Yuying University
In the corridor, the two sides maintained a distance that was neither far nor near, silently facing each other. No one made the first move.
Among them, Orange Candy’s side clearly had the upper hand.
For some reason, the number of people in the Bricklayer’s squad had been cut in half, while Orange Candy’s squad, with the exception of Hugo, was almost entirely present.
“This is, after all, a high-difficulty, dual-S-rank instance. As fellow members of the Secret Council, we should put our previous… slight disagreements aside and cooperate to look out for each other, shouldn’t we?”
A sincere smile played on the Bricklayer’s lips, but under the crimson lights, it appeared inexplicably eerie and unfathomable.
He did not step forward, but instead extended a pale hand in Orange Candy’s direction.
“How about it?”
A dead silence fell.
Opposite him, the orange-haired little girl held a massive cleaver that didn’t match her size. She tilted her head slightly to one side, watching him thoughtfully.
The Bricklayer did not rush her. He simply maintained his smile, his hand suspended in the air, and waited quietly.
Finally, Orange Candy moved.
She turned her head to look at Wen Jianyan, who was hiding behind her. “Hey, what do you think?”
Logically, the Bricklayer raised his gaze and also looked in Wen Jianyan’s direction.
Wen Jianyan paused. He forcefully ignored the discomfort that came from the other’s gaze landing on him and, after brief deliberation, slowly spoke:
“Cooperation is not impossible.”
Under the reddish light, the smile on the Bricklayer’s lips seemed to deepen slightly.
“But,” Wen Jianyan said, emphasizing his tone, “before that, you must answer a few questions for me.”
“No problem.”
The Bricklayer smiled and nodded. “Feel free to ask.”
“First, what is your mission as first-year freshmen?”
The first question seemed to have no relation to the current situation.
When answering this question, the smile on the Bricklayer’s face did not change in the slightest.
“As long as we snatch the student IDs of second-year students, we can advance ahead of schedule.”
“…”
Upon hearing this, the expressions of everyone on Wen Jianyan’s side darkened.
Sure enough, it was just as he had initially guessed.
The reopening of the instance did not bring in new anchors as rescue, but rather as hunters for an ever-tightening encirclement and kill.
No wonder the first question the first-year students asked upon entering was “the whereabouts of the second-year students.”
“But don’t worry,”
As if sensing the gradually rising hostility in the air, the Bricklayer raised his empty hands, as if to express his harmlessness, and said,
“We’ve already completed that mission.”
As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and casually pulled out several student IDs.
They were still stained with dried specks of blood.
It was obvious that the owners of these student IDs had most likely met with misfortune. For this squad of vicious and utterly amoral anchors, “snatching” meant “killing.”
“Second question,” Wen Jianyan’s gaze lingered on the student IDs in the other’s hand for a moment before quickly moving away. “Where did the other members of your squad go?”
His gaze swept lightly past the people behind the Bricklayer.
“If I remember correctly, your squad should have at least twice as many people as you do now, right?”
“Of course, they’re outside,” the Bricklayer’s answer this time was also very quick. He replied without hesitation, “If they weren’t staying outside, we wouldn’t be able to talk so freely right now.”
It seemed the people who had lured the security guards away were indeed some of his squad members.
“This also proves my sincerity, doesn’t it?” The Bricklayer spread his hands. “After all, we are currently outnumbered.”
Wen Jianyan showed no reaction to this “display of weakness.”
“Third question,” his gaze fell on the Bricklayer’s face, as if trying to find some hidden traces of truth on that pale, stiff face that had lost most of its human emotion. “Why did you change your mind?”
“Oh?”
The smile on the Bricklayer’s face remained unchanged. “What do you mean?”
“If I’m not mistaken, you weren’t planning to cooperate with us from the beginning, were you?”
Wen Jianyan blinked slowly.
This conclusion was not difficult to guess.
If the other party had intended to cooperate with them from the start, he wouldn’t have made a lethal move against him during the outdoor practical class.
But, after the failed ambush, the Bricklayer acted completely out of character, not only sending a message to Orange Candy to show goodwill but also now doing his utmost to express his sincerity for cooperation…
“—So, what made you change your mind?”
Wen Jianyan watched the other party intently and asked slowly.
