WTNL Chapter 509

Yuying University
Chapter 509: Just try it, I’ll cover it

Right, the graduation certificate.

During the second academic year, they had been invited by the Mason to temporarily cooperate, forcefully breaking into the admissions office and stealing a blood-red graduation certificate. But since there was only one and its usage method was a mystery, this graduation certificate had been temporarily shelved and never taken out again.

Although limited by her rapidly deforming body, Orange Candy quickly found the graduation certificate.

Wen Jianyan took the certificate. It was still that thick, fresh-blood-like paper with several lines of dark, glaring text written on it.

[Yuying Comprehensive University Graduation Certificate]
Name: ___
Gender: ___
Student ID: ___
Congratulations on completing all courses in the curriculum, grade ___, approved for graduation.
Issued by:
■Year■Month■Day

From any angle, this graduation certificate’s format was very standard. Apart from having slightly less content than real-world graduation certificates, there were no major differences.

Orange Candy leaned against the wall, breathing with some difficulty. Although not much time had passed, the swelling of her abdomen had become especially horrifying, her semi-transparent skin showing a strange bluish-white color.

“What do you want to do?”

She asked.

“…”

Wen Jianyan didn’t answer, staring at the graduation certificate in his hand, taking a deep breath.

The threat of death was imminent, but precisely because of this, he had to be even more cautious, not make careless mistakes due to small gains—they now held a precious ticket that could directly clear the instance, and absolutely couldn’t fail at the last moment.

“Don’t worry, just try it.”

Orange Candy seemed to see Wen Jianyan’s hesitation. She curved her bloodless lips into her trademark sweet smile, her tone calm and arrogant, “I’ve got your back.”

Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, took a deep look at Orange Candy, and nodded silently.

Then let’s try.

He opened the shop, spent 50 points to exchange for an ordinary fountain pen, then placed the graduation certificate on the table, the pen tip falling without hesitation.

Name: Orange Candy
Gender: Female
Student ID: 180035
Congratulations on completing all courses in the curriculum, grade: Pass, approved for graduation.

The text appeared on the paper, but for some reason became very dim, requiring close examination to see clearly.

After writing the word “Pass,” a bone-chilling coldness swept through Wen Jianyan’s entire body. The next second, the dim text that had been written on the red paper began to be devoured by some invisible force, disappearing one by one.

What was also being drained was Wen Jianyan’s life force.

Wen Jianyan’s vision darkened, veins bulged on the back of his hand pressed against the table, and his whole body nearly collapsed.

But the next second, all the negative effects completely disappeared.

Time reversed.

Wen Jianyan subconsciously looked up.

“Continue.”

Orange Candy leaned in the same place. Her face was pale with cold sweat covering her forehead, but she still wore a smile:

“I told you, I’ve got your back.”

Good, then continue.

Wen Jianyan knew well that every anchor’s talent came with an enormous cost. Precisely because of this, he absolutely could not waste the precious time Orange Candy had bought.

He lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the graduation certificate that had become blank again.

Just as he had previously guessed, this ‘Graduation Certificate’ could indeed get them through, but in an SS instance, even shortcuts were fraught with danger—Wen Jianyan had just experienced the consequences of failing to write the certificate. If it had been anyone else, they might already be drained of life force, turned into a cold corpse.

So what had gone wrong?

Wen Jianyan stared at the blood-red paper, suddenly recalling the scene of the admissions teacher signing their enrollment documents—pale fingers painted with blood-red nail polish, holding a fountain pen, with ink of the same color flowing from the pen tip. As the text appeared, the color between them became dim—

He was stunned, suddenly realizing something.

Wen Jianyan unscrewed the fountain pen’s ink cartridge, squeezed out all the ink inside, then steeled himself, pricked his finger, and filled it entirely with his own blood.

After doing all this, he began writing on the paper again.

Bright red text appeared on the paper, but unlike before, it didn’t become dim at all. Instead, it clearly floated on the paper surface, easily readable at a glance.

After filling in the other information, Wen Jianyan wrote “Pass” in the blank below and held his breath, waiting.

But this time, the life force absorption didn’t occur. Everything was normal.

Wen Jianyan let out a long sigh of relief.

He knew he had guessed correctly.

