hands, it latched onto him, twining and clinging.

Wu Zhu’s arms moved to embrace him, but before he could, a slap mercilessly knocked them away.

“Hands off.”

“…”

Wu Zhu studied his own suspended hand for a moment, then looked at Wen Jianyan, who had already leaned in.

The corridor was dimly lit, but the young man’s face was pale and luminous. The elegant contours of his profile blurred into the shadows, his eyes flickering beneath the arch of his brow.

Wu Zhu’s gaze quickly dropped to the other’s lips.

Wen Jianyan’s upper lip was thin with sharp edges, naturally upturned at the corners as if always wearing a smile. His lower lip was fuller, softening what should have been an otherwise aggressive shape.

Due to the rough treatment just moments ago, his lips were still swollen, tinged with an unusual redness that stretched out the faint lip lines. Even with just the slightest parting, a faintly moistened inner curve glistened in the darkness, looking impossibly soft.

“…”

Wu Zhu’s golden eyes flickered, patiently enduring Wen Jianyan’s rudeness.

In the blink of an eye, Wen Jianyan had already moved closer.

He cupped Wu Zhu’s chin with one hand, tilting the other’s face downward while slightly rising on his toes. Even though Wen Jianyan was already considered tall among human males, there was still a small but undeniable height difference between them.

Of course, this was not something Wen Jianyan was willing to admit.

Wu Zhu lowered his head.

The next second, human warmth brushed against his lips—a light touch, fleeting. Before Wu Zhu could react, it was gone in an instant.

“…”

Wu Zhu blinked.

“It’s done.”

Wen Jianyan stepped back, his voice airy and nonchalant.

This was exactly why he had knocked Wu Zhu’s hands away just now.

If he had been caught in an embrace, wouldn’t escaping have been impossible?

Wu Zhu: “???”

He immediately leaned in again, clearly dissatisfied with Wen Jianyan’s perfunctory approach, intent on reclaiming his rightful reward through action.

However, as if anticipating this, Wen Jianyan swiftly twisted his body, dodging the advance with ease.

“Don’t be greedy.”

He placed a hand against Wu Zhu’s shoulder, his lips curving into a smile as he spoke in a warm, slightly husky voice:

“I only promised you this much.”

Wu Zhu did not seem particularly threatened.

His brows furrowed slightly, the shadows deepening between them. His golden eyes—sharp as a beast’s—peered out from under his brow ridge, his pale face still carrying an eerie, ghostly aura, making him look both brooding and menacing.

“Next time.”

Wen Jianyan lifted a hand, his warm fingertips brushing lightly against Wu Zhu’s cheek as he grinned and said, “Next time, I’ll let you kiss to your heart’s content.”

Wu Zhu seemed to understand.

After a brief hesitation, his gaze dropped to Wen Jianyan’s lips.

“I’m not lying.”

Lips parted slightly, revealing a glimpse of gleaming white teeth and the faint flicker of a pink tongue.

“…”

Wu Zhu reluctantly accepted the deal.

Wen Jianyan’s lips curled subtly.

Judging by this, even if some of their memories had intertwined, it likely wasn’t much—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so easily placated.

Especially not by something as flimsy as “next time.”

After all, after experiencing the “Changsheng Buildin” instance, Wu Zhu should have already realized that a so-called “next time” was nothing more than an empty promise.

Something dangled just out of reach—visible, but forever unattainable.

With Wu Zhu settled for now, Wen Jianyan shifted his focus away from him, turning instead to the treacherous corridor before him, which was becoming increasingly restless.

He had a feeling that whether it was the paintings lining the walls or the corridor itself, none of it was as simple as it seemed.

His recent experiences only reinforced that suspicion.

An abyssal corridor, walls lined with mirrors, the writhing figures lurking behind the glass—all clues pointed to a single conclusion.

That was—

This corridor… was likely part of the path outside.

Beyond the “road,” or behind the mirrors in the corridor, lay a place where humans were not meant to tread.

The Black Faction had nearly been led into it, and the figures inside the mirrors were actively trying to break through and invade.

However, while the road outside only allowed “ghosts” to walk upon it, the corridor within the frame shop was accessible to humans as well.

Every “building” had a reason for its existence.

If the purpose of “Xingwang Hotel” was to return wandering ghosts from the deep layers of the world back to where they belonged, then what was the purpose of this street, this frame shop, and this corridor?

On the surface, this question might seem irrelevant to the current instance. However, on a larger scale, it could be crucial. Only by grasping the full picture could they ever hope to stand against a colossal entity like Nightmare in the future.

Wen Jianyan walked along the corridor, stepping up to one of the walls. Using the light source in his hand, he carefully searched for any clues.

As time passed, the paintings were no longer as tranquil as when he had first entered.

Whether framed in dark red or glaring crimson, every scene within the canvases was undergoing a slow transformation.

Regardless of whether they originally contained human figures, now none remained.

The depicted scenes varied greatly in scale and subject, and none of them repeated.

Some paintings showed boundless graveyards, others dilapidated, crumbling houses, rust-streaked vintage trains, endless forests, or tightly shut rooms…

The only common trait among them was their unmistakable sense of foreboding, as if something in the shadows was slowly stirring.

Wen Jianyan quickly realized that compared to when he had first entered the corridor, these seemingly harmless scenes had subtly changed. A shadow now lurked behind the crumbling house, a door had creaked open just a sliver, and the soil around the graves had begun to scatter…

It seemed that everything was signaling danger.

The blurry-faced portraits were slowly moving at the edge of his vision, and cold, numb gazes pierced through the darkness, landing on Wen Jianyan, bringing a spine-chilling sensation—like being watched by a terrifying presence.

Even the lifelike portraits, protected within dark red frames, were not any better.