“…”
This time, the Bricklayer did not answer as quickly as he had the previous two times. His gaze fell on Wen Jianyan, and like some kind of cold, slimy, soft-bodied animal, it slid slowly over his body for several seconds before he finally smiled faintly.
“Since you’ve made it this far, you should have discovered it too, right?—There’s no way to leave this instance through normal means.”
Wen Jianyan’s heart tightened slightly.
…This was indeed his conjecture.
When the “Yuying Comprehensive University” instance was still just an A-rank instance, as long as the participating anchors could complete their tasks, they could definitely leave smoothly. However, when its difficulty was upgraded to dual-S-rank, everything underwent an irreversible change…
Obtaining a graduation certificate through the normal process, on the contrary, meant a dead end.
As if seeing through Wen Jianyan’s thoughts, the Bricklayer waved his hand casually and said, as if it were commonplace:
“Ah, dual-S-rank instances are just like this. Otherwise, how do you think the less than 1% survival rate is calculated?”
There was no expression on that pale face, which appeared even more cruel under the crimson light:
“Don’t be fooled by the fact that there are still so many active anchors outside in this instance right now. They are actually more or less dead people, it’s just that their sentence hasn’t been announced yet.”
“Speaking of which, how many people survived in that dual-S-rank instance you experienced before?”
The Bricklayer turned his head to look at Orange Candy, putting on a thoughtful expression. “Single digits, right?”
Orange Candy leaned lazily against the wall, her eyelids drooping, seemingly not very willing to answer the question. However, upon receiving Wen Jianyan’s glance, she reluctantly opened her mouth:
“Five.”
“The total number of people in that instance seemed to be two hundred,”
The smile on the Bricklayer’s face seemed not to have changed at all. He turned his head to look at Wen Jianyan and, in a casual tone, put a full stop to the lives of over a hundred people:
“Although there are many participants in this instance, the number of survivors probably won’t exceed ten…”
A secretive smile was on his face.
“And that’s including you and me.”
“…”
Wen Jianyan didn’t say anything immediately, but cold sweat had unknowingly seeped into his palms.
Indeed. Even though they were now at the threshold of entering the third academic year, there were still a sufficient number of active anchors in the instance.
But this was just a paralyzing illusion.
Whether it was Zhou Ze, Brother Hu, Brother Bao… or the many more people in the instance whom he had never met, they were in fact already doomed to die.
It was just that they themselves didn’t know it yet.
This was the terror of an SS-rank instance.
And this point, it wasn’t that Wen Jianyan couldn’t have thought of it… but rather that he had subconsciously avoided thinking about it.
“In my team, there happens to be a psychic who can see ‘death’. In his vision, even if we do nothing, the probability of death is increasing exponentially.”
The Bricklayer’s gaze moved slowly over the group, finally locking precisely onto Wen Jianyan, as if implying something.
“Of course, the curse on you all is even deeper, almost to the point of materializing.”
He retracted his gaze:
“In short, my reason for seeking cooperation with you is also very simple. You have information—after all, you enrolled a whole academic year before us, and if I’m not mistaken, the mutation of this instance was probably your doing, right?—and I have resources,” as he spoke, the Bricklayer opened his arms, the smile on his face deepening. “I think my ability to be here should also prove this point, shouldn’t it?”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[Tch, all talk. If the anchor hadn’t upgraded the difficulty and made the administration building appear outright, I’d like to see how you would have found it.]
[Exactly, reaping the fruits of others’ labor while standing on their shoulders and still being so self-righteous about it, it’s disgusting.]
[But is he wrong? The administration building has been out here for days, and still no one has been able to progress this far, right? No matter what, the Bricklayer has some real strength to have made it this far.]
[I just don’t know if the anchor will cooperate with him…]
[I don’t think so. Don’t forget how he treated the anchor before. He buried him alive in a grave! To say he was trying to wipe him out would be an understatement!]
[And did you all forget the two questions the anchor asked earlier? Although he answered them well, the way he answered was terrifying. Not to mention the second-year anchors he surrounded and killed, even when he mentioned the teammates who helped him lure away the security guards, he didn’t show a shred of emotion… Honestly, this kind of person is terrifying. You’d be better off with a ticking time bomb as a teammate.]
“So, have you decided?”
The Bricklayer pressed.