After confirming his hypothesis, Wen Jianyan’s writing speed increased. His pen tip moved downward, landing on the last blank space, then fluidly signed “Zhang Yunsheng” with flourishing strokes.

But after writing these characters, the familiar cold sensation appeared again.

“?!”

Wen Jianyan sucked in a cold breath, his vision continuously darkening.

Wrong?

Generally speaking, shouldn’t the principal’s name be written on graduation certificates?

The next second, time reversed, and all the abnormalities were completely withdrawn.

Wen Jianyan tried other attempts and modifications, but still failed at the final hurdle.

Time reversed again.

This was the third time.

This was Orange Candy’s third time activating her talent within the instance.

Wen Jianyan swayed, supporting himself against the table corner. Having experienced three complete time reversals, even he felt his stomach churning, let alone the talent’s owner?

He couldn’t help but look toward Orange Candy again.

Orange Candy’s complexion looked worse than before. Whether it was Wen Jianyan’s imagination or not, her already slender frame appeared even smaller, almost unable to fill her clothes, with only her highly protruding abdomen appearing strange and deformed.

Even though she was on the brink of desperation, the little girl’s smile became even more bright and lovely.

She tilted her head, her calm voice carrying a madness that cared nothing for anything:

“Continue.”

“…Okay.”

Wen Jianyan gritted his teeth and lowered his head again.

With previous experience, everything went smoothly this time. Finally, his pen tip stopped at the last blank space, suspended without falling.

Could it be that Zhang Yunsheng wasn’t the principal’s real name? No, even if it really wasn’t, it shouldn’t affect the current situation—after all, even he, who had pushed exploration to 98%, had no clue about this, let alone others—then, should he write the red-clothed female teacher’s name?

The excessive pressure caused cold sweat to seep from Wen Jianyan’s temples, even his palms became slippery, nearly unable to grip the pen.

But he didn’t know her name.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the text in front of the blank space.

[Issued by].

Those three characters were distinctly glaring.

Wait, could it be…

The pen tip trembled but still fell determinedly. With a “rustling” sound, smooth blood flowed from the pen tip, fluid lines forming familiar characters:

[Wen Jianyan].

Wen Jianyan signed his own name.

“Ugh—Ah!”

A heart-piercing pain came from his fingertips holding the pen, as if something extremely destructive had drilled into him through his fingers. Wen Jianyan couldn’t control his scream, staggering backward.

It should be known that since he became an aberrant, all his tactile sensations had become dull. This was the first time he felt pain so vividly, like an oncoming tide swallowing him.

This was… something that had never happened before.

Could it be—

Wen Jianyan struggled to raise his eyes, looking toward Orange Candy, only to see her looking down in amazement at her rapidly flattening waist and abdomen, seemingly not expecting it to happen so suddenly.

Three words flashed through Wen Jianyan’s mind:

Success.

Orange Candy realized this too. She suddenly raised her head sharply, as if thinking of something, her mouth opening and closing:

“Be careful—don’t stay in…”

Her lips moved, but Wen Jianyan’s ears were filled with buzzing. He swayed and fell backward, his back hitting the ground heavily, but he felt no pain. Everything receded like a tide, leaving only vast, boundless silence.

Time passed, unknown how long.

Finally, the buzzing in his ears gradually disappeared, and his sense of touch began to slowly return.

Wen Jianyan didn’t have time to check his condition. He just struggled to push himself up from the floor, straightening up and looking not far away.

The spot against the wall was empty.

Orange Candy had disappeared.

“…”

Seeing this, Wen Jianyan finally let out a slow, long breath and relaxed.

Thank goodness.

Orange Candy had left the instance.

Wen Jianyan lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling above.

Now that Orange Candy was sent out, he realized his lips also had the sweet fishy taste of lake water.

He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his stomach.

Under his wet shirt was his firm abdomen, rising and falling rapidly with his urgent breathing, but there were no abnormalities.

Could it be that he drank too little, so nothing happened?

Or was his current state already too abnormal, so he had developed immunity?

Either way, this was a good thing.

Wen Jianyan shook his head. After confirming his condition had completely recovered, he grabbed the table corner and stood up unsteadily.

The graduation certificate still lay in place, not disappearing with Orange Candy’s departure, but all the text on it had been completely erased, everything looking new again.