Compared to just now, these already overly realistic images now carried an eerie tint.

In the upper right corner, a woman dressed in red with a ghastly pale face stood in the shadows. Her jet-black, unsettling eyes stared out from the darkness. In the lower right corner, a thin, cold-looking middle-aged man seemed to have changed his posture—the right hand that was originally in the painting had disappeared, now hanging limply at his side.

And in that instant when Wen Jianyan shifted his gaze, he distinctly felt it—on the painting to his left, an old woman with battle scars covering her face, half her body seemingly already buried in the ground, her skin dry and wrinkled like ancient tree bark, visibly moved her eyes.

She seemed to be gradually awakening from her long slumber.

Wen Jianyan took a deep breath, suppressing the creeping unease in his heart. He took a step back, intending to check the wall behind him.

But the moment he turned around, he almost collided with a figure that had suddenly appeared behind him.

Wen Jianyan was already on edge, and now his scalp tingled so violently that he nearly jumped.

It wasn’t until the next second that he saw a familiar face—

And a pair of golden eyes.

It was Wu Zhu.

Judging by the looks of it, this guy had been following him step by step ever since he started observing his surroundings. Wen Jianyan moved, and Wu Zhu moved too. Otherwise, the two of them wouldn’t have ended up so close.

Wen Jianyan raised a hand to press against his chest, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. He swallowed hard and, through gritted teeth, asked,

“Why are you following me?”

Wu Zhu’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He also didn’t answer Wen Jianyan’s question—he simply continued watching him with those golden eyes.

With intense focus.

With complete innocence.

“……”

Wen Jianyan fell silent.

Forget it.

He wiped his face with a hand.

Sigh, really now, why was he even bothering to argue with a fragment that had memory and intelligence issues?

Shaking his head, Wen Jianyan bypassed the tall man behind him and walked toward the other side of the corridor.

Wu Zhu followed once again, step for step.

Wen Jianyan couldn’t be bothered to stop him. He let the other man close in again, standing right behind him.

Now was not the time to dwell on this.

Wen Jianyan continued walking down the corridor, scanning the images on the walls. Suddenly, his gaze landed on one spot, and he paused slightly.

Wait a minute, that’s…

Within a dark red frame stood a woman dressed in white.

Her face was completely expressionless as she stood stiffly in the painting, her complexion deathly pale, her eyes unmoving.

Wen Jianyan had no recollection of this face, but he vividly remembered the clothing.

This was the exact same woman he had seen in the painting back in the hotel room when he first woke up!

Wen Jianyan’s heart trembled.

In the very next second, under his gaze, the white-clad woman suddenly looked over without warning! In the darkness, her eerie black eyes appeared all the more horrifying.

Wen Jianyan’s scalp tingled, and he instinctively shrank back!

His back hit a solid, ice-cold chest.

Wen Jianyan let out a breath of relief and reached back to feel.

Good. That was reassuring.

He lifted his head and looked at the painting once again.

Even though he had only looked away for a split second, the white-clad woman’s posture had already changed.

She was staring at Wen Jianyan with unrelenting intensity while slowly, rigidly raising an arm—pointing toward something.

Was she indicating… another painting?!

Wen Jianyan’s spirit lifted. He followed the direction of her hand, scanning each painting in turn, trying to decipher the clue she was offering—

This one… didn’t seem right. Neither did this one.

Wait, this—

Just as Wen Jianyan’s gaze fell on a particularly suspicious painting, a sudden flurry of footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.

It sounded like multiple people.

Wen Jianyan stiffened slightly.

Huh? The others hadn’t left yet… Were they coming back to search for him?

While he was momentarily dazed, he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his hand.

A cold hand grabbed his, its long fingers slipping between his slightly spread fingers and interlocking with his own in an awkwardly tight grip.

“?!”

Wen Jianyan jolted in shock and turned his head abruptly.

Wu Zhu raised his eyes, gazing at him with that same calm, emotionless expression. His pale face was dangerously close.

Facing those gleaming golden eyes, Wen Jianyan’s scalp went numb.

W-Wait a second!

How was he supposed to explain this bizarre, real-time supernatural occurrence?!

No matter how good he was at lying, there was no way he could come up with an excuse to explain away the sudden appearance of an “avenging spirit”!

And it wasn’t just his own team—there were members of other teams present as well. Worse yet, there was Bai Xue, someone experienced and well-versed in the supernatural.

Thinking about the endless troubles that would come his way, one after another, Wen Jianyan felt a headache coming on.

His gaze dropped to his hand, now tightly clasped in Wu Zhu’s. Their fingers were even interlocked.

Not to mention… their current posture was…

Very misleading.

“Y-You, hide for a bit?”

Wen Jianyan lowered his voice and looked at Wu Zhu.

It was unclear whether Wu Zhu didn’t understand or simply refused to comply.

He continued to watch the human in front of him.

The footsteps were getting closer, and Wen Jianyan was getting anxious. He turned around, trying to shake off Wu Zhu’s hand, but the other man inexplicably held on even tighter.

“Let go of my hand…!”

“Aren’t you able to turn invisible? Disappear for a moment!”

As he kept glancing toward the approaching footsteps, Wen Jianyan used his other hand to push against Wu Zhu’s shoulder. His voice was barely above a whisper: “Please! Just hide for now!”

Wu Zhu didn’t move.

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[……]

[……]

[Wait, this scene… the tension is unreal.]

[Why does this feel like a lover caught in the act…? Is it just me?]

[Why does this look so much like a cheating scandal?! Anchor, do you realize how indecent your livestream looks right now?!!!]

Just then, the footsteps halted slightly, as if someone had noticed the commotion. Then, a cautious voice rang out:

“Who’s there?”

“Speak!”

It was Yun Bilan’s voice.

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