“Cooperate or not?”
After a brief yet long silence, Wen Jianyan raised his eyes and, unexpectedly, nodded: “—Alright.”
Orange Candy, who had been standing to the side without interjecting, raised her eyes and gave Wen Jianyan a rather surprised look, seemingly not expecting him to make such a decision.
“A very wise decision.”
The smile on the Bricklayer’s face deepened, and he stepped forward—this time, Orange Candy did not stop him.
He extended his hand towards Wen Jianyan:
“Happy to cooperate.”
Wen Jianyan glanced down at the other’s outstretched hand, but did not extend his own. He simply put on a commercial, gentle smile and sidestepped it: “Let’s hope so.”
The Bricklayer didn’t seem to mind Wen Jianyan’s soft-pedaled jab. He lowered his hand:
“What’s the next step?”
“Go to that office in the back.”
Wen Jianyan gestured towards the rear with his chin.
“The condition for clearing this instance is only to obtain a graduation certificate, but it doesn’t specify how the certificate is obtained,” he added calmly, seeming not to mind laying out his thoughts.
“—Completing four years of study works, and snatching one should also work.”
The Bricklayer didn’t speak immediately.
He stood on the spot, thoughtfully sizing up the young man before him, then suddenly smiled slowly, and said in a skin-crawlingly cloying tone:
“I’m really starting to like you more and more.”
Although it was a sentence meant to express affection, it sounded inexplicably sinister. Paired with his overly sticky and greedy gaze, he was the very picture of a pervert.
Wen Jianyan: “…”
He put on a fake smile and said dryly, “Thank you.”
—But that’s really not necessary.
The Bricklayer seemed to want to say something more but was impatiently interrupted by Orange Candy:
“What’s with all the nonsense? Are you going to listen or not?”
“Alright, alright.” The Bricklayer good-naturedly stopped talking and instead nodded at Wen Jianyan. “You continue.”
“The one we need to enter is the Advancement Office.”
Over the Bricklayer’s shoulder, Wen Jianyan looked deeper into the corridor.
The entire corridor was bathed in a faint reddish light. The doors of one office after another were tightly closed, extending further and deeper.
“Inside the Advancement Office is a female teacher in red. She is responsible for all matters of academic advancement,”
Wen Jianyan paused, then continued,
“That should include graduation.”
“The plan is simple. Some people will divert her attention, while others will look for the graduation certificates,”
Wen Jianyan said.
“We succeeded once before, but the instance’s rating was only A back then, not to mention we had Hugo in our team.”
Hugo’s talent was practically a perfect counter to this situation.
This time, although they had exchanged him for the Bricklayer, who was also in the top ten, and his two teammates, the other party’s strength and motives were a mystery. Wen Jianyan did not trust him.
“The challenges we face now may be even more severe, so please be extremely cautious.”
“But of course.”
The Bricklayer nodded in ready agreement.
After briefly reaching a consensus, the group moved quickly down the corridor and soon arrived outside the Advancement Office.
Just as in his memory, the door to the Advancement Office was tightly closed, and the ground outside the door was painted a murky red.
When they were still a few meters from the office door, the group cautiously stopped.
“You few, stay outside.”
Wen Jianyan turned his head and looked at the people behind him.
“Orange Candy and I will go in.”
Su Cheng, Yun Bilan, and the others who were pointed at were all stunned.
“What?”
“You must stay outside,” Wen Jianyan explained patiently. “The office doors here are different from before. They can no longer block all presence and movement.”
In fact, Wen Jianyan guessed that the reason the doors could block everything before was because the offices glowing with red light were, in themselves, another world.
—Which was here.
And here, even the corridor was dyed a reddish color, which also meant that the previous additional effect had most likely disappeared, and what was in front of them was just an ordinary door.
“Your task is even heavier than ours,”
As he spoke, Wen Jianyan raised his eyes and looked at the tightly closed doors before him.
Behind each door was a student council office. Unless they actually broke in, none of them knew how many student council members were on the second floor.
“You must ensure that our actions inside the office are not disturbed.”
Wen Jianyan took a deep breath and looked at the people in front of him. “Because we very likely won’t get a second chance.”
Wei Cheng and the others fell silent, their faces grim.