Suddenly, Wen Jianyan’s peripheral vision caught his fingers on the table. He was stunned and looked again carefully.

His right middle finger, ring finger, and little finger’s nails had unknowingly turned blood-red, looking especially eerie in the dim light, just like—

Just like that admissions teacher.

In the “Integrity First” live room chat:  

[?]

[???]

[Holy crap… holy crap!!!]

[My god, this instance is really malicious. Although it gave anchors a shortcut out of the instance, it actually planted a time bomb.]

[Right, although anchors whose names are written on the graduation certificate can clear successfully, the signer can’t. Instead, they’ll be eroded and assimilated by the instance. It’s basically forcing anchors to fight each other!]

[If all ten fingers turn red, he’ll probably become the new admissions teacher, right?]

[Looks like it. Tsk tsk tsk, who would have thought? After becoming both a student council member and club member, the anchor is now going to steal the admissions teacher’s job.]

[Hahahahahaha Red-clothed Female Teacher: Screw you!]

Wen Jianyan quickly pulled himself out of his shock at discovering his nail abnormalities—when you have many debts, one more doesn’t matter; when you have many lice, one more doesn’t itch. He was already very adapted to his abnormalities.

He took out his phone to check.

Not only had his teammates not replied to any messages, but there were less than ten minutes left until midnight.

Wen Jianyan stuffed his phone back into his pocket and rushed quickly toward the vice-principal’s office door.

There was still some distance from the administration building to the sports field where the graduation ceremony would be held, and invisible monsters were wandering the campus. His time was very tight; he had to act immediately, or he might really miss the final ceremony.

Wen Jianyan rushed downstairs.

He noticed that the student council corridor, which had always been lit with red light, was now pitch black with no sound inside. The club members’ activity room on the first floor was the same.

It seemed that this final grand ceremony had mobilized all the instance’s NPCs.

Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze and strode out of the administration building.

The black-red sky pressed down on his head. Whether it was his imagination or not, those blood-red fleshy tubes seemed to have become denser and thicker, even writhing rhythmically, full of vibrant life force.

Wen Jianyan ran wildly along the path in his memory.

To his surprise, those behemoths that had always wandered the campus were also nowhere to be seen, leaving only sticky, slippery trails on the ground, each track leading straight to the distant artificial lake.

Wen Jianyan didn’t have time to think about the reasons.

After all, for him now, every minute and second was crucial. The monsters’ disappearance actually created conditions for him to reach the sports field in time.

Soon, the dome of the gymnasium appeared not far away.

There were still five full minutes until midnight.

Enough time.

Wen Jianyan breathed a sigh of relief and slightly slowed his pace.

However, just as he was about to walk toward the sports field entrance, he suddenly felt his steps become as heavy as a thousand pounds, unable to lift them no matter what.

Wait, this is—?!

Just as Wen Jianyan was filled with doubt, suddenly, steady and slow clapping came from nearby.

“I knew you would definitely succeed in getting here.”

The voice was extremely familiar, cold and smooth with a hint of strange hoarseness.

Wen Jianyan felt a chill run up his spine. His throat moved, and he slowly turned his head toward the direction of the voice.

From the shadows, two people slowly emerged.

The leader had a pale, rigid face as if covered with a thick layer of lime, a pair of sinister eyes fixed firmly on Wen Jianyan. Most terrifyingly, half his face looked as if it had been burned by fire or corroded by concentrated sulfuric acid—flesh and eyeball had disappeared, leaving only a black, hollow eye socket sunken in, with only charred skull bone remaining, looking especially frightening under the black-red sky.

It was the Mason.

He was actually still alive?!

Wen Jianyan: “…”

He had indeed thought that the previous “trap” might not be able to kill a top-tier anchor with unknown trump cards, but he hadn’t expected to fall into the other party’s hands so coincidentally.

The Mason smiled, looking Wen Jianyan up and down meaningfully:

“You’ve changed quite a bit.”

His half-skull face became even more sinister with this smile: “You don’t look much like a human anymore.”

No, it wasn’t a coincidence.

Looking at the Mason walking toward him, cold sweat ran down Wen Jianyan’s back.

This was clearly a planned assassination.

---

Author’s Note:
The admissions teacher’s fingers and fountain pen: Chapter 479

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