The Bricklayer said hypocritically from behind, “In that case, I’ll leave one person to guard outside as well—you don’t mind, do you?”
He looked at Wen Jianyan.
Wen Jianyan gave a fake smile. “How could I?”
For the Bricklayer, they didn’t trust having their rear guarded by the other team. As for Wen Jianyan’s side, with only him and Orange Candy, they also didn’t trust entering the office with all three of the Bricklayer’s members.
…These two sides combined must have ten thousand schemes up their sleeves.
The Bricklayer lifted his chin. One of the two people behind him walked towards Su Cheng, while Orange Candy and Wen Jianyan also stepped out from the team. The four of them came to the front of the Advancement Office together.
The Bricklayer looked at Wen Jianyan: “You and I will act together, how about it?”
Orange Candy immediately objected: “No!”
Wen Jianyan pondered for a few seconds, took the two eyeballs out of his pocket, and handed them to Orange Candy: “When you two are looking for things at the desk, if you can’t find anything, use this. You might find something new.”
Orange Candy held the eyeballs, a look of utter confusion on her face: “Wait a minute, you agree?”
Wen Jianyan nodded: “Yes.”
“But…” Orange Candy frowned and looked at the Bricklayer.
Wen Jianyan: “I believe in Mr. Bricklayer’s strength. He should be able to protect a small, weak anchor like me, right?”
The Bricklayer was all smiles: “Naturally. You’ll be safest with me.”
Orange Candy: “…”
She glanced hesitantly at the two in front of her but ultimately said nothing.
Orange Candy and the Bricklayer’s other teammate took two steps back. They seemed to have activated an item that concealed their presence. In the blink of an eye, the two figures disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.
The Bricklayer gave a gentlemanly bow: “Please.”
“…”
Wen Jianyan glanced at him, took a deep breath, slowly raised his hand, and knocked gently on the door before him.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of knocking rang out, each tap feeling like it was landing on one’s heart, making it hard to breathe.
Without waiting for an answer, Wen Jianyan grabbed the doorknob and pushed it down.
With a “creak,” the door opened.
Inside the office, crimson, blood-like light poured down, falling on a female teacher in red behind a desk.
Her face was as pale as a dead person’s, her eyes dark and hollow, giving off an inexplicably terrifying feeling.
It was the same advancement teacher who had clashed head-on with Wen Jianyan and the others in the previous academic year.
At this moment, she had just stood up from behind her desk and was looking over.
“Ahem,” Wen Jianyan coughed lightly and waved at the teacher behind the desk: “He-hello, teacher.”
Wen Jianyan carefully raised a smile. It was a very respectful look, but for some reason, it also looked incredibly punchable: “You should still remember me, right? Teacher?”
The moment her gaze fell on Wen Jianyan, the advancement teacher’s already pale face instantly became even more terrifying and fierce.
The red light overhead became as thick as blood, and the temperature in the air began to drop madly, cutting at one’s arms like icy knives. An invisible, terrifying pressure expanded wildly, and a cold, murderous intent poured down towards the young man outside the door.
It slowly raised a grim smile:
“But of course.”
In the “Integrity First” live room chat:
[…]
[Mm, I think I know why the anchor volunteered to be the bait.]
[.]
[…Yes, as long as he shows up, he can absolutely, 100% attract the other’s attention, ensuring that things don’t deviate in the slightest.]
Because he was the arch-culprit who caused the instance’s difficulty to upgrade, the great villain who forced the NPC to work overtime!
The instant he attracted the teacher’s hatred, Wen Jianyan abruptly took a step back, nimbly dodging behind the Bricklayer.
“…”
The Bricklayer, caught off guard and exposed to the NPC’s line of sight, was momentarily stunned.
“This is our first time cooperating you might not know me but I’m mainly good with my brain my combat ability is practically zero,” Wen Jianyan hid behind him, shrinking his head, the words tumbling out of his mouth like a string of firecrackers, “but I believe Big Brother you also said before that following you is definitely the safest you will definitely protect me right?”
Staring at the red-clothed female teacher who was walking towards them with a malevolent aura, the Bricklayer’s unchanging smiling face since tonight finally, rarely, stiffened slightly: “…………”
Wen Jianyan cowered behind the Bricklayer, but his tone was full of righteousness:
“Brother, I’m counting on you.